"A Single Yellow Rose" – Chapter Twenty Three
Jason pushed himself harder and harder as the world around him blurred to streaks of white, green and blue.
His leg muscles screamed at the extrusion he was forcing onto them by still he kept going. The cold air bite at the inside of his mouth as he breathed deeply, punching out clouds of white as he easily shifted his weight from the left foot to the right and then back again. Easily rounding each corner, he used his stick as a guide before pushing off again, the scraping of his skates cutting into the frozen ice the only sound that filled his ears. His eyes stayed focused on the small, black circular puck he kept out in front of him, the blade of his stick following his command to maintain control.
"How long has he been doing this?"
Philip looked over at Shawn and saw the concern there that mirrored his own feelings. "He started skating about thirty minutes ago but he woke me up at six this morning by throwing pebbles at my window."
"Pebbles…at the window?" Shawn asked. "Where did he get a crazy idea like that?"
"Ah…never mind," Philip said. "He asked if he could use the weight room so I let him in and went back to bed. When I got up a few hours later he was still down there punching away at the bag. I've tried to get him to talk but he's pretty much ignored me since he got here. I convinced him to take a shower and eat something but then Henderson mentioned that the pond was finally frozen over and he got the idea to play hockey."
"He's got to be exhausted by now." Shawn said, as Jason again whizzed by in front of them.
"You would think so considering it took us over an hour just to clear off the snow but he's been doing those sprints for a while…and I doubt he got any sleep last night."
Shawn shoved his fingers through his hair before stuffing them back into his jacket pockets. "Tell me about it."
"Yeah, that's right. How'd it go last night at the police station? I tried asking Mr. 'Silence is Golden' over there but…well, you know."
"It wasn't fun. Belle and Jason had to go in separately to see if they identified the same guy from a line up. Jason went in first and picked the guy right off but it was a little tougher for Belle. I wanted to go in with her but her parents went instead."
"So…did they pick the same guy?"
Shawn only nodded as he remembered finally being let in the room and seeing Belle crying in her mother's arms. He could see the last of the men being lead out from the other room through the two way mirror and he reached out to Belle but she just clung tighter to her mom and with a silent wave, Dr. Evans asked him to back away so he did.
"Well, what happens now?"
"I guess an arraignment hearing is next and then a trial date is set. They told Belle she is might have to testify if they can't get a confession out the guy. I guess that really shook her up. And the kicker is that he is only seventeen so even if he is convicted the most he will get is juvenile detention and when he turns eighteen he's a free man."
"Seventeen? You've got to be kidding! Did your dad ever say how they got this guy?"
"Yeah I guess they got a anonymous call and checked him out."
"He doesn't go to Salem High does he?"
Shawn shook his head. "No, but I guess the call that led them to this guy came from our high school."
"You're kidding! I wonder who that was."
"I found out it was a girl but that's all my dad would tell me. In fact, I think he had other reasons for keeping me out of the room. He doesn't want me to know who this a*shole is."
"He's out on bail I guess?"
"By this time…I'm sure he is."
"And your dad was worried that you might decide to have, let's say, a little 'talk' with this guy?"
Suddenly Jason skidded to a stop at the far end of the pond, the angle of his skate blades creating a shower of ice. He bent over and braced his hands against his knees, slowly turning in wide circles around the now still puck. After a few moments, he headed towards the center of the ice batting the puck back and forth between his skates and his stick.
"Hey Jase," Shawn called.
Jason looked up and nodded but didn't say anything as he refocused his attention back to the ice.
"See what I mean?" Philip said. "Silence."
"So what do you want me to do? You think I can get him to talk any more than you can?"
"I thought it was worth a shot."
"We both know what is pissing him off even if we don't know why. Why don't you just ask him? Look, I'll show ya. Hey Jason…what's the matter man? Does this have anything to do with-"
"Don't say it Shawn." Philip warned.
"Mimi."
The power behind the hockey stick increased ten fold and seconds later the puck was sailing through air and Philip only had time to dive at Shawn, both of them landed face down in the snow as the circular disc flew by.
"What the hell was that?" Shawn said, pushing himself off the ground shaking his head as the snow showered down around him.
"I tried to tell you," Philip said, rising to his knees and brushing the front of his jacket. He looked over his shoulder at the mound of snow with yet another three-foot indention caused by another flying puck. "That's the third one we lost this morning."
Shawn was on his feet and across the pond before Philip could stop him. "Are you nuts?" he asked, grabbing the stick out of Jason's hands. "You could have killed us!"
"If I wanted to hit you I would have," Jason said, reaching for the stick. "I know how to control the puck."
"But not your temper you dumb sh*t," Shawn held the stick away, "you ever pull something like that with me again and you'll be eating that puck – got it?"
Jason stared at his friend until he finally backed down. "Yeah…I got it. I'm sorry man."
"This is about last night at dotcom right?"
"I don't want to talk about last night."
"Well, you're not gonna be shooting any more hockey pucks at my head so you better start talking." Shawn said.
"Come man, tell us what's wrong," Philip said, joining his friends. "What was all that stuff Mimi was talking about last night right before she flew outta there?"
"Remember me telling you guys about how nice she's been lately…flirting even? Well, it was all an act…a game."
"What do you mean…a game?"
"She was setting me up…playing head games with me. For what I don't know but she was yanking me around just as much as…"
"Wait a minute," Shawn said, "you're not comparing Mimi to Jan are you?"
Jason didn't bother to answer his friends but they could tell from the look on his face that he did believe just that.
"No way," Shawn said, "you were the one who got in our faces when we wanted to get back at Jan for what she did…there is no way you can compare that to whatever Mimi thought she was doing. I'm telling you man, the two of you need to have it out…for once and for all."
Yeah," Philip agreed. "Aren't you tired of playing these games?"
"Me!"
"You didn't tell Mimi the truth about last Saturday…even when she was talking to you again."
"Hey, that's the way she wanted it!"
"And it gave you an easy way out," Philip said. "Now I don't know what Mimi was doing but from what we all saw last night she really cares about you."
"It was all an act," Jason said, digging into the ice with the blade of his skate.
"Yeah right," Shawn said, "if that kiss was an act the two of you should walk away with Oscars."
Suddenly Philip's cell phone rang and he stepped away from his friends, ripping his gloves off anxious to answer it hoping it would be Chloe at the other end. Shawn watched as Philip's shoulders sagged a bit after he said hello and he guessed it wasn't a long distance call from Connecticut. A few minutes later Philip rejoined his friends.
"That was Belle," Philip said. "She was looking for you Shawn."
"She was? Where is she?"
"Well, right now she is making a few phone calls and letting the gang know that the sun is out, the ice is frozen and the party is over here this afternoon. She said she would be here in less than an hour," Philip paused as he turned to offer Jason a pointed stare, "and she won't be alone."
"That's it! I'm gone."
"Hey," Philip reached out and grabbed Jason by the arm. "This could be your last chance. Do you really want to lose what you have with her?"
"It's all based on a lie."
"Before or after Jan pulled that stunt? You and Mimi have been getting close for a while now…you going to blow all that because of the last few days? You were practically begging her to give you a chance to explain that what she thought she saw wasn't anywhere near the truth. Doesn't she deserve the same chance?"
*****
Belle gave her mom a quick kiss and got out of the car. Watching as she backed down Mimi's driveway, Belle returned her wave as she drove off. Heading up the walk, she switched her bag holding her skates from one shoulder to the other, she stepped up on Mimi's porch, still feeling a sense of pride every time she did knowing that she help build this home with her own two hands.
Pushing the doorbell, she looked at her reflection in the oval glass of the front door and adjusted her light pink cap with her matching mittened hands noticing that the bruising on her face had faded even more overnight. Suddenly as the door cracked open a few inches.
"I'm not going."
Belle stared into Mimi's eyes. "Ten minutes ago you said everything was okay."
"I-I changed my mind."
"Meems…what is going on here?"
"Nothing! I just would rather stay inside where it's warm."
"I was really worried about you last night when you ran out of dotcom."
"You need to concentrate on yourself Belle," Mimi opened the door wider and leaned against the jam. "I know last night was really tough for you."
Belle nodded. "It was but today is a new day and it's beautiful out here and we are going over to Philip's for ice skating."
"Hey, where did you get the rose?" Mimi asked, noticing for the first time the single yellow rose Belle held in her hand.
"From Shawn," Belle answered with a smile as she took a quick sniff of its sweet fragrance. "A dozen of them arrived this morning at the penthouse in this gorgeous vase. On the card he wrote-"
"Hey Belle…Mimi!"
Mimi stepped out on the porch as Belle turned around and both girls watched as Chloe walked up the driveway.
"Chloe! What are you doing here?" Belle said, "I thought you were gone until late tomorrow."
"That was the plan," Chloe said, as she joined her friends on at the doorway, "but the hospital had some budget emergency and Craig had to come back here immediately. Nancy was involved some how with this Christmas Ball she's been working on, we just got back a little while ago. So what's going on around here?"
"We," Belle said, shooting Mimi a quick stare, "are heading over to Philip's."
"Really? I tried to call him when we first got back but his cell phone was busy and when I called the house Henderson said something about being him being out on the ice."
"Yeah…I called him earlier looking for Shawn and he said his pond had finally frozen over and I should spread the word that it's open for skating. You've got to come too."
"I'm not really dressed for skating Belle," Chloe looked down at her jeans, boots, and ski jacket. "Besides, I've never skated before…I don't even own a pair of skates."
"Like Philip is going to care…if I tell him that you are back and I didn't get you to come with us I will never hear the end of it. And you look fine and since Mimi is the only girl here with a license," Belle pointed at her friend with the bud end of her rose, "she has been elected to drive."
"But I'm not going…"
"Yes, you are so go get your stuff and move it!"
Mimi looked back and forth between Chloe's confused look and Belle's determined one and gave up. "All right…fine! I'll go…come on in while I get my stuff. Besides, Phil's got a big back yard. Maybe I won't run into him…if I'm lucky."
"What was that all about?" Chloe asked, following Belle inside, closing the door behind her as Mimi stomped up the stairs.
"Her and Jason," Belle answered, "I don't know what is going on between those two but they have been acting really weird this past week."
"But once Jason agree to be in the play I thought things were getting better between them."
"Me too, I mean all you had to do was catch them together to see she was always flirting with him." Belle said, as she sat on the wooden bench in the front hall. "But last night at dotcom they gave us a little preview of the play and it was the scene where they kiss. Well, Jason really laid one on her and then she started acting really weird."
"Weird…how?" Chloe asked joining her.
"Well, she starting saying something about how he got through to her and it wasn't suppose to be this way…I don't really remember but she was really upset and took off. I wanted to go after her but my dad showed up and I had to go down to the police station."
"The police station…is something wrong? Oh, is this about last week?"
Belle took a deep breath and nodded quickly. "They wanted me and Jason to view a line up to see if we recognized the guy who…well, who…"
Chloe reached over and gave Belle's hand a reassuring squeeze. "I know. Did you?"
"Yeah…he looked different…his hair I guess but once I saw his eyes I knew it was him. I was really glad my folks where there with me."
"Shawn didn't go?"
"Oh yeah…he did but his dad wouldn't let him come in the observation room until the guys in the line up had left. I guess the police didn't want him to know who the guy was. He's only seventeen."
"How are you doing?"
"It was a long night but I'm feeling better today. And then these showed up," Belle said, holding up the flower.
"And you never did tell me what Shawn put on the card." Mimi said, coming down the stairs.
"I didn't? Oh, that's right…Chloe showed up. The card said 'sometimes yellow can be a beautiful color too'…sweet huh?"
"Yellow can be a beautiful color? I don't get it." Chloe said.
"My face," Belle said, her fingers automatically reaching up to stroke the bruised area near her cheek and eye. "It was a disgusting yellow color yesterday…I looked awful."
"But it doesn't look so bad today," Chloe said.
"It fades more and more each day. Pretty soon it will never show on the outside wh-what happened."
"Healing the inside though…that's a different story huh?"
Belle silently nodded in agreement as Mimi disappeared into the kitchen to tell her mom where she was going.
"Okay," she said, coming back through the double doors, "let's get this show on the road. But I'm warning you both…things get weird and I'm dumping you and your men will be responsible for getting your butts home."
"Like they could get any more weird than they were last night?" Belle said as the three of them headed outside.
"Don't start Isabella…I am not playing twenty questions on the way over." Mimi said, sliding behind the wheel of the car.
*****
Shawn checked the laces on his skates before heading out across the pond, amazed at what they had accomplished in less than thirty minutes.
Philip had produced keys to a storage building that sat at one end of the pond and the three of them dragged out benches that they scattered around the front edge of the pond. The building also had restrooms and a large open area with a raised stone hearth in the center if anyone needed to get warm. Henderson came out and quickly got a fire going there and in the two matching stone hearths outside, before heading back into the main house promising food and drinks in a few hours.
Jason had disappeared into the house too to grab another shower, an act both he and Philip took as good sign. He just hoped that Belle would be able to get Mimi to show up. Grabbing a shovel, he started pushing back more snow although Jason and Philip had cleared off a good portion of the pond already. Looking around, he realized that the pond was in fact the size of a regulation skating rink if it was cleared off from end to end.
"Need some more help?"
Shawn turned around and found Jason sitting on the bench relacing his skates. "Nah…I'm just wasting time until people start getting here."
"A couple of cars have pulled up," Jason said, grabbing one of the hockey sticks lying on the ground and skating out to join his friend.
"Here," Shawn handed over a couple of heavy black discs to Jason, "just watch where you shoot those things. I couldn't find the third one."
"Thanks," Jason said, dropping one to the ground and placing the other in his pocket. "I think I shot that one back in the woods so it's a goner. How about a little one on one?"
"You sure you're not too tired?" Shawn asked, noticing the tiredness around Jason's eyes. "Phil said you didn't get a lot of sleep last night and you then had his ass up at dawn this morning."
"I'm fine," Jason said. "Anger is a great energy boost."
"Jase…what's going on?"
"Grab a stick Shawn…when I said one on one I didn't mean we'd sit down with tea and crumpets for chit chat."
"Okay, okay…I'll shut up." Shawn said.
"Now that's the best thing you've said all day."
"Boy, look at the cars," Belle said, as they pulled into the circular drive looking for a place to park. "Looks like quite a crowd is here already."
Mimi parked the car and the girls quickly got out and walked toward the side of the house. Belle led the way through the snow covered gardens and pass the pool, now closed for the winter. Up ahead they could hear lots of talking and laughter mixed with music.
"Hey, there's Philip," Chloe said excitedly spotting him as he added more logs to one of the outdoor fireplaces.
"You're not too happy to be back are you?" Mimi teased.
"It shows huh?" Chloe answered with a smile. "I'll see you guys later."
Sneaking up behind him she quickly grabbed the last log off the ground and handed it to him before he could reach down for it.
"Thanks," he said.
"You're welcome," Chloe answered.
"Chloe!" Philip spun around, shocked at seeing her standing here. "What are you doing here?"
"Does that mean you are happy to see me?"
"Of course I am! When did you get back?"
"A couple of hours ago. I ran into Belle and Mimi and they told me about your little party here so I thought I would come over and surprise you."
"Well you did!"
Chloe laughed. "I can see that…you must be surprised to see me because you haven't even kissed me yet."
"Well…let's correct that little oversight right now," Philip said, slowly pulling her towards him, wrapping his arms around the bulk of her jacket. Chloe walked her fingers up his arms, encircling his neck. His lips were gentle and soft against hers and they lingered there for a long moment before he started to pull away. Not willing to let it end, Chloe drew his face back to hers in a renewed embrace. Shocked at her own need, she lightly darted at his lips with the tip of her tongue until he finally relented and opened his mouth to her. Her emotions soared as the kiss intensified. She felt his arms tighten around her and she pressed closer despite the cumbersome clothes between them. Soon the need to breathe overtook them and they broke apart.
"Wow," Philip whispered softly.
"Well said Mr. Kiriakis."
"I really missed you, you know."
"I know…I missed…" Chloe's words faded away as she noticed Philip's gaze was suddenly riveted on something other than her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Brady had arrived and was heading toward a group of kids near the pond. He was staring at them as he walked past and Chloe looked away but Philip refused to.
"Philip…please…don't start-"
Cutting off her words with a quick, hard kiss, Philip reached up and pulled her hands away from his neck and Chloe tried to grip his hands as tightly as their gloves would allow.
"Go for a walk with me?" Philip asked.
"A walk? Now? But you've got a crowd of people here. You can't just disappear."
"You make it sound like a formal sit down dinner." Philip said. "It's just the gang hanging out. They've got everything they need and Shawn can yell for Henderson as well as I can."
Chloe gazed past his shoulder at everyone her eyes immediately settling on Brady who was standing with a group of people but still managed to look like he was standing alone. He caught her looking at him and Chloe quickly averted her eyes.
"Okay, let's go." Chloe said.
Philip smiled as he led her away from the party.
"You know, she's like a pesky fly that won't go away."
Bent over from the waist in order to tie her laces, Belle turned to look up at Mimi. "Who?"
"Jan."
"She's here?"
"Of course she is." Mimi stood up and wiggled in her jeans, pushing the pant legs smooth along her thighs after getting her skates on. "Where else would she be? No fun causing hate and discontent all alone."
"Well at least she not out there bugging Jason."
"How do you know that?" Mimi asked sitting back down, refusing to look around her.
"He's out there with Shawn and a bunch of guys…looks like they are getting up a hockey game."
Mimi couldn't stop herself from following the direction Belle was pointing in and her eyes locked onto Jason's strong shoulders as he stood facing away from her. She watched as Shawn noticed her and Belle sitting there and she quickly looked away as he started pointing them out not wanting to see Jason's reaction to discovering that she was here.
"Here comes Shawn," Belle said as she too stood, repeating Mimi's actions because no one liked bunched up jeans.
"Hey there," Shawn slide to a stop and stumbled over the snow before collapsing on the bench next to Belle. "Boy, it's hard to walk in these things when you are off the ice." Leaning in close, he gave her a quick kiss.
"Ohh, you are cold," Belle giggled as she pulled away.
"Well, come back here woman and warm me up!" Shawn growled as he grabbed her and pulled her in a tight embrace and a deep kiss.
Mimi rolled her eyes and turned away just in time to see Jan skate over to join the group of kids Jason was with. She felt her stomach drop to her feet until she saw that Jason immediately skated away the moment Jan tried to talk to him.
"Thanks for the roses," Belle whispered when Shawn finally ended their kiss.
"You're welcome."
Belle turned back to face Mimi and Shawn wrapped his arms around her from behind. "You owe me an explanation and I want it now."
Mimi turned and looked at her best friend. "Are you talking to me?"
"Damn straight I am. What is going on with you and Jason? One minute he's kissing you, then you're back seating together…then you're apart…then you're pissed at him and won't tell me why…then you are all sweetness and light with him…what gives Meems? Don't tell me this still has to do with happened out at Nick's? I still can't believe Jan pulled that bullsh*t on him but I for one am very glad that those drugs didn't effect him so much that he wouldn't have been there to help me because God knows what would have happened-"
"Wait a minute…wait a minute," Mimi interrupted. "Back up! What drugs? What in the hell are you talking about?"
to be continued….