The Only One

Hasta La Vista

The next morning, I awoke by myself in the large bed center of the room. The first thing I noticed was Jess's absence and began to wonder where he had gotten off to.

I cleaned myself up a bit and trotted across the hall in my white and baby pink stripped nightgown to the room my parents and Aunt Joan had stayed in for the night.

When I poked my head in the door, Mom and Aunt Joan were hastily packing their things for the long drive to Arlington ahead of us. Before she realized I was there, Mom staggered into the bathroom to pack.

"Good morning, Leslie!" Aunt Joan smiled brightly at me.

"Morning" I responded drearily, rubbing my eyes.

"How was last night?" she asked.

Within an instant, I became fully awake at the question that startled me more than it should have.

"Um.. good, I guess.." I stammered.

"Did you and Jesse have fun?"

"We watched a movie" was the only response I could think of without sounding like I was assuming any meaning of the quotation.

"Did you cuddle up to him and wrap your arms arou--"

"Good morning, babygirl" my mom barged in on the conversation.

The look on Aunt Joan's face made it clear she was hoping my mom hadn't heard the last part of the conversation.

"Hey Mom, where're Jess and Dad?"

"Oh, they've gone for breakfast down in the restaurant on the main floor. They'll be back in a jiffy."

I smiled, grabbing a box of cereal from the cupboard in their ensuite.

"Joan, can I talk to you a minute?"

With that said, Aunt Joan, without response, led my mom into the bathroom and shut the door. It was clear to me it was intended I didn't hear the conversation.
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"Damnit, Joan, what the hell were you thinking? Asking Les those types of questions?! She's thirteen, for heaven's sake! She might just take those questions as suggestions!"

"Ease up, Jude. Like you said, she's thirteen. It wouldn't kill them to have a little fun. They hardly do more than sit within a foot of the other. It's obvious they love each other, they just need a little push."

"You know what happened to Bill and I when we were their age! Are you trying to make my daughter turn out like that?"

"No, of course not. I just think they're taking it a little slowly."

"That's the way it should be, for now. Heck, they're not even in high school yet."

"Okay okay, you're right."

"Don't feed Les any more ideas, alright?"

"Alright."
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For a backwash town like Lark Creek, the food in the hotel was surprisingly tasty. At least Jesse thought so. He and Mr. Burke were filling their plates with waffles drenched in syrup with a side of whipped cream.

Jess mowed through his meal as if he hadn't ate for weeks, receiving a light chuckle from Mr. Burke.

"We should be getting back to the rooms. Wouldn't want the wife getting all stirred up, now would we?" Mr. Burke laughed.

Jesse tried to agree but his response was muffled by a mouthful of food.

The two scraped their plates and thanked the staff for the food before returning to the girls in the hotel rooms.

I stuffed all my things in my bag and began pushing down on it violently, forcing it to close when Jess walked in.

"Hey, how was breakfast?" I asked, taking a break from the hassle of closing the suitcase.

"Great, actually. I've never had a breakfast like that in my life. Your dad really knows how to dine" Jess laughed at his own comment.

"That's great but we're leaving in less than an hour and your not even packed. Your clothes are scattered all over your bunk and your bag is all the way over there" I informed, pointing to the abandoned suitcase laying in front of the TV set.

Jess rolled his eyes and threw it on to the master bed. Climbing up to the top bunk to retrieve the rest of his stuff, he sighed.

"I wish we could stay here. It's real nice. I've never had a better sleep. Or breakfast" Jess ranted.

"Are you kidding? This is the least eventful part of the trip. You think this is great, you're gonna love Arlington" I replied, both of us packing accordingly.

"I envisioned it was gonna be just like Lark Creek" he admitted willingly.

"It doesn't even begin to compare. Lark Creek is so suburb and crowded yet gives off that feeling of emptiness at the same time. Arlington is a big city, full of smiling faces. Well, not all are smiling but you get the idea. They're nothing alike. You'll see."
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Jess and I both stumbled and tripped over our many bags down the halls of the hotel and staggered our way the vehicle which was parked out front.

"Let me get that for you" my dad offered, taking two bags from each of us and placing them accordingly in the back of the car.

"What about these ones?" I asked, the rest of the bags were clearly ready to drop from our struggling arms.

"Those ones will be going in Joan's car. That's why she came to meet us, to help haul everything there comfortably" Mom smiled, confirming my earlier curiosity.

"Alright, everything's packed! Judy will be riding with me and Bill, you're stuck with the kids" Aunt Joan directed. Neither Jess or myself quite knew how to respond to her comment.

Dad laughed with a tense and sarcastic tone in his voice. Mom and Aunt Joan gave us hugs and kisses goodbye before departing towards Aunt Joan's car which was parked on the other side of the hotel.

"Hop in!" Dad insisted a little more enthusiastically than he really felt.

I opened the backseat door and climbed in around the few suitcases cluttered around us. Jess trampled in behind me and closed the door.

"I can't find my seatbelt" Jess stated, looking hastily around the seat for it.

"Here" I offered and began digging around Jess's waist for the red buckle.

"You kids okay back there?" Dad asked, clearly oblivious to the debacle.

"Yeah, everything's great" I responded sarcastically, fed up with the amount of coats, shoes and suitcases cluttering the homely backseat.

Jess jumped when my hands brushed up against him, searching painfully for the buckle. I couldn't quite tell whether he was okay with it or not. It didn't matter long. I pulled the buckle with a struggle from in between the seat and let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks" Jess smiled, clicking the silver belt into the buckle. I smiled.

Dad turned on some of his favorite rock classics from the 80's and began singing along to the lyrics neither Jess nor I could catch.

We exchanged looks of sympathy while trying to hold back our laughs that escaped ever so often.

"What's so funny back there?" Dad asked jokingly, which we didn't quite catch on to at first.

Jess and I both stiffened up and looked at the other with large, fearful eyes.

"Nothing!" I insisted unconvincingly, earning a held-back chuckle that barely escaped Jess's covered mouth.

"Mmm hmm, that's what I'd always say to my parents" he laughed.

Jess and I again exchanged worrisome looks and both instantly just turned to gaze out the window.