Chapter 16: Private After Party…
"Taylor and I should ride in the Beetle, we haven’t talked in a while and you and Ike can ride together in your car Jenn." Amy said as "Plan A" was going into affect.
"You guys just talked today, didn’t you?" Jenn asked incredulously, she wasn’t sure how she felt about Isaac. Her dream kept reoccurring and it weighted heavily on her mind. Taylor and Amy glared at her like she was the stupidest person alive.
Amy remarked, "Yes, but we need MORE time…."
"OK, OK, sorry I said anything. You coming Ike?" Jenn said as she got off the hood of her Thunderbird. They had parked in an alley so Amy and Isaac could switch cars. Isaac shrugged his shoulders and hopped off the hood and sauntered over to Jenn, holding out his hands waiting for something. "Yes? Do I have something you want?"
"Keys."
"My car. I drive. So, NANANANANANA" Jenn giggled as Isaac loosened his tie.
"OK, but I hope you drive as well as you take pictures." Isaac huffed and walked over to the passenger side of the car and got in.
"Afraid I’ll run off the road?" Jenn said as she stepped in the car also and started the engine. "Buckle up." She reminded him as she strapped herself in.
"Is that a warring?" He chuckled also making the seat belt click.
She revved the engine up and said with a smile, "Maybe."
---------------------------------------
"So what’s next? They’re at least talking." Amy said as she and Taylor waited for Jenn to pull out of the alley.
"Well what are we doing at your house?" Taylor asked trying to change the subject. His mouth dropped open and he stared wide-eyed at the dark skid marks that Jenn had left from the alley as she sped onto the freeway. "She doesn’t do that a lot does she?"
"Nah, she prolly did it to scare Ike." Amy said as they pulled out of the alley much safer then Jenn had just had.
----------------------------------
"WHAT are you trying to do???? Kill me?" Ike shouted as Jenn slowed down to wait for Taylor to follow her out of the alley.
"No one was coming its, sheesh."
"I just want to live, is that so wrong?" He sarcastically asked.
She glanced in his direction and said, "Maybe… So Isaac Hanson, how have you been?"
"Just peachy, been at home, writing songs, demoing them so we can start recording… And that’s about it." He summed up almost the past year. "And you? You look different." He said, looking at her slyly.
"Well," She started a little flustered. "I’m still engrossed with my photography, i.e.-that’s why I’m here, I work for the magazine company Sizzle I’m one of their interns for the summer. And the new car you are sitting in was acquired from some money I received from my grandmothers’ will. And unlike Britney Spears, I had my stomach pumped last summer because of a evil hot dog."
"Britney Spears?" Isaac asked, "What’s wrong with her?"
"Well, where should I begin? Her boobs are fake, she’s 17 and was half-naked in Rolling Stones, her hair is a weave in that "Sometimes" video, her voice is digitally enhanced and her tan is probably fake too." Jenn summed up.
"Well aren’t we being a tad bit mean?" He asked teasingly.
"Yeah, I admit it, I’m a bit jealous, but she’s like so gross, the only reason she’s making all that money is because she’s the only one that is really out there as a solo pop singer."
"And she’s really cute."
"OH SHUT UP!"
-----------------------------------------------
"So what do you think they are talking about?" Amy asked nervously.
"Do I look like I have a transmitter so I can know what they are saying" Taylor jokingly said.
"Well you know Ike, what would he do? I know Jenn, and I’m afraid of what she may be saying to him"
"Honestly I dunno. But what are WE gonna do?" Taylor asked taking one hand off the steering wheel and holding Amy’s hand. "I’ve missed talking to you. All we’ve been speaking about it "Plan A". How was the play you were just in?" he finished, watching the road. "What was the name of it again?"
"It was Bye Bye Birdie. I played the lead, Kim Macafee, it was a lot of work, but I had fun. It was the first musical I’ve ever been in that I had to sing solos’. It was nerve wracking." She said as the scenery passed by.
"So who was Conrad?" Taylor asked, he knew the plot loosely, and the whole time Conrad was trying to get with Kim.
"Oh, a really good actor, his name is James, he did a really good job." Amy sighed.
"I wish that I could have seen you sing." Taylor said sighing also. They sat in comfortable silence the rest of the way to Amy’s house.
--------------------------------------
"Here we are." Jenn said to all of them when they all stepped out of the cars. Her and Isaac bantered on about who was a better musician, Backstreet Boys or N*SYNC. And they talked about dating issue, not with each other, but whom they had dated. Isaac explained that his mother set him up with like 16 different girls and he didn’t want her to do that, but he said ‘Mother’s never listen.’
Amy’s mom during the summer worked on one of the soap operas to make more money, Jenn had discovered that her Aunt Cathy was a Work-o-hollic, and was never home.
"Yes, welcome to our humble home." Amy added as Jenn unlocked the front door.
"This place looks so familiar…." Taylor chided as they all stepped through the front door.
"Really?" Jenn asked with sarcasm dripping from her voice. She giggled slightly and then added, "I dunno about you guys, but I’m hungry." And sauntered off towards the kitchen.
"Me too." Amy replied following Jenn to the kitchen.
"I’m a little hungry, what do you have to eat?" Isaac said entering the brightly-lit kitchen. Jenn had pushed play on the answering machine.
A very bubbly Aunt Cathy came on the line and said, "Hey girls, its mom. Out with Jeff, be back late." Jeff was an actor that worked on the soap opera that Cathy worked on.
"OK, so you all want Pizza or Nuggets?" Jenn asked showing two boxes.
"Pizza!" Replied Amy, Taylor and Isaac.
"OK then." Jenn said preheating the oven. And began to leave the kitchen.
"Hey Jenn, there’s one more message." Amy piped up, trying to keep Jenn and Isaac in the same room for as long as possible.
"Oh… Really? Oops, we kinda broke the machine, I remember now. Push play." Jenn said reentering the kitchen.
Another voice came sailing into the room, "Hey Jenn, it’s Gary, I’m in Oakland with the family, I’ll be there tomorrow. I can’t wait to see you. Love ya, Gary."
"Umm… Cool. So I finally get to meet Gary?" Amy happily asked.
"Who’s Gary?" Isaac asked, almost a bit jealous.
"Gary’s a live long friend, he’s the nicest guy I have ever met. The only one that’s ever been that nice to me, is you." Jenn said half smiling, avoiding his eyes, speaking the utter truth. Isaac’s heart melted. His heart ached for more when Jenn glanced up and weakly smiled.
Amy and Taylor exchanged glances. This is going to be better than we planned. Amy thought, knowing that Taylor was thinking the same.
"What about me?" Amy chided, putting the pizza in the oven.
"I mean a guy, silly. You all want anything to drink?" Jenn asked Taylor and Isaac as she got a pop out of the fridge.
"Um, sure, what’ya got?" Taylor asked, peeking into the fridge.
"Grape juice, OJ, pop, milk, and water." Jenn replied, as Amy hanged on Taylor.
"Pop please." Isaac said looking behind from the little island.
"Me too."
"Me three" Amy giggled.
"You can count.." Jenn said as she handed out the sodas. "I’ll be right back, I’m going to take my contacts out."
"Alright." Amy replied, as Jenn left the kitchen and run up to her room. "So Ike, what ya think of that!" Amy said smiling.
"Think of what…?" He replied confused.
"Of Jenn, she’s been talking about you lately." Amy said lying.
"Jenn’s cool, like she’s always been." He didn’t think it was normal for Jenn to talk about him or any other guy. It didn’t seem like her, but he didn’t really know her that well either.
"You still taking voice lessons?" Amy cooed to Taylor.
"Yeah, my voice isn’t dropping correctly because of all the singing I’ve been doing." He replied as they both slowly forgot about Isaac’s presence. So he decided to find Jenn’s room.
-----------------------------------------
"I can’t believe I said that!" Jenn mused aloud as she opened her bedroom door. "Well, it’s true, but, UGH, WHY ME? I could just be with Gary, but Ike and Scott make it complicated. Well, I can kiss Scott good-bye, he’s prolly pretty pissed that I gave him the pizza place as my phone number." She chuckled at the thought and pushed play on her stereo system and pushed play, it was Mariah’s #1 and fast forwarded through the newer songs to the older ones that she liked more.
"Meow." Whined her cat when the music started.
"OK, I’ll feed you." Jenn said petting the black cat as is rubbed against her leg. Jenn found the cat whining underneath the tree in the front yard and took it in. The cat had to stay in Jenn’s room because Aunt Cathy didn’t like cats too much. "C’mon Giggles. Here’s your food." Jenn said setting the food down on the bathrooms floor. She petted the cat and mumered "You are soo cute, yes you are." She walked out of the room to put her camera away and she softly sang along with Mariah. She walked back into the bathroom as the cat walked out to remove her contacts. She didn’t notice that Isaac had been standing there at her door watching her, she didn’t notice the things around her.
She emerged from the bathroom with round glasses on heard a deep voice "You’re a cute kitty…"
She looked over to see Isaac on the floor petting Giggles. "Holy crap! How long have you been in here?"
"Long enough to say that you have a lovely voice and two, turn off that CD, she screams too much." Isaac said looking up at Jenn. "What’s its name any ways?"
"Her name is Giggles. You are so cute, yes you are…" She cooed to the cat as Giggles joined her on the bed. The cat rubbed against Jenn’s face.
"Why thank you, I try very hard." Isaac said sitting next to her.
"Um, I was talking to the cat, see?" She said putting the cat in Isaac’s face. "Moron." She said laughing as the cat squirmed to be freed. When she was freed it retreated to her pillow at the head of the bed.
"I am not." He retorted, pushing her.
"Ya Ike you’re not, I have something to tell you." Jenn said, becoming somber and serious. She faced him and said, "Do you remember last year? The night I just kinda ran away from you." She stated, looking at her hands.
"Yes I do, why?" He asked confused.
"Well you know when you yelled at me?"
"Yes I do, he said a little ashamed.
"The only reason I ran out like I did was that when you yelled at me you reminded me of J-Josh." She choked back. "He had yelled at me like that before, and he hit my…. And he….." Jenn was too upset to finish the sentence
Isaac wanted to know what troubled her, he needed to know. "What did he do Jenn?"
She started to shake with fear, she closed her eyes and let the tears silently roll, "He, he, ra-reaped me. He, he was drunk and he hit me and called me names and, and he raped me." She said sobbing.
Isaac didn’t know what to say, he felt this immense anger at Josh, he caused Jenn all this pain, How could anyone do that?
"But Ike, Ike look at me." Jenn said lifting his chin to see his eyes. "Don’t tell anyone, not even Taylor, you are the only person I have told, I don’t want or need sympathy. I told you because I, I like you. A lot, but I dunno how I am going to deal with our time apart, if you even still like me." Jenn finished, looking at him, hopefully being able to read his features for a sign.
He was shocked, really didn’t know what to say, he was outraged that anyone would hurt her, yet why alone did he possess this information? Because, She likes me. He blushed and sighed. "Do you know how long I’ve waited to hear you say that?"
"No, how long?"
"16 blind dates, that’s how long!" He replied, laughing.
Jenn giggled and laid flat on her back and said "Well sooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrieeeeee." He lay next to her and she added, "Were they really that bad?"
"You have no idea."
"Try me."
-----------------------------------
"Well they’re missing pizza." Amy said as her and Taylor ate alone.
"Yeah but Ike needs this, the songs he wrote are a little depressing, those type of ballads that are really depressing and heart wrenching, sad songs." Taylor said pulling some cheese off his pizza slice.
"Really?"
"Yeah, mom noticed it and that’s when the blind dates started"
"Oh I bet that was fun." Amy sarcastically stated.
"Oh he had lots of fun! I was just glad that she didn’t get anyone for me so we could all go together." Taylor said.
"Have you told her about us?" Amy cut in.
"What is us any ways?" He asked. "We don’t go out.."
"We don’t have the time." She cut in
"We barely see each other."
"Its called long-distance relationship." Again Amy reasoned. "We both like each other, and haven’t dated anyone else right?" And said as Taylor agreed by nodding his head. "Good, cause if not I didn’t want to hurt that cute little face of yours." Amy threatened with a evil grin.
"You wouldn’t dare." He said, "I would hurt you back."
"Now that’s something that you wouldn’t dare." She shot back.
------------------------------------
"OK, well that last one had to be bad, but at least you dated, I was to busy too." Jenn said, lying on her bed with him. She propped herself up on her arm.
"Well let’s get off the subject of dating." Isaac said looking around her room. "Is that a fridge?" He asked pointing to a rectangle box that sat next to her stereo
"Yeah it is, Aunt Cathy thought that I was spending to much time here in my room and I wasn’t getting enough to eat, so she bought that for me. You want something?" Jenn said getting up to open it. "I have a few lunch thingys and a bunch of juice boxes."
"No thanks, maybe later. What’s in this?" Isaac said getting up and walking over to a chest. It had a t.v. and a VCR. "Man you are spoiled."
"I am not! These are like my presents till I’m like 20!" She said sipping on a juice box.
"I’m so sure!" He said, and laughed when she pouted. He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked down at her. "Well this make you feel better?" He whispered in her ear and kissed her deeply on her lips. She smiled through the kiss and let her hands run through his long hair. And his hands rubbed her back.
When the kiss ended she backed up and said, "Yes it did." And flounced back over to her bed.