Here I bring you yet another oneshot originally from my other account. Like I said before, I'm only moving all my JB stories from my old account to this one. Please bear with me.
So this short but bittersweet oneshot is basically about Jennifer's struggles with her literal inner demon. Needy tries to comfort her bestfriend and lover but there's only so much that one person can do for another.
Disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...
"Merry Christmas, Jen!"
The brunette let out a long sigh. "Yeah."
Needy cocked her head to the side, knowing all too well that there was something bothering her best friend. "Hey, what's with the face? Di-didn't you get anything to eat before the party tonight?" The blonde knew too well about Jennifer's lifetime obligation to the parasite seeking forced residence in her body. Needy hated the fact that Jennifer had to murder people so that she would be able to survive and Jennifer hated the fact that Needy was automatically implicated in that situation; it was all Jennifer's fault after all. After countless arguments and near break-up scenes, the two were able to reconcile and compromise with an agreement that Jennifer would only seek out people who wouldn't be missed. These were people like beggars and hobos, and although high-class Jennifer struggled with her diet, her promise to Needy meant more to her than her own convenience.
Jennifer really committed to their unwritten pact and had even tried eating animals instead. Lord knows that puke fest was party to two: Jennifer and her retching stomach. Needy remembered all too clearly every detail of that night when Jennifer crept into her bedroom and curled herself into Needy's lap, crying her eyes out and explaining how awful it tasted. Needy, on the other hand, kept quiet during Jennifer's spiel, intending not to breathe in the putrid odor of foresty murder. All the same, the love between the two young women was evident as Needy deftly smoothed Jennifer's ebony locks and said brunette clung onto her lover as if she was the life of her. Maybe she was.
Which is why tonight, on Christmas Eve, at a party hosted by Jennifer's parents, it was only Needy who deserved to see the real Jennifer who was breaking down amidst the myriad of guests she was politely entertaining.
Needy brought Jennifer over to the side after excusing themselves from Reverend Bells and his wife. Needy just had to reassure herself by asking if her best friend had eaten her diet prior to the party despite the visible fact that the digestive extracts magically enhanced her skin, hair, and eyes. Jennifer was beautiful, to say the least.
"Yeah. I snarfed down this hobo who pretty much looked like the Crypt Kee—," Jennifer wouldn't meet Needy's eyes and had been busying her fingers with the rim of the champagne flute she had in her hand. A sign of vulnerability that again, only Needy had the honor to witness.
Needy brought her hand up to stop Jennifer from continuing her description of her latest meal. She respected Jennifer's carnivorous behavior but really, Needy didn't want to know anything about the men that she devoured. Who would want to meet the cow before they ate the burger?
"Jen,"
"Yeah?" Jennifer finally met Needy's intent gaze at her, recognizing the tone of her voice. It was the tone that meant total, uninterrupted eye-contact.
"What's going on?"
"It's Christmas."
Needy glanced at her watch. "In about three hours, 34 minutes, and…8 seconds, yes. It will be."
Jennifer rolled her eyes, scoffed impatiently, and swatted Needy's arm simultaneously looking stunningly gorgeous. How she did it, Needy would never know.
Despite the tension, they broke out in easy giggles, loving how they were always at the same wave-length about almost everything. Then, Needy hugged Jennifer tightly to her body, stopping both of their laughter. It was time to fess up.
"It's Christmas and I feel horrible, Needy." Jennifer breathed into her best friend's hair remembering how that morning she had massaged vanilla scented shampoo into it.
"I'd expect to hear: scrumptious, God-like, or full. Everything is okay, Jen. Trust me." Needy always had to play the reassuring role for Jennifer, and this was also her own way of helping Jennifer by bearing the burden of the demon a little bit. If anything, Needy was highly sympathetic. Sometimes, she swore that she really did feel Jennifer's pain. She attributed that to the fact that when they were little girls playing in a sandbox, Needy had sucked the blood out of a wound on Jennifer's finger caused by a rogue tack hidden in the sand. This, Needy believed, bound them together completely.
"No, it's not okay." Jennifer pulled away from Needy at arms-length so that she could look straight into her eyes with her penetrating orbs that were radiating sapphire.
"I am a monster, Needy. Nothing is every going to change that. And I just feel so bad that with every man I kill, I take away a family's happy Christmas, a son's father, an uncle's nephew. Whatever! I'm terrible, Needs!" Jennifer had started to cry a little; it was a good thing her eye makeup was waterproof. Needy felt awful because in some way, it was sort of true. There was no real way to determine if one of her entrées actually was a lone man with no real background.
"Jen, baby, come here." Needy hugged Jennifer again, laughing softly at how foolish her best friend could be at times.
"I'm here. You're here. Just you and me, okay? Don't think about anywhere, anytime else. Just here…with me."
"I'm sorry, Needy. It's just so hard to get used to all of this batshit, you know? And I can't even be within twenty feet from you without getting all stark-crazy over how bomb you actually smell. It takes every ounce of my control, but I don't want to lose you Needy. You have no idea how much it wants to eat you right now." Jennifer spoke her last word slowly to emphasize her point. The pleading, desperate tone in Jennifer's quivering voice was almost enough to make Needy cry as well but she knew that Jennifer needed her to be strong. If only for tonight.
Needy sighed and hugged Jennifer tighter to her as if physical contact was enough to rid Jennifer of her worries. She remembered the night that she was close to becoming Jennifer's Yang Chow. As weak as Jennifer was because she was testing the limits on how long she could go without feeding, Needy was able to fight her off long enough to bring her to the city and have her lure and eat a drunkard who had just strolled out of a bar. Needy being the designated driver, had to stay and watch the whole thing from inside the car, silently crying and begging God to make it stop. It eventually did and much to Needy's shock, Jennifer collapsed in fatigue, letting the human meat to enhance her physical attributes again. It was Needy's birthday.
"I know, Jen. But we're going to get through this, yeah?" Needy caught a tear leaking from Jennifer's eye on her finger.
With her eyes closed, Jennifer drew in a shaky breath and shook her body a little bit to get the last of her breakdown out of her system. When she opened her eyes, she was Hostess Jennifer again, ever welcoming with her warm, radiant smile. It broke Needy's heart a little bit that her best friend's public life was diminished to a mere façade and that every single day, she had to play a different character. In spite of it all, Needy smiled back.
They drew their heads closer, until their foreheads were touching and instantly, they both felt warmth surround them, blocking out all the people from the party, the problems, the hunger. Because they were still relatively in public, they couldn't eat each other's faces off but resigned to a casual brush of each other's lips that could have been interpreted as a mistake while attempting to kiss the other's cheek by a passer-by, but the sweet caress of Jennifer's lips on Needy's was enough to make the other feel the love passing through them.
"Merry Christmas, Jen." Needy whispered, deciding to try again.
"Merry Christmas, Monistat." Jennifer replied with a cheeky smile as they both giggled.
Hand in hand, they walked over to the foyer and greeted more guests that had begun to arrive.