Chapter 3: A Surprise Visit
It's me again. Sorry about the huge wait on this one. Things have been pretty hectic here, and I've been meaning to finish this chapter for a while, but I just got distracted. Thanks to my readers and thanks especially to jessetucklover and Tristessa-Amoretta for your helpful reviews. I will try to be much more prompt in getting the next chapter to you. I do not own Tuck Everlasting, nor do I own its characters or plot. I do own Amy, but that's about it.
Jesse had not been able to leave that night but by the end of the week he had traded in his moped for a small car. He could hardly drive the 50 miles on his moped and he had to have a place to put his clothing, not he had much of it anymore. Moving so many times made him pack light by nature. The first trip was not the trip he would be packing for. He was just going to see if she was even there before setting up a residence there of any kind. It would be a waste of time if she wasn't even there.
He drove his car the 50 miles and pulled into the college town. He laughed to himself. It was one of the biggest cities in the area, but it hardly qualified as a college town. He drove through the town to find the campus on the other side of the town. He entered the campus quietly and passed several apartment complexes. He figured the ones across the streets from the entrance were where most of the students who couldn't qualify for the student apartments stayed. He passed all of the student apartments and found a large dorm. There seemed to be no cars in the parking lot and no familiar rusted pickup truck. He kept driving. This wasn't the only dorm building on this campus.
He drove around for a half an hour before he found the science building. It was a small building that wasn't nearly as fancy as the art building or the technology building. It was a plain brick building and behind it was a dorm with a few lights still on. He smirked when he looked at the time. It was almost 3 AM.
He pulled spotted the parking lot for the dorm building. He looked around for the familiar truck and finally spotted it in between a foreign sports car and a hybrid. It was the only older looking vehicle in the parking lot so he decided that there was no way he could have gotten it wrong. Still, he pulled into a parking space in one of the free parking lots across campus and slept for a few hours until he could be sure that she really was here.
Jesse was awoken by the sound of a car alarm. He stretched and climbed out of the backseat. It wasn't the most comfortable night of sleep, and he really didn't need the sleep to survive, it just made him feel less abnormal to sleep. He also functioned better with a few hours of sleep so he would take the few hours of sleep, even if they were uncomfortable rather than let himself run low and become more easily distracted.
He started the car and drove across the campus. He didn't know how long he was going to have to have to wait until he saw Amy, if he ever saw her. He decided two days was the longest he would stay here, and then he would either give up or look elsewhere.
He waited in the car all afternoon. He hoped she would show up soon if she was going to. The campus police already seemed suspicious of him. The must have thought he was a stalker, and in all honesty what he was doing felt like borderline stalking even to him.
He sat in the car until dinnertime. He felt his stomach rumble. He ignored it. He couldn't be bothered with something like that right now. He finally saw a group of girls walking toward the dorms and he stepped out of the car to get a better look at them. His heart almost stopped. He picked her out of the group. He watched her curiously as she threw her head back in laughter at a joke told by one of the other girls. She ran her hands through her curls and said to the girls, "I've got to grab a couple of things out of my car. I've been too tired to unpack everything. There is open lab tonight so I was thinking take out and then back to the lab."
One of the other girls shook her head and said, "You are taking this too serious Amy, honestly we just started the program. Don't you want to hit up a couple of parties? We don't have lab until late in the afternoon tomorrow so we even have time to sleep off the alcohol."
"No, you go on without me, you know how I am, work first play later," Amy said waving them on.
"Ok, well if you change your mind call me," the girl who had spoken before said as the group began to walk toward the dorms.
Amy unlocked her truck and sighed loudly. She pulled out a backpack and pulled up the lock on the truck door before slamming it. She turned around as if she had heard something and then dropped her bag.
"Did you follow me here?" she said her voice shaking as she pointed to where Jesse was standing.
"No," Jesse said cursing himself for not choosing a better hiding place. "I live here," he said trying to explain.
Amy didn't seem to believe him. "It seems like too much of a coincidence," she said backing away from him slowly and picking up her bag without turning from him.
"I heard you went to school here and since I live nearby I thought I would stop by and see if you really did go to school here since it wasn't out of my way," Jesse said.
"Where were you going to check?" she asked him.
"I was already told that you lived in this dorm by the administration office." Jesse said coolly. "I assumed they weren't lying to me."
"What room do I live in?" Amy asked unconvinced.
"I didn't ask, I was planning on asking the front desk to ring you once I found out the dorm you were staying in," Jesse added.
"Why?" Amy asked beginning to lose her argument.
"I wanted to see you again. I was in the process of moving when you and I talked at your sister's wedding. When I found out you would be staying here too I was overjoyed because I don't know anyone in this city," Jesse said.
"I need to take this bag up to my dorm, but if you wait here maybe we could get some dinner or something," Amy said hoping that maybe a dinner would excuse her poor manners. "You have to excuse my manners, usually I am not so.. untrusting," Amy added.
"No problem," Jesse said. "If someone I had only met twice showed up unannounced in front of my home I would be suspicious as well."
"Well, I'll be back down in ten minutes or so. Do you like Chinese?" Amy asked.
"Whatever you are in the mood for, I am starving," Jesse said smiling.
Amy walked toward the dorm building and Jesse waited patiently for her to return. Ten minutes later on the dot Amy walked back out of the building toward Jesse.
"Very punctual," Jesse said.
"Thank you," Amy said. "We can walk to the Chinese takeout restaurant from here."
As Amy and Jesse walked to the restaurant Jesse noticed that Amy still had a protected stance. "She still doesn't trust me enough to be in a vehicle alone with me," he noted to himself.
"So, what do you think of this campus?" Jesse asked. "I was thinking of becoming a student, but I decided against it. I'm better with my hands than I am with a book."
"I am a sophomore here," Amy said. "I was readily accepted for the summer scholarship because I was already a student here. This summer program leads into an internship after I graduate and then perhaps to working in a lab somewhere."
"Sounds like you have things figured out," Jesse said kicking a stone with his shoe.
"I guess so," Amy said. "You never know what will happen though; I am just taking things as they come."
"I live the exact same way," Jesse said. "It's a good philosophy."
"It was my great-grandmothers philosophy," Amy said. "She moved in with us when I was 11." Amy blushed. "I don't know why, but I feel comfortable talking to you, though I hardly know you. Why don't you tell me some things about yourself?"
Jesse swallowed. He had hoped she would continue rambling about herself and forget to ask him such things, but it seemed that she was too polite for that. He sighed; he was going to have to come up with a convincing lie. "Perhaps I should have just left well enough alone," he thought to himself as he cleared his throat.
"I am from Treegap, originally, but my family moved a few times." Jesse said. There was a long pause after that.
"What's your family like?" Amy asked.
"Well, I have an older brother. He's a little bitter; he acts older than he really is. My mother is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet until you get her angry. My father, he's wise, he has had a lot of life experiences," Jesse said.
"They sound fascinating," Amy said.
Jesse held the door open for her as they walked toward the restaurant. She ordered her food quickly and she turned to Jesse, "What would you like?" she asked.
"Same as the lady," he said.
"Sautéed vegetables on white rice?" Amy said laughing. "Most people don't like the sound of that at all."
"It sounded good, I've honestly never had Chinese takeout before," Jesse said.
Amy laughed again and Jesse smiled. He liked the way she laughed. "We can eat here, it seems pretty deserted," Amy said.
Jesse and Amy sat at a table and waited for the food. "Oh no," Amy said. "I absolutely forgot drinks. What would you like, I'll get them."
"Water would be fine." Jesse said.
Amy came back to the table with two water bottles. "Well," Amy said sitting down. "Now we just wait."
The wait lasted fifteen minutes and those fifteen minutes were spent in awkward silence. Amy was a bit socially inept. Small talk wasn't something she was good at, and by the looks of things Jesse was no better at it. Amy nervously tapped her foot and Jesse was as still as a statute. Those fifteen minutes could have been fifteen hours.
Finally the food arrived and Ellie jumped up to get it. Jesse made her strangely nervous and she was having second thoughts about being here with him. She felt in her pocket for her pepper spray, just in case. She paid for the meal, cursing herself. It was much more expensive than she had guessed it would be. She would have to be more careful with her money.
As she came to sit back down, Jesse handed her the money for the meal. "You don't have to do that, I invited you," Amy said looking at the money on the table.
"I showed up unannounced, and it is the proper thing to do," Jesse said pushing the paper bills toward her.
"Thank you," Amy said finally pocketing the money and handing Jesse the food he ordered.
They ate silently for a few minutes until Jesse finally said, "Tell me more about your life."
"There isn't much to say. I told you so much already. I grew up with a single mother in the household, and then when I was eleven we took my great-grandmother into our home when she began to get sick."
"Sick?" Jesse asked. "What was wrong with her?"
"My mother was convinced it was Alzheimer's. My great-grandmother would often talk in her sleep about very strange things, as if she were having a nightmare. She generally just said, I love you, I'm sorry, over and over. We had no idea who she could be talking to, she and my great-grandfather rarely fought I was told. One of the times I was checking on her she said something very abnormal. She said, the wheel, I couldn't wait, I have to die. When was awake she spent most of her time staring out at the trees, specifically the tree that she is now buried under. My mother thought she had lost her mind, but I think she was just sad. She had lived so long, and seen so many die. I think she was ready to move on herself, or at least that's what she told me. Still it always seemed she was holding on, as if she were waiting for someone."
Jesse nodded unable to finish his food. The wheel, Jesse knew what that meant. Winnie had taken Tuck's advice and not taken in the water in order to keep the wheel of life turning. What made him saddest of all was the fact that she had waited for him, in the end, to see him one last time before she passed on.
"I'm sorry," Amy said. "I didn't mean to upset you."
Jesse shook his head. "It's a sad story." He said.
"She died peacefully, if that makes it any better. She didn't suffer in pain. The last things she said were, I waited, but I can't any longer. I love you; I'll see you again, someday. Then she closed her eyes and didn't open them again. She was old and tired; it was just her time to go. I'm happy that she didn't have to suffer, though I've always wondered who it was she was waiting for. My great-grandfather had been dead for almost a decade." Amy said.
Jesse shrugged his shoulders. "One of life's great mysteries," Jesse said. It madehim feel better to hear that she hadn't suffered, even though he knew there was no way to see her again as she had wished on her deathbed. He sighed. He looked at Amy. No matter how much he wanted to believe she was Winnie, wanted to spend time around her to make himself feel better, he knew it was wrong. He couldn't do this to himself, he couldn't do this to her. She would begin to notice that he wasn't aging. She would be strong, like Winnie, and not give into the temptation of eternal life. He couldn't put another woman through what he had put Winnie through. He would have to leave.
"Thank you for dinner," Jesse said as Amy was finishing her meal.
"Thank you for paying, you really didn't have to. I had a nice time; I hope that we can do this again sometime. It would be nice to have a friend outside of classes, just someone I can talk normally to, someone who obviously doesn't mind hearing old stories about family," Amy said smiling.
Her smile was infectious and made Jesse tingle down to his toes. "I need to get back to my apartment, but I had a nice time as well." he said. He looked outside and it was pitch black. "I hope you don't mind if I walk you back, it doesn't seem right to leave a lady to walk herself home in the dark."
Amy accepted. She still had her pepper spray if he did try anything funny, but she knew she shouldn't be walking around campus at night by herself. She knew a girl who had been raped doing that very thing.
The walk back to Amy's dorm building seemed much shorter than the walk to the restaurant had been. "I'll see you around," Amy said waving as she walked into the building.
Jesse waved and drove into the city. He would have to find an apartment, quick. He decided to opt for a motel for the night; no apartment complex would be open this late. He would look around the next morning to find something suitable.