Unanticipated Delays, Unadulterated Truth, Unintentional Friendship,
Unanticipated Delays
The airport is less stressful than I expected. Although the goodbyes are long and drawn out. I can't bring myself to let go of Jonathan. I've been holding onto his hand for half an hour and can't seem to part with him. Mom and Dad have given us some time to be alone and are hiding out at one of the airport food joints. Jon is supposed to text them when he's ready to go. At this rate, he might never be ready to go. I might never be ready to say goodbye.
"Jon, I love you so much! I'm scared to be on my own." I sigh.
"It's not too late for me to get a ticket. I know you say it would hinder your recovery to have me there, but I would promise to be nothing but helpful Babe, you have to know that. I want you to get better so badly." He says, wiping away a tear.
"I know you would go out of your way to be helpful. I don't doubt that. It's me that would be the problem if you came. I couldn't help being distracted by your presence, even if you didn't intend it that way. I need to focus, Jon. I love you for wanting to be there for me, and I'm sorry it has to be this way. I hope that one day, you can forgive me." I say, looking at the floor, unable to meet his eyes.
"You are the love of my life. You are the centre of my universe. You are my baby sister. You are my everything, Clarissa and I want you to never forget that. Whatever you do, you have your reasons. Whatever they are, I respect them and I trust you. I'm not happy about this situation, but I understand why you need your space. I promise you, that no matter what, I will never let anything come between us. Be it time or space, or any other problem. I will always be yours and you will always be mine. Please know, how very much I love you." He says, kissing me passionately and tasting my tears as they mix with his own. We hold each other and just cry for a few minutes and then he stands up.
"I guess I have to let you go now huh?" I say, laughing bitterly.
"Yeah, I think they just called your plane to board." He smiles.
"Okay, well I love you and I'm gonna miss you like crazy." I say, trying not to burst into tears again.
"Me too, Sweety, take care of yourself in Minnesota. And work really, really hard so you can come back to me soon, okay? I love you Baby!" He says, kissing me one last time before I have to get in line for my plane. That's the one nice thing, because of my chair, they let Jonathan escort me right to the gate to assist me. I watch him walk away now as my eyes start to water once again.
I get in line at my gate and they board us all quickly and efficiently. We're all set to leave when they announce that the airline is required by the union to give the crew their lunch break now before we take off and we all have to deplane again so that the flight crew can eat before we leave. If that isn't the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is. Anyway, by the time we are actually ready to take off it is forty five minutes past when we were supposed to leave.
I wouldn't mind running late normally, however there's no way at this point for me to get in contact with the person who's supposed to meet me when I arrive in Minnesota. I hope she has the good sense to be checking my arrival times, or else she'll end up waiting quite a while for me. My parents hired me this live-in personal assistant to drive me around to all of my appointments and help me with whatever else I need. I'll be meeting her for the first time at the airport when we land.
Unadulterated Truth
After transferring in Chicago (because there are no direct flights to Rochester from New York), my plane eventual lands at Rochester Municipal Airport. When I get out to the public access area where I am supposed to meet my aid, there is only some young guy there holding a sign that says Miss Morgenstern on it. That must be me but I wonder why she sent some guy to meet me I ponder, but I wave anyway and he smiles and walks up to me.
"Hello Miss Morgenstern, I'm your personal assistant, it is a great pleasure to meet you." He smiles again and extends his hand for me to shake.
"Wait, what? You can't be my personal assistant. She's a woman, I'm sure of it." I say.
"No, Miss Morgenstern, I'm afraid not. I was hired by your parents. You must've just assumed you were getting a woman." He assures me.
"Here, let me check the info I have, I'm supposed to be meeting one Jace Herondale here, what's your name?" I ask.
"Ugh, you are horribly mispronouncing that! No wonder you thought I was a woman. It isn't 'Jacky' like you're saying, it's pronounced 'Jay-sss' and yes, that's me alright." He smirks.
"How can you be my assistant? You're probably only my age! Do you even drive?" I ask, not meaning to be a bitch, but this so wasn't what I was expecting!
"Of course I drive, let's head over to baggage and wait for your things and you can continue to berate me over there, alright?" He says.
"Look, I'm sorry, it's just that I can't understand why my parents would hire me a male assistant, I thought this was a live-in arrangement?" I ask, still totally perplexed.
"It is, but it's a two bedroom apartment, so there should be no problem." He says as we make our way to the baggage carousel.
"Yeah, tell that to my boyfriend back home, I'm sure he's going to be thrilled about… oh my gosh, I just figured it out!" I say, the pieces finally starting to click together. "That's why my parents did this! They're trying to break us up, they must be! Oh, I should have known the supportive act was all a fake! Ugh this makes me so mad!" I huff.
"I'm sure that's not the reason, they probably hired a male in case you ever need to be lifted or want your furniture rearranged or something." He says, trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.
"Oh please, there are such a thing as strong women! No I seriously doubt this is a coincidence."
"What's so bad about your current relationship that makes you certain your parents are trying to break you up?" He asks as we locate my baggage and head out to the parking area to find his car.
"You seriously don't know, do you?" I ask, watching him for a reaction. "Well, if I tell you, you might decide you don't want this job after all."
"Try me." He says, self-assuredly. "What's the problem with your boyfriend?"
"My boyfriend is also my brother." I say, and watch as he nearly chokes on the coffee he is trying to take a sip of.
"Wow, that's umm, unexpected. I, uh… oh, do you like French Vanilla, Miss Morgenstern? I ordered you a coffee; it's in your cup holder." He says, obviously deeming it best to just change the subject. He begins driving and we leave the Rochester airport, headed for my (sorry, I mean our)new home. This should be interesting.
Unintentional friendship
"And that's how we left things." I say, finishing the story of my relationship with Jonathan up to present day (minus the part of the story that not even Jon knows). Jace finally got up the courage to ask me about it after bringing my bags in and giving me a quick tour of the apartment (which is actually very nice).
"Wow, that's actually really romantic." He smiles.
"Aww, you think so?" I say, not sure if he's serious.
"Yeah definitely, in one sense. Don't get me wrong, it's also totally bizarre, of course, but it's kinda cute, too. Like the two of you are both so madly in love you'd do anything for each other, even if the whole thing totally goes against the convention of society and seems abnormal to everyone else. It's like a modern day, incestuous version of Romeo and Juliet." He grins.
"Ugh! Why does everyone hold those two characters up as some sort of model romance? They die at the end of that play, Jace. No one I know of actually aspires to have that be the end of their own story. I appreciate your attempt though. And, sorry for the rant, it's just a personal pet peeve of mine." I sigh, laughing a little at myself for being melodramatic.
"Yeah, no, I get it. I mostly just meant that I'm a sucker for a good love story, especially when the star crossed lovers have to overcome insurmountable odds to be together, as it seems is the case in your particular story. So, why didn't your hunny bunches come to Minnesota? You didn't really explain that part." He says.
"Ah yes. That is the most complicated part. I suppose I will have to tell you though, since you'll be taking me to all of my appointments. I'm also pregnant. And Jon doesn't know." I begin and then proceed to give him the same explanation that I gave to Maia. Jace sits quietly for a moment after I finish talking.
"I see." Is all he responds with.
"And now you think I'm a horrible person." I sigh.
"I didn't say that. And I do understand your intentions, your family has already suffered the loss of a child when you lost your baby sister, and you want to spare them from that again. Jonathan especially. I get it. I just, feel the need to warn you that as a guy, I can see the male perspective of this situation and I'm pretty sure that all good intentions aside, he's probably going to see this decision as a betrayal." He cautions. "I mean, usually girls only keep their pregnancies a secret from the father if they plan on cutting him out of their life. It's not too often that a girl goes away for one reason or another, keeps seeing the guy long distance, and then comes back and says 'surprise, here's our baby that I had while I was away'. I highly doubt that's gonna fly too well with him." He says.
"I know. I just can't see a way around it at this point. If he doesn't forgive me and I have to raise this child on my own, I'm prepared to do that. But I guess I'm just gonna have to take my chances. I've come far enough now that what's done is done. I trust I will be able to count on your discretion?" I ask.
"Yeah, your parents pay my salary but they have said that I work for you, not them. My instructions are to keep you happy and give you whatever you need. So your secret is safe with me. I just wanted to make sure you knew what you are getting yourself into." He sighs. "And now, you must be starving, especially since you're eating for two, so I'm going to go make us something to eat. What would you like?"
"Is pizza an option?" I ask.
"Yep, we have some frozen ones in the deep freeze. I'll bake it while you get yourself unpacked. Let me know if you need help with anything, okay?" He smiles.
"Okay. Thanks, for everything, Jace." I say.
"I live to serve." He laughs and proceeds to cook a pizza, while I unpack. I open the blinds in my room and look out at the city rushing by. Maybe this time away from home will be good for me. And at least, it seems, I already have one friend here. Even if he is being paid to pay attention to me. Ha! That makes me sound so lame! Oh well, at least he's cute. Not that I should even be thinking about that. It's a little hard not to notice it though. He looks like he should be a model for Calvin Klein for crying out loud! Darned Mom and Dad. I'm sure this was intentional.