She beamed at me and looked like she let out a sigh of relief.
“Jason, what’s up? Hardly see you off campus,” Jamieson Kennedy said as he stopped beside our table. He glanced at Jess, and I could see the glint of appreciation in his eyes. It was something I was learning to deal with. Jess was beautiful, and men would always notice.
“I’ve got better things to do when class is over,” I told him with a smirk, then winked at Jess.
“Jason, hello. We missed you at study group last night,” Vivian Northrop said as she walked up beside Jamieson. They were on-again off-again and had been for years. That social circle, they seemed to inbreed and keep dating just each other. It was weird and boring. Vivian, however, liked to remind me we had once slept together. Not something I ever thought about until I worried that she was going to bring it up. Especially in front of Jess.
“Vivian. You both have met Jess,” I said, nodding toward Jess as she suddenly looked like she would rather be anywhere else.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were still together. I thought . . .” Vivian was elbowed by Jamieson and they both put on those fake smiles I hated.
“You thought what?” I asked her, annoyed now. Because I made it very clear I was with Jess and brought her up regularly.
She waved it off like it was nothing. “I just haven’t seen you around outside of classes, and I assumed you were in a serious relationship.”
Scowling, I reminded myself that she was just a bitch. “I am in a serious relationship. I’m engaged,” I told her, and reached for Jess’s hand and covered it with mine. “To Jess.”
Vivian acted shocked as she looked at Jess, then turned her head. “Oh, well, I’m sure your mother is thrilled,” she said. “I’ll see you later, Jason.” Then she walked off.
Jamieson shrugged. “That’s just Viv. You know how she is,” he said, making an excuse for her.
“Yeah, I know,” I replied.
When he walked off, I looked over at Jess, who was staring down at her lap. I squeezed her hand. “Hey, don’t get upset over that. Vivian is a grade-A bitch. She’s uptight and likes to say things that make her feel better about herself.”
Jess only nodded. Then I saw her take a deep breath as she lifted her head to look at me. “It’s okay. I’m used to this by now.” The small smile she was forcing didn’t fool me.
“Is that what is bothering you? The elitist ass**les around here? Because none of them matter. Nothing they do or say matters.”
She sighed and glanced away, looking out over the dining room. “I know. It’s okay.”
No, it wasn’t okay. “Jess,” I started, but then the server walked up.
I let Jess place her order. She only ordered the lasagna. So I ordered what I wanted, and her other two choices boxed up to go. I wasn’t letting Vivian freaking Northrop ruin Jess’s dinner.
Jess
When lunchtime came the next day, I was really thankful that Jason had ordered my other two favorite dishes the night before. I put a little of both on a plate and heated them up. I had a hard time going to sleep last night. Once I had finally fallen asleep I slept so hard that I hadn’t woken up when Jason left this morning. He had gotten up and made his own coffee, and left without even a kiss from me.
It had ruined my morning. I worried over not being what he needed. What I thought would make him happy. Last night he’d been determined to go eat at my favorite restaurant and, in the end, I had wished so hard we were eating Thai. Running into those uppity people who saw me as less than them had taken away my appetite. I hadn’t wanted to eat.
Under Jason’s watchful and concerned eyes, I had forced it down. Or at least half of it. I couldn’t do more than that.
At some point Jason would realize what he’s done. I was just sitting here, waiting on him to figure it out. He is brilliant and going to do big things. What could I do? Make clothes? Who wants me to make them clothes? No one. That’s who.
I sank down on the sofa with my plate of food and rubbed my stomach. We were going to be parents while Jason still went to his Ivy League college. Soon there would be diapers and sleepless nights and hardly any time for sex. How soon would it be before some girl in one of his classes took away all his stress and met his needs?
My appetite vanished again. I set my plate down and stood back up. I shouldn’t have been eating all those carbs. I was going to get fat. I needed to go for a walk instead. I had to have my perfect body so that when our baby was sleeping, I could keep Jason interested in me.
Would we be married then? Jason hadn’t talked about setting a date. When he proposed to me, I hadn’t been pregnant. Now that I was, he didn’t seem really excited about making a wedding happen. Which was not helping me feel safe in this relationship. I wanted to go see my momma. Talk to her about all this. She’d make me feel better. Being around people who didn’t look down their noses at me would be a nice change.
My cell phone rang just as I was lacing up my tennis shoes. It was Jason. I pressed it to my ear. “Hey, you,” I said, trying to sound happy.
“Hey, baby. You slept good. I liked seeing you all curled up in bed like an angel this morning.” His voice made me smile.
“I’m sorry I didn’t wake up to tell you bye.”
“Don’t be. I liked leaving you tucked in and resting. I was just heading to lunch, and I know you have Italian food in the fridge, but I thought you might want to come to the campus and eat with me.”