Chapter 15: The second parting

"So, I guess this is it, huh?" Miles asked.

"We'll miss you, hon!" Mae Tuck added.

"Make sure to keep our secret!" Tuck said.

Jesse walked Liz out the door, and then helped her onto his Harley. "Got your helmet on right?" he asked.

"Uh-huh" Liz answered.

Jesse hopped on, and then took off.

After about an hour, the two reached the Prescott home. "I'll really miss you, you know that?" Jesse asked sincerely.

Liz nodded. "I'll miss you too, Jesse."

She didn't exactly love Jesse anymore, but she still had feelings for him.

"I'll be off now."

Liz gave Jesse a nice, long embrace, and then let go. "Goodbye, Jesse Tuck" she whispered.

Jesse got onto his Harley, turned back at Liz, waved, and then drove off.

Moments later, the front door opened, and Liz' mother grabbed her to give her a hug. "Don't you ever scare us like that ever again?"

"Sorry, Mom." Liz answered, still in her mother's arms.

Now it was her father's turn to hug. "Why did you run off, Lizzie?" he asked.

"I..."

"Oh, isn't it obvious! Didn't anyone see the Harley-Davidson!" Claire exclaimed, "She ran off to hang out with that Jesse Tuck guy!"

"Bitch!" Liz mouthed. Oh, great, now they knew she had been with Jesse.

Her father let out an exasperated sigh. "Elizabeth, you know that we did forbid you from seeing Jesse Tuck, right!"

"Yes, I know, Dad."

"Well then why in the world did you—"

"Because I'm—because I was in love with him, Dad."

Jonathan Prescott nodded at that. He knew how it was like to be in love—he was still in love with his wife, after all. But he did have to keep his authority... "Go to your room, Elizabeth. You're grounded for the rest of the summer. You can use the phone, watch TV, and use your computer and I.M. or whatever you kids do these days, but you are forbidden to go outside, understand?"

Liz nodded cooperatively. Hey, at least she was home, sweet home.

"I'm not in love with Jesse Tuck anymore." Liz blurted.

Her mother nodded. "Well, good."

Liz grimaced. How heartless could her parents be? She ran upstairs to her room, and started to cry on her pillow.

Claire walked in.

"Fuck it, Claire—why can't you let me have a little privacy!"

"Sorry." Claire muttered.

After a moment, Liz spoke up again. "Claire, you still there?"

"Yeah."

"I need someone to talk to, and that might as well be you, sis."

"Okay, shoot."

"You know how me and Jesse were in love?"
"Yeah?"

"And that we're not in love anymore?"

"Ahuh?"

"It's eating me alive, Claire. The truth is, I really think I do love him. I got mad at him for a little while, but after that wore off, I think...my strong feelings for Jesse...they all came back.

"Listen, I'm not exactly good at giving advice." Claire said. "Oh, but by the way, Charlie called."

Yup, just as she thought. Claire just had to be a bitch 24/7.

"Okay," Liz answered. "I'll call him back."

After Claire left, Liz got the phone, and called. "Hey Chuckie?"

She could hear Charlie laugh. "Hey, stranger." He greeted in a joking tone.

"So, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"I dunno, whatever you're doing, I guess."

Aw, how sweet! "Well, I'm grounded, but I can always sneak out. Where do you wanna go?"

"We can go swimming."

"Okay, swimming it is."

Liz felt a bit more cheerful now. Forget Jesse, she had Charlie. She could work with this. Besides, she had been love with Charlie before, right?

"I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yeah, I will."

"And...Let's just start over, okay?"

"Wait, you mean..."

"I want us to be more than just friends again."

"So it's like a date tomorrow?" Charlie asked, trying to make sure he had heard right.

"Yeah, it's a date. Bye!"

"Bye!"

Then she hung up. There, she was going to hang out with Charlie tomorrow. Charlie as her boyfriend again. She didn't need Jesse anymore, and she was sure to prove that with Charlie. You'd never know...