When story comes alive

Part 10.

I slowly turned the key into the lock to our apartment. There was a lot going on in my head and I was about to offload a part of it on Jenna. I was not being selfish but rather the things I was going to tell, concerned her. I entered and saw Jenna lying on the hard wood floor of our living room with her legs perpendicular to the ground leaning against the wall. She turned her face in my direction and I heard a weak 'hi'. I lay down beside her and put my legs up against the wall just like her.

'Cramps?' I asked, turning my neck sideways to look at her. Her hands were on her forehead as if trying to suppress all of the pain back into the body. When cramps hit her every month, I usually found her in unusual positions, sometimes with a pillow under her waist or with a heat bag on her thighs. Today looked like feet elevation day.

She nodded with her palms resting on her eyes.

I was silent for sometime. I did not want to bother her with additional information while she was in pain.

'You are home early,' she said as she looked at me questioningly.

'Hmm.' I replied not wanting to get into the details.

'Give me the deets.'

'Nothing much to tell.' I continued to look at the wall in front of me.

'I am feeling much better now, so you can tell me.' She knew I was lying but I continued to stick to my statement.

'Come on! It will keep me distracted. What's his name? How did the date go and why are you home early?'

I was deciding which part to tell her, so after a short silence I said 'His name is Liam. I don't think the date went very well and I don't know if I am going to hear from him ever again.'

'Why? What went wrong?'

'Nothing.... Just that we did not have much to talk about. I think he may not want to go out with me.'

'You are not helping. You need to practice to be a better liar.' She looked at me intently, trying to read my mind but I turned my head away from her and returned back to staring at the wall.

'If you don't want to tell me, that's alright. I just want to make sure you are okay.' She was back to covering her eyes with her palms.

I knew she was hurt. She was my dearest friend and I did not want to do this to her. So I quickly responded, 'No, it's not that I don't want to tell you. It's just that you are already in pain.' She did not budge and I felt bad for keeping things from her. Finally I looked at her thoughtful for a moment and then let words slowly escape 'Your mom is dating Liam's dad.'

'What?!' her eyes flew open and she looked at me with a jerk. Silence took over for some time before she finally said 'No wonder mom did not set me up with him. That would have been totally....eww.' She shuddered at the thought and both of us laughed with her holding her stomach after the laughter died down.

'From what I heard, they seem to be serious. Once Liam told me about their relationship, all I thought through the date was what you would think and what will be your response.' I slowly added to my narration.

Jenna let out a sigh but did not speak.

'Are you okay?'

'You were thinking about my feelings while I accused you of hiding things from me. Sorry Eva.'

Along with cramps every month, came an emotional and sensitive Jenna, so I just smiled but guilt quickly took over as in fact I was hiding something from her so I blurted out 'What if I have not told you something now but will promise to tell you later?'