British Accents Are Sexy 3

Several weeks passed. Colin spent almost all his free time at Jana's place, and the two of them went out regularly, until the day he never showed up. Jana went to his apartment and knocked on the door. There was no response. Deeply concerned, she returned to her own apartment.

"You look like your best friend just died," Nick remarked.

"Colin never came over, and he won't answer his door!" Jana cried. "I guess he doesn't want to see me anymore!"

"Don't jump to conclusions, now," said Nick. "Maybe he just got sick or something."

"If that were the case, he'd call and tell me!"

"Perhaps he's too sick to call," Nick suggested.

"Oh, no! He might be in the hospital dying as we speak!"

"Before you panic, why don't you just wait and see what happens," said Nick. "I'm sure he'll be in touch, eventually."

It occurred to Jana that Colin might have met another woman, and that thought made her feel very anxious.

"Maybe you'll have time to talk to me and Nick now," Tracy said when she found out what was going on.

"What do you mean? Have I really been ignoring you guys?"

"Mm hm." Tracy nodded.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" Jana embraced her friends. "I didn't even realize it!"

"That's OK," said Nick. "We understand. Just don't do it again with your next boyfriend."

"My next boyfriend?" asked Jana.

"Well, sure," Nick replied. "I mean, if you haven't heard from Colin after this long..."

Jana began to wail, and Tracy attempted to comfort her while glaring at Nick.

"What did I do?" Nick asked innocently.

"You know darn well what you did!" Tracy snapped.

A few days later, the doorbell rang, and Jana saw that it was Colin. He was accompanied by a man who looked like a younger version of himself but was slightly taller. Nonplussed, she opened the door to let the two men in.

"Jana, please let me explain!" Colin began. "My Dad had a stroke, and he was unconscious for several days. I had to rush back to London as quickly as I could. For awhile, they didn't even know whether or not he'd live. He only woke up a couple of days ago. I had to make sure he was going to be all right before I could come back."

"Oh, Colin, I'm so sorry!" Jana exclaimed. "I had no idea!"

"I know you didn't. I had to leave in such a hurry I didn't have time to tell you. Oh, by the way, this is my younger brother, Nigel. He's a magician, and he wanted to try his luck across the pond as well."

"It's lovely to meet you." Nigel smiled a brilliant smile as he shook Jana's hand. "My brother told me all about you. Turns out he's quite besotted with you."

"Once again, I apologize sincerely for being out of touch for so long," Colin added. "I certainly hope you didn't think you'd put me off!"

Actually, that was exactly what I thought, Jana told herself.

"You didn't, did you?" Colin sounded very concerned.

"Oh, no! No..."

Just then Tracy entered the apartment. "You wouldn't believe the kind of day I had! There was this patient...oh, hi, Colin." She glanced at Nigel curiously. "And who do we have here?"

Colin smiled. "Allow me to introduce my younger brother, Nigel. Nigel, this is Jana's roommate, Tracy."

"Well, hello there!" Tracy grinned broadly as Nigel took her proffered hand in his own and kissed it.

"How about if we all go to the pub and have a nice little chat? After all, we have a bit to catch up on," Colin suggested. "Just a friendly piece of advice," he added to his brother. "They don't accept five pound notes."

The four of them had a marvelous time at the pub, and Colin and Nigel took Jana and Tracy out dancing afterwards. For a while after that, Nick had to put up with living with two starstruck females, but he was used to it and didn't really mind.

One rainy afternoon in February, Jana was stepping off the bus when her foot caught in a crack in the pavement and her ankle twisted. She gasped in pain as she tried to take a step and almost fell.

Oh, no! she thought to herself. How will I ever make it back to the apartment? The rain was coming down in sheets, and she knew that walking on her injured ankle would be impossible.

"Jana!" Startled, she looked up to see Colin holding an umbrella. "What happened?"

"I twisted my ankle," Jana told him. "I must have sprained it. It really hurts."

"Oh, you poor thing!" Colin exclaimed. "Let me help you!" Leaning heavily on him, Jana limped all the way back to her apartment.

"Thank you so much!" she said once she was settled on the sofa at home. "I had no idea you were on that bus too!"

"I had an errand to run. I had to go out and buy this." He handed her a huge heart-shaped box of chocolates. "Happy Valentine's day, Jana."