Chapter 4

"Jessica, are you awake?" I am now, I thought tiredly. Slowly I opened my eyes to see my dad standing there. He had a nervous smile on his face as he waited for me to say something.

To say my dad and I were close would be and out and out lie. Since my mom had passed form cancer in 2005, our lives had never been the same. I knew my dad loved me, and he tried, he really did. He took me to baseball games and drove me everywhere I needed to go. He told me he loved and I knew he meant. It's just that, no matter how we tried, I was never close to the nervous, frail man before me.

"Yeah, I'm awake, Dad." He smiled slightly again.

"I'm glad your okay, sweetheart." He went up and ruffled my hair and I plastered on a fake smile. I'd never liked that, but it was the closest thing my dad did to showing affection. I was about to speak more when my dad spoke again. "The boy that was here, he said to call him when you woke out. He wrote his number here." My dad fumbled with a piece of paper.

I waited for him to hand Jacob's number. I mean, it must have been Jacob; he was the only one here last night…

(Flashback)

Thunder cracked in, as it seemed to on all bad nights. Jacob hadn't left, even though I repeatedly told him I'd be fine on my own. I could tell that he was made no one else, especially a parent, hadn't come to see me. I'd explained that my dad was on a business trip and wouldn't be back for a few more hours, but he still didn't think that was any excuse for him not being here.

The thunder hit again, this time with a bolt of lighting following it. That was when I heard a small yelp. Scrunching my eyebrows together, I whispered, "Jake, are you up?"

I swore I heard relief in his voice when he answered, "Yeah, lightning and thunder have always bothered me."

"Me too; it seems like it only thunders right after something bad happens." Then, even more hesitantly, I said, "Do you want to come and sit next to me? I mean, it doesn't look like either of us is going to sleep any time soon and…" I fumbled, realizing how stupid it was to even say something like that.

"If you don't mind, Jessica, I would like to. It's just the thunder…" It's just the thunder my butt, I thought. Jacob just doesn't want to miss getting nice and cozy with a pretty girl. But it was still nice to be comforted, whatever the intentions.

Jacob sat hesitantly next to me. His skin was slightly cooled and I realized he must be freezing sitting on the window ledge without a blanket. Thankfully there was an extra blanket that I handed to Jacob, "Thanks." He muttered.

We had ended up talking most of the night. I couldn't tell you one thing we talked about, because it was just pointless, mundane things, but I think it made most of us feel better. I remembered the rain and looked out my open window to see a clear blue sky. Except of course, for the rainbow smack dap in the center of the sky.

I remember my mom saying so long ago "Bad things always happen. Most of the time, they even outnumber the good. But if you wait long enough, the rain will end. After the worst things, there is even a rainbow."

And there was the rainbow, a reminder of my mom. But I had to get back to the point. "Can I have Jacob's phone number now, Dad?"

"No, I don't think so."

Okay, I certainly wasn't expecting that. "Why not?"

My dad fumbled even more. "I just got a bad vibe from the kid. You need to stay away from him."

At this, I got even angrier. "I'm sorry, but you've hardly ever been there. What makes you think you have any control over…"

At that moment the very guy we were fighting about walked in holding a big bouquet of flowers. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll just be going…"

"No, stay; my dad was just leaving." I looked hard at my dad. The frail man looked like he wanted to protest, but he finally nodded.

"See you in a little while, Jess." Then he left.

I turned and smiled at Jacob who handed me the flowers. Finally he said, "So that's the as…"

"Jacob! I don't wan to hear you talk about my dad like that and certainly no swearing!" He looked slightly amused, but nodded.

"I take it the guy doesn't like me very much already, right." Jacob said this more as a statement.

"He'll warm up; and the flowers are beautiful by the way." They were. The bouquet was beautiful of pink and white carnations with a bright red one in the center.

"The woman selling them says the white ones mean sweet and lovely and the pink mean I'll never forget you."

I smiled even larger, not holding in my emotions. "That's so sweet! What does the red one mean?"

Jacob hesitated before saying, "I'm not sure." Then quickly changing the subject, he said, "I've got some bad news for you, Jessica."

You've got to be kidding me, I thought, but allowed Jacob to continue. "Trish is missing."

A/N: Can you guess what red Carnations mean? Don't forget to review!