She opened her eyes and looked down at the floor.

"I met him one day when we were really little, at a place sort of like a day care."

"You knew him for that long?"

She nodded. "Our moms dropped us off there every day, and sometimes we had to spend the
night there."

"But I thought your mother was in Team Rocket."

"She was. It was a place for the members who had children to leave them there while they
were on missions. Once I was there for a whole week while Mama was away."

"Why didn't she just leave you at home with your father?"

"Papa was a workaholic, too. He was busy with his job, whatever that was. He was
probably a few other -holics, but... I don't know. Mama always said that the day care had better
things for me and I could learn some stuff there, better than our old shack that we lived in."

James' stomach tumbled inside of him. That was probably one part of the problem, that
he always bragged about his childhood wealth. He made a huge mental note of it, and through
this unconsciously clutched her hand tighter.

"Well, anyway, the first time we met was sort of odd. All he wanted was a white crayon.
And I passed him a white crayon. That's how it started."

"What kind of kid wants a white crayon?"

"I'm still not sure... But that was what was so special about him. No one got to him,
nothing put him down, nothing stopped him from being himself."

"What was he drawing with this white crayon?"

"I don't know."

"So you were friends for a while before you got romantically involved?"

"Geez, James, don't sound so psychological."

He paused. "I'm..."

"Don't be." She rested her head on his shoulder. "Well, anyway, after about a year or
so I was sent to live somewhere else, because that's when Mama... well, you know. Anthony and I
didn't see each other for a while after that, until the day when I ran into him at Pokémon Tech."

"You saw him when we were at the Tech?"

"I guess it was sort of a way to remember my childhood before it was turned upside-down.
He made me feel so happy... Don't you remember all those nights I came home late?"

"I must have fallen asleep before you got home."

"Anyway, we had this spot on campus where we met late at night. It was under that old,
old oak tree, you remember it? I would go there, and every time I saw him he'd have something
for me. One time, one time he gave me this beautiful necklace, an emerald heart. I'd wear it
everyday, and I kept it on at night."

"So that's why you told me it was an old heirloom of yours..."

She nodded.

"What was it about him that made you fall head over heels?"

"Well..." She smirked a bit. "He had the softest brown hair, and his cheeks were always
a bit rosy, and his eyes... you could look into his eyes forever..."

"So," James grumbled, "what happened?"

"Everything was going perfectly, like in a movie or something... We seemed like the
two most compatable people there were, but now... now I know better than to think like that.
One night I went out to our meeting place, and he had this beautiful picnic set up, and it was
like a dream come true, except..."

Her glance darted away from their interlocked hands. "He tried to go too far."

"But... when we were at the Tech you were... fourteen?"

"Exactly."

"So what'd you do? You... no, you... didn't..."

"No, I didn't. I would have never done that. But that's where it all ended. He was
coming close, breathing down my neck, and I just snapped. I shoved him out of the way, and spit
in his face and yelled and yelled and yelled..."

"But then what did he do?"

"All of a sudden I felt the sting of his hand across my cheek. I can still hear his
words ringing in my ear... They've scarred me."

"Wha..."

She shut her eyes again. " 'What do you think you're doing, bitch? I've had it up to
here with you. No one will ever love you, you poor little street tramp. You're not even good
enough for the dogs. I think I'll go find someone that's a bit more worthy.' "

She moved away from the couch and set her head down in his lap. Tears streamed down her
pink cheeks as she was racked with sobs. "James," she whispered in a waivering melancholy, "I
didn't even do anything..."

He stroked her hair lightly as she continued to cry. "And do you remember that week I
was out, when I said I was sick with the flu? I wouldn't even let you come see me. That was
then. I even had to lie to you, my best friend, so you wouldn't know. I'm sorry. I'm really
sorry!"

"Jessie, it's OK, it's over now..."

"I'm so sorry..."

Her weeping echoed throughout the quiet cabin, as James tried to calm her and dampen her
sorrows for a while.

"Do you want to know something, Jessie?"

She turned and looked up into his downward gaze with her poofy red eyes. "What?"

"I was rejected once."

@-----

She sniffled. "You were in love before?"

"It was when I was little, too, about 10 or 11. I had fallen for a girl in my school,
and I sat beside her in English class, but she didn't notice me until I let her copy my
homework. After that, she started looking my way more, saying hi..."

"You thought you were supposed to be together after that?"

"Well, yeah. We were young and stupid. I didn't know love then. She drew me a heart
in art class, and I thought it was forever."

Jessie smirked. "That must have been cute, young naive love."

"I bet," he chuckled.

"So what happened that made you two not work out?"

"Well, other than the fact that I had mostly wrong answers..."

She smiled a bit. "So you were always dense?" she jokingly whispered.

"I guess so. Anyway, she always had this air about her. That she would always be better
than me. I was the most privileged boy in school, but she always made me feel like I was
nothing, like it was a shock to be seen with me. We were best friends for a while, but after I
left for the Tech, we never saw each other again."

"That's sad."

"I always wondered what happened to her."

"I never really did until..."

She glared into his eyes for a moment, conjuring up the same deep thoughts that had
plagued her before. "I never really did until I met someone else who was like that. I mean,
a person that I had the same deep feelings for."

He did not ask what she wanted him to.

She glanced upward into his eyes, which seemed thoughtful at the moment.

"Do you remember where we met?"

The gears in his mind started turning, slowly, slowly.

"Of course I do. It was in the hall of that one dorm with the forest green carpet."

"It was purple. Paisley."

"I was only concerned about you...," he mumbled unconsciously. This made her smile
inside, just a bit, but it did not show on her face. "It was raining outside," he recalled.

"And you were standing at a window..."

"Crying."

"Crying," she whispered, "just like the sky was."

He had never known her to be as poetic as she was being now, but it was a welcome
surprise to him.

"And," She closed her eyes. "You were crying because you were lonely."

"I remember my loneliness then. It hurt inside."

Jessie giggled a bit. "Didn't I want to take your lunch money?"

"Yep."

Her eyelashes fluttered, and he found her looking up at him again. "But I didn't, did I?
When I was there, and I remember this so vividly, it was like a string in my heart snapped. Like
the stitches that held my heart closed were cut. I can hear myself now asking what was wrong..."

"I refused to tell you."

"And I threatened to make you cry more if you didn't."

"I'm sorta glad you made me tell you, now that I think about it." He looked off into the
dark corner of the cabin. "I would have been there for hours."

" 'Now, come on, kid. Stop your whimpering. I'm sure I can help you. Come with me.' "

"That's exactly what you said," he reminisced. "And then you took me to your dorm room
and we both sat down with a big box of cookies you stole from the cafeteria and you made me tell
you everything."

"That was a lot of fun."

"And then we had all the sleepovers, and parties, and the times when we were supposed to
be studying but weren't..."

"Like before the night of the exam."

"Exactly."

She frowned sightly. "After that, we left the Tech. Everything in my life that I love
gets left behind or torn away."

"But..." He did not finish.

Silence crept over the small room, along with the serenity and connection that came with
this small square of life, this tiny piece of their puzzle that had been lost in the corner of
the box for some time. Faded, misshaped, but still a crucial part of the big picture, that was
now.

Jessie sat up and, resting on his shoulder once again, twirled her hair around her
fingers. "Didn't," she softly spoke into the dark, "didn't you want to know who it was that I
loved?"

"Yes."

She faced him.

"It was you."

He smiled at her sincerety.

"I already knew that."

Her lips gaped open for a moment. He put his fingers beneath her chin and, with a small
chuckle, closed her mouth. Drawing back his hand, he wrapped his arms around her. "And you
know what?" he whispered. "I think it's mutual."

He had almost forgot his wrongdoings when a small spark went off in his mind. His glance
was lost temporarily.

"I have something to tell you, Jess."

"What is it, James?"

He looked away for a moment. "I found one of your diary pages, and I read it. I know I
shouldn't have, but..."

She leaned forward, and their foreheads touched with a light tap. Her arms snaked around
his neck. "I'm sure I can forgive you."

She brought her head down for a second. When she looked up, James gasped, for he was
beheld with a beauty he had never seen in her before. Her sapphire eyes sparkled with the
splendor of a thousand stars, and her rosy cheeks glowed dimly. Her eyelashes were laced with
beads of shining tears, much like the early morning dew forming on the grass outside. He
could feel himself moving closer, and shutting his eyes, and touching her lips to his, all in
one movement. Nothing ran through his mind except her warmth, and then he recalled her tale.

He broke away. "I'm sorry, Jess."

"What are you sorry for?"

"Well..." His cheeks became flushed.

"James... You don't have to be sorry. You're not doing anything wrong. In fact, it's
all right..."

She continued their kiss, stroking her fingers through his violet hair. He felt her
weight shift, and then her body pushing against his, lowering them both to the floor. She
stopped for a moment and looked down at him.

A salty drop fell on his cheek and slid down to the surface under them.

"I'm doing exactly what he did, aren't I?" she cried bitterly.

"It's OK... really..."

"I just want him to go away... make it go away..."

"I will, Jessie. It'll all go away soon..." he murmured as he kissed her tear-filled
eyes. "Don't cry, sweetheart."

"I... I love you so much."

"So do I, Jessica..." He pulled her closer, letting her lips fall on his.

She paused after a moment. "James?" she whispered into his neck.

"Yes?"

"I need you more than anything else tonight."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she silenced him with another small kiss. "I know what
you're thinking. I don't need you like that... yet. I just want you to hold me here. And
make the pain go away."

"I will, Jess. I'll hold you for so long... I'll make it all go away."

"You, James... I only need you now... You're my one and only..."

She laid her head on his chest and sighed.

"James, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I cried two nights ago. I had red eyes because I was crying. And I cried last night,
too. Because I felt so lonely. But now," she sniffled, "I'm crying because I found you. It
took all this time to find you... but now I feel complete."

She tightened her grip on him. "I love you. So much. Please don't go."

"I won't, Jess."

For a few minutes the only sound heard was their light breathing and the sound of her
tears. James looked up to find that she had drifted asleep in his arms once again.

He glanced outside the window into the dark. One night... it took one night for them
to piece together the puzzle of the rest of their lives. He learned that sometimes you couldn't
put trust into words, or love, or any other emotion. One touch, one kiss, explained all. He
could feel his eyelids becoming heavy, and his senses dulling. He heard Jessie whisper in her
sleep just before his body shut down for the night.

"Now I won't ever have to cry again..."

He shed a tear for her.