Chapter 2

Jessie slammed her hand down on the alarm clock
buzzer, causing pain to surge through her hand and
sending her soon to scream. She jumped up and
rubbed it gently, sighing in pain she started
getting ready for another day.

She changed into a white spaghetti-strap butterfly shirt
and a short black skirt with knee-highs and sandals.
She put on some make-up and grabbed her purse.

"Come on Jason, time to go play with Kelly," she
said grabbing her baby son.

She ran down the stairs to Frank's apartment.
"Come on open up Frank I'm going to be late!" She
said as he opened the door. "Take care of
Jason till I get back?" She asked handing him to
Frank.

"Of course, have fun wherever you're going," he said
shutting the door and sitting Jason on the
floor aside his daughter Kelly.

She ran down another flight of stairs and out into the
Barnes and Noble bookstore she worked at.
It never took her long to get to work, but that's
not where she was going…she was going to
Liberty Island to see the statue of liberty.

"Wait! Hey wait for me!" Jessie yelled as she ran
down the seaport and over to the boat, handing them
her ticket and getting on. She straightened her
clothes and walked into the crowded boat.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Kevin why do we have to see this thing again?
We saw it last time we were
here," A.J. whined as they ran to the ferry.

"Aren't you proud of your country? Seeing this statue
helps you remember it," Kevin said as
A.J. and the guys gagged.

"You sound like Bill Clinton," Howie said
as Kevin smacked him.

"Wait for us we have tickets!" Brian said as they
showed the boatman their tickets. They got onto the
crowded boat to see a food bar in the middle of the
boat.

"Food!" Nick yelled running through
the crowd and knocking into a girl…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jessie picked up her hot chocolate that wasn't
hot and turned around to face a guy who
knocked right into her.

"Oh my God!" Jessie said looking at her shirt sadly.

She saw a hand reach for her as she
brushed him off and got up herself.

"I am so sorry…oh my God," Nick said looking at her.

"Yeah I know you got the whole damn thing over
me, not even a drop see!" She said handing
him the cup and stammering off to the second
floor of the ferry.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"See!" Jessie said handing Nick the cup
and running up to the second floor.

"Nick look what you did!" Brian said as Nick
watched her run up the stairs in anger.

"Brian I've found her," Nick said handing Brian
the cup and running upstairs.

"Found who?" Brian asked shrugging at Nick and
turning the cup upside down to get the speck
of chocolate at the bottom.

Nick soon was bombarded with a crowd of
people trying to go back and him trying to go forward.

"Excuse me," Nick said constantly as he smacked
people aside him. He finally got to an empty space
and stood, looking for the most beautiful girl he
had ever seen. He finally saw her sitting alone
on a bench cleaning her shirt with napkins.

Her hair shined bright, beautiful blonde, and so long.
Nick loved that. Her beautiful emerald eyes
glimmered even from the side of her face, and her
tan was so dark and looking soft to the touch.

'She's everything,' Nick thought as he nervously
walked over to the frustrated girl of his dreams.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jessie found an empty bench and sat down closest to
the window, looking out for a split second and then
going to clean. The guy she bumped into was
hot, but being clumsy wasn't something she liked in
her men.

She sat the napkins on her knee and started
to wipe the liquid off her favorite butterfly shirt.

"Hi," that same familiar voice said as
she turned around to see the guy's face.

"Hi," she said as he sat down next to her. Her
napkins fell on the floor, frustrated she bent down to
pick them up and hit the bench in front of her.

She heard the guy laugh as she picked up
her napkins with one hand and held her forehead
with the other.

She got up and walked away to another bench angrily,
she held her head and brushed off her shirt,
hoping the bad things that were going on would go
away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As soon as Nick stopped snickering at the girl's
misfortune, he watched as she got up and walked
away to another bench. 'God she smells
good,' he thought as he sighed at his own misfortune.

"Hey Nicky boy! Brian said you found her,
found your bet?" Howie asked sitting next to
him as they guys followed soon after.

"Yep, right there," Nick said pointing to the
frustrated girl brushing napkins across her shirt.

"Nick…you sure?" A.J. asked laughing at her
misfortune as Nick did.

"Yes I'm sure. That wasn't her fault,
that was mine," Nick said as the guys laughed.

"That's the way to win her Nick!" Brian said as
they laughed harder.

"Bite me," Nick said staring at her.

"She does look good…really…really good," A.J. said
licking his lips. He got up as Nick looked
at him nervously.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked as
A.J. walked over to her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jessie heard more laughing coming from that bench
as she sighed in frustration, anger, and almost to tears.

"Hi there," A.J. said towering over her. She
nodded and went back to cleaning her soaked shirt.

"I'm A.J., what's your name?" A.J. asked.

"None of your business," she said mumbling.

"Oh come on, I asked politely," he said
trying to get her to talk.

"How about fuck you?" She said looking at him angrily
in the face. She got up, looking at Nick
before entering the bathroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nick watched as she walked to the
bathroom, looking at him for a split second.
A.J. walked over laughing.

"What did you do?" Nick asked angrily.

"She's a bitch Nick!" A.J. said as the
guys laughed. "You picked a bitch Nick!"

Nick sighed as looked out the window
as they finally came to a stop on Liberty Island.

"Ladies and gentleman, this is the stop for Liberty
Island, if you wish to go to Ellis Island please remain
seated, as the rest of you have a nice day," the guy
said over the intercom. The guys got up as
Nick sat, waiting for Jessie to get up.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jessie felt the boat stop as she heard the man over the
intercom, "Ladies and gentleman, this is the stop for
Liberty Island, if you wish to go to Ellis Island
please remain seated, as the rest of you have a
nice day."

She sighed; hoping it wasn't a windy day. She got up
and headed down the stairs, relentless and frustrated,
she wanted to get the cold liquid off her shirt.

She had no choice but to get off the ferry with
the cold winds brushing up against her,
causing chills up her spine.

"Great," she said out loud. She started walking and
looked as she saw tourists pass and people who
didn't speak English. She decided to go into the
Liberty Island restaurant and use the hand dryers in
their restroom.

"Hey!" The guy called to her. She groaned; hoping that
maybe if she closed her eyes he'd disappear.
When she reopened her eyes she saw him standing
in front of her, causing her to scream loud.

"God you scared me!" She yelled stammering
off as the guy followed.

"I'm sorry I didn't know what you were doing!
What were you doing anyways?" He asked puzzled.

"Just go away huh? You've done enough to
fuck up my day," she said opening the restaurant door.

"I want to talk to you!" He said practically jogging
to keep up with her fast walking pace.

"Well I DON'T want to talk to you! Excuse me,
you can't come in here," she said opening
the bathroom door and walking inside.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You can't come in here," the girl said opening the
girl's bathroom door and stammering in like a child.

"Fine, I'll wait," he said leaning on the
wall aside the bathroom door.

"Hey Nicky! Having fun?" Howie asked
holding a coke and a statue of liberty shaped cookie.

"Blast," he said angrily.

"Well, the ferry comes back in an hour and a half, so
see ya then! Have fun!" Howie said patting
his shoulder before walking off.

"Ha ha ha," Nick said rolling his eyes,
hoping she didn't stay in there long.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She stood there, feeling the burning hot air coming
upon her chest. She clenched her fist at the pain
and waited for her shirt to dry, hoping she wouldn't
get 3rd degree burns before it finally dried.

Two Chinese women came in and washed their
hands, laughing and giggling at Jessie's misfortune.
They waited behind her for the dryer,
so Jessie decided to take her time to piss them off.

When she finished, she grinned and opened the
restroom door, only to find the immensely
annoying guy on the other side waiting for her.

"I knew you couldn't be in there
forever," he said giving her a sly grin.

"You can follow me as much as you want but that
doesn't mean I'm going to listen. And what if I run and
scream rape? I'll do it, I live in New York so
I get to do that a lot," she said opening
the door to the outside.

"You wouldn't do that," he said in denial. She
stopped dead in her tracks and looked
at him for a second.

"You're one of those…those Backstreet
losers aren't you?"

"Why yes, yes I am. Loser though I'm
not," he said acting, or trying to act suave.

"Mmm hmm, whatever," she said rolling her eyes.
"Being in a boy band automatically puts you
in the loser category."

"Oh and what do you listen to then?" He asked.

"Nothing you would like," she said walking again.

"Try me," he said as she sat down in
the bench showing the view of Manhattan.

"Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Blink 182, like I said, nothing
you would listen to. All boy band losers
listen to R&B shit," she said pulling out a cigarette.

"Nirvana is one of my favorite bands, Foo Fighters
too," he said watching her put the cigarette
in her mouth. "You know those'll kill ya,"
he said pointing to it.

"And why should you care? You
don't even know me," she said as she lit it.

"I want to," he said as she turned and looked at him.

"Why? Why me? Cause you bumped into me
and want to do a good deed or what?"
She asked taking a puff.

"Because I like you, I think you're beautiful," he
said waiting for her reaction.

"You're not from around here
are you?" She asked laughing a little.

"I was born here does that count?" He asked grinning.

"Not at all," she said shaking her head. She got up
and brushed him off. She threw her cigarette into
the grass and walked into the statue, hoping he wouldn't
follow her again.

She looked at the long line to get up the statue
and sighed, hoping it wouldn't take as long as it looked.

"Tell me your name," the guy said standing
aside her again.

"Damn, do you ever go away?" She said angrily.

"I wanna know your name."

"If I tell you will you leave me alone?" She said
as the line moved a quarter inch.

"Maybe."

"Then no."

"Hi no, I'm Nick," he said holding out his hand.

"Don't touch me, you're accident prone," she
said smacking his hand away from her.

"And you're not?"

"What?"

"Well look at the red and soon bruised
bump on your forehead," he said pointing to it.

"Whatever. You know what I can do? See
that cop over there beside the metal
detector?" She said pointing.

"Uh huh," he said playing along.

"I'll tell him you stole something from the gift shop,
or that you're trying to hurt me, endless
possibilities in New York."

"You wouldn't," he said shaking his head in disbelief.

"I will if you don't shut the fuck up and
leave me alone!" She said getting a migraine.

"Well if I don't talk to you who will?"

"Me myself and I," she said turning to face
the man in front of her.

"That's a sign of insanity."

"Then watch out, I'm going insane," she said
rolling her eyes at how immature he was.

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