said. “Hey, what’s up with Emily? She hasn’t been in for four days, and she hasn’t called in either. She isn’t answering her cell phone. Since you two are you know . . . kind of an item, I thought maybe you might know what’s going on. Do you?” she asked bluntly.
Jason swallowed hard. He shook his head. “I haven’t seen her. I tried calling yesterday, but the call went to voice mail. And we’re not an item, we’re just friends,” he lied. Who is that young guy checking out the clay pot planters? He looks familiar. He almost missed the look the two women shot his way and the young guy’s almost imperceptible nod. The muscles in his stomach tied themselves into a knot. They were together, he was sure of it. And they were checking him out. Shit, shit, shit! He could feel the panic starting to build in his stomach inch its way up to his chest, causing him to gasp for breath. He broke out into a cold sweat.
“Can you take a break, Jason? I’m on mine. Let’s go get a cold soda or something. I’m worried about Emily.”
Not half as worried as I am, Jason wanted to say, but he didn’t. Instead, he waved to his supervisor and said he was taking his break. He followed Stacey to the back of the store to the employee kitchen or what they called the break room, where he popped two bottles of cola and offered Stacey one. He gulped at his, his mind racing a hundred miles a minute. What to say, what not to say, how to look, how not to look. Stop sweating, he cautioned himself. Like that was possible.
Stacey Copeland eyeballed her friend, concern etched on her face. “You look funny, Jason, is anything wrong? By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask, did you register yet for fall classes? I was thinking of going over to CU after I got off work. Want a ride?”
“I’m okay. Haven’t been sleeping well these past few nights. Our A/C is out,” he lied with a straight face. “I’m working till four. That’s if I hold out that long. My stomach is kicking up. I might leave in a little while. I need the hours, but if I’m going to be puking my guts out, I’m no good to anyone here.”
Stacey gave him a look that said she wasn’t buying anything he’d said. “Hey, Jason, this is me. We’ve been friends since our first day at CU. You can talk to me. I even got you this job. If something is wrong, maybe I can help. C’mon, Jason, open up.”
“You sound just like my mother does. I told you, nothing is wrong. I’m not feeling 100 percent, so ease up, okay?”
“Sure, no problem. You’d tell me if Emily dumped you, right?”
“Emily did not dump me,” Jason said through clenched teeth. “I told you, we’re just friends.”
“Ha-ha, yourself, Jason. That’s not what Emily told me. She told me you two are more than best buds. A lot more,” she fibbed, hoping to get a rise out of Jason. “Don’t you dare hurt my friend, Jason. If you do, you’ll have to deal with me. I’m going out to her house before I go to CU and see what’s wrong. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, pal.
“Just for the record, Jason, I hate it that you’re lying to me. I know when you’re lying because your left ear turns red, and it’s red as a beet right now. So there!”
Jason watched as the tall redhead stomped out of the kitchen and back to the paint department. He finished his Coke and threw it in the trash bin. He hated it that he’d lied to Stacey. But in the scheme of things, what other choice did he have at the moment? None. He felt like crap.
Back at the loading platform, Jason eyed the bales and bales of peat moss that still had to be unloaded. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the two women who had been eyeing the wilted petunias. They were on to the last of the flats of Gerbera daisies, which looked just as sorry as the petunias. The young guy had moved from the clay pots to the retractable hoses.
They were on to him. He could feel it, sense it in every pore of his body.
Jason swiped at his forehead again and walked over to where his boss was talking