TR Story

Chapter 4

James found that even though he was wiped out for the day and needed to sleep, he couldn't, he'd been laying there for almost an hour now. Here he was sharing a bed with Jessie like it was something they did all the time. It was even her idea, and though it made perfect sense, he couldn't help but think that maybe she'd said so to get him in his current situation on purpose. So there he lay, with his hands propping up his head and the covers pulled up to his stomach, seemingly relaxed with his eyes closed, but in fact he was still wide awake with his mind racing.

Jessie had become accustomed to James' soft snoring most nights during their campouts (seeing as it was only tent walls separating the noise) but while she lay there, not even remotely sleepy anymore, she couldn't help but notice that James obviously wasn't asleep because he was oddly quiet. She turned over onto her other side to get more comfortable and saw James laying there next to her with his bare chest showing and even in the almost-darkness she could see his face and he did look like he was resting, but something in the look (and the lack of snoring) told her that he was not asleep after all.

"James?" Jessie whispered.

"Hmm?" James replied, with his eyes still closed.

"Sorry did I wake you?"

"Nah, just tryin' to clear my head before I get to sleep…"

"Oh…sorry."

"What is it Jess?"

"Umm…I was just thinking about earlier today, that's all."

"What about earlier today?" asked James turning onto his side to face Jessie and propping his head on his palm.

"Uh, the way you got us this room…I was stunned, I didn't think you had it in you!" answered Jessie, also propping herself on her arm.

"Oh, that. Let's just say that I pick up a few things when I was little…" James said smiling, he thought back to when Jezebel's horrible voice filled his every waking moment as a child…that is until he ran away after he told her off using her own accent right back at her to throw her off…oh, what a lovely day that was.

"Well it was still amazing. And you should drop your voice like that more often."

"Why?"

"Because you sound much more mature when you do."

James just laughed. "Apparently the lady at the desk wasn't the only one that liked my act!" he teased.

"Yeah, well…" it was then that Jessie noticed that James had been squinting his eyes slightly at her, it's not that dark in here… "…and why are you squinting at me, it ain't that dark."

"Oh, um, I thought you knew…"

"Knew what? That you like squinting at people?"

James just laughed again, so much so that he had flung himself back onto his back and finally replied after seeing Jessie's overly-confused, and slightly annoyed face, "I'm practically blind! I have to either have my glasses on or my contacts in," he said pointing at his face. Finally his laughter calmed down a bit to where he could talk again, since Jessie hadn't said anything yet, "surely you saw me stumbling about and making a ruckus earlier after I got out of the shower?"

"Yeah…I thought you were just dizzy or disoriented or something."

"Nope, I just left my glasses in the bathroom cuz they were too foggy to see out of anyway. What you saw was me at my best without my glasses, normally I trip and fall over things" said James laughing some more still and staring up at the ceiling.

"Oh, well I feel stupid now…"

"Eh, don't worry about it. I thought you knew so I didn't worry about it making me look odd…" James sat up again to look at Jessie, "guess I must've looked goofy to you then eh?"

"Well it does answer a few questions…and yes you look goofy."

"Hey I didn't mean now!" James retorted, but became flustered when Jessie started to laugh.

While she was laughing at James, Jessie was inwardly thinking; He looks FAR from goofy right now… But James' "Hey!" snapped her back and her laughter died down.

"I'm sorry, I was just kidding…" said Jessie still in fits of giggles.

"Yea, yea, a likely story...'kidding' my foot. According to your definition of 'perfection' I'm probably as far from it as I could get, so yea, that would probably make me goofy looking…" Jessie finally quit laughing all together and was going to tell him that he was her definition of 'perfection'…but that would probably make him uncomfortable, so in the end she managed to open her mouth to say something, thought about it, and then closed it again. James saw Jessie's reaction tho and didn't know what to make of it so he laid himself back onto his back again and said, "Ahh…don't worry about it, I never really cared what people thought of me anyways…" But deep inside, James had hoped that he would be wrong, that Jessie would correct him, and maybe thought that he wasn't goofy looking after all.

"That's where you're wrong James…" internally James was surprised and was wide-eyed waiting in shock for her answer. As Jessie lay down onto her back as well she stared at the ceiling and continued, "…you care, you always have, and you just refused your own reasoning and pretended not to anymore. It may not seem like it to you but people do take interest in you… Girls and boys alike are always trying to sneak in peaks of you when you're not paying any attention and trying to get you to notice them."

James was in utter disbelief, did Jessie just say that to him? How did she know how his mind works? I've never noticed anybody trying to look at me…why would they want to anyway…I mean, I know I'm not that bad looking, but I always thought other people didn't like me at all…guess my mind has been in other places to keep me from noticing… It was then that it hit him, he wasn't trying to get anybody to notice him…he was trying to get Jessie to notice him all these years…that's why he didn't care what anybody else thought of him, he was only concerned about how Jessie saw him. Suddenly he looked over at Jessie's face…she looked…embarrassed? Her face had a light heat to it and her eyes were glazed over and she was deliberately looking at the ceiling and no where else. Maybe she opened up to him more than she expected herself to…?

But before James could give it another thought he said what had just been on his mind looking back up at the ceiling… "I guess I never noticed before because my mind was only concerned with how you saw me…it just seemed that nobody else's opinion mattered…" Jessie couldn't believe her ears…did James just tell her that only her opinion mattered to him? Now she had to be dreaming…but didn't she just finish telling him that he looked goofy? No! I have to tell him the truth or he'll be crushed, but how do I tell him without revealing my true feelings for him?

"James?" asked Jessie rolling back onto her side and propping up her head again.

"Yeah?" James answered mimicking her move.

"I'm sorry about my comment earlier…you're far from goofy looking."

"It's okay…wait. So you don't think I'm goofy looking?"

"Nope."

James sighed, "Thanks Jess."

He was contemplating on hugging her to go with his thanks when his decision was made for him suddenly…

From outside there came a horrendously loud thunder clap that shook their room. Jessie let out a scared little shriek, and before James even registered her cry he looked down to realize that Jessie had buried her face in his chest as the rain began to slash at the windows and the thunder began to boom on. What the…?

"Jess?" James asked with concern for his partner in his voice.

All he got in response was Jessie's voice muffled in his skin, which was very tickle-y.

Suppressing his laughter (for this was obviously no laughing matter…) James asked Jessie to repeat herself once he gently pulled her face back a little bit so he could hear her properly.

"I said I'm sorry…" said Jessie sounding weak and defeated. But before James could respond there was another loud clap of thunder and Jessie buried her face even further (if that was possible) into James' chest and was squeezing his mid-drift with such force he had to believe that Jessie was actually genuinely terrified.

James responded almost immediately by holding her with one arm holding her back tight to stop her from trembling and his other hand on the back of her head. Gently petting the back of her head, which was tucked under his chin, and whispering softly, "Shhhh. It's okay, I've got you, you're safe…"

After what seemed like half an hour of James holding on to her, Jessie seemed to have calmed down quite a bit and was beginning to get sleepy. The rain was gently falling down now and there was nothing more to be afraid of anymore.

"Thank you James…"said Jessie sleepily and seemed to snuggle into his chest and fall to sleep almost instantly.

"I'm always here when you need me Jess, and I always will be" and with that James kissed the top of her head, pulled up the covers around the both of them, wrapped his arms around her once more, and fell asleep.