Chapter 8
She bounded down the stairs on a mission to strangle whomever it was that felt like annoying the hell out of her by playing with the doorbell. She didn’t need the extra bullshit; she just wanted to sleep through the bad day she was having. Bad week. Bad month at that since Christi still wasn't acknowledging her existence. Flinging the door open, she was shocked at the duo that greeted her.
"Lucy! I'm home!" Justin exclaimed in his best Ricky Ricardo accent as he hugged her and went into the house like it was an everyday thing with JC in tow. JC didn't get very far when Jessi pulled him back to her for the kiss she’d been waiting all month for.
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Two hours later, as Jessi; JC; Justin and Kaci sat in the living room, any and all conversation was brought to an eerie halt with the sound of the front door opening then slamming shut followed by the sound of stomping ascending the stairs. Jessi, JC, and Justin looked at each other with baffled looks. Not too long after Christi's grand entrance, Serena came through the door. Her arrival wasn't anything close to being
as savage as Christi’s. It was civilized. But just because she was civilized, didn't mean she felt that way. Jessi was the only one in the loop and could see that something was seriously wrong with Serena. So when Serena entered the room, Jessi automatically stood up worried.
"What's wrong?"
Somewhat confused, Justin asked, "Was that Christi?"
Serena answered softly and somewhat saddened, "Yeah. Justin, can you go keep her company for a little bit while I talk to Jessi?"
"Yeah, sure." Justin got up and went in search of a distraught Christi.
"Jessi, can we go into the kitchen?"
"Yeah. Come on." Jessi, with Serena in tow, headed toward the kitchen leaving JC and Kaci sitting in complete solitude.
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Standing in front of a closed door, Justin took a breath in preparation for what he was about to walk into and knocked on the door before entering. As Justin walked to the side of Christi's bed, the sight of the brunette sprawled out, with her face down, in the middle of the bed, threw him off for a little bit.
Feeling someone towering over her, Christi sniffled and lifted her head to see who was invading her space.
"Christi?"
If it wasn't for the fact that he knew it was Christi, Justin would have sworn he was looking at someone else.
"Hey, stranger. What are you doing here?"
"Jace and I came to visit for a while. You alright?"
Christi scooted over some and patted the spot next to her for Justin
to sit down on the bed. "Sit."
Justin sat and repeated his question. "Are you really okay?"
"I will be."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
A moment of silence passed as they just stared at each other, before it was broken by Jessi's abrupt intrusion. Christi and Justin looked up at Jessi, who was looking just as upset as Christi, when she cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Go away."
"No."
"Yes."
"I'm not leaving."
"What do you want now? Let me guess. Mama’s downstairs telling all of my business."
Justin just sat there, looking back and forth between the two girls, still clueless to what was going on.
"How come you didn't tell us before?"
Christi closed her eyes and softened her voice as she realized how her answer was about to sound and thinking about Jessi's reaction, "Enough happened already, and I didn't want ya'll to worry because ya’ll bigger stuff to deal with."
Jessi rubbed her face to try and muffle the bitter laugh that escaped anyway. Christi peeked one eye open to see if she could read Jessi's face like she’d always been able to, but she couldn't.
Jessi finally removed her hands from her face and noticed the tearstains decorating Christi's cheeks that she’d overlooked when she first entered the room. Jessi had finally calmed down and her voice was soft, "Justin, can you give us some time alone."
Justin looked to Christi for a sign of approval. Jessi waited until he had completely left the room before she lied down just like Christi was in the spot he had previously occupied.
"I'm such a huge hypocrite."
"That you are"
"Well, you know how I feel now."
"And now, you know why I didn't tell you."
"Okay, okay, I understand. Are you going to rub it in?"
"No, because I know how you feel. However, I think you need to know that your mother and I've always been here for you to lean on and you should have at least told your mother or me. We said we were in on this together, and we still are. It's been just the three of us for a while now so you’re stuck with us. And if I'm not mistaken, we've come across some other people that we just might be able to induct into our circle."
"I think Justin and Kaci are keepers. But that JC, I'm not so sure of…" She purposely trailed off.
"Hey! That's my man you're talking shit about. So he's in. No buts."
"Took you long enough," Christi playfully rolled her eyes and excitedly sat up Indian-style, facing Jessi. "So spill it. I mean everything from start to present. And no parts about me being a bitch either."
"Well…" Jessi said excitedly, moving to mirror Christi's position, then proceeded to tell her the details of how JC and her hooked up. Jessi started from the phone conversation Jessi and Christi had which JC had overheard, then moved onto other little details of their relationship all the way up to the present; just like Christi had requested. All of which took a good half an hour.
When Jessi finished talking, Christi couldn't help but ask the one question that had been on her mind all month. "So Jessi, buddy, pal, amiga, you know I love ya right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Spill it?"
"Well, I seem to remember you mentioning a free vacation about a month ago. What's up with that? Offer still open?"
"It’s too late."
"Oh."
The two girls were silent for a while, looking at anything and everything in the room except each other. They simply didn't know what to say. About five minutes past and they were still quietly trying to avoid looking at each other. Then, ten. Eleven. And finally twelve minutes had passed. On the thirteenth minute, they both heard a loud noise come from downstairs.
"Maybe we should go check on our guests and see what they're doing to our house."
Jessi smirked and said, "And also rethink expanding our circle."
"I am so telling!" With that, Christi playfully ran out the room and down the stairs but stopped halfway down when she recognized a portrait. Looking at the painting triggered Christi to start humming Usher's "My Way". Jessi had been too busy concentrating on running after Christi that she didn’t see her stop, causing a collision that sent them both tumble to the bottom of the staircase.
Serena, JC, and Justin, with Kaci in his arms, came running to see what the commotion was. What they found were two grown girls piled on the floor laughing hysterically. The sight itself was hilariously comical.
"Are you two okay?"
Christi lifted her head to see they had an audience. She smiled and jested, "We're great, mama." She looked back down at Jessi, who was trying to calm down herself, and looked over her shoulder to see her face, "Aren't we, Jessi? In this LOOP of ours."
The second that Christi emphasized the word "loop", Jessi automatically stopped laughing and decided to change. "Yeah. Perfect. So, Christi, do you want to go?"
It took Christi awhile to figure out what Jessi was talking about, so Jessi helped her out by turning her attention to the stairs while humming.
Christi exclaimed, "Like I would ever say no!"
Watching the girls' display gave the others a sigh of relief. They no longer had to take sides.
"Where are ya'll going?"
The girls looked up to see the questioning stares coming their way then looked at each other smirking. Serena knew that the looks they were giving each other meant they were up to something.
"Well, we're just going to find a silver leaf. Can you watch Kaci for the weekend?" Christi winked at her mother as she started to get up but fell over limply on Jessi again.
"Sure, I'll do it."
"Ya know, Christi, that butt of yours isn't all that light for me to keep supporting."
"Ya know, Jessi, Justin just so happens to like my butt just the way it is." Christi winked at a blushing Justin just to let him know that she was joking then turned to a laughing JC and commented, "So does your man. Thank you very much."
Justin helped Christi up as Jessi stayed on the floor sending JC questioning looks.
JC defended, "I did not say that."
JC helped Jessi up and they all went back into the living room to chill. Justin played with Kaci on the floor while Serena, JC, and Jessi occupied the couches. Christi sat in front of the coffee table with a notepad and pen.
JC couldn't help but think about how familiar Christi looked, and if he was honest, that wasn't a good thing.
"Christi, what made you change your look?"
"Nothing in particular. I just thought I would pamper myself to calm my nerves. Why? Do you like it?"
"It’s different, but, yeah, it looks good." He didn't necessary lie. He told the truth. However, the familiar look triggered something in him causing him discomfort. JC wondered if Justin had picked-up on it too. He was pulled from his thoughts as Jessi shifted from beside him to sit next Christi.
Jessi pondered out loud, "We are going to need a lot of things."
Christi verbalized, "We have to Wal-Mart tonight."
"Yeah. We can split it all up to get it done quicker. So, what do you want to get?"
"Ice cream, chips, cheesecake, popcorn, and drinks."
"Why am I not surprised? I'll get the real food then." Jessi looked to Serena, "Can you help me out?"
"Sure, sweetie. Since ya'll aren't going to be gone long, you should probably just pick-up some chicken, rice, burgers, buns, and condiments."
"Like a barbeque?"
"Sort of. More like a mini barbeque."
"Ribs and brisket!" Christi suggested with enthusiasm.
Christi's excited announcement induced everyone to look at her as if she was senseless.
“What? We can't have a barbeque without ribs and brisket," she defended.
Her defense caused Serena and Jessi to break into laughter as Justin and JC looked at each other clueless as to what was going on.
"Look, girls. It seems that the boys are lost."
"What's going on? I thought you two were going looking for a silver leaf or something."
"Yeah. What's with all this planning?"
"Don't worry about it," Christi dismissed the questions and started to get up. "Let me go change so we can go to Wal-Mart. Ya'll might want to change into something comfy, too."
Everyone got up and went to their rooms to change as Serena and Kaci waited for them to say goodbye. The drive to Wal-Mart lasted all of five minutes but felt longer to the two girls in the front. The boys questioned everything. Why does Christi have shotgun? Why are we going to Wal-Mart? Why did they have to change? How come they couldn't take the SUV they had rented as opposed to Jessi's Acura?
What if we get mobbed?
By the time that Christi was able to finally tune them out, Jessi had pulled into a parking space and shut off the car. She took the list from Christi, tore it in half, and handed Christi her half.
"Shut it already! JC, you're with me. And Justin, you're with Christi. Now, everyone get out."
Everyone got out of the car and walked into the store as normal as possible with hopes of not getting attacked. JC and Jessi went one way as Christi and Justin went another. The strategy was simply to divide and conquer. That way they could get more done in less time than if they stayed together. It also helped by lowering their chances of getting mobbed.
"Where to first?"
"Drinks to chips then popcorn to desserts then to candy. And then, last but definitely not least, ice cream."
And that’s the precise order they took to get everything. An hour later, they were at the final stop with a full cart and had yet to be identified. Justin saw Christi reach into the freezer for three full-gallon tubs of ice cream. Rocky Road, Great Divide, and Cookies n' Cream.
"What kind do you want?"
"Those are fine."
Christi reached into the freezer and was about to pull out three more tubs when he stopped her.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm getting you your ice cream since you seem to think you are too holy to get it yourself."
"I meant that I'm fine with the ones you chose. As in, we share."
"You are not about to eat my ice cream."
"Yes, I am. You can't eat three gallons by yourself."
"Only two are for me and the last one is for Jessi."
"You can't eat two by yourself."
"Yes, I can."
"No, you can't."
"Yes, I can."
"No, you can't."
"Just watch me."
"Fine."
Glad that he at least got the final word in, he got himself a tub of Cookie Dough. Justin pushed the cart and they were off to go pay for everything. After paying, which was another issue for the two, they met up with the impatiently waiting couple.
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