The next morning, I was suddenly awoken by a giant boom. "What the-" I said, whipping the covers off my bed. My vision was blurry from just waking up, but I could see Becca running towards me. "Let's go J!" she shouted, "something's wrong!". Becca grabbed my hand, and we ran out the door. The fire alarms were screeching, the sprinklers on the ceiling were spraying us with the freezing cold water, and there was a thick, black cloud of smoke coming from the kitchen. Just then, I could hear muffled yelling.
"What the hell did you do?" shouted Jesse, enraged. Andi, Elena, and Luka came charging in the kitchen with fire extinguishers. "I learned that sodium hypochlorite and isopropanol don't mix together" said Lacy, covered in and a thick black liquid. "I told you to make bombs in the barn Lacy! Not in the house!" shouted Jesse. I started to cough when Andi sprayed her extinguisher. "Damnit, Jenny are you okay?" he said, not noticing I was standing there. He walked over to me and put his hands on my shoulders. "Yeah, I'm fine" I said, "Let's open some windows". "This day can't get any worse" screamed Jesse, storming outside.
Conner started typing away on his computer, then suddenly every window in the house was open. "Well, my booze is safe," said Claire, coming upstairs. "And besides, Lacy here saved all of our asses. If she would have used that when we were actually going somewhere, we all would be dead". "What's Jesse's problem?" I said to Andi. "No idea, maybe he'll talk to you. He's been awful all morning" she said. I figured it would be best if I went out and tried to talk to him. I opened the front door, and walked towards the barn, assuming that was where he was heading.
Once I reached the door, I could hear extremely loud music coming from inside. I slid the door open and walked in. In the corner, I could see Jesse, turned away from me, cleaning his hand gun. "Hey… Is everything okay?" I said softly, reaching for his shoulder. Startled, he whipped his head around and pointed his gun at me. "Jesse, it's me!" I shouted, panicking. He instantly put his gun down, realizing what he had done.
Without thinking, I turned around and walked out. "Jenny I-" started Jesse. Without responding I kept walking. I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes. As I slammed the door behind me, I could hear Jesse scream "Damnit!!" and hear a chair slam on the ground. I decided to just leave. I needed a break. Besides, who would notice if I were gone? I walked into the house and grabbed Jesse's car keys. "Hey, what are you doing?" said Andi, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper. "Oh, Jesse said we were going for a drive" I lied. "Okay, enjoy yourselves" she said, looking back at her newspaper.
I put the keys in the ignition and pulled out of the driveway. I didn't know where I was going, and quite frankly I didn't care. I got on the expressway and drove into town. I stopped at a small coffee shop, went in, ordered a drink, and sat down.
~
Where's my car?" shouted Jesse as he stormed in the house. Andi sat up, "Jenny said you two were going for a ride…". "What??" said Jesse, scrambling around. "Relax man, maybe she's surprising you," said Luka. "Conner!" shouted Jesse. "Get your ass in here!!". Conner ran into the room, eyeballing Jesse. "What's the problem man?" he said. "Run the camera tapes" said Jesse, pointing at Conner's computer. Conner, Andi, and Jesse were all behind Conner's giant computer screen. "I want to see where she went after she left the barn," said Jesse.
"Marinos, she is pissed at you" said Andi, "What did you do?". "Nothing," said Jesse angrily. Just then, Elena, Lacy, and Becca came in. "What are you guys looking at?" said Becca. "Where's Jenny going?" said Elena. "Becca, come with me" said Jesse, ushering her outside. "What's wrong?" said Becca. "Jenny's mad at me…" said Jesse. "What did you do?" said Becca. "Nothing important… where does she go when she gets mad? Or what does she do?" asked Jesse. "Normally she just blocks herself from everyone…" said Becca. Everyone watched the computer screen as Conner continued to run the tapes.
Jesse swung the front door open and walked in. "You pointed a gun at her?! Jesse what the hell were you thinking??" screamed Andi, as she slapped Jesse in the head. "She scared me! I would have done it to anyone" said Jesse. "You screwed up big!!" Andi shouted. "How do you plan on fixing this?" said Lacy. "Look, I don't know," said Jesse. "First thing we need to do is find her". "Which car are we taking?" said Luka, "We need a plan". "Becca, Claire, and Conner on satellite here" said Jesse. "Andi and I will take her car. Luka, Lacy and Elena, I want you behind Andi and I". "Probably a good thing I put a GPS on the bottom of everyone's cars?" said Luka, looking at his phone. "Luka, I could kiss you," said Jesse. "We don't have time for that," said Andi, grabbing the keys to her black Lamborghini, and walking out the door.
Lacy and Luka were fighting over who's car they were going to take. "Red is clearly less obvious," said Lacy. "I drive better!" shouted Luka. "Do not!" said Lacy. "Do too!" said Luka. "Enough!" shouted Andi. "Take Luka's car, black definitely looks better, sorry Lace". Lacy grunted then walked outside with Andi. Both cars sped out of the driveway. Over earpiece, Luka gave Jesse directions from the GPS trackers. Back at the house, Conner was able to see what everyone was doing from the cameras in the car.
"Andi turned left," said Jesse, listening to Luka. "Does Jenny even know what Andi's car looks like?" said Luka. "I doubt it…" said Andi, I haven't gotten mine out in front of her before". Jesse nervously tapped on the dashboard. "We're going to find her Marinos, relax" said Andi. "Andi pull in this driveway" said Luka through the microphone.
~
I took a sip of the expresso I had just bought. I was lost in my thoughts. The only thing on my mind was Jesse. The man I was completely head over heels for pointed a gun at my head. As if he was prepared to pull the trigger. I was foolish enough to go out and make sure he was okay. Look where that got me.
Lost in thought, I was suddenly surprised when two men came over to the booth I was sitting at. "Hey baby," said the one. The other man grabbed my wrist pulling me out of my chair. "What are you-?" I started. Suddenly, the man wrapped his arm around my neck, and put a gun up to my head. He walked me over to the register and said to the barista "give me the cash, or she dies". Frozen, I stared blankly at the barista. People were screaming and running out of the shop.
Just then a loud noise came from the door, silencing the screaming. I felt the arm around me go limp, and the man fell to the ground. I looked down and saw a bullet hole right through his head. I turned towards the door, and saw Jesse holding his gun. Behind him, Luka, Lacy and Elena were ushering people out of the store. Andi was striking the other man. I was overwhelmed by what had just happened. Without hesitation, I ran to Jesse, and weeped in his arms.
"Come on J, you're alright" said Jesse, kissing my head. "You're not mad at me?" I said, choking between sobs. "No, I'm not mad," said Jesse, walking with me towards the door. Andi knocked the man out, so Luka carried him outside and put him in the car. Elena and Lacy tried to distract the public from the fact they were putting an unconscious man in the back seat of Luka's car. Jesse walked me to the car, and I got in the back seat of Andi's car still crying. "I'll be right back J" said Jesse as he walked over to help Luka.
"You okay, J?" said Andi, turning around. "I'm fine," I said, lying. "You can talk to me J" said Andi, handing me a tissue from her middle console. "I'm just confused," I said. "I heard what he did, it wasn't right for him to do that, but I did try to talk to him about it," said Andi. "Sometimes Jesse gets in really bad moods… and today unfortunately was one of those days and you got the brunt of it, and I'm sorry for that". "It's okay," I said, as Jesse got back in the car.
The ride home was completely silent. No one spoke through the microphone, no one coughed or sneezed, and the radio wasn't on. It was completely silent. It was an eerie silence; I could feel the upcoming tension between Jesse and I. Andi pulled into the driveway. She let Jesse and I get out, while she went and parked it in the garage. Luka let Elena and Lacy get out of the car. They came running to me and hugged me. "J what was that about? You scared us!" said Lacy. "We were so worried!" said Elena. "I'm sorry" I said, hugging them back.
Before I knew it, Becca ran up to me. "You have a lot of explaining to do" she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me inside. I was met at the door by Claire, holding two shot glasses full of vodka. "I think you need one," she said, handing me one. I grabbed the glass and drank it. "Thanks," I said, handing the empty glass back to her. "Don't flatter yourself, I didn't do that to be nice," said Claire.
Becca walked me to our room, and she shut the door behind me. "What's the deal?" she said. "I don't-" I started. "You know what, I don't want to know. You left. Didn't tell anyone, let alone your best friend. What are you thinking?" she said pacing. I sat on the bed and started crying. "Shit" said Becca. She came over and hugged me. "I'm just confused," I said. "I didn't do anything wrong". "I'm sorry J," said Becca. "I think the only people who can fix this are you and Jesse". "I know," I said. "I'll give you some space," said Becca, walking out.
I didn't want to talk to Jesse, but knew I had to eventually. I decided I might as well try to find him. Luka was in the kitchen, "Hey Luka, have you seen Jesse?" I asked. "I think he's in his room pouting," said Luka, laughing. "Ha-ha thanks" I said, laughing. I walked to Jesse's room and opened the door. I could hear a speaker playing in the bathroom. So, I decided to sit on his bed and wait for him, assuming he would be out shortly. His silk, black sheets were extremely comfortable on my legs. Suddenly, I heard the door open. There stood Jesse, wrapped in a towel, with a cloud of steam coming from the bathroom. "Yeah, I'll be back" I said, pointing at the door awkwardly. "You're fine J, what's up?" said Jesse, smirking at me.
I couldn't help but stare wide eyed at Jesse, my mouth hitting the floor. "Uh, we can talk later, if y-you want" I said, stuttering. As I turned to open the door, he grabbed my other arm. He quickly spun me around and kissed me. Suddenly, he stopped, and put his head on my forehead. "Never leave me again Jenny". I didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry" was the only thing I could make out. He kissed me again, then walked back into the bathroom.
Smiling like an idiot, I walked out of Jesse's room only to run into Andi on the way out. "Oh no…" she started. "You didn't". "Nope" I said, trying to get past her. I was in shock by what had just happened. I needed to get some air, so I decided to go outside. I walked out the door and headed down to the beach. I put my feet in the water, shocked by the cool temperature.
"What are you doing, J?". I turned around and saw Luka walking towards me. "Oh nothing, I was just… thinking" I said. "Is everything okay?" he asked. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," I said. "Let's go inside". Luka and I walked back in the house. We were met by Elena, "what are you two doing?". "We were just at the beach," I said. "Yeah, Jesse told me to see where she was," said Luka, lying. "Well okay," said Elena. "I need to run an errand. See you guys later".