Kyle stepped through the front door and immediately noticed that the family was just beginning to sit down for dinner.
"I told you, I'd make it," he said with a smirk as he made his way into the dining room and took his usual seat next to Jessi.
"You came in just in time," Josh replied, putting a rather large helping of mashed potatoes on his plate. "I was just about to start making bets about how late you were going to be." He and Kyle chuckled, Stephen rolled his eyes, Nicole smiled playfully, and Jessi quietly picked at her salad. Kyle didn't take much notice. He filled up his own plate with chicken and potatoes and started eating. He had just been out with Tom Foss, training. Kyle was surprised to see that Jessi didn't show up to train with them. She had never missed a session before, but that would have to be a conversation with her another time- not at the dinner table.
"Did you hear from Lori at all today, Nicole?" Stephen asked across the table. She nodded her head.
"She's having such a good time at UDub, I don't think she's ever going to come home," Nicole explained with a chuckle.
"Well I hope she's putting just as much time into her studies as she is her fun," Stephen responded taking a generous bite of his chicken leg.
"Hah!" Josh scoffed, almost choking on his own food. "Yeah right! She went to the same school as Hillary and Declan, I highly doubt she's doing much studying. It's probably party-central out there!" Stephen shot a disappointed look toward Josh, to which he looked mildly offended. "What?!" he said playfully. "It's true!"
"I think you should give Lori a little more credit, Josh," Kyle said with a smile. Josh playfully flicked a piece of food back to Kyle and they both laughed.
"Come on, now," Nicole told them sternly. "Don't make a mess." The boys settled down and everyone continued discussing what shenanigans Lori and her crew were up to now that they were in college, and Nicole continued to enthuse Kyle and Jessi about being seniors. Of course she was drilling Kyle with all sorts of questions as to what he wanted to do out of high school, but he still hadn't come to a solid decision.
"Well I know for a fact that you can do whatever you want to do... or everything you want to do, if you're truly passionate about it," Nicole said supportively.
"I know," Kyle said thankfully. With the capability to do everything, it was hard to narrow down just one career path.
"What about you, Jessi?" Nicole said, turning to the girl who hadn't said more than a word the entire meal. "Have you made up your mind about what you want to do yet?"
"No," Jessi responded, slightly irritated. Nicole didn't respond and heads turned toward her.
"Are you okay, Jessi?" Stephen asked. "You've barely touched your dinner." Jessi looked up from her plate and noticed that everyone was watching her.
"Yeah," she said. "I guess I'm not that hungry." She pushed her food away and looked at Nicole. "May I be excused?" Nicole glanced at Stephen and then nodded her head. Jessi grabbed her plate and took it into the kitchen before going into her room and closing the door behind her.
"Do you know what's bothering Jessi, Kyle?" Nicole asked. Kyle shook his head.
"I haven't really talked with her much this week," Kyle answered.
"Maybe she's on her period," Josh said, which prompted Stephen to slap Josh's arm.
Kyle helped clean up the kitchen after dinner. Nicole and Stephen both quietly went their separate ways to catch up with work and Josh made himself comfortable on the couch in the living room where he got ready for his nightly G-Force date with Andi.
Kyle knocked gently on Jessi's door.
"Go away, Kyle," Jessi said. Kyle started to walk away, to give her space, but then he went back and knocked again. There was no answer, so he stepped into her bedroom. Jessi was sitting quietly on her bed, phone in her hand, but she was looking out the window.
"You've been really distant, lately," Kyle stated. "What the matter?"
"Nothing," Jessi said, fumbling with her phone so that it would play music. She continued her gaze out the window. Kyle shut the door behind him and made his way toward her bed.
"It's not nothing," he protested. "You've been ignoring me. You've barely even looked at me all week, and then you missed training with Foss today." Jessi remained silent but turned the music up on her phone. "Won't you talk to me?"
"I have nothing to say to you right now," Jessi stated, still not looking at him. Kyle sat back and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"You always have something to say, Jessi," he said. She quickly turned to him and swatted his hand away.
"Don't touch me!" she yelled as the lights flickered. Kyle stood off the bed. Something had her extremely worked up, and he wasn't quite in the mood to clean burst light bulb off of the floor today.
"Did I do something?" Kyle asked. Jessi turned away again. Her eyes were closed and she inhaled a deep breath as Nicole has told her while addressing Jessi's temper. At Kyle's question, Jessi laughed.
"You could say that," she said. Kyle moved closer.
"What did I do?" he asked. She grinded her teeth and shook her head.
"I was joking," she said.
"No you weren't."
"It doesn't matter just get out."
Before Kyle left, he stood for a moment and watched Jessi, still silently peering out the window listening to her music. He could hear the gunshots coming from Josh's game; Andi's voice was playfully shouting at him through the television, Nicole was scribbling notes at her desk and Stephen was tapping away at his computer, but there was a sound that Kyle didn't recognize.
"What's that sound?" he said, just as his hand hit the door handle to leave Jessi's room. He turned around and looked at her again. Her eyes finally met Kyle's and they were wide with surprised. She quickly pretended that she wasn't so surprised.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, clicking the volume of her music up to the highest level.
"You don't hear that?" Kyle said, gazing around the room with a confused look.
"Hear what?" Jessi said, scratching the back of her neck and pulling her knees to her chest.
"If you turned off your music, you'd be able to hear it better," Kyle said.
"No, that's okay," Jessi said.
"Seriously, turn it off, I need to know where this is coming from," Kyle said.
"Kyle, it's my room, if I want to play music, I will," she retorted. Kyle moved closer to her.
"It's coming from over here," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Is it that song?"
"Maybe, I don't know what you're talking about, Kyle! Will you just get out of here?" the lights flickered again and Jessi finally rose off of her bed. Kyle grabbed at her phone, but Jessi held on tightly. "Let go!" Frustrated, Kyle tried to find the volume button, but Jessi kept pulling away. In a struggle to get the phone, it ended up falling onto the hard floor and turning off completely. "Way to go," Jessi said, crossing her arms. "Now get out of my room."
But Kyle listened. He could hear the sound more clearly without the distraction of her music. It was a faint sound, but it was definitely there. But the sound was coming from right where Jessi was standing. There were two sounds in the room just like it. Both he and Jessi's hearts were beating quickly after their little scuffle, Jessi's perhaps a little faster than his own. He could feel her anger and anxiety through the sound of her beating heart. But now he heard another, and it wasn't Josh, or Nicole, or Stephen. Kyle was familiar with their heartbeats. This new sound was soft and quiet.
Kyle looked at Jessi, his eyes wide.
"It's a heartbeat, isn't it?" Kyle asked softly. Jessi stood motionless, glaring at Kyle with an unchanged expression. For a short moment she said nothing until she finally snapped. Collapsing onto her bed, she broke down into tears.
"I don't know what to do!" she sobbed quietly, laying on her side, her back facing Kyle. Kyle stood still. He was so shocked that he forgot how to move or speak. Jessi continued to cry into her pillow. Finally, Kyle moved toward her and sat on her bed again, putting his hand on her back. This time she didn't push him away.
"We- we'll figure it out," Kyle said. He didn't know how, but he had to say something. "Jessi, we need to tell Nicole."
"No!" she said, sitting up abruptly. "You can't tell Nicole and Stephen!"
"Well they're going to find out eventually! It's better to be honest with them now!" Kyle explained.
"Oh yeah, because we've been so honest with them the last six months," she retorted. "We've been hiding the fact that we're dating- among other things. They're going to be pissed."
"Well yeah, but at least it will be a big weight off your shoulders," Kyle said. Jessi sighed, wiping her eyes but only to have more tears escape.
"What if I could just make it go away?" Jessi suggested quietly. "No one will ever have to know." Kyle's eyes widened again. He was shocked that Jessi would think such a thing.
"No, Jessi... don't- don't jump to any conclusions just yet," he said. "Let's clear our minds and think about this for a little bit, okay?" Jessi nodded her head and looked back toward her window. Kyle put his arm around her and pulled her head towards his, turning her face so that he could give her a kiss. Jessi was reluctant, but gave into Kyle and returned the kiss. They sat there quietly for quite some time, listening to the duet that had turned into a trio of heartbeats that now filled the room.