[In and Out] Jessi's Place, continued (1.6)

WPTunes

Jessi moves out of your embrace and gets up, padding out of the bedroom. You hear the kitchen sink running for a bit, and then she returns. She's wearing the robe from earlier, hanging open, and carrying two glasses of water and a postcard. An actual snail-mail postcard.

She sets one glass of water on the table on your side of the bed and hands you the postcard. After filling both wine glasses from the bottle you brought in, she takes her water and wine to the other side of the bed and sits, leaning against the pillows, waiting for you to read.

Rich

I've slipped my boxer briefs baxk on. "Who's James?" I ask cautiously.

WPTunes

Jessi sighs.

"I was a big party girl a few years ago. Raves on the beach, dance clubs, all that..." She waves her hand to indicate the many things she's including in the "all that". "This one party on the beach, I had just turned eighteen, the cops came and we had to split, so one of the guys, Ben, said we could come to his place for an afterparty. It was just his big brother at home that weekend, and Ben said he wouldn't care. A bunch of us wound up going over."

She licks her lips. "James, the brother, was cool. He was twenty-five, just out of Med school and finishing up his surgical residency at Sharp Memorial Hospital. And good looking? Anyway, at some point it was just him and me in the den, everybody else was in the pool out back. James had some coke, and even though that wasn't my usual thing, I was like 'what the hell', you know? We wound up screwing, of course."

Jessi takes a sip of wine, swirls it around in her mouth a little, swallows. "It was really good, at first. We'd go out when his schedule wasn't crazy. I even snuck into the hospital one night and we went at it in an empty recovery room. You ever do it anywhere crazy like that?" She looks at you, clearly wanting to punctuate the story for a minute.

Rich

I listen in, nodding my head. I'm sitting on her bed, pulled my feet up to sit cross-legged. This is the most she's talked about her past. She seems pretty stuck on James. That's rough.

When she puts it on me, I shrug, like sure, yeah. But then she's waiting, so I huff a little laugh, "Sure, yeah. You'll call me a dog, though." I grin, "I was a senior in high school, dating this girl named Hannah. She was really cute, but kinda touchy. We ran out of places to do it, so I saved up some money from my job. I worked at a gas station, yeah I know. Overnight, no I was never robbed. Anyways, I rented a hotel room."

Man, this was the worst story to pick. But I soldier on, wondering if I should lie. But I don't, "We did it, then smoked some homegrown. I was all chill, but then she picked a fight about college. She broke up with me, said I wasn't going anywhere, just took off." I hold up a hand in case she thinks it's lame. "Hold on, here comes the crazy part. So then I head over to see my buddy Jake. He was sort of dating a girl named Chelle, she was really fine. She comes out of his place, screaming at him. She didn't have a ride, but she refused to take one from Jake. Jake came out, told me to give her a ride home. So, well, I drove up behind her, did that. Then she's screaming at me. Gets in the car. Screams about Jake. I figure this is going to be the longest ride ever."

"We get a few miles out, then she bums a joint off me, so I give it to her, figuring it'll help her calm down. Then she just leans over and goes down on me while I'm driving. It. Was. Insane. She's really turned on, so well, I take her to the hotel room... because it was the same day." I shrug, like where else was I going to go? "It had two full size beds, so we did it on the other one... so yeah."

I offer her a lop-sided grin, "I was a dog in high school. We covered that already."

WPTunes

That gets a chuckle and a little "woof!" out of Jessi, but her face quickly grows solemn again.

"James finished up his residency at got a job as a staff surgeon at the same hospital. Once his hours got less crazy, he started getting more and more demanding about my time, asking where I was if I didn't pick up the phone right away, insisting on seeing me all the time." She reaches up to brush a lock of hair off her forehead. "I was nineteen by then, graduated from high school, and serving at a fine-dining place. My shifts ran pretty late, mostly. We were still having fun, though, you know?"

"One week James showed up at the restaurant every night that I worked. He ate dinner in my section and then sat at the little bar for the rest of the night, sipping single malt. Four nights in a row. When I called him on it, he just said, 'Hey, I love you, babe. What can I say?'"

"So, fast forward. And first, no, he never hit me or forced himself on me. He just started showing up everywhere. I found out later that he even hired a PI to follow me around sometimes when we weren't together. He 'surprised' me at my Grandmother's funeral. In Fresno, which is three-hundred some miles from San Diego. When he was supposed to be on shift." She shakes her head at the memory. "And he was cute, and he was rich, and he had a great car and great hair, and and and, but enough is enough, y'know? I ended it." She swallows. "Tried to..."

She reaches for your hand, squeezes. "I'm sorry, Trev. Sorry to dump this on you, especially like this."

Rich

A stalker? Dayum. I squeeze her hand back. "So... he found you? Is that what freaked you out? I mean, obviously, right?" I swallow, face feeling hot, twisted up anger and a little guilt. "Is that why you kept texting me? Hey, I'm sorry, Jessi. I didn't know you... you know." I wave my hand towards the postcard.

I pull her into a hug, just a hug of acceptance. Most of the time, it helps.

WPTunes

Jessi relaxes into your hug.

"Yeah. Found me. Despite a restraining order, 2500 miles, and everyone I knew being sworn to secrecy. Like I said, he never hurt me, but anyone acting that crazy, who knows what could happen, right?"

"I'm sorry I got a little wacked out, earlier. Do me a favor? Take that," she nods her chin to the little baggy of coke, "And flush it down the toilet? Turns out maybe I shouldn't revisit the old days. And are you good with spending the night? Cassie's back tomorrow afternoon, but..."

Rich

I take the baggy, and rubs her back a little, "Of course, Jessi. I'm here for you. Plus, your bed's super comfy." I give her a little smirk, "I do get to sleep in the bed, not the couch, right? " I wink a little, "Fair warning, I steal covers like a Hamburglar takes, you know, burgers."

I scoot off the bed to head to the bathroom. I'll flush the coke, because that's enough for a really long prison sentence and even though that was really fun for a bit, it was a bit much. Then I wash off, head back in. She'll probably be asleep. If not, I'll pull her into bed and hold her.

WPTunes

When you get back to the bedroom, Jessi is asleep, but when you crawl into bed, she stirs enough to snuggle up to you. She's taken off the robe and not put on any pajamas, so it's warm, sweet flesh next to you.

Despite the late and energetic night, and its emotional ending, you're awakened fairly early with a kiss. "You know, I don't have to be coked up to be... creative." And then she proves the point and widens your horizons, all at the same time.

Eventually, you're both showered and dressed, and the dogs are taken care of. "I've got to get my car inspected, and then I guess I should stop by the courthouse, make sure my California restraining order is on file or whatever. Cassie's back later, and she promised to take me out, for helping with the dogs. Is it okay if I check in with you every now and then, though? I know we're not... whatever, but..."

Rich

I am good with the morning, and I cook some eggs for us, because I like cooking eggs. As we're talking about the day, she leads into the "whatever we are" thing. I add, "We're friends, for sure. I got your back, Jessi. But... you gotta let me log in and play for a bit soon. I've got some stuff goin on." I smirk, "A billion dollars..." I remind her.

WPTunes

"Sorry, that didn't quite come out right. I wasn't asking you to ride around with me, doing all that stuff. Just saying I'll be busy today and with Cassie tonight, so you didn't need to worry about logging on. I do expect flowers or something, if you win the money, though. I'll text every now and then, just so someone knows where I am, but that's it. Is that cool? Not trying to make you responsible for me."

Rich

I nod, "That works. And, I'm not responsible for you, I'm part of your buddy network. It's cool." I mean it. If there wasn't this quest, I'd just hang out with her all day until Cassie's home. But I'm losing serious game time, so if she's cool letting me go, I'll go.

WPTunes

With a kiss on the cheek, Jessi gets in her car and drives off. The day, and the quest, lie ahead of you.

---End Scene---