A/N: OK, this is pretty much a filler chapter. But read and review anyway! :)
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Suze's POV
In the play As You Like It, imagine you are Celia. How would you react to Rosalind's falling in love at first sight with Orlando?
I tapped my pen on the paper. English Literature was driving me insane. Especially with its stupid questions about love at first sight and whatnot. I mean, considering my own love life wasn't exactly driving on the smoothest road at the moment. All those Shakespearean 'love at first sight' perfect love stories were just reminding me how badly my own romance was going.
"Why couldn't we have been saved from homework? We're not even going to school!" I said to the air. "Like I freakin' care what Celia would think if Rosalind falls in love with Orlando!"
Clearly, I was frustrated. Reason being - it had been two days since the ball and Jesse hadn't spoken a single word to me aside from the usual "Good morning, Susannah" and "Good night, Susannah."
God, had what I said at the ball scared him away that much? It hadn't been that forward, had it? Oh, but I forgot. This was Jesse we were talking about. Stupid Jesse with his stupid gentlemanly-ness.
My door burst open and Josefina hurried in. "Suze, have you seen Padre or Jesse anywhere?"
I rolled my eyes. He had to be mentioned everywhere didn't he? "Can't say I have," I grumbled.
"Oh. Well then I suppose they aren't at home. Good. Tell Madre I've gone out riding, will you?" she said. "Oh and have you by any chance seen my blue parasol anywhere?" she added brightly, not noticing my obvious annoyance.
I squinted up at her. Something was not quite right. Why was she being such a little Miss Sunshine if she was just going out riding? And why would her father's and Jesse's absence be a good thing? This was not like Josefina. She always noticed when I was not in a good mood. And she always invited me to come with her whenever she went riding.
"Josefina!" I called as she began to walk out of my doorway.
She froze. Then slowly she turned to me. "Yes, Suze?" she said in her normal cherry tones but I could detect a tremor of nervousness in it. Clearly she had noticed my use of her full name.
"You're not just going out riding, are you?" I said suspiciously.
Her eyes flitted uneasily around my room, looking at anything but me. I narrowed my eyes. Something was seriously wrong.
"And why did you want to know if Jesse and your dad were at home or not?"
Jo opened her mouth but closed it again. I waited patiently for her to answer. After a few moments of silence, I decided to help her on.
"Jo. You know you can tell me if anything is troubling you, right? Same like you told me to tell you if I was bothered about something? C'mon. Tell me what's wrong" I coaxed her.
She sighed. "I know, Suze. But the thing is, it's not really something bad. And I really can't tell you. Maybe sometime later." With that, she rushed out of the door before I could say anything.
OK, that hurt. Josefina was never so rash and short with her words. But more importantly, what was she keeping a secret?
A voice in the back of my mind unexpectedly said "Victor Lozano." I bit my lip uneasily. I remembered the big lecture Mr. de Silva had given at breakfast the morning after the ball.
"That scoundrel Victor Lozano is in town! Now before any of you girls go and fall for his charms, I am telling you that he is the biggest womanizer in the country!" he had said, wagging his finger threateningly towards everyone at the table. "I pity the woman who will have the misfortune of becoming his wife – that is, if he marries at all. Worst kind of rogue!"
I fervently wished Jo hadn't gone out to meet this Victor guy. Maybe one of her friends had announced their engagement and she was just very happy for her.
But I knew in the back of my mind, that I was clutching at the last straws. Why would a girl think it was 'good' if her dad and elder brother weren't home? The answer was obvious. She was going to meet a guy. And in Jo's case, there was only one guy I could think of.
I sighed and turned back to my literature homework. I think I knew how Celia would react to Rosalind's falling in love with Orlando at first sight.
But only if Orlando was a good guy.
Jesse's POV
I needed to find her. Susannah.
I had been ignoring her for the past two days and now I was starting to feel foolish. Obviously she was used to making comments like the one she had made at the ball. And she hadn't been suggesting much when she had said it. Why was I reacting so much?
After dinner, I went outside searching for her. I found her at the end of the garden, sitting with her back against the ancient oak tree and looking out onto the ranch. She had two pieces of string in her ears which were connected to a little box she was holding in her hand.
She looked up as I sat down on the grass beside her. "Hey," she said taking out the strings from her ears. "So you've decided that I'm not a serious plague at last, have you?" she said with a wry smile.
I smiled back softly at her beautiful moonlit face. "I never thought of you as a serious plague, querida." This time, I didn't hit myself inside for calling her that. Because the fact was, she truly was my querida. She was my dearest one.
I looked down at what she was holding in her hands. "What is that?" I asked, pointing at it.
She laughed. "It's called an i-Pod. You store music in it and you then you listen to it. Wanna try?"
I nodded. She took one of the strings and lodged its end in my ear. I caught a whiff of her flowery perfume as she leaned in. Her smell was intoxicating.
I don't know how much time passed as we sat there listening to song after song. Some of the songs were just pure noise but a few actually had some sense in them. The one I particularly liked was – Susannah said – named "Far Away" by some band called Nickelback.
As the lyrics of the song flowed over us, I was surprised by the nearness between the two of us. Our shoulders were brushing as we both leant against the same tree. I looked at her profile. She was gazing up at the stars with a thoughtful yet knowing expression.
I longed to know so much about her. How did she know me? Why had she come all these years back in time just to save me? What was her life like back in the future? And, most importantly, why was it that I felt so much love for her even though I barely even knew her? It seemed she was shrouded with mystery.
Even as these questions were running through my mind, I was admiring her bravery and strength. How this young girl managing to live here, a hundred and fifty years before her time, I didn't know. She was in a world full of people she had never known and yet she faced every situation with admirable casualness and adaptability.
All these thoughts caused a huge emotion to suddenly well inside me. And I knew why I had reacted so much to her words at the ball.
"Querida?" I said, my voice husky with emotion.
She turned to me, a new kind of light in her eyes and a hopeful smile playing on her lips. She had noticed the change in my voice.
And throwing propriety to the wind, I leaned forward and captured her lips in my own.
The kiss was soft and slow. But inside my body, every kind of wild horse were stampeding up and down. Susannah wasted no time in bringing her hands up and circling my neck with them. She began to run her slender fingers through my hair. I encircled my arms around her waist, bringing her closer to me as if to protect her from all the unknown dangers.
When we both came up for breath, she put one of her hands and her head on my chest. I buried my face in her gentle chestnut waves, taking in her intoxicating smell.
"Querida?" I asked her, playing with her hair.
"Mmhm," came her reply from where her face was buried in my chest.
"Remember when you said that I was jealous at the ball?"
"How could I forget," she said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"You were right."
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A/N: OK, so maybe it wasn't a filler after all. :)