Charmed Thirds_ A Jessica Darling Novel - Megan McCafferty [106]
“Uh, right.” I was surprised that he even knew my last name—no one introduces themselves by first and last names—let alone remembered it from when our professor publicly posted our grades.
“Jessica Darling,” he repeated.
I rolled my eyes. “I know. The porn star . . .”
“Ah, yes!” ALF piped in. “I love your work.”
“I wasn't thinking that,” Kieran spat, his irritation directed at ALF. “I was thinking nomen et omen. Names are prophetic. And about how yours—Darling—might have affected you.”
Before I could say anything about “Notso,” my family nickname, Kazuko snorted.
“Nomen et omen. My parents would disagree with that.”
“Why?” Kieran asked.
“Because Kazuko means ‘pleasant child,'” she said with a mischievous smile.
“Mine means ‘body,'” Tanu interjected.
“Wow, that's so eerie,” ALF said. “Because . . . you have a body.”
And we all laughed.
“Go ahead and mock me,” Kieran said before returning his attention to me. “So do you prefer Jessica or Jess or something else?” Being unfailingly polite is all part of the dreamo gambit.
“Well, at school I'm known as J. Just as long as you don't call me Jessie, which is what my parents call me,” I said. “I don't really have a preference between J or Jess or Jessica, though—” I stopped short.
“What?”
“Well, uh, the only person who consistently called me Jessica was, uh . . .”
“Your ex-boyfriend,” Kieran said.
I nodded. Oh, dreamo boy. So attuned to the details.
“The dead one?” Kazuko asked.
Kieran threw her a look. “He wasn't her boyfriend.”
“Right, this was another guy. A real ex-boyfriend.”
“Is he the reason you're here?” Kieran asked.
I sipped my beer before answering. “Indirectly,” I said.
“What do you mean ‘indirectly'?” ALF demanded.
“By indirectly I mean, ‘not directly.'”
“Which means Jessica doesn't feel like sharing,” Kieran said. “And we should respect that.”
“Respek,” ALF said Ali G-style, knuckles out. We bumped fists. ALF is funny.
“There is a more direct reason why I'm here, though,” I said.
“Do tell!” Tanu begged, always too eager to hear one of my stories.
“I walked in on my parents doing it doggie-style.”
And then the room exploded with a shrieky freak-out.
“You win!” Tanu exclaimed. “Nothing could be worse than that!”
“I'm pretty sure that's true, but we haven't heard Kieran's reason for being here,” I said, looking his way.
“Oh, go ahead and tell them,” urged ALF.
Kieran was staring into the nonworking fireplace, a faraway look in his eyes.
“Ladies, get ready to weep and then drop your panties,” said ALF. “As opposed to the reverse order, which is usually how it happens with me.”
Kieran didn't respond.
ALF snapped his claws in front of Kieran's face.
Kieran slowly returned to the rest of the room.
“I'm here because my parents are yachting around the Caribbean. And I'm an only child. And I'm not friends with any of my friends from high school anymore, if we were ever really friends at all. And there's only so much weed you can smoke by yourself. So.”
“There's more,” I said.
“What?”
“There's more than what you're telling us.”
“And how do you know?”
“I read faces,” I said.
“Really?” Tanu asked. “Like a palm reader?”
“Well, yeah. But with faces. And I'm not a charlatan.”
And before I could say “microexpressions” Kieran revealed the whole truth.
“I was supposed to go to Vail with my girlfriend. Only she isn't my girlfriend anymore. Which is painful because I'm still in love. Or in limerence. I'm not sure it matters. Our bond was illusory, but this pain is real. I hurt.”
In my mind, I could hear Dexy butchering REM.
Everybody hurts . . . everybody cries . . .
I smiled sadly, thinking about my friend. She's not coming back for spring semester, as I'd hoped. Maybe next fall. While I'm sad because I miss her, I know it's better that she stay home until she's ready. This city can break the best of us.
Kieran thought I was reacting to his story. He rubbed his dry, bloodshot eyes.
“It still hurts,” he repeated more softly for impact.
It worked. Upon hearing Kieran's