Hanging On (Jessica Brodie Diaries #2)(87)

Lump was still standing awkwardly to the side. Adam was fixedly watching the game.

“Alright, well,” I said, pretending the game was the deciding factor, “maybe we’ll just head to Gladis’s and try on all our stuff. Meet me there later?”

“Sure,” William said, staring at the TV.

Lump was walking before I’d even finished my sentence. I wanted to talk to her about it, but she had one of those looks of concentration that meant she was figuring things out. If I asked she’d probably get all pissy and then the fashion show would be ruined, too, so I quietly followed and drove us home. Boo!

In the next three weeks I had seen Adam once, which was the one time I was with William without Lump. We were out for dinner and Adam met us at the restaurant. He didn't say a word about why he had been absent and would always change the subject when I asked. The guy could be elusive as all hell when he wanted to.

Lump, for her part, never mentioned the scene at the bar, and never brought up his name. Not once. Not even in passing. She wasn’t rude about it. If his name came up by William, me or anyone else, she would politely listen, but would not participate. Not even if I asked her what she thought. She’d just shrug and say she didn’t know him well enough to comment. The end.

Besides her issues with Adam, though, Lump got along great with all William’s friends. She was lively and fun while still her normal easy-going self. She got along as one of the guys, but glammed it up like one of the girls. She was the yin to my yang, and I was so damn happy she was around that my face hurt from smiling all the time.

The only worry was that my friend was not finding her groove. Sure, she joked around and smiled often, but she was missing something. She felt bad that she was taking me away from William, which was stupid because he got more time to for sports and never complained, but it meant she spent more time alone. She couldn't seem to find a job she wanted to settle into, being picky for the first time in her life, and grew increasingly listless. Gladis even started making some calls to friends to see if she could find a good fit. Everything seemed to be topsy-turvy for Lump.

Until John.

John was an average guy from Chicago. He apparently trained in the same class of Muoy Thai kickboxing. They went to class at about the same time and were in the same level. Apparently it was an instant match, though Lump never exactly specified why.

Being that William and I were strong armed into a double-date, we found ourselves sitting with Gladis in the parlor, awaiting Lump’s new squeeze.

“Are you nervous?” I asked with a grin.

Lump was looking fabulous in a slinky red dress and matching lipstick. I gave her Ami’s necklace to borrow, until Gladis one-upped me and gave her bigger jewels. Which she tried to decline. Until a maid chased her around.

“Um…I guess,” Lump said, shrugging.

“A young lady should never say ‘um’, Betsy. It makes her seem dense,” Gladis corrected.

“I am dense, right Willie?” She smirked.

The doorbell rang and immediately Lump was chased from the room with a shocked face. I don’t think she realized how serious Gladis was about this step in dating.

In walked Romeo. He walked like a panther cub. There was grace there, but it was lost on a natural clumsiness due to growing into one's limbs. This guy was way past growing pains, though, so he just looked odd. And short. No way was he taller than Lump.

“Hey,” he said, kind of flopping to a stop. His gaze took in my cle**age, then my legs.

William shifted forward, arm extended. “I’m William. Nice to meet you.”

Speaking of dense, that flat down gaze didn’t have much behind it as he sized up William and completely ignored Gladis.

Not good.

“This place is nice, huh? This Lump-O’s money?” The guy rocked back on his heels with his hands in his pockets.

“Please, have a seat,” Gladis said, her mouth a thin line. "Betz, the woman you call Lump-O, will be down shortly. She is finishing up. Would you like something to drink?"

Adam had been calling her Betz since that night. Gladis, finding out her real name, took to it as well.

Except when Gladis was being devilish. Or crabby. Then it was Betsy.

William tried to adopt it, too, and I told him, in no uncertain terms, that I would not do a thing to stop Lump punching him in the sternum when she got pissed off. I don’t think he took me seriously, but he did continue to call her Lump. For now.

"Good,” the hopefully nice guy said. “Well, yeah, whatd'r y'all drinkin'?" It was obvious he wasn't from the south by his lack of accent. Therefore, his use of southern slang sounded stupid.

He sounded like a tool. I hoped it was just because he was nervous, or else why would Lump find this guy appealing? Where was this exact match she spoke of? It couldn’t be that William just spoiled me, because I had seen the guys Lump usually dated. They were more attractive, smarter, and all around better. And they weren’t all that great as far as good guys went. So… WTF?

"So, Will, you're a big guy, huh?"

"I would guess I am." William was unimpressed.

"Yeah, you are pretty big. How much you bench?"

"I don't, generally."

"What's that haus?"

"I don't lift weights."

"That a fact? You look big. Steroids?"