A/N: Oh my goodness!! I'm so sorry it took soooooo long to post the next
chapter!!! It's just that I hadn't had much inspiration to write lately,
and rather than force myself to write a not-so-great chapter, I decided it
would be better to wait for inspiration to come to me and write a better
chapter ^^; Anyway, once again, thanks so much to everyone who has
reviewed this story! And also another special thanks to both Escaflowne
and Pixie Hardy for putting me on their favorite authors lists!! :-D Now,
on to chapter six...
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"Not cold my ass," I laughed at Jamie as we both stood in my laundry room trying to dry off, though all we were succeeding in doing was creating large puddles on the floor. "You can see those goosebumps a mile away!"
He grinned and responded by shaking his head like a dog, splattering me with water drops.
"Hey now!" I cried in protest, shielding myself with a white towel. Chucking it at him to dry off his hair with, I stuck my tongue out at him. "Missed," I laughed playfully. "I'm going to go to change into some dry clothes...sorry I have nothing for you to wear..." I apoligized.
"Oh," he snorted, waving dismissively. "That's Ok."
I winked impishly, leaving against the door frame. "I would be happy to lend you any of my clothes you wanted, but I'm not sure any of them would fit you..."
"Oh, gee, thank you," Jamie smiled wryly. "But hey, it's the thought that counts, right?"
I laughed and left, heading for my room.
When I got there, I flicked on the light and walked inside. I flopped down on my bed and unbuckled my high-heeled boots, contemplating wheither I should shut the door or not...Jamie was smart, he would know not to just randomly walk into my room, but still...ah well, just for good measure I got up to shut it. I paused in the door way, hearing the tune of a familiar song. "Is that Green Day?" I called to Jamie.
"Yeah, it's my cell!" he yelled back. "It's 'Basket Case', my new ring tone. Just downloaded it."
"Sweet!" I answered back. Green Day was by far our favorite band. I then shut the door and went back to my task. Let's see, dry clothes, dry clothes...I looked around my messy room sheepishly. For several years I have been meaning to clean it up, but I kept putting it off and putting it off, and of course, naturally, it didn't get done. I dug through a pile of clothes for anything that wasn't too wrinkled. Finally finding my red Hot Topic Bad Kitty shirt, I took off my purple jacket and dropped it on my bed, then pulled off my at least partially dry black sweater, cringing in disgust as my hair crackled with static electricity. Shivering slightly with the sudden cold, I quickly squirmed into my Bad Kitty shirt. Ok, now jeans..."Yipe!"
I yelped in surprise as the lights flickered off for a second, then back on, followed by a loud thunder clap. We've always had bad wiring and big storms like this usually knocked out the power. Nothing new.
Finding a decient pair of jeans, I looked them over to make sure they were free of any stains or tears, then I began pulling off my fishnet tights. I felt way too vulnerable in a miniskirt...By luck or by chance, my eyes happened to roam up to my window just as lightning flashed outside, lighting up the air, quite plainly illuminating the shape of a particularly alarming shadow. Oh my God. I froze, staring at the window in disbelief. Was I just imagining things? Was Jason really standing outside my bedroom window?
"Calm down, Caitie," I told myself. "You're letting him freak you out. What's in the past is in the past. Jamie chased him away the first time, and Jason knows he'll do it again. He wouldn't dare try anything like that a second time. Breathe." Taking my own advise, I took a deep breath. "He's not there, your mind's just playing tricks on you once again...Don't believe it. Look, prove it to yourself. Just go look out the window and prove he's not there, just do it." I took one timid step forward. "C'mon, Caitie, just do it..." But I couldn't. I just got the most overwhelming feeling of uneasiness...
Instead, I plastered myself against the wall, inching my way along until I was within arms length of the forboding window...as quickly as i could, I reached out and grabbed the white cord that hung down from my purple curtains, yanking it and drawing shut the drapes. Breathing heavily, trying to calm my shaking hands, I waited there for a moment, then sprinted to the opposite side of the room and speed changed into my jeans. (Not wanting to be caught for one second in just my underwear, I pulled my pants on underneath my skirt first, then pulled the skirt off over them.) Buttoning and zipping my jeans, I paused for a second, thinking I heard some sort of noise coming from my window, then, not even bothering to find out what it was, I nearly flew out of my room and into the hall, shutting the door behind me. "Jamie?" I called, needing to be in the comforting company of another person. "Jamie?" No answer. I walked into my kitchen, looking around worriedly. "Hello-o?" My attention suddenly snapped up to the doorway leading to the living room where I could hear Jamie mumbling something. "Jamie...?" I called again softly, pushing open the swinging door.
Jamie was lying stretched out on my couch, his back towards me, still talking on his cell phone. "Look, I'm sorry..." he spoke in a low tone. "It was an emergency......One of my friends, she had a really big problem and really needed my help.....yes, 'she'........no...no, God...Look, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. The only reason I was planning to come was to tell you enough is enough...no......I'm sorry, but it's just more trouble then it's worth..." He paused for a second. ".....Ok...." A longer pause. "No......well.....I might have, I don't really know right now..."
Before I knew what I was doing, the words were already out of my mouth. "Don't know what?"
Jamie nearly fell off the couch, he spun around so fast. "Oh, ah...ah, I'm sorry, I really gotta go now...good-bye." His cell phone beeped once as he pressed the "end call" button and snapped it shut. "Oh, uh, I wasn't quite sure if...well...see, that was..." he stammered, looking down at his mobil phone which he was fingering nervously, his ears a bright pink colour.
But I didn't care what he had been talking about or who he had been talking to. Just the fact that he had dropped everything he was doing, that he had blown off meeting with somebody, maybe someone important, just to help me...My God, he was really worried about me! He really cared about me...I had always been the rebel, the outcast, I've never felt anyone really *knew* me...I did consider Val to be my best and closest friend, but still, she only saw the rebellious outer shell I allowed her to...but Jamie...It seemed that no matter what front I put up, Jamie could see right through them. But he didn't care about them. He cared about me. He knew exactly what he had to do to cheer me up, which I was so thankful for.
My livingroom suddenly a misty blur, I looked up at the ceiling, trying to rid my eyes of the hot tears that threatened to spill out yet again.
"What?" Jamie asked. "What is it now?"
Giving in, I fell to my knees on the beige carpet, the tears streaming freely down my cheeks. "I...I realize now all that you've done for me...not only getting in a fist fight, giving me a ride home in a freezing cold thunderstorm, and staying here just because I was paranoid of a little shadow, but also because you completely pushed aside all your plans, everything, just to help me..." I sniffled and looked down at the floor, blushing deeply. I brushed a strand of my hair back behind my ear. "I...I feel like I don't deserve it..." I glanced up expectantly at Jamie, and he looked back at me almost sadly.
"Caitie..." Setting his cell phone on the coffee table, he slid off the couch and sat down in frong of me. "After what you just had to go through...you deserve so much *more*..."
"But it was my fault! I deserve more than what happened! I was so stupid, I deserved to get raped!" I collapsed into his arms, hugging him tightly as I cried the hardest I've ever cried before.
"No, Caitie!" I said sternly, squeezing me back. "You've got to stop thinking that way! You don't deserve it, you tried your best to fight him off. And you should be thankful he didn't get what he wanted..."
"But he's come back to get it!" I sobbed.
"What?"
"While I was changing, I could have sworn I saw him outside my window..." I pulled away from Jamie and wiped my eyes with the inside of me sleeve. "Then again, I was probably just imagining it..."
He timidly reached over and laid his hand over mine. "It...It wasn't you he threatened..." he said softly.
I didn't respond, still staring down at the ground. My right hand, where he was touching me, felt cold and uncomfortable and I withdrew it from his grasp, resting it on my lap. "It should have been," I muttered darkly.
"No!"
"Yes, Jamie!" All this is my fault! It's about time I started taking responsibility for it. I can't keep having you fight my battles for me! I just can't...None of this has anything to do with you, you shouldn't be forced to suffer through it! Please leave, just leave me here alone to deal with him. You've done more than enough, please...just go. Let him break in here and have his way with me, it's my 'just desserts'."
"Caitieeeee!" He threw back his head in exasperation. "Caitie! You deserve nothing like that! He's not here and he's not planning any secret revenge! That was just an empty threat not even directed toward you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about." He sighed and screatched his head, a little above and to the right of his left ear, the way he always did when he felt nervous. "If you want, I can ever prove it by looking around out there..."
Thunder rumbled, a litle softer than before as the eye of the storm was passing over us, giving us a short momentary break from the heavy downpoor. The wind could be heard whistling through the branches of the trees, driving the rain drops almost horizontally into the glass of the two large sliding doors which took up nearly the whole side wall of my three and a half walled living room. "Oh, no," I quickly refused. "You can't go back out there in this kind of weather...Not even Jason is that stupid. Like I said before, I was probably just imagining it, it's ok."
Jamie shrugged. "So I won't go outside. I'll just look around through the windows if it'll make you feel better."
"You don't have to..."
"He shrugged again, got up, and ambled off in the direction of my room.
I sighed and shook my head, not sure what exactly I should be thinking or doing at the moment. All of today's events had left me completely drained, both emotionally and physically. I was so tired, my brain just refused to work. It was all I could do to pull myself off the floor and onto the couch where I flopped down wearlilly and stared off into space, not really thinking about anything.
*Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep BeepBeep*
Recognizing the tune of "mOBSCENE" by Marilyn Manson, I looked up and glanced around. Jamie's cell phone was ringing, the blue "incoming call" light flashing on and off. Marilyn Manson? When did he change his ring tone again? Hadn't it just been Green Day before? Too lazy to ponder it anymore, I shrugged dismissively. "Hey, Jamie, your cell's ringing!" I yelled at him. No answer. Suddenly curious, I decided it wouldn't hurt to take a peak at who had called. I mean, if it was an emergency from someone on the EMT squad, she should know about it right away, shouldn't he? I reached over and picked the black phone up. Though whover had been trying to reach him had hung up a lon gitme ago, the light was still flashing, indicating that the person had left a message. Flipping open the top, I read the LCD:
Voicemail: 0 Text Messages: 1
Oh. So "mOBSCENE" was his incoming text message ringer. That made sense. I pressed Ok and checked to see who had sent it. It was some strange cell phone number that I didn't recognize. I pressed Ok again and opened the message.
"Jamie, out little plan was going perfectly. Why did you ruin it?"
My breath caught in my throat. Who had sent this to him? Plan? What plan? Who was 453-4155? It couldn't be Jason, could it? No, no, of course not. Why would Jason have Jamie's cell phone number? What on earth would they plan together? It wasn't like they were friends or anything. They hated eachother. My mind drifted back to the day's previous events. Jamie and Jason had always been at eachother's throats. Pure enemies...but it all could have been a ploy, an act...Were Jamie and Jason working together? Was everyone in a conspiracy against me to rid me of not only my virginity, but also my dignity, my self-respect? My head was swimming trying to figure this all out! What was going on?! I was so confused! Was Jamie really against me?
I looked behind me at the empty hallway where Jamie had disappeared to. What was he doing? Oh well, who cares. He was gone, busy, leaving me witht he perfect chance to escape. I had to leave, had to get out of here. There was no one I could trust anymore.
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* A/N: Sixth chapter completed ^-^ Once again, I'm very sorry about the delay ^^; Reading over this again, I realize it sounds a lot like the movie Scream ^^; I must have been subconciously thinking about it while writing it...anyway, please R/R, it's greatly appreciated :)
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"Not cold my ass," I laughed at Jamie as we both stood in my laundry room trying to dry off, though all we were succeeding in doing was creating large puddles on the floor. "You can see those goosebumps a mile away!"
He grinned and responded by shaking his head like a dog, splattering me with water drops.
"Hey now!" I cried in protest, shielding myself with a white towel. Chucking it at him to dry off his hair with, I stuck my tongue out at him. "Missed," I laughed playfully. "I'm going to go to change into some dry clothes...sorry I have nothing for you to wear..." I apoligized.
"Oh," he snorted, waving dismissively. "That's Ok."
I winked impishly, leaving against the door frame. "I would be happy to lend you any of my clothes you wanted, but I'm not sure any of them would fit you..."
"Oh, gee, thank you," Jamie smiled wryly. "But hey, it's the thought that counts, right?"
I laughed and left, heading for my room.
When I got there, I flicked on the light and walked inside. I flopped down on my bed and unbuckled my high-heeled boots, contemplating wheither I should shut the door or not...Jamie was smart, he would know not to just randomly walk into my room, but still...ah well, just for good measure I got up to shut it. I paused in the door way, hearing the tune of a familiar song. "Is that Green Day?" I called to Jamie.
"Yeah, it's my cell!" he yelled back. "It's 'Basket Case', my new ring tone. Just downloaded it."
"Sweet!" I answered back. Green Day was by far our favorite band. I then shut the door and went back to my task. Let's see, dry clothes, dry clothes...I looked around my messy room sheepishly. For several years I have been meaning to clean it up, but I kept putting it off and putting it off, and of course, naturally, it didn't get done. I dug through a pile of clothes for anything that wasn't too wrinkled. Finally finding my red Hot Topic Bad Kitty shirt, I took off my purple jacket and dropped it on my bed, then pulled off my at least partially dry black sweater, cringing in disgust as my hair crackled with static electricity. Shivering slightly with the sudden cold, I quickly squirmed into my Bad Kitty shirt. Ok, now jeans..."Yipe!"
I yelped in surprise as the lights flickered off for a second, then back on, followed by a loud thunder clap. We've always had bad wiring and big storms like this usually knocked out the power. Nothing new.
Finding a decient pair of jeans, I looked them over to make sure they were free of any stains or tears, then I began pulling off my fishnet tights. I felt way too vulnerable in a miniskirt...By luck or by chance, my eyes happened to roam up to my window just as lightning flashed outside, lighting up the air, quite plainly illuminating the shape of a particularly alarming shadow. Oh my God. I froze, staring at the window in disbelief. Was I just imagining things? Was Jason really standing outside my bedroom window?
"Calm down, Caitie," I told myself. "You're letting him freak you out. What's in the past is in the past. Jamie chased him away the first time, and Jason knows he'll do it again. He wouldn't dare try anything like that a second time. Breathe." Taking my own advise, I took a deep breath. "He's not there, your mind's just playing tricks on you once again...Don't believe it. Look, prove it to yourself. Just go look out the window and prove he's not there, just do it." I took one timid step forward. "C'mon, Caitie, just do it..." But I couldn't. I just got the most overwhelming feeling of uneasiness...
Instead, I plastered myself against the wall, inching my way along until I was within arms length of the forboding window...as quickly as i could, I reached out and grabbed the white cord that hung down from my purple curtains, yanking it and drawing shut the drapes. Breathing heavily, trying to calm my shaking hands, I waited there for a moment, then sprinted to the opposite side of the room and speed changed into my jeans. (Not wanting to be caught for one second in just my underwear, I pulled my pants on underneath my skirt first, then pulled the skirt off over them.) Buttoning and zipping my jeans, I paused for a second, thinking I heard some sort of noise coming from my window, then, not even bothering to find out what it was, I nearly flew out of my room and into the hall, shutting the door behind me. "Jamie?" I called, needing to be in the comforting company of another person. "Jamie?" No answer. I walked into my kitchen, looking around worriedly. "Hello-o?" My attention suddenly snapped up to the doorway leading to the living room where I could hear Jamie mumbling something. "Jamie...?" I called again softly, pushing open the swinging door.
Jamie was lying stretched out on my couch, his back towards me, still talking on his cell phone. "Look, I'm sorry..." he spoke in a low tone. "It was an emergency......One of my friends, she had a really big problem and really needed my help.....yes, 'she'........no...no, God...Look, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. The only reason I was planning to come was to tell you enough is enough...no......I'm sorry, but it's just more trouble then it's worth..." He paused for a second. ".....Ok...." A longer pause. "No......well.....I might have, I don't really know right now..."
Before I knew what I was doing, the words were already out of my mouth. "Don't know what?"
Jamie nearly fell off the couch, he spun around so fast. "Oh, ah...ah, I'm sorry, I really gotta go now...good-bye." His cell phone beeped once as he pressed the "end call" button and snapped it shut. "Oh, uh, I wasn't quite sure if...well...see, that was..." he stammered, looking down at his mobil phone which he was fingering nervously, his ears a bright pink colour.
But I didn't care what he had been talking about or who he had been talking to. Just the fact that he had dropped everything he was doing, that he had blown off meeting with somebody, maybe someone important, just to help me...My God, he was really worried about me! He really cared about me...I had always been the rebel, the outcast, I've never felt anyone really *knew* me...I did consider Val to be my best and closest friend, but still, she only saw the rebellious outer shell I allowed her to...but Jamie...It seemed that no matter what front I put up, Jamie could see right through them. But he didn't care about them. He cared about me. He knew exactly what he had to do to cheer me up, which I was so thankful for.
My livingroom suddenly a misty blur, I looked up at the ceiling, trying to rid my eyes of the hot tears that threatened to spill out yet again.
"What?" Jamie asked. "What is it now?"
Giving in, I fell to my knees on the beige carpet, the tears streaming freely down my cheeks. "I...I realize now all that you've done for me...not only getting in a fist fight, giving me a ride home in a freezing cold thunderstorm, and staying here just because I was paranoid of a little shadow, but also because you completely pushed aside all your plans, everything, just to help me..." I sniffled and looked down at the floor, blushing deeply. I brushed a strand of my hair back behind my ear. "I...I feel like I don't deserve it..." I glanced up expectantly at Jamie, and he looked back at me almost sadly.
"Caitie..." Setting his cell phone on the coffee table, he slid off the couch and sat down in frong of me. "After what you just had to go through...you deserve so much *more*..."
"But it was my fault! I deserve more than what happened! I was so stupid, I deserved to get raped!" I collapsed into his arms, hugging him tightly as I cried the hardest I've ever cried before.
"No, Caitie!" I said sternly, squeezing me back. "You've got to stop thinking that way! You don't deserve it, you tried your best to fight him off. And you should be thankful he didn't get what he wanted..."
"But he's come back to get it!" I sobbed.
"What?"
"While I was changing, I could have sworn I saw him outside my window..." I pulled away from Jamie and wiped my eyes with the inside of me sleeve. "Then again, I was probably just imagining it..."
He timidly reached over and laid his hand over mine. "It...It wasn't you he threatened..." he said softly.
I didn't respond, still staring down at the ground. My right hand, where he was touching me, felt cold and uncomfortable and I withdrew it from his grasp, resting it on my lap. "It should have been," I muttered darkly.
"No!"
"Yes, Jamie!" All this is my fault! It's about time I started taking responsibility for it. I can't keep having you fight my battles for me! I just can't...None of this has anything to do with you, you shouldn't be forced to suffer through it! Please leave, just leave me here alone to deal with him. You've done more than enough, please...just go. Let him break in here and have his way with me, it's my 'just desserts'."
"Caitieeeee!" He threw back his head in exasperation. "Caitie! You deserve nothing like that! He's not here and he's not planning any secret revenge! That was just an empty threat not even directed toward you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about." He sighed and screatched his head, a little above and to the right of his left ear, the way he always did when he felt nervous. "If you want, I can ever prove it by looking around out there..."
Thunder rumbled, a litle softer than before as the eye of the storm was passing over us, giving us a short momentary break from the heavy downpoor. The wind could be heard whistling through the branches of the trees, driving the rain drops almost horizontally into the glass of the two large sliding doors which took up nearly the whole side wall of my three and a half walled living room. "Oh, no," I quickly refused. "You can't go back out there in this kind of weather...Not even Jason is that stupid. Like I said before, I was probably just imagining it, it's ok."
Jamie shrugged. "So I won't go outside. I'll just look around through the windows if it'll make you feel better."
"You don't have to..."
"He shrugged again, got up, and ambled off in the direction of my room.
I sighed and shook my head, not sure what exactly I should be thinking or doing at the moment. All of today's events had left me completely drained, both emotionally and physically. I was so tired, my brain just refused to work. It was all I could do to pull myself off the floor and onto the couch where I flopped down wearlilly and stared off into space, not really thinking about anything.
*Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep BeepBeep*
Recognizing the tune of "mOBSCENE" by Marilyn Manson, I looked up and glanced around. Jamie's cell phone was ringing, the blue "incoming call" light flashing on and off. Marilyn Manson? When did he change his ring tone again? Hadn't it just been Green Day before? Too lazy to ponder it anymore, I shrugged dismissively. "Hey, Jamie, your cell's ringing!" I yelled at him. No answer. Suddenly curious, I decided it wouldn't hurt to take a peak at who had called. I mean, if it was an emergency from someone on the EMT squad, she should know about it right away, shouldn't he? I reached over and picked the black phone up. Though whover had been trying to reach him had hung up a lon gitme ago, the light was still flashing, indicating that the person had left a message. Flipping open the top, I read the LCD:
Voicemail: 0 Text Messages: 1
Oh. So "mOBSCENE" was his incoming text message ringer. That made sense. I pressed Ok and checked to see who had sent it. It was some strange cell phone number that I didn't recognize. I pressed Ok again and opened the message.
"Jamie, out little plan was going perfectly. Why did you ruin it?"
My breath caught in my throat. Who had sent this to him? Plan? What plan? Who was 453-4155? It couldn't be Jason, could it? No, no, of course not. Why would Jason have Jamie's cell phone number? What on earth would they plan together? It wasn't like they were friends or anything. They hated eachother. My mind drifted back to the day's previous events. Jamie and Jason had always been at eachother's throats. Pure enemies...but it all could have been a ploy, an act...Were Jamie and Jason working together? Was everyone in a conspiracy against me to rid me of not only my virginity, but also my dignity, my self-respect? My head was swimming trying to figure this all out! What was going on?! I was so confused! Was Jamie really against me?
I looked behind me at the empty hallway where Jamie had disappeared to. What was he doing? Oh well, who cares. He was gone, busy, leaving me witht he perfect chance to escape. I had to leave, had to get out of here. There was no one I could trust anymore.
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* A/N: Sixth chapter completed ^-^ Once again, I'm very sorry about the delay ^^; Reading over this again, I realize it sounds a lot like the movie Scream ^^; I must have been subconciously thinking about it while writing it...anyway, please R/R, it's greatly appreciated :)