An Everlasting Love

Flirtation101

Author's Note: Okay, it's a little bit longer than my last one, which is a good thing [I think. I pretty much mapped out what I want to do with this story, up to a certain chapter. And then I think I want to work on my other story because a lot of people actually like that. But if you've read my stuff from the beginning you know that I tend to forget about things. That's why I need people to remind me to update and stuff. Plus, things are kind of crazy for me right now, and I miss my boyfriend. [ But I will try to update tomorrow, seeing as it is election day and I don't have school.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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Chapter Three:

Remembering Sunday

--

Forgive

me I'm trying to find.

My calling, I'm calling at night.

I don't mean to be a bother

but have you seen this girl?

She's been running through my dreams

and I'm finding it crazy; it seems.

I'm gonna ask her to marry me.

- All Time Low

--

Jesse Tuck was never one for parties. He wasn't much of a drinker, and he wasn't into girls getting wasted and dancing on top of tables. He didn't find them attractive in any way (plus he was still hopelessly in love with Winnie). But as soon as he walked in, he felt at ease. He wasn't sure if it was the atmosphere, or the fact that the kids had been smoking so much weed that smoke relaxed him. He didn't like to smoke a lot. Although he had done it on numerous occasions (after all, he'd lived through the '70s), he'd never grown too fond of it. But Jesse didn't like parties in general.

Jesse had thought that it was a good idea to go. He thought that maybe it might have gotten his mind off of Winnie. It didn't work; every time he saw a girl, he couldn't help but think of what Winnie would have been like as a teenager. What they would be doing, at that very moment, had she been alive. He needed to get out of there. He needed to stop thinking about everything. As he had turned to leave, he felt someone grab his hand and kiss him.

It was a long kiss, and Jesse couldn't help but enjoy it. But as he pulled away, he couldn't help but feel guilty. He had just found out that Winnie had died a few hours ago, and he was already kissing other girls. Not that it could have been helped; after all, she kissed him. But still, Jesse had enjoyed it. He took a look at the girl who had kissed him. She was looking ahead of them, at someone who had been watching. Jesse turned to see who it was: a boy who looked somewhat taken aback. It looked as though he had never come in second to anyone. And that's when it hit him, the reason this girl (he still couldn't see her face) had kissed him was to make this guy jealous. Jesse couldn't help but laugh to himself.

The girl who had kissed him turned to face him, "I'm sorry."

Jesse almost collapsed where he was standing.

"Winnie Foster?"

--

"Huh?" Jessica had never heard that name before. She felt bad for kissing this random guy, who looked extremely bewildered. But she had to find a way to make Rick go away. But this guy gave her a look as if he knew her, as if he knew something about her that even she did not know.

"Winnie Foster," He repeated, smiling.

"What's a Winnie Foster?" Jessica asked.

"You don't know? Damn, I'm sorry. You look so much like her." The boy said looking downward. But he looked at her again, "No, you look exactly like her. What did you say your name was?"

"Jessica," She said, giving the boy a strange look.

He smiled at her, "Well hello, Jessica. I'm Jesse."

"Okay then," Although Jessica didn't really care. After all, she just needed this guy to get Rick off of her tale.

"Jessy!" Cristina called, "We've got to get out of here! The cops are coming."

Cristina grabbed Jessica's hand and pulled her away before she could apologize to Jesse again. People were darting around like crazy, trying to get out. Even the boy had ran in the opposite direction, in more of a hurry than the rest of them. Noticing something fall out of his pocket, Jessica picked it up. But before she could tell him that he dropped it, Cristina was already dragging her away. They were out of the house within seconds, doing everything that they could not to been seen by cops. But as the dodged any type of adults on the way back to Cristina's house, Jessica couldn't help but think about the strange boy that she had kissed.

Why did she always have to get the weird ones?

--

"I'm staying at Cristina's house for the night," Jessica told her mother over the phone. "I'll be home sometime tomorrow. I love you, bye."

"Well, that took long enough," Cristina laughed. It was true; her mother had given her the third degree when Jessica had called to tell her mother that she was staying over at Cristina's house. But the both of them had somewhat expected it. After all, her mother had been like that for what Jessica had imagined was her whole life. And they didn't want anything to happen to her, especially so soon after the accident.

"How long have you lived here?" Jessica asked, grabbing an Oreo from the pack that was lying on Cristina's bed.

"My whole life," Cristina replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Do you know a girl named Winnie Foster?"

Cristina had practically spit out the Oreo that was in her mouth, "What did you hear about Winnie Foster?"

"Nothing," Jessica said quickly, "Just the guy at the party said I looked a lot like her. That's all."

"Oh," Cristina said, "I wouldn't know; she lived here like forever ago."

"What do you mean?"

"My grandmother knew her as a kid," Cristina explained, "Old people in Treegrap love to talk about this; it's their own little scandal." When Jessica looked confused, Cristina continued, "When we were all kids, our grandparents would love to tell us this story. Mostly to tell us to beware of strangers. No one trusted any outsider in Treegap after Winnie was kidnapped for the first time."

"First time?"

"Yeah, but let me get to that." Cristina said, "My grandmother knew Winnie from the time they were kids. Our families were friends, I guess you could say. But the Fosters didn't really like other people that much. But they'd have my grandmother over for tea occasionally, because I guess our family at the time was somewhat wealthy. Anyway, my grandmother always said Winnie was somewhat stranger, always daydreaming. And one day, she just up and disappeared. No one knew where she was for the longest time. Then, this strange guy had said he had information on her whereabouts or whatever. A deal was made, though I'm not too sure of the details. The family kept things like that very quiet. But he led them to her. Apparently some strange family had kidnapped her or whatever. They arrested the family and all, but they somehow escaped."

"What was the family name?"

"Uhm," Cristina paused for a moment, "Tuck, I think."

"And what about the second time?"

"Well, on her seventeenth birthday, she just disappeared. No one seemed to see her again. Her parents were convinced that it was the people that did it the first time around. And I guess I could see how they might think that but my grandmother seems to think that she ran away or whatever."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, my grandma said that after the first time she was so different. And, according to my grandmother, she was practically counting down the days until she turned seventeen. She had to be planning something. Anyway, not very long ago, like maybe seven or eight years ago, her granddaughter came with a huge ass coffin. Said she had her grandmother's body and wanted to carry out her last wish being buried in the woods that her family owned. It gave the local history buffs a field day. She wouldn't answer any questions anyway, but apparently it was creepy. I was only like ten when it happened, but I remember my grandmother wanting to talk to her. She got to see her, say a few words to her. Apparently she was really nice. Said her name was Mae Jackson. Couldn't be more than seventeen. My grandmother said she looked exactly like Winnie."

"And?"

"After overseeing the burial and everything, she just packed up her bags and left. Apparently the only local she really talked to was my grandmother. But she wouldn't tell her what exactly happened to Winnie. I guess she wasn't sure herself."

"Oh," That didn't explain why the boy said that Jessica looked exactly like this Winnie girl.

Suddenly she heard a unfamiliar ringtone coming from her bag. Darting across the room, Jessica grabbed her purse and opened it. It was the boy's phone. She liked the ringtone, and the lyrics to the song were sweet and soothing. Let's spend tonight on top of the world; we can do anything we can be anything. I'll meet you tonight on top of the world, as real as it seems you're only in my dreams.

Someone named Tuck was calling.

--

Jesse was surprised that the library was open until nine in Treegrap. But it was, and fortunately for him it was easy for him to find everything that he needed. Anything he could possibly want to know about the Fosters was right there in front of them. He read about the "kidnapping" that he had taken part in (although the town's record differed from what actually happened). And he read about Winnie's disappearance at the age of 17. He had to admit it, he was actually a little happy to hear that. There was always the possibility that she had drank from the spring. That the girl who had kissed him tonight was actually Winnie.

Of course, that didn't explain why she didn't remember him.

But that didn't matter.

Winnie could be alive.

They could be together.

--

Author's Note: Uhm, a few reviews please? I'm not going to be begging for them anymore. But I'd at least like a few. Let me know how I do. I like to think that I take criticism well.