I'm sleepy, so I'll just respond to anonymous reviews in this note. Sorry about the length. Yawn.
XxXxXx_JaDeY_xXxXxX: That's... a lot of plz's. I think they beat me up. And forced me to write this. So... I guess you're welcome?
Sara-san: Hey, Sara, I guess you're finally all caught up, huh? :) Sorry about the loss of the uber-fast updates... :( But thanks!
FoggyMoon, right?: I'm back again! And thanks. :) Of course he wants to bask! Who wouldn't? I mean, really. :) Well, I tried. It's short, but it only took me ONE week! Aren't you happy? lol. OK, fav quotes responses now: -yes. Yes he is. :) -I didn't even think of that when writing it, but you know, you're right. :) -ha, that's awesome! I totally did, didn't I? :D -Wow, thanks. :) I do like doing the long dashy sentences, I'll admit. And yeah, it makes sense that he'd be easily distracted; after all, his girlfriend (who he's in denial about being head-over-heels in love with) just told him she loved him! -thanks. :) I do too. OK, then, fine. Punish me. See what I care. :P jk! Thanks. :)
Jess, on the receiving end of Krantz's pleasant greeting, reacted in a perfectly normal way that I'm sure has happened to him plenty of times before: she jumped and screamed, pretty darn loudly.
That got us several glances, but no actual acknowledgment from any of the police officers around us. Gee, thanks, guys. Glad to see you're willing to jump to the help of those in need.
Krantz himself flinched a little at the noise, but he mostly ignored it, which I was glad for. I was actually hoping that he might just ignore us completely, but of course that was never going to happen.
"Oh. Oh, Dr. Krantz. It's you. Hi." Jess said, a little breathlessly, when she realized that it really was just Krantz, not some creepy tall FBI guy who insisted on following her around and attempting to get her to admit that she had psychic powers, so that he could exploit said powers and lock her up somewhere far away from home in the process.
Hey, wait a minute…
"Hello, Jessica," Krantz said, from under the depths of his woolen hat, before looking me up and down, sort of like a lizard. You know, quickly and jerkily.
"Mr. Wilkins," he reluctantly acknowledged me with a nod. He'd started doing this ever since he showed up at my house to interrogate me about Jess one day, about a month ago, and I sat there staring blankly at him and not saying a word for thirty minutes straight. I would have kept it going longer, but my mom came into the room. "Good evening."
"Evening," I said shortly in reply, and let go of Jess's hand in favor of her arm, which gave me a much better pulling grip. "Sorry." I'm not sorry. "We were just leaving." Leave us alone, you ass.
I don't know whether or not Krantz got my 'hidden' meanings, but he didn't seem pleased, either way. Well, actually, he seemed pretty amused, laughing creakily, "Slow down. Slow down there, young man. I'd like a word with Miss Mastriani, if I may."
You may not. You may not! "Yeah?" I said, restraining myself a little. "Well, she doesn't have anything to say to you."
Jess was quick to back me up, looking nervous. "He's right," she added, "I really don't. Bye."
"I see." Krantz almost looked amused. See, his expression so rarely changes, that it's pretty hard to tell, which is why I'm thinking about converting to the belief that evil robots exist and he is one. Either that or he was in some horrible accident and his face is constructed entirely from plastic. "And I suppose it was only by coincidence that you stumbled across the crime scene."
Jess and I exchanged a surprised glance at this, suddenly realizing that for once, it was a complete coincidence. Well, fancy that. And yet we were still questioned.
Shocker.
"As a matter of fact," Jess told him, "it was. I was just passing by on my way home from Rob's."
He looked very skeptical – I could tell because his eyebrows rose about half a centimeter. That and his basic expression was skeptical. He must have been programmed/rebuilt with this job in mind. "And the fact that I overheard you tell those gentlemen over there that the victim happens to be your neighbor?"
Jess looked indignant, but still a little sick at the reminder. I felt my hand, the one not holding her arm, tighten into a fist again. Would it kill him to be just a little sensitive? Still, she rallied admirably with an insult back at him. "Hey, you're the government operative, not me. You ought to know more about this than I do. I mean, I'd feel pretty bad if a kid got killed during my watch."
Pause. No expression change.
Krantz wisely changed the subject. "Jessica," he said, "I want to show you something."
And he reached into his coat and pulled a photograph out of it, which he handed to Jess. She examined it briefly, frowning, before her eyes widened, and she glanced over to where Nate lay (covered by a trap now, thank god) really fast. "So it is gang related?" she asked, looking a bit queasy. I sympathized.
"No," Krantz said, tucking it back inside his coat and buttoning it up again. Then his skeptical look shifted into what might have been an ominous expression, as he tapped the pocket he'd just put the photo in. "This was a warning," he said importantly, then nodded at the tarp that hid Nate. "That is just the beginning."
Jess looked at him, wide-eyed. "The beginning of what?"
"That", Krantz smirked significantly, "is what we're going to find out, I'm afraid."
Then he turned around, and walked away, leaving Jess and I standing there, Jess looking like she wanted to call after him.
Can I just say: what the hell?
I mean, I'm used to his coats and his plastic face and his titles and everything, but seriously? This was just like some of the overly dramatic spy books I've read. I mean, saying that is just the beginning is, well – stupid. Just stupid. It might be accurate, for all I know, but it's still just incredibly stupid.
And let's not even mention his whole thing where he said, That, and then paused for those oh-so-necessary three seconds before continuing with, is what we're going to find out, I'm afraid. Very dramatic. I'm sure he did well in drama class in college.
But seriously, I almost pity the guy now. That was just so wanna-be Bond, it was sad. Even if it did seem to work on Jess. Which (I'm not really sure why) it did. Maybe it was something to do with him just walking off. You know, leave 'em wanting more.
Well, ridiculous as it was, I think I liked this new technique of Krantz's, simply because he did that: he walked off and left us alone.
We followed his example, getting on our assorted vehicles, and driving home – or, driving Jess home, anyway. Very slowly, this time. I think neither of us really wanted to get there and see her poor neighbor.
But get there we did, eventually, and we drove up just as Jess's neighbor was opening his door to several officers. God. I looked away, following Jess right up to her driveway, and waiting until she was pulling in before I drove away, waving goodbye to her.
Would it be wrong to say that, even with everything that was going on, I hoped that one of her family members would see me and Jess would have to tell them what was going on? Because I did.
Oh, not that I was going to march up to the door with her and kiss her goodnight right in front of them, or anything. And, you know, if I called her house and her mom answered, I wouldn't announce myself as Rob or anything. I wouldn't do that to Jess. But if her parents just so happened to see me out the window, and just happened to notice that I was saying goodbye to Jess, and then asked her about me, and she sort of had to tell them who I was, well…
I would be fine with that.
Of course, it didn't happen, and I went home after waving to Jess, to find that Gary had already left (for which I was grateful, since I hate him), and my mom had left with him for a drive and would be back in an hour or so (for which I was less grateful, since I hate Gary), thanks to a note they'd left on the kitchen table.
What this meant was that I was alone at home on Thanksgiving night, at nearly eleven o'clock, left to ponder several things. Namely:
1) Somehow me breaking up with Jess for both of our own good turned into her telling me that she was in love with me, and me responding in a very non-breaking-up (if incredibly enjoyable) way.
2) Jess's next-door neighbor was dead, apparently due to some gang thing, and we somehow accidentally got involved.
3) Krantz could laugh.
4) My mother's love life was better than my own – and thanks to me, too.
5) Jess was in love with me.
6) I was almost in love with her, too.
I helped myself to an extra piece of my mom's excellent pumpkin pie before I went to bed. I felt that I deserved it.
Oh yeah, one last note: could everyone reading this please vote on a title for Missing You in the poll on my profile? Please?
