Chapter 4

When she woke up the second time –she thought it had all been a dream.  When she noticed that it was Steven's hand nudging her to consciousness she realized it wasn't. 

"Jacks wake up"

"Where are we?" she inquired groggily.

"A motel.  Look I need to ask you something."

"Okay" he looked serious.

"Are you gonna try to call Kelso or something if I leave you alone for a second?"  Oh god was she going to have to deal with his insecurities all the way to…well wherever the hell they were going.

"What is this? You kidnap me and you want me to cooperate?  Shouldn't there be brainwashing or something first?"

"Jacks!" he had never liked being the butt of sarcasm.  She wanted to tell him yes she was going to try to get home.  She didn't want to be here.  She needed to be away from him for a while –not in No tell Motels with him all summer.  She wanted to define the meaning of space to him and make him take her home. But the look on his face stopped her.  He had concocted this master scheme and without her cooperation he wouldn't be able to pull it off.  Because lets face it –Steven wasn't tying her up or holding a gun to her head.  He was trying to convince her he loved her.  The jerk. 

"Fine Steven.  Consider me brainwashed."  He smiled and damn her knees for getting weak.

They checked into room 14 at the Hillside motel, a blue and white marvel on flat land.  It wasn't the Ritz but at least it was clean.  He'd gotten two beds, which was something.  After hauling in the luggage she finally had the courage to ask.

"So where are we going?"

"Where you wanna go?  NO don't answer that!…Florida."

"Florida!? Steven that is forever from here.  And , And its like really hot and stuff." Oh great reasons Jackie.  Tell him about the water next.

"It is as good a place as any".  He was looking away from her now.  Looking like he might be giving up on the whole idea.  He was letting his defense mechanisms kick in –she knew that any minute now he'd turn Zen and blow off the whole thing.  They would go back to Point Place where he would pretend not to care and she would start getting over him.  They could move on from each other then.

"Let's go to Mobile instead." She heard herself say quickly.  He looked shocked.  She loved shocking him.  But this time she had shocked herself too.  Steven sounded hopeful when he spoke.

"Alabama?"

"Yeah I went there once when I was little.  Daddy had a convention and he took us for some reason.  It's nice –less touristy."

"Cool.  You hungry?"

All of a sudden she was very hungry.  "I could eat a horse.  But I doubt this place has room service."

"Kitty reminded me to pack sandwiches."

"What the hell was she thinking?  Helping you kidnap me?"

"She is a romantic"

"But it is a crime"

"And I think she loves me for some reason and wants me to be happy."

"oh" God he was so good at that.  Sometimes when she wasn't feeling generous she thought he did it on purpose.  For someone who hated sympathy he was good at inspiring it. 

"But anyway – turkey or ham?"

She looked at him holding out the two sandwich choices.  She knew he wanted the ham.  Just like he knew she wanted the turkey.  But he would always give her the option.  She'd always loved that.  She looked at the sandwich and knew without tasting it that it would have just the right amount of mayo and no mustard.  Some things they were good at.  Suddenly she felt like she was making a decision much bigger than dinner menus.  Could she do this?  Should she?  Would her heart be able to handle a summer alone with Steven after what he had done?  She wasn't sure.  But she reached out anyway. 

NOTE:  Okay guys, uber THANKS for all the reviews! (for both this and Come September).  I'm really in a writing mood lately if you can't tell.  I have about 6 more stories that I'm working on and about 3 that I have finished.  I'm just trying to not annoy you all by posting them all at once like I want to.  But anyway -  I'm updating twice today because 1- this chapter was annoyingly short I know and 2- I'm not going to be able to add anything 'til next Tuesday.  I have a wedding this weekend so I'm off tomorrow and Monday is Memorial day so I'm off again (yea! But I have no computer at home).  I just wanted you to know that I haven't died or anything.  I'm going to use the time off to see if I can make the next couple of chapters longer.  Continue giving me input please.  And happy long weekend!