Betting Jessica Page 5

  He started to laugh until he realized Jessica had been totally right. Immediately, he regretted his hastily made invitation to Cynthia, knowing that he was in for a long night.

  Erik lasted about twenty minutes before he signaled Peter to save him. He thought they were clear on their codes, but apparently they needed to review them, since instead of rescuing him, Peter brought over another full pitcher. Erik glared to get him the message, but Peter simply dropped off the refill and walked away.

  “Man you are such a grump tonight,” Erik heard him say under his breath.

  Without an excuse to leave, Erik slowly drank his beer while listening to Cynthia’s new workout regime. He was acutely reminded of why he had never found Cynthia attractive. Stifling a yawn, he caught himself glancing over at Jessica. He told himself it was understandable, since lord knew he didn’t want a repeat of the last time she had been smashed; tonight though she seemed to be holding her own pretty well.

  She leaned over the pool table to take her shot and he felt like the one who’d been hit rather than the pool ball. The night seemed to get worse and worse, and certainly wasn’t doing anything for his melancholic mood.

  With a weird sixth sense Cynthia gave a delicate yawn.

  “Hey Erik, it’s getting awfully late for me. Any chance I could get you to drop me home if you’re leaving soon?”

  She smiled coyly at him and finished the last gulp of his beer. Erik sighed inwardly. Since he couldn’t come up with a good excuse, he chose to simply call it a night.

  “At your service,” he said wryly as Cynthia finally slid out of the booth.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jessica woke up the next morning conscious of the fact that much as she had tried not to she had ended up watching Erik and Cynthia gurgle over each other most of the previous night.

  “You know, if you’re not careful, people will start to think you actually like Erik,” Becky had said, cracking herself up over the impossibility.

  “Well, you know, Erik’s just about my favorite person in the whole wide world,” Jessica had simpered sarcastically. “Isn’t he totally the cutest, all muscled out like that? Brains are entirely overrated in my book; give me a good hunk any day… yummy.”

  “It’s a good thing I know you’re joking because otherwise looking at the two of them I expect you’d get your heart broken,” Becky had said.

  Becky and Jessica had stared for a moment at Cynthia and Erik talking and Jessica had been about to say ‘more power to her if she wants him,’ when Becky surprised her by saying “hmmm, that would be interesting. I can almost see it.”

  “Oh come on Beck,” Jess had answered. “Even I wouldn’t wish that on Erik. He may not be a rocket scientist but he’s surely smart enough to see through her.”

  Still, watching them make fools of themselves had made her kind of sick, especially when she watched them walk out together. She missed all her pool shots; lost $20 she didn’t have and grumpily decided to leave. The night, which had been intended to help move her plans forward, had somehow left her feeling so self-conscious that all she wanted to do was go home and hide.

  Now, in the light of day she realized that Becky was probably right about Erik and Cynthia being a perfect fit for each other. In Jessica’s mind Erik and Cynthia were already firmly together. Their life and her life stretched out like two lanes in an Olympic sized swimming pool. In her lane she saw herself in a floral, skirted bathing suit; doing aqua aerobics with a bunch of hefty senior ladies. In their lane, however, the water was filled with rafts and toys; kids were playing Marco Polo and Erik was holding Cynthia in his arms like in one of those tropical vacation brochures.

  No wonder I felt sick last night, she thought. It wasn’t about Erik… it was merely the idea of ending up being someone who wears skirted bathing suits. She tested out a shiver to make sure she really visualized it, and then decided to focus on something a little more positive.

  At least last night she had done well on her new diet; mostly mineral water. Okay, and maybe she had snuck in a couple light beers. Jessica groaned and rolled out of bed. Sunday should be a day of rest, she grumbled to herself. She grabbed the sweat pants she now kept permanently in the doorway, a strategy designed to guilt herself into exercising every time she left her room.

  Who were these people that liked to run, anyway? She had read about them, but never personally met anyone who could claim intimate knowledge of a runner’s high. Jessica was tired of feeling unhealthy though. And if exercise was what it would take to get her back into some of her cuter clothes, then she would find the willpower to keep at it. That included renewing her gym membership, a gym she had joined and quit too many times to mention over the last five years. As Jessica pulled on her sweats she thought back to Thursday and the newest humiliation she had faced trying to win the bet.

  At least the Membership Associate had been new and never met her before. In fact, she realized that enough time had passed for the entire staff to turn over. Sven (well, anyway, that’s what she had called him in her head), the Arian sales guy, had given her the spiel and then taken her on a tour.

  Experienced by now with the way the system worked, she was impatient to just get the new rates and sign on the dotted line. However, she was reluctant to let on that she wasn’t a novice and so she tagged along behind Sven as he pointed out the weight equipment and the aerobic rooms. Thankfully Sven’s back was to her most of the time; otherwise he probably would have become a bit annoyed at the way she kept rolling her eyes.

  “Over here is our brand new resistance training equipment. It uses your own body force to maximize the benefit of the movement.”

  Blah, blah, blah, Jessica thought. She was pretty sure that equipment had been around last time she was in. She was a bit curious as to what the big colorful balls were doing all over the gym floor though. They looked like those inflatable bouncing balls you used to sit on in Kindergarten. Maybe it was some kind of balance training. They certainly made the place seem more colorful and fun, sort of like going to Cirque de Soleil.

  Sven was now busy extolling the virtue of the new video equipment. This, in fact, had come a long way. She figured if she timed her workouts right she might be able to catch Ian Drake in re-runs of My Life as a Superhero; something she was certain would improve her workouts. Sven finally made it to the locker rooms and Jessica was sad to discover these hadn’t been updated at all since she had last graced the premises.

  She had really needed to pee, though, so she barely glanced at the facilities on her way to the toilet and hoped Sven wouldn’t question her on why the locker room tour had taken so long. Thank God it had been a male recruiter or she would have been forced to wait until after she signed the membership forms. This was one of the ploys she knew they used. They were like Barracuda when they had live prey to recruit. She was sure Sven was sweating right now simply imagining who she might be speaking with in the locker room.

  There certainly had to be more a civilized way to do the whole recruiting thing, but clearly Muscles-R-Us hadn’t heard of it yet. Katie told her that when she had been scouting out some of the more posh gyms they had actually sat her down in the nice club area with a cappuccino in order to sell her on the club. Pretty much any club that gave Jessica free coffee would immediately get her bank preauthorization. But since her funds were all tied up in financing the Tahoe trip, she’d decided to stick with the bare bones, clean your own equipment and pay for bottled water kind of club. Plus, this one was right around the corner from her apartment and on her way home from work.

  Sven had gotten to that point in the meeting where he decided it was time to go in for the kill. Jessica really wanted to save him some of the hassle, and herself the great embarrassment, by simply telling him she was already sold but she was into her lie too deeply. As she walked into his office she saw a folder sitting on the table where there were two chairs. Sven was talking with her about some sort of trial membership and possible month to month options as he opened
the file.

  “Clearly, though, you already know all about our membership options,” he said, getting a very miffed look on his face. “You’ve been on month to month memberships, what, about 8 times over the last 5 years?”

  “Umm” Jessica didn’t know what to say. “Oops, I guess I’ve been found out.”

  She shrugged and tried to look penitent.

  Sven must have thought she looked smug, however since he was now definitely put out.

  “You know, Ms.” And then Sven had stuttered until he found her name on the file, “Ryan, it costs us quite a bit of money to initiate and terminate memberships. I think I will need to have my supervisor review this case before we offer you membership.”

  Offer me membership! Jessica thought. You have got to be kidding. Only seconds ago he was practically begging me to join. It’s not like it’s some sort of exclusive yacht club or something. For God’s sake, there wasn’t even a sauna in the locker room. She was still deciding whether to get angry or walk out when one of the personal trainers walked by and poked his head into the room.

  “Hey there Jess. Back again are you? Thought you’d give it another shot?”

  Jess smiled and shrugged.

  “Good for you! You might have given up on us, but you know we never give up on you.” He smiled and Jessica’s enthusiasm for re-joining the club shot up again.

  One of her favorite trainers, Tom had always given her little tips on the side and even flirted with her occasionally simply to make her feel better about her workouts.

  “You come see me the first time you’re in, okay? I’ll show you how to use some of the new equipment.” With that he waved at Sven and took off down the hallway.

  Jessica turned back to Sven; this time her smile was smug. “Sorry, what were you about to say.”

  Swallowing what was clearly an expletive, Sven just gritted his teeth, smiled at Jessica and pushed the papers over to her.

  “Sign here,” he said.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Although she knew a gym workout would be more intense, Jessica convinced herself it was a shame to waste such a pretty Sunday morning stuck inside.

  Having found her sweats she was now searching the hallway for her tennis shoes. Like her sweats these also started out in the doorway, but often, after being stepped on in the middle of the night, they then got drop kicked down the hall. She remembered distinctly having stubbed her toe on one of them last night, so she figured they must be somewhere between her room and the bathroom.

  As usual on any sunny day in Boston, there were hordes of people walking, running, biking or skating along the esplanade that runs beside the Charles River. Had Jessica been up and out earlier she knew she would have seen crew boats slicing quickly through the water. As it was, she found the ducks charming enough to keep her mind off of how life in a world of couples would change the daily patterns of her existence.

  IPod on, she listened to her playlist with the best of the ‘80s. You could always count on classics like ‘I will survive’ to set a brisk, motivational pace, Jessica thought to herself. This undoubtedly was a good thing; since exercising was about her least favorite activity in the whole world.

  Even with the music on, though, Jessica found herself once again thinking about the night before. The thing about a sober night out was that, invariably, you could remember everything the next morning. And, as much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, something was definitely rubbing her the wrong way about the idea that Erik and Cynthia might now be an item.

  She had known Erik long enough to see plenty of women come and go in his life. But lately, something was different about him. He seemed to be settling down more, not going out as much or with so many different women. For that matter, she couldn’t remember the last time her brother had mentioned the two of them having one of their wild nights out.

  Like the revelation about eating before drinking, it hit her that maybe Erik was starting to get to that stage when he wanted to get serious about life. God, just please let it not be with Cynthia, Jessica thought to herself. Tumbling onto that thought were her feelings about Becky’s romance with Blaise.

  She knew she would soon have to face the fact that her circle of friends was entering a whole new adult stage. Perhaps, in a way, that was what was driving her need to win the bet. It was a chance to prove that she too could mold her own life. Anyway, she could either spend her Saturday obsessing about it like she used to do, or realize that her time had suddenly become too precious to waste worrying about dumb stuff.

  Putting this new philosophy to the test she decided to brush away her doubts and take out her aggression on her walk. Not long after, Jessica grimaced and grabbed at the stitch in her side. Clearly this working out thing needed to be done in stages. She almost checked her pockets for money to hail a taxi back to her apartment, but then restrained herself. Think of something other than the pain, she told herself… it had gotten her this far.

  Monday she planned to ask, or rather tell, her boss that she needed a month off. She fully expected that she would have to quit in order to get it, but she figured she would do the courageous, grown up thing first and give them the opportunity to work with her on it.

  Jessica checked the date on her watch as she walked and reminded herself that she only had two months to get herself and her plans ready for the vacation.

  Becky and Peter had already agreed to join her for the final two weeks in Tahoe. So, if Becky could also convince Blaise to join them it would mean she would only have to pay a little more than half of the rental fee. She thought by August she should be able to earn about that much. This assumed she put in a few extra hours helping serve at those summer parties her friend Katie catered.

  The problem was that the bills didn’t stop there. Part of her plan required paying for her new health regime. She also needed a personal overhaul; new clothes, hair and makeup. And, aside from all of that, she had forgotten about airfare entirely until she had mentioned the vacation to her Dad.

  It had been pretty clear to her that Peter had already enlightened him on the reason for the trip. Jessica grimaced when she remembered her Dad using his, ‘how did I ever raise such a bewildering daughter’ tone throughout the phone call. Still, though Lord knew the form her repayment would require, her father had surprised her by sending money for the tickets.

  Not to let the opportunity pass though, he had also included a brief eight page diatribe lecturing her, as usual, on the need to do to others before they do to you. This was, according to Jessica’s father, the crux of the problem she had with her many bosses; let alone her life. She allowed people to screw her before she screwed them. You have to look out for yourself, skunk, he would say. The world’s full of selfish people and there are no free lunches. So you need to take what you deserve and leave the rest to the beavers.

  Since Jessica had never bought into this value system she didn’t have to think too hard to see the paradox in taking something, supposedly for free, by beating someone else out of what you would otherwise have had to pay for in your nothing for free world.

  Anyway, it was just as well she hadn’t spent too much brainpower on what he had written since recently she had begun to wonder at her dad’s choice of nicknames. No knowing how terms like pumpkin, turtle, daffy, and skunk might have affected her self-esteem growing up. He had an affinity for animals. But somehow Jessica knew that hearing your Dad call you any of those affectionate names couldn’t have been very inspiring.

  She had read the note and then tossed it, glad for the financial help either way. At least she now knew where she was going, when she was going and who she was going with.

  She stopped and grabbed her sides as she caught her breath. When Jessica straightened back up she smiled in relief. Not only were her plans finally coming together; she now found herself standing in front of her own apartment building. Her damn walk was over.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Erik woke up Sunday morning with a throbbin
g headache and the distinct memory of not having drunk enough to deserve it. For a while he lay there and contemplated turning over and trying to go back to sleep. He squinted at the sunlight streaming through his window and knew it was a lost cause.

  Drapes would be nice, he thought fuzzily. Maybe he should invest in some. It seemed like an awful lot of effort, though, since he was usually up too early to ever need them.

  His bedroom showed the level of thought that had gone into his apartment. Like Erik it was neat and organized, but that was his entire stamp on it. His Mom and Dad had helped him furnish it with left over stuff from their house. So, although nothing matched, the apartment felt homey and comfortable. It was also clear that a woman’s touch had pulled it together; leading more than one of his girlfriends to either feel competitive in an, I will take the place of this mystery women who clearly decorated here, sort of way or put off by a potential momma’s boy.

  Few women ever understood that the reason the apartment lacked Erik’s personality was because he really didn’t care one way or another. All he knew was that it was comfortable. His one attempt at décor was the Polo style bedspread; bought at a discount store because he liked the look but could never imagine spending a week’s salary on a bedspread.

  He yawned again and decided he’d call his Mom later to see if she could make him some sort of window shade. That decision made he grabbed his book off his bed and opened it up to the page he had left tabbed the night before. The ringing phone startled him just as he had found his place in the plot.

  “Yeah, it’s Erik.”

  “Hey Erik. I didn’t wake you up did I?” Cynthia’s usually confident voice sounded tinny.