Later that afternoon, Brittany ran all the way from the mall, to Waldenbooks. Once inside, Brittany nearly bumped into the new release display, as she paused to catch her breath. From the customer service kiosk, Jeanette could see her sister, so she excused herself from her customer, to see what Brittany wanted.
"Brittany?" Jeanette asked.
"One... second..." Brittany huffed.
"What's the matter with you?" Jeanette asked.
"I just... ran... all the way... from the... mall... to here..." Brittany huffed.
"That's over ten blocks away!" Jeanette said.
"I know..." Brittany said, "I just had to get here in a hurry."
"What's wrong Brittany?" Jeanette asked.
"Nothing," Brittany said, finally breathing slower, "I've just got the most fabulous news ever, and I wanted to tell you in person!"
"Well, what's this most fabulous news ever?" Jeanette asked.
"Some independent record company is expressing interest in signing me on as a solo artist!" Brittany said.
"Really?" Jeanette asked. "That's terrific!"
"I know!" Brittany squealed.
The two sisters grabbed each other, bouncing about in excitment.
"I'm so excited, Jean!" Brittany squealed.
"I know, I'm so happy for you!" Jeanette squealed.
"Oh Jean..." Brittany paused, "I know Ellie's set in university and such, are you sure you wouldn't like to do a duo act with me?"
Jeanette shook her head. "Sorry Brittany... I do miss singing with you, but again, I don't miss the public and the media prying into our personal lives, at all. Besides... I can always sing with you at holidays, when we start singing carols around the fire and tree."
Brittany smiled. "Okay Jeanette, I get it."
"But don't worry," Jeanette said, "I'll always be your number one fan."
Brittany laughed, as Roberta walked over.
"What's all the excitment about?" Roberta asked.
Brittany backed away from Roberta.
"Nothing you need to know about." Brittany said.
"An independent record company wants to sign Brittany on as a solo artist." Jeanette said.
"Cool!" Roberta said. "The chipettes were awesome, but boy Brittany, you being a solo artist, you're gonna be hotter than Lady Gaga!"
Brittany grimmaced. "What?"
"You know," Roberta said, "I mean, knowing you, it won't be long that you'll be the biggest superstar in the music industry."
"Yeah..." Brittany said, feeling uncomfortable.
"Would you excuse us for a moment?" Jeanette asked.
"You got it." Roberta said, as she walked away.
"Stop it, Brittany." Jeanette said, softly.
"Stop what?" Brittany asked.
"Acting like a homophobe." Jeanette said.
"Did you see the way she was looking at me, and calling me hot?" Brittany asked.
"She didn't mean hot as in good looking," Jeanette said, "she meant hot as in popular."
"I knew I shouldn't have worn this outfit today," Brittany said, "it really accentuates my shape."
"Seriously, Britt, stop it!" Jeanette barked.
"Seriously, she was looking at me!" Brittany insisted.
"She was making eye contact with you!" Jeanette said.
"I saw those eyes of her's lingering down me." Brittany said.
"Shut up, Brittany!" Jeanette snapped.
Brittany was shocked by Jeanette's snap.
"Roberta's my friend!" Jeanette said. "There is nothing wrong with her, she just happens to like girls instead of boys, and she was not hitting on you, or checking you out, or looking at you in a peculiar way, or anything, you're just a big homophobe!"
Brittany didn't say anything else, she just turned, and left. Jeanette closed her eyes, and tried to regain her composure.
"Thanks, Jeanette." Roberta said, softly.
Jeanette turned around, and found Roberta walked back over.
"Thanks for... for sticking up for me." Roberta said.
"Don't worry about it, Roberta," Jeanette said, "Brittany's just really difficult most of the time, believe me, once she realizes how wrong she is, you'll see she can really be a nice person."
"I don't blame her," Roberta said, "no offense Jeanette, I know she's your sister, but I don't really like Brittany anyway... even in school, when you were missing, she was never nice to me or anything."
"I'm sorry." Jeanette said.
"Don't be." Roberta said.
As the evening progressed, Alvin approached Eleanor's dormroom door, and gave it a knock, before her roommate answered.
"Hi Mickie," Alvin said, "can Eleanor come out and play?"
"Forget it, Alvin," Mickie, the roommate said, "I know what's going on, and trust me, El wants nothing to do with you."
"I'm giving her opportunity." Alvin said.
"She won't enter, you won't win." Mickie said, before slamming the door in Alvin's face.
"Some women just can't be bought." Alvin mumbled.
Later still, Simon paced within his living room, anticipating Jeanette's return. Simon saw that it was time for him to leave for night school, and that Jeanette hadn't return, so he figured perhaps she changed her mind, and decided not to return. With a sigh, Simon gathered his studies, and opened the door, to bump into Jeanette.
"You're here!" Simon said, as he picked up what he dropped.
"Looks like my timing's off." Jeanette said, with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I've got to get going," Simon said, "I guess I'll see you in the morning, more than likely."
"I'll be here." Jeanette said, as Simon hurried off.
Jeanette brought her boxes back into the empty guest room, and after a few moments of relaxing after a long, tiring day, she decided to contribute more to help make things easier in Simon's life. In the overnight hours, Simon quietly crept back in, but was sadened to not find Jeanette asleep on the couch. The sadness would quickly turn into shock when Simon stepped into his bedroom, and tossed his studies on the bed.
"Ow!" Jeanette yelped.
Simon turned on the lights, and found Jeanette in bed.
"I didn't know you were in here!" Simon said, seeing his books fell right on Jeanette's knees.
"That couch really is uncomfortable." Jeanette said.
"Okay, I'll take it for now," Simon said, "until we can get furniture for the guest room."
"That's alright Simon," Jeanette said, "um... as long as you promise not to try anything..."
Silence.
Simon smiled. "You have my word."
After a brief time of relaxation for himself, Simon was able to fall asleep, with the girl he loves in his arms. Early the next morning, the two of them felt different as they awoke from their slumber, they both felt more peaceful and happy. Simon no longer felt the burden he was feeling having to walk on eggshells with Jeanette, meanwhile, Jeanette felt like it was the first day of the rest of her life.
"How'd you sleep?" Simon asked.
"Best night's sleep I've had in years." Jeanette said.
"Wonderful." Simon said, with a smile.
Over breakfast, in Simon's tiny dining room, Jeanette relayed the recent events to Simon, including her helping Dan get back on his feet, Brittany about to become a solo artist, and even the details about Roberta's orientation.
"Boy, these past several days sure have been wild, haven't they?" Simon asked.
"I think life, in general, has been pretty wild." Jeanette said.
"I suppose you're right... considering everything we've been through." Simon said.
"One of my favorite memories, actually, is that balloon race around the world," Jeanette said, with a chuckle, "you should've seen the look on Roberta's face when I told her about how Alvin got us into that one."
"It's really a surprise Alvin hasn't gotten all of us into early graves by now." Simon laughed.
"Well, the good thing is that half of the time, he does actually get us out of the messes he's gotten us into." Jeanette said.
"That's true," Simon said, as he finished his omlette, "gotta run."
Simon straightened up the kitchen, and left for his day job, while Jeanette finished straightening up the rest of the apartment for him. With all the riminising she and Simon were doing, Jeanette entered the guest room, and looked through her boxes, until she came across her homemade flipped through the pages, and found the pictures she was looking for: her and her sisters in different European countries, marching amongst the guards in England, dropping in on a French cafe, skiing in the Alps, leaning with the tower of Pisa, among others. Jeanette smiled, as she looked at the photos, and even had a laugh at her own expense, seeing that she had fallen into a fountain. Later that afternoon, Jeanette was sharing the pictures with Roberta during their break.
"Wow, you really did go all over the world." Roberta said.
"I figured you'd like to see for yourself," Jeanette said, "in case you didn't believe me."
"Oh, I believed you," Roberta said, "as far-fetched as it sounded, I believed you."
Halfway through break period, Jeanette paid Theodore a visit at the diner, where she too, felt like helping him with his tuition, by ordering a rather large meal, and planning on leaving him a generous tip.
"So Brittany's putting on a one chipette show, huh?" Theodore asked.
"Pretty much," Jeanette said, "she's really been wanting to for a long time, but nobody's really wanted her without us... now, she's finally getting her chance."
"That's nice." Theodore said. "Have you talked to Eleanor recently?"
"No, not recently," Jeanette said, "I remember Alvin went to look for her at the party, but I don't recall the two of them ever returning."
"I sure do miss her," Theodore said, "you know, through-out high school, we drifted apart?"
"How come?" Jeanette asked.
"She got more interested and involved in sports and such, while I still was into my cooking," Theodore said, "we just didn't have alot in common anymore."
"That's not true, Theodore," Jeanette said, "just because you have different interests doesn't mean you still don't have alot in common... I've never met any two people who are more compassionate and caring as the two of you are."
"Teddy!" A fellow kitchen employee called out. "Orders are piling up!"
"Coming!" Theodore called back. "I've got to get back to work."
"Thanks for the wonderful dinner, Theodore." Jeanette complemented.
"No problem, thanks for stopping by." Theodore said, before he dashed back into the kitchen.
Jeanette finished her meal, and paid for her bill, but as she was getting ready to leave the diner, she saw another patron was leaving before her.
"Wait..." Jeanette said, "Lori?"
Jeanette raced out the door, and stopped the woman who was leaving. "Lori?"
"Jeanette." Lori responded, barely looking over her shoulder, before continuing her way out.
"Lori, wait..." Jeanette spoke up again, "can we talk?"
"Do we really have anything to say to each other?" Lori asked.
"I have a few words." Jeanette said.
Lori sighed, before she gestured Jeanette to hop into her car. Jeanette agreed, but she still reserved some apprehension in doing so, since she still didn't completely trust Lori, and was unsure of what she was capable of doing. Lori got into her car, popped out the cigarette lighter, and lit herself up a smoke, while Jeanette rolled down the passenger window to help ventilate the car. Hypnosis must have cured Jeanette's own addiction after Lori originally got her hooked on cigarettes as well.
"Lori?" Jeanette timidly spoke up. "What happened at the party that night?"
"Don't remember?" Lori asked.
"It's all a vague blur for me... I was pretty much out of it, and I believe you know that." Jeanette said.
"Tell me what you remember." Lori said, puffing away.
Jeanette recalled what she clearly remembered at the party: bumping into her and her guy friend, then later sipping a drink, and that everything else became a blur, but she seemed to recall something about Lori telling her a story involving a sexual predator, and running away. Lori corrected Jeanette on specific details.
"So, what was it that you put in my drink?" Jeanette asked.
"Couple of ambien pills," Lori said, through her smoke, "just enough of something to knock you out for a while."
"Who was the guy you were with?" Jeanette asked. "Your boyfriend?"
"Nah," Lori said, "just the guy I'm currently sleeping with."
"So, you're still in the profession?" Jeanette asked.
"I'm not still prostituting myself, if that's what you mean," Lori said, "but, I'm still abit of a bimbo... I don't have a steady boyfriend, never did... probably never will."
Jeanette didn't respond.
"You know," Lori paused from her smoke, "I really could have let him cut you up. Just slice up your wrists, the corners of your mouth, place the knife in your hand to make you think you did it yourself. For revenge, after the way you blew up at me."
"So, why didn't you?" Jeanette asked.
"I don't know..." Lori mumbled, " ... when I saw you in the room, lying on the bed... so defenseless... so helpless... I didn't see you on that bed, I saw myself... only this time... I had the power to put a stop to the bad news that was about to happen. I guess my problem was that, like you, I too keep running away from my own shady past, and when we bumped into each other at the party, and you chewed me out and such, I think it intensified my own inner demons' torment."
"Lori, I'm sorry I..." Jeanette began.
"No. Don't be." Lori said. "I really did deserve it... after all... I did brainwashed you... I built up promises of promotions and helping you escape the whorehouse, just to get you to improve yourself, so I could then brainwash you into thinking just the opposite... I've had to do that with a few of the girls there, but for some reason, deep down, I really didn't it to happen to you."
"Why not?" Jeanette asked.
"Because I can tell you're a very soft, sensitive person by nature," Lori said, "but, I had my job to do... though it is a job I regret now... so, if anyone should be sorry Jeanette, it should be me."
"I really would like to keep talking, Lori," Jeanette said, "but... I have to get back to work, I'm running late... is there possibly anyway we can get together again sometime?"
Lori and Jeanette exchanged numbers and addresses. Jeanette wanted to get more answers out of Lori, while she seemed open enough to talk about it.