|
Jessica closed her eyes as she felt the hot water
begin to stream down her body. She was taking a shower after a playing a game of softball that afternoon. The
diamond dust had seemed to reach down to her very core. She soaped up her washcloth and scrubbed her face good.
After she finished washing her face and the rest of her body, she just stood there, letting the steam and water carry her
mind to a totally different world. Half an hour later, the water began to grow cold, so Jessica turned the shower off.
She opened up the shower curtain and grabbed a fresh towel. Rubbing the towel over her body, her skin soon became dry.
However, she winced when she reached the spot on her hip. She had been hit by a pitch during that day's game.
A welt had already began to appear.
A knock at the door startled her, causing her to almost lose her balance.
"It's me!" Jessica heard Sebastian's muffled voice say loudly through the wooden door. "Be out in a minute!" Jessica
hollered back. She quickly wrapped up her hair in a towel and threw on a pair of jean shorts and a tank top. She
then opened the door, walking into the little hallway between her bathroom and her bedroom. Steam drifted out from behind
her. "Geez, Jess! What'd you do? Create a sauna?" Sebastian asked her, his eyes not able to hide a smile.
Jessica rolled her eyes, and gently punched him in the ribs. "So what are you doing?" she asked him, walking into her
bedroom. Jessica unwrapped the towel around her hair and ran some Bouncy Cream through the still-damp curls.
"Well, actually, I came to say goodbye," Sebastian said quietly. His emerald green eyes looked down at the floor; then
back up at Jessica, who looked at him in puzzlement. "What do you mean 'goodbye'?" she asked him, her hazel eyes flashing
a moment with some fear, but then with perplexion. "I was given an assignment by the force and have to go out of town
for a week," he said, sitting down on the edge of her tall bed. He watched Jessica as she pulled her Cubs necklace off
her dresser, then putting it around her neck. She walked over to her bed and sat down next to Sebastian. Jessica
then leaned and rested her head on his shoulder. He took her hand in his. "When are you leaving?" Jessica asked
after a minute or two. "In about ten minutes," Sebastian replied. Jessica sighed deeply and closed her eyes.
After a few seconds, she felt Sebastian shift and his hand go to her face. She opened her eyes to find herself looking
into Sebastian's eyes. "I'll be back, I promise," he whispered. Jessica blinked back some tears and said, "I know.
Promise me that you'll be careful?" Sebastian nodded and then pulled Jessica in for a close hug. Jessica wrapped
her arms around him and held him close to her too. After a few minutes, he whispered into her hair, "I've gotta go."
Letting him go from her arms, she looked at him and smiled. "I'll see you in a week then," she said. Sebastian
responded by leaning down and gently kissing her. Jessica felt her heart stop as he did this. "I love you," he
whispered against her lips as soon as he had broken the kiss. "I love you too," she whispered back, giving him one last
quick kiss. He then stood up and pulled on his jacket, which had been lying across her desk chair. Sebastian reached
for her hand, gave it one last squeeze, and then walked out the open door. He was gone.
The next morning, Jessica walked into the kitchen. Tonya and Sally
were already there, eating cereal and reading the paper for breakfast. Jessica didn't say anything as she walked over
to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of grape juice. She then sat down at the table, twisting the cap off the
juice bottle. Tonya looked up from the paper and asked Jessica, "What are you doing up this early?" Jessica only
sighed, fiddling with the bottle lid that lay on the table. "Couldn't sleep much last night," she finally replied.
As she said this, Sally too looked up from the paper. As the blonde haired girl observed her friend, she said, "Your
eyes look bloodshot." Jessica only shrugged her shoulders and took a drink of the purple juice. Tonya then sighed
and said, "JED, he'll be back in six days. At least try to be as normal as normal is for you until he gets back."
Jessica then mumbled something incoherent and stood up. She proceeded to then walk out of the room and down the hall
towards the stairs. Sally and Tonya glanced at each other and then rolled their eyes before going back to their sections
of the paper.
Jessica had went back up to her room and laid down on her bed. She
sighed. Grabbing the remote for her TV that lay at the foot of her bed, she turned on the television and switched the
channel to TBS. Jessica then looked at her clock on the wall, noting that it was 9:00 in the morning. Just as
she read the time, the music to her favorite TV show, "Little House on the Prarie" swelled. Sitting up, she began to
watch the episode. It was one that she knew well, called "The Lord is My Shepard". Soon, she realized that it
was the second part of the episode. Jessica began to get into the show, listening intently to the words said.
As Jonathan the Angel told little Laura that rain are heaven's tears, Jessica smiled. That line had always put a good
feeling into her heart. Before she realized it, the episode ended and it was already 10:00. Knowing that there
would be another episode of the show, she settled into her bed, laying down to be more comfortable. Just as the new
episode started, however, Techno paged over the PA system, "Jess, you have a phone call. It's your lover." Jessica
squealed and scrambled to her desk to pick up the phone, which had the ringer turned off.
"Sebastian?" she said into the reciever. "Hey, Jess," she heard his
voice say. The signal was staticy and weak. "I can't stay on here long," he said, "but I wanted to call and
tell you that it may be more than a week that I'm gone. Not sure yet." Jessica held back a sigh and just asked,
"How are you?" She heard some static and then "...but I miss you a lot. I gotta go, Jess, so I'm going to say
goodbye. I love you!" "I love you too!" she said. And then the line went dead. Jessica sighed and turned
off the phone. Putting it back, she climbed onto her bed and curled up with one of her stuffed bears. Hot tears
began to course down her cheeks as she kept herself from sobbing. Softly, she whimpered for a while. And then,
sleep overtook her tired body.
The days passed and continued to be hot and humid. Each day, Jessica
would sit on her couch and watch as the clouds raced across the blue sky whispering a promise of rain and much needed cool
air, but they always broke apart before any droplets could fall on the parched earth. Every morning, Sebastian called
Jessica, telling her that he still didn't know when he'd be back and that he loved her and missed her. Her friends didn't
pressure her much to do anything except go on her nightly rounds. Even Techno had been fairly silent, letting her lonliness
grow deeper and deeper. That's when things started to get more confusing.
A week had passed and Sebsatian still hadn't returned. Jessica was
moping around the house, sighing constantly. That afternoon, she was in the kitchen eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's
ice cream when the phone rang. She didn't get up to answer it, but let the machine get it instead. However, she
turned her attention away from the ice cream container when she heard a female's voice say, "Sebastian, this is Lena.
You told me to call this number whenever I came into town, so I called to tell you just that. I'm staying at the Holiday
Inn Express since I will be here for a few weeks. Call me when you get this message. I give you my love." And
with that, the woman hung up and the machine started rewinding the tape. Jessica's eyes began to fill with tears as
she turned back to her ice cream, staring into the container. Who was that and why would she be giving him her love?
Jessica thought to herself. She got up and went over the machine, playing the message again. The woman's voice
was a beautiful, sultry, and full of life. Jessica felt her heart twist and she erased the message, trying to erase
it from her memory. She stood there by the machine, just staring into space when Techno walked in. He looked as
though he had just come from the garage since his face and hands were dirty. "Oh, hey Jess," he said, walking over to
the kitchen sink to wash his hands. "Sebastian coming home yet?" Jessica cleared her throat and replied, "No...not
yet." Techno reached for a towel to dry off his hands and said, "Well, next time you talk to him, tell him that I have
a new computer program to show him." Jessica numbly nodded. Setting the towel on the counter, Techno walked past
her and was going to walk out the doorway when he stopped, turned around, and looked at her. "You okay?" he asked, trying
to peer into her eyes, which were turned down to the floor. Jessica just nodded, knowing that she would start crying
if she spoke. Techno frowned, but nodded slowly. "I'll see you later then..." he said, walking out of the room.
After Techno left the room, Jessica put away her ice cream and did the same, going upstairs to her room.
In her room, Jessica sat on her bed. She had put her Creed CD in her
CD player and the music was now blaring throughout the entire floor of the mansion. Many thoughts raced through her
head. Many emotions went through her heart. And soon, anger began to form on top of her lonliness. After
about half an hour, she turned off her stereo and made her way out into the hallway and into Sebastian's room.
Once she entered his room, she could almost feel him there. His cologne
perfumed the room, mixed with the spicy scent of a few candles that sat on a table. Papers lay askew all over his desk
and sticky notes with reminders on them peppered the mirror that hung on the closet door. Jessica looked at them.
Her heart jerked as she saw that one said, "CALL LENA" on it, written in Sebastian's scribbled handwriting. Jessica
then walked over to his desk to look at some papers. She leafed through some, noticing that they were from work.
She then saw "NEW YORK" written on a scrap of paper. Jessica figured that this is where he had gone for his job.
Then, she noticed a letter addressed to Sebastian. It read:
Dear Sebastain,
My, how I have missed you! Has it really been a year since our last
visit? I do hope that life is treating you well in Tequila Heights. Now, this letter must be short, but I wanted
to inform you of my arrival there for a business trip come sometime in August. I have the number that you have given
me and I will contact you via that. Until then, I send you many hugs and my love!
Love, Lena
Jessica began to feel the anger sweeping over her. How COULD HE?!? she angrily thought
in her mind. Well, he better answer to me when he gets back from wherever he went! Storming out of his
room, Jessica went to her own, slamming the door shut. She would be ready when he arrived.
Finally, Jessica got word from Sebastian that he'd be home in the evening.
She knew that in their conversations that her voice was strained and forced. However, he seemed not to notice and they
talked mostly like normal. Jessica sat around the house that day, musing over what to say to the man that she loved.
It was nearing 5:00 that evening when the doorbell rang. Jessica walked to the door to answer it. She opened the
door to a beautiful woman standing there. The woman was a tall five-foot-ten-inches with an olive complexion and raven
black hair that was thick and styled to compliment her high cheekbones and sapphire blue eyes. However, the woman's
eyes lit up as she smiled a genuine smile, almost breaking through Jessica's anger. "Hi, I was given this address by
the police station. Is Sebastian here?" the woman asked, peering around Jessica to look for the man. Suddenly, Jessica's
eyes grew wide as she realized who this was. Lena, she thought. "Yes...he lives here. But he's
not here right now. He'll be here in anytime, though," Jessica said, her voice cool. "Great," Lena said,
smiling once again. "Mind if I wait here for him?" she asked Jessica, a hopeful look on her face. To answer her,
Jessica opened the door further and stepped back, allowing the woman to enter the house. "You can wait for him in the
library. Turn right to go down the hall and it's the third door on your left," Jessica said, trying to keep her calm.
"Thanks," Lena said, smiling as she walked towards the library. Just then, Poopsie walked into the foray from the kitchen.
"Who is that?" she asked Jessica. Jessica just stared in the direction that Lena had gone and said, "Lena." "Who's
Lena?" Poopsie asked. Jessica didn't reply, but just stood there resolute. "Oookay, then. Well, I'm going
for a bike ride. See you later," Poopsie said, walking out the door and to the garage for her bike. Jessica then
moved to stand right inside the foyar, waiting for Sebastian to return.
It wasn't long when the door flung wide open and a grinning Sebastian stepped
in and shouted out, "HELLO! I'm BACK!" He dragged his suitcase through the doorway and shut the door, trying to
keep the flies from coming in. Sebastian removed his sunglasses from his face, placing them on top of his head.
"Jess? T? Anyone?" he hollered out, looking around for anyone. Jessica then stepped out of the shadows,
her arms folded across her body. Sebastian smiled and his eyes lit up as he noticed her. "JESS!" he said, walking
towards her, his arms open wide for a hug. But then he looked into her eyes and stopped dead in his tracks. "What's
the matter?" he asked, his voice dropping to a lower tone. "Who's Lena?" she asked him, her words cold and angry.
Then Sebastian's eyes lit up again and he asked, "Lena's here?" "SEBASTIAN!" Lena's voice sounded as she entered the
foyer. Sebastian turned towards the voice and grinned. "Lena!" he said as the two of them embraced. Jessica
glared at them and then opened the door, moving out onto the porch. She sat on the steps, watching the clouds as they
continued to build. Angry forks of orange lightning flickered in the sky. Jessica then heard footsteps on the
porch. "Jess," she heard Sebastian's voice say. Jessica looked up at him, her eyes flashing brighter than the
lightning that drew closer to them. She noticed the Sebastian had his arm around Lena's shoulders and that Lena had
an arm around his waist. Jessica gave him a glare and then moved out into the yard, standing at a rose bush that Daniel
had planted. She heard Sebastian sigh and then say to Lena quietly, "Stay here a second." He walked out into the
yard and stood next to her. His hand gently went to her shoulder, but she shrugged it off and spun around. "How
COULD YOU!" she finally spit out, the words dripping poison. "Do what?" Sebastian asked, his eyes full of puzzlement.
"I might not have her beauty or her brains, but she CANNOT love you more than I love you!" Jessica said, hot and angry tears
rushing down her cheeks. "Who, Jess?" Sebastian said, reaching a hand towards her. Jessica shoved his hand away
and gestured towards the porch. "Her. Lena. That woman who loves you so much and that you apparently do
too," she said, sobs beginning to choke her. Sebastian's eyes grew soft as he looked from Lena, who now sitting on the
porch steps, to Jessica. "Jess, Lena is my SISTER!" he said, emphasizing that last word. Jessica sniffled, her
eyes growing wide. "You-you-your sister?" she stammered, looking towards the porch steps in shock. Sebastian smiled
sweetly and took hold of her hands in his. As Jessica turned her face back to look at him, a loud clap of thunder sounded
and rain began to pour down on them. What happened next seemed to be in slow motion.
"I was going to wait till October to do this, but I can't wait any longer,"
Sebastian said. He then pulled out a small black box and got down on a knee. Jessica's eyes grew wide as the rain
contined to pour down. Both of them were soaked to the very core of their beings, but that didn't damper the magic of
the moment. Jessica wiped away a lock of dripping hair from her face as Sebastian opened up the box. Inside of
it was a beautiful diamond ring. It was set in platinum and had a large center stone and then two smaller ones on the
sides. Jessica looked at the ring and then at Sebastian, who was smiling broadly. "Jessica, I love you.
I love you with my who heart and soul and I never want to be apart from you like we were just recently. I need you in
my life and I want to grow old with you. Will you marry me?" he asked her. Jessica felt new tears falling
down her face, mingling with the rain drops that hit her cheeks. She nodded and then said strongly, "Yes, Sebastian.
Yes." Sebastian slipped the ring onto her finger and then stood up, pulling her into his arms. And they stood
out there, in the rain, crying together, holding each other close. The rain continued to pour down, but not with a fury.
Instead, he came down softly and with a gentleness that only mother nature can give. Heaven's tears streamed down upon
the couple. But they were not tears of sadness. Instead, they were tears of relief...and joy.
|
