By Kris

"Jim! Belated Happy Valentine's Day!" Honey exclaimed when she heard her brother answer.

"Hi, sis. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too. How's it going?" Jim shifted uncomfortably. Shelby was over. He didn't like talking to his family when she was in the room. She watched him too closely, like she was suspicious.

"Oh, everything is great, except that when a bunch of us went out to a dance last night, we really missed you. It wasn't the same without you."

A dance? Okay, Honey probably went with Brian. Mart and Di, that one's easy. Dan and Trixie, maybe? "I'm glad you had fun. Who all went?" Jim asked.

Honey launched into her story. "Well, it was a turn-about dance, so Di asked Mart, although she made him suffer a little first, and Dan went with this girl named Sangita--have you met her? She's the best student in Mart's class and she's lived all over the world! And Juaquine and Ruthie joined us, and I asked Brian, and Trixie went with Brian's roommate." Let's see what he thinks of that!

Jim's heart sank as Honey finished her recitation. He wanted to find out more, but he didn't dare say Trixie's name out loud. "Oh? I thought they'd only met that one time." Yeah, that sounded casual. Idiot.

I thought that would get his attention. "Well, actually, when Soon Yong found out I'd invited Brian, he asked Trixie to go. It was so sweet. He could tell she was nervous about inviting him."

"Yeah? Well, I hope they had fun." But not too much fun. Wait. Don't go there.

"He must have, at least. He asked her out again. Trixie and I might even go visit Binghamtom next month!" Okay, I didn't need to tell him that much, but I've gotta know if he's jealous. Honey held her breath as she waited for Jim to answer.

"That's good. Say, are Mother and Dad home?" Jim swallowed hard. Please say no.

"No, Jim, they were delayed in Banff. I just called to say hi. Have a good week." He didn't like that one bit. I wonder...

"You, too. Bye." Jim hung up and turned around. "My kid sister had a high school dance this weekend. We had to run through the who-went-with-whom gossip," he explained.

Shelby lowered her lashes and sighed, a single tear slipping down her cheek. "It must be so nice to have a family."

That did it. Jim sat down next to her and put his arms around her. "I'm sorry. I know how tough holidays are for you."

* * * *

Later that evening after Shelby had left, Jim sat at his desk and stared morosely out his dorm window into the darkness, glad his roommate hadn't come back. He needed quiet to think.

His relationship with Shelby was not making him happy anymore.

He'd met Shelby in the campus bookstore at the beginning of last semester. She went to a small liberal arts school in town, but the larger store at Cornell had a better book selection than the one at Ithaca College.

Jim had been browsing in the psychology section. He'd opened a book about orphans, only to have a tall, lovely young woman close the book and pull it out of his hands. Her eyes filling with tears, she'd said in a low voice, "If you want to know about this, just ask me. I'm an expert."

Jim felt a wave of compassion wash over him. He invited her out for coffee, and they shared their life stories. Shelby's parents and older sister had been killed in a car accident when she was 14, she'd told him. Her grandfather didn't want to raise her alone, so he'd sent her to a boarding school that specialized in the performing arts. She'd become a theatre major because acting helped her deal with her grief.

Jim was drawn to her, identifying with her sense of loss. He asked her out again, and before he knew it, they were dating exclusively. He felt she needed him, a feeling he initially found very gratifying. He'd even brought her home to Sleepyside over Thanksgiving so that she wouldn't have to stay on the deserted campus.

But by Christmas, he'd begun to have doubts. Jim realized that Shelby never paid for anything herself--not that he minded; he could afford it--but it had gotten to the point where he paid for almost every meal she ate. She also was possessive, resorting to tears if he wanted to hang out with the guys instead of spending more time with her. If he didn't deal with this soon, he wasn't going to have any friends left.

He thought of Brian, and of the other BWGs who were still in high school. He felt a pang of regret. He'd been neglecting those friendships, too. Brian especially had avoided him, ever since their big argument...

What's the deal with bringing a girlfriend home for Thanksgiving? I thought you planned to be a free agent in college.

Hey, it's not like I planned for this to happen. It started with coffee and sort of... developed into something serious.

Serious? Look, Jim, it's your own business who you date, but you've completely lost me this time. I know she's pretty, but... this relationship doesn't seem healthy to me.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Do you think all I care about is how she looks? You know me better than that, Brian!

As far as I can tell, her looks are her only redeeming feature. What did Shelby do, cast an evil spell on you?

Jim had slammed down the phone in fury. At least he had behaved better than Brian did. He hadn't accused the eldest Belden brother of being offended for Trixie's sake.

Trixie. Jim's heart skipped a beat the way it always did when he thought of his closest friend. What do you call a best friend who's a girl? He had chosen "special girl." Yeah, it was pretty lame, but he'd been inexperienced, overwhelmed and only 15 at the time.

Did I make the wrong decision last summer? Trixie is so great. I'd still rather spend time with her than with anyone else, but it was high school crush, that's all. She's still a kid!

A voice in the back of his head countered, That kid is dating now.

Shelby, on the other hand.... She was two years older than he was, and would turn 20 soon. Yeah, I know exactly what Trixie would say--that I like the glamorous types best, after all. But that's not true! Sure, Shelby is beautiful like Diana, but she's also poised like Honey, and she's outgoing like Trixie. She should be the perfect girlfriend, right?

He compared Trixie, the girl next-door, to the women on campus, and shook his head. Nah, it was just puppy love. I was right to let go. It's time to grow up.

Everything felt so right when he first met Shelby. Why did everything seem so wrong now?

He had the sinking feeling that he'd been blinded by sympathy. She's not the Wicked Witch of the West, like Brian seems to think, but something's missing. Something important.

Jim stood up and began to pace. His suitemates weren't enamored with Shelby, either. "Too high-maintenance," was Andre's assessment. Jacob had once called Jim "easy prey," but immediately apologized and refused to elaborate. His roommate Sam made himself scarce whenever Shelby was around.

Even Dan had said his piece, confronting Jim after New Year's, before he returned to campus. Brian's frankness had surprised Jim, but he could always count on Dan to be blunt. What's going on with you? Why are you still with a chick who obviously makes you miserable? You might think you're moving forward, but you're really just running away.

Dan was right. Jim knew he was going to have to summon the nerve to break up with Shelby, but he dreaded hurting her. It's easier to avoid my problems, isn't it?

Looking for a distraction, Jim sat down again and scanned his bookcase. His tastes ran to serious and scholarly works, and to classic novels. His idea of "light" reading was Jane Austen. But tonight he was looking for something entirely different. It was a gift from his best friends in the world.

Jim finally found the thin, illustrated volume, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. The BWGs had given him this book when his cousin Juliana's baby was born, so he could practice being an "uncle," according to Mart. The stories were mostly lame parodies of old fables and fairy tales, but the title story, a twisted version of the Gingerbread Man, always made him laugh. He really needed a good laugh right now.

As he opened the book, he recalled when Mart, Diana, Trixie and Dan had gotten punch-drunk on the dock at the Wheelers' lake last summer. Those four always fed off each other's high spirits. Diana began to read Jim's present aloud, prompting the others to read different parts. When Dan swaggered up to Mart and exclaimed, "Oh man! What is that funky smell?" Trixie laughed so hard she fell into the lake, dragging her fellow "actors" in with her.

God, I miss her.

"Run run run as fast as you can. You can't catch me..."

Run run run. Yeah, I've got that much down.