Jade
by Jef Coburn
When Neil meets Jade, he is struck by her exceptional personality. But Carly is a long-time friend who becomes available for more than friendship. Suddenly, Neil has to decide whether to pursue the promising relationship or the surprise romance. He has to adjust when he learns there’s more to someone than he had thought. In the absence of a sure thing, how shall he gamble?
Chapter Five: Going in Circles
I really should start thinking things out better. Skating seemed like a pleasant enough way to pass the evening. I could talk to folks from work, people-watch, and use physical activity to clear my head. The problem is that the music is so loud, it’s hard to have a conversation, especially a private one.
Also, even with the distractions of Roller Disco Night, skating laps around the same oval gives a man a chance to do a lot of thinking. Maybe too much. Because I wasn’t exactly skating with anyone in particular, I was pretty much just going in circles literally and figuratively, turning things over in my mind. I could have done that at home without the foot blisters.
Not that I didn’t talk to people first. I did. While we were lacing up our rentals, Michelle, Gary, Carol, Carly, and I compared notes on how long it had been since we skated. The consensus seemed to be somewhere in the early teenage range.
I heard Carly mention to the others that she and Ben had broken up. I found that interesting. She had told me they “kind of had a fight.” Now they were broken up. Maybe I was overreacting. After all, she had also said something about how she couldn’t be with him. Most of us look for signs whether we want to admit it or not and, as we took to the rink and melted into the crowd, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the timing of all this was trying to tell me something.
I looked around me as I slowly got my sea legs back. Some people were holding hands as they skated. Gary and Carol were staying together a lot. Was there something going on there? They looked so happy and free. Carol could go anywhere without having to worry about being gawked at like a circus freak. Gary didn’t have to tiptoe around the question of whether it was okay to plan a date in a public, well-lit place, which, after all, is where most dates tend to take place. I had always taken that for granted. Would I miss it if things progressed with Jade?
Was I moving things along too quickly in my mind? I admitted to myself that if the others had flaked tonight, hanging out with Carly would have felt like cheating on Jade. Why? Carly and I were on the same page. Nothing was going to happen. Jade knew we hung out, and I had already been completely transparent with her about Carly and me. Maybe too transparent. Was there such a thing as too transparent? Maybe I would’ve been afraid of what Jade might think because of what she knew. Was that fair to Jade? Was it fair to me?
What was it about Jade anyway? Yeah, we could finish each other’s sentences and, if I’d had any doubts about the chemistry, that kiss had dispelled them nicely. The only problem was that when I thought about the times I reached out with a word or gesture she didn’t expect, I always remembered knowing in the moment that she didn’t expect it. Was that why I did it?
Jade had been rejected a lot. I like to think I’m a fairly compassionate person. Who doesn’t? It made me feel good about myself that I was not turning her away like those other guys. Did I pity Jade? I did. Was I telling myself I was legitimately attracted to her so I could believe it wasn’t just pity? Maybe, but I might still actually be attracted to her. This train of thought had me asking myself the last question I would have expected: Would I still want to keep seeing Jade if she weren’t green?
It wasn’t as though green women were my type. How could they be? Her greenness — was that even a word? — obviously wasn’t what first drew me to her, because I didn’t know about it at the time. I tried to think back to how I felt before I knew. It was hard, though, because Jade had shown me more of herself, inside as well as out, since then. The more I saw of that person, the more I liked her.
Then there was Carly. I snuck a look at her as she skated by, waving in a deliberately friendly way. I had finally admitted to somebody that I was attracted to her, and then, just a few days later, Carly had voiced similar feelings about me. That couldn’t be a coincidence. I had never pursued Carly, nor she me, but what if something bigger was pursuing both of us and had finally, decisively, caught up to us? If it weren’t for Jade, Carly and I would probably be just like Gary and Carol right now, wallowing in the splendor of one big couples’ skate.
I had known Carly for three years. In some ways I knew Jade better, but I also knew Carly a lot better than I had a few days ago. Maybe these latest glimpses were just confirming something I already knew. What if this whole thing with Jade was fate’s way of forcing my hand? Maybe it was an obstacle, a distraction that threatened to hurl me off course.
Suddenly it hit me. By “it” I mean the skate of the guy whipping past me way too fast and close. He knocked my feet out from under me, and in the next instant I was sprawled out across the cement floor. In a blink my eyes opened to the blinding colored lights dancing overhead. My right haunch ached from the impact.
“Neil!” I heard a voice. At first I didn’t recognize it because I had never heard it yelling before. It was Carly, who had rounded another lap in time to see what happened.
She reached down to me. “Are you okay? Here, let me help you.” She steadied me as I got back to my feet and, when the panic of my fall subsided and the world opened up to me again, I became aware that she was holding my arm at the elbow and skating back to the benches with me. I had instinctively put my hand over my throbbing hind quarter.
“Thanks,” I said clumsily. “I think I’m okay. It just knocked the wind out of me.”
“Sit down.” She ushered me to a bench. “I’ll get you some water.” I started to tell her not to bother, but she had already rolled away. She came back with a paper cup in one hand and a cold pack in the other.
“Thanks,” I said, again clumsily, taking the water and cold pack as she sat down on the bench facing mine. “I’m fine. It just caught me by surprise.” I grinned at her and added, “That seems to be happening a lot lately.”
She grinned. “Is this weird? Are we veering into weirdness here? Should I get somebody else to sit with you? I don’t know what the etiquette is here.”
“You sound like me,” I said before I could catch myself. “You’re good. We’re good.” I bent the cold pack until it popped and then held it to my backside. Then I took a sip of water.
“You’re gonna have a bruise,” she said.
“Yes, but like the heroic man I am, I will keep my wounds hidden from the world,” I said, hoping to lighten the mood.
“You have an interesting concept of heroism.”
“It works for me in this case.”
“Fair enough,” she said. I couldn’t help being reminded of the last time I had heard someone say those words. Odd, really. It’s a common expression.
After a few more minutes, I got back up and returned to the rink. It was pride, mostly. I was ready to call it a night, but I was determined not to give gravity the victory. I skated around the oval of introspection for a while, but this time I resolved to focus on people-watching.
Eventually it was time to leave. Gary had apparently ducked out early, and Carol was gone too. There were lots of smirks about that as Michelle, Carly, and I untied our skates and traded them back in for more sensible footwear. We chatted for a while in the parking lot. Nobody brought up Gary and Carol again, although everybody was clearly tempted. At one point Carly referred to it as “the elephant in the room.” I thought, Why couldn’t it have been Michelle who said that?
I didn’t see or hear from Carly the next day. It was Friday, and I had inspections I needed to file by the end of the week, so I had a wealth of distractions to take my mind off everything. I was grateful. I got everything done and left with a clear desk, which is always nice. A pile of unfinished business is no way to start a Monday morning, after all.
As I drove home, I asked myself the question too many people ask too often. I wondered how long I should wait before calling Jade. I didn’t want to crowd her, but I didn’t want her to think I’d lost interest. I decided I’d call her when I got home. She might not be back in town yet, but I wanted to get some idea of what might be off-limits on our second date. Wait, that sounded dirty. I mean I didn’t know if it was okay to invite her to someplace out in the open.
Things were good and dark at nine o’clock showings, which I had finally figured out was why she was so specific about that. I didn’t want to take her to another movie, though, and I didn’t want to eat at the Den of Uniquity, a place which, thanks to Jade, now lived up to its name in spectacular fashion. Suggesting another dinner there might give her the idea I was embarrassed to be seen with her in her true form. Whatever else might be iffy, I knew that was not the case.
Once at home, I held my phone in my hand and stared across the room, wondering how to proceed. Then it occurred to me that I didn’t have to wonder with Jade. I could just ask. That felt liberating. I dialed her number.
“Hello?”
“Jade, it’s Neil.”
“Neil who?”
“Funny. Quit yankin’ my chain. I need to ask you something.”
“Couldn’t resist,” she said, laughing.
“It’s nice to hear your laughter, even if it’s at my expense.”
“Thank you. You’re sweet. It’s nice to hear your voice, too.”
“How was your training?”
“Super-exciting. I’m negotiating the film rights now.”
“That bad? Your company’s conferences must be done by the same folks as ours.”
“Was that what you wanted to ask me? I can give you more details if you want.”
“Hmm? Oh, no. I wanted to talk to you about our... about tomorrow night.”
“You mean about our date? It’s a date, Neil. You can call it a date.”
“About our date.” It did sound better that way.
“Neil, we both knew this was coming,” she said, letting me off the hook. “Go ahead and poke that elephant.”
“Okay, here goes. Jade, how do you... do dates? I want to show you a good time, but I can’t do that if people are staring at you.”
“Some days I’m braver than others. People do stare sometimes. I’m not gonna hold you responsible for other people’s immaturity. Besides, I want you to be able to go out on a normal date, too.”
My haunch ached as I shifted in my chair. “Do you like roller skating?”
“That sounds like fun! I haven’t skated in years.”
“I’m a bit rusty myself.”
Copyright © 2021 by Jef Coburn
