Chapter 7- Emotions Run High
Jerrie woke in the middle of the night, and however hard he tried, he couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually he gave up and layed there, thinking of the things that had been running through his head earlier that night. He just couldn't believe it. He had somehow fallen in love with Victoria. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he knew it was true. But after their conversation the day before he knew Tori did not feel the same way about him. To her he was just a very good friend and he would never be any more than that.
He remembered when she had first come up to him and asked to if they could be friends. She had told him that the reason she didn't have many close tom friends was because they usually only liked her for her looks. But he knew he was different than those other toms. He cared for Victoria, not just for the way she looked on the outside. But now he understood why all of the toms were head over heels for her. It wasn't hard to be fond of the pure white queen.
Now he had finally experienced love. Or more likely he loved someone but they did not love him in the same way in return. Ever since he had seen Mistoffelees and Victoria in the clearing that night, he had waited for this moment. Now he wished it hadn't happend because there was no possibility of it having any effect on Tori, but only cause him pain.
Jerrie had started to debate whether or not he should tell Tori of his feelings, when his thoughts were interrupted by the bedroom door opening and a cat slinking quietly into the room, over to the empty bed. He had not actually seen Teazer at all since their fight. She was never around when he was awake. Not wanting to talk to her, he feigned sleep until he was sure she was safely asleep. He opened his eyes again and stared toward the window across the room. Next to the window, moonlight fell on Jemima's sleeping figure.
An idea came to his mind. Jemima had offered to help him many times before, maybe he would tell her of his feelings for Victoria and ask her opinion on what he should do. He liked the idea, but for some reason he didn't think it was right to tell anyone but Tori herself. He debated this for a long while and without noticing, he drifted off to sleep.
When he opened his eyes again he half hoped that this entire plan of his sister's had never happend, that he had never gotten to know Victoria, and that it had all been a very imaginitive dream. But as he got up and saw no sign of Rumpleteazer, all his feeble hopes vanished and he still hadn't decided whether or not to tell Victoria.
He headed off the the kitchen and saw no one. Curious, he walked into the living room to find his mother sitting on the couch talking to Jellylorum.
"Oh hi Jerrie. Its about time you woke up. Jemima went to the junkyard already. I was just sitting here talking to Jelly." his mother said as he stepped into the room.
"Thanks mum. I'll be back around dark."
She nodded and he headed out the door, deliberatly taking his time walking the the junkyard. Not wanting to accidently run into Victoria before he had come to a decision, he stayed in the outskirts, thinking. As he wandered around trying to make up his mind, he ran across the rugged tom Plato, sitting in shadows, appearing to be talking to someone. As Jerrie stepped closer, a voice came out of the shadows next to the red and white tom.
"Plato, this conversation is no longer private. We have a visitor."
Plato looked up at Jerrie in surprise and blushed a little bit. He stepped toward the calico tom and was followed by the mystical queen, Tantomile. Quite surprised to see these two together, Jerrie stopped in his tracks.
"Mungojerrie? What are you doing out here?" Plato asked in surprise.
"Um hi Plato. I'm sorry, I was just wandering around...I'll just go...." He began to turn away.
"Wait. I sense something is troubling you. Am I right Jerrie?" Tantomile asked.
He turned back, this time to face Tantomile. "Well... yeah I'm a bit confused right now but I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out...."
"Maybe I can help." Tantomile insisted.
Jerrie looked at her hopefully. Her brother had been able to help him before, maybe she could as well.
"Well...I've just recently realized that I really, really like this queen but I don't know if I should tell her. You see, she only thinks of me as a good friend." He answered, not wanting to give away any names, especially to Plato.
Unfortunatly Plato asked, "Which queen?"
Reluctantly he answered, "Victoria."
"Ah Victoria, every tom's dream. You know she was once a queen I fancied, but that was before I met Tanti." he said, turning to grin at Tantomile, who blushed.
"You did the mating dance with Victoria at the last ball didn't you?" Jerrie suddenly remembered.
"Yes, I did. But after I saw the way her and Mistoffelees looked at each other, I knew I had no chance. They were destined to be together. Or at least that's what I thought then." Plato answered.
"I'm sure you've heard all about Mistoffelees and Rumpleteazer." Tantomile said.
Jerrie nodded. "Yeah I thought the same thing as Plato. It seemed as if Misto and Tori were destined to be together. But he has suddenly shown an interest in my sister."
"Yeah....but Jerrie have you heard the new rumor?" Plato asked hesitantly.
"What new rumor?"
"Well the word going around is that Victoria is done with Mistoffelees for good. She seems to have found a new tom."
"Who?" he asked, confused.
"You Jerrie. You were the only one Victoria would talk to the day after Mistoffelee's betrayal. The kittens noticed that the two of you dissappeared when they were fawning over the Rum Tum Tugger. You spend an awful lot of time with Victoria, Jerrie." Tantomile explained.
He was shocked. So the tribe thought that him and Victoia were together? Looking back on all the times he and Victoria had spent together, he realized that that's exactly what it must look like. He had a sudden vision of him and Victoria laying on the ground, looking up at the stars and then turning to stare into each other's eyes.....
The image dissapeared when he remembered the problem he had realized to begin with. How could that happen if Tori only thought of him as a friend?
"Plato...can I tell you something? And can you promise not to tell anyone? Same goes for you Tantomile." he asked.
Tantomile nodded and Plato said, "Sure Jerrie. What is it?"
"The truth is...I've fallen in love with Victoria. But she doesn't like me any more than that of a friend." he told them.
Neither if them looked surprised. "Jerrie believe me, I know how it feels. I was in love with Victoria once. Its not hard to fall for her, I know that. Especially when it feels like you have no chance, whatever the reasons." Plato said seriously.
Tantomile looked very seriously at Jerrie. "Are you sure she only likes you as that of a friend?" When he nodded, she continued, "Well either way, I think you shoudl tell her your true feelings Mungojerrie. She's your friend, you should be able to tell her anything."
She was right. He should be able to tell Victoria anything. Tantomile had finally made up his mind for him.
"You're right Tanti. Thank you so much for your help, you too Plato. I'm going to tell Tori the truth." he announced.
"Good luck Jerrie." Plato said, patting him on the back. Jerrie nodded to the older tom and then walked toward the junkyard with a determined look on his face.
He finally arrived to find Jemima with Pouncival, Electra with Tumble, and had a slight surprise seeing Etcetera and Admetus together as well. He smiled, glad Etcy had found someone other than Tugger. Then remembering why he had come in the first place, he saw Victoria laying on the car sunning herself, her eyes closed. He stood there for a moment, amazed as always by her beauty, and then headed over to her.
He crawled up onto the car without making a sound, then put his face right in front of hers and whispered, "Tori."
She jumped and her eyes flew open in surprise, while he laughed. Calming down, she fake pouted, pawing at Jerrie, saying it wasn't funny. He only had to give her one of his lopsided grins to make her laugh.
"Okay Jerrie, now that you've successfully scared me out of my wits, what do you want?" she said with a smile.
"I was wondering if we could go hang out in the outskirts." he asked with a grin of his own.
"Sure. That sounds like fun." she giggled and jumped on Jerrie's back laughing, "If you carry me!"
He laughed and agreed, carrying her on his back out of the main junkyard and toward the outskirts. He stopped at a random spot in the shade of a huge pile of junk and sat down as Tori jumped off his back. He was panting a little bit from sprinting with her on his back and had to catch his breath. He then turned to smile at Victoria who was sitting beside him, looking up at the sky.
She turned and smiled at him before grabbing his paw and dragging him up to the top of the junkpile they had been under. The sun was setting and made the view up here all the more amazing. They could see the entire junkyard and the city beyond it as well. Jerrie layed on his stomach and watched the horizon, Victoria doing the same. They lay there and watched as the sun slowely dissappeared behind the city buildings and twilight gathered as the sky slowely got darker.
He knew he should probably be heading home but he was too content to just lay here with Tori. She showed no signs of leaving either so they stayed there long after the sun had left the sky. Victoria turned to him finally, breaking the silence. "That sunset was beautiful wasn't it Jerrie?"
"Yes it was." He turned and looked directly into her bright blue eyes. The time seemed right.
"Tori...I need to tell you something."
She pricked her ears up and looked curiously at him.
"Tori.... I love you."
"What?" she was staring at him in shock. This was not the reaction he had been hoping for. He desperately waited for her to say something.
"Jerrie.....oh no...." her eyes were filling with tears.
"Tori....what is it?" he said, concerned.
"Why does this always happen to me? The toms I try to be friends with can't see past the way I look!" she stood up and he did the same.
"Tori! I care about you! Not just the way you look! Can't you understand that?"
"Jerrie....you know I love you...." his face perked up but she continued, "But....not like that. I'm sorry."
Jerrie's face fell as she said this. This is what he had feared would happen. "Well who do you love? Mistoffelees?" he asked, not able to control his anger.
"To tell you the truth Jerrie...I know Misto's been a real jerk lately, and I thought I was over him....but I was wrong. I still love him."
His eyes filled with angry tears. "How can you still love him after all he's done to you? You've been telling me how horrible Misto's been ever since we found him and Teazer in the clearing!"
"Jerrie I know....but he hasn't always been a jerk. He used to be sweet.....and he loved me."
"He loved you then! He obviously doesn't anymore or he wouldn't be off with my sister all the time!"
"He's not perfect! Nobody is! Everyone makes mistakes! Besides he was only flirting, its not like he kissed her or anything."
"How do you know he hasn't? You never see him anymore, no one does, except for Teazer!"
"How can you say that?" Victoria looked hurt. Jerrie was trying to calm himself down but it was difficult when he knew how stupid Victoria was being, thinking about going after that jerk again.
"None of this would have even happend if it wasn't for your sister!" she yelled angrily.
He knew she was right but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing how right she was. "So you blame all of this on her? What about Misto? He's involved as well, it was his decision!"
"Misto made a mistake! I know that! But he's still the same Misto! My Misto!"
Victoria was furious and so was Jerrie. But hearing her say 'my misto' had been too much for him. He stormed away, climbing down the pile and ran home, leaving Victoria alone in the dark. Tears streaked down his face as he opened the door and then ran up to his room, throwing himself onto his bed and finally let the sobs take over.
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Alright I don't believe I've done an author's note on this story yet but I'm going to start now. This is the last chapter I currently have written out and now typed. I do have a general idea on how I want the story to end, but not everything in between. So reviews would be greatly appreciated as well as any ideas or suggestions. =]
