Hey all. Just a few quick notes.
Sunshine—Haha. I know what you mean. My friend Courtney once met a girl with the same name, only spelled Quartknee. It's like, "Think their mom was a bit too hopped up on those pain medications when they named the baby?" But I personally like the "h" in Jessahca. Besides, baby Jess and Elena are named after two of my friends from MCBC (as well as several other characters in this story… find them all, win a prize!). Plus my alter-ego spells her name "Jessahca." She demanded to be part of the story, as did the other Jess. Kill two birds with one stone, you know?
Moovalous—you must have missed the sentence saying that she was Lola's aunt. That's why she was at the hospital.
Chapter Ten
Sarah and I worked for another hour or so after Jesse left. At one point, my cell phone rang.
"Hey, Beth."
"Hey Suze. Listen, are you doing something right now?" Her voice sounded weird.
"Right now, yea. What's up?"
"Listen, can you come by sometime today? I… need to tell you something," She said.
"Sure. Listen, cell phones aren't allowed in the library, so I'll talk to you later, okay?" She said goodbye, and I hung up.
After finishing the work with Sarah, I got back to the apartment. Jesse was there, studying, as usual, but when he heard me he put his books down.
He came right up to me and kissed me, lovingly. He pulled me onto the couch, and we continued to kiss, until Jesse eventually relinquished my—slightly swollen—lips.
He took my hand, and held it so that my ring was visible. "Susannah, when do you want to get married?" I thought.
"May or June. I've always wanted a late spring wedding." Jesse nodded.
"Whatever you want, Querida." We went over some preliminary wedding plans—big, or small? At the Mission, on the beach, where? Who to invite? That sort of thing. We decided on a small wedding, with Father Dominic presiding, of course.
Neither Jesse nor I had had lunch yet, even though it was nearly 2:30, so he offered to cook. As Andy was not blood family, his amazing cooking genes were not passed down to me. I wasn't terrible…but Jesse was so much better. He did like my lasagna and fettuccini alfredo, though. The joys of Italian food.
After he made some cheeseburgers (he, of course, couldn't stand factory processed American cheese slices. Typical of him, since he did grow up with all home-grown food and all. He puts blue cheese on his cheeseburger. (a/n: my parents do this.) I tried a piece once, and it wasn't bad, but still. Pass the Kraft Singles, please) we curled up on the couch together, and put in a movie…though we didn't exactly watch too much of it. We were just so glad not to be fighting anymore, and I was very glad to be graced with Jesse's amazing kisses for over an hour. It was the best kind of making out (well, at least for the middle of the afternoon). No forwardness, or need to go further than just kissing; just the two of us, together, our bodies pressed together and connected at the lips.
I loved it.
It was amazing.
Unfortunately, we heard the bells start chiming from the church down the street, and realized that it was getting late. Jesse had a lecture at 7—he still gave historic lectures, but he's gone a bit higher up than the Carmel Historical Society. Now he works at a bigger historical building, where he gets paid much more. Apparently, ever since he's started, the increase in visitors (especially women) has increased, which is no surprise to me.
He went to take a shower and get changed, while I breezed through the mail—bill, catalog, indistinct envelope, ooh, a paycheck for me! I opened it up and examined it. Not bad. Especially not when I added in all the tips I get.
I was putting it together with some other things that needed to go to the bank, when Jesse came out of the bedroom, in his shirt and tie and his hair still damp. He grabbed his jacket. "I should be done by 8:45." I leaned over and kissed him, which distracted him for another minute or so. "I'll see you later tonight," he said, breathlessly. I squeezed his hand quickly, and he was gone.
I was alone in the apartment. I wandered around aimlessly for a while, called Cee Cee to see what she was doing the next day and if she wanted to get together for lunch. She gave me some more details about her and Adam's relationship, which she didn't want to share with everyone else.
After making plans to meet up with her during my break, I got down on the couch with my books to study. I had a test tomorrow night, and since I'll be working tomorrow, tonight was the best bet at studying.
I immersed myself in my notes, until, several hours later—go Suze!—I heard the door open. I checked my watch. It was only 7:50, too early for Jesse to come home. Suddenly fear seized my brain. All I could think of was, "Aaron is off on bail." I was so terrified, I couldn't move.
Oh my God. He's here. And going to kill me. The intruder came around the corner into the living room…
And it was just Sister Ikinder. I let out a sigh.
While I was glad it wasn't someone trying to kill me, Sister Ikinder was second on the list of Who I Didn't Want to See.
"Have you eaten?" She asked. No "Hello," no, "What's the matter, you look like you've just seen a ghost?" (Ha. Ha.)
"No," I responded, just as curtly.
"Good. I would like you to make me some rice and chicken. Not fried, please." I stared at her. She has got to be kidding. Has she EVER learned houseguest manners?
However, in the interests of Jesse, I stood up wordlessly and walked into the kitchen. I found some chicken breast in the freezer, and a bag of Uncle Ben's in the pantry. I grilled the chicken on Jesse's nifty grill pan, and boiled the rice.
I placed the plate in front of her rudely, and it rattled a bit. She shot me a dirty look, but said grace and began to eat. I sat down across from her, with my own food—chicken and rice, but with some cream of mushroom soup and cheese on it (yum). We ate in an awkward silence, until she spoke.
"Are you forcing that honorable young man into premarital relations?" I choked on my rice.
"Excuse me?" I asked, agape. Who, I ask, WHO asks something like that? And at the dinner table? What ever happened to, "How was your day?" or, "Did you hear about that mudslide in Somolia?" for dinner conversation?
"You heard me. Hector" Hector! "—is a good Christian, and I don't want you to ruin his chances to go to heaven." Oh. My. God. What a bitch! In my stupefied silence that followed, I thought, Two can play at this game.
"Given what we do at night, hell will be the only place he can go." She scowled.
"You are Satan's child," she hissed. Speak for yourself, Sister. I stood up, grabbed my coat, and, without another word, I left.
……………………………………………….
Jesse's lecture was over when I got to the museum. He was hanging out after, answering questions, as usual. A few girls I knew went to my college were hanging around him. I guess they were ever so interested in the history of Northern California. Snort.
Jesse was leaning casually against his podium, and looked just so hot. I hung out in the back of the small auditorium where he gave his lectures. I leaned against the wall, crossed my arms over my chest, and watched with an amused smile on my face. After about five minutes, Jesse spotted me. His face lit up, and he waved me over. The girls talking to him looked at me with raised eyebrows, like, "Who's she?"
"Susannah, this is Jenna, Lacy, and Annie. Ladies, this is my fiancé, Susannah." Their smiles faltered.
"Hey," I said, then I turned to him. "I have to talk to you about our houseguest," I said, and he sighed.
"What now?"
"You finish up. I'll wait for you."
"Don't worry… we have to go," Jenna said, resignedly. They left, and Jesse was free to go. He quickly signed out in the office, then came back over to me. I fell into his arms, and he gave me a hug.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"She said that I was the child of Satan." He looked shocked.
"She didn't."
"She did. Because I told her that we do things that will get you sent to hell." He groaned and closed his eyes.
"You didn't."
"I did. But she totally asked for it! I mean, who asks people if they are having premarital sex? Huh? Especially not your hosts." He shook his head. He wrapped his arm around my waist, and we started walking.
"What am I going to do with you?" He asked playfully. I leaned against him and nipped his ear just the slightest bit with my teeth.
"How about what I told Sister Ikinder we do?" I whispered. "It's not nice to lie to a nun." Jesse groaned.
"Stop trying to seduce me."
"Is it working?" He shot me a look, and started tickling my side. I shrieked, and started squirming. He held on to me tighter, but continued to torture me. I finally got away, and I ran down the street, and he chased after me.
I ran around the corner, but he finally caught up to me. He held me against the wall of the apartment building we were at, and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and kept kissing him, and kissing him, and kissing him, until suddenly someone ran into Jesse, pushing him aside. They kept running around the corner, without so much as a "'scuse me."
"Jerk," I muttered. I looked around. "Hey, this is Beth's building! You know, Beth had called me earlier to ask me to stop by either today or tomorrow… she said she had something to tell me." I pulled out my cell phone, and called her number. Busy signal. That means she's home. Her building is very low security, so I opened the front door and climbed up to the second floor. 2A. Jesse was behind me, keeping his distance. I knocked on her door, but no one answered. I tried the knob, and it opened.
"Beth?" I called, wandering into the apartment. "Hey, where are you?" I heard a phone tone coming from the other room, so I walked, not even thinking about it, into her bedroom.
Did you ever wander into the pornographic section at the video store as a kid? Or stumble across the corner of the store with all the "adult" toys? You stare, and stare, but you can't figure out what you're looking at. That happened to me then.
On the bed was something strange. I tried to figure out what it was, but my brain wasn't focusing.
Only when I heard Jesse's quick gasp and felt his hands on my arms did I realize what I was looking at. Beth, sprawled on the bed wearing blue track pants and a white (and red) tank top.
With a hole in the chest.
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Review! Long ones. And I might get another chapter up on Friday :-)