After Hours

The Million Dollar Question

January 17, 1971

Sunday morning, uneventful as usual. Jane was in bed earlier than anticipated, it was unlike her to be in bed falling asleep before midnight on Saturday night but the party didn't excite her like they normally did. She thought to herself that maybe she had outgrown the trio she spent all of her time with, she gazed upon her nightstand to see her lighter adoring the Italian flag she had gotten from a tourist stand. On a whim, Sandra asked her to go to Milan with her as she was picking up a custom Valentino dress she had ordered a few months prior for a fancy schmancy political event she was attending as her father's guest. Jane couldn't even fathom the thought of having the money to do something like that but was glad to go and live vicariously through Sandra for a few hours. Sandra left Italy with a dress that cost almost a year's rent, and all Jane had from her trip was a measly little lighter.

She rotated the spark wheel, igniting the wick and allowing the flame to stagnate for a few seconds before blowing it out. Jane opened the bottom drawer of her nightstand and placed the lighter in it, promptly closing the drawer afterward.

Her alarm clock read 9:57, she was going to have a hell of a time getting up tomorrow but that would be future Jane's problem. She wanted to talk to Denise but as she worked that weekend, it would probably be some time before she was up and moving around. To pass the time, Jane made breakfast for herself, and just before she sat down, her bookshelf caught her eye. More so, what was sitting on top of her bookshelf caught her eye. '1984' was something she hadn't read in quite a while. She walked over and gently took it in her hand, worried that it might disintegrate in between her fingers. She examined the front and back cover, wiping off the dust that had accumulated from years of neglect. When she opened the front cover, she smiled to herself. There was a note scribbled on the inside of the front page,

'If you liked Animal Farm, you'll love this one.
Happy Birthday
Brian'

She had forgotten that was her birthday gift one year, her fourteenth birthday to be exact. She had thrown away her copy of 'Animal Farm' years ago, but she could never bring herself to get rid of this one. In fact, the three science fiction novels sitting on top of her bookshelf were the only ones she kept. As she re-read the inscription over and over again, she remembered why she never threw those three books away. They were all gifts from Brian.

With the book still in her hand, she sat on her couch, cozying up and turning past the author biography and copyright page to read a book that had become a lost memory to her.

What felt like minutes of reading, soon became hours and the phone rang. She groaned a little before realizing a certain you-know-who could be on the line, tapping his fingers on his thigh as he waited for her to pick up.

She sprang from the couch as the end of the third ring echoed through the hallway, after almost running into the wall, she grabbed the handset to hold up to her ear, "Hello?" She said, covering the speaker to hide her heavy breathing.

"Did I wake you from your drunken slumber?" To Jane's disappointment, it was Denise. It wasn't a total disappointment as she did want to talk to her anyway, but Denise wasn't at the top of her list at the moment.

Jane laughed softly, "No, I've been up for a few hours. I left early last night."

Denise stopped what she was doing and raised her eyebrows, "You? Jane West left a party early? Hold on, what's today's date? I gotta write this down."

"Oh shut up, I don't know.. after the party at Freddie's, it just wasn't.. fun anymore."

"Now you know why I stopped going to those types of things." Denise continued with what she was doing, it crossed her mind that maybe Jane was going to start being true to herself again. It would be weird as she had always known her with her mostly 'Jeanette' personality, but she knew Jane would be happier in the end.

Jane leaned against the wall next to the phone, shrugging her left shoulder to prop the handset against her ear while she picked at her chipping mauve nail polish, "Yeah, I understand what you mean now." She was sure that Denise was going to ask eventually so she might as well fess up and tell her herself, "Brian came in the other night after he walked me home."

"You must've read my mind as I was just about to ask you what exactly happened after you two left the party the other night." Denise couldn't hide the increasing pitch of her voice, she was already imagining some of the dirty details that Jane was going to tell her.

"He came inside to wait for a taxi to take him home, we talked and joked just like we used to, and then he went home." Jane intentionally left the part out where they locked eyes intensely for a few moments, and how it made her feel so alive to have his eyes on her like that.

"That's it? No kiss of long awaited passion? No incredible fuck that woke the neighborhood? It's always the quiet ones that surprise you with that kinda stuff." Denise wasn't very good at hiding disappointment either.

Jane laughed, "God, no. Why would something like that happen? C'mon, Brian and I are just friends and we always have been."

"You even said it yourself, Brian had a crush on you all those years ago. You don't think there's any lingering feelings? If he had a crush on you then, he sure as hell does now. Trust me, I've seen pictures of you at fourteen."

"Ha ha, sooo funny. No, there's absolutely no way he still has one." At least, that's what Jane was telling herself. If she said it enough out loud, maybe she would believe it.

Denise chuckled, "Now I have to ask this, do you have a crush on him?"

Jane was silent for a moment, her gut reaction was to say no. Old habits die hard. She thought about the question for a bit before replying, "No, I do not, it's Brian. Like I said, we're just friends."

One more denial and it might turn into the truth in her mind.

"Alright, whatever you say." Denise didn't believe her, she saw how easy it was for those two to become comfortable with each other again after not talking for eight years. There was something going on between those two, just what was the million dollar question.

"I'm willingly telling you this so you aren't told second hand and get the wrong idea, hopefully we'll go to lunch next week. I asked him but he hasn't given me an answer yet." As she spoke, she intertwined her finger into the phone cord.

"What do you mean you asked and he hasn't answered?"

"Well, after his taxi arrived, he forgot his jacket and I ran outside to give it to him. I slipped my phone number in his pocket, maybe he hasn't seen it yet."

As this conversation was taking place, about seven and a half kilometers west of 10 Smith Street, there was a certain gentleman who was sitting on his couch. He was staring at the pink slip of paper he found in his pocket at the wee hour of Saturday morning, mustering up the courage to dial it and ask her to lunch.

"Possibly.. you know to keep me updated if anything changes, right?" Denise smirked to herself.

Jane couldn't help but sigh, "Yes, I promise to keep you updated, even though nothing is going to change between us.. honestly."

What a fool to deny something so obvious.

"Whatever you say.. I think you're full of it and you know you are."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She asked defensively.

"Everybody at that party saw the way you two looked at each other and you asked him out with a cute note, did you use one of the little pink slips of paper that you spray with your perfume?"

"Maybe.."

"I've made my point then. I know you're going to keep denying it as long as you can but eventually you have to admit that you've got the hots for the star man."

"I don't have the hots for him." She wasn't totally lying, in her mind that phrase meant you just wanted to sleep with somebody and she knew deep down she wanted so much more with him. A sweet and gentle man like him only comes round once every lifetime and now she has one that would do absolutely anything for her. Even her mother told her that she needed to hang onto him.

If only she had listened.