Separation - Part Four
Author's Notes: Hey minna-san!! How are you? ^_^ Sorry about the last chapter with the out-of-character parts. I knew there was something I was missing in those notes! -_-;; My bad...
Key:
"..." Everyday conversation
'...' Inner thoughts or stressed words
*...* Annoying voice
Disclaimers: Mmm-hmm...so what's new with you, Mr. D?
~~~~~~~ @---{------ ~~~~~~~
Jessie sat on the bed, lost in a daze as she continued to think about their shared kiss. It had been...well, it had been...*Sweet? Magical? Special?* it offered generously. When she didn't respond, it humphed. *You have to pick some type of description! Share, share!* it growled at her. She smiled. 'I suppose that it was...'
Her thoughts were immediately ceased when she heard a sickening pop and a howl. The cry of agony was like that of a wild animal who had just got its leg caught into some horrible hunter's trap. She was up on her feet at once. Not knowing what to expect she had barely peeked around the corner when a huge man came barging in.
She yelped in surprise and jumped back in fear when caught a look on his face. He could well be Frankenstein's twin, if he had wanted to be. He seemed to be well over six feet, and his face was distorted and furious-like, as if he had just walked in when some intruder was murdering his family.
He just stood there as his face began to change from ferocious to shock, and then to finally horror. "Who are you?" she demanded forcefully. The man just stood there, as if he had seen a ghost.
It was then that James came tumbling in, and her own face went through a transformation. It from demanding to dismay as her eyes fell upon James. His eyes were rough and he clutched his nose as if there was no tomorrow. She pushed the man out of her way, for he was blocking her way to him. He moved before she even touched him.
When she was at his side, she gently pulled his arms away from his face, despite his whimpering. Blood was rushing down through his nose like a river flowing downstream. It covered his hands, and was instantly on her hands as well. She whirled at this man who had dared to hit him.
"Who the hell do you think you are, going around punching people like that? He broke his nose!" Her eyes reminded that man of those of his own wife's when she was mad; like those of a Rapidash.
"I...I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I must written down the wrong room number."
She couldn't believe her ears. Written down the wrong number? "Written down the wrong number? You write down the wrong 'number,' go to that room, and practically kill a person because of your benumbed brain?"
James picked himself up from the wall. "Now, Jess, I don't think that..."
"Shut up, James," she yelled, not taking her eyes off of the man before her. She didn't seem to notice how appalled he looked, or that his shoulders were slumped. Nor did she notice the sadness in his eyes.
James backed off. How could he not, when she was back to herself again? Slowly, he made his way into the bathroom. The blood was still coming, and didn't want to get his clothes bloody.
"Look, ma'am, sir," he nodded carefully to James as he slipped inside, "I'm really sorry about this. If there's anything I can do to help..."
"I think that you've helped enough," Jessie sneered at him. She turned her back to him and marched into the bathroom after James.
He was holding a dry wash cloth to his nose carefully, as if it would magically make the blood disappear. She pushed him lightly on the toilet and grabbed another cloth from the rack and rinsed that with cold water. They exchanged towels and she quickly wetted that one, so as not to stain the whiteness of it. After all, who knew how much that would cost?
A creak of the floor caught their attention and they looked at the door. The man large, who now looked like a timid child with his hands folded in front of him, began to speak. "I'm really sorry." He began to blush in his embarrassment. "My wife and I are here on vacation, you see, and she's been acting squirming, so to say, for the past couple of weeks, as if she's been keeping so secret." Whereas Jessie didn't have the foggiest of what he was saying, James did. "And, well, when I came to our room, or, rather your room, and the key wouldn't work, I thought that well..." His flush deepened as he looked down in shame. Jessie, still not catching on, was ready to last at him once again. James, on the other hand, was already up and ushering the man out of the bathroom. He had thrown the bloody cloth in the sink and grabbed the other one, even if he didn't need. The blood still oozed from his painfully bruised, but not broken, nose, but not as bad as before.
Jessie humphed and sat on the toilet, taking James's free seat. *OK, what just happened there?* 'Damned if I know,' she mumbled. What 'had' happened? One minute they were eating, the next James had started yelling at her. 'Yelling.' James never yelled. And then...and then he had kissed her. She sighed as she remembered the feel of his lips on hers. It had been the most wonderful experience she had ever encountered before. Never in her life had she felt so alive as she had in those few moments of rapture.
She sighed again as she looked at her entwining hands, unsure of what to think anymore. She had thought it was wrong to love her best friend, and so desperately had tried to hide it from not only from him, but herself as well. She could still remember, she thought with a smile, the night when she realized that she loved him. It was before the time that they had joined the Bike Gang, and they were on the run from the Pokemon Tech...
They had been walking for the longest time, or so James had been thinking. In truth, it 'had' been a long time, about eight hours. They had gotten up right when the sun had risen, and it was now two o'clock, and they hadn't even taken one stop to rest; thus, no food. Exhausted, James collapsed on a log. Usually, Jessie would have yelled at him to get back up, but she was more than willing to agree with him. She, too, fell on the log. She pulled off her broken shoes and began to rub her feet, whimpering as she did so.
After a while, James began to whine. "Jessie! I'm hungry! When are we going to get something to eat?"
"Stop it!" she snapped. "You know we don't have any money, we're out in the middle of this stupid forest, so how do you expect food to arrive? By falling into our laps? Ha!" She put her shoes back on and stood up. "Well, we're not getting anywhere any faster, so I suppose that we should start moving again."
James had never seemed to cease awing her. She was everything he wasn't; brave, smart, out-going, and sarcastic. She had won every fight she had ever picked up, except for one. But, that really wasn't her fault. The guy was three years older, larger, and meaner. Nevertheless, she just ignored it and went on in life.
As he trotted after her, Jessie could feel herself growing weak. She hadn't eaten in over a day, was tired, and dirty. She didn't like living like this; living on the run. It had only been a week since they had run away, but that wasn't the point. She wanted to stay in one place and live there. For as long as she could remember, she and her mother had been moving from house to different house. They never stayed in one place too long, and the latter always seemed to be worst than before. Would it ever end?
Two hours later, they had come upon a city. It was quite large, so they figured that they could find some type of food somewhere. How right they were.
A lonely old woman had been walking across the street in front of the two when a small speeding racecar turned the corner. Freaked, the two jumped forward, forcing the lady to go down with them. She had taken a liking to them immediately, and had insisted that they should accompany her for dinner. They were more than willing to agree to her kindness.
They were not only given a meal that could feed an army, but also new, clean clothes and a place to stay. The old lady was the city's richest patron, and it was quite clear that it was the truth. Her mansion was large, with twenty-two rooms and thirteen bathrooms. There were four stories, and each floor was made up of a different type of marble. Each room was a different theme as well. From flowers to rocks to the best movie to the best book, the old lady seemed to have it all in those rooms.
They stayed there for a week. A week of rich food, warm and comfortable beds, and, unexpectedly: love. Grand-mere took care of the two runaways as if they were her own grandchildren, despite the fact that she had known them for such a short time. The two children grew to love the old women in return, and owed them their lives for her generosity, for she had saved him. Then, one afternoon, they made a solemn promise that they would stay together for all time. It was what Grand-mere wanted, and she said so as she took her last breath of air.
They left that night, never to return to the house that they had grown to love so well. They refused to go to her burial. Instead, they spent that day sitting in an old alleyway, hiding from the world. They, however, could not keep themselves from her gravesite, and so they visited her in the dead of night. As try as they might, the frightened children could not pull themselves away from her warm embrace that still seemed to hold them, and so they spent the night on the ground, sleeping next to her for one last time.
That had been a year before they found themselves at the town that they would become famous.
It had been two months that they had joined the bike gang when they were finally chased out to prove their worthiness of the gang. They were to only allowed sleep in what they had on, on a rainy night, and sleep under a bush as their shelter. It was indeed very cold and they had been huddling close to each other. They were sitting side-by-side, trying to keep the other warm with their bodies when sleep finally took over James. While sleeping, his body had slumped down and his head had fallen onto her lap. The only reason she knew this was because of the sudden warmth that was gone from her side. She looked down onto his peaceful face as he slept on her in content. She smiled at him and gently pushed away the single strand from his forehead. As if he could sense her smile, he gave her a smile of his own and fell in a deeper slumber. She looked upon his face with gentleness and love, for it had just struck her like a bolt of lightning that she did love him. And it didn't surprise her in the least. It was if she had been expecting the realization to dawn on her, and she had been waiting patiently. Nevertheless, that confession did not keep her from telling him of her new founded feelings. Instead, she had made a second oath; that she would not tell him. Their friendship was too precious for her to just throw it away because of a 'feeling.'
She didn't move from her spot on the cold ground that night. She was comfortable just the way she was, with James laying on her lap and her hands on his hair and in her shirt. After all, she had finally discovered that she was in love with the person she cared for the most in the world.
Before she realized it, the day and night had gone, and it was yet again the beginning of a new day. They hadn't spoken a word since that shared experience the night before. They were both lost in thoughts of the past, the present, and the future. Neither knew what the future held in store for them now. Would they go on with life now? Or would it come to a drastic change? Or, worst of all, would they break the passionate promise that they had made to Grand-mere?
They didn't know, nor would they. Only time could tell.
James was the first to break the deafening silence by clearing his throat. "I was wondering, instead of staying coped up in her, if you would want to go to the restaurant in the lobby?"
She was silent for a minute, pondering his question. Nevertheless, it 'would' be nice to eat in a restaurant. How long had it been since they sat down?
Twenty minutes later, they were seated and looking at the large menus. Five minutes after that, they had ordered. Yet again, they were stuck in thick silence. Neither knew what to say to the other. What was there to say? *Oh, James, how about we ditch this joint and go back to the room? I think I'm having second thoughts about the restaurant idea...* Jessie, who had been drinking from her glass, choked on the water and began a fit of coughing. Concerned, James offered a hand, but she only shook her head as the cough diminished. 'Where had that come from?' *Why,* giggled her inner voice, *From you, silly. Where else?* 'I most certainly do not think that that came from me!' *Oh, silly me! Of course it wasn't you! It was the Boogie Man who has captured your brain and made you go insane! Hello! I'm your subconscious! Of course I should know if you were thinking that or not.* She only shook her head in disagreement. 'Well, I'm certainly not about to oppose about coming to this restaurant.' She grinned, 'It was nice of him to think of it, don't you think?'
James, meanwhile, had been looking curiously at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but a large silhouette fell over Jessie. His eyes were immediately shot up towards the source of the large shadow, and grinned as he saw him.
"I see you guys made it after all!" The booming voice erupted from behind her. She yelped from fright and was up on her feet before the second was up. When she saw who it was, she began to glare and began to spit fire at him when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked up at James in shock as he shook hands with the man that had broke his nose. Well...bruised it.
The scene before seemed to blur before her as she desperately tried to make sense of it. They were acting like they were old friends, instead of an intruder and victim. Her brows frowned in confusion and concentration. The large man, who was called Leonard, stood across from Jessie and James. Politely, and unexpected by all three, Jessie shook his hand. Leonard blushed, "Once again, I am truly sorry about yesterday." James only shook it away, saying that his nose was fine and already on its way to healing. Jessie, however, could hear falseness in his voice and looked up at him. When he looked down at her, she could see that his words were untrue, that it still pained him. She blinked when she thought that she saw something else there. Forgetting about Leonard was still standing there, she blinked a second time, and it had not disappeared, she continued to search his eyes, as if they would give off some clue as what it was he was hiding. James hadn't been able to hide things from her very well before, so why should that start now?
A polite cough came from in front of them and their attention was immediately brought forth. Nevertheless, the grinning man noticed their guilty blushes of embarrassment covered their cheeks.
Directly after his cough, however, a woman appeared at his side. James's eyes widened in shock as he caught sight of her. If he hadn't have known Jessie a more than half of his life, he could have mistaken this woman to be her. She had the same shape of eyes, the same high cheekbones, and the same color hair. However, upon further check, he noted that her nose was slightly larger and her lips smaller and thinner. Her ears were also a little larger, and her hair duller, not that of the full vibrant color of Jessie's.
James's eyes were instantly at Leonard's. Leonard nodded as a silent explanation connected between the two. This was the reason why he pounded down their door and had stopped to stare at Jessie as if she were some ghost.
"Jessie, James, this is my wife, Arabella."
To be continued...
Author's notes: Please, please, PLEASE, PLEASE review!! I really need to know where I'm standing... Thank you to all of you have responded! ^_^ And thanks for your support!
Author's Notes: Hey minna-san!! How are you? ^_^ Sorry about the last chapter with the out-of-character parts. I knew there was something I was missing in those notes! -_-;; My bad...
Key:
"..." Everyday conversation
'...' Inner thoughts or stressed words
*...* Annoying voice
Disclaimers: Mmm-hmm...so what's new with you, Mr. D?
~~~~~~~ @---{------ ~~~~~~~
Jessie sat on the bed, lost in a daze as she continued to think about their shared kiss. It had been...well, it had been...*Sweet? Magical? Special?* it offered generously. When she didn't respond, it humphed. *You have to pick some type of description! Share, share!* it growled at her. She smiled. 'I suppose that it was...'
Her thoughts were immediately ceased when she heard a sickening pop and a howl. The cry of agony was like that of a wild animal who had just got its leg caught into some horrible hunter's trap. She was up on her feet at once. Not knowing what to expect she had barely peeked around the corner when a huge man came barging in.
She yelped in surprise and jumped back in fear when caught a look on his face. He could well be Frankenstein's twin, if he had wanted to be. He seemed to be well over six feet, and his face was distorted and furious-like, as if he had just walked in when some intruder was murdering his family.
He just stood there as his face began to change from ferocious to shock, and then to finally horror. "Who are you?" she demanded forcefully. The man just stood there, as if he had seen a ghost.
It was then that James came tumbling in, and her own face went through a transformation. It from demanding to dismay as her eyes fell upon James. His eyes were rough and he clutched his nose as if there was no tomorrow. She pushed the man out of her way, for he was blocking her way to him. He moved before she even touched him.
When she was at his side, she gently pulled his arms away from his face, despite his whimpering. Blood was rushing down through his nose like a river flowing downstream. It covered his hands, and was instantly on her hands as well. She whirled at this man who had dared to hit him.
"Who the hell do you think you are, going around punching people like that? He broke his nose!" Her eyes reminded that man of those of his own wife's when she was mad; like those of a Rapidash.
"I...I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I must written down the wrong room number."
She couldn't believe her ears. Written down the wrong number? "Written down the wrong number? You write down the wrong 'number,' go to that room, and practically kill a person because of your benumbed brain?"
James picked himself up from the wall. "Now, Jess, I don't think that..."
"Shut up, James," she yelled, not taking her eyes off of the man before her. She didn't seem to notice how appalled he looked, or that his shoulders were slumped. Nor did she notice the sadness in his eyes.
James backed off. How could he not, when she was back to herself again? Slowly, he made his way into the bathroom. The blood was still coming, and didn't want to get his clothes bloody.
"Look, ma'am, sir," he nodded carefully to James as he slipped inside, "I'm really sorry about this. If there's anything I can do to help..."
"I think that you've helped enough," Jessie sneered at him. She turned her back to him and marched into the bathroom after James.
He was holding a dry wash cloth to his nose carefully, as if it would magically make the blood disappear. She pushed him lightly on the toilet and grabbed another cloth from the rack and rinsed that with cold water. They exchanged towels and she quickly wetted that one, so as not to stain the whiteness of it. After all, who knew how much that would cost?
A creak of the floor caught their attention and they looked at the door. The man large, who now looked like a timid child with his hands folded in front of him, began to speak. "I'm really sorry." He began to blush in his embarrassment. "My wife and I are here on vacation, you see, and she's been acting squirming, so to say, for the past couple of weeks, as if she's been keeping so secret." Whereas Jessie didn't have the foggiest of what he was saying, James did. "And, well, when I came to our room, or, rather your room, and the key wouldn't work, I thought that well..." His flush deepened as he looked down in shame. Jessie, still not catching on, was ready to last at him once again. James, on the other hand, was already up and ushering the man out of the bathroom. He had thrown the bloody cloth in the sink and grabbed the other one, even if he didn't need. The blood still oozed from his painfully bruised, but not broken, nose, but not as bad as before.
Jessie humphed and sat on the toilet, taking James's free seat. *OK, what just happened there?* 'Damned if I know,' she mumbled. What 'had' happened? One minute they were eating, the next James had started yelling at her. 'Yelling.' James never yelled. And then...and then he had kissed her. She sighed as she remembered the feel of his lips on hers. It had been the most wonderful experience she had ever encountered before. Never in her life had she felt so alive as she had in those few moments of rapture.
She sighed again as she looked at her entwining hands, unsure of what to think anymore. She had thought it was wrong to love her best friend, and so desperately had tried to hide it from not only from him, but herself as well. She could still remember, she thought with a smile, the night when she realized that she loved him. It was before the time that they had joined the Bike Gang, and they were on the run from the Pokemon Tech...
They had been walking for the longest time, or so James had been thinking. In truth, it 'had' been a long time, about eight hours. They had gotten up right when the sun had risen, and it was now two o'clock, and they hadn't even taken one stop to rest; thus, no food. Exhausted, James collapsed on a log. Usually, Jessie would have yelled at him to get back up, but she was more than willing to agree with him. She, too, fell on the log. She pulled off her broken shoes and began to rub her feet, whimpering as she did so.
After a while, James began to whine. "Jessie! I'm hungry! When are we going to get something to eat?"
"Stop it!" she snapped. "You know we don't have any money, we're out in the middle of this stupid forest, so how do you expect food to arrive? By falling into our laps? Ha!" She put her shoes back on and stood up. "Well, we're not getting anywhere any faster, so I suppose that we should start moving again."
James had never seemed to cease awing her. She was everything he wasn't; brave, smart, out-going, and sarcastic. She had won every fight she had ever picked up, except for one. But, that really wasn't her fault. The guy was three years older, larger, and meaner. Nevertheless, she just ignored it and went on in life.
As he trotted after her, Jessie could feel herself growing weak. She hadn't eaten in over a day, was tired, and dirty. She didn't like living like this; living on the run. It had only been a week since they had run away, but that wasn't the point. She wanted to stay in one place and live there. For as long as she could remember, she and her mother had been moving from house to different house. They never stayed in one place too long, and the latter always seemed to be worst than before. Would it ever end?
Two hours later, they had come upon a city. It was quite large, so they figured that they could find some type of food somewhere. How right they were.
A lonely old woman had been walking across the street in front of the two when a small speeding racecar turned the corner. Freaked, the two jumped forward, forcing the lady to go down with them. She had taken a liking to them immediately, and had insisted that they should accompany her for dinner. They were more than willing to agree to her kindness.
They were not only given a meal that could feed an army, but also new, clean clothes and a place to stay. The old lady was the city's richest patron, and it was quite clear that it was the truth. Her mansion was large, with twenty-two rooms and thirteen bathrooms. There were four stories, and each floor was made up of a different type of marble. Each room was a different theme as well. From flowers to rocks to the best movie to the best book, the old lady seemed to have it all in those rooms.
They stayed there for a week. A week of rich food, warm and comfortable beds, and, unexpectedly: love. Grand-mere took care of the two runaways as if they were her own grandchildren, despite the fact that she had known them for such a short time. The two children grew to love the old women in return, and owed them their lives for her generosity, for she had saved him. Then, one afternoon, they made a solemn promise that they would stay together for all time. It was what Grand-mere wanted, and she said so as she took her last breath of air.
They left that night, never to return to the house that they had grown to love so well. They refused to go to her burial. Instead, they spent that day sitting in an old alleyway, hiding from the world. They, however, could not keep themselves from her gravesite, and so they visited her in the dead of night. As try as they might, the frightened children could not pull themselves away from her warm embrace that still seemed to hold them, and so they spent the night on the ground, sleeping next to her for one last time.
That had been a year before they found themselves at the town that they would become famous.
It had been two months that they had joined the bike gang when they were finally chased out to prove their worthiness of the gang. They were to only allowed sleep in what they had on, on a rainy night, and sleep under a bush as their shelter. It was indeed very cold and they had been huddling close to each other. They were sitting side-by-side, trying to keep the other warm with their bodies when sleep finally took over James. While sleeping, his body had slumped down and his head had fallen onto her lap. The only reason she knew this was because of the sudden warmth that was gone from her side. She looked down onto his peaceful face as he slept on her in content. She smiled at him and gently pushed away the single strand from his forehead. As if he could sense her smile, he gave her a smile of his own and fell in a deeper slumber. She looked upon his face with gentleness and love, for it had just struck her like a bolt of lightning that she did love him. And it didn't surprise her in the least. It was if she had been expecting the realization to dawn on her, and she had been waiting patiently. Nevertheless, that confession did not keep her from telling him of her new founded feelings. Instead, she had made a second oath; that she would not tell him. Their friendship was too precious for her to just throw it away because of a 'feeling.'
She didn't move from her spot on the cold ground that night. She was comfortable just the way she was, with James laying on her lap and her hands on his hair and in her shirt. After all, she had finally discovered that she was in love with the person she cared for the most in the world.
Before she realized it, the day and night had gone, and it was yet again the beginning of a new day. They hadn't spoken a word since that shared experience the night before. They were both lost in thoughts of the past, the present, and the future. Neither knew what the future held in store for them now. Would they go on with life now? Or would it come to a drastic change? Or, worst of all, would they break the passionate promise that they had made to Grand-mere?
They didn't know, nor would they. Only time could tell.
James was the first to break the deafening silence by clearing his throat. "I was wondering, instead of staying coped up in her, if you would want to go to the restaurant in the lobby?"
She was silent for a minute, pondering his question. Nevertheless, it 'would' be nice to eat in a restaurant. How long had it been since they sat down?
Twenty minutes later, they were seated and looking at the large menus. Five minutes after that, they had ordered. Yet again, they were stuck in thick silence. Neither knew what to say to the other. What was there to say? *Oh, James, how about we ditch this joint and go back to the room? I think I'm having second thoughts about the restaurant idea...* Jessie, who had been drinking from her glass, choked on the water and began a fit of coughing. Concerned, James offered a hand, but she only shook her head as the cough diminished. 'Where had that come from?' *Why,* giggled her inner voice, *From you, silly. Where else?* 'I most certainly do not think that that came from me!' *Oh, silly me! Of course it wasn't you! It was the Boogie Man who has captured your brain and made you go insane! Hello! I'm your subconscious! Of course I should know if you were thinking that or not.* She only shook her head in disagreement. 'Well, I'm certainly not about to oppose about coming to this restaurant.' She grinned, 'It was nice of him to think of it, don't you think?'
James, meanwhile, had been looking curiously at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but a large silhouette fell over Jessie. His eyes were immediately shot up towards the source of the large shadow, and grinned as he saw him.
"I see you guys made it after all!" The booming voice erupted from behind her. She yelped from fright and was up on her feet before the second was up. When she saw who it was, she began to glare and began to spit fire at him when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked up at James in shock as he shook hands with the man that had broke his nose. Well...bruised it.
The scene before seemed to blur before her as she desperately tried to make sense of it. They were acting like they were old friends, instead of an intruder and victim. Her brows frowned in confusion and concentration. The large man, who was called Leonard, stood across from Jessie and James. Politely, and unexpected by all three, Jessie shook his hand. Leonard blushed, "Once again, I am truly sorry about yesterday." James only shook it away, saying that his nose was fine and already on its way to healing. Jessie, however, could hear falseness in his voice and looked up at him. When he looked down at her, she could see that his words were untrue, that it still pained him. She blinked when she thought that she saw something else there. Forgetting about Leonard was still standing there, she blinked a second time, and it had not disappeared, she continued to search his eyes, as if they would give off some clue as what it was he was hiding. James hadn't been able to hide things from her very well before, so why should that start now?
A polite cough came from in front of them and their attention was immediately brought forth. Nevertheless, the grinning man noticed their guilty blushes of embarrassment covered their cheeks.
Directly after his cough, however, a woman appeared at his side. James's eyes widened in shock as he caught sight of her. If he hadn't have known Jessie a more than half of his life, he could have mistaken this woman to be her. She had the same shape of eyes, the same high cheekbones, and the same color hair. However, upon further check, he noted that her nose was slightly larger and her lips smaller and thinner. Her ears were also a little larger, and her hair duller, not that of the full vibrant color of Jessie's.
James's eyes were instantly at Leonard's. Leonard nodded as a silent explanation connected between the two. This was the reason why he pounded down their door and had stopped to stare at Jessie as if she were some ghost.
"Jessie, James, this is my wife, Arabella."
To be continued...
Author's notes: Please, please, PLEASE, PLEASE review!! I really need to know where I'm standing... Thank you to all of you have responded! ^_^ And thanks for your support!