Lance bit his lip to keep it from trembling as the tears built up in his eyes. “God. The one thing I said I wouldn’t do…was the first thing I did wrong.”
Lance went to his car, planning to go and apologize.
“Lance!”
His head snapped up when he heard his name. “Oh. Hey Brittany.”
“I couldn’t help but see what happened…I’m sorry.”
“Yeah well…” Lance muttered, hoping she would take the hint and let him be.
“Um…I’m getting a break now…I was wondering if we could do something.”
Lance looked up in surprise. After some careful thought he said the 2 fateful words, “Hop in.”
*-*-*
“You said he’d be here to apologize Jada! Well guess what?! He isn’t here!” Jessica cried out, finishing her sentence in sobs.
“I’m sorry Jessie. I thought…”
“Everybody THINKS something,” she muttered angrily, “but it’s always wrong.”
“I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”
“You’re the one who said I should give him a second chance. But I don’t think it’s gonna last very long.” Jessica wiped her eyes heatedly, cursing for letting her get so emotional about Lance. After all, it was only a dare, not a real commitment. But then, why was she so crushed? Desperate? Or most of all, jealous?
Jada shook her head. “Don’t think like that. You know he’d never want to hurt you like that.”
“But that’s it Jada. He DID,” Jessica said softly.
“Hey guys. Jessie…” Claire trailed off, seeing her friend sitting on the couch. “What’s going on?”
“Come over here,” Jada said, motioning to the kitchen.
Claire nodded and followed her black friend. Once they were out of an earshot though, she blurted, “What happened?”
“Remember what happened to her before? With Brian?”
Claire’s face became one of understanding as she squeezed her eyes shut. “No. Not that again.”
“Well, it happened.”
“With Lance?”
Jada nodded.
“But…Lance? That doesn’t sound like him. I thought he was like sweet and everything.” Claire shook her head.
“Guess we thought wrong.”
“But…I thought he liked her.”
“That’s what I thought. But he’s not here to apologize,” Jada said bitterly. “Guess that ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ saying goes both ways.”
Claire shook her head. “No. I think he does still like her. I think he’s just…I don’t know. Waiting for the right moment.”
“What moment? When Jessie tries to jump off a cliff?” Jada shot back. “She’s…she is, for once in her life, heartbroken. Don’t you get it? She probably fell head over heels over night. He did SOMETHING on that date to get her to change her mind.”
Claire sighed. “I guess you’re right. But maybe he’s just trying to figure out HOW to apologize.”
“I hope so.”
*-*-*
Lance and Brittany walked around the jewelry shop, looking at the beautiful gems glistening in the almost golden light. Brittany looked over at Lance worriedly. She thought that if she asked him out, he would like her. But all she got was a bundle of “Jessie would’ve” and “Jessie loved…” and that drove her crazy. She walked up to Lance. He was looking at a particular ring. Or at least, that’s what he could’ve been looking at. For all she knew he could’ve been looking in space.
“Lance?”
“Jessie would love that ring,” he said softly.
Ok so he WAS looking at the ring.
Brittany snapped. “Lance. Look. I asked you out because I liked you. But I’m getting this huge idea that you like someone else.”
Lance’s eyes dropped to the floor.
“Apologize. Buy her some flowers and go apologize. I know that if she has ANY common sense she’ll forgive you.”
“She won’t.”
“Yes she will.”
Lance looked back at her and shook his head. “She told me…she told me that this happened to her before…and that she was sick of it…then she told me…” he swallowed, “she told me goodbye.”
Brittany stood her ground. “She was just angry then. Go and apologize.”
Lance looked back at the case. Then his eyes sparked. Either that, or it was the sparkling gems. “I’ll do it.”
Brittany smiled. “That’s it.”
Lance managed to smile. “Thanks.”
“Yeah.”
Lance stood up and called for somebody to come and talk to him. A man about 40 years of age stepped up.
“How may I help you today at Goodman Jewelers?”
“I want to get that ring,” Lance said, pointing to the ring he had been looking at.
“Which one?” the man asked, not sure out of the many rings in the case.
“The one with the aquamarine heart in it.”
“Oh this one?” the man said, finally getting it.
“Yeah. That one. How much is that?”
“You’re lucky,” he smiled. “This is the last one we have in stock. I see this is an apology present, am I right?”
Lance nodded.
“I’ll give you a 10% discount on this, on one condition.”
“What?”
“If you can get her back,” the man winked.
Lance smiled. “How much is it then?”
“Hmm…110 dollars.”
Lance sighed. Then he took out his credit card and handed it to the man. “I’ll take it.”
The man smiled and took the card. In exchange, Lance got the ring. Lance let out a long sigh as he examined the ring. The heart was in the middle of 2 small diamonds. The band split into 2 halfway up, then forming the ‘stand’ of the heart. Gold ‘bridges’ went over the space between the split band.
“God I hope this works,” he muttered, taking his credit card back.