Page 37 of I'm Not Done with You Yet

I shrug. “Sure, I guess. Have you told Ani?”

Her smile loses a bit of wattage. “No. I don’t really know how she’ll take it. Does she seem slightly off to you the past few weeks?”

You mean while you and her brother wrap tentacles aroundeach other in front of her? Instead, I shrug again. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“I think there’s a lot of history between the two of them. Like, a lot of tension or something. I’ll let Ivan break the news to her. He’ll know how to deal with it.” She says this with such confidence that it makes me want to stab her. Already she sounds like a wife, a good Christian wife who adores and respects her husband and trusts that he’ll be able to handle everything. I can hardly believe this is the girl I’ve been obsessed with for the past three months. I really, really need Ivan to disappear from her life.

Once she’s out of my room—imagine that, me wanting Thalia out of my room—I call Antoine. Come on, you useless prick. He picks up on the second ring.

“Allo?”

“Antoine, it’s getting worse,” I say.

“Janet?”

This fucking guy, I swear. “Jane. Listen, Thalia is so—so dominated by this guy, she’s not even thinking straight anymore. I think he might propose to her, and if he does, you know what she’s like; she’s too nice to say no. And the way he is with her, it’s like he’s controlling all her thoughts and actions. Antoine, please, you need to help.”

He makes a sound that sounds suspiciously like a whine. “She won’t pick up my calls, Janet. I must have called over ten times, and she won’t pick up.” His words come out thick around the edges, like he’s been drinking. I guess the guy does own a bar.

She won’t pick up his calls, so he’s done trying? I grind my teeth with frustration. Another thought prickles at the edge of my mind: Thalia never mentioned Antoine calling her. It hurts.Isn’t that what friends do? Share things like this with each other? Have I been relegated to even less than a friend? I wonder if she shares such things with Ivan, if she’s confided in him about Antoine so he can wrap her in his tennis-muscled arms and coo at her comfortingly.

“Janet, I’ll talk to you later. I have to take care of this shipment,” he says, and as he hangs up I can hear him shouting in French at someone in the background.

I knock on Thalia’s door, my mind whirring. She carries a curling iron in one hand as she opens the door. “What’s up, girlie? Do you need anything?” She doesn’t wait for me to reply before going back to the mirror and wrapping a lock of hair around the iron.

“I ran into Antoine, and he mentioned that he’s been calling you?” I blurt out.

She freezes for a few seconds, then her hair starts steaming and she curses and quickly unwraps it from the iron. She puts the iron down with a sigh and turns to face me. “When did you see Antoine?”

I think fast. “Uh, this morning, when I was out for... a walk.”

Thalia frowns, and I wonder if I’ve blown it. If she can read me as easily as she used to be able to. “Where?”

“Just outside the college.”

A look of concern creases her lovely features. “Oh my god, do you think he’s stalking me? Why would he be here? His bar’s all the way in Jericho and his apartment’s in Summertown. He has no reason to be anywhere near here except me.”

Try to save the situation, Jane.“Um, well, don’t you think it’s kind of romantic?”

Thalia looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. Can’t say I blameher. “No! My god, can you imagine if he ran into me and Ivan? I would be mortified. Ivan has no patience for any drama. He comes from a huge Chinese-Indonesian family and he says they’ve got enough drama to last a lifetime. He’s broken up with past girlfriends over less drama. He’ll dump me for sure.”

For sure?I almost ask hopefully. I manage to stop myself in time. “I see. Well, I’m sure it was nothing. Antoine’s a good guy.”

“But he talked to you? He mentioned he’s been calling? I’ve been avoiding his calls because I’ve been with Ivan this whole time and—” She shrugs. “I guess I don’t really have much else to say to Antoine.”

“He only mentioned it in passing. I’m sure he’s fine. I’ll leave you to it.” I can’t leave her room fast enough. My whole body is wound up tight with nervous energy. This is it. I can break her and Ivan up while at the same time making her so angry with Antoine that there’s no way they’d get back together.

Back in my room, I dial his number again, pacing as I wait for him to answer. When he does, I don’t even bother with a greeting. “Come to our ball tonight. At Pemberton. Thalia will be there and she misses you. When she sees you in a tux, she’s going to lose it. She’ll leave him for sure.”

He actually laughs at this, his voice going a bit high from excitement. “I love balls.” I hate all men, I really do. Why do we let them roam around freely?

“Great,” I manage to bite out. “Dress nicely. Be your handsome self. Break this awful spell she’s been under.”

“I will try. Thank you, Jane. Thank you.” So the prick knows my name after all.

Thalia and I have agreed to meet up ahead of the ball, so fifteen minutes before the ball, I knock at her door. The sight of her. It’s too much. She’s wearing a dress the color of crushedsapphires, and it makes her skin look luminous. Her hair is done up in intricate braids, with a few loose tresses framing her face. She’s gone for smoky eyes, and it’s transformed her into something enchanting. A work of art.

“What do you think?” she says, twirling like I’m her date, like she did all this for me.

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