Her smirk froze for a moment, still there but not quite genuine anymore. She stared at him for a long minute, and he held her gaze, waiting.
“I don’t sleep much anymore,” she said, turning away again.
He waited for more, but it seemed that was all she was going to give. He nodded. “Anymore,” he repeated, not exactly a question because he knew he wouldn’t get an answer.
“Yep,” Jenna replied, picking at the splinters in the wood railing.
Her tough exterior was going up again. He could see that, now. The change in her eyes, the way they softened in those moments when she let her guard down, and how quickly they went cold again when she put it back up.
“Plus, my roommate’s boyfriend is a controlling dick, and he comes by every morning at 6am to make sure she isn’t late to her classes,” she rolled her eyes.
“Wow. Seriously?”
“Yep,” she replied, popping her lips hard on the “p” and continuing her rant. “It used to piss me off, but I decided to make the most of the unwanted human alarm clock and start jogging.”
“Really?” he asked, trying to picture her as an athlete.
She made a face. “Yeah. I mean, don’t get me wrong, jogging is the worst, but at least it’s better than starting every day being the one-woman audience of a couple constantly on the verge of either a nasty break-up or passionate make-up sex.”
He cringed at the visual, but chuckled. “I kinda like running,” he said. “I ran a lot as a kid. Spent a lot of time outside. It’s good for you. Relaxing, too.”
“True,” she conceded with deep sigh, like she hated to admit that jogging wasn’t actually the worst activity in the world. “Maybe you should join me sometime.”
He looked at her, and she was tossing tiny bits of the wooden handrail into the water again, like the statement was just a passing thought and his acceptance or rejection held no weight to her at all.
“That’d be cool,” he muttered anyway.
He couldn’t help but notice how seamlessly she had changed the subject away from her sleeping habits and onto something completely harmless. He might have been irritated by the evasion if he wasn’t so jealous of her skill. He would have to figure out how she did that so smoothly.
Questions still burned in his mind, but he noted that Jenna never seemed to pry into his personal life. He was beginning to like that about her, so he decided to offer her the same courtesy, choosing instead to rest in the serene silence of the night for a little longer.
They didn’t have to talk; presence was enough for them both. For now, they could simply be two heavily-guarded insomniacs, taking solace in the stars together.
“GUESS WHAT!”
The exclamation echoed through the silent library, earning an aggressive shush from a nearby student.
“Sorry,” Jenna said to the girl with an exaggerated eye roll as she turned back to Jacob. “But seriously, though. Guess what,” she said in a more reasonable volume, smile returning.
Jacob set down his pencil and looked up at her from his book. He had decided to spend Sunday morning catching up on the homework he had fallen behind on after all of the late nights with Jenna, job searching, and Saturday being eaten up by therapy, parole, and finishing up the project he and Callie had to present to their psychology class on Monday.
Spending the evening with Callie had been awkward, to say the least. Ever since the Movie Theater Debacle, things were tense between them. Callie was already a quiet person, but now her short replies and lack of chit-chat felt glaringly pointed. He wanted to broach the subject, smooth the waters and explain that Jenna wasn’t so bad once you got to know her, but there was a large part of him that didn’t want to step one toe into the drama between the two women. He wasn’t prepared for what waves of terror that might send crashing down on him, so for the time being, he decided to ignore it.
Jenna was nearly bouncing with excitement at this point, waiting for him to “guess what.”
He chuckled at the sight. “What?” he asked, allowing her to spill whatever it was she had bottled up.
“Okay! So, remember that conversation we had about free will?” she asked, sliding into the chair beside him.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Well, my philosophy test ended up being an essay question,” she continued, struggling to keep her voice low in her excitement, “and we had to write a persuasive essay about whatever great philosophical question we wanted. So! I wrote about free will – of course taking the stance that humans do have free will,” she added with snark, and he smirked. “And I got a B!”
“Wow,” he said, trying to match her impossible standard of enthusiasm. “That’s really great. Congrats.”
“It’s totally all because of you,” she said. “I mean, if we hadn’t stayed up so late talking about that stuff, I would have been completely clueless about what to write.”
“I’m sure you would have figured it out,” he said.
“No, seriously. I would have been clueless,” she laughed. “So, hey, I was thinking maybe I could take you to dinner? To thank you?”
“Jenna, that’s not necessary,” he shook his head. “I’m just glad to have been helpful.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, blah blah blah,” she stood up from her chair. “Come on. I’m taking you to dinner.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but she gave him a look that told him she wasn’t taking no for an answer. He sighed. “Fine,” he smiled. “If you insist.”
“I insist,” she crossed her arms, waiting for him to gather his books.
They reached the cafeteria, and Jenna walked straight past the doors without a pause.
“Wait, where are we going?” Jacob asked, gesturing to the building.
Jenna glanced between him and the cafeteria and made a face. “What? No, I’m not taking you to the caf,” she sneered the word. “I know a place. Come on,” she said, heading for her car in the parking lot.
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of an aged, diner-style burger joint with a large, neon sign that read “Big Al’s.” A bell was tied to the handle of the door, and it chimed pleasantly as they stepped into the restaurant.
“This place has the best milkshakes,” Jenna announced as she led him to a table in the nearly empty room, bypassing the “please wait to be seated” sign.
“Aren’t we supposed to –”
“Heya, Jenny Bean!” an exuberant voice bellowed from across the room in a thick southern accent.
The large woman hustled over to greet them as Jenna took a seat and Jacob hesitantly followed her example.
The waitress dropped her notebook into her apron pocket, tucking the pencil in her tight black bun as she wrapped her arms awkwardly around Jenna’s chair, pulling her in for a hug.
“Well don’t you just get prettier and prettier by the day,” she commented, smooching Jenna on the cheek. Her eyes met Jacob’s and a wide smile lit up her face. “Oh! Who’s your friend?”
Jenna returned her grin and said, “This is Jacob. He’s a friend from school. He helped me get a B on my philosophy exam, so I’m repaying him with dinner.”