3.06a Nine O'Clock, Just a Mirage
The sun did shine brightly and lit up the diner.
The weather outside could not have been finer.
And Jess's work shift had just about ended.
On leaving the diner, his life now depended.
'Twas just as remained five minutes to go,
That Rory, by happenstance, happened to show.
And friendly she seemed, a smile on her face
Where lately a scowl had more been the case.
Though friendship between them was playing with fire,
Jess couldn't deny it and jumped in the mire.
She pulled up a stool and claimed it her seat
So sidled up Jess to, at counter, her greet.
As Rory the guise of a hunger did don,
She ordered a snack that she might feast upon.
And Jess, though his shift did wind down by ticks,
Did, order she'd placed, still set out to fix.
She brandished a book he hadn't yet read.
"I thought you might like it," the girl, to him, said.
Without the plot spoiled, she set to state why
And Jess listened on, with twinkle in eye.
Discussion then turned to author of book
As Jess, of book's cover, did linger in look.
The author was one he'd encountered before,
With stories he'd read filled with greed, lust and gore.
He teased that her tastes had grown leaps and bounds
And added how knowledge of this did astound
The senses of even a casual viewer
Who chanced to befriend her or even just knew her.
In double entendre, he delved for a stint,
While wondering whether she'd pick up the hint,
But Rory surprised him, with eyes twinkled too,
That risque blue reading was nothing that new.
It really did seem the girl with him flirted
Specific words, though, she certainly skirted.
Perhaps he could hold a hope after all
And once again, slowly, in love did he fall.
They talked for awhile while Fates grew concerned:
The mortals' eyes brightened as closeness they earned,
Both wearing mere friendliness as a disguise,
As Rory did linger in eating her fries.
Confusion did colour the eyes of Clotho.
In browns of their fibres, a lust wouldn't grow!
She looked at her table where jars were still set.
Amongst all the browns, she found a lone red.
To sister Atropos she turned to enquire,
With eyes—like the red—a potential for fire,
"Was not this Red Ochre supposed to be Yellow
To curb all their passions and render them mellow?"
"As far as I knew," Atropos replied,
"One Ochre's as good as another applied!
I did choose the red and, as passions go,
You have to agree, it makes a good show!"
Lachesis cut in, recalling a scene
'Neath droplets of water, o'er grass, thickly green,
"So that's why it taxes our efforts and power
To ween Rory's mind off of Jess in a shower!"
Lachesis did warn, proclaim and decree,
"Observant and diligent now must we be!
The last time he tried to be Rory's friend,
Did bound'ries of friendship the boy stretch and bend!
"Advances he'd made, dressed up in platonics
And slowly they'd rendered the two in harmonics.
A slight animosity must we maintain!
Though painful to see, it leads to a gain."
Did, Sisters' discussion, then Clotho re-enter
As, on a solution, she started to center.
For current ideas she made a brief promo
When, stepping towards them and speaking, said Clotho,
"As red's opposite, a green simmers down
The heat of the red—indeed makes a brown—
When, in moderation, it's added to mix.
That might be enough, this error, to fix.
"If more should be needed, we'll just add more green,
So Rory and Jess will keep envy between."
At talk of green envy, Atropos then pleaded
That clarification and balance was needed:
"But not the extent we've seen there of late!
When Rory sees Shane, it just breeds more hate!
While Jess and his envy of Dean is on-course,
Her envy should stem from some other source!
Then nodded the others, thus making it so,
Deciding the green was the right way to go.
"And copper as well, to his thread, we will offer
So pennies from heaven will fill up his coffer."
So who should arrive, unwelcome, on scene?
None other than good ol' dependable Dean.
Did Jess simply scowl and harness his tongue.
But Rory stood up, her arms, 'round him, flung.
Unwitnessed, Jess closed darkened eyes for a second
And silently sighed to calm anger that beckoned.
Again in the briefest of blinking an eye,
The girl turned on Jess, towards that damn guy!
Then Jess rolled his eyes as Dean eyed him down,
While odious couple made plans to paint town.
To cause him to leave, Jess bore enough green.
Since Dean had arrived, must Jess flee the scene.
The Fates then relaxed. A battle was won.
Their work a success in this, the Phase One.
The green they had added achieved its assignment:
As Jess, from the diner, escaped his confinement.
She still was with Dean and that was just swell.
Had Jess a significant other as well.
And also a plan did he have on horizon!
His pockets were full, with item his eyes on.
Much later that night discussions were capped.
The futile town meeting was eagerly wrapped.
Emerging from Patty's, with no civic gains,
Was Rory, her mother, and one Lucas Danes.
The Fates, at that time, did Phase Two unveil.
Their handiwork done, designed to derail
Advances that both he and Rory had made,
Once enmity 'tween them had started to fade.
The only real thing to brighten his day
Was object that Jess had procured through his pay:
Some wheels of his own! Though not much to look at,
The getting him there they really could cook at!
So glided a vehicle, sleek through the night.
Though vehicle's sleekness made quite a poor sight.
While lack of a lustre was striking humility,
It shone in its practically brilliant utility!
To make Rory blessed with curse of an envy
Regarding his wheels and how she hadn't any,
Was Rory's fine rope infused with more green
Since Fates, so divinely, did deign intervene.
Then Rory made haste to head to her home
As, from the town meeting, their trio did roam.
And just as the work of the Fates had been planned
Her own source of envy, her hanging 'round, banned.
AN: Thank you for reading! I'd love for you guys to tell me what you think about it!