Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,12

of information about herself.

Why would she want to hide that?

"You're a doctor?" Evan asked with surprise, while Jace continued to gape at her.

"I was. In a former life."

"You're what, twenty-five or twenty-six years old? You're too young to say you've had a former life, unless you're talking about a past life, as in 'I used to be a medic in the Civil War'," Evan joked.

"I'm twenty-nine, so thank you for that. And yes, I meant a former life. I left practice a year ago."

"What kind of doctor are you?" Evan asked.

Jace noticed Ellie smiling softy at Aislynn, almost like she was encouraging Aislynn to open up.

"I was a psychiatrist," Aislynn finally said.

"Sabbatical, huh?" Jace whispered to her, and she nodded shyly.

He unconsciously reached across the table and ran his thumb gently over the top of her hand. Her skin was soft and warm, but he could feel her hand shaking slightly. He felt an overwhelming need to comfort her, but couldn't explain why.

"Who exactly did they use for this penis size study anyway?" Evan suddenly asked, bringing them back to the conversation. "'Cause I have to say that my—"

"Stop right there. TMI, dude," Jace interrupted him abruptly.

"She started it," Evan said, pointing in Aislynn's direction. "Did you have a lecture on G spots in med school? Does it really exist?"

"The existence of the G spot is a myth. It's as real as Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster. It was brought up by a horny scientist decades ago with very little proof of its existence. It gives men an excuse to avoid spending proper time giving women oral sex, and it gives women another excuse to continue faking their orgasms."

"Why must you ruin this for me?" Evan asked.

"I disagree," Ellie added. "I think women can get off by other means beyond clitoral stimulation. For example, I—"

"Stop right there. TMI, dude," Aislynn interrupted her before turning to Jace, and pointing her finger at Evan and Ellie. "What is it with these two?"

Jace and Aislynn offered to do the dishes while Ellie and Evan spent some time alone out in the balcony after dinner.

"I had a great time tonight. I really liked getting to know more stuff about you," Jace said while loading plates into the dishwasher.

"I did, too. Although, now that I think about it, I didn't really get to hear that much about you."

"We have time," he said with a smile.

Jace knew exactly what he wanted to say next, but something held him back. After a few minutes of silence, the intercom buzzer announced the arrival of the cab the girls had called after dinner.

"I'll pay you an obscene amount of money if you go break up whatever they're doing out there in the balcony," Aislynn said.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" he asked with a smirk and held his hand up, letting water drip down his arm. Aislynn's scissors won over Jace's paper on the first try. "Two out of three?" he asked.

"Nope. Now go, before the cab leaves."

"You owe me, big time," Jace yelled on his way out of the kitchen.

"So? How did it go?" Evan asked after the girls had left. He had taken over Aislynn's place by the sink and was helping load the rest of the dishes.

"What do you mean?" Jace said, trying to avoid Evan's question.

"Fine. Never mind. But I think you're being an idiot, just so you know," Evan said, exasperated.

"Okay, fine!" he said, and finished drinking the rest of his wine in one big gulp. "I froze. I was going to ask her out, and I couldn't."

"I don’t get it. Why?"

"I can't do this, all right? I can't get involved with anyone right now. I can't deal with all this bullshit again. I just can't."

"That's a lot of 'can't dos', Jace. You know, this is a load of crap coming from someone who went through such a life changing experience just a few years ago," Evan said. "You survived it. Now make it count."

Driving Ellie to the airport at six in the morning the next day was now at the top of the list of worst ideas ever. Aislynn was not a morning person by any means, and she was even scarier without coffee in her system.

"When are you flying back?" Aislynn asked Ellie as they got her bags out of the trunk.

"A week from tomorrow. I was able to rearrange some assignments to San Diego, so I can come back and spend some more time with you," Ellie said with a big smile.

"And