fandomhigh | Library is Open, February 15

"Mm, no. But there were turnips. It was cute," Rory said with a doofy smile.

"Turnips? No, never mind, don't wanna know." Parker rolled her eyes. "At least you two are fine. And Angela and Marty. Good to know."

"Hooray! How are you and Jarod?" Rory asked innocently.

Parker heaves a huge sigh and the eyes roll back. "Fine," she says, deadpan. "We're friends again. It's good." The deadpan might fade into a smile she's not aware of here.

"Friends?" Rory asked, smiling. "Like how I have a very good friend?"

"No-oooo," Parker says, her tone long-suffering. "Like, we go out for candy and a walk to see the seals, and there's no touching or anything that goes along with it." Yeah, her tone's a touch vehement on that, and she probably looks irritated. No reason.

"Yet."

Yeah, that's face-palming. "Or ever. Rory. He does not see me as anything other than a friend. Seriously. He's a giant dork."

"He soooooo does," Rory argued. "And there's nothing wrong with dorkiness."

"It's annoying," Parker responded. "And he doesn't, and I'm not getting into a five-year-old does-doesn't argument with you. We had a very good time on Sunday, and last night was fun too, it's great to have my friend back, I just wish to hell he wasn't hot, damnit!"

Flailing. Just a little.

"Because you like him, yes," Rory nodded.

"Because I like him, yes. As a friend." Parker's tired, and the flailing stops. "My best friend. And this is confusing and not-fun and maybe entertaining for you, but absolutely *not* for me." She rubbed her temples. "It'll wear off. It has to."

Rory reached over and patted her. "It's hard when it's a friend," she said gently. "A good friend. I know."

Parker snorted. "What kills me? If it were anyone else, any other guy who was not noticing me, and who I didn't want to have some kind of weird adrenaline reaction to? I'd be calling Jarod. And asking him to entertain me until I was over it. Or complaining about the cluelessness of males. This sucks."

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Getting over the denial makes things easier, though," Rory advised.

"Denial of what? Attraction? Oh, that's gone, believe it. 'Cause if he leans in to whisper something in my ear one more time, I'm gonna snap."

"So snap," Rory said.

Just for a second Parker imagines that, and it's incredibly difficult to breathe.

Then she thinks of the by-far most likely aftermath, and shakes her head violently. "No, no, no, no. Not gonna go there. I don't need him laughing. At me. No. He'd think it was funny, the dork. And then I'd have to kill him, which would make me very sad later. So no. Unh-uh. Not happening."

"I bet he wouldn't," Rory said. "And you won't know unless you try."

"It's moot, it's beside the point, it's not happening. I need my friend. I don't need another ex-boyfriend. Easy call." Parker took a breath. "It'll work out. Eventually. I've *never* been hung up on a guy I couldn't get for very long." Of course, that's because the two times it happened, Giusseppe caved and Tony stayed in Tokyo. But details. Fffft.

"Uh huh. No harm in trying, though," Rory pointed out.

Parker's not even going to answer that. The truth is, the idea of Jarod rejecting her is to scary to contemplate. The humiliation factor is too high. So she veers off the conversational path into, "If I invited you guys over to the Sin for a movie night with Jarod, would you come, or would you want to avoid Becky too much to even think about it?"

"Um," Rory said, thinking. "I could do that. As long as she doesn't throw a knife at my head."

"Cool. And she usually saves that for guys, I've noticed." Parker relaxed a bit. "Now I just have to talk Jarod into it. No problem."

"Um, is this like, a friend thing? Because I don't want to third wheel," Rory said lightly. "Though if you wanted, I could bring a certain friend and we could have a double not-date."

Library is Open, February 15

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