Robin Wasserman - Envy

“Okay… you got me. I’ll do it. I’ll call Greg and ask him to dinner.”

“Fabulous.” Harper grinned and looked out her window toward Adam’s bedroom. She wondered what he was thinking about right now. Probably Beth. But even that wasn’t enough to deflate her mood. “Good luck, not that you need it.”

Miranda sighed.

“Thanks for the reality check, Harper. You’re the best.”

Harper hung up the phone and gave herself a mental pat on the back for a job extremely well done. Miranda would be distracted (and, as an added bonus, maybe even happy), leaving Harper free and clear to pursue her own agenda. Guilt free.

Was Harper the best?

Damn right.

Beth slammed her hand on the dining room table as another paper airplane whizzed past her head.

“Adam, give it a rest, I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Okay, okay.” He bent down over his book again and there was a moment of blessed silence. But then, just when Beth had almost wrapped her head around the variables in a monstrously complicated word problem, a tiny ball of paper flew onto her book. When she looked up in irritation, another one hit her squarely in the forehead.

“Jesus, Adam, what are you, twelve years old?”

“What? I’m just trying to have some fun. You can’t tell me you’re not bored out of your mind.”

“That’s not the point,” she snapped. “The SATs are in less than two weeks, and I need to get through this. I thought you did too-isn’t that what you said?”

Actually, Adam had called to report his latest swimming victory, suggesting they go out on the town to celebrate. It was a huge moment for him-the swim team was going to the regional championships for the first time in a decade, and it was all thanks to Adam. Beth would have liked nothing more than to spend the night celebrating, to enjoy the fact that she was in love with such an amazing guy. But… she just didn’t have the time. She’d set aside the night for SAT studying, and she couldn’t break her schedule. Not this close to the test. Not even for Adam. But when she’d told him that, he hadn’t gotten angry, or sulky, or any of the other reactions she’d expected. Instead, he’d invited himself over. A study date, just the two of them.

“I need to study,” she’d warned him, wary that she’d be too distracted by his charming smile and silky blond hair.

“Hey, I’m taking the test too,” he’d pointed out. “Don’t I need to study?”

She’d been skeptical-but, after all, she’d been begging him all along to take the SATs more seriously. Who was she to object when he finally took her advice?

They had set up shop at the dining room table and, after a couple minutes of small talk, lowered their heads over their books.

For about five minutes. And then his attention span ran out.

The last hour had been insanely frustrating, as she tried to keep her concentration and her temper. But she wasn’t having much luck with either.

“I just thought we could take a little break,” he whined, squirming under her disapproving gaze. “Have a little fun.”

“There’s no time for fun-not now,” Beth said, gesturing at the intimidating piles of books, notebooks, and flashcards that lay scattered across the table. She hated the way she sounded, like such a humorless stick in the mud. But it was partly his fault-if he wasn’t always such a baby, she wouldn’t always have to be such a nag. It’s not like she enjoyed playing the role. “Why can’t you understand that?”

“Maybe because you seem to have plenty of time when it comes to Kane,” he said sulkily.

“Is that what this is all about? Is that why you’re here?” Beth sighed in exasperation. How had Adam gotten so disconnected from the things that really mattered to her, enough so that he couldn’t understand the most important things in her life? Instead, they just had to have this same pointless conversation over and over again. Maybe that was what happened when you stopped talking, she thought sadly. You ran out of new things to say. “Are you really that jealous?”

“I’m not jealous at all,” he said hotly. “I just don’t understand what the deal is with the two of you.”

“I told you-he cares about doing well,” Beth insisted. “He wants my help.”

“That’s not all he wants,” Adam muttered.

“What was that?” she asked sharply.

“I just think you need to ask yourself why he wants to spend so much time with you. Why are you so sure that he cares so much about the test ?”

She stiffened-it infuriated her when he implied that the only thing she had to offer the world was her body. Why was he so convinced that all anyone could ever want from her was sex? Maybe because it was all he wanted? As always, she tried to suppress the fear-but these days, it never disappeared for long.

“Oh, I don’t know-maybe because when I study with Kane , he actually works hard,” she pointed out, and it was absolutely true. “He doesn’t sit there fidgeting, throwing paper airplanes, and ignoring everything I say unless it’s about football or TV Now… who does that sound like to you?”

“Fine!” he said in a loud, sulky voice, looking away. “You caught me. I don’t give a shit about this stupid test. I just wanted to spend some time with my girlfriend. Lock me up and throw away the key.”

She shushed him and glanced down the hall-her mother was trying to sleep a bit before working a night shift, and the last thing Beth needed was to wake her up. They both held still for a moment, waiting-but no sound came from the bedroom. They were safe. And in the quiet pause, Beth’s anger had seeped away. She closed her book, then reached over and closed Adam’s, too.

“Adam, listen to me. You have nothing to worry about.”

“You don’t know Kane…”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But I know myself,” she said urgently. “ You know me. Whatever it is you think he’s after, he’s not going to get it.”

Adam looked down and didn’t respond.

“You trust me, right?”

“I do, of course I do, it’s just that-”

“Look. Remember last month, when you were spending all that time with Kaia?” she asked.

A wary, panicked look flashed across Adam’s face. “Yes…”

“And I was insanely jealous?”

“That’s right, you were,” he said triumphantly, vindicated.

“And you got mad, because I didn’t trust you-and you were right.”

He looked down again, deflated.

“I should have trusted you,” Beth told him, “because I know you’d never do anything to hurt me.”

“I never would,” he said urgently. “Beth, you know that. I love you.”

“And I love you.” She leaned across the table and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “And you just have to trust that. Okay?”

“So what now?” he asked.

She laughed. “Now you get out of here and let me get my work done so that I can see you another time. Without the stupid books.”

He rolled his eyes. “Are you sure?” he asked, coming around to her side of the table and massaging her shoulders. As always, she melted beneath his warm and sure touch. “Because you might want to keep me around-I tend to come in handy.”

She swatted him with her notebook. “Don’t tempt me,” she begged. “Now come on, get out.”

He shrugged and turned to go. But he didn’t get very far.

“Okay, come back,” she cried. “ You got me-one more kiss.”

It was a long one.

Adam drove home. With the sweet taste of Beth still fresh on his lips-and the image of her in Kane’s arms still fresh on his mind. He knew Kane-the guy got anything he wanted. Anything. Anyone. Adam had to work for everything he got; but for Kane, victory came easy. And it came often.