2 Weeks Later...
“Nicole, babe, I think two packages of Kool-aid will be more than enough,” Jessica was saying to her sister. Nicole had just finished dumping the second package of “Groovy Grape” Kool-aid into the cold pitcher of ice water in front of her. She was in the process of opening a third. At her older sister’s words, the seven year-old’s face instantly scrunched up. “Jess, don’t you know anything? Kool-aid tastes just plain nasty with only two packages in it...I mean, it tastes like flavored water,” she said, continuing to open the purple package. Before she could put in the contents, Jessica scooped it up out of her reach. “That’s what Kool-aid is dearie...besides, the directions only call for one package. If mom knew that I let you do that, she would freak. You know you’re allergic to sugar...” Jessica responded, throwing the package in the garbage under the sink in front of her. She went back to cutting the tomatoes for the salad that night. She heard a groan from her sister as she picked up a wooden spoon to stir the mixture. “I know I’m allergic to it, but I don’t feel anything when I eat it,” Nicole said, a pout on her face. Jessica sighed. “Come on, Niky, it could be worse, you know...” she told her. “Yeah, I guess,” came the response.
Suddenly, her mother’s cheery voice rang out as she stepped into the lit kitchen. “How we doin, guys?” she asked everybody in the room. A chorus of “awfuls” and “bads” came flying back at her. Jessica’s mother just laughed. “Oh, come on, kids...one night cooking dinner all by yourself is not going to kill you,” she said, going to the fridge to pull out a bottle of water. Earlier that morning, all the adults in the house decided that the kids were having too much fun, and not much work around the house. Actually, Jessica secretly thought that they just pooped out, but she knew better than to say that. So the kids were all put to work during the day, doing various jobs. The last “duty” was to cook dinner...spagetti dinner. Jessica knew it was going to end in disaster. She could already see the marinara sauce splattered over everything in sight.
Taylor spoke up from the stove area. “Hey, Kelly, is there any way that you can burn water?” he asked her, quite serious. Her mother started laughing along with Jessica. “How did you burn water, Tay?” she asked him, turning around. Taylor was staring into the huge pot in front of him. “Oh, I didn’t...not yet at least. I just was wondering that’s all...” he said, poking a huge wooden spoon into the bubbling water. Jessica shook her head. “Taylor?” she asked him. “What?” he replied, raising his head. “The water is boiling...” she told him, holding back a laugh. Taylor didn’t seem to get the point. “So?” he asked her. “I swear, boy, you have never cooked a day in your life,” Kelly said, shaking her head and smiling. Taylor just nodded. “Well, duh, no I haven’t...and so what if it’s boiling?” he asked them both, his face turning more confused by the moment, “is that good or bad?” Jessica looked at her mother’s face, and turned around so she wouldn’t crack up. It wasn’t just because he was totally clueless about the subject, it was just that she seemed to think that this was incredibly cute.
“Okay, dear, now you put the spagetti into it, so you don’t burn the water,” her mother said in a teasing tone. “Ohhh...” she could hear Taylor mutter behind her, “well, nobody told me that...” She heard the rustling of the spagetti wrappers behind her. Jessica still smiled as she got back to what she was doing. She was in charge of the salad. And making a salad for 26 people was not easy. Everyone was coming for dinner that night...including all of her uncles, and her cousins friends. How she was related to that many people was beyond her...
“Honey, you okay?” her mother whispered behind her. Jessica’s smile vanished. She really wished her mother would stop doing that. It had been two weeks since she told her mother about that night. She knew her mom would be shocked and even more hurt to hear about it...and she was. But suprisingly, she was taking it considerably well after Jessica had told her that she was finally okay. Sure, it wasn’t something that a mother could just forget, but Jessica sensed that her mom believed her when she said that. Although, it was a mother’s job to make sure every once in awhile. So everyday the past two weeks, her mother had chosen every opportunity to ask if she was okay. It was comforting for awhile...but now it was a little silly. Nothing had changed in those days, and her mom knew it. But still...it was her job.
“I’m fine mom...you don’t have to worry anymore, k?” she told Kelly, turning around to look. Her mother’s gaze was worried, but instantly seized after her daughter’s words. “Okay, okay...” Kelly said, “I know that I’ve been bugging you, but it’s hard not to, you know?” Jessica smiled at this. “Yeah, I know. Thanks mom,” she told her. Kelly gave her a squeeze around the shoulders, and at that, left the kids to finish the dinner.
After her mom left, Jessica couldn’t help but think about Samantha. Two days after she found out about Brenden Kelly had been in contact with Sam's mother about the party on Friday night. Instantly, Samantha was told about Jessica’s incident, and no one needed to tell her not to go. Sam was one of the only people that could tell that something about Jessica just wasn’t right. Now she knew, and it had all made sense to her. She had called Jessica at the ranch the night before, and they had talked for hours. She had never felt closer to her in her life...and there was only one other person who she felt that with also.
As if on cue, Taylor spoke up from the stove area. “Hey, Jess?” he was saying, “what would happen if...oh, I dunno...if someone were to get burned with scalding hot water? What would you do?” Jessica instantly dropped the knife in her hands and turned around. She had expected one of the little kids to be in crying pain, but everyone else seemed to be alright. The only one who wasn’t was Taylor...he was gripping his left hand in his right, with a grimace across his face. “Ugh, Taylor! What did you have to do that for?” she asked him, hurrying across the floor, and pulling his arm towards the sink. “Well, it is a freaking huge pot...some of the water was bound to come out of it,” Taylor said following along. At the sink, Jessica turned the faucet all the way to cold, grabbed Taylor’s hand, and stuck it under the stream of water. She gently rubbed the back of his hand where it had been burned unconsciencly. The skin there was red, but it didn’t seem to be that bad.
Taylor cleared his throat. “So what does the rubbing do?” he asked her quietly. Jessica suddenly realized what she was doing. “Ooops, sorry,” she said, and dropped his hand, “just keep it under there for awhile.” “K,” Taylor answered. Jessica knew that he was trying not to look at her. She hated this. She hated being sorry for touching him...cause it seemed natural most of the time. Everyday she had to remind herself that they were friends...best friends if anything, and if that all that she was going to get, then that was okay with her. She knew how important his music meant to him, and she wasn’t about to make him give that up. He would never forgive her in the future...and she knew that. Now, they had to be friends.
But she had to admit that, that the last two weeks were the hardest weeks in her entire life. After all this time, God let her find him, but He didn’t let her have him. Life was so unfair at times, but Jessica was used to that. If God was going to be a part of her life, she had to trust Him with His decisions. So all she had to do was get through this...and try as hard as she can to stay friends with him.
Hearing hissing noises behind her, she realized that water and spagetti were about to spill over the huge metal pot. But before she could get there, Sara grabbed the pot and took it off the heat so it wouldn’t go over. Jessica, glad that she didn’t have to deal with it, started to turn around again to finish the salad, but was stopped by the look on Sara’s face. Her eyes grew wide as Sara tilted her head to Taylor and then mouthed the words, “Go for it” to her. Jessica gritted her teeth and shook her head, telling Sara with her eyes to button it. Finally, Sara muttered some words that Jessica couldn’t exactly hear, but she knew exactly what they were. “No!” she muttered back, and winced when Taylor turned his head to look at her. “What?” he asked her, using his other hand to turn off the water. “Oh, nothing...I was just saying that no, it doesn’t look too bad...” she told him, trying a smile. Taylor just eyed her. And then immediately he turned to look at Sara. Maybe he had heard her muttered plea. At his glance, Sara quickly put on one of her fabulous fake smiles and stood up a little straighter. His eyes went from one girl to the other. “What’s up?” he asked them both. “Nothing,” both responded at once. “Note to self...” Jessica thought, “hurt Sara very badly...” Jessica saw Taylor shake his head and turn away. “Okay, whatever,” he murmured, inspecting his hand.
Jessica turned around and stuck her tongue out at her cousin. Sure, not very mature, but at least Sara got the point. In turn, Sara did the same. “You guys don’t think I can see you in the glass on the microwave?” Taylor asked them. Jessica grimaced and turned to look at the box above the sink. Taylor raised his eyebrows at her in the reflection. “Jess...we need to talk,” he told her quietly, so no one in the room could hear him. Jessica swallowed. “Of course, Tay,” she told him, trying to smile brightly. She wasn’t succeeding. “Crap,” she thought. “Alone...” he told her just as softly. “Um, okay, Taylor...just as soon as I make this humongous sauce recipe that Grandma gave me...” she said, eyeing the white paper in front of her. “How bout we use that huge jar of Prego in the pantry...just to kill time...” he told her. Jessica sighed. “I was thinking the same thing...” she said, “she’ll never know.”
