Hey guys! I hope everyone has a happy Valentine's Day whether or not you have someone to share it woth ( I don't, which sucks, but hey! maybe next year *doubtful*) Anyway, my BFF Cheesehead is freaking number two on the what's hot list for her freaking amazing story "Why did You do It?" I'm so proud of her and she entered the Watty Awards and you should go check it out and vote for her because the story is like truely amazing (plus she told me that I could have some of the money if she winss although I'm pretty sure she was joking... ahahah) but you should vote for her! :D
BTW this is a pretty good chapter. It kind of shows how Lyndon and Jessica are kind of a like in that they both have been faced with traumatic events in their lives.
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Chapter Five
Jessica sat down at the table in the corner she always sat at during lunch. She was so used to being alone all the time, so when Lyndon sat down across from her, she felt a little weird and self conscious. She didn't like how he was looking at her- like she was going to break any second. The only thing Lyndon didn't know was that Jessica was already broken and nothing he did was going to put her pieces back together. She didn't care if Marcus was caught and put in jail for the rest of his life. It wouldn't turn back time so that none of the sh*t that had happened would disappear and Jessica could have been a happy, normal girl.
Jessica picked at the sandwich her mother had made for her the day before and stored in the fridge. She wasn't hungry. Come to think of it, Jessica was never hungry. Ever since she came home from rehab, food simply repulsed her for some incomprehensible reason. She didn't like the full feeling it gave her. Jessica liked feeling completely empty inside because that was what she was: empty.
Jessica felt Lyndon looking at her, so he looked up at him and met his hazel eyes with hers. He was so gorgeous and he didn't even seem to notice it which just added to his hotness. When she had seen Lyndon this morning in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, these old feelings rose up inside of her that hadn't been out in over three years: feelings of lust. And Jessica was scared. She was scared about how she felt about Lyndon.
Lyndon stared at Jessica. She was picking at her food again. She reminded him of this little baby bird he saved when he was little. His cat had first eaten its mother and it was about to the baby when Lyndon swooped down knocked his cat to the side and picked up the baby bird. It didn't know how to fly yet, so it wouldn't have been able to get away. Lyndon had taken the bird inside to show to his mom, who shrieked when she saw it and told Lyndon to put it back outside. She was just like the bird, fragile and helpless.
Jessica looked up and locked eyes with Lyndon. "Why are you staring at me?"
Lyndon shrugged. "I don't know. You're interesting, I guess."
Jessica's eyes widened and then she looked back down. "Well, stop f*cking look at me. It's creeping me out."
Lyndon shook his head in disbelief at Jessica and looked away from her and over at the table of girls who were all staring at him. He smiled and all the girls went crazy, giggling and blushing like maniacs. High school girls were confusing even then while Lyndon was an adult. He couldn't figure out why they were making such a big deal about him.
He finished the lunch Mrs. Falcone packed him and crumbled the brown paper bag into a ball and tossed it into the trashcan which was a couple feet from their table. "Nice shot," said a voice from behind. Lyndon turned around and that girl, Tulip, was standing behind him with a smile playing on her lips.
"Thanks," Lyndon said, quickly. He turned back around and hoped that she had gotten the hint that he wanted her to go away and not bother him.
She didn't and slid into the seat next to Lyndon, her leg brushing his arm as she lifted it. He was being violated by an eighteen year old girl. It was so not right.
"So what are you doing all the way over here, Landon," she asked, getting Lyndon's name wrong again.
Lyndon ran his hand through his short hair and looked at Jessica who was staring at Tulip with a disgusted look on her face. Lyndon didn't think she liked Tulip very much. He didn't either. "I'm sitting with my friend, Jessica and my name is Lyndon, not Landon."
"Oh, right, sorry. And you guys are friends," Tulip asked motioning between the two of them with her bright pink fingernailed hand.
"Yeah," Lyndon said.
"Oh, cool. How about you take a break and come sit with me and my friends for the remainder of lunch, Lyndon," she asked, pressing her knee against Lyndon's. He was pretty sure she was doing that on purpose and felt disgusted. Touching her was practically statutory rape.
"No, I'm good. Thanks anyway, though," Lyndon said, praying that maybe now she would get the hint.
"Oh, come on, Lyndon," she whined. She turned to Jessica and smiled, "It's okay with you if he comes with me, right, Jess?"
Jessica looked up from her picked at sandwich. "Yeah, whatever. I don't care."
Lyndon sighed and looked at Tulip. "Look, Tulip, I'm not interested, okay?"
Tulip narrowed her eyes at Lyndon. "Whatever." She got up and sashayed back to her table. Lyndon sighed in relief and looked up at Jessica who was staring at him with her head tilted to the side.
"What?" Lyndon asked.
"Why didn't you go with her?"
Is she stupid? Lyndon thought. "Why would I go with her? I'm sitting here with you. I'm here to protect you, Jessica."
"But, don't you think she's pretty?"
Lyndon was shocked. "What? Are you kidding me? She looks like someone took a paintbrush and painted a clown mask on her face, no offense to her or anything, but really. And there is such a thing as being too forward."
"I thought guys liked forward girls."
"I guess if you're seventeen. I'm twenty six, Jessica. I'm not a high schooler anymore."
"Well, neither am I. I'm twenty and stuck in a building full of ignorant little kids with brains the sizes of peas. That girl Tulip, she is two years younger than me. Before the incident, she used to worship the ground I walked on. Now, it's like I'm some kind of pariah. I hate it so much here. I begged my parents to let me be home schooled, but they refused and said that I needed the social contact whatever the hell that means."
Lyndon was shocked. This was the most Jessica had ever said to Lyndon in one sitting. She must have realized this also because she frowned deeply and focused on wrapping up her uneaten sandwich inside the paper bag and getting up to throw it out.
Maybe this thing with Jessica wasn't going to be as bad as Lyndon had previous expected.
The school day was finally over and Lyndon was thankful. He wasn't paid enough for this sh*t. Why would he have gone through twenty years of school just to go right back? It was stupid and f*cked up and he wanted to go home and go to bed late and sleep until the afternoon. But he couldn't. So Lyndon sucked it up and tried to tell himself that everything was going to be okay and this job was going to be a quick one.
When they got home, a big, cardboard box was sitting on the front porch. The cameras were here. Jessica went inside because she had to do homework and Lyndon got to work setting up cameras and alarms all over the premises of the house. He put a camera and an alarm, right outside Jessica's bedroom window which was incredibly difficult considering her room was on the second floor, but he managed by getting the grill and standing on top of that as he hooked up the small HD hidden camera and alarm which went off when Jessica's window opened while Lyndon had the sensor on. When he was done, he wired the cameras to show surveillance on the TV he had in his room and set the alarm system for all hours. If anybody opened the window, the alarm would go off, sending off a sound that could wake the dead.
He knocked on Jessica's door. He needed to tell her not to ever open her window or else she would set the alarm off. She yelled, "Come in," over her loud obnoxious music. Lyndon opened the door reveling Jessica lying upside down on her bed so that her feet were propped up on the headboard and her head was almost hanging off the bottom.
Lyndon walked in and smirked. "Well you sure look comfortable."
Jessica looked up at him upside down. She was reading a book. She picked up a little remote that was sitting next to her and pointed at her stereo, making the music disappear. "What do you want?"
Lyndon walked over to her window and pulled back the see through black curtain with his arm. "I set up a high def camera and alarm sensor right outside your window. The sensor will go off if the window is opened, so don't open it unless you tell me and I can come and turn it off. Okay?"
Jessica looked at the window and nodded her head. "Whatever." She went back to reading her book. Lyndon got a glimpse of the title. Leaving Paradise. Lyndon sat down on the edge of her bed and watched her eyes move over the page in pure concentration. Eventually she looked up at him. "Why are you staring at me again? You're making me nervous."
Lyndon looked away from her and the mirror propped up on her dresser. "You remind me of my sister."
She scoffed. "She must be pretty screwed up."
"No, she was great. She'd do the same thing you're doing, sit on her bed upside down with her head hanging off with a book. She preferred romance. And if anyone walked in or disturbed her while she was reading, she would throw this screaming fit and slam and lock her door. Sometimes she would get so caught up in a book, she would forget to eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom. It was funny."
Jessica sat up a little and rested her book on her stomach. "What's her name?"
"Her name was Abella."
"Why are you talking about her in the past tense?"
Lyndon looked away from the mirror and at Jessica's face. "She died in a car accident when she was fifteen. She was in the car with her friend and a drunk driver hit them head on. She died instantaneously."
Jessica's eyes glazed over. "I'm so sorry."
Lyndon smiled. "There's no need to apologize, Jessica. It happened a long time ago. It'll be ten years in August."
"What was she like?"
"She was incredibly beautiful. All the guys were after her constantly, so as her older brother I had my hands full trying to fight them off with my baseball bat and lacrosse stick. Protecting her was like a full time job. But the biggest thing about my sister was her heart. She was kind to everyone no matter how different they were and she never uttered a bad word to anybody unless you interrupted her reading of course,"- Jessica smiled, something that Lyndon had never seen Jessica do before- "But, I miss my sister all the time and so does my mother. My father left after Abella died. He couldn't take it, so he moved back to Mexico and worked his tail off until he died three years ago of a heart attack. He worked himself to death. And my mother, she was never the same. She was kind and gentle and loving before the accident, but she just turned to stone afterwards."
Lyndon watched as Jessica moved her long, graceful hand across the purple duvet and touched his hand. He moved his hand also so that his palm was against her palm. Then they both intertwined their fingers. Lyndon was holding hands with Jessica Falcone. This girl continued to surprise him every day.
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So what do you think? Tell me at the bottom of this page here. I would appreciate it :D Thanks
Love
Mel Bell <33
BTW I'm going to add a little bit of Jessica's POV here and there and maybe even possibly Marcus's (the guy in the trafficking mob who kidnapped Jess and sent her to Russia) Good idea? Yay? Nay?