JESSICA and Jesse sang as she packed her small suitcase.
Dancing Queen
Neither of them knew the lyrics.
They were being completely silly.
As she closed her suitcase, Jesse stopped singing and asked, "Is it crazy for me to be dating a living girl?"
"As crazy as me being in love with my gay best friend." Best friend. She threw the words around in her head. Could they really be best friends? Their friendship really didn't begin until a few weeks ago. But now they spent almost all their free time together. It was almost like they were married.
She sighed.
"You'll find someone one day," Jesse said.
"Yeah," she said with a small smile. But actually she didn’t care. For now, she was happy with the way things were.
She was also happy for Taylor and Jesse. Her favorite uncle and her favorite roommate dating each other. It was really weird, but fuck it. So was life in general.
She was really excited about going back to Atlanta. It was going to be great to be with Taylor, Frankie, and Jesse. Then on top of that…well, okay, she was kind of excited to be doing a sleepover with Bernard Kennedy's husband.
She was tempted to do a vague-post on Twitter about it.
But A) she didn’t really do Twitter much and B) it would be cheesy.
Maybe though...maybe Arthur would FaceTime Bernard while they were all there. How awesome would that be?
Okay, but most of all, it wasn’t the celebrity thing. Jessica was homesick. She had been homesick for a long time. She was tired of sleeping alone in the apartment. A good old-fashioned American sleepover sounded fantastic.
Hey! Maybe they could make s'mores! That would be super American.
***
ZOE read Little Blue and Little Yellow to the kids.
Then little Jonathan farted. Loudly.
Carla, who sat next to him, started giggling.
Jonathan just sat there, trying to pretend it didn't happen.
To Zoe's horror, she started laughing.
The kids stared at her. Some giggled...maybe because they had heard the fart too.
Or maybe it was just funny for them to see their teacher laughing.
She took a deep breath and tried to go back to reading.
She couldn’t. She kept laughing.
Finally she managed to say. "Enough reading! Let's go play."
She hoped that the kids wouldn’t tell their parents; though she couldn’t imagine a universe where that wouldn’t happen.
***
JENNIFER read an email from her husband.
He had gone out...somewhere. This morning.
Since the kids are gone tonight, I thought we'd go to a nice hotel. We'll have a romantic evening, just the two of us. Go out and buy yourself something nice! No better yet. Buy yourself a lot of nice things. You deserve it. I love you more than anything.
Jennifer did a little jump of excitement. Then she started singing, "Eye of the Tiger".
Why that song?
She didn’t know. Songs just popped into her head sometimes. Maybe tonight she'd sing for Phillip. And….She'd do a lot more besides that.
***
ARTHUR talked to Bernard on FaceTime. He was home early from the set today.
"When are you coming home?" Bernard asked, whining a bit.
Arthur loved being missed. "Soon," he said. "Maybe Wednesday."
"But you're having fun?"
"Yeah. I actually am."
Bernard pouted. "Without me."
Arthur laughed. "I wish you were here."
"Me too. But seriously. I'm glad you're having fun. Don't think of me too much sitting here alone on the weekend in the flat."
"I'll think about you a lot," Arthur said.
Bernard sighed. "I have a confession."
"What?"
"I cheated." Arthur knew right away what he was referring to. "Not meat, I assume."
Bernard shook his head.
"Was it cheese or ice-cream?"
"Both."
"Oh no,"
"I need you around to stop me from messing up."
"That's kind of emotional blackmail," Arthur joked.
"Yeah. So be it."
"I'll be home soon."
"I might eat more ice-cream tonight."
"The cows will forgive you."
"No, they won't, actually." Bernard said.
"No, you're right. They won't. But I still love you."
"Kisses."
Arthur kissed the screen.
They said good-bye.
***
JESSICA heard Frankie's footsteps and then his knock.
She opened the door and saw his adorable face. She so wanted to kiss it, but she had great self control.
"Ready?" he asked
"Yes," she said and moved back so he could come in.
He went into the small kitchen and opened the refrigerator. He grabbed two bottles of water.
"Just help yourself," she said.
"Thanks," he said.
"Hey, my uncle wants to remind you to drive safely."
"I'll do my best," Frankie said. He looked at her small suitcase near the door. "So, is it against your book of rules for me to offer to carry that for you?"
Jessica smiled. "No. It's fine. You can offer."
He walked over to it and pretended to have a hard time picking it up. "Is it against the rules for me to refuse to carry it?"
"Definitely."
"Ah!" Frankie said; then smiled. "Well, then I'm going to be a rebel."
"Excuse me?"
"You carry it."
"Fine!" Jessica said.
"Go ahead."
"I need to use the toilet before we go."
"Me too," he said. "You go first."
"Ladies first?"
"No, you called it first."
She gave him a look; then headed to the toilet.
She took her turn.
Then he took his.
When he came out, she picked up the suitcase and then her backpack which was on the couch.
They headed out. She put the suitcase down outside, so she could get her key out of her backpack to lock the door.
He picked up the suitcase and started carrying it down the stairs.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"It turns out I'm too much of a coward to rebel."
He gave her a sad look, and she laughed.
***
ZOE stopped at the grocery store, on the way home from work, to get goodies for the sleepover.
From the cookie aisle, she picked up Oreos and something called Tim Tams, because the package said it was Australia's favorite cookie. Maybe Jessica would appreciate that.
In the snack aisle, she struggled to decide between cheese puffs and Doritos. Usually, she was more of a Doritos girl, but right now she sort of had a craving for the puffs.
She went with the puffs.
She headed to the candy aisle and picked up black licorice.
She, Arthur, and Taylor used to love that.
Oh, and there was Australian black licorice. Great! Another way they could honor their Aussie guests. She picked up a package of that.
Zoe then remembered that Keith once told her that one of their most early lives were as Aboriginal Australians.
Was he being serious? She still wasn’t sure.
He probably had been.
Okay. What else should she get?
Definitely something chocolate.
She looked at all the choices.
Then she thought of Taylor. Should she get something healthy for her…just in case? Like fruit? She might not appreciate all this junk.
Zoe thought about it for a few minutes; then decided against it. What if Taylor felt pressured by the healthy stuff and decided she should eat only that? She pictured the rest of them (living, at least) eating cheese puffs and Oreos while Taylor slowly nibbled apple slices.
Thinking of apple slices made Zoe actually crave apples. Grapes too.
Screw it.
She'd buy some, and if Taylor went all health crazy, Zoe would force feed her the cheese puffs.
She grabbed a big bag of plain M&M's and some Reese's Pieces. Then she headed to produce, deciding to skip the apples and got summer fruit instead. She grabbed purple grapes and a package of raspberries.
Then she got a text.
She took her phone out of her purse.
It's from Taylor. Hey! Jessica wants s'mores. Can you please get GC, marshmallows, and Hershey's. Thanx!
Zoe headed back to the candy aisle; then the cookie aisle; and then struggled to find marshmallows.
She found them eventually.
***
JENNIFER tried on the third dress she had brought into the dressing room. It wasn’t the type of thing she usually wore. It showed a bit of cleavage.
She wondered if Phillip would like it.
For now, she stepped out of the dressing room where Trisha was supposedly waiting.
She looked at herself in the full length mirror; then texted Trisha. What do you think?
Trisha texted back. You look beautiful!
Thank you.
Jennifer went back into the dressing room and started to try on the more intimate items she brought in. She didn’t plan on showing these to Trisha.
First, she tried on the pink.
Yikes.
It made her look like a seventy-year-old trying to look sixteen.
She tried on the turquoise next. It was sweet but maybe too sweet. There was nothing sexy about it.
The black made her look old.
Jennifer began to feel pathetic and hopeless. Maybe she should forget it.
Though she had one more thing to try on. It was purple and somewhat majestic.
When she put it on, she looked at herself in the mirror.
She looked fairly all right.
Her legs looked good, at least.
She would buy it.
***
ARTHUR headed to his old bedroom—the one he had been sleeping in the past few days.
He passed Taylor's room and heard an Aussie accent along with his sister's giggling.
He smiled. He liked seeing (and hearing) his sisters being happy.
He didn’t listen in for long but did hear something about s'mores and the food that ghosts eat.
He walked to his room, went in, and shut the door.
He looked at his bookshelf.
Some of his old books were still there. Maybe he'd read one.
He decided on Interview with a Vampire—an old favorite.
He started to read but after a few pages, he began to get sleepy.
He decided a nap wouldn’t hurt.
They probably wouldn’t get much sleep tonight.
***
Zoe talked to Keith while she did some basic dusting in the apartment.
"I'm going to EB tonight if it's okay with you," he said.
"I wish EB's could help wash dishes."
"Sorry," he said. "I guess there are downsides to all of this."
She stopped dusting and looked at the computer screen. She thought of making a joke but instead just said, "I love you, and it's worth it."
***
JENNIFER closed the garage door with the remote.
She got out of the car, opened the trunk, and took out her two shopping bags.
She walked in and found Phillip lying flat on the living room floor again.
She tiptoed past him.
They'd talk later. It wasn’t good to bother him when he was doing this work.
"Jennifer?"
She turned around. Phillip slowly climbed out of his lying down position.
"So, you went shopping?" he said.
"Yeah. You told me I should?"
"Good!" he said. "I can't wait to see what you bought."
He motioned for her to come closer.
She did.
He sat on the couch and took her hand. He looked up at her. "You're beautiful," he said.
She blushed. "Do you really think so?"
"I do."
"I'm getting old."
"So are we all," he said. “You're as beautiful today as you were when we first met."
Jennifer loved it when he was nice like this.
Then he made a face. Not nice. He looked disgusted. Was it her?
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Do you smell that?"
She didn’t smell anything.
"It's horrible."
"What is it?"
"It's like that smell…the one that some of the EB's have. But it's worse. Stronger." He gagged a bit. It's awful."
Jennifer sniffed the air, trying to smell it.
Nothing.
Phillip used her hand to pull himself up. Then he gently dropped it. He sniffed around and, like a dog, followed the scent.
She followed him.
"I think it's coming from upstairs." He started climbing the stairs.
She followed.
He turned around. "Stay down here," he said with sternness.
She obeyed.
Then she remembered she left her purse in the car.
She headed out to get it.
***
JESSICA, Frankie, and Jesse played twenty questions in the car.
Jesse interrupted the flow of the game. "After this round, I'm going back to Taylor."
"You love going back and forth," Jessica said.
"I do," Jesse agreed; then returned to the game. "Is it made of wood?"
"It's an animal!" Jessica laughed. "How would it be made of wood?"
"Sorry. I missed that." Then to Frankie he said. "I saw that."
"Saw what?" Jessica asked
"He forgot to use his blinkers again."
"Bad Frankie!" she said.
"Sorry!"
"Now keep guessing," Jessica said.
***
ARTHUR was a sailboat with Bernard.
They were having a serious discussion about Full House, and then they started arguing about whether or not Bob Saget also starred on How I Met Your Mother.
Then Arthur heard yelling.
He woke up and when the yelling didn’t vanish, his heart pounded frantically.
He heard his sister and their dad.
This wasn’t normal.
Taylor didn’t fight with their parents. That was Arthur's job.
It sounded like they were trying to kill each other.
He jumped out of bed and ran to her room.
The door was opened.
Arthur stepped in and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Taylor was on the floor, and their father straddled her.
She was screaming. He was yelling.
Was he strangling her?
Arthur couldn’t really see. He could only see the back of his father.
"Dad!" he yelled. "Stop it! Let go of her!"
"I hate you!" Taylor screamed. "You're a disgusting pig! You should rot in hell. You're a pathetic piece of shit!"
"Shut up!" Phillip said. "You can't talk to me like that! I'm your father!"
She growled. Arthur heard a slap. Then he heard a horrible rasping noise. He was trying to strangle her!
Arthur started to cry. He looked down at his hands. They were trembling. It was all going to hell.
"Stop it!" he yelled..
Neither of them listened. He grabbed on to his dad and tried to drag him off his sister.
His dad wouldn’t budge.
The horrible rasping noise continued.
Arthur looked around the room. He saw the heavy medicine ball, and he had to save his sister.
He grabbed the ball and crashed it onto his father's head.
His dad crumpled to the side, and Arthur could see Taylor now. Vomit was flowing out of her mouth and she gagged on it.
He pushed his father out of the way and picked up Taylor.
She vomited all over his shoes.
***
JENNIFER came into the house with her purse and the mail.
She heard crying and rushed upstairs to Taylor's room.
She saw her husband lying on the ground.
He was covered in blood.
Jennifer screamed.
Then she saw her son and daughter. Neither of them cared about their father.
Arthur sat, leaning against the bed. Taylor leaned against him as he stroked her hair. There was blood all over her face.
"He tried to kill her," Arthur said.
Her son was insane. He was lying. Jennifer had no doubt about that. With fury she said, "What did you two do?"
She didn’t wait for their answer. She dropped down and checked his pulse. She couldn’t find one but then she looked at his chest. It was moving.
From here, though, she could see he had cuts all over his arms.
"He was trying to kill her," Arthur said. Then he started sobbing.
"Daddy," Taylor whimpered.
"Shut up!" Jennifer snapped at her. Then she noticed the scissors lying on the floor. The tips were covered in blood.
"I didn't mean to do it," Taylor said. She pulled away from Arthur and touched Phillip. "I'm so sorry." She shook him gently but fervently.
"Don't. Touch. Him," Jennifer said. And then she called the paramedics.
***
After the ambulance left with their father and mother, Arthur began cleaning up the mess. The blood and the vomit.
He took a shower. But not wanting to leave Taylor alone, he made her go into the bathroom with him. He sat her on the floor.
When he was done, he quickly got dressed. Then he undressed Taylor.
She offered no resistance. She was in her own world.
He had to help her step into the shower. She stood there, and he scrubbed her gently with the wash cloth.
Continue to Chapter Fifty-One
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