Love Left Behind (3 page)

The guys were nothing
to sneeze at either. One was blond and stocky, bulging with muscles that were
clearly evident from his tight t-shirt. His nose looked as if it had been
broken a few times, but instead of detracting from his appearance, it added to
his rugged masculine good looks.

The other guy sitting
at the table was movie-star handsome. His dark brown hair was a little shaggy,
but instead of making him look unkempt, it added to his appeal, making him seem
boyishly charming. His nose looked as if it had never come close to being
broken and his dimples were in clear view as he smiled at our approach. He
wasn't muscle bound like his friend, but his lean frame was more appealing.
More my type.

I shook my head at the
thought. I hadn't moved to New York to fall into another relationship. This was
my time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Besides, who was I
kidding? This man before me was way too beautiful for comfort. With Claire and
the leggy brunette around, I was sure I wouldn't have to worry about him being
overly interested in me.

"Hi, guys,"
Claire said as she approached the table. "This is Emma. She's my new
roommate, the one I told you about." She turned to me as she made
introductions. "Emma, this is Jackson, Nathan and Mia."

I smiled as everyone greeted
me enthusiastically. Jackson, the Grecian god who apparently had manners as
well, pulled over two chairs from another table for us.

"Hi, Emma. How do
you like New York so far?" Mia asked as we sat down. She was smiling
widely and despite being drop-dead gorgeous, she seemed sincere and friendly. I
had to stop equating beauty with cattiness. It was just as bad as someone
judging me for not having legs that went on for miles.

"I love it!"
I couldn't seem to stop gushing about my new city. Maybe the pretty new sheen
of it would wear off after awhile, but at the moment, I was still enjoying the
novelty of it all. "Claire's been taking me around the neighborhood and
showing me around. I can't believe I'm finally here."

"You moved up from
Maryland, right?" Jackson asked, looking genuinely inquisitive. I found it
hard to look directly at him. It was like looking directly at the sun and I
almost needed to squint my eyes against his good looks. I really needed to get
a handle on myself.

"Yup. I grew up
there and was living near D.C. for a while. It's so different from New
York."

"What made you
decide to move up here?" Mia asked, unknowingly bringing up an
uncomfortable topic. The last thing I wanted to do was spill my messy history
to strangers.

"I just felt like
a change of pace. I've lived in the Maryland and D.C. area my whole life,
except for when I went to college in Chicago. I thought it was time for
something different."

The waitress came over
to take our drink orders, interrupting the conversation.

"Hi, Claire. What
do you want?"

"I'll take a
Yuengling." Claire turned to me. "Maggie, this is my new roommate,
Emma. She just got into town today."

Maggie, who looked
about our age, gave me a wide smile. "Welcome! Hopefully you'll become a
regular here just like these guys. I can't seem to peel them out of those seats
most Sundays."

"Thanks, Maggie.
I'm not sure if I can measure up when it comes to drinking. Two beers and I'm
on the floor. And on that note, I'll take a Yuengling too."

As Maggie walked away
to get our beers, Nathan slammed his hand down on the table, startling me, but
he just grinned at me. "Now that's what I like. A cheap date. How come
every girl I meet can drink me under the table?" He patted his pocket.
"It hurts me right here."

Claire rolled her eyes.
"And they said chivalry was dead."

"It's not dead. It
was just trampled on by unappreciative women." Nathan was attempting to
sound lighthearted, but I could hear a trace of seriousness in his tone.

Jackson leaned in,
quirking his mouth. "Don't pay attention to Nathan. He got dumped recently
and he's still processing through his 'women are evil' phase."

"Sorry to hear
that, Nathan," I said sympathetically, happy that I hadn't fueled the fire
by revealing I had broken my engagement less than a month before the wedding.

Nathan sighed
dramatically, crossing his arms against his chest. "I should've seen it
coming. When Sandy told me she wanted to take tennis lessons, I should've
stopped it."

"Nathan, how many
times do I have to tell you?" Claire groaned. Maggie came back with the
beers and she paused to take a long swig. "Sandy didn't cheat on you just
because she hired a tennis instructor. She cheated on you because she's a
skank."

Nathan shook his head
emphatically. "Nope. It was the tennis instructor. He was some European
douchebag who charmed her with his accent. If it wasn't for him, we'd still be
together." He turned abruptly to Jackson who had been listening to the
conversation with a half-grin on his face. "If you start dating a girl,
don't
let her take tennis lessons,
especially from a douchebag European instructor."

I tried to suppress a
laugh, but unfortunately, it caused me to snort loudly. Everyone at the table
looked at me, Jackson with amused raised eyebrows and Nathan with a frown.

I nodded vigorously,
wanting to appease Nathan. "I agree. No European douchebag tennis
teachers."

Nathan nodded in
satisfaction, while the rest of the table laughed.

"Poor
Nathan," Mia said sympathetically, patting him on the hand. "He can't
pass a tennis court without getting all worked up."

"It's been three
months," Claire said, apparently not sharing the sympathy. "How long
are you going to pine after her?"

I saw Mia give Claire a
warning look, to which Claire just shrugged. Claire didn't seem to have any
patience for Nathan's moping about his ex-girlfriend, which was at odds with my
earlier impression of her. She seemed so laid back that her lack of patience
with Nathan was surprising.

Nathan seemed to
deflate at Claire's words, falling back against his chair with a defeated look.
I felt bad for him, even though I had just met him. And a part of me felt a
little guilty too. Although I had never cheated on Sean, I could see his
crestfallen expression in Nathan's face.

"It's okay, three
months isn't that long," I offered, wanting to comfort him while trying to
lighten the mood. "When my fifth grade boyfriend dumped me for Shelly
Dupree because she had a swimming pool and her mom made amazing cookies, I was
still poking pins into a doll with a picture of his face on it in sixth
grade."

Claire shot me a look
that I didn't understand, making me feel uncomfortable. I didn't know the
dynamics of this group yet and hadn't really thought about her reaction when
trying to comfort Nathan. I hadn't meant to contradict her, but she had seemed
a little harsh towards Nathan.

"Remind me never
to cross you," Jackson said, seemingly wanting to lighten the mood as
well. "I'd hate to think of you having a doll that looks like me and doing
some voodoo magic on it."

"Don't
worry," I laughed. "I only save that for serious transgressions.
Don't ever jilt me for some floozy with a pool and chocolate chip cookies and
we'll be fine."

Jackson grinned at me
widely, his dimples in full view, and I blinked at him, nonplussed. I hadn't
meant to imply that there would ever be anything between us for there to be a
possibility of being jilted, but Jackson just seemed amused by it.

"Speaking of being
jilted," Claire said, interrupting my thoughts. "Do you still talk to
Sean?"

I paled as Claire
cocked her head, looking at me innocently. Her question had taken me aback,
making me tense and confused. I didn't understand why Claire was bringing up
Sean. It felt like an attack, like she was punishing me for disagreeing with
her. This didn't seem like the girl that had been so likable on the phone and
had shown me around today, treating me like a friend instead of just a
roommate.

"Uh, not
really," I replied, my mouth dry. I saw Mia and Nathan look at me with
interest while Jackson glanced at Claire with a frown.

"Who's Sean?"
Mia asked, seemingly oblivious to the growing tension.

"He's my ex. We
broke up recently, but he's back in Maryland."

"Enough of all
this depressing talk," Claire said smiling at me. I looked back at her
confused. I could have sworn that she had meant her comment about Sean as a
dig, but now she was looking at me guilelessly. "No more talk of exes.
Let's talk about something more interesting. Mia, how did your audition for
that commercial go?"

Mia sighed. "Okay,
I guess. It's just so tiring going to all these casting calls for jobs that I
have absolutely no interest in. But I need to pay the bills somehow."

"Mia is actually a
trained ballerina, but she decided to throw out her pointe shoes for the life
of an actress," Claire explained. I gave myself a mental shake. Claire
seemed completely friendly and open now. I wondered if I had just misunderstood
her earlier comments. I decided to forget about it. The last thing I wanted to
do was alienate my roommate and one friend in New York.

"A ballerina.
That's impressive. I took ballet when I was a little kid, but I kept ripping
off my tutu and running around instead of going into first position, so they
asked my parents to withdraw me from class." I smiled ruefully. "I
think that was a polite way of kicking me out of class."

Mia laughed. "I
got a little further than that, but I realized I didn't want the life of a
ballerina. Plus I like to eat." She frowned before continuing,
"Although the life of an aspiring actress isn't that much better. I spend
most of my time working at the Mac counter in Bloomingdale's and going on
casting calls. I haven't had much luck."

I looked around the
table. "Are all of you actors?"

"Not me,"
Nathan answered. "I'm a painter. I'm having a showing at a small gallery
next weekend. You should come."

"Wow, a
painter," I said, impressed. "Everyone here seems so creative. I
would love to come to your showing." I turned to Jackson. "What about
you? What do you do?"

Jackson still looked a
bit unsettled by the earlier conversation and Claire's gibe, but his face
cleared at my question. "I'm one of the masses of struggling actors too,
which means I spend my days working as a trainer at a gym while I wait for my
big break."

"Jackson is
actually in the play that I was telling you about," Claire said. She
smirked as she glanced at Jackson. "He's one of the two men vying for my
hand in marriage."

"I'm looking
forward to seeing it," I said. "So, do you end up with the girl or
not?"

Jackson grinned, his
green eyes sparkling. It was getting easier and easier to look at him for
longer periods of time. His gorgeousness was taking a backseat to his open
friendliness.

"You'll have to
find out for yourself. I can't give away the ending. It’ll ruin the show for
you."

"What about
you?" Mia asked. "What do you do? Do you have a job here yet?"

"Fortunately, I
got a job before I moved up here. I'm an executive assistant at Mass
Communications, a marketing firm. Unfortunately, it's not really want I want to
be doing, but for now it's a paycheck, so I'm happy about that."

"Emma was a
marketing exec at an ad agency in D.C.," Claire said, surprising me with
the pride in her voice. "I'm sure she'll move up in the ranks at her
company in no time."

"Thanks for the
vote of confidence, but for now I'll be happy if I'm able to answer the phone
and make copies without messing up."

"I'm sure you'll
be a master copier and phone answerer in no time," Jackson said with a
wink.

"Just what I
always dreamed of being as a little girl," I replied with a wry grin.

"So you and Claire
grew up in the same town?" Mia asked.

I took a sip of my beer
and nodded. I really was a lightweight and had been nursing my drink, but I saw
Nathan motion to Maggie for another round. I was going to have to be careful
around this group. Drinking more than a couple of drinks always made me a
little more animated than I wanted to be.

"Our mothers are
friends through a charity group in our town. It's a typical small town where
everyone knows each other's business." I smiled ruefully. "It's
fantastic."

"I went to
boarding school, so Emma and I never met before," Claire added.

"It really was a
lucky break that Claire was looking for a roommate at the same time I was
looking to move here," I said. "Do you guys live around here?"

"Nathan and I are
roommates and we live over on 2nd Ave and 1st," Mia answered. I was
surprised that they lived together, but I reminded myself this was New York,
not Merrittsville where coed roommates would have raised eyebrows.

"I live around
here too," Jackson chimed in. "Over on 14th and 3rd Ave."

Claire stretched,
raising her arms above her head and arching her back. "I need a smoke.
Anyone want to join me?"

Nathan and Mia both
chimed in with wanting to take a cigarette break. Nathan groaned about having
to go outside to smoke, since it wasn't allowed inside bars in New York.

"Do you
smoke?" Mia asked as they got up.

"No," I
replied. "I tried it once in high school and threw up afterwards. That's
about as illicit as my substance history goes."

Nathan slapped Jackson
on the back. "You finally have someone to keep you company while we
blacken our lungs."

Jackson grinned.
"Finally, another non-smoker. I've spent half my life waiting for these
guys while they smoke outside."

As the smokers filed
outside, I was increasingly nervous about being left alone with Jackson. I felt
a little gauche in his presence. He looked to be about my age, but he seemed so
much more self-possessed and confident. Never mind that he was too damn
good-looking.