An hour later, everyone was lounging on front deck in their bathing suits basking in the glow of the sun, which was extra warm for that time of year. Except for Jed, that is. He was sitting alone on the smaller deck in the rear of the yaht. He needed some time to think about his outrageous revelation. They had all been talking about Lyndon B. Johnson and his recent activities. It was a heated conversation, but they all found ways to laugh about it.
"Hey!" Amanda exclaimed out of nowhere, sitting upright. "Where did Jed get to?"
"Uh, I think I saw him go to the back deck," Ron answered.
"I think I'll go check on him," Amanda said.
"He's not five, Amanda," Abbey said, taking a sip from her martini glass.
"I'll go," Leo volunteered. "I bet I know what's keeping him."
"Bible study?" Ron questioned, sarcastically.
"Ron," Abbey said, as if she were about to scold him, but then she just laughed.
Leo got up and left his friends to go check on Jed.
"Hey."
"Oh, hey, Leo."
"What are you doing back here? The party's up there."
"I was just thinking," Jed answered, pensively.
"About?"
"My future."
"That's pretty deep thinking for a carefree vacation, Jed."
"It just occurred to me."
"What did?" Leo asked.
"That I might not have thought everything through."
"Thought what through?"
"The priesthood," Jed answered.
"Wait a second, whoa. You're reconsidering all of this?"
"Well, not reconsidering it…just thinking about it."
"I thought you were completely adament," Leo argued.
"I am. Was. Am. I don't know. That's why I'm over here thinking."
"What do you think about Abbey?"
"Whoa. Where did that come from?"
"Answer the question," Leo demanded.
"She's nice. Very nice," Jed answered.
"That's it?"
"I don't really know her, Leo. In fact, I barely just met her. My gosh, why is everyone asking me about her? We exchanged a few words, right in front of all of you. She has a serious boyfriend, I'm joining the church. What is so fascinating to everyone?"
"If it's not so fascinating, why are you getting so defensive?"
"Because this is stupid! We didn't do anything and everyone's getting on my case."
"Don't pretend you didn't feel something, Jed. The rest of us did and we were only bystanders."
"Ok, so I felt something! We're obviously meant to be friends," Jed conceded.
Leo just looked at him incredulously.
"Jed, you're kidding yourself. If you don't think that…"
Suddenly, Abbey appeared. Like the rest of them, she was wearing her bathing suit and also a wrap. She had her sunglasses on, but pulled them up to rest on the top of her head and hold her dark hair back when she arrived. Jed was speechless at the sight of her. Not only did she take him (both of them actually) completely by surprise with her presence, her appearance wasn't exactly of average quality either.
"Hi," she said, smiling broadly.
"Hey, Abbey," Leo said casually. Jed said nothing. He was reduced to staring, just as he had when they'd first been introduced. "Jed."
"What? Oh. Hi, Abbey," Jed greeted her.
"I, um, just came to make sure everything was all right."
"Everything's fine, Abbey, thanks," Leo answered.
She turned to walk away, then turned back around and smiled sheepishly.
"Truth is, they're boring me to tears back there," she admitted.
"Talking about what?" Leo asked.
"The war. They're war mongors, the lot of them. I can't stand it."
Leo hopped up.
"War talk! Can't miss this." With that, Leo was gone. He was always a sucker for the military and found everything about war incredibly exchilarating.
Abbey and Jed laughed, looked awkwardly at each other, and then Abbey sat down beside him.
"I guess I'm just an extremely liberal pacifist, but I can't even be around war discussions," she told him.
Jed nodded.
"What about you? Do you enjoy a good war as much as the next man?"
"Um, well, no, actually. I'm a pacifist too."
"Well, thank God. Goodness, thank goodness. I gotta stop doing that."
Jed laughed.
"It's ok, you don't have to do that," he said, although he was flattered that she was so considerate of his situation.
"I have to. I feel weird. But hey, nice to see there's another male pacifist in America besides Bob Dylan."
"He's a hard act to follow though," Jed answered.
"That he is. And no one knows better than me."
He looked at her quizzically, probing her to clarify her previous statement.
"You're going to laugh," she warned him.
"Try me."
"You're going to hate me."
"Never."
"You're going to want to jump ship."
"What, and let Bob Dylan run the Male Pacifist Society of America all by himself?"
"Well, ok, but you can't tell anyone. No one," she ordered.
"No one. Not even Ron?"
"No one," Abbey repeated.
"Ok, ok," he conceded, laughing.
Abbey took a deep breath and braced herself.
"I used to be a Bob Dylan groupy."
His jaw dropped. There was nothing she could have said that could have shocked him more.
"See? You hate me."
He shook his head, still unable to speak.
"You want to jump ship."
He started to shake his head, then nodded. They both laughed.
"I told you you'd laugh."
"You're laughing too!"
"I'm allowed to laugh. It's my lurid past after all," she protested.
"This is true. I can't believe you were a groupy."
"It wasn't for long. A few months maybe. Not even."
"And Ron doesn't know?"
"No! And don't you even think about telling him."
"Oook, I won't. I just…wow, can't believe it."
"Ron would have a coronary," Abbey said.
"Heck, I almost had a coronary and I only just met you!"
"I was young and impressionable," Abbey said, wistfully.
"You're still young and impressionable."
"That's what they say."
There was a short silence as they looked at each other, until Abbey spoke again.
"Ya know, it's really remarkable."
"What is?"
"That we're able to talk and have a conversation so easily," she explained.
Jed nodded in agreement.
"It took Ron weeks before he could put together a coherent sentence around me."
Jed laughed.
"You mean he can now? Because judging from what I saw…"
"Hey, come on. Ron's a good guy, for all intents and purposes. And he loves me. That's what he says at least."
"…and Brutus is an honorable man," Jed noted, referencing the irony of the play Julius Caesar.
"I know, I know, but really. He does. I think so."
"Well, I hope for your sake that he does."
"Yeah," Abbey said quietly, looking down. "Well, I better get back."
"Don't go. Please."
She was surprised. Pleasantly surprised.
"All right."
"I…I want to talk to you."
"You do!"
"Of course I do," Jed answered, matter-of-factly.
"Wow. No one's ever said anything so awkward and corny to me before. Thank you." She grinned.
"Well, I just…"
"You don't have to explain. I was just kidding."
"How did you get so good with words?" He asked.
"Practice. I talk a lot. In case you haven't guessed that already."
"I like hearing you talk."
"Again with the corny."
"It's just that you're interesting when you're going on…"
She held her hand up in front of him and he fell silent.
"Maybe not so much for you with the talking."
They locked eyes for a moment, then Abbey leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. When she moved back into her original position, she smiled as if she'd just accomplished something major. He was stunned. And shocked. He wanted more, and he hated himself for feeling that way.
"So," she said, cheerfully. "What's your position on nuclear warfare?"
"Abbey, I can't talk to you about nuclear warfare after…"
"Come on, Jed. Nuclear warfare. Let's have a crossfire. Right now."
"You're crazy, you know that?"
"Yes, I do. Now. How do you feel about…"
"Stop, stop, hold on. Why are you changing the subject?" He asked, fervently.
"Because I don't know why I did that," she answered, quickly, not looking at him. "Because I'm embarassed and that's the way I handle humiliation. I move on, I pretend it didn't happen, I change the subject.So can we please just…"
She was cut off again.
"Why are you embarassed?"
"Because I kissed you."
"Hardly. You kisssed me on the cheek."
"It doesn't matter. I have a boyfriend. And you're Pope Bartlet."
"What?"
"Nothing, forget I said that. Damn you, Ron."
"Damn him for what?" Jed questioned, determined to get as much out of her as possible.
"Damn him for being my boyfriend and damn him for calling you Pope Bartlet and making it stick in my mind!" She exclaimed. "And oh my God, I just said damn in front of a man of the bible three times. Four now."
"It's ok, Abbey…"
"And I just took the Lord's name in vain while trying to apologize for saying damn. Oh God. I did it again!"
"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down. It's ok," Jed said, reassuringly.
"What's ok?"
"It's ok that you took the Lord's name in vain, it's ok that you said damn, and it's ok that you kissed me."
"It is?" She asked, timidly.
"Yes. It is."
"Well, what do we do now?"
"I don't know the answer to that one."
"Ok…"
"You're the one who made the first move, you tell me," Jed said.
"I don't know! This is crazy."
"You're crazy."
"You are!"
"We're really getting somewhere now," he said.
She laughed reluctantly, a whine in her voice.
"Ok, let's just forget this even happened," Abbey suggested.
"You know that's not gonna work."
"I think we're making this a bigger deal than it is."
"Maybe we are. But that doesn't change the fact that both we're nervous wrecks right now," Jed pointed out.
"Right. Well. Let's just go back to to the front deck and continue on with our lives.It's not like we did anything wrong. We're just being dramatic."
"You're right. Come on."
TBC.