They settled at one of the lab tables, opening their lunches. Azalea let the quiet linger, hoping Jewel would start to talk soon, but her silence was unnerving. Jewel had never been the quiet one in their friendship. She was always far more talkative, far more into the gossip, the conversation. Azalea simply enjoyed her presence and the lilt of her voice as she talked, but she was worried because this was not typical Jewel. This was Jewel when she was going through some type of deep turmoil, and only once had Azalea ever seen her like this.
“What’s going on, J?” She finally asked after five minutes of silence. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you this quiet.”
“Huh? What?”
Azalea cocked her head to the side. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing is wrong.”
Azalea narrowed her gaze. “I don’t quite believe you. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” Jewel picked at her bag of potato chips, barely eating anything.
That only confirmed Azalea’s suspicions. Something was up, and Azalea wanted to know what it was. Reaching over, she grasped Jewel’s hand and squeezed it tight. “Are you thinking about Brady?”
“What? No.” Jewel’s beautifully dark eyes were wide.
“Then what’s bothering you?” Azalea gave her hand another squeeze, but Jewel pulled her fingers away. Only slightly perturbed, Azalea grabbed her lunch to try and occupy her hands.
“I think I just need a break.”
“Spring break is coming up—take the time off. Don’t do any work that you don’t have to.”
Jewel sighed. “Yeah. What are you doing?”
“Work.” Azalea pursed her lips. “I need to get some prep done for final quarter.”
“I need to plan the spring concert better.”
“Do it now or do it after. Take the week, J. It’s been a tough year for you, don’t feel guilty about it.” Azalea still couldn’t quite read Jewel’s look. There was something in it that was beyond Azalea’s abilities, and it irked her. She should be better at this by now.
“I’ll try.”
“You know what…” Azalea looked Jewel over. She was made up perfectly, her hair gelled into spikes, her dark eyeliner, the light barely-there blush. “Let’s do something together.”
“You sure?” Jewel looked skeptical.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Azalea’s lips curled up brilliantly. “You’re my best friend.”
Jewel shrugged.
“This isn’t still about your date, is it?”
Those dark eyes turned on her.
“I told you, J. I don’t care what your orientation is. You’re my best friend no matter what. I’m not going to abandon you just because you came out to me. I wish you’d done it sooner, actually.”
Still Jewel stayed silent. It unnerved Azalea. She wasn’t used to this amount of silence.
“Here, I’ve got this friend in the next county over. She runs a B and B. Let me call her and see if she’s got any rooms open for our break and we can take it. It won’t be like we’re going far, but it’ll be enough to feel like we’re getting away. What do you think?”
“I don’t know,” Jewel mumbled.
“It’ll be good. When’s the last time you left town and didn’t go someplace with family?”
“I can’t remember. Probably that weekend Brady and I went to Wichita.”
Azalea sneered. “See? We definitely have to do something then.”