Page 83 of Legally Mine

"Sky..."

"Look at everything else we are having to deal with right now!" I cried, tossing several pairs of unmatched socks up into the air in frustration. "We're trying to rebuild our relationship in the middle of all of this shit. If we were smart, we'd just wait until everything settles down. Until Miranda signs the papers and I pass the bar and he's done running for whatever office he wants to run for and my dad is finally stable. And as if that weren't enough, I got a message today confirming that Janette is actually going to show up this week. Kids in tow and everything."

Jane whistled. Even Jane had never met my mother, whose presence in my life was so sporadic she seemed more a product of my imagination than an actual family member. I flopped backward onto the bed, suddenly exhausted. I felt like I was trying to sprint through a marathon.

"Sky?" Jane said finally.

"What?"

"Sit up, will you? This is a nice view, but I have something to say to your face, not your hoo-ha."

I scrambled back up, and tipped the screen so it showed my face clearly. "Sorry. That better?"

Jane smiled. "You have a nice mug. I like to see it when I drop pieces of life-altering wisdom."

"And what wisdom would that be?"

Jane took a dramatic pause, but then suddenly looked much more serious.

"It's not ever going to get easier," she stated clearly. "You and Brandon are complicated people. That's just who you are."

I frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Jane shrugged, her frank yet friendly expression emanating good will through the screen.

"It means you need to grow up, chick. Stop hiding from the truth and face the music. Together."

"Is that what you're going to do?"

Jane's eyes grew wide behind her large black frames, and then she shut them completely. "I haven't the foggiest idea what you are talking about."

I glanced into the living room to make sure that Eric couldn't hear our conversation. But his bedroom door was safely shut, and I could hear the soft thump of electronic music.

I looked back to the screen. "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've just been nice enough to give you time to bring it up, but since you're not, I'm going to have to do the dirty work."

Jane grimaced. "It was just one night. We've done it before."

"That was three years ago, and it was a month, not a night. Plus, the two of you were strangers then. That is clearly not the case now."

"The boy is a walking PSA against STIs," Jane replied as she ducked out of the frame.

"And yet you slept with him." I held a sly finger up to my lips and cocked an eyebrow. "'Methinks the lady doth protest too much'."

"Stop doing that; you look like a James Bond villain." Jane popped up again and pulled her glasses off so she could squeeze the bridge of her nose. "Look, it doesn't really matter, does it? I live in Chicago; he lives in Boston. We're all about to start the busiest years of our lives. And your roommate, bless his skanky ass, is good in the sack, but shit at intimacy."

"So exactly like you, you're saying?" I said as I folded a pair of jeans.

"Oh, don't be so proud of yourself," Jane said. "These emotional barriers are constructed by choice. When I'm ready, I'll take 'em down and dive right in. Eric isn't even aware he has walls up. He isn't aware of anything but his penis."

I glanced back in the direction of Eric's room again, where the door still remained safely shut. The music, however, had gone down. He might have gone to bed. Alone. Same as the last seven days.

"I think you're wrong about that, my friend," I said. "But that's all I'm going to say. It's your business, the two of you. I'm just enjoying my front row seat."

"Don't get too excited," Jane said with a significant eye roll. "It's not going to happen again." She shook her head, refusing to look directly into the camera. "A tiger doesn't change its stripes, Sky. Once a slut, always a slut."

I couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't just talking about Eric.

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