Early Friday Afternoon-December 27:
"Come on Katie," Jessie begs with a pout. Katie smiles and shakes her head. "You are such a tease," she grunts as she grumpily leans back on the couch cushions.
"You know you wouldn't have it any other way," Katie replies fondly and Jessie leans into her.
"Yeah, I know. But I still want you to tell me where you're going to do tonight," Jessie whines.
"Aww, that's too bad because I'm not going to," Katie smirks as she puts her arm over Jessie's shoulders.
"Butthead," Jessie mumbles as she leans into Katie.
"Yes, I suppose that I am," she agrees. "But, it's not like I can help it or anything," she says in defense of herself. "Besides, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a surprise?" Jessie just groans in frustration and buries her head in Katie's shoulder and Katie lets out a soft chuckle.
Later That Afternoon:
"So Jess, Katie's kicked you out of your own house huh?" Grace teases with too much amusement for Jessie's taste.
Jessie raises an eyebrow. "Don't make me kick your ass," she warns and then she sighs. "Yeah. She did and even my mother sided with her and booted me out," she sighs. "Besides, why else would I come over here? Certainly not to see you," she says with mock distain.
"Oh, see, now why do you have to be so mean? What have I ever done to you Jess?" Grace wonders, feigning a hurt expression.
"Do you want me to answer? If you do, we might be here a while," Jessie declares.
"Good point," Grace relents with a shrug. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't know what she's been plotting either," she offers.
"Which I know is bull because you are now refusing to look me in the eyes," Jessie states with a smirk.
"How did you...argh. You and your stupid psych classes. Now I can't effectively lie to you anymore, even when it's for your own good," she pouts, crossing her arms.
"No, Grace. This is not a conspiracy against you and it has nothing to do with the classes that I take. You are just a horrible liar," Jessie smirks indignantly.
Grace's expression turns serious. "Why, of all things, did you want to be a psychiatrist?" She asks, genuinely interested.
Jessie sighs and her shoulders slump. "I think that Rosenfeld was an ass and I want a second opinion. What better second opinion than my own, right?"
"Yeah. That way the opinion would be the exact one that you are looking for," Grace scoffs and a pause takes over them. "Jess, what happened up in the attic that day?" She asks.
Jessie is caught off guard by the shift in conversation. She sighs again and looks over at Grace. "It was stupid. I didn't want to go to that damned dance and she did. Yelling ensued and tears were shed. She told me that she loved me, then broke up with me," Jessie says, recalling the events none to fondly.
"Wow. So it was all over some dance?" Grace asks, trying to get the pieces together.
"No Grace it was not over 'some dance'!" Jessie yells, standing up to look down at her. "It was over something more than some stupid dance. It was over me being paranoid and stupid," she says while pacing. "The dance just symbolized my feelings for her I guess. I suppose that I just wasn't comfortable enough with them at the time. That's why we broke up," she concludes.
"Oh," Grace says simply. "I can't help but feel partially responsible for that," Jessie gives her a questioning expression. "I mean, I told Katie to give you that ultimatum," she mumbles.
"You did what?!" Jessie exclaims. "What the hell was going through that seriously demented head of yours?" She asks angrily.
"Look, how was I supposed to know that you would turn her down?" Grace retorts.
"Damn, this whole thing would've been avoided if you hadn't suggested that," Jessie says accusingly.
"How do you know? If she hadn't done that, it might've just prolonged the inevitable," Grace responds in her defense. "In fact, everyone would still be in the dark if we hadn't walked in on you and Katie two days ago," she says with a smirk.
Jessie opens her mouth to say something, but Lily walks into the room and Grace leaves. "Hey Jess," Lily says with shock. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you with Katie?" She asks, somewhat mischievously.
"Katie is planning something and she kicked me out of the house," she grumbles. "She said that she'd give me a call when she's about done."
Lily smiles fondly at her. "I'm glad you have Katie," she says to her.
Jessie raises an eyebrow. "You are?" She asks almost incredulously. "And why might that be?"
"You've been in a funk for, oh, about six years," Lily responds and Jessie glares at her. "All I'm saying is that I can tell she makes you happy and for that, I'm glad," she says with a soft smile.
"Yeah, well, she's also the one that put me in it," Jessie concedes.
"Oh? Do tell," Lily says as she takes a seat next to her on the couch.
Jessie looks at her and laughs softly. "Well..."
"So, how much longer until we're done torturing Jessie," Karen asks Katie lightheartedly. "I'm sure that she's already gone postal on Grace. The last thing I need is to be defending my own daughter in a court of law," she adds dramatically.
"Probably another ten or fifteen minutes," Katie responds with a grin. "Besides, I thought you were a public interest lawyer," she quips.
Karen glares at Katie. "The closest Rick ever came to taking me out to dinner after we were married was Pizza Hut," she grumbles. "So, what's the occasion?" Karen asks, earning a blank expression from Katie. "Why are you doing the whole 'romantic dinner' thing?" She elaborates.
Katie sighs in exasperation. "You know how paranoid Jessie gets sometimes?" Karen nods in agreement. "Well, she's worried that this, our relationship, will be over by the end of the holiday. Kind of like that this is Round Two of our relationship and eventually one of us is going to get KOed."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Karen asks in confusion.
"Sorry. Boxing terms. You've met my brothers," Katie quickly, and sheepishly, explains. "We started going out after she got out of the hospital, like, six years ago. We went out for a couple of weeks, but we had a few problems and broke up. I guess she thinks that the same thing will happen this time around," she pauses.
"Do you think it will?" Karen interjects.
"I hope not. But if Jessie thinks it will, then she won't even bother. Hence the 'KOed' thing: she thinks that one of us will give up on our relationship. It sure as hell won't be me," she says with a sigh.
"You know how Jessie is. Every time something good comes along, she waits around for the bottom to drop out. That's how it's always been. Something has always gone wrong and she thinks that the same thing will happen with you two," Karen spurts out in one breath.
"I'm not going to let anything happen," Katie says with determination. "I just wish that I knew what to do. She leaves in two days," she sighs again, losing some of her confidence.
"You'll figure something out, you are pretty smart...sometimes," Karen says.
"You're almost as bad as your daughter," Katie grumbles.
"I'm going to tell her you said that too," Karen teases. "I'm going to send the Wrath of Jessie your way."
"No! Not again," Katie jokes. "She knows how indecisive I am when it comes to getting dressed. How do I look?" She asks.[To save myself the headache, let's just say that she looks really good ;-)]
"Wow," Karen says with approval. "You look amazing."
"Oh, yayness!" Katie exclaims with glee. "I'm going to give her a call and tell her that she's allowed to come home now," she says with a grin as she darts to the phone in the kitchen.
"Now I feel really clueless," Lily says with self recrimination. "All that happened and no one even knew," she says with near disbelief.
"Yeah, imagine my shock," Jessie says with sarcasm. "Grace knew, I don't know what the issue with you guys was," she smiles.
"Grace knew?" Lily repeats with more surprise. Before she could continue, the phone rang. "Hello?...Oh, hey...Yeah...I'll tell her...Okay...Bye."
"Who was that?" Jessie asks.
"Katie, she says you can come on home now," Lily says.
"Yay for me. I'm going to kill her for keeping me in suspense like this," she looks at the dubious expression on Lily's face. "Maim her at the very least."
"Hey Jessie," Katie welcomes her as she opens the door to leave. "Bye Mrs. Sammler."
"Not so fast you two," Karen says sternly and Jessie quirks an eyebrow at her mother. "I want you both to be careful and-"
"Don't do anything you wouldn't do?" Jessie finishes and Karen nods. "Does that mean that we can't make out in the backseat of her car?" She asks with a grin and Katie blushes.
"Go," Karen sighs as she dismisses them with a wave of her hand. They smile and walk down to the car, waving goodbye. Katie gets in the driver's side and they drive off.
When they pull up to the restaurant, Jessie looks over at Katie. "I can't believe you remembered that I love Mexican. I think I mentioned it, like, once. I'm even more impressed that it isn't Taco Bell," she smirks.
"Well, I do try," Katie smirks as they walk up.
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Okay, I'm thinking that there will be two more chapters. Sorry this chapter took so long.
