The Darlings in Love by Melissa Kantor

Author:Melissa Kantor [Kantor, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781423164425
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Published: 2012-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

JANE NEARLY DROPPED her tall cappuccino when Natalya called and informed her of her plans for Saturday afternoon.

“Okay, first of all, you’re so not going to Colin’s house,” Jane said into the phone. She wrapped her fingers more firmly around her drink.

“What?” Natalya sounded genuinely shocked, which surprised Jane. “Of course I’m going. Why shouldn’t I go? We’re friends.”

“You’re not friends,” Jane shouted. The barista who’d just made her cappuccino looked startled, and Jane shot her an apologetic look.

“Thanks a lot,” Natalya shot back.

Jane stepped outside, and the chilly air calmed her down a little. “Sorry. What I should have said was that your friendship is…problematic.” Then she couldn’t resist adding, “In that you like him.”

“Okay, fine. I like him,” Natalya admitted. “And your point is…?”

Jane took a sip of her coffee. “You’re going to get hurt.”

“No I’m not!” Natalya said firmly. “I know he doesn’t like me. And I’m fine with that.”

“You seriously expect me to believe that?” asked Jane, wiping a drop of foam from her lip with the back of her hand.

“Yes.”

The light changed, and Jane crossed the street, heading back to school for rehearsal. “And you’re not hoping anything is going to happen with Colin on Saturday.”

“Exactly. Alison’s my friend.”

Jane stood on the sidewalk in front of school but did not walk up the steps into the building. “So, you’re not, like, going to ask me what you should wear to his house.”

Natalya didn’t answer. She was thinking about how much she wished Victoria had answered her phone earlier. There followed a lengthy silence.

Finally, Jane said, “I want to go on record as saying that your going over to Colin’s strikes me as an extremely bad idea.”

“Fine,” Natalya said curtly. “Duly noted.”

As soon as they hung up, Jane replayed their conversation in her head. She couldn’t help feeling she’d failed Natalya, that if only she’d said the right thing, she could have convinced her not to go over to Colin’s on Saturday.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t figure out the magic words that would have gotten Natalya to change her mind.

When Jane arrived at rehearsal, Simon and Mark were already there, moving extra chairs out of the way. They looked up as she banged through the door. She could not believe how stupid Natalya was being.

Despite being irritated, one look at Simon calmed Jane down. No matter how many times she saw him, Jane could never get used to how beautiful he was. He was like a great painting or a Beethoven symphony or a Shakespeare sonnet. Seeing him, even if it happened several times a day, always took her breath away. She made her way over to the center of the room. Simon slipped his arm around her shoulders. Standing there pressed against him, Jane felt…complete somehow. Like nothing could be wrong in the world as long as Simon was in it and they had their arms around each other.

“I commend you on your ability to get into character,” Mark said as Jane wrapped her arm around Simon’s waist.

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