Interlude: Who Do You Love?
"Jennifer?" I tapped lightly on the door so that I wouldn't accidentally attract Gennai's attention. I couldn't fall asleep and what Jennifer had said back at the Gazimon village had been nagging at me all night.
"Just a second." I could hear her shuffling around in the room—I guess she was making sure she was decent. A few moments later the door opened. "Oh, hey James. What do you need?" She was dressed in a silky pink gown that I guessed she had found in the drawers in the bedroom—I had found a few sets of clothes in my own room, but I hated them all. Her brown hair fell straight down like she had just gotten out of the shower. The same, reoccurring dizzy spell came back.
"I just wanted to ask you something." We both stood in the doorway and I could hear Gennai cough from his den. "Could I come in?" I whispered now, nervous that Gennai had heard us.
"Sure." Jennifer gave in pretty easily and stepped out of the way, letting me in, and quietly closing the door behind her. "What is it?" Straight to the point...
"I was just wondering what you meant earlier. You know, that you had the Crest of Love and it was a mistake." Jennifer lowered her head a bit. Her hair fell down to the sides and I couldn't see her eyes anymore.
"Oh..." She didn't say anything and the room became uncomfortably silent. "It's... it's nothing." I couldn't decide whether or not to just leave her be, or to try and force some information about her. Normally I would have been just as much of a brash jerk as Chris, but something told me not to be this time.
"Are you sure?" Jennifer nodded and I thought I saw her eyes water a little bit. The room seemed to get dimmer, like a thin, black fog had pervaded the house. "Okay." I got off her bed and walked to the door, stopping just before I opened it. "Oh, one more thing. You never did finish telling me who you loved."
"What?" She looked up, the water in her eyes seemingly drawing away instantly. I thought she was blushing a little. "Oh, I was just sort of down right then and you were being kind I guess." I felt a burning sensation all over my face. I knew I was turning a cherry red.
"Real... really?" I smiled. Jennifer's eyes grew wide.
"Oh no! I didn't mean it like that... it was just spur of the moment." I wanted to get out of the room as fast as possible. It had gone from sort of romantic in a caring sense to just being really uncomfortable.
"Alright, well, I just wanted to make sure. Good night." I opened the door and slowly stepped out.
"Good night." She said softly and I felt like melting and seeping through the floorboards right there. I closed the door behind me and snuck across the hall to my own room. I changed into a pair of really baggy gym shorts to sleep in—my jeans didn't exactly seem to fit right at the moment—and crashed.
But I didn't really get to sleep much.
I never got to sleep.