insight | darcy/johnny, soulmates (part four)
“Again?” Darcy stopped at her desk, glaring down at the bouquet of flowers lying on her keyboard. “How the fuck is he getting them in here?”
“He’s persistent, I’ll give him that.” Jane shrugged. She had a box of chocolates in her hand, one that Darcy had received a few days ago, and Jane popped another in her mouth. “The man has good taste in chocolate, though.”
“Not helping, boss lady.” Darcy sent Jane an irritated glance. “And you aren’t supposed to have sugar before noon.”
“I slept eight hours last night,” Jane shot back, smiling smugly. “I can eat whatever I want.”
Darcy rolled her eyes and let it go, instead turning back to the flowers. There was a card tucked between the brown wrappings, his handwriting dark and bold against the white cardstock – she tugged it out of the bouquet and tossed it into the trash with a sigh.
“I’m going to give these to Sonia in reception,” she said, picking up the flowers and turning towards the door. “Be right back.”
Jane just nodded, humming at the taste of sugar, but when the Darcy disappeared down the corridor Jane shuffled over and fished the card out of the trashcan.
“ ‘Darcy - I’m sorry, please forgive me? - Johnny’ ” Jane read aloud, and turned to one side of the room with an unimpressed expression. “…. Seriously?”
There was a ripple in the air, and Sue reappeared with a wince. “He’s working on it.”
“Well, seeing as how last week’s cards said something along the lines of, ‘Give me a chance, sweetheart,’ I’d say his chances right about now are hovering around ‘black hole’ on a scale of one to ten.” Jane tossed the card back into the trash. “Does he have any common sense? It’s not like he just forgot her birthday or something.”
“He’s trying, Jane,” Sue said, her mouth tightening. “At least give him that.”
“Not hard enough.” Jane looked entirely unapologetic.
“Does she even care?” Sue asked, and Jane rounded on her with a scowl.
“Seeing as how you don’t really know Darcy, I’m going to let that go.” Jane said, the threat laden in her voice. “He needs to try harder, simple as that.”
“Jane, I like Darcy, really.” Sue held her hands up. “I’m just asking – ”
“She’s spent her entire life under the shadow of his words, trying prove that she’s good enough.” Jane rounded on Sue, her expression fierce. “She’s had to live knowing that her soulmate’s first words to her were about how she wasn’t good enough for him, and she’s lived this whole trying to prove to everyone that she’s worth loving. So yes, Sue, she cares – but you don’t know how bad it was for her, so you don’t get to judge.”
“I do, though,” Sue said softly, and Jane looked at her in surprise. “She’s told you, I suppose. I’d graduated already, when it happened, but I heard rumors. I didn’t think it could be real, though – I mean, with her words…”
Jane shook her head as Sue let herself trail off. “It’s not my place to say,” Jane said firmly.
“How is he supposed to apologize if he doesn’t know the whole story?” Sue pleaded. “He’s trying, Jane, but all he knows is from rumor and speculation. Darcy’s the only one who knows everything, and she’s not exactly being forthcoming with the details.
Jane hesitated, staring down into the chocolate box, and Sue pressed, “Please, Jane.”
“… fine.” The petite brunette closed her eyes exhaling with a loud breath. “But if he fucks this up, I will feed him his own balls.” Jane smiled, a little terrifying and a little sweet, and Sue shivered.
“Duly noted.” Sue grimaced. “I’ll give him the message.”
“Good.” Jane leant back against her desk, popping another chocolate into her mouth. “The one you’re after is Cindy Bower.”
“Cindy – ” Sue frowned. “She was Johnny’s on-and-off girlfriend in his senior year.”
“Yeah, and she’s a manipulative psych-bitch who hated Darcy’s guts,” Jane said calmly, as Sue blinked in surprise at the candid words. “Long story short, she saw the words in the locker rooms, and decided to make sure they couldn’t be misconstrued as anything but a rejection.”
“That girl was crazy about Johnny,” Sue recalled faintly. “Obsessive, even… I heard how she broke another girl’s wrist just because Johnny flirted with her.”
“Yeah, well, darling Cindy figured that public rejection and humiliation would be the perfect deterrent for Johnny’s soulmate,” Jane said in disgust. “So she pretended to be friends with Darcy to encourage her to confess to him, only she made sure to tell everyone that Darcy was the one pining over Johnny to the point where she pretended to be his soulmate – Johnny included.”
“Let me guess,” Sue said softly. “Everyone believed her because she was Darcy’s so-called friend.”
“Bingo.” Jane nodded. “Doesn’t help that Johnny started dating that bitch right after. She made sure to keep him far, far away from Darcy.”
Sue was quiet, mulling over this new insight, and looked up as the sound of Darcy’s voice wafted through the corridor. “Thank you, Jane,” she said sincerely, and gave the woman a grateful smile. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Well, tell Johnny to keep sending chocolate to the labs,” Jane snorted, licking her fingers. “And to not fuck this up.”
Sue nodded, disintegrating into the background as Darcy re-entered the lab, and Jane tossed the empty box into the trash, turning back to her notebook and pretending as if she’d been working on calculations the whole time.