A Life Rescued
Chapter 26 – The Friends
(Please read and review, it makes us better writers.)
Disclaimer: The world of Terabithia belongs to Katherine Paterson and her publishers.
I'm just playing around in it for a while. No profit was, or will be received from this story.
The Monday of his second week in Duck, Jesse woke feeling particularly settled. The recovery he had been going through since his release from the hospital was progressing well, he assessed. Aside from a few moments of disorientation, the past week had been good for him, something he was not entirely sure would happen when he first arrived. Only once did he feel any panic and a desire to contact Dr. Carlson, but that too passed quickly and he took it as yet another indication he was making progress. He had thought of a number of questions for the psychiatrist, but those were insignificant compared with ones from a few weeks back. All in all, Jesse was happy and relaxed.
Seeing the sun outside, he jumped up, used the toilet, brushed his teeth, and dressed for his morning run with Leslie. She was already up and sitting in the kitchen tying her running shoes. Hearing her best friend enter, she turned, but did not give him her usual morning smile. Jesse asked what was wrong and she explained.
"Joan and Brian can't come down, the kids are all sick."
Jesse grimaced knowing how much Leslie was anticipating their arrival, and he liked them, too. "Sorry, I know you were looking forward to seeing them."
Leslie shrugged: There was nothing she could do about it. "Ready?" she asked, knowing he was. "Have you been out this morning?"
"No, I just got up."
Leslie finished tying her other shoe, jotted down a brief note that they were out jogging, and jumped up, holding out her hand. Together they stepped outside… into a distressingly hot and humid July morning.
"Ugh," groaned Jesse, holding her arms out, already blinded the moisture in the air condensing on his sunglasses. "It must be near ninety already. I was hoping for better weather."
Leslie mournfully echoed his lament.
The two moved into the shade of the house and stretched for a few minutes, by which time they were already soaked with perspiration. It was shaping up to be their roughest morning run yet.
Leaving a couple towels over one of the exterior shower doors, they started off at their usual leisurely pace for the first two miles, but it didn't take long for the heat to get to them. Both also suffered from the higher humidity, and the second two miles, usually run faster, retained the slower pace. At the four mile mark, both had finished all their water and the final two miles before them began to appear more like a trek across the desert. Their shirts, with the high humidity, were soaked and clung to their skin. Jesse pealed his off, wrung it out, and tied it around his head. (Leslie drew up energy to wolf-whistle at him but even that came out sounding tired.) The make-shift turban worked well, shielding his head from the sun, and the evaporating wetness even offered some cooling. Leslie seriously considered doing the same thing, they'd seen girls running on the beach wearing only athletic bras as tops, but decided against it. With her stamina rapidly waning, they stopped and walked the final mile, feeling as if they'd covered far more ground than they had.
Their mouths dry made talking difficult, so they walked hand-in-hand, almost staggering the final few hundred yards to the house and outdoor showers. They had, over the past week, used the shower to wet their head after the run. This morning, however, Leslie walked in completely clothed and turned on only the cold nozzle, letting the water pour over her. But the refreshment she'd hope to feel was not there: The water was lukewarm, and drinking it made her gag. Feeling lightheaded, she asked Jesse to help her up the stairs, which he did immediately and noticed her skin was cool and dry to the touch when it should have been warm and wet, a sure sign of dehydration and heat exhaustion, Jesse took her to the kitchen, pouring both of them a glass of chilled water from the fridge. Leslie drank hers greedily, and then another, and finally began to look better, though not noticing the blanket here boyfriend had put over her shoulders.
Mr. and Mrs. Burke and Jimmy were still asleep, so Jesse helped Leslie to her room where she sat on her bed, looking like she would go back to sleep.
"Jess, my robe," she muttered, pointing to a woman's dressing gown thrown over a chair. She stood to put it on, but Jesse told her to change first or the cold dry air in the house would give her chills. She agreed and he left to fetch yet another drink.
Back in the kitchen, Mr. Burke had appeared, staggering around, nearly as much as Leslie had, showing the after-effects of a sleepless night. He mumbled something to Jesse about never having children and then headed back to the bedroom.
Snickering, Jesse filled Leslie's glass with Gatorade and headed back to her room, entering after knocking. Leslie's wet clothing lay in a pile on the rug, and she was wrapped in the robe lying on the bed. Jesse set the drink on the nightstand and pulled a comforter over her; she just smiled, her eyes closed.
As he went to leave, she said simply, "Stay."
Knowing better than that, Jesse told her to rest while he showered and changed. In ten minutes he was cleaned up and returned to the room to find her asleep. He checked the comforter and picked up the pile of soaked clothes, depositing them in the bathroom she had been sharing with May. When he stepped back into the hallway, Mrs. Burke was standing there. Startled, Jesse jumped when she said good morning.
"Sorry, Jess. Thank you for taking care of Les. It sounds like she got dehydrated."
"Yeah, she'll be ok…" he started hesitantly. "I, um, put her clothes in the tub. She would have been, you know, cold, um…if she wore them…and her bed would get wet."
Judy, believing Jesse afraid that he'd done something wrong, walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's ok, Jess, I'm not upset about what you did."
Later, Jesse realized, it probably would have been more prudent to keep his response to himself, but it spilled out of his mouth with little thought and more force than might be considered prudent.
"Well, Mrs. Burke, the problem is I can't tell when you're going to be mad about something we do…I was just trying to help her."
Judy Burke froze for a moment at Jesse's words. In that brief pause many things went through her mind, the foremost of which was the truth of the boy's words. When he started to apologize for being rude, she stopped him.
"You're right, Jess, I'm sorry. I become over-protective of my daughter very easily." Judy leaned against the wall feeling far too weary for eight in the morning. "Jess, do you know why I'm that way?"
"I think so. Last year Les told me something about you and Mr. Burke…when you were our age."
Sighing, Judy nodded. "Why don't you go sit with her a while. It might make her feel better knowing you're there."
As Mrs. Burke walked back to her room, Jesse stood, a bit stunned by her words. He also knew it was a challenge and that he wouldn't let anyone down. Tapping on the door lightly, he opened it and looked for one of the extra pillows. Finding it, he lay on the floor next to Leslie's bed and softly touched her hand.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Jesse had stayed with Leslie for a while and then went to prepare two rooms for the Jacobs, not knowing if Tom wanted to room with him or Grace with Leslie. He had little to do, however, the weekly maid service cleaned the beds and bathrooms, Jesse mostly got in their way while waiting for Leslie to reappear. She did so around ten o'clock and the two of them went to the kitchen for cereal and juice. Leslie, still groggy and in some pain, took Tylenol and told him he was sweet to wait for her to eat. Jesse worked hard to suppress a smile; he'd eaten an hour earlier.
Bill Burke took Jesse and Leslie with him to Elizabeth City where he would pick up the Jacobs. They met right on time at the Arby's just west of town on the main highway. Tom and Grace looked ready for something fun to do, Jesse commented to Leslie, but their father was quiet and his eyes looked a little moist when he said goodbye.
A couple hours later, the boys were happily out of the car, having listened to Leslie and Grace chatter on, almost nonstop, since being reunited. Leslie took Grace's hand and pulled her into the house to show her around. Tom said he was going to see the ocean and Jesse tagged along, having nothing else to do at the moment.
Sitting on the edge of the wooden walkway over the dunes, Tom and Jesse watched the water quietly for a long time. It was painfully obvious to Jesse that his friend was still in morning, but he didn't know what to say or do, so he did neither for a long time. But the blazing afternoon sun was sending rivulets of sweat down his back and chest, and Jesse decided he would start a conversation, if for no other reason than to get Tom back inside.
"Pretty cool, isn't it…the ocean?"
Tom grunted in agreement.
He tried again. "You and Grace do anything interesting the past few weeks?"
This time Tom gave him a look that clearly told him to shut up.
"Sorry, just trying to help," muttered Jesse.
"Well don't. You can't possibly understand what losing a parent is like, so just shut the hell up."
The truth of Tom's words didn't hurt as much as did their implication that he could do nothing to make his friend feel better, but Jesse had an idea that Tom didn't really want him to be quiet - that maybe he wanted to be pulled out of his depression – fighting, but pulled out nevertheless. Tom had, after all, told him a few days earlier he wanted to go to the beach. But part of what Tom had said was true, he hadn't lost a parent. However…
"Tom, did Les ever tell you and Grace where I was those three weeks I missed school?"
"She said you were sick, why?" he snapped, clearly still not interested in talking.
"Did she tell you I was in the psychiatric ward at Roanoke Valley Hospital?"
That got his friend's attention. "What?!"
"Yep, I went crazy." He exaggerated, circling his finger around the side of his head. "Sedated, gross stuff going on all around me, completely off the deep end." Tom gave him a disbelieving look. "Well, almost."
"Thanks, Jess, I appreciate you telling me. Pardon me if I still feel crappy," he groused obstinately.
"No, that's ok." He paused before starting the second part of his story. Tom was shaking his head in annoyance seeing his friend would not be quiet. "Since she didn't tell you where I was, she probably didn't tell you why, did she?"
"No…but I bet it wasn't because your mother died, was it?"
Jesse considered giving up right there, but persisted. He prepared what he had to say.
"No: It was because Leslie died." It came out like a whisper, but filled with emotion; Jesse didn't have to act very much. And to Tom, there was something frighteningly truthful embedded in his friend's statement.
"But…you mean you thought she had died?" asked Tom, now genuinely curious.
Jesse took a deep breath and told his friend what he had been living with for two years. The nightmares, the migraines, the ghostly image of a future self telling him Leslie had been dead nearly two decades. He spoke of the Dark Master, the deaths in his family, and how they had become as real to him as they were to this alternate personality. Then he shared the first months of therapy, the hypnosis sessions, finally the revelation that he had a mental illness. He told of reintegrating his Jesse alter, and having to deal with the profound sense of hopelessness and loss it felt for a person who had never really died, and the emotional confusion it brought, and the thoughts of suicide. And for good measure, he added the horror stories of the terribly ill people at the hospital, and the things they did, and said, and believed.
As Jesse talked, Tom glanced behind them and saw Mrs. Burke and the girls, all were standing, utterly shocked by what they were overhearing, but seemingly unable to leave. Mrs. Burke motioned for him to not reveal their presence.
Jesse talked on and on; he had not gone into this much detail with Leslie, nowhere near as much. By the time he had finished, both their necks were sunburned and more than two hours had passed. Emotionally drained, Jesse had tears flowing freely but was able to keep from completely breaking down. He ended, his head hanging down, by telling his friend, "No, I don't know what it's like to lose a parent, Tom. But between you and me, I think I'd rather lose a parent than experience the pain of losing Les again."
Having finished his story, and no longer focused on the nightmares of the prior two years, Jesse finally heard sounds behind him. He turned and found Grace and Leslie, clearly shocked and moved, behind him. But that was nothing at all to Jesse when he saw who was behind them. Mrs. Burke stood there, apparently having come out with the girls looking for them. Jesse had said much more about what had happened to Tom than he had to his mother, and Mrs. Burke was clearly in shock at the depth of his problem and pain.
Fortunately, and to her credit, she was equally shocked at the depth of Jesse's feelings for her daughter.
The five remained sitting or standing, everyone but Jesse stunned, and feeling more self-conscious as the seconds passed. Jesse finally broke the spell by chuckling as he dried his eyes with his t-shirt, saying, "So now you have a wacko for a friend. Just don't tell Scott Hoager."
The four kids walked back to the house together, no one speaking, but he felt three sets of hands touch his shoulder as he passed Mrs. Burke and his friends, along with Leslie's hand holding his. Both Grace and Leslie had tried to apologize for overhearing, but Jesse would have none of it. He told them, truthfully, that he was glad they all knew so he wouldn't have to tell the story more than once. As Jesse walked by Mrs. Burke, their eyes met. The adolescent saw he had earned a great deal of respect, and maybe even some leeway, with Leslie's mother. But he wasn't in the mood to test that theory. Yet.
Later that night, too aggravated by the sunburn to go out for a walk on the beach, Jesse turned-in early. The house had been mostly quiet after they had returned, Tom, Grace and Leslie keeping pretty much to themselves, deep in thought. Jesse lay on his stomach with a thick application of Bag Balm on his neck and ears (as was Tom in his room) and thinking about Leslie. He heard his door creak, and a hand touch his back, well below the burned area.
"Hey, you awake?" Leslie spoke softly, in case he was asleep.
"Nope. Laying here thinking about you."
The comment seemed to render the girl speechless for a minute.
"Nice things, I hope."
"Yeah. By the way, I put your wet clothes in your bathroom... I didn't know you wore pink underwear."
Leslie gasped, trying to remember if she had worn pink panties that morning. She punched his shoulder playfully when she finally recalled they weren't, but hit a little too close to the burned area. Jesse tensed, sucking in air through clenched teeth.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Jess. Can I...do anything?"
"No, thanks." His reply wasn't as nice as it might have been, but he felt the sheet being pulled off his upper back and something completely unfamiliar touching him. A second later, when he realized what it was, he nearly jumped.
"Did that hurt, too?" asked Leslie quietly.
"Um, no…it didn't. Did you...Did you just kiss my back?"
"Uh-huh, I couldn't get to your lips." Jesse could hear the smile in her words.
"Save it for tomorrow, maybe the waves will be bigger."
Leslie laughed aloud. It was sweet and soothing, and he forgot about the pain in his neck for a few seconds.
"Night, Jess."
"Night."
- - - - - - - - - - -
At breakfast the next day it was clear that the only thing bothering Tom was his sunburn, and even that was tolerable. He'd worn the same prescribed ointment as Jesse and now reaped its benefits. Jesse, whose skin was a shade fairer and a bit more burned, was still in some pain as he joined his friend in the kitchen. They sat quietly for a while, eating cereal, predicting another scorcher of a day.
Mr. Burke came in shortly thereafter, placing Jimmy in his highchair and setting a handful of Cheerios on the tray.
"Long night, Mr. Burke?" asked Tom upon seeing the man's long-suffering look and red eyes.
He mumbled in the affirmative.
"Would you like Jesse to watch the kid so you can go back to sleep?"
"Hey!" Jesse protested, half-laughing. He gave Tom a rude hand gesture, but the boy just smiled. It was the first really happy look Jesse had seen from him in a long time. "That's fine, Mr. Burke, I'll watch him if you want to go back to sleep."
Mr. Burke heartily thanked Jesse, accepting his offer.
An hour later, while Tom and Jesse were playing with the baby, the girls came in from outside; their hair was a mess, obviously victims of the damp sea air and a strong wind. They greeted them (Leslie winked at Jesse) telling of the big waves and the warm air, but without the blazing sun. Then the girls sat with the boys and Jimmy and talked about what they were going to do for the day. By consensus, it was decided to head to the beach when Mr. or Mrs. Burke got up, bringing the rafts to ride the waves.
The waves were as good as Leslie and Grace had described; almost too good. The news from Kitty Hawk was that the red flags would come out if they picked up much more: A tropical storm was headed their way. But for the time being, the four bravely plunged into the water and spent the rest of the morning rafting or body surfing. Grace, who was wearing a two-piece suit with a little extra room for her to grow into, made the mistake of body surfing right up to the beach and then had to spent the next few minutes trying discreetly to flush sand out of her top. She stuck to the rafts after that.
At noon, everyone gathered by the pool for lunch. Mrs. Burke grilled hamburgers and hot dogs while Mr. Burke played in the water with Jimmy. All the while, the wind was picking up and the eastern sky darkened.
After lunch and a break, Leslie was conspicuously eager to get back in the water, this time alone with Jesse: Grace and Tom planned to build a monstrous sand castle and went off to find a large shovel. But when they all crossed the dunes to the beach, they saw a line of red flags posted as far as could be seen up and down the beach. And from the increased size of the waves, both Leslie and Jesse knew they wouldn't have been able to safely enjoy themselves in the water. So all four set out to build what would be the largest sand structure any had ever created.
It took them three hours of shoveling and sculpting, with the weather worsening around them, to prepare the basic structure. Then each took one wall and corner to personally embellish. Jesse's was remotely Gothic, Tom went with a modern motif, Grace built her walls high and straight, with no real style, but strong to face the approaching water, and Leslie left her castle wall as it was, but extended many long tendrils of sand out from her corner, making it look like a giant squid was squashed beneath. During the construction of their work, adults and children stopped to admire the work. A few gave them useful hints and a couple annoying teens tried to walk over the small mountain; Tom and Jesse chased them away with the help of a friendly adult.
It was nearly five when they finished, and the roiling surf was rapidly rising; the first tips of the waves had just reached the base of Grace's section. Leslie, sitting higher on the dune than Jesse, watched, leaning over him, her head resting on the top of his and her arms draped around his neck, hands resting on his chest. It was a comfortable position as the stiffening wind was chilling the air.
Jesse watched on, too, content, but also a little worried about Grace and Tom. Both were sitting quietly, and obviously thinking of their mother again. Leslie whispered an idea into his ear and both turned to pull their friends into them. As Leslie suggested, she pulled Tom next to her and he reluctantly accepted her arm around his shoulder. Jesse moved Grace next to him and she immediately pulled his arm around her and leaned into him. His hand and arm hanging down on her chest; she seemed oblivious, clutching his arm like a talisman against more sadness. Although Jesse was uncomfortable with where Grace had placed his arm, he ignored it. Besides, there was almost nothing for him to bump into.
Silence surrounded the four friends as the waves began to reach the castle in force. Just then, Mrs. Burke appeared with her camera and Mr. Burke carrying Jimmy. Judy quickly assessed the scene and ran down the beach to get a few shots of the castle with the kids in the background before it was too late. She just made it. A large wave washed up seconds after she had finished, swamping half the castle. Jimmy, watching happily from the dune, cheered the waves on. Then everyone and watched the masterpiece disintegrate. It didn't last long against the storm-driven water.
"Kids, we have some good news and some bad news," said Mr. Burke, while wrestling with the baby. "The good news is that we're going out for dinner. The bad news is that we're under a hurricane warning. That storm," he pointed out to sea, "has intensified and will hit here late tonight."
Tom and Jesse thought this was an excellent way to spend the evening, forgot about dinner, and began making insane plans for watching the storm from the deck until both Mr. and Mrs. Burke told them they would do no such thing. The girls looked worried.
"Do we need to evacuate?" asked Grace uncertainly, clearly the most anxious of the seven.
"No, we don't need to bug-out, by the time it hits it'll barely be a category one. That has winds of only sixty-five to seventy miles-per-hour. But we do need to get the house ready before we go to dinner."
Mr. Burke ran through a short list of precautions they had been advised by the realtor to follow. The house was modern and well built to withstand all but a category four or five storm, but loose objects had to be secured, the pool cover set, and all the windows had exterior shutters that needed closing. It took a good hour to finish everything, then they cleaned up and went out to eat.
By the time the vacationers returned from dinner, the wind was approaching gale strength and the sky was spitting rain. To the east, looking into the storm, lightning was lighting up the sky, though the howling of the storm drowned out its thunder. Wind-borne sand, blasting against bare skin, was painful and would get in the eyes if not protected. Judy wrapped Jimmy in a blanket (which he thought was like one long game of peek-a-boo) and dashed for the stairs. Everyone else followed, Mr. Burke bringing up the rear. Inside, the noise from the sand and wind was soon joined by a patter, then a solid rush, of driving rain. Everyone ran off to double check the windows and doors, but they had done a thorough job earlier and all was well.
Jimmy fell asleep soon thereafter and the others tried to relax by playing cards and board games, waiting, and listening. The storm was not large, and the eye was predicted to pass over Kitty Hawk, ten miles south, but none of them had ever been through something like this and did not know what to expect. Grace, obviously frightened, tried to concentrate on the games but was hopelessly inept in her current state. The electricity flickered at about ten as the eye of the weakening hurricane closed in, and then failed completely, silencing everyone. But just as all the lights went out, the rain and wind stopped and there was an eerie calm.
"I bet we're in the eye," said Grace, speaking for the first time in nearly an hour. She was now pacing and would only stop when Mr. Burke let her sit with him.
"Let's look," suggested Jesse, running for the door and ignoring the calls of caution.
Stepping outside first, Jesse saw that Grace had been correct. The others followed onto the deck and looked up to see a clear, star covered sky with a bright full moon. High in the northwest sky, the light from the moon shone on the receding wall of the eye. They all watched it in fascination for five minutes, until it faded away. Fortunately, Mrs. Burke, camera in hand, was looking around for interesting pictures and saw out in the ocean, now just becoming visible, the opposite side of the eye wall. It would be another five minutes before it hit, but no one waited that long to go inside.
When the wind and rain restarted, it was as if a switch had been thrown. The entire house went from silence back to the unnerving rattle and pelting which had been absent for nearly a quarter of an hour. But the aft side of the storm was weaker and by midnight there was little remaining to be excited about. Grace had fallen asleep, her head on her brother's lap. Leslie too was nodding off and eventually keeled over onto Jesse's shoulder. Tom and Jesse, sitting next to each other, cracked jokes at the girl's expense, but soon found they were ready for bed, too.
Tom helped Grace to her room and then headed to bed himself. Much to his surprise, Mrs. Burke brought out a couple blankets and told Jesse to stay on the couch with Leslie, if he wished. He did, and said thanks, draping one blanket over his girlfriend, the other over himself. Then, laying back, he went to sleep feeling immensely happy, if not at all comfortable.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The rest of the Jacobs' visit went by far too quickly. The beach remained closed Wednesday, but Jesse and Leslie took a short run, enjoying the significantly cooler air and lower humidity. The kids spent much of the afternoon at Kitty Hawk Mall, shopping and goofing around, meeting Leslie's parents and brother for dinner and a movie of which Judy got to see little, Jimmy deciding he didn't like theaters.
Thursday morning was still relatively cool, everyone went to Kitty Hawk National Monument and then spent a couple hours on Kill Devil Hills sand-boarding and begging Mr. and Mrs. Burke to let them try hang-gliding. They resolutely refused, not having Jesse's or the Jacobs' parents' permission (though Leslie was told she could try it, but declined.) Upon returning to the house, they found the red flags had been removed and the kids planned a long evening walk on the beach.
Friday afternoon Mr. Jacobs arrived in Duck to pick up his son and daughter. Judy and Bill noticed he looked tense and apprehensive. But when he heard about the wonderful time the kids had had, he seemed to cheer-up and relax. Bill walked him out to the beach where the four kids were playing in the water. There were dozens of other people nearby, also enjoying the first good swimming in three days.
When Mr. Jacobs said he couldn't see Grace, Bill pointed her out; she had just mounted her brother's shoulders to have a chicken fight with Jesse and Leslie.
"Good God!" he exclaimed. "Where did she get that…that suit?"
"Uh, well, it's not that skimpy..."
"I suppose…. Your daughter's isn't much better," Grace's father then observed dryly.
For the first time Bill Burke noticed that his daughter was not wearing her old suit, but a new light-blue two-piece that left him a bit stunned.
"I, uh, think I'll let Judy handle that," said Bill uneasily. The new suit covered less flesh than the old one, but it was also a far cry from being any less than tasteful.
Mr. Burke whistled loudly, distracting Leslie long enough for Grace and Tom to knock her and Jesse over and into a large wave which immediately crashed down on them. Laughing, Tom let his sister down and they ran to their father. A few minutes later, the Jacobs were gathering their small collection of items while Jesse and Leslie watched glumly, both trying to pick clumps of sand from their hair. The entire way back to the house, both of Mr. Jacobs' children talked on about what a wonderful time they'd had. Smiling - really smiling - for the first time in two months, Mr. Jacobs forgot all about his daughter's suit and thought about how fortunate he and his children were. An hour later and they were gone.
The rest of the day was spent packing and cleaning, but there was little of either to do. They had to be out of the house by ten the next morning so the rented van was already mostly packed, the kitchen cleaned, the trash taken out, and the house left in pretty much its proper shape. It was a quiet time for everyone. The two weeks had been fun and not without a few surprises, and there was still so much that hadn't been seen, Leslie pointed out.
"The lighthouses, the history of the area. If we come back next year we can do some of that, too."
Jesse silently agreed as he again swept the kitchen floor of its never-ending collection of sand, and stole brief glimpses of Leslie, still wearing her new suit. When she told him her mother had bought it, he nearly choked.
Later that evening, following dinner, Jesse and Leslie were sitting on the couch in the game room talking about the past two weeks. Jimmy was nodding off in the playpen, clutching a nondescript blue squishy toy that seemed to have some significance to him. Mr. and Mrs. Burke were upstairs and had told the kids they were on their own for a while, a euphemism, Leslie told Jesse unabashedly, that meant they were probably doing it.
"What? They tell you… um, when…you know…they're going to…" Jesse stumbled through his question, both appalled and curious.
"No, not exactly," giggled Leslie, her face showing a red tint, too. "And why are you so upset? Your parents do it!" When she saw the look of horror on his face she laughed. "Jess, where do you think Brian came from?"
Jesse closed his eyes and shook his head, it was an image he had no desire to have floating around in his mind like when you get a song stuck in your head.
They sat chatting for a while longer about the rest of the summer. Both were looking forward to their morning runs together and weekend hikes. Somewhere during the conversation, Leslie had taken Jesse's hand and was holding it in her lap. When he finally noticed, he almost instantly found himself fighting a strong urge to kiss Leslie, though he was not sure why he was averse to the idea. Then, making his deliberations irrelevant, Leslie stood, pivoted, and plopped herself down, straddling his lap. He barely had time to react when he found Leslie's arms around his neck and their lips pressed together.
It was as if he'd been transported back to his birthday, without the complications of being grounded looming over him.
After the initial barrage of kisses, Leslie slowed, but continued her advance. That was how Jesse experienced it: She wasn't moving much, and every kiss was lips to lips, but something was changing in her. She seemed…hungry. And the seemingly complete lack of inhibitions Jesse sensed from her were muddling his mind and clouding his reason.
He tasted salt on her lips, and his own. They pulled back a few inches and Jesse could tell she was tasting the same thing. She smiled.
Lord! That smile. It melted him.
"Jess?" she whispered, kissing him gently and then resting her cheek on his shoulder.
"Hm?"
"I'm – I'm sorry about all that stuff…"
The thought that Leslie could be sorry about anything she was doing was so totally absurd, he stiffened. "Why are you sorry?" he demanded. "You didn't do anything wrong!"
She smiled again, realizing his confusion. "No, Jess, because of what…what happened to you…at the hospital." Her breath on his ear was maddening, but her words pulled him out of his funk…a little.
"Um, thanks. It's over now, mostly." He shrugged.
"But Jess… what you said… Did you…do you really feel that way….about me?"
The answer Jesse had, and the answer Leslie was looking for were identical. "Yeah. I was… thinking that I would rather be dead than live, you know, without you. My Jesse alter hurt so much, and I knew I would have, too, if you'd died."
"But I'm not dead, Jess, so please try to forget it."
"Forget it happened, or forget how I feel?" he asked.
Leslie sat back and looked sharply at her best friend: She knew he was teasing, and that if she stared him down he would be unable to keep a straight face. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and set her face. It took a long minute, but eventually the sides of his mouth twitched.
"You are a terrible liar, Jesse Aarons."
They laughed, resting their foreheads against each other's. Behind her back, Jimmy was sleeping soundly now and Leslie moved to place a blanket over him. When she turned back, Jesse was patting the seat next to him on the couch. She found that curious, but naïve, and unable to comprehend the reason, she did as asked. They sat silently for a few minutes, holding hands and leaning their heads against the other's. Finally Jesse spoke.
"This is the third summer vacation we've had together. Thanks for inviting me and my family."
"You," she poked him in the chest, "are not a problem. And your sisters… wow, I'd never seen them so relaxed. Brenda looks so much better that at Christmas."
"Yeah, I think it's a load off of Mom and Dad's mind. Did you hear Ellie's starting at Roanoke Community College this fall?"
"Yes! Your Mom told me. She said it will be good for her to get out and spend the money she earned. It would, 'Make her responsible,' she said."
"She saw us, um, kissing, behind the waves. I thought she'd give us away."
Leslie started laughing. When she saw Jesse's confused look she said, "You didn't know, did you?" He shook his head. "Mom told me that everyone saw us," she finished, matter-of-factly.
Jesse groaned and covered his face. Leslie changed the subject.
"Like my new suit?"
Surprised, Jesse sputtered. "Um, yeah," then adding, "It's what's under it I like best."
Leslie's eyes opened wide and a shocked look froze her for a few seconds. Jesse, confused, thought back on what he had just said and realized the double-entendre.
"Sorry, I meant you, Les, not…what was…covered… Aw crap!" He covered his red face while Leslie reprocessed his statement.
"Ok, Aarons, you talked your way out of that one. Just watch where you place your hand. I saw it on Grace's chest the other day." She snickered quietly, knowing how uncomfortable their friend's inadvertent maneuver had been for him.
"Hey, that wasn't my…" Jesse started to protest, but Leslie hushed him with a quick kiss and explained.
"Grace told me later she hadn't even realized what she'd done until it was too late. Then she was afraid to move your arm thinking you would, you know, think she was being a slut."
The language Leslie used surprised Jesse. He had never thought of Grace like that at all, even when he thought she liked him.
"I guess there wasn't much to, um, bump into….anyway."
Leslie slapped him playfully. "Jesse Aarons! I didn't know you noticed those sort of things."
Jesse tittered nervously and tried to change the subject. "I guess it will make those pictures you mother took more interesting."
"Ugh, I forgot about those," said Leslie in a falsely panicked voice and flapping her hands as if warding off some vile odor. Then she smiled deviously. "Blackmail!"
An hour or so later, Judy and Bill Burke walked into the game room and found Jimmy asleep in his crib and the two older kids sitting partly reclined on the sofa, also fast asleep. It was a charming and innocent scene, and one Judy knew would still take some getting used to.
- - - - - - - - - - -
A/N: Again I had to split the chapter, it was becoming too unwieldy. Chapter 27, about 5k words right now, will be the last for the summer between Jess's and Les's eighth grade year, and introduce a number of new, and hopefully interesting, characters.
A very brief note about the (sexual) tension developing between JA & LB. They're teens, need I say more?
Yes, actually, I do need to say more: At some point their curiosity will overcome their caution and they will have to face the choices that most couples face. LB is obviously more curious about physical intimacy, though she is still developing within her conscience her own limits. Jess is more cautious than most boys his age about getting past first base, but that can be attributed to two things within the confines of this story: His fairly strict Catholic upbringing and the problems he had with the Jesse alter 'sucking up' much of his interest in being physical. With that alter reintegrated he will have to relearn a lot about his physical relationships with people in general, and Les in particular. He has come a long way, but there's still a ways to go.
Thank you again for reading, especially those who left reviews.