Chapter 6:
Jeff stretched as he woke up slowly to Amy poking him in the shoulder. "What?" he whined.
"We're getting ready to land," she told him.
"Oh, okay," he said, then realized there was an unaccustomed weight on his shoulder, and he twisted his head to see Jean. He thought of all that she'd had to go through in the past year, and swore to himself that it would never happen again. Come hell or high water, he was going to be there to protect her if any man tried to raise a hand against her ever again. "Hey sweetie," he said softly as he shook her shoulder. "We're getting ready to land," he told her as she began to wake up.
"Alright," she said as she turned her CD player off and put everything into her backpack, and shoved it under the seat in preparation for landing. She sat quietly in her seat while she waited for the plane to land in Atlanta where she would begin a whole new life away from that asshole her mother had married. As her thoughts took her further and further back into the memories she had tried to block, she abruptly shook herself out of it and leaned over to Jeff and hugged him tightly.
Caught off guard Jeff jumped at the first contact, but once he realized what was going on, he wrapped his arms around Jean's shoulders and hugged her back. "Not that I'm complaining here because I'm your favorite cousin and all, but you would you mind explaining exactly what that was for?"
"Thank you," Jean said simply as she turned to hug Amy. "I honestly don't know where I'd be right now if you guys hadn't come to my graduation."
Amy hugged Jean tightly. "We're here for you no matter what hun."
"Exactly," Jeff agreed as he hugged Jean from the other side and sandwiched her between himself and Amy. "I love you cuz and so does Matt, and there's no way that we would leave you in a situation like that if there was anything that we could do about it."
"I know and I love you for it," Jean said, smiling up at him. "However, we're getting ready to land now so we should probably save this until we're off the plane."
Amy shook her head and laughed. "Always the realist, aren't we?"
Jean laughed. "Yeah, I guess." After that, she fell silent as she was deep in thought again. *Always the realist? Yeah, but only because I learned that it hurts too much to dream because they always come crashing down at your feet. Dreams are for people who've never been hurt. The last two times that I've let myself dream...well, to say that they both blew up in my face would be putting it mildly. One of those was Frank's marriage to my mom, and we all know how well that one turned out. But Jeremy – I just really thought he was different from all the other guys I knew. I loved him, but all I ever got from him was a broken heart.
~Flashback~
"Why Jeremy? Just answer me this one question. Why did you cheat on me, especially with Marissa Pendleton of all people?" I felt my heart breaking as I stared at Jeremy Wilson, my boyfriend of a year and a half. I was trying so hard to hold back the tears, but I knew that I wouldn't last much longer.
Jeremy looked at me and laughed. "Do you honestly want to know?"
"Yes!" I cried as I looked at him sadly.
"Because Marissa is everything that you AREN'T. She's hot, she's smart, and my parents will actually like her," Jeremy said cruelly, looking down his nose at Jean. "Her family is at the same economic level as us, so I'll never have to worry that she's only dating me for my money."
"Oh my God, Jeremy. You KNOW that I'm not dating you for your money. I've never asked you to pay for anything for me, and you know it. Hell, most of the time I paid for myself because I didn't want you to waste your money on me," I said as I broke down into tears. I sank down onto the steps to my front porch and buried my face in my hands as I tried to control my tears.
"Jean," Jeremy said guiltily as he took a step towards me and tried to touch my shoulder, realizing that he had made a mistake.
"NO!" I yelled at him, as I jumped to my feet, and looked at him through the tears streaming down my face. "Just....just go away Jeremy. I don't ever want to see you again," I sobbed as I turned and stumbled up my steps to my front door.
"Jean," he tried again. "I still love you."
"Well that's great," I said, turning around to look at him once last time. "You just broke my heart, and then you expect me to take you back when you say that you love me as if nothing was wrong? Things just don't work that way Jeremy. You made your choice between me and Marissa. Even though I do still love you....I don't want to be with you. It's over between us," I choked out as I looked at the boy I loved one last time before opening my front door and locking it.
"Jean!" he yelled as he knocked on my front door. "Honey, we can work this out! You know that we can! Marissa was a mistake! I'm sorry!"
I looked at the door, and ignored him as I walked down the hallway towards my room and turned Linkin Park on as loud as I could. I took my phone off the hook, and turned my cell phone off so that he would have no way to get ahold of me, and then curled up on my bed with a teddy bear that my father had bought me before he died and cried myself to sleep.
~End Flashback~
Jean was suddenly jarred out of her memories as the plane bounced when it landed on the runway.
"You okay kiddo?" Jeff asked, noticing her sudden jump.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something and I zoned out for a bit," Jean explained.
"Okay," Jeff said, accepting her answer at face value, not wanting to press her for information after the last couple of days. "Let's go," he said as they were finally allowed to exit the plane. "We'll meet Matt at the gate."
"Okay," Jean said as she and Amy followed Jeff. "Hey cuz," Jean said when they reached Matt and she gave him a big hug.
"Thanks sweetie," Matt said, although he was obviously confused.
"Thanks," Jean said.
"Don't worry about it hun," Matt said as he picked her up and spun her around in a circle. "Now let's go get the luggage and head for a hotel because I'm starving and exhausted. I spent the entire flight getting poked in the side by a four-year-old," he whined.
"Aww, my poor baby," Amy murmured as she went over to rub Matt's shoulders. "I'll just have to make it up to you tonight."
"WHOA! Too much information!" Jeff exclaimed, covering his ears. "So don't need to know that!"
Amy flushed red as she remembered that Jeff and Jean were still there. "Oops," she said.
Jean laughed and rolled her eyes. "I don't care what y'all do – just don't tell me about it, and we'll all be great, k?"
"K," Amy agreed, laughing as she led the way to the baggage claim area where they stood around waiting for fifteen minutes before luggage finally began to appear on the carousel, at which point Matt left to go rent a car, and then for another twenty before they finally had all of everyone's luggage.
"Okay, I got us a SUV for all this luggage," Matt joked, winking at Jean.
"Hey now!" she pouted. "You have just as much stuff here as I do!"
"So? I'm the driver and we get special privileges," Matt boasted.
"Oh whatever," Amy said rolling here eyes. "Special privileges my ass. That's just code speak for Matt couldn't decide what to bring so he brought everything."
"Hey!" Matt protested. "This is so not fair that you know me that well."
"I know," Amy smiled gleefully as she leaned over to kiss her boyfriend. "You'll get over it."
"I know," Matt pouted as they walked over to the black Explorer that Matt had rented and loaded up the luggage.
"God, I can't wait to get to bed," Jean said as she laid down and put her head on Jeff's lap in the back seat.
"We'll be there soon," Jeff said as he patted Jean's head.
"Good," she said as she started to doze off again.
"Wow, she's really tired," Matt whispered to Amy as they parked at the hotel. "I think Jeff might have to carry her into the hotel."
"No, I'm awake," Jean said as she sat up and stretched.
"That works," Amy laughed. "Alright, everyone grab their own luggage," Amy paused and shot a look at Matt, "and carry it up to the room."
"What?!" Matt protested the look. "I always carry my own luggage."
"Oh, whatever!" Amy and Jeff said in unison rolling their eyes. "Into the hotel maybe, but we always get stuck with it at airports!"
"Oops," Matt said, as he realized they were right. "My bad," he apologized.
"No kidding your bad," Jeff rolled his eyes. "Anyway, go check us in so that we can put Princess to sleep."
"What'd you call me?" Jean asked, tilting her head.
"Princess," Jeff repeated. "Why?"
"I think I just found my ring name!" Jean said happily.
"I dunno if they'll let you have that though – Stephanie gets referred to as the Billion Dollar Princess a lot. You'll have to ask Vince about it," Matt said.
"Oh," Jean said thoughtfully. "I'll see what I can do."
Amy laughed. "Oh lord. I actually feel sorry for Vince in this one," she said as she returned with the hotel keys. "We're on the fifth floor, let's go."
Everyone walked over towards the elevator and made their way up to their suite where they promptly dropped their luggage in a pile as soon as they walked in the door. Jean headed straight for one of the double beds in the main room and laid down to sleep without even changing her clothes, and Matt and Amy headed for the king-sized bed in the other room.
"What the heck," Jeff mumbled. "I love how I get ditched within thirty seconds of getting to the room. Jeez, I can tell I'm loved." He turned the TV on and muted it with the closed captioning on to watch until he finally was tired enough to fall asleep and laid down in the other double bed to sleep.
Jeff stretched as he woke up slowly to Amy poking him in the shoulder. "What?" he whined.
"We're getting ready to land," she told him.
"Oh, okay," he said, then realized there was an unaccustomed weight on his shoulder, and he twisted his head to see Jean. He thought of all that she'd had to go through in the past year, and swore to himself that it would never happen again. Come hell or high water, he was going to be there to protect her if any man tried to raise a hand against her ever again. "Hey sweetie," he said softly as he shook her shoulder. "We're getting ready to land," he told her as she began to wake up.
"Alright," she said as she turned her CD player off and put everything into her backpack, and shoved it under the seat in preparation for landing. She sat quietly in her seat while she waited for the plane to land in Atlanta where she would begin a whole new life away from that asshole her mother had married. As her thoughts took her further and further back into the memories she had tried to block, she abruptly shook herself out of it and leaned over to Jeff and hugged him tightly.
Caught off guard Jeff jumped at the first contact, but once he realized what was going on, he wrapped his arms around Jean's shoulders and hugged her back. "Not that I'm complaining here because I'm your favorite cousin and all, but you would you mind explaining exactly what that was for?"
"Thank you," Jean said simply as she turned to hug Amy. "I honestly don't know where I'd be right now if you guys hadn't come to my graduation."
Amy hugged Jean tightly. "We're here for you no matter what hun."
"Exactly," Jeff agreed as he hugged Jean from the other side and sandwiched her between himself and Amy. "I love you cuz and so does Matt, and there's no way that we would leave you in a situation like that if there was anything that we could do about it."
"I know and I love you for it," Jean said, smiling up at him. "However, we're getting ready to land now so we should probably save this until we're off the plane."
Amy shook her head and laughed. "Always the realist, aren't we?"
Jean laughed. "Yeah, I guess." After that, she fell silent as she was deep in thought again. *Always the realist? Yeah, but only because I learned that it hurts too much to dream because they always come crashing down at your feet. Dreams are for people who've never been hurt. The last two times that I've let myself dream...well, to say that they both blew up in my face would be putting it mildly. One of those was Frank's marriage to my mom, and we all know how well that one turned out. But Jeremy – I just really thought he was different from all the other guys I knew. I loved him, but all I ever got from him was a broken heart.
~Flashback~
"Why Jeremy? Just answer me this one question. Why did you cheat on me, especially with Marissa Pendleton of all people?" I felt my heart breaking as I stared at Jeremy Wilson, my boyfriend of a year and a half. I was trying so hard to hold back the tears, but I knew that I wouldn't last much longer.
Jeremy looked at me and laughed. "Do you honestly want to know?"
"Yes!" I cried as I looked at him sadly.
"Because Marissa is everything that you AREN'T. She's hot, she's smart, and my parents will actually like her," Jeremy said cruelly, looking down his nose at Jean. "Her family is at the same economic level as us, so I'll never have to worry that she's only dating me for my money."
"Oh my God, Jeremy. You KNOW that I'm not dating you for your money. I've never asked you to pay for anything for me, and you know it. Hell, most of the time I paid for myself because I didn't want you to waste your money on me," I said as I broke down into tears. I sank down onto the steps to my front porch and buried my face in my hands as I tried to control my tears.
"Jean," Jeremy said guiltily as he took a step towards me and tried to touch my shoulder, realizing that he had made a mistake.
"NO!" I yelled at him, as I jumped to my feet, and looked at him through the tears streaming down my face. "Just....just go away Jeremy. I don't ever want to see you again," I sobbed as I turned and stumbled up my steps to my front door.
"Jean," he tried again. "I still love you."
"Well that's great," I said, turning around to look at him once last time. "You just broke my heart, and then you expect me to take you back when you say that you love me as if nothing was wrong? Things just don't work that way Jeremy. You made your choice between me and Marissa. Even though I do still love you....I don't want to be with you. It's over between us," I choked out as I looked at the boy I loved one last time before opening my front door and locking it.
"Jean!" he yelled as he knocked on my front door. "Honey, we can work this out! You know that we can! Marissa was a mistake! I'm sorry!"
I looked at the door, and ignored him as I walked down the hallway towards my room and turned Linkin Park on as loud as I could. I took my phone off the hook, and turned my cell phone off so that he would have no way to get ahold of me, and then curled up on my bed with a teddy bear that my father had bought me before he died and cried myself to sleep.
~End Flashback~
Jean was suddenly jarred out of her memories as the plane bounced when it landed on the runway.
"You okay kiddo?" Jeff asked, noticing her sudden jump.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something and I zoned out for a bit," Jean explained.
"Okay," Jeff said, accepting her answer at face value, not wanting to press her for information after the last couple of days. "Let's go," he said as they were finally allowed to exit the plane. "We'll meet Matt at the gate."
"Okay," Jean said as she and Amy followed Jeff. "Hey cuz," Jean said when they reached Matt and she gave him a big hug.
"Thanks sweetie," Matt said, although he was obviously confused.
"Thanks," Jean said.
"Don't worry about it hun," Matt said as he picked her up and spun her around in a circle. "Now let's go get the luggage and head for a hotel because I'm starving and exhausted. I spent the entire flight getting poked in the side by a four-year-old," he whined.
"Aww, my poor baby," Amy murmured as she went over to rub Matt's shoulders. "I'll just have to make it up to you tonight."
"WHOA! Too much information!" Jeff exclaimed, covering his ears. "So don't need to know that!"
Amy flushed red as she remembered that Jeff and Jean were still there. "Oops," she said.
Jean laughed and rolled her eyes. "I don't care what y'all do – just don't tell me about it, and we'll all be great, k?"
"K," Amy agreed, laughing as she led the way to the baggage claim area where they stood around waiting for fifteen minutes before luggage finally began to appear on the carousel, at which point Matt left to go rent a car, and then for another twenty before they finally had all of everyone's luggage.
"Okay, I got us a SUV for all this luggage," Matt joked, winking at Jean.
"Hey now!" she pouted. "You have just as much stuff here as I do!"
"So? I'm the driver and we get special privileges," Matt boasted.
"Oh whatever," Amy said rolling here eyes. "Special privileges my ass. That's just code speak for Matt couldn't decide what to bring so he brought everything."
"Hey!" Matt protested. "This is so not fair that you know me that well."
"I know," Amy smiled gleefully as she leaned over to kiss her boyfriend. "You'll get over it."
"I know," Matt pouted as they walked over to the black Explorer that Matt had rented and loaded up the luggage.
"God, I can't wait to get to bed," Jean said as she laid down and put her head on Jeff's lap in the back seat.
"We'll be there soon," Jeff said as he patted Jean's head.
"Good," she said as she started to doze off again.
"Wow, she's really tired," Matt whispered to Amy as they parked at the hotel. "I think Jeff might have to carry her into the hotel."
"No, I'm awake," Jean said as she sat up and stretched.
"That works," Amy laughed. "Alright, everyone grab their own luggage," Amy paused and shot a look at Matt, "and carry it up to the room."
"What?!" Matt protested the look. "I always carry my own luggage."
"Oh, whatever!" Amy and Jeff said in unison rolling their eyes. "Into the hotel maybe, but we always get stuck with it at airports!"
"Oops," Matt said, as he realized they were right. "My bad," he apologized.
"No kidding your bad," Jeff rolled his eyes. "Anyway, go check us in so that we can put Princess to sleep."
"What'd you call me?" Jean asked, tilting her head.
"Princess," Jeff repeated. "Why?"
"I think I just found my ring name!" Jean said happily.
"I dunno if they'll let you have that though – Stephanie gets referred to as the Billion Dollar Princess a lot. You'll have to ask Vince about it," Matt said.
"Oh," Jean said thoughtfully. "I'll see what I can do."
Amy laughed. "Oh lord. I actually feel sorry for Vince in this one," she said as she returned with the hotel keys. "We're on the fifth floor, let's go."
Everyone walked over towards the elevator and made their way up to their suite where they promptly dropped their luggage in a pile as soon as they walked in the door. Jean headed straight for one of the double beds in the main room and laid down to sleep without even changing her clothes, and Matt and Amy headed for the king-sized bed in the other room.
"What the heck," Jeff mumbled. "I love how I get ditched within thirty seconds of getting to the room. Jeez, I can tell I'm loved." He turned the TV on and muted it with the closed captioning on to watch until he finally was tired enough to fall asleep and laid down in the other double bed to sleep.