"A Single Yellow Rose" – Chapter Twenty Six
Saturday afternoon in Salem…
Mimi turned out of the Kiriakis' long, curing drive and headed back towards home. Cracking open the driver's side window, she felt the cool air on her face and realized her headache had dulled considerably since she left Philip's. Maybe it was those overwhelming, competing scents from the flowers in the solarium, she thought leaning over to switch on the radio.
If I could turn back time
If
I could find a way
I'd
take back those words that hurt you
And
you'd stay
I
don't know why I did the things I did
I
don't know why I said the things I said
Pride's
like a knife it can cut deep inside
Words
are like weapons…they wound sometimes
I
didn't want to see you go
I know I made you cry-
Mimi quickly reached out and pressed the button again cutting off Cher in mid sentence. She clenched the steering wheel tightly refusing to give into the desire to fill the quietness of the car's interior with music. Not that it mattered what station she listened to because every song she heard now a days seemed to remind her of Jason.
Only this time she was thinking about what she had done to him instead of the other way around.
Putting on the turn signal, she pulled the driveway and found her parents and little brother leaving the house, heading down the front walk. "Oh I am glad you are home," her mother called. "Connor and I are heading out to do some Christmas shopping and your dad got called into work. We were going to drop him off so we could have the car but now that you are home that solves that problem."
"You don't have any other plans this afternoon do you honey?"
Mimi smiled at her father. "No dad, I'm home for the day…in fact I'm home for the rest of the weekend." Home for the rest of my life, she thought gloomily.
"Okay," he replied the doubt in his voice revealing the fact he wasn't too sure if he believed her. "I won't be home until late."
Mimi watched as he kissed her mom goodbye and then got behind the wheel of his car and disappeared down the driveway. This was happening more and more often, her dad getting called in at odd hours, but she was proud of how hard he worked at his new job.
"Do you want to come with us dear? You seem a little down and some Christmas shopping might be just the thing to cheer you up."
Walking over, Mimi handed her mother the keys. "No thanks Mom. I think I'll just hang out here. I've got some homework to finish up."
"Well, okay. We will probably get something to eat while we are out and with the way the stores are, I bet we will be gone for a couple of hours so you are on your own for dinner."
"Okay."
Mimi waved at her mom and little brother as she backed the car down the driveway and then she turned and walked up to the house. Going inside she pulled off her jacket, gloves and scarf and hung them in the hall closet before heading upstairs. Kicking open her bedroom door, she headed straight for her bed and fell face first onto the patchwork quilt covering it.
"Oh Mimi…what in the hell are you going to do now?" she mumbled into the fabric.
Rolling over to stare at the ceiling, she waited for an answer to come to her question but of course, all she heard was silence. Reaching for the stuffed maroon colored bear that sat alone in the coveted spot between her pillows, Mimi pulled it close to her chest in a tight embrace.
Having put away her stuffed animals years ago, this bear was the only one in the room. A few days ago she, Chloe and Belle had been over at Salem Place and the three of them had been unable to resist a display of bears in one of the local stores that were all designed the same but came in an array of different colors. Chloe had fallen in love with royal purple bear while Belle couldn't put back the bright red one once she'd picked it up. There was a bright blue, black and emerald green bear as well but none of them caught her eye until she had seen this lone maroon one tucked way back on the shelf. So on a whim, all three of them purchased the bears and it wasn't until she got home that she realized how well he went with her rose, pink and cream colored quilt.
Turning him around to gaze into two black, beaded eyes Mimi couldn't stop from smiling at the bear's sweet expression. "Mr. Bear…I need your help. What should I do about another fine mess I've gotten myself into?"
Suddenly, the telephone rang and Mimi felt her heart leap into her throat as the shill sound reverberated through the quiet house. One ring…two rings…
Could it be Jason? He had left Philip's long before she had. Did he go back and find out she was gone? Did Shawn or Belle tell him that she now knew the truth and wanted to talk to him about it?
Three rings…four rings…
Mimi reached out a grabbed the phone before she could think about it one more second. "Hello? Ah, no…I'm sorry she's not home right now…okay I'll make sure she gets the message."
Pressing the reset button, Mimi held it in while she gently tapped the receiver against her chest. Scrambling to a sitting position and crossing her legs, Mimi released the button and quickly dialed the number she had memorized weeks ago. "Please, pick up the phone before I chicken out and hang up," she whispered.
"Hello, Hillman Residence, Risa Hillman speaking."
Mimi smiled as she recognized the voice of Jason's younger sister. She had met her once when dropping Jason off after school and while only in elementary school, Mimi could see she shared the same good looks as her brother and was growing into a real beauty. "Ah, hi…um, could I speak with Jason please?"
"I'm sorry Jason isn't home right now…can I take a message?"
A message? What was she going to say? I'm sorry…I didn't know…please call me…
"Hello…" the young girl said. "Is anyone there?"
"A message?" Mimi repeated, "Well…umm…"
"Hey…is this Jan?"
Mimi felt the breath leave her lungs as she struggled to find something to say. "Ah, no…it's not and um, no message…thank you."
Gently returning the hand set to the base, Mimi stared at the now silent phone. He wasn't home and Jan had left the party too. Were they together? He didn't seem to happy to see her when she'd interrupted them and Jan seemed genuinely surprised when she'd told her that Jason knew what she had done to him. Did she follow him somewhere…somewhere she'd know that he would go to if he were angry? Was she, right this moment, trying to convince him that she was sorry for what she'd done?
Shaking off the images her wayward thoughts were creating in her head, Mimi knew she had to do something to get her mind off this whole mess. Yanking open a dresser drawer, she quickly pulled out a bright turquoise sports bra and a pair of matching bike shorts. Grabbing a sweatshirt and sneakers from the tufted cushion of a small, upholstered chair, Mimi headed for the bathroom.
Minutes later, she bounced down the stairs stopping in the kitchen to grab a bottled water from the refrigerator before heading to the family room that ran across the back of the house. One end was set up with a large entertainment center and a sectional couch that formed a U shaped seating area in front of it. The other end was occupied by a work out gym, stationary bike and treadmill. When she had resolved to make her junior year better than the year before that had included getting into shape. She'd been amazed how great a workout it had been building the house but once that was over she had begged her parents for a membership to a local gym. The equipment in front of her had been the compromise but Mimi was happy with it. The four-in-one gym offered a variety of ways to work out and her parents had even started to use the equipment.
Slipping the CD into the stereo Mimi cranked up the volume as Ricky Martin's voice filled the air and she immediately started stretching to the beat of the music. Enjoying the freedom of knowing that she had the entire house to herself, Mimi closed her eyes and concentrated on the music and the feel of her muscles extending. Stripping off her sweatshirt and tossing it onto the back of the couch, Mimi went to the first station, checked her weights and lay down on the bench. Setting her grip she quickly pushed out a dozen reps. After a quick rest, she repeated the motion twice before moving onto the next station. While gripping the overhead bar and bringing it repeatedly down to chest level in a control motion, a part of her earlier conversation with Belle danced through her head.
"You should hear all of it from Jason so
this is going to be the short version. When Jason left to go talk…and I do mean
just talk…with Jan he had a couple of beers with him. Well, somehow Jan got a
hold of them, put some sort of drug in it and after Jason drunk it he started
getting light headed and dizzy which was the point I guess."
"You're telling me that Jan drugged Jason? But…but why?"
"We figured Jan was setting him up to get
back at you…she wanted you to see them together so you would think that despite
the fact they weren't officially a couple they were still an item. The kicker
is he thought he was with you."
Moving on, Mimi only stopped for a quick drink of water before sitting back against the raised seat and positioning her forearms against the padded u shaped bar as the music changed from salsa to a pop rhythm as Nsync's vocal harmonies filled the air. Using her chest muscles, she slowly brought her arms to the front from wrist to elbow before allowing the natural resistance of the machine to pull her arms apart. Closing her eyes, Mimi repeated the movement again and again as the last four words became a repetitive mantra as she pushed her body ignoring the sweat that glistened on her skin and saturated the material of her outfit.
…thought he was with you…thought he was with
you…thought he was with you…
Finally forced to listen to her screaming muscles, Mimi pushed out one last repetition before stopping to rest, her chest heaving with deep breaths. Eyes stilled closed she dropped her head back against the seat and curled her fingers over the top edge of the padded area, finally admitting that it hadn't worked. No matter how hard she pushed her body he was still in her head.
"Damn you Jason," she muttered. "Damn you for doing this to me."
"That's funny…I was thinking the same exact thing about you."
"What the-" Mimi's eyes flew open to find the guy who crowded her thoughts casually leaning against the door frame, feet crossed at the ankles, one hand shoved deep into the pocket of his jeans and the other gripping a Budweiser long neck. "Jason! What the hell are you doing here?"
"Watching you."
Mimi's eyes dropped to her scantily clad body for a quick moment before she focused her stare back onto her surprise guest. "Do you just walk into a person's house uninvited all the time or am I specially blessed?"
"I knocked but I guess you couldn't hear me over the Latin lover," Jason said pointing at the stereo with the beer bottle before bringing to his lips taking a long swallow of its contents.
"So you just walked in? What if my parents were home?"
"They're not."
"That's not the point! You can't just – wait a minute, how did you find that out?"
Pushing off from the wall Jason slowly walked toward Mimi. "Oh…I found out a lot of things today. Let's see…I now know that your music tastes run from…"
Mimi watched as he started to circle around the gym but when he disappeared from the corner of her eye, she refused to turn around and look at him. Suddenly the music dropped a level and Mimi realized Jason must have lowered the volume on the stereo. "…Ricky Martin to…yuck…Nsync."
"Well, at least it's not Brittany." Mimi said, brushing away a trickle of sweat from her forehead.
Jason hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I also found out how hard you work to keep that body of yours in shape."
Mimi felt a deep flush creep over her face and she prayed that Jason would think it was just overexertion from her work out as she still felt unable to catch her breath and slow the pounding of her heart. She knew he was making his way around the gym and any second he would again be in her sights.
"And…perhaps most importantly…I found out what a terrific actress you really are."
Mimi closed her eyes against the sarcastic tone of his voice. "Jason…you don't know-"
"Don't you dare tell me what I know and I don't know." Moving to stand in front of her, Jason leaned forward, his jean clad legs brushing up against Mimi's bare legs. Crossing his forearms on the same U shaped bar Mimi had just finished using, his almost empty beer dangled from his fingertips. Bracing his forehead against his arms in order to peer down at Mimi, he found himself silently thanking her for keeping her eyes closed.
She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail but a few trails managed to escape and now they lay plastered against her face and neck. He could tell she held nothing back in her workout as the sweat on her body gave testament to. He didn't know why he had walked into her house unannounced but after finishing off four beers of the six-pack he lifted from the Kiriakis kitchen he didn't much care. He'd been watching when Mimi got home and when her family left so he only knocked a few times before just walking in.
He heard the music as soon as entered the house and followed it. Spotting Mimi working out, he'd stayed out of sight and watched as she moved from station to station unable to take his eyes off her. Her top was nothing more than a strip of spandex that covered her breasts and formed a tee in the back between her shoulder blades. Her bare, flat midriff led to tight fitting shorts that molded themselves to her butt and thighs. White athletic socks, scrunched down to her ankles and white Nikes completed the picture.
Still pissed off at what she had done to him, that anger was intensified by the fact it conflicted with the overwhelming desire to pull her into his arms and kiss her. He knew he had to announce his presence sooner or later, so he decided to appear as casual as possible, hoping she wouldn't see the effect she was having on him, specifically on a certain part of his anatomy.
When the next song that poured from the speakers was KISS's rock anthem "I Want To Rock and Roll All Night" Jason's estimate of her music taste improved and looking down at her, he suddenly wanted her eyes to open…he wanted her to see his face when he told her what he came here to say. But Mimi continued to breath heavy, her breasts rising and falling with each breath and Jason was unable to stop his gaze from dropping to the valley between them created by her top. Finally compelling his eyes away he focused instead on the bottle right in front of his nose, fixating on the condensation gathering there, creating tiny rivers of water down the sides. He watched as they pooled to a puddle at the bottom's rim of the bottle.
His lips pulled into a wiry grin as he realized there was a way to get Mimi to look at him. Tilting the bottle forward until it was directly over her he gave it a gentle shake…just enough to break that droplet of water, and a few more, free.
"Oh!"
Mimi's eyes flew open the moment the cool water touched her skin and traveled down her breast. She quickly swiped down into the gap of her top unsure if that really was a groan she thought she heard coming from Jason.
"You did that on purpose," she challenged looking up at him.
"You're right. I wanted to make sure I had your full attention as I enlighten you on what I do know." Jason's voice was harsh and raw. "I know you played me for a fool. I know you lead me to believe that everything was fine between us when of course that wasn't the case as all…and I know you loved proving that the 'dumb jock' label really should be tattooed on my forehead. Backwards of course so I can see it every morning when I look into the mirror and I know-"
"I know what Jan did to you."
Mimi's soft spoken confession stopped Jason in mid sentence. She watched as he clamped his mouth shut and visibly swallowed the rest of his words. "Who told you?" he asked instead.
"Shawn and Belle…today…out at the pond."
"Just like that…they told you?"
Mimi shook her head. "No, I think Belle thought I knew because she was asking me why I was acting – well…what was going on between us and then she said something about being glad the drugs hadn't effected you to the point where you wouldn't had been able to help her…" Mimi's voice trailed off as she watched Jason close his eyes against her words. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't! Don't you say you're sorry for me."
"You should have told me."
"Told you?" Jason's eyes flew open as he pushed away from the gym. "I tried so many times to tell you but no…you weren't interested in hearing anything I had to say!"
"I was hurt!" Mimi cried, clambering off the seat and away from Jason's fury. "You have no idea what it was like finding the two of you wrapped up in each other arms…you half naked and Jan shirt barely covering her-" Chocking back a sob, Mimi turned away from him. Don't cry dammit, she thought, not now…not in front of him.
"Mimi I didn't know what was going on! She drugged me and I remember getting so hot that I had to strip down or I was going to pass out."
"You were all over each other! Do you have any idea how that made me feel after you had just kissed me a few hours before?"
"If I was kissing her…and that is a big if…it was because I thought I was with you!"
"Are you sure about that?" Mimi whirled around. "The two of have a long history…and a pretty involved one if Jan can be believed…and as of that night it was still going on even though everyone knew you had broken up with her. Maybe you really did want to be with her that night!"
"No! No…I refuse to believe that."
"Okay…fine but why were you so out of it that you'd didn't push Jan away but then later you were coherent enough to save Belle."
"I don't know Mimi…there is still so much about that night…especially in the gazebo with Jan that I just don't remember but are you telling me you messed with my head to get back at me for that?"
"Not back at you…back at Jan! Once you pulled that asinine stunt that got you into the play and you actually planned on sticking around a few of the girls said how jealous Jan was going to be knowing that you and I were going to be spending so much time together so I decided to give her a taste of her own medicine."
In two steps Jason closed the open space between them. "And the hell with me…is that it?"
"Yes! No…I don't know…maybe…I felt so used after you made this big show of not wanting your jacket back but I didn't want everyone to think we were a couple when we weren't so I insisted you take it…and the next thing I knew you were walking away with Jan."
"But it backfired didn't it?"
"What?"
"Your little plan…it didn't work out the way you planned did it? That's why I haven't been able to get you alone and all you've wanted to talk about was the play."
"I-I don't know what you are talking about."
"Yes you do…last night at dotcom proved that despite everything you just said you like it when I'm close to you…when I touch you…"
"Don't go there, Jason," Mimi warned.
"…and as soon as I kissed you…you kissed me back and you realized that you had fallen into your own trap. That's why you were staring at Jan…you were looking into a mirror and seeing that you and your own enemy suddenly had quite a lot in common."
Mimi turned away from Jason's stinging words. "I think you better go."
"Yeah…I better."
Jason finished the rest of his beer in one swallow, sitting the bottle on top of the gym as he turned to go but he'd just stepped out of the room when he heard Mimi's piercing cry of pain. He entered back into the room just in time to see her crumple to the floor clutching her right calf in her hand. He was at her side in seconds dropping to his knees. "What is it?"
Mimi refused to look at him, biting down hard on her lip against the pain. "Go away," she rasped.
"It's a cramp isn't it? Here…let me help." Jason reached for her leg, enveloping her contorted muscles in his warm hands. Slowly massaging the area, he watched as Mimi squeezed her eyes tightly shut against the throbbing shooting through her leg.
"Let go of me," she said trying to pull away.
"Will you just shut up and sit there?" Jason replied, refusing to let go. "I know all about these things…you get them when you don't let your muscles slowly cool down after a workout."
"Well I was a little distracted."
Jason concentrated on Mimi's leg knowing that he was the distraction she was talking about that stopped her from completing her workout properly. He felt the muscles start to relax under his fingers but there was still a tight knot in the center of her calf. Looking up at her, he watched as her eyelids trembled against the pain and tried to hold back the tears behind them.
"You know it's okay to cry when you are hurting," he whispered.
"Not now…not in front of you."
Jason was quiet as he thought about what she'd just said as he continued kneading her muscles. The last of the driving rock music ended and in its place was the soft tones of a slow ballad. "Is this what you cool down to?" he guessed.
Mimi nodded. "Yeah…you'll love it…its Nsync."
Jason chucked low in his throat and was rewarded with Mimi opening her eyes to stare at him just as the song started and he could see the tears shimming there.
Bring tears to your eyes
And all that surround you
Are secrets and lies
Secrets and lies, Jason thought. That's all he and Mimi had between them…secrets and lies.
I'll be your strength
I'll give you hope
Keeping your faith when it's gone
The one you should call
Was standing here all along
Keeping the faith, Mimi thought. Yeah…it's a little too late for faith now.
And I will take you in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
'Til the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you
Jason felt the last of the tension finally ease from her leg and Mimi gently pulled away from him. "I thought you were on your way out."
"I am," he answered, rising and again heading out of the room.
"Jason?"
Stopping but refusing to turn back and look at her, he waited.
"Be careful…getting home."
Jason slowly nodded his head. "Well gee Mimi…you just about had me convinced that you care."
Mimi watched as he walked away and it wasn't until she heard the front door slam that she dropped flat back against the carpet and stared at the ceiling. She could still feel the imprint of his hands on her skin. "I just about convinced myself too."
to be continued….