Page 30 of Not Your Enemy

As we looked through the items, we were both relieved to see that numerous bins were full of various holiday decorations. Those didn’t have to be sorted and could quickly be added to thegarage sale stuff. Then there were winter clothes for both of their parents that we'd donate. Before we knew it, we’d gone through about half the space, both thankful that things were moving faster than expected.

“I’m hoping we can find some more of your diaries,” I teased Jade as I came across a box of her old schoolbooks.

“Ha ha.” Her words were light, but I could tell something sounded off.

“You okay?” I asked, looking up to examine her fully. Her long, straight hair covered her face as she leaned over a pile of holiday cards.

“I am. Just thinking about all this junk. It almost feels wrong to get rid of it, but I have no place for it. Just a lot to process, I guess.” She slumped as the words escaped her, sounding defeated.

I walked closer to her and placed my hand gently against her back. “Want to talk about anything?” I asked, trying to comfort her. She was such a sound person; it was hard to see her struggle with this and not feel sad myself. Sighing, she turned to face me, her eyelids drooping slightly.

"My parents must not have realized what this was. I had no clue it'd been kept all this time." Looking closer at the card in her hands, I saw a long note written out over a red, sparkly background.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to understand why it was bothering her. My hand stayed on her back, rubbing gently.

"So, I um, got this note from my boyfriend in high school. I only dated him because I knew Jana liked him. Which is fucked, I know. But he essentially wrote me a love note for Christmas, and I gave it to Jana as her present from me that year." I stayed silent as she explained, and bent down to sit beside her on the creaking wooden floor. "Just rubbing it in her face that I'd won. And what really sucks is that he was a nice guy and Jana and him would have been really cute together. But I was more confident than she was back then. I went after him hard,and she was too shy to do anything about it." I removed my hand from her back, crossing my arms over my chest.

Her words were hard to hear. I'd not known Jana to ever be shy or quiet, but it made sense that she wouldn't have been as sure of herself in her younger years. Jade didn't even like boys from what I understood, and she had a guy fall in love with her for a contest with her sister. It scared me because although this was a different situation, was I just a pawn to Jade? I didn't think so, but hearing what she'd been willing to do at one point wasn't really reassuring.

"I regret so much of what I did back then. And I don't expect you to overlook any of it," Jade said, placing the card back on top of the pile. The air suddenly felt stuffy as I contemplated what to say.

"I know you do," I said. She'd told me more than once that she had regrets, that she'd been mean to Jana and would do things differently in hindsight. "Look," I said, wanting to break the tension. "We all do things we aren't proud of. And, like you told me, your parents were the ones who started this feud between the two of you. You were just a kid, and the important thing is that you've seen the error of your ways and have clearly strived to be better." I gave her a timid smile as her eyes met mine.

The words hadn't just been to comfort her, but to help convince myself that she wasn't that person anymore. She smiled back, but her green eyes were still dark, as if she were even deeper in her head than I was. Standing up, I wiped the dust from my pants before placing a hand on her shoulder. Squeezing lightly, I tried to comfort her one last time before I walked back over to the box of schoolbooks. It seemed we both needed a minute to collect ourselves.

Chapter 19

We finished up in the attic that afternoon, both needing a shower from how dusty we’d gotten. It'd be eerily quiet up there. I'd heard horror stories of what Jade had done to Jana before, but hearing Jade tell me one herself made things feel different. As if it hadn't been just stories from the past but living wounds that still bled between the two of them. It was easy to pretend that the Jade Jana knew was not the same one I did. But they were the same person, and while I did believe that she had changed, I could also recognize my denial of exactly who I was falling for.

I cooked us dinner, and Jade helped me chop some vegetables while keeping our wine glasses full.

"Are we okay?" Jade asked. Standing over the stove, I turned to face her where she leaned against the kitchen island. Her voice had been small, and her mossy green eyes gazed at me from under her lowered brows.

"Yeah, I—." Stopping myself from lying, I walked closer to her and grabbed my wine glass, needing the liquid courage. "I'm not upsetwith you. I think what we talked about earlier just made me realize how much I'd been concealing from myself and Jana." Her expression remained one of concern as she listened. "I've communicated to her that you aren't the same person you used to be. Which is true, but I think it's important that I remember the validity of Jana's anger."

Turning her face away from me, she stared blankly at the cabinets. Feeling instantly guilty, I moved forward and grabbed her hand, curling my fingers around hers. She'd never been dishonest with me, never concealed her regrets or mistakes. I was the one who wasn't letting myself truly acknowledge everything. Acting as if Jana didn't truly know what she was talking about. Yet here I was making it Jade's problem, punishing her for something that I'd repeatedly told her wasn't her fault.

"I'm sorry," I said. Looking back at me, her nose wrinkled.

"You didn't do anything," she said, setting down her wineglass and placing her free hand on my upper arm.

"I'm making you feel bad for something that I basically already knew about," I said, laughing without humor.

"No, I feel bad for the fucked-up things I did to Jana when we were young. That's a consequence of my actions."

I nodded at her, stepping forward to wrap my arms around her. She embraced me, burying her face in my neck.

After a few moments, Jade lifted her head, and I firmly placed my lips on hers. It took her a few seconds before she started kissing me back, not having expected my eagerness. Her touch felt so gentle, her palm warm against my neck. Slipping a hand under my shirt, she cupped my breast through my bra, massaging the skin there. I moaned against her lips, pressing myself closer to her.

Pushing me, my lower back hit the island, and then her hands were sliding down to my hips, helping to lift me on top of it. Thankfulshe'd already placed the cutting board in the sink, my lips sank back onto hers as she unbuttoned my trousers. I leaned back on my hands as she slid them and my underwear down my legs, letting them fall on the tile floor below us, along with my flats. Jade got on her knees. Wrapping her arms around my thighs, she kissed them before spreading them apart. I lifted one leg until my foot was on the side of the island.

Placing her mouth on me, I watched as she dripped saliva between my folds before diving in with her tongue. I couldn’t help the moans slipping from my throat as she tasted me, lazily swirling her tongue all over my pussy. Sucking my clit, she rubbed her tongue against the sides of it.

"Jade," I cried out, adjusting so I could grab a handful of her hair.

I glanced over at the stove, confirming that our dinner wasn't burning. Not that I was in a position to care at the moment. Jade dipped her tongue inside my cunt, wiggling it and obviously hoping to drive me mad. Thrusting it slightly, she moved her hand that was gripping my thigh over until her fingers were circling and tugging on my clit.

"Feel good, Princess?" She asked, her words bringing me extremely close.