See Jane Date by Melissa Senate Read Free Book Online

teeth gleaming at me. “We haven’t seen each other in what, ten years? I have to say, Janey Gregg, you look adorable! ”
    That was an insult. There was nothing more condescending than being called adorable. “Thanks, Gnat,” I said, recalling how much she disliked her name being shortened. If only she could hear that silent G. “You look really great yourself.”
    â€œDon’t I though?” She laughed, and her green eyes sparkled like the clichéd emeralds. It was so unfair. “I have the most amazing dermatologist. I’ll give you his number, if you want. He’ll zap those little lines right out from under your eyes.”
    What little lines?
    â€œI still can’t get over this!” Natasha exclaimed,squeezing a lemon into her six-dollar mineral water. “I mean, Posh signs me, and who should be a big editor there but Janey Gregg from Forest Hills!”
    â€œI’m from here now,” I said. Too defensive, Jane. Calm down. “I live on the Upper East Side. My boyfriend bought in a brownstone on the Upper West, but I’ve always preferred the East Side.” Why did I say all that? A boyfriend was one thing, but did I have to go into every phony detail? Apparently so.
    â€œOoh, a boyfriend—and he owns a brownstone! Well done, Jane!”
    Yes, well done, I thought, cringing. Don’t ask me his name, I sent to her telepathically. I didn’t have the mental energy to make up a really good one. “Well, not the entire brownstone, of course,” I amended, ripping off a piece of bread from the basket between us. “Just the apartment. It’s a two-bedroom, so he has an office. I have an adorable studio I’m too fond of to give up, but it’s a waste, really, since I spend most of my time at his place.”
    Once you got started, you couldn’t stop. Really.
    Natasha’s ringlets bobbed as she nodded. “I know exactly what you mean. My boyfriend and I live on his houseboat docked in Santa Barbara. Who could live on land after that?”
    Who indeed? Now did you understand why I had diarrhea of the mouth?
    â€œSo whatever happened to those quiet twins you used to pal around with?” Natasha asked. “Are you still close friends?”
    I envisioned the Miner twins. Lisa and Lora. Tall, thin and as quiet as the Gnat surprisingly remembered. They had been my only friends back in high school. Lisa and Lora had listened to me whine and complain about the Gnat for years, nonstop when she’d stolen Robby Eversfrom me. Now, every six months or so I’d e-mail either Lisa or Lora, and she’d e-mail me back. They’d moved to San Francisco for college and stayed there. They were both married and had two children with a third on the way. We’d stayed close for a few years, but distance and different lives had had its usual friendship-killing effect.
    â€œNot really,” I said. “People grow apart—you know how it is.”
    Natasha looked me in the eye for a moment. I wondered what she was thinking. How pathetic and mousy and nerdy I’d been as a teenager? That I’d never had a boyfriend? That I’d had only two friends—and I wasn’t even able to hold on to those friendships? Natasha had had the entire school at her disposal for friends and boyfriends. She’d defined the popular crowd.
    â€œI have a great circle of friends now,” I added, reaching for my tap water. “Friends are everything. I don’t know what I’d do without Eloise and Amanda.” Wow—a true statement! Didn’t I get a medal for that?
    She nodded. “Pretty names. Hey, so did I mention I keep an apartment on the Upper East Side too? It’s just a one bedroom co-op, and I’m rarely in town, but, like you, I can’t bear to give it up. It’s my sanctuary. Wouldn’t it be darling if we were neighbors? I’m on 64th between Park and Madison.” She