Worth the Fall by Caitie Quinn Page A

Jenna started laughing because Ben was laughing at her which got me laughing. Then, I don’t know if I could have stopped if someone held a gun to my head. It was all so absurd.
    The door cracked open and we all fell silent like it had been a cue. But, when I saw Jason standing there torn between annoyance, smugness, and blatant curiosity, I started giggling. Followed by Jenna’s little snort. Followed by Ben covering his mouth and turning to look down the hall.
    “What?” Jason covered his curiosity with his typical arrogant demeanor.
    “Nothing. We were just chatting about…” I let it hang out there as if I hadn’t been able to make up a lie. Which was true, but not for the reason he thought. “The building.”
    “So?”
    “So what?”
    “What about the building?”
    “Oh.” I glanced at my dynamic duo and then back. “Well, it’s just, my new place is a lot cuter. But, you were never a cutsey kind of person, so this is probably perfect for you.”
    He stared me down as if there was something I wasn’t telling him. There was a lot I wasn’t telling him, but none of it was his business.
    “So, I wanted to pick up my stuff.”
    You’d think I’d just said, I’d like to steal all your belongings the way he looked at me.  
    “You know,” I continued. “The boxes we’d brought over last weekend.”
    “Right. Fine.” Jason pushed the door open.
      I headed in, expecting again to find them neatly stacked by the door. That would have made too much sense.
    “Where is everything?”  
    Jason waved a hand in the general direction of the bedroom. “Wherever you put it.”
    I’d had enough. It wasn’t funny anymore and I didn’t see any reason for small talk. I brushed past him, aware of Jenna and Ben following close behind, and picked up the first box. Of course it was books. Ben took it from me before I managed to tip myself backward and get trapped under it.
    “Why don’t we just carry everything out to the hall then make a couple trips?”
    Jenna’s arms were crossed as she glared at Jason leaning against the bedroom door’s frame. “Are you sure?”
    I glanced at Jason again. “Yup. I just want to get out of here.”
    He gave me that smirk—the one I’d been mistaking for a smile for the last few years. In that moment I was sure it wasn’t that I needed to get away from him. It wasn’t that my heart was so broken that this was killing me. It was that I’d just realized how annoying he was, and really, why put up with that when you can just leave?
    We moved all the boxes while Jason watched, probably making sure we didn’t lift anything from his room. With three of us and five boxes it wasn’t such a bad trip. Ben and I went back for the last two while Jenna paced out front giving Max the rundown of what an idiot I’d dated.
    And maybe what an idiot I’d had to have been to date him.
    When we’d put everything in the van, I slammed the door with a happy expectation of never seeing Jason again.
    “So, did you flatten anything while you were up there? Did he have an air mattress or something you could unplug the nozzle on?”
    Even Ben just looked at him like he was an idiot.
    But, at least this idiot wasn’t mine to deal with.
    And, as we pulled from the curb, I had to admit, not even a little part of me felt sad as I watched the address I’d planned to call home disappear down the street behind us.

THIRTEEN

    I was lying in bed, listening to the peaceful sounds of a neighborhood that didn’t abut the highway, when my phone rang.  
    I was shockingly unsurprised to see it was Jenna.
    “Just wanted to make sure you were okay and had everything you needed.”
    Of course she did. I’m not sure what she would have done if I said I didn’t have something, but it was nice to be checked on.
    “Yup. All set.” I stretched and glanced out the window at new leaves shifting to yellow-orange on the trees hiding the building behind us. “This is the most relaxed I’ve been