Blind Fate

It had been about three weeks since Jake has spoken to Thaliana about the blind date, and since she hadn’t tried to kidnap them and stuff them in a locked room, he assumed she had let the subject go. Jake’s heart was still in recovery. He hadn’t gone out of the house much at all in the past weeks—aside from going to work, walking Daisy or going for (lots and lots of) runs. Jake wouldn’t admit to himself that anything was wrong, but he still thought about Lycoris all the time.

Which is stupid and pathetic, he told himself. We didn’t even talk for more than an hour or two.

He knew that he would just have to forget her. He wanted, desperately, to blame the whole fiasco on his ex, but he knew it wasn’t her fault. He didn’t want to hurt Hayden any more than Ly did, to be honest. He’d wanted to keep a friendship with her but realized that it was impossible after she chased away every single girl he’d ever dated. She was the type to make threatening phone calls—even to first dates. He was still a little surprised that Hayden didn’t manage to find out that he’d been out with Lycoris. Den was a bit of a computer whiz—he supposed, though, that if there wasn’t anything to find, she wouldn’t find anything. Ly and Jake hadn’t spoken since they decided on a cover-story for Thaliana.

And how well that worked out.

Jake promised himself that he would just forget about Lycoris, about Hayden, and enjoy himself. It was almost Christmas, his favorite time of year. Tomorrow he would be driving to Rhode Island, where his parents had moved after he left for college. I don’t even have to see Hayden when I go home anymore, he thought happily. It was one perk, at least. He missed the quiet of his old home in Kent, Vermont—all of his old friends were there as well, but most of his friends had also been friends with Hayden and since she moved home most of them had chosen the ease of her friendship than trying to keep up with Jake. He didn’t mind much; once he left home things weren’t the same. He didn’t ever keep in close touch with anyone in particular. His friends were mostly people he’d met in college or at the law firm.

One such friend from MacDonald, Drakos and Dunne was having a Christmas party tonight. It would be his first time really going out since his date with Ly, and he was readying himself for the onslaught of people. Jake had never been to one of Alice’s gatherings before, but he heard that she threw a pretty fantastic party. There would be eggnog and friends and Christmas decorations and probably a fair chance of getting hammered. All these things and more Jake welcomed. He needed to get out of this slump.

Outside 34 Gordon St. he saw another coworker, Robert, and his girlfriend who he introduced as Natalie. The shook mittened hands and rushed to Alice’s front door, knocking quickly and waiting in the cold as faint Christmas tunes came through the walls. Alice came quickly to the door and ushered them inside, taking their coats and making each of them drinks—a perfect hostess. Robert and Natalie quickly saw someone they knew from another of Alice’s parties and wandered off to chat. Jake asked after Alice’s family and made small-talk until Alice had a revelation—“Ohmygod, Jake!” He blinked at her, surprised.

“What?”

“I just realized something.” She leaned in and he, for the first time, wondered if perhaps the eggnog in her hand was stronger than he supposed. “You have to meet my friend—she would be perfect for you!”

He shook his head fervently as she grabbed his hand and began to drag him through the house, “No, Alice. I really don’t want to be set up—Alice, no. No. No, Alice!” He pulled his hand from hers.

She turned around and begged, “But you two would be perfect! C’mon, just meet her, please?!” And without waiting for a response, she started to drag him again. Resigned to his fate, he decided he’d talk to the girl—who probably didn’t want to be set up by a tipsy friend any more than he did—for a few minutes and then excuse himself. “Hey!” Alice shouted, presumably to the girl she was looking for. “Hey!” He sighed. “Hey, Lycoris! Come over here! There’s someone I want you to meet!”

His heart fell into his stomach.

-----

She looked up from the conversation she was having with someone Jake vaguely recognized—Will or Bill or something like that—with a smile on her face, which promptly faded when she recognized Jake. She looked at shocked as he felt. Alice was chattering at them about how great they would get along, and then skittered away when the doorbell rang above Baby, It’s Cold Outside. He swallowed; his throat felt dry. He took a long drink of his eggnog.

Definitely stronger than I thought, he said to himself. No wonder my head is swimming.

He knew better though—it was her. She looked almost as pretty as she had on their first date. No red lipstick this time, which he liked. She was more beautiful when she let her natural loveliness shine through. The red was in her dress this time, a high-cut 60’s-inspired thing—a style he was partial to, but he knew he’d probably like her in sweats. He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts.

“Hi,” he said cordially.

“Hi.” Her response was almost terse. Her big dark eyes darted around; looking for an escape, but everyone nearby was busy with their own conversations.

“Why are you here?” He asked her. “I’m sorry, that was rude,” he corrected himself immediately.

“I didn’t expect you to be here either, Jake.” His heart did a funny leap in his chest that wasn’t entirely pleasant. “You’ve never been before.”

“No,” he conceded, “I decided this year that I would see what all the hype was about. How do you know Alice?”

She practically glared at him, but there was something else behind the look. “I’ve come to every single one of Alice’s Christmas parties. Thaliana used to host a huge one every year, but when Alice came to work with her, Thaliana realized that Alice was more than happy to do it instead. It’s evolved into a bit more than a work-party though, I’ll admit.” She glanced around her. “It used to be her co-workers and their families.”

“Oh,” he said, quietly. He hadn’t known that Thaliana used to have the parties, or even that she’d ever come to one of Alice’s... Jake never would have come if he’d known there was even a chance of Ly showing up. “Well,” he sighed, “I guess I’ll go. I’m sorry to have ruined your party.” He gave her a sad smile and turned to leave.

She caught his arm. Suddenly he was reminded of the end of their date, of how baffled he’d been when she tried to leave—of how much it had hurt.

“Wait, Jake...” she sounded hesitant, as though she wasn’t certain that she should have stopped him at all. “Wait, can we just... Just talk about this or something? Maybe we can be friends?”

He turned and looked at her. Her brown eyes, full of hope, met his blue ones.

“There isn’t anything to talk about, Ly. We both know that won’t work. I don’t want to come between you and Hayden.” He saw the glow in her eyes fade before he spun and went to the door. He would email Alice later with some excuse. He left the music and warmth of the party, climbed into his car and sped off.

The entire time, and for long after that, he tried to stop seeing the light in Ly’s eyes go out.