Chapter 1

Evan made his way into the busy kitchen to grab another beer. His friend Zack had convinced him to come out to one last party before he went away for the summer. Evan wasn’t really sure why, as Zack ditched him within 15 minutes to talk to some girl he had been wanting to bang. It must have gone well because he was on his own for the rest of the night, which he was used to by then. Normally he wouldn’t be feeling as awkward as he was but every year he found himself more ready to leave his hometown and everyone in it behind.

On the way to the backyard, he saw a semi-familiar face go by him, glancing up and giving a small smile like she always did. He had known of Jane since first grade, all the way up through high school. The college he went to was big enough that she could be going there too as far as he knew. He saw her at most of the parties he went to and they had quite a lot of mutual friends. For whatever reason, they had never said more than a sentence to each other; maybe a few paragraphs if he counted the fifth grade school play.

Jane always seemed to be on the move, heading to some other more important thing where no one else was invited. He had always thought it was a little funny that a girl could be nicknamed ‘hippie’ while appearing to be so stuck up. They had even managed to not speak at the office supply store that they worked at during college. The same one that Evan had just been ‘laid off’ from. He followed Jane, realizing that they finally had something to talk about.

He made his way out the front door, hoping she hadn’t left yet. There were only a handful of partiers out front and soon he found her sitting alone at the far end of the porch, face buried in her phone. He hesitated for a few moments as a strange childhood nervousness gripped him. He had a small, quick crush on her when they were 14, nothing at all serious, but to Evan, Jane had always been unapproachable.

She had dirty blonde hair halfway down her back that was usually straight or pulled back into a ponytail; always a bit messy as she was always running her hands through it. The hippie label was probably due to her style of dress as she seemed to have specific tastes that evolved to include some more regular clothes now and then.

That night it was tight tan work pants and a yellow shirt with flowers all over it that looked like it had been passed down from the 60’s. All of these details would leave many guys to believe that Jane was more approachable but he didn’t see her that way. In his opinion, the most unattractive quality about her was how aware she was that she looked like a model without having to try.