Unexplainable [Original Version]

[chapter three: "reunion from hell"]

"One day." Jolene's reply is completely devoid of all emotions. She downs the rest of her wine before standing up and grabbing my hand. "It was fun seeing you, Paula. Nice to catch up."

The couple send an awkward expression before waving and slinking away. I stand up and wrap my arm around Joli's shoulders while she leads us back over to the alcohol.

What was that about? Is it Joli's ex that she doesn't want to see? I mean, shit, I knew she had been married before, but I didn't hear about that from her; I heard that from Dallas one day. Hell, he'd heard it from Kimberly. None of us have ever heard anything about her marriage, though. She's obviously not going to blabber on about something that didn't work like that, but I've literally never even heard her even mention it.

I don't get it, but I'm not going to pressure her about that, especially not right now. Once Joli has her refill, I lead her over into one of the corners and lean against the wall, still with my arm around her. One of the ladies, who I'm assuming helped plan this thing, is on the stage and blabbering about how they're going to start blasting music and playing games and shit like that, but I'm not really paying attention to her. I'm more concerned about my little Joli.

"If you want to leave, babe, just say the word. We'll dart the fuck out of here and never look back." I have to lean over so that I can whisper into Joli's ear, otherwise I don't think she could hear me. My voice seems to momentarily startle her, as if she were in her own world.

"No, I'm okay. I'll be fine. It's just..." Joli trails off and gives a nervous chuckle. "No, don't worry about it."

I don't really believe that she's okay, not for a second, but what can I do? She already didn't want to come, and now that she's here, she's obviously worried out of her mind. Should I just tell Joli that we're leaving and usher her out? Ah fuck, I don't know.

Joli and I stay in the corner for a while. Any time anyone comes over, I take over most of the talking for her. I mean, I don't know any of these people and their names all run together in my mind, but it's better than forcing Joli to do it when she really doesn't feel like it. So many of these people seemed to be convinced that we're together, it's crazy. I literally had some guy whisper in my ear that I was lucky to be fucking the girl he had a crush on all throughout high school.

I mean, I punched him pretty hard in the arm, but I was nice. Kinda.

After a couple of hours, Joli is pretty plastered. She's not flinging her clothes off or anything, but she's definitely found a way to calm herself down. You know, that's one of the things I've always liked about Joli; she didn't get herself completely shitfaced, even though she most definitely wanted to. Joli's not going to make a fool of herself.

A big dance is started inside as Jolene and I head back out to the car for a moment. She grabs herself a cigarette and lights it before leaning against the car and looking towards the sky. I cross my arms over my chest and stand beside of her.

"Scott, you're the fuckin' best, you know that, don't you?" Jolene's voice is slurred as all hell, but I understand her clearly. She wraps an arm around me and gives me a small hug before returning to her cigarette. "Thank you for coming with me tonight."

"I'll always do anything I can for you, babe. You know that." I smile down at Joli, but I can't help but wonder if it was even worth it to come tonight. She seemed to have a decent enough time when we got here, but ever since we talked to that couple and they mentioned her ex-husband, she's been kind of numb.

"Thank you."

We're getting ready to go back inside when Jolene spots someone that makes her freeze in her tracks. It's a blonde-haired woman who's just a tad bit taller than Joli and walks over to us the moment she and Joli make eye contact. I quickly glance down at my hand as Joli grabs it, squeezing it tightly.