AGAIN
Chapter Seven: Picnics, Pets and Pus
ReporterGal: So… is your boyfriend coming to pick you up today too?
Suzesays: Stop calling Jesse my boyfriend, we are just friends!
ReporterGal: Friends with benefits?
Suzesays: Of course not! I'm coming out of a divorce and he out of a long term relationship. We are just friends
ReporterGal: So you say.
ReporterGal: Anyway, is he picking you up? Because Adam just asked if you needed a ride…
Suzesays: He's still going on about his car?
ReporterGal: Do you have to ask?
Suzesays: Not really. And I don't need a ride. I'm meeting with David after work; he wants me to help him pick up a present for his ladylove…
ReporterGal: Love among the youngsters is so sweet.
Suzesays: Yeah…
Suzesays: BRB (my phone is ringing)
---------
Suzesays: Okay, back.
ReporterGal: Who was it?
Suzesays: Jesse.
ReporterGal: Oh… what did he want?
ReporterGal: If you're free to say…
Suzesays: He only asked me to a picnic with his friend Jerry and his girlfriend this Saturday.
ReporterGal: Oh, how sweet! A double date.
Suzesays: Is not a double date.
Saturday
"I hope this is a good idea, Jerry." Sam was saying to her boyfriend as they set up a little picnic in the beach, waiting for Suze and Jesse to show up.
"I'm sure it will, you'll get along great with Suze. She's real nice."
"I just hope she isn't like Sherry. You know I couldn't stand Sherry!"
"Yes, I know. And don't worry, Suze is nothing like Sherry. And I mean NOTHING. I think she's more Jesse's type. I never really got what Jesse saw in Sherry… save the long legs and the nice bud."
Sam glared.
"Oh, Sammie, you know you're my one and only."
Jerry looked around; Jesse wasn't usually unpunctual to meet with him and Sam. Actually, Jesse had a tendency to be annoyingly punctual… except when he had a date with Sherry… oddly enough whenever Jesse had a date with Sherry he always found tons of things to delay him. He had never been the type to enjoy dating.
And Jerry was half wondering if it would be the same with Suze. So far, Jesse acted completely different around Suze than what he used to do around Sherry. And Jerry, being the best friend he was, noticed the tenderness with which Jesse treated Suze, how he went out of his way to cross her path, how he was always thoughtful with her, how much he wanted to make her part of his life.
That, after all, was the whole point of this little picnic. Jesse had few friends. He was friendly with loads of people, but real friends were few. Jerry and Sam were Jesse's best friends – in his new life – they were practically his family. And Jesse wanted to keep people that were important to him together, getting along. That's why he had insisted that Suze meet with Sam (since she had already meet Jerry).
Back when he had been with Sherry, he had never made such effort. He did introduced Sherry to Sam, but Sam right out disapproved of her and Jesse never made more attempts for them get along. Jesse had kept them separate, as he had always done with whatever women he had dated.
If he was specifically asking Sam to meet with Suze, then Sam knew Jesse was serious, Jerry was right and she would have to pay the bet she had made with Jer. But that was okay; she loved shopping in Victoria's Secrets anyway… even more when she was using Jerry's credit card.
"Look, here they come." Jerry said, Sam looked in the same direction than Jerry and sure enough, walking down the beach towards them were Suze, Jesse, Ruffus and Fido.
They were quite a sight to be hold. Jesse had Fido's and Ruffus' leashes on his right hand, holding them back as the attempted to run for the sea – Ruffus had a serious 'I-might-look-like-a-cat-but-I'm-really-a-dog' complex, that was why Jesse had gotten him a leash just like Fido's. Jesse and Suze were holding hands; Suze was holding an ice-cream cone on her left hand and was eating it happily, pausing from time to time to share the ice-cream with Jesse.
"Oh, my gosh!" Same exclaimed under her breath. "Throw in a kid and they could be the perfect poster-family."
Jesse
"Hey!" I called out to Jerry and Samantha.
In this life their opinions – along with those of Father Dominic – are the ones I value the most. Jerry's family practically adopted me back in college when I had met them. And Samantha and her bountiful of sisters reminded me of my own. That's why I was doing this – Introducing Susannah formally to them, Samantha in particular; I was asking her opinion as I would have asked my sisters' opinion on every other girl I had fancied.
I had thought the hardest part had been asking Susannah to come along, her divorce of Slater was still very recent, and I didn't want to make her feel like I was rushing it, though we had come to a quiet agreement. Susannah hadn't dated anyone else since that date she had with her lawyer and we had started to spend all our free time together – now without putting our pets as an excuse – doing all the things couples do when in love.
Save the sex, of course.
And I was enjoying every minute of it.
Every time I dared to kiss her, taking her out to the movies or dinner. Everything.
I had fallen more deeply in love than before and what I felt now it was impossible to describe accurately. I felt all the passion and love I had felt for Susannah years before, but I also felt something else, something stronger and more brilliant… also more settled.
"Susannah, this is Samantha. Samantha, Susannah." I said, making the awkward introductions.
Samantha was quiet for a moment or two, looking at Susannah, but then she smiled and said. "She'll do."
"I beg your pardon?" Susannah said with a look of confusion on her face.
"Oh, it's nothing, really. Just me being crazy." Samantha said in a soothing voice.
"Okay." Susannah said smiling brightly.
I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding and to cover it I kneel down and tied Fido's and Ruffus' leashes to a rock nearby.
This was going well.
Suze
Sam and I started to talk right away. She was funny, though a first sight she looked a bit Kelly Prescott-ish, once she started to talk it was something else entirely.
The fist thing we agreed on was that it was annoying how Jesse insisted in calling us our full names ALL THE TIME.
"It's like, if I'm about to be hit by a car, he'll stop and call me my full name before letting me know of the car speeding my way." Sam – she told me to call her that – said.
"I know, I can totally see him 'Miss Susannah Simon, sorry to interrupt, but there is a car coming your way.'"
"Nah," Jerry said. "Jesse would probably say…" he turned to Jesse, "What's that Spanish word for 'Miss'?"
"'Señorita'?" Jesse asked.
"Yes, that one: Señorita." Jerry repeated, though it didn't quite sound like when Jesse had said it.
Nothing ever sounds quite like when Jesse says it.
We all laughed.
"So," a time later, while she and I eat fresh fruit and the guys tried to start a fire so we can cook the food Sam and Jerry had brought along. She had been telling me about her job as junior manager of this big store downtown, her dad owned it. Sam had majored in business so one day she could take over the family business, but her real passion in life was shopping… after Jerry, of course. "What do you do? For work, I mean."
"I write for this teen magazine. Gurlzone Magazine." I told her.
"Really? My sisters are, like, addicted to that magazine!" She exclaimed cheerfully. "What do you write?"
"The advice column 'Simon Says', it's funny, I get asked about everything, from boy-trouble to most flattering shoe stile for girls with fat ankles…"
"Suze Simon, of course! I've read some of your advices, they are good."
"Thanks." I said, smiling, it always feels good when you're told your work doesn't suck and that you aren't keeping your job because you're friends with the editor who happens to be the girlfriend of the owner of the magazine who also happens to be your other best friend, as you secretly suspect.
"Tell me, what's the weirdest letter you have ever gotten?"
"Um…" I said contemplatively. "I don't know… after my ex-husband nothing ever really strikes me as weird anymore. HE was a WEIRDO. And I'm telling you even when I'm kidda freakish myself."
"Aren't' we all?" She said good-naturedly. "But what do you mean? How is your ex a weirdo…"
"Lets see," I didn't mind talking about Paul anymore, he was still a bother from time to time but I was stronger now, I'm not afraid anymore and I don't care what Paul thinks of me, I don't whish him well or bad, I just don't care about him. "For starters he was Satan… and his middle name is 'Ugbert' which makes his initials spell 'PUS' (A/N lol, the Ugbert thing is Lolly's; sorry, I couldn't resist.)"
"No shit?" Sam exclaimed amused, earning a glare from Jesse.
I smiled at him and he turned back to his task of starting a fire, so far he and Jerry were failing miserably.
"But the oddest thing of all was that he had a dirty obsession with feet." I confided, and I was telling the truth too. "I mean, the guy has even more shoes than me, and he HAD TO HAVE a pedicure twice a week… And sometimes I caught him talking to his feet,"
Sam started to laugh.
"I kid you not. Paul has even named each one of his toes." I held up my hand fingers as I counted the names, "Pauline, Paulette, Pollette, Pau, Pao, Paola, Pamela, Paco, Paullina and Bob."
"Bob?" she asked, laughing so hard I could barely make out the words; she was short of rolling in the sand holding her stomach. "What possessed you to marry such FREAK?" She asked.
I saw Jesse's back tense. I guess he didn't mind me talking about Paul… but Jesse always tensed when someone around asked about why had I married Paul.
"I was young and stupid." I said. That was my standard answer for such occasions. "And he wasn't SO bad at the beginning."
"YES!!!" Jerry scream started me. "We did it!!!"
Jesse and he had finally managed to start the fire. Sam rushed to his side to start fussing over the food to be cooked; Jesse sat down in the sand next to me and said. "Sorry." I knew what he meant. He hadn't forgiven himself for what had happened five – almost six – years ago.
I leaned my head in his shoulder. Whatever answer I might give him, Jesse would just have had started to blame himself, so I kept quiet, just there, letting him know that everything was okay.
………
Later that night, Jesse was dropping me off at my apartment. Kevin, a the kid who lived with his parents in the same building that me had passed and taken Fido and Ruffus upstairs, asking if he could play with them while Jesse leaved.
"I had a really nice time." I told him, we were standing in the sidewalk, giving Kevin time to play a little. "Your friends are nice."
"Glad you liked them, querida." He said, flashing me with a smile. "I know they liked you a lot too."
He moved closer to me.
"That's nice." I said, and I wasn't sure if I meant about his friends or about his closeness.
"Do you think your neighbor could take care of the pets for a while?" He asked, and he was right there in front of me.
"I'm sure Kevin wouldn't mind."
"Good." He said, and then Jesse was kissing me.
And it wasn't one of the close-mouthed peeks on the lips that we had been giving each other the last weeks.
Oh, no.
This was one open mouthed, full on exploration.
Jesse had his hand at my nape, holding me still as he kissed me… Gosh, he hadn't kissed me like that since…
Since the night before I married Paul, the last time we had made love.
His arm went around my waist. My own arms went around his neck, hands running through his thick, dark hair.
I took in his scent… I was SO losing it, losing myself in his arms, his hold, his kiss.
Five years might have passed but I still remembered what it was like to share my bed with him. His soft kisses everywhere, the tender words of love muttered against my skin and his strong hands…
I pressed closer, molding my body to his, hoping Jesse would take the hint of what I wanted to do – I could so tell he wanted to do the same.
Everything was going just so damn fine till…
"Sorry to interrupt, Rico."
----------------
Notes:
SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY!!!!!
School is starting and, as you know, it sucks.
Damn homework.
Okay, here you have it!
Tell me what you think.
Meanwhile, the "PUS – Ugbert" thing was something Lolly – Mystique Angelique – thought off, so the credit for that his hers.
