Diamond in the Rough: Chapter 11

It was difficult to get up for school, and Jack Manning was dragging.  He was packing his bookbag in the quiet of the foyer, and readying to get on the helicopter for his school journey, when Sam came down the stairs, too loud for mornings, and especially those following a fourth of a bottle of Midori.  He said, "Shhh.  Sam."

"What?  Mom and Dad are up.  Why do I have to be quiet?"

"I said so."

"You're mean, Jack."  Sam said, and he didn't like how that felt in his ears.

"Come on, Squirt.  I'll piggyback you upstairs to the heliport."

"I have to get my bookbag.  Plus, we didn't eat breakfast."

Jack felt his stomach wretch, and held it down.  "I'm not hungry, not really."

"All right, well, I am going to have some cereal.  Mom said a good breakfast is important."

"Yeah, she did."  He said.  And for some reason, Gigi Morasco's face could not leave his mind.  He imagined Rex telling Shane to eat breakfast and Shane just staring at him.

After a few minutes, Sam was ready, and he and Jack climbed the stairs, bookbags in tow, to hit the heliport for their ride to town.  Jack always thought it was cool that they rode in style in the helicopter every day to school.  Today, he was not as keen on the idea as his stomach flipped once more as they embarked.  He belted Sam in.  "You in, Runt of the Century?"

"Yeah, I'm in, Giant of the Dumbness."

"Giant of the Dumbness?  That's new."

"So?  I'm not going to sit around and have you call me names and not have one for you."

"You're getting to be a wiseass, Sam."

"So?  You already are one."

Jack shut the helicopter door, and climbed in the other side, and belted himself.  Perzno came around both sides, checking the boys and the doors, before loading himself in and taking off.  As soon as they left the ground, Jack opened the side window and threw up.  

"Eeeeeew!  It was GREEN!"  Sam yelled.

Jack said, "Shhh!"

"It smells real funny, Jack!"

"Sam, quiet."

"You okay back there?"  Perzno called out.

"Yeah, we're okay, right Sam?"

"I guess."  He said, and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

***

Todd was getting ready to leave for work, and Blair was watching him in the mirror.  "I like the purple shirt."

"Good.  I like you."

"I like how you look in it.  I like how it fits right here," she said, putting her hand on his upper arm.  

He stopped and looked at her.  "Not again.  I've got to go get something done.  Briggsette says there's a problem down there at The Sun."

"Problem?"

"Yeah, not sure what it is, but I should make an appearance.  We've been working at home a lot.  You want to come with me, or just hang here?"

"If it's okay, I want to hang here, with Ray.  I missed him while we were away in Ireland."

"I missed him, too."

"He's growing up so fast."

"Kids do, I guess.  I missed so much, I can't even think about it.  Jack was a little baby just learning to walk and now . . ." he stopped.

"It's all right.  At least you're here, now, and have the chance to see him grow into a man."

He nodded, and got quiet.  He turned to get into the walk-in closet and get his belt, and stopped short.  Chains, with cuffs . . .

She followed him, with intent to continue talking, and watched him.  She said, "Hey?"  He didn't hear, or at least, he didn't seem to.  Instead, he was standing very still.  She repeated, "Hey, Todd?"

They clang.  Against each other . . . they're high.

He leaned against the door frame, and she walked up to him, putting her chin on his shoulder.  "It's all right," she said.  "It's just a memory."  He looked at her.  His expression was one of longing and confusion.  The mix of them both brought a lump to her throat.  She swallowed it down and said, "It's gone."

He so wanted to tell her, to have her tell him everything was all right and that it all meant nothing.  He said, "It is.  They don't really stay long enough to mean anything.  Or at least, yet."  He grabbed his jacket.  "I'm going to go now.  To work.  I'll be okay."

She did not want him to go, but she knew there was no stopping him.  "I'll see you later, at dinner?  Or will you be back before that?"

"Probably dinner.  If I am coming home earlier, I will call you."  He kissed her, and bounded down the steps.

She waited until she heard the limo door close.  Then, she turned from the window and said, "Blair Manning, you have to do something.  Before he's in real trouble."

***

Jack turned the corner by the left wing and smiled.  He was eager to get to Jenna, and happy to see her for lunch.  He brought just some crackers and an apple.  His stomach had not fared well since the episode in the helicopter.  He made his way outside, and this time, she was already there.  At first, it seemed like she was reading, but as he got closer, he realized she was just hiding in her hair, her head lowered.

He said, "Hey, Jenna."

She sniffed.  "Hi.  I didn't expect you this early."

"It's not early.  I mean, it is like three minutes early, but not that early."

"I didn't realize, the time," she said, and her hair was still making a compartment for her to linger in.  

He sat down, and gently reached across and moved some of her hair.  He said, "Are you all right?"

Jenna was crying.  

Jack was unsure what to do, but he wanted to respect her space.  He said, "I guess I could go."

She softly said, "I'd rather that you didn't."

He waited.

She said, "I'm . . . just having a hard day.  That's all."

"I know we don't know each other all that well, but I can tell it's not really about a hard day."

She looked up, and her tears were streaming on her face.  He noticed some trails of black mascara under her eyes.  It wasn't much, and was all the make-up she wore.  He took the napkin from his lunch, and leaned over, carefully wiping the make-up from under her eyes, as well as her tears.

She sniffled, and said, "Thank you."

He said, "It's okay."

She took a very deep breath that was filled with small catches as she did.  She looked at him and tucked her hair behind her ear.  "I'm sorry.  I'm just . . . feeling sad."

"Most people feel sad for a reason.  So that means you have one."

"I do.  It's hard to talk about."

He admitted to himself just then that he was alarmed but prepared.  After all the horrible, sick things he'd heard of in his short life, most of them in his own family, he was ready for almost anything.  "Take your time."

"It's . . . family stuff."

"Okay.  I can relate to that.  Someday, I'll tell you my family stuff.  It just takes a while to tell it all."  He thought of Orinia, knees tucked up, resting her chin on them and listening to him spill his guts.  He'd be more careful, this time.

"My sister.  She's the one who has custody of me."

"Wow, really?  How old is she?"

"Only twenty-one.  She's my guardian."

He said, "What happened?"

"My mother's missing.  She's been missing for about eighteen months."

"Whoa," he said, "that's a while."

"Yeah," she said softly, and lowered her head again.  "She's missing but we think we know what it's about."

He readied himself.  "Really?  Is she okay?"

"We think she ran off willingly.  She left us for some man.  At first she wrote us, and that was okay.  Then, she stopped communicating.  We're scared."

He was puzzled.  In his experience, he didn't even know people left people for that.  "Couldn't she just be with the guy and still be with you?"

"I guess not.  Anyway, she's gone.  We haven't heard from her in months.  And we're afraid something bad happened to her.  Of course, my sister has to work all kinds of hours to support us, we don't have any money, it's hard."

She put her hand on the table, and leaned down to grab a tissue that had dropped to the cement.  He took his hand and bravely placed it over hers.  She looked up, quickly, with surprise, and then caught eyes with him.  Then, he felt her thumb go up over his hand.  His heart was confused.  It was breaking for her sadness, and pounding out of his chest at the same time.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Your comments are 'payment' for the work of the authors. Our writers like to hear your feedback. Please leave a comment when you read.