Breaking Point (Drew Ashley 1) (4 page)

"You too."

She walked away and Jazz smiled. "Well done, Drew."

I grimaced. Once again, I wondered why I was doing this to myself. I shouldn't have come.

"Uh, Drew," Jazz said, looking over my shoulder, her face slightly worried.

"What?"

"Travis is coming," she said, her lips barely moving.

"Don't play with me."

She reached for her grey napkin and shook it out and placed it in her lap. "I'm not."

"Hello, Drew. It's nice to see you."

It was Travis' familiar deep voice. I plastered a smile to my face as I turned and looked up into his mocking eyes. "Oh, Travis. Hi."

I'd once considered Travis something of a looker. In fact, I'd considered him quite handsome. But looking at him now, I realised that, although he was dressed nice and was very well groomed—nice haircut, trimmed beard, and all that—that was all it was: a nice suit and careful grooming.

Travis' eyes scanned Jazz. If she were standing, he would probably have eyeballed her from head to toe.

She waggled her fingers at him. "Hi."

"Hi," he returned. He looked at me. "I didn't think you'd come."

"Really? Why not?"

"Because you're still heartbroken over me?"

"I'm actually not heartbroken at all," I replied. I couldn't believe he'd just said that. What an arrogant waste of oxygen!

A girl with long black hair that reached down to her waist sidled over and linked a skinny arm through Travis'. The gesture was so possessive that I felt like saying,
'Never fear, honey. He's all yours.'

"Sharon," Travis said, stroking a finger over the bare skin of her arm. "This is Drew."

Sharon looked between me and Jazz shrewdly. Then, her eyes settled on me. "Which one is Drew?" she asked, although it was clear that she knew.

Travis pointed at me.

"I'm Jazzlyn," Jazz offered.

Sharon combed her fingers through her hair as we waited for her to say something. She remained silent.

"So," Jazz said. "Where do you buy your hair?"

I kicked her under the table, although I wanted to scream with laughter.

Sharon's eyes narrowed as they raked over Jazz's hair. "Probably the same place you buy yours."

"No," Jazz said shaking her head, and causing her long curls to bounce around. "Mine's all mine."

"It's nice to meet you, Sharon," I cut in, before a cat fight broke out.

"You too." She turned to Travis. "Make sure you remind me to put Drew on the guest list for our wedding."

My heart clattered to a brief halt. I was shocked, but I quickly regained my composure. I looked at Travis questioningly.

"Yes, will do," he said softly, his chin nuzzled into Sharon's fake hair. "We should definitely invite Drew."

Travis was getting married? Engaged two months after breaking up with me? I looked at Sharon's left hand and sure enough, she was wearing a pretty little engagement ring. Jazz kicked me under the table, so I quickly forced a smile. "Congratulations, Travis."

"Thanks. The wedding is probably going to be in September. I'll let you know as soon as we confirm the date."

"Make sure you do," I said, as if I couldn't wait. "Isn't Wanda's wedding in September, though?"

"Yes. That's why we're not sure," Travis said, his fingers still trailing up and down Sharon's arm. He looked at me for a moment, and then looked around the room. "Well, we'll go and find our seats now."

I turned back to the table and picked up my grey napkin. A waitress was pouring our drinks. I grabbed mine when she finished and downed it. It attacked my tongue with the most vicious sour taste and scratched my throat all the way down.

"That's wine," Jazz informed me.

I set my glass back down on the table, my head swimming a little. "Whatever it was, it was disgusting."

"No thanks," Jazz said as the waitress proceeded to fill her glass with wine. "Can we have Coke, please?"

"Of course," the waitress said, capping the wine bottle. She scooted off to get our drinks.

"How did I do with Travis?" I asked Jazz.

"You did fine." Jazz smirked. "Sorry for being snotty with what's-her-name, but she was annoying."

I giggled. "It's a good thing you're saved, Jazz. I'd hate to see what you'd be like if you weren't. You'd be an absolute cow."

Jazz chuckled. "Whatever."

I tried not to watch Travis and Sharon all evening, but it was pretty hard. How could Travis be engaged to someone else after splitting up with me only two months ago? We'd been together six years, and he'd never once talked about marrying me! Maybe he just wasn't that into me and I hadn't seen the signs.

Sharon was quite different from me, with her lightly bronzed skin, while I was a slightly darker hazelnut shade. She was also probably a good three inches taller than me. Gosh, I hated being short!

Unfortunately, Travis and Sharon were sat just a few tables away from us, so I had a great view of their flirtatious exchanges and downright vulgar displays of affection.

Maybe it was her type that Travis had wanted all along. The bold, bawdy type who dressed a little on the slutty side. I was glad when the dinner was over. I left feeling completely rejected.

***

I spent the whole of Saturday in the library with Jazz and Destiny. We worked well for most of the day, but by late afternoon it was hard to focus. To add to my distraction, Destiny kept yawning. The fourth time she yawned, I snapped. "Take a break, Destiny."

Destiny rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I think I'll go to the vending machines and get a snack."

I tossed her a two pound coin. "Get me a drink. Any."

"Anything for you, Jazz?" Destiny asked.

Jazz shook her head. "I'm thinking I'll call it a day. I need to get home. My mum gets in at half six."

Jazz's mum had some sort of depressive illness. I didn't know much about it, but Jazz was her main carer. As a result, she didn't have much time for anything other than lectures and work. Even being able to study with us today was a rarity.

"Was she was okay while you were out with me last night?" I asked.

"Yeah. My sister stayed with her until I got back."

"Have you told your sister to stay with her next Saturday, too?" I asked. I had tickets for the Women in Sport event. I couldn't go on my own.

"She's moving to a care home on Monday so it won't matter."

Destiny looked concerned. She knew Jazz's family a lot better than I did, as they'd known each other for years. "Why?"

"Liz made the decision," Jazz said, shutting her laptop. "She's the oldest, as she likes to remind me all the time."

"I know you want to care for her yourself," Destiny said. "But maybe it's a good thing."

"Yeah," Jazz said reluctantly. "With Liz being married now, she can't really come over all the time to help me out and the burden is getting pretty heavy."

I closed the academic journal I'd been quoting in my thesis, and squeezed my eyes shut. Sleep beckoned. "You have a heart of gold, Jazz," I said, opening my eyes. "When you're not being obnoxious, that is."

She glared at me, then smiled. "Have you heard back from the BBC yet?"

I nodded. I'd had a job interview with them two weeks ago. "I didn't get the job."

"Aww, why not?" Jazz asked.

"They said I came second. I have an interview with News24, the week after next."

"That's good. I still don't know what I'm going to do after graduation. I still can't even believe I've managed to do a degree."

"I can't believe Drew has managed to do a degree and a PhD," Destiny put in, rummaging around in her purse for money. "I'm glad you stayed on at uni to do a PhD or we might have never met you."

"Yeah, it was our destiny," I said wisely.

The girls laughed but I really believed it. Destiny had gone to Barbados for a year after finishing sixth form, and then she'd worked in an office for two years when she returned, before deciding that she wanted to do a degree. What made her decide then to quit her job and do a degree? And what made her persuade Jazz, who'd only ever worked part time in care homes, to do one, too?

Even more mysterious, to me anyway, was how I met Jazz and Destiny. It was two years ago. They were handing out flyers on campus, inviting people to their church's women's conference. I'd accepted a flyer and all I'd seen was 'ladies' weekend' and the fact that there were speakers coming from all over the world. Thinking that it was a female empowerment type thing, I'd decided to attend and was disappointed to find that it was a church conference. Instead of talking about empowerment and success, they talked about submission, taking care of husbands and children, prayer, and cooking.

Ever since that conference, Jazz and Destiny had hounded me about accepting Jesus. Three months ago, something tipped me over and I finally gave in.

Jazz packed her laptop into her bag. "Gotta scoot, girls. I hope the motorway is clear today."

"I don't know how you do all that driving back and forth from London," I told her. Oxford to London was an hour and a half.

"I've done it for three years now. I'm used to it." Jazz glared at Destiny who was still rummaging through her purse for money and only coming up with receipts. She tossed her a ten pound note. "Give me my change in church tomorrow."

Destiny pushed the money back across the table. "Actually, I'm thinking I'll just go home and cook something. I don't think I can do much more work today."

"Okay, I'll give you a lift," Jazz offered. "Coming, Drew?"

I shook my head. "I need to write another three thousand words before I leave."

"I'll still get your drink," Destiny said.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll take a break in about an hour and go get it myself."

Destiny handed me back my two pound coin. "Don't stay too late."

"I won't."

"And if you want me to meet you halfway, call me."

I looked at my watch. "I'm planning to leave around nine. It'll still be light so don't worry about it."

"Well, just let me know," Destiny said.

"I will."

Jazz and Destiny left and I got back to my work. An hour later, I'd written no more than one additional paragraph. I sighed and put my laptop into my bag. It was break time.

I took the lift downstairs to the ground floor, bought cookies and a bottle of water, and then sat down at one of the tables in the refreshment area. I couldn't wait to finish this thesis. Once it was done, I was going to step up my game with job applications. I
needed
a job. I needed to venture into something non-football or 'You're Travis Haywood's ex' related. I was going to be a success if it killed me.

Someone dropped into the seat opposite me, yanking me from my thoughts. I looked up and was surprised to see that it was Kale Marshall.

"What's up, Drew?" he asked.

I swallowed a mouthful of water while my mind flashed an image of Kale in his shorts/boxers, muscles quivering under the weight of a pile of wood. I blinked.
Say something, Drew!

"Nothing better to do on a Saturday night than sit in the library refreshment area, smiling at the table?" Kale asked.

I was mortified. "I was not smiling at the table! In fact, I wasn't even smiling at all."

Kale grinned.

"Seriously though, I wasn't really smiling, was I?" I asked.

"You were. I was a little reluctant to interrupt, actually."

I slapped his hand before I realised that I probably shouldn't have. Kale was not like the guys I was used to. I wouldn't want him to think I was flirting, being the straight-laced Christian that he was.

"That hurt," Kale said. His smile was easy and teasing.

I nibbled a cookie, trying not to stare too much. I hadn't felt this nervous around a guy since Travis started bugging me for a date when I was eighteen.

"So really, what are you doing in here? Right now?" Kale's tone implied that he expected me to be out partying somewhere.

"Been working on my thesis."

"You're doing women's studies, aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"I overheard you lamenting about your thesis to Destiny one time."

"Well, yes I am. What are you doing?"

"Just finishing off a PhD, too—in Pharmaceutical Sciences. It's been four years of hard work. I'm glad it's coming to an end."

A quick calculation told me that Kale must be one year older than me if he'd done a degree and then a four-year PhD. My PhD was three years. "Did you do a Masters before your PhD?" I asked, just to make sure.

"No. Why?"

"Just wondering."

Kale leaned back in his seat. "When do you hand in your thesis?"

"Friday."

"So if I were to ask you out before Friday, the answer would be no."