(FREE TO READ) Bad Moon

chapter 19; sorry

Sadie leaned across the counter with her cheek in her palm. A splash of light reflected from her hoop earrings and tugged Jaylin's attention from his computer monitor. It wasn't usual for him to work day-shifts, but he'd been asked to fill in and after calling out twice in a week, he felt more than obliged–even if it went entirely against his natural sleep cycle.

He sneezed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. There was also that. The cold coming back to bite him.

"Gross," Sadie commented, digging into her button-cluttered satchel and coming up with a sheet of tissue. "You getting sick again?"

"I think." Jaylin took it from her and rubbed away his runny nose.

"How was dinner at the Sigvard's?" Sadie asked. "Was Quentin there? Did you two kiss?" She gasped and leaned in closer. "Did you sleep with him?"

Jaylin spun in his chair to return her question with a hearty no, but Matt's headphones wires had been tangled around the arm and the buds were ripped from his ears.

"Jesus," Matt groaned. He rubbed circles into the shell of his ear and his eyes lifted back to the horizon. "Can y'all chill out? I'm trying to push some heavy eye-contact on the cute blonde with the Mark Twain book."

"Blonde?" Jaylin perused the distance for her. The only blonde he found was studying in a chair next to the autobiography section. Cute, but no Tisper. "I don't know, Matt. She doesn't look your type."

"And what's my type?" Matt dared.

"Women who wanna kick your ass."

"And blondes in ponytails. Besides, we had Chem together in high school, so I know she's smart. Her name's Ashley. Ashley...something."

"Beautiful," said Sadie. "Matt Something. Has a ring to it."

"Why the hell am I taking her last name?" Matt asked.

Sadie returned. "Maybe she doesn't want to be owned by you."

"Oh, Jesus," groaned Matt. "This again."

"I'm just saying. Coverture was basically just like signing a title on a car. Only the car's a woman, and she no longer holds any individualism or power—or a right to anything, ever."

This time Matt looked to Jaylin. He tried to ignore his gaze, but being sought out by Matt was like being gaped at by a lost, gloss-eyed puppy.

"That true?" he asked.

Jaylin had no idea, but he looked from Matt to Sadie, and decided the smartest course of action was to give an ambiguous part-way nod. "So you gave up on Tis, huh?" he asked, sweeping a book beneath the scanner. He didn't even have to look at the screen, at this point the movement was organic.

Matt leaned back and crossed his sun-freckled arms. His eyes stuck to the blonde like a lion after a wounded gazelle. "It was like you said. The ship has sunk."

Jaylin rolled his eyes. "The phrase is 'the ship has sailed'."

Sadie gave a deeply melodramatic sigh. "Damn. Thought you two were cute together."

"Maybe. But I got a good feeling about this Ashley chick," Matt said. "Caught me lookin' earlier and smiled."

"Nah, I think she's checking out Jaylin."

"Like hell she is."

At the sound of his name, Jaylin popped his head up and frowned. "Leave me out of it."

"Have you ever dated a girl, Jaylin?" Sadie asked, her bracelets jingling as she slung her arm on the edge of the counter. "You do like 'em right? Girls?"