Lust at First Sight

It had been a couple of weeks and Jayne was totally immersed at her job. The fight Alex and she had had was completely out the door. She hadn’t seen Alex since then and didn’t seem to care if she saw him again. Somehow with all the ‘trying not to get in deep’, it got her in deep.

Jayne could tell Alex had been feeling the same as well. Why else would he continue to want to see her? Why would keep finding reasons to be with her? She continued to ask herself the same questions. Why was it that she despised him so much that she actually enjoyed it? Why was it she missed his asshole commentary and that obnoxious smirk? It almost disappointed her that Alex took their argument to heart. Almost.

It’s funny how someone can come into someone else’s perfect life, change it, and then leave. It made Jayne realize how dull her life actually was. Wake up, wear a perfect suit, with perfect make-up, and perfect hair. Do the daily news, raise the station’s ratings. Go out with a few girls that she barely even liked, went home and went to bed just to wake up and do it all over again. Jayne thought it was perfect; she had everything made for herself. But after meeting Alex, the black skinny jean wearing, east coast band boy that probably used more hairspray than she did and dropped the F-bomb like he was leaving a bread trail in the middle of the forest, Jayne realized how boring and dull she really was. She was everything Alex joked about; uptight, bitchy and too perfect for her own good.

Now everything seemed dull and Jayne recognized that maybe it wasn’t just her that could make herself happy anymore. Selfishness could only get her so far; Alex was right.

“Knock knock,” a high-pitched voice sang from Jayne’s office door. Jayne sat in her desk, clad in a pair of tight dress pants and a peach silk shirt. A pair of gold, dangling earrings swung at her neckline as she looked up at Kelly standing in the doorway.

“Hi Kelly,” Jayne commented distractedly as she read over an e-mail she needed to respond to.

“Good job today.” Jayne smiled thanks. “We all get off later tonight and a bunch of us are going to Luckie’s at seven. You know, lucky number seven!”

Jayne laughed at Kelly. There were always a lot of drink specials at Luckie’s Bar on the 7th of the month; always a great time there especially Friday nights. “Sounds good. I’m staying for the evening news anyways so I’ll leave with you all.”

“Awesome. See you later, girl,” Kelly waved and shut the door behind her. Jayne immersed herself in her work, not really excited to go out later but ready to have a fucking drink.

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The girls all went to Luckie’s bar immediately after work. Jayne had her suit jacket thrown over her shoulder as the group of them walked down the sidewalk. All of them were in a great mood, excited that the weekend was there and ready to have some fun that night.

“Welcome to Luckies, ladies. I’ll buy you some drinks on the house. Lucky seven!” a man that the girls sat down next to said charmingly.

“Seven!” they all cheered, raising their drinks that they just received. Jayne downed her drink, along with her five other friends and slammed the glass down on the table. Smoothing out her shirt, she scanned the crowd that was already gathering inside of the bar. All sorts of eyes were eyeballing Jayne’s group, probably trying to figure out which girl they wanted to be their “lucky” one that night. With each passing minute, it became darker outside and louder inside. Music, laughing and yelling, all part of the usually Friday night bar scene.

For some reason, Jayne just wasn’t having it. Instead of flattery, annoyance was her tone of the night. Something had been bothering her all day and she didn’t know what. Everything was perfect. Her news cast had been great, like always. Good hair day, like always. On time, like always. Everything was perfect, like always. So it was difficult for the blonde to pin point what had made her mood so not perfect.

“So, Jayne,” Kelly sat back, talking over all the people. “You decide to never call my brother back. I haven’t heard of any other guys…What’s going on in the life of the wonderful, talented, beautiful Jayne Lynden?”

Jayne strained a smile. “Ahh that’s not true!” Marissa smirked. “That sexy guy…what was his name again? You had a quickie in your office,” she winked as all the other girls laughed at Marissa’s comment.

“Alex?” Yolanda wiggled her eyebrows and Jayne laughed. “Tell us about Alex, Jayne.”

“Alex? I haven’t seen him in a long time,” Jayne took a sip from another drink, trying to hide that she wasn’t in as great of a mood as everyone else.

“Well then I guess we can find you someone tonight then?” Kelly smirked. Quickly five pairs of eyes began to check out every man in the bar. “What about that one?” Kelly pointed to the man a couple booths over with some friends. He looked tall and undeniably handsome in the dim lighting. Jayne took a closer look, examining his dark hair, piercing blue eyes and nice build.

“That guy is hhhot,” Caroline commented, exaggerating her words to emphasize how much she agreed. Jayne shrugged, blushed and looked down. “Come on Jayne, you can get any guy you want in here.”

“Yeah, your pants couldn’t fit your ass any nicer,” Marissa joked with a wink. The rest of the girls cracked up and Jayne tried to laugh. She just wasn’t feeling the best; something was still tugging at her brain, she just couldn’t figure it out.

Kelly noticed Jayne’s hesitance and removed the glass from her lips slowly. “What’s up with you tonight, Jayne? You’ve been off all week.”

Jayne looked around at the group she was with apologetically. “You know what girls…I’m…I’m just not feeling that great. Kind of distracted.” She stood up, grabbing her jacket and slipping her arms through the sleeves. “I’ll see you Monday.” Jayne threw a couple bills on the table. “Take that one for me Marissa, okay?” Jayne nodded towards the guy they had picked out earlier. Marissa laughed as Jayne walked away, out of the bar.

Before any of Jayne’s friends could stand up and stop her, Jayne was striding down the city sidewalk. As she marched back to her apartment, Jayne tried to think about anything but everything. Meaning her brain was overloaded but she just didn’t know what it was.

Jayne’s thin fingers ran over her eyelids, smudging her precise make-up job as she waiting for the walk signal to flash so she could cross the street and dash up the stairs to lock herself away in her flat.

It didn’t take Jayne more than two minutes to get out of her work clothes and into sweatpants once she got home. She had scrubbed the make-up off of her face and her hair was up in a messy bun. Her clothes were thrown messily around the room but she didn’t care; Jayne stepped over the pile of pants, into living room.

Jayne just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. She was doing amazing at work, had some decent friends, and made very good money. Nothing was necessarily going wrong in her life. Then why was she so miserable? Miserable was all Jayne seemed to be since Alex had shown up and disappeared in her life. Alex…

The sounds of Jayne’s padding feet echoed through her quiet apartment as she went to stand by the window. Below her the city was busy. There were plenty of people walking along the streets, cars and taxis buzzed by and the light lit up the late evening sky. She looked behind her, into her apartment. It was quiet. It was too quiet. Why hadn’t she ever noticed how lonely it was before? She didn’t even have a pet. Even Alex had a dog. Alex…

Backing up from the window, Jayne started pacing around her living room. Each time she rounded the coffee table, she had to step over her briefcase and behind the couch were a pair of her tall black stilettos.

“That’s what I have…” Jayne muttered as she stepped over her heels again. “I have heels.” She turned around and paced back over her laptop case. “I have fucking heels as a pet and a laptop boyfriend. A laptop that fucks me. It fucks me with work and work and work. That’s all I have.”

She ran her fingers through the hair atop her head and then ran them down her face. The sweatpants were pooling at her feet and the sleeves of her sweatshirt kept falling down so she kept pushing them back up.

“Ugh fuck!” she yelled, shoving the sleeves up for the last time and then marching into the kitchen. Yanking the cupboard door open, she got a glass and filled it with water. After taking a sip, she set the glass down and studied the front of her fridge. She ran her eyes over the miscellaneous magnets, few pictures and her calendar.

Work. Every day. It was never ending. All she had to look forward to was work. It never changed, that’s why she didn’t even bother to flip her calendar to the next month. Leaving the kitchen, she started pacing again. The light from the lamps outside shown through the window and the longer she started pacing around, the longer the shadows of her figure grew across her carpet.

Today was the 7th. “The 7th.” She continued to pace around her flat. Jayne looked back at the kitchen, picturing the calendar hanging on the fridge, weighing her down. She looked down at her heels and her laptop, to the calendar where the giant number seven was screaming to her, then back to where she stood. The sleeves of her sweatshirt fell down one more time and a piece of hair she couldn’t keep out of her face swung down in front of her eyes.

Infuriation boiled under her skin. Jayne felt her blood running cold but her body overheating. Teeth clenched. Brain pounding. Insides squirming. An alluring voice echoed through her head “It’s the seventh….it’s the seventh…it’s the seventh…”

Digging her finger nails deep into her skull, Jayne screamed. “Aw FUCK IT!” before tramping back to her closet.

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Jayne slipped her feet into her black heels that had been lying behind the couch. They matched the little black dress she had on, emphasizing her tiny frames and every smooth curve down her body. The heels clicked across the wood flooring as Jayne ran her figures through the loose, blonde curls that cascaded over her shoulders. She had no idea what she was doing…so she continued to pace, only this time in her heels. She didn’t have to step over them anymore; they were out of the way.

Jayne rushed back into her room, checking her smoky make-up job in the mirror. What was she supposed to do now? Jayne studied her bright green eyes, stunted with the fear she tried not let shine through, down to her lips where her classic cherry lips shimmered. Skin flawless, outfit just right, Jayne had no idea what to do next. All she could do is have a stare-down with the fierce blonde staring back at her.

As Jayne looked at her reflection and for the first time in her life, she looked past her reflection. Over her shoulder, to the nightstand. A shiny reflection in the mirror caught her eye. When she slowly turned around Jayne saw a golden key sitting perfectly on a tinny piece of paper. Her heart lurched just as fast her body did.

Almost tripping over herself, Jayne ran to her bedside and took the paper in her hands, studying the ten digits triumphantly. A smiled widened across her face and a proud twinkle rose to her eyes.

Not even a second had passed and her cell phone was already raised to Jayne’s ear. She listened as it rang on and on. “Fuck, fuck answer dammit!” she yelled into the receiver, redialing and listening to it ring again.

Her heart was racing. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. She wanted to put down the phone, get back into her sweatpants and go to sleep. She lowered the phone from her ear, giving up and going—“Hello?”

Jayne’s heartbeat sped up, her breath caught in her throat, her mouth dry. “Hi,” she whispered breathlessly.