OH MY GOSH I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING THIS SOONER!
A lot of things have been going on and I am truly sorry.
This is the last chapter. :( I'm very sad that this is so. I am in the middle of writing another one and maybe that will be up here soon.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH, to all my fabulous reviewers! You have stuck with my story even through my sporadic updates!
You have certainly made this story happen. :D
And to all those from the mcbc KRC I am sorry I havent been on in like months and i know i said i was coming back but really, this time im pretty sure i mean it. i hope you can forgive me :D miss you guys!
with love, Catie
ENJOY!
Later that night, the feds finally came back. I rushed to the door of our room and threw it open, hoping desperately for some good news.
I spotted Dr. Krantz walking up the stairs. "Dr. Krantz! Did you catch them?" I asked hopefully.
Either, he didn't hear me—which I don't think is the case, because I was talking rather loudly—or he was ignoring me, because he just started talking like he didn't hear. "Jessica! Oh my, are you alright?" He took my shoulders and started to look at me up and down. He even started opening my eyelids with his fingers to look if I had a concussion.
"Jeez, doc! I'm fine, okay? Now, did you catch them or what?" I said, kind of rudely, but I wanted to get my question through to him. It seemed to have worked, because he looked taken aback. But, still, he went on like I hadn't said a word! "Any broken bones? What hurts?" He asked. When his arm touched my side while trying to turn me around, I winced, and he seemed to take this as an answer to his question. "Your ribs hurt? We should get that checked out." Behind me, I heard Rob say, sarcastically, "Thank you!" Pfft, men.
At that point, I was getting really fed up with Krantz, so I stormed past him and went in search for Jill.
"Mastriani, where are you going?" Rob asked me, once I realized he was following me. "To get information," I answered shortly.
I found Jill sitting at a desk with her head in her hands. "Jill? What's wrong?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
She looked up kind of surprised and said, "Oh, Jess. Hi. Oh, um, nothings wrong. Anything you need? Are you alright?"
Okay, this is getting strange. Why do they have to keep asking if I'm alright? It's getting on my nerves. And why are they all acting really odd around me? I mean, they are way more protective than usual.
"Um, yeah. I wanted to know if you caught those jerks," I hesitantly asked.
"Oh. Um…well, I really don't want to lie to you, Jess." Okay this was getting really weird. What happened to cool and composed Jill? Now she's all "umm"s. I just nodded. "We…didn't catch them. We got fairly close, but they just…slipped through our fingers."
I couldn't believe my ears. They were still out there. I'm sure my mouth was halfway to the floor—but I was just so stunned. I couldn't move.
I felt someone's hands on my waist and I flinched and jumped back. It was just Rob. Of course it was just Rob, Jess! Who else would it be? I shuddered because I really didn't want to think about that. At least, not right now.
"It's alright, Mastriani. Come here." He held out his arms and I stepped into them. Holding me close, Rob led me to our room and closed the door.
Once we were there, I gave into him. I looked up into his slate-colored eyes and said, "What are we going to do?"
Rob cupped my face with his hands and looked down at me tenderly. He said, "I don't know yet. But I do know what we are not going to do. We are not going to go find them ourselves. Capishe?" (A/N: anyone know how to spell "capishe"?)
A thousand things were running through my mind when he said that. I didn't know which emotion to grab onto, either. I felt angry at him because I really wanted to go after them and just have his nightmare stop—and he knew it. But I also felt helpless. I really hate feeling helpless. I'm tough though—I can get through this. We can get through this.
I took a deep breath—like Mr. Goodhart is always telling me to do—and rounded up every ounce of courage and self-restraint I had left and said, "Alright. No going after them."
A huge smile spread across Rob's face and he leaned down and kissed me. And I, of course, kissed him back.
Somehow, we made it onto the bed. Well, I wasn't complaining or anything, but I don't remember moving across the room to get there…
As Rob was planting kisses on my neck, a knock came on our door. I immediately sat bolt upright. Rob kissed me again and opened the door—hesitantly, might I add.
I heard him say a quick Thanks, to whoever was at the door, and then he came back over to where I was sitting on the bed—holding two bags of McDonald's.
I didn't realize, until the comforting aroma of those killer fries filled the room, how hungry I was. I smiled as he handed me my burger.
Remember when I mentioned how Rob and I never talk? Well, we finally did. Talk, I mean. About everything under the sun. Okay, not quite everything. Some things were off limits. We mostly talked about motorcycles and stuff. I told him about the Harley my dad said he'd buy for me if I wore the dresses my mother made. He found that funny, for some reason I cannot fathom. Maybe it was the thought of me in the dresses my mother made...
He told me how he worked at his uncle's garage since he like 14 and about the Harley he's working on in the barn.
Finally, we ran out of things to talk about, and fell asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, Rob was still sleeping. He looks nice sleeping…with his dark hair spread out on the pillow…
I, very quietly so I didn't wake him, took a shower and got dressed. Outside our door was a bag of donuts and orange juice and stuff. It was from Dr. K. I took it inside and put it down on the desk. Rob was still sleeping. I wasn't sure if I should wake him up or not, so I just took out the one of the donuts. I had it halfway to my mouth when someone's hands came around my waist.
I think I actually squealed a little and spun around. My nose was practically touching Rob's chest. "Rob! What are you trying to do! Scare me half to death!" He smiled and as he opened his mouth to say something, I stuffed the donut in there. He laughed and I ducked out of his arms.
When he finished the donut, he went right to the orange juice. He chugged half the thing and I realized I had forgotten how disgusting boys can be when they eat. But, I just laughed it off and started on my own orange juice.
Yet another knock ruined our good time and it was Dr. K. "Ahh, you found the donuts! Are they good?" I nodded yes, because my mouth was full. "That's good. Mr. Wilkins, may I speak with you a moment?" He wants to talk to Rob? Why would he want to talk to Rob? I mean, I have nothing against him doing that, but it's kind of weird, isn't it?
Rob just said, "Sure," and followed him out.
I was cleaning up the mess that Rob and I left on the desk when the phone rang. I must have jumped two feet in the air, it startled me so much. Who knew there was a phone in here? I sure didn't. So, I looked around, like someone else was going to answer it or something, and then picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey Jess? It's Billy. Someone called for ya; said it was your brother. Should I transfer the call?" Whoa. Who knew that this gas station had such a high-tech phone service?
"Um, my brother? Yeah, yeah, sure." Was it Doug? Oh, I hope it wasn't Doug! I don't think I'd be able to handle it if it was Doug.
"Jess Mastriani?" Okay, not Doug and not Mike…
"Maybe, who's asking?" I said in my toughest voice, even though I was shaking in my sneakers.
"You're old friend, Jacob. Now, listen here, girlie—" Have I mentioned that I don't like to be called 'girlie'? I think so.
"—In ten minutes, I want you to walk out of the gas station—alone—and walk into the woods. Do not tell anyone that you are doing this. If you don't do this, I will set off the bomb in your parent's house."
Whoa. Way to make a girl feel good, eh?
"Do it. Now!" And then the line went dead.
I was standing there, just staring at the phone, unable to move. What do I do? I don't want to go out there! But I'm not going to let that guy set a bomb in my parent's house either! I should tell someone, shouldn't I? How would he know if I told someone or not? Should I tell Rob? He would freak. No, I'll just go tell Krantz.
Oh crap, I'm crying again! My God, this really has to stop.
I was turning around to go talk to Dr. K and I bumped into Rob. Damn, I didn't want to run into him now! Any other time, I would be ecstatic to be this close to his chest, but not now!
"Jess? What's wrong?"
Oh, nothing, darling, just someone is threatening the life of my parents and I have—lemme look at my watch—7 minutes to dash out into the woods and save them.
"Nothing. Everything's dandy. I swear." Ha! Sure, Jess, you keep telling yourself that. Jeez, why am I all of a sudden so cynical? Okay, just make a mad dash out of the room and go find Dr. K, and then do whatever he says to do! Now, GO!
Sure. Like that was going to be as easy as I thought. Not when your boyfriend is ROB and he won't even let you get OUT OF THE ROOM without an explanation.
"No, Jess! I can see it in your eyes! Everything is not alright! Tell me!" Rob demanded. Who does he think he is? Oh right, he's my boyfriend. Duh.
"Dude, get out of my way now, or do I have to hurt you?" Oh right, like that was going to work. This is Rob! He's about a foot taller than you and way stronger! And I'm threatening him?
I could see the corners of his mouth twitching. He wanted to smile. How could he smile in a time like this! Oh wait, he just thinks I'm acting like a looney case, no wonder he's smiling!
"What are you going to do? Punch me?" Now remember people: I had just received a very hostile phone call and my mind has closed off the section marked 'Common Sense.' Which would explain my actions a second later. I punched him.
Well, okay. I tried to punch him. But he caught my fist and said, in a rather scary voice, "What is going on, Jess?" Well aren't I a lucky girl? Two threatening voices in one day. Yay for me!
"God, Rob! I don't have time! Just let me go! I have to go find Krantz!" He got this look on his face—I can't really describe it, was it concern? Love? Or was he thinking that I'm crazy?—and said, "Why don't you have time?"
I sighed heavily and he loosened his grip on my wrists. I took this as an opportunity to shove him—not hard, people, I really don't want to hurt him, I want to hurt Jacob, or whoever he hired to kill me—and ran out the door. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that I had four minutes. FOUR MINUTES TILL MY HOUSE GOES KABOOM!
With no time to find Dr. K, I ran outside and sprinted into the woods.
I kept running deeper and deeper into the woods and there was no sign of anyone. No one. What the hell was this? Then I realized that either (a) they are planning on kidnapping me or (b) they are planning to kill me. I'm thinking the latter one. Mostly because, just as I stopped, someone came out from the tree, and guess what they had in their hand? Yeah, you guessed it. A gun.
Okay, think Jess think. I need a brain blast, like the ones Jimmy Neutron gets. Whoa, I think I've been watching way too much daytime TV. Okay, there's got to be someway I can get this gun out of his hand—and my face. Just as I was about to kick his hand he said, "Well, hello there, girlie. Scream all you want. As soon as you do, I tell my buddy here through the walkie-talkie to set the bomb off. And you know what that means for your parents, dontcha?"
Okay, yeah. Not screaming now, buckaroo. As long as I get that walkie-talkie out of his hands, he can't tell the dude on the other end to blow up my house, so I'll kick that hand instead. I mean, the guy was just asking for it too! He was standing there, with his left hand out (the one with the walkie-talkie) in the open. So, I kicked him right in the wrist.
This caused him to scream in pain and drop the walkie-talkie. I then kicked the walkie-talkie to the right of us, hoping that there weren't some other guys there, waiting for just that sort of thing to happen. But, if there were guys there, wouldn't they come out once they heard their 'teammate' screaming?
I was just about to kick the other hand (the one with the gun) when it went off. The gun, I mean. Then it went off again. I was so shocked—that sound is LOUD, okay? You would do the same thing, especially if your foot was halfway in the air—that I fell backwards. I shut my eyes too, waiting for the immense pain I was sure would come. But…it never came.
I slowly opened one of my eyes and saw that the guy-with-gun was kneeling on the ground and someone was—cuffing him? What the hell is going on here? I closed my eye again and tried to think.
I was being shaken. Would whoever is doing that knock it off? I'm trying to figure out how this all happened! Annoyed, I opened my eyes and there was Rob. His face was pale and he looked really worried. More worried than I've ever seen him, actually.
"Jess! Are you alright? Did it hit you?" What in the world is he talking about?
"Did what hit me?" He looked at me like I was crazy. But also like he didn't want to tell me. He changed his position and now was sitting in Indian Style instead of kneeling. He put me into his lap—carefully; I guess he still wasn't sure if I got hit with whatever he was talking about.
"Jess. He shot his gun. Did it hit you?" Oh, that's what he was talking about!
"No, I don't think it did. Wait, shouldn't it have? I mean, he shot it twice, and it was aimed for me…" I trailed off because Rob was shaking his head. "What?" I asked, irritable.
"No. He only shot it once. Wait," he said when I opened my mouth to protest. "Listen. He only shot it once. I shot it the other time." Oh. Wait. What! Rob shot a GUN!
"Whoa! You, what? Where'd you get a gun! Did you hit him? And how'd you know I was out here?" My mind was going a mile a minute here, and you know what he did? He laughed. Yeah, that's right. He laughed!
"Are you sure you're alright?" He said, still laughing.
"Yeah, my butt hurts a little, but I'm fine. Now, answer me please!" Why won't he answer me?
"Come on," he said, hauling me to my feet. "I'll tell you on the way back home."
"We're going home? Like, home, home?" He seemed to find that funny too. What did he get laughing gas or something?
"Yeah, Mastriani. Home, home."
We were sitting in Allan and Jill's car on the way home and I started asking Rob the questions all over again. "Rob. Answer me please. What happened!"
"Jeez, Mastriani. I'll tell ya. After you ran off," he told me earlier that he's going to forget that the me-shoving-him thing never happened, "I saw you go towards the woods through the window. So, I, uh, took Special Agent Johnson's gun and followed you." That made me crack up. Seriously. I cannot believe that Rob would go anywhere near Allan again, let alone his gun, after what happened last summer!
"How did you manage that? I mean, don't you guys like, keep those things strapped to you or something?" I asked. Hey, I was curious.
"Yeah, but he had another one. It was just lying on the desk. So, I saw and I took it, and well, he followed me. And, well, I saw him and I shot just above his shoulder—it ended up hitting the tree—just as he shot at you. It was actually a good thing you fell."
"Oh ha ha ha. Very funny. Thank you." I said, with a smile. Then I kissed him.
We were on our way home giggling and kissing, and a very grossed out Allan in the front seat.
Everything turned out just right.
THE END.