Chapter One-
Despite having very little time left before class (and not being completely confident in her mastery of the material), Julie Kingsley sat on a bench, staring distractedly out at the murky river, wondering how in the world she had gotten where she was.
On reflection, she knew exactly how she got there.
By being stupid. Extremely stupid. Stupid, she had learned, was her superpower.
Somehow –she still wasn't quite sure how—Julie found herself sitting on a park bench in downtown Chicago, failing miserably as she attempted to study for her sociology midterm.
She really didn't even like Chicago, so why had she moved there in the first place?
Jack.
Her stupid boyfriend.
Again she asked herself, why?
Jack was attractive all right, with his moody hazel eyes and his roguishly longer dark brown hair. He was Italian on his mother's side, and he had a nice light tan all year round without ever walking into the sun—and when he did walk into the sun… well, he looked even better. His eyes were large and expressive—although they were selectively expressive, and only expressed whatever feelings he wanted to you believe he was feeling.
What he wanted you to believe was almost never the case, as Julie knew all too well.
She could still remember the night she let him talk her into moving. It had been the most perfect timing for convincing her to do something crazy. She’d been feeling a little on the vulnerable side, in the end stages of getting over a bad relationship.
Julie had sort of dated Jack when she was 17, although there was a fine line between "We were dating," and "we were just friends," that she was never quite certain they crossed. But he held her hand, hugged her, kissed her, hung out with her, called her—he liked her. He told her so several times, making Julie increasingly uncomfortable, because she didn’t want to lie and say she felt the same way.
At 18 she was convinced she met Mr. Right in the form of a tall, dark haired silent type with a goatee and a soft side that she thought only a select few–herself included, of course—got to see. Now this was a good guy, she decided. Not like Jack, who claimed to care about her, but then made out with three other girls at the first hint of conflict. Mr. Right was a decent guy, he looked at her affectionately, made her heart soar, and unlike Jack, he would never lie to her.
Jack had told her on the first maybe-date that this was not possible, that guys are after one thing and one thing only, and if they happen to hurt people who love them to get it, they may not even realize it, but they definitely will not care. He also told her a guy will say anything to get what he wants from a girl.
She wasn't charmed by any means. After their first maybe-date she decided she didn't like Jack anymore, that he was a terribly cynical 19-year-old and she was an idealistic, romantic almost-18-year-old.
Then she met Mr. Right, tangible proof that good men did exist—their names just weren't Jack Gelman.
Jack, meanwhile, decided to act on his high school dream of moving to Chicago. When he lost his job, it seemed like the perfect time to say adieu to his friends and skip town for a brand new life. Jack was just like that; he could leave everybody he knew, the only home he knew, and take off for some new adventure, confident he would land on his feet.
And he always did.
After 6 months, Mr. Right turned out to be Mr. Not So Right. His ex-girlfriend who had dumped him when she went off to college returned, and the bastard went right back to her, pretending his entire relationship with Julie had never happened. The time she spent with him, the kisses and everything else they had shared—she made it all up in her head. She had been infatuated with him, naturally, but he hadn’t reciprocated. In fact, it was as if he and his ex had never even broken up—she must have imagined him telling her they did.
Unfortunately, she worked with Mr. Not So Right, so she had to see him every other day. For far too long, he played emotional yo-yo with Julie, and to her great surprise, she let him. It was foolish, but somehow she still believed she was in love with him.
After being burned by love and unable to walk away from the flames, even as they continued to burn her, her old friend Jack came to town to visit his family for Christmas.
She knew when he called that it was a bad idea to go with him. Knowing Jack as well as she did, and knowing how vulnerable she was after finding out earlier that week that Mr. Right and his girlfriend were somehow engaged, she knew she should stay home with a pint of ice cream and a sad movie.
Instead, she put on a new outfit, glossed her lips, and ran straight out to see Jack.
She didn't sleep with him, but things certainly got out of hand—especially considering he had a girlfriend waiting on him back in Chicago. According to Jack, his girlfriend would be out of town the following week, so he suggested she come back with him and stay for a few days.
Not a fan of conflict, she didn't so much decline as neglect to answer him either way. She also made sure she didn't talk to him again –even casually—until the girlfriend was home, at which point she felt confident that he wouldn't suggest such stupidity again (they did live together, after all).
Julie kept their contact strictly friendly after that, in hopes he would get the message. He must have, because he didn’t mention it again.
Until the drunken phone call at 2 a.m. telling her he was falling in love with her, that he had liked her since they met, and asking if she loved him.
Talk about uncomfortable.
He let her get away with murmuring, "Mmhmm," in response, but it was still more dishonest than she wanted to be.
The fact of the matter was that she didn't love Jack; that was her favorite thing about him. While Mr. Right had her heart in the palm of his hand –convenient for when he felt like crushing it a little more for his own twisted amusement—Jack was in restraining order distance from her heart.
With a newly mending heart, that kind of distance was very appealing.
Jack called her one night –drunk again—and told her he broke up with his girlfriend and she needed to come see him.
Knowing Jack, she took it with a grain of salt. She figured he probably had a list of several other girls he was telling the same exact thing, and within a couple weeks she was positive he would have her replacement—another tall, thin blonde with illogically plump lips, more than likely.
Since Julie was pretty (but not gorgeous) with long chestnut hair with only natural highlights, stood 5'5" and had a mouth not befitting a porn star, she doubted he would wait around for her.
In fact, even when she told him in the beginning of summer that she’d think about transferring to Chicago, she figured over the next few months he was virtually guaranteed to let her out of that agreement by meeting someone else. Even when he told her, "I want that so much," and "we'll be good for each other. I think you'll ground me," and the real cake-topper, "I'll wait for
you," she let it flow in one ear and right out the other. Jack had never been single for more than two weeks, so he wasn't going to wait around for four months.
In August, Jack came back to town for another well-timed visit—as if their wedding being one month away wasn’t annoying enough, now Mr. Right and his fiancé were expecting.
Expecting.
A baby.
That was how she found herself agreeing to transfer to Chicago. She needed an escape and he provided the perfect opportunity for one.
Jack—much to her surprise—was true to his word for once about waiting for her.
Chicago was fun for approximately two weeks.
The initial exhilaration of actually getting out of her mother's house (like many poor college students, she lived at home) and moving in with her boyfriend—who couldn't claim if they ever broke up that she had made it all up!—was pretty exciting.
A week after moving in with Jack and his best friend Jacob, she discovered he still talked to Arianna. Then there was Morgan, the attractive, conceited neighbor down the hall who blatantly flirted with Jack right in front of Julie.
During her second week in Chicago, she became acquainted with Jessica, another dime-a-dozen skinny blonde, Kristen, a tanned lingerie model with gorgeous brown hair, big brown eyes and a pretty pout, and Bridgette, the adorable Australian waitress (also blonde, also tall, and with truly remarkable green eyes) that Julie actually liked.
They all came around much more than Julie was comfortable with, and most of them—Bridgette was the only exception—thought nothing of flirting with Jack in front of his live-in girlfriend.
Then there was her school. New professors, new courses, a vastly different environment from her former small town, and on top of all the other changes, she needed a job so she could pitch in with utilities (since she just slept in Jack's room, she wasn't charged rent) and groceries. All she managed to find was a crappy job working at the local Pizza Hut, but it was in walking distance and she couldn't afford to be picky.
So as she sat on the bench contemplating her midterm and the 4-to-close she had to pull afterward, she hoped Jack would be out with friends that night so she could study. If he was at home, he would inevitably guilt her into coming straight to bed without studying—again.
Not that she was getting any studying done anyway.
There was a nice breeze, the sun was shining, and she wanted to people watch, not read pages and pages of notes about the structure and consequences of social classes. As interesting as her notes might be, she was more interested in watching the adorable little girl in the red dress toddling around, and once in a while falling on her tiny, diapered behind.
The little girl pointed excitedly as a bird flew overhead and Julie grinned. God, she was a cute baby.