Perfect Symmetry

I was still clutching the necklace when I opened the door to my apartment and was ambushed by Hailey.

“Let me see it!” she squealed immediately.

“What?” I asked in a dazed fashion.

Hailey rolled her eyes. “God you’re useless. Let me see that bracelet you raved about.”

I held my wrist out limply as she examined the crystal features, oohing and ahing at all the right places. I nodded with her as she talked about how Viktor was a fantastic boyfriend and clearly really liked me. All the while, my other fist was enclosed around Jon’s gift. Hailey noticed this, and the gushing began again.

“Wow! Did he get you this too? I actually like the necklace even more than the bracelet,” Hailey sounded impressed as she gently pried the necklace out of my hand and gazed at the ornate patterns on the silver netting of the dream catcher.

I had to tell her now. But I knew she would read into it, so I took a deep breath and let her finish smothering it with compliments before muttering, “Jon gave it to me,” and rushing past her into the kitchen.

I couldn’t get away that easy, I knew that much. Hailey’s feet were padding across the floor to get to me.

“What?” she yelped, snatching the necklace up to look at it again. “What do you mean, Jongot it for you?”

I sighed. “I mean what I said. Jon dropped it off downstairs and the guy at the desk just gave it to me now.”

“But doesn’t Jon have a girlfriend now?” Hailey demanded.

I sucked in a breath. “Yes, as a matter of fact.”

“And don’t you have a lovely, perfect boyfriend named Viktor Stalberg?” she continued.

I saw where she was going with this. “Yes.”

“Then why are you looking at that necklace with those puppy dog eyes?” Hailey demanded.

I threw the necklace onto my kitchen counter and stomped to my room and threw myself onto the bed dramatically. “Are you serious, Jazz? This is a little dramatic, isn’t it?” Hailey had of course followed me into my room.

I buried my face in my pillow in response. “I can’t do it, Hailey.”

“What can’t you do, honey?” she patted my back encouragingly.

I moved the pillow so I could look at her properly.

“Do you remember watching Gilmore Girlswith me and how we both wished that we had two amazing guys like Jess and Dean to care about us, just like Rory? Well it’s stupid. And confusing. And I totally sympathize with Rory now. I mean, how is she supposed to choose between two great guys? Oh my god. Viktor is Dean and Jon is Jess. Can’t you see it?!?” I ranted, my voice becoming less and less coherent as I went along.

Hailey sighed. “You do realize you’re sympathizing with a fictional character, right?”

“Yes,that’s normal, you know. That’s what directors and writers want,” I snapped irritably.

She held her hands up in defense. “Okay, and first of all, calm down; I was just checking. And second of all, you’re exaggerating. Jon and Viktor are real people. Jess and Dean, while they seem real, are not. And third of all, Jon has a girlfriend, meaning he is not an option. Viktor is a sweetheart; don’t you think this is an easy decision?”

I groaned. “I’m tired of everybody saying that to me. If that’s true, then what am I supposed to do when Jon pins me up to a wall and breaths all over me? Or when he sends me beautiful, romantic gifts? Or when he looks at me with those damn dark brown eyes?”

“Oh, calm down, you drama queen. You’re not in some Tom Hanks romantic comedy movie. You have a great guy, and another one of your friends gave you a nice necklace. End of story,” she said with finality.

I looked at her suspiciously. “What happened? I thought you were all for me and Jon hooking up?”

She shrugged. “I may have talked about it...you know, and figured that it makes more sense for you to be with a really great guy rather than one that can’t make up his mind.”

I frowned. “When you say you talked...do you mean with Seabrook?”

Hailey blushed. “Maybe.”

“Wow, way to just advertise my personal life,” I growled.

“Hey, he just wanted to help, okay? And he told me some not-so-flattering stories about Mr. Toews, and I’ve decided that I don’t want you with him.”

I sat up, now paying full attention. “Well thanks for your input.”

“Don’t be so mean; I just want to help. In fact, if you’ll get ready, Brent wanted to take us both out to lunch,” she stood up and patted my head condescendingly.

“I’m not going,” I huffed childishly.

Hailey laughed. “Oh yes you are. Brent will drag you out of here kicking and screaming whether you like it or not.”

Since she was probably right, I took a quick shower and donned jeans and a sweatshirt and sulked until he got here. I heard the doorbell ring when Hailey was in the bathroom, but I refused to go and answer the door, even when Hailey yelled at me from inside the bathroom.

She eventually stomped out at opened the door. I could hear her apologizing earnestly to Brent, and then I heard the door shut. This meant they were both inside. I knew this, and still kept my gaze on my phone, where I was playing Tetris furiously.

“Jazz, Brent’s here. Are you getting changed or are you wearing that ratty sweatshirt to lunch?” Hailey’s voice pierced through the air.

I glared at my fingers. “I’m ready.”

A hand reached for my phone and yanked it away before I could stop them. I finally looked up in indignation. “Hey! I was on a roll.”

“Please, you were on level 2,” Hailey rolled her eyes after glancing at my screen.

“Whatever,” I retorted, folding my arms across my chest. “Hey, Brent.”

Seabrook nodded. “Hi, Jazz. Look, I’m sorry if-”

Before he could launch into his heartfelt apology and his sincere defense of Hailey’s character and intentions, I broke in.

“So where are we going to lunch?” I asked in a falsely bright lunch.

Brent cleared his throat. “Just this little French café a couple miles from my place.”

I fluttered my eyelashes. “Ooh, a French café. I hope I’m not overdressed.”

Hailey made an annoyed sound in her throat. “Stop acting stupidly, Jazz.”

“Stop advertising my personal life, Hailey,” I snapped in return.

Brent threw his hands up. “If you two are going to fight, my money’s on Jazz.”

Hailey shot him an angry look. “Wow, thanks for the loyalty.”

I grinned triumphantly. “So, Brent, how many people have you told about my personal predicament?”

He looked at me earnestly. “Nobody, I swear.”

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “I know teammates gossip to each other. Just tell me who you told and I promise I won’t be angry at you or Hailey.”

“Liar,” Hailey whispered loudly.

I glared at her again, and she stuck her tongue out at me.

“Hey, calm down, okay? Hailey was just asking for some advice, and I gave it to her. She never really said it was you until I asked. Although the fact that she though she could hide who it was from me was pretty funny,” Seabrook gave Hailey a sly smile.

There was a moment of silence and I mulled this over.

“I just don’t want everyone to know how stupid I’m being,” I said quietly, staring at my toes.
Brent sat down on the sofa and put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. His mouth curled into a smile.

“Nobody but the three of us will ever know,” he assured me.

I nodded, convinced of his loyalty. “Okay. Just let me get dressed before we go, okay? No way am I going out to lunch like this.”
Hailey did a fist pump at this and then shoved me to my room.
~
Winter break continued, and I saw Viktor from time to time, but I was very careful not to encourage him too much. After all, I still didn’t know what I wanted from this relationship. If it even was a relationship. There were several New Years parties that were mentioned briefly, but I decided to not commit to any of them and was dead set on just sitting at home and watching the ball drop in Times Square just like every other loser, but then Viktor called me up two days before.

“Hey, Viktor,” I smiled into my cell phone when his name popped up on the screen.

“Hi, Jazz,” his voice was richer than mine, somehow. “What are you up to?”

I sighed mockingly. “Well, I’ve just finished making the apple tart desserts and the foie gras appetizers, and I’m just about to start on those mashed potatoes and turkey for tonight.”

“Wow, hard at work I see,” Viktor chuckled.

I glanced at my laptop, where an episode of Gilmore Girlswas paused.

“Oh yes, I’m quite the diligent worker,” I joked, “what’s up?”

“I was wondering whether you had figured out what you were doing for New Years Eve,” Viktor explained.

I gasped. “Viktor Stalberg; you’ve already spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with me, and now you want to spend New Years together? What kind of woman do you think I am, sir?”

He laughed at that. “The kind who spends all her holidays with very handsome men.”

“Oh? I didn’t know Sharpie was spending New Years with you,” I replied wickedly.

“Well in that case I had better go ask somebody else,” Viktor’s voice was dangerously hot.

“Let’s not be hasty,” I said quickly, “what did you have in mind?”

“Not a party,” Viktor admitted, “something quiet, just the two of us?”

I smiled subconsciously. “That sounds suspiciously romantic. How many girls have you taken on this same date?”

“You’re the first, believe it or not. So can I pick you up at nine?” he asked politely.

I grinned. “Absolutely.”

“Dress warm,” he warned me before hanging up.
~
I holed up in my apartment for a couple of days. I decided a need a bit of hermit time to finish the year off quietly. It was the last day of the year, and I thought I had been successful at not leaving the apartment at all, until I heard Seabrook and Hailey get home, giggling and moaning quite loudly. I heard her bedroom door slam and then her bedsprings began to creak. It was only four in the afternoon, for God’s sake. They probably assumed I was out, because neither of them was holding back. Ugh.

I crept out of the apartment rather sneakily with by handbag, and closed the door behind me and decided to take an impromptu walk to a coffee shop for a nice scone and a cappuccino. That sounded really good in my head, so I wrapped my San Jose Sharks sweatshirt around me tighter and walked a couple blocks to my regular shop.

“Can I have a cappuccino? And a raisin scone?” I gave the girl behind the counter a warm smile, but she ignored me and when I told her my name, she spelled it Jasslike an idiot and I wanted to throw something at her.

I sat down in the buttery leather seats they had and pulled out a book from my bag and began to read. The music was perfect, and I sank myself into Jane Austen’s world. I read for about hour, most of my coffee drunk and only a couple bites of my scone left, until somebody interrupted me.

“Take off that sweatshirt immediately,” a deep, familiar voice said.

I forced myself out of the mind of Mr. Darcy and looked up rather reluctantly. When I saw who it was, I wanted to duck my head back into Pemberley. Jonathan was offering me a smile and was holding a cup of coffee in one large hand.

“Excuse me?” I choked awkwardly, clutching my sweatshirt protectively.

Jon’s smile faded slightly. “It’s got the Sharks’ logo on it,” he gestured to explain.

I released a breath that I didn’t realize I had been holding on. I released my sweatshirt and offered him a small smile.

“Oh. Right. Well, no matter how much all you Blackhawks try, the Sharks will be my number one team forever,” I tried to loosen up, pulling my legs up onto the chair and hugging them to my chest.

“Can I sit?” Jon asked quietly, glancing at the identical seat across from me.

I nodded. “Go ahead.” I put my plate back onto the coffee table that separated me from him and looked out the window absently.

“Did you get my gift?” he queried after a moment of silence.

I turned to look at him. He looked good, with a clean-shaven face and bright eyes. His clothes were warm looking, and his scarf was grey.

“I did. It’s lovely,” I smiled shyly. I pulled back my scarf to reveal the necklace settled on my sternum.

Jon smiled brightly. “It looks good on you.”

“Thank you so much for it, Jon, it means a lot,” I hinted. After all, I was desperate to find out what it meant in the first place.

He took a sip of his coffee and I fidgeted impatiently.

“Well, I really wanted to give you something to properly solidify our friendship, Jazz,” Jon said seriously his eyes meeting mine.

I ducked my head embarrassingly. Was it bad that I was expecting him to claim that he had feelings for me? Maybe it was all the Jane Austen in my head. I had to remember that this was Jon, not Mr. Darcy.

“Well I love it,” I grinned quickly to cover up my surprise, “I just feel bad that I didn’t get you anything.”

Jon laughed. “I don’t need anything. Listen, what are your plans for New Years? Kaner is throwing a crazy party at a warehouse downtown, and Danielle and I are going.”

I grimaced. “As appealing as that sounds...Viktor and I are spending tonight together.”

Jon’s face was neutral. “Oh? What do you have planned?”

“I don’t actually know,” I admitted, fiddling with my sleeve, “it’s sort of this surprise thing he’s planned.”

He nodded. “Ah. Well, I just thought I’d ask.” Then, he stood up to go, pulling on his jacket and picking up his coffin.

“I’ll see you later, Jazz,” Jon smiled slightly.

I nodded. “See you next year.”

Jon’s smile widened at that, and he turned and left the coffee shop. I watched him walk away from the window, and felt a strange sense of loss that I didn’t fully understand. To recover, I ordered another scone and returned to Pemberley and the lovely Mr. Darcy.