A Taste of Bitter

A Confession - Shadows in the Rain

Okay, so Jailene wanted to be the last one to chew out her best friend. After all, what were best friends for? Keeping your deepest, darkest secrets, right?

And then she'd basically let it slip she knew about the whole affair that had been going on between Arlese and Eliot. In front of Eliot. Who wasn't supposed to know she knew.

Talk about screw-up.

The truth? Jailene hadn't known, not really anyways. Not until late December, when Arlese called one rainy afternoon, sounding worried. All she'd asked, was if Jailene and Rachel could give her a ride to the Jade Palace. She'd said she was meeting up with her parents- which honestly wasn't that unexpected. The Quinns would call in sometimes after work to eat out together. In fact, Jailene didn't even think anyone in their family really knew how to cook. They ate take-out food more often then home-cooked meals.

The car ride had been brief, to say the least. Arlese, her hair slightly damp and frizzy from the rain, sporting her old black Hello Kitty dotted hoodie, had been quiet, her eyes glued to the window, looking like they were a million miles away. Jailene hadn't pressed her. Arlese always told her what was on her mind, in the end. She was like that. Quiet and thoughtful at times- and then totally psycho and out of control the next.

It was what she'd loved about her friend.

Rachel hadn't complained much. For some reason, she adored Arlese. Besides, the Steinbeck sisters had been planning to go on a shopping trip that day, rain or shine, and the Jade Palace was only about a block away from the strip mall in Hyde Ridge.

Everything went according to plan. Arlese gave Jailene a quick hug, blew a kiss to Rachel, and hopped out of the van, on to the sidewalk in front of the Jade Palace. She waved at the girls, and turned to race up the steps and out of the rain, throwing up the hood of her hoodie.

Jailene, at this point, couldn't help but remember those crazy fortunes the girls had received the last time they went there, and as she and Rachel drove off, making a roundabout turn to head back in the direction of the strip mall, she began to relay the tale to her sister.

"So, you know, I was pretty pissed. I mean $10.99 for Wantan soup and soggy rice balls? I mean no thank you! And then Arlese was all 'ahh!' and, you know, naturally, we all jumped like five feet into the air. It was this totally creepy fortune, something about how love would destroy the world or some crap like that, and poor Arly was just freaking out, so Emily and I got really mad, you know?So we stalked up to the counter and-"

It was here that they were passing by the Jade Palace. Jailene, nonchalantly leaning against the car door, her chin tucked in her palm, blabbing on about her night out, was looking out the window.

It was rainy of course, and the traffic was slow- not bad, just slow. Rachel had her eyes glued to the rode, her mouth quirked in  a faintly amused smile as she listened to the choppily detailed version of Jailene's story. Jailene was just about to tell her all about how she almost made the manager pee his pants when she drifted off mid-sentence. 

Their van was pattered with raindrops, and there was a drizzle overhead, but the car was going slow enough that Jailene could make out two shadows in the alley parallel of the Jade Palace. No- not just shadows. They were close enough to the road she could make out some of their features.

Which would have been fine, you know, people do weird things in the city. Why not make out in an alley outside a Chinese restaurant in the middle of a downpour? Who needs umbrellas or bedrooms?

But what she couldn't comprehend was the fact that it wasn't just two strangers in an alley.

One of them was slumped against the wall, and she could make out a flash of ebony dark hair, bronze skin. The other figure was kneeled down in front of the tall one, her arms wrapped around his shoulders almost protectively.

In a Hello Kitty dotted hoodie, with a flash of bright copper hair.

 Her view was gone in a flash, but there was no mistaking that girl.