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| chapter 7 As content as I thought that I was, still the nightmares came. Once again, I awoke in a screaming fit. I looked at the clock – 12:30am. I had only been asleep for an hour. Not wanting to go back to sleep, I grabbed the little bag that I had stashed in the bottom of a drawer and a six-pack of beer from the refrigerator. I went to the garage and found an old rickety ladder that was left by the previous owners of the house. I placed the ladder against the side of the house and very carefully climbed onto the roof. Once I was securely seated, I popped open a beer and took a long drink. I then packed a bowl in my pipe and lit it, taking a long drag and holding it in. I was a little more relaxed then. I laid back and stared at the beautiful night’s sky. I had never seen so many stars. It was breath taking. I didn’t budge as I heard what sounded like a motorcycle pull up in my driveway. I thought, "If I ignore whoever it is, maybe they’ll go away." I wasn’t in the mood for company. I took another long hit off of the pipe as I heard someone knocking on the front door. I waited. They knocked again. I waited. I could hear the person walking into the back yard, so I shoved the pipe into the gutter and remained quiet. "Jade?", the voice called. I smiled. It was Jeff. I sat up and leaned over the edge, "I’m up here." "What are you doing?", he asked. "I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d do a little star gazing. What are you doing here so late?", I asked. "I think I left my keys when I was here earlier." "Oh.", I said a little disappointed. I thought maybe, hoped rather, that he had come to see me. I was high and when I got that way it was hard for me to keep my feelings in check. "Want to come up and have a drink?", I asked holding out a bottle of beer. He smiled and said, "Sure", as he began to climb the ladder. I handed him a bottle and laid back down to continue looking at the sky. He took a drink, looked up at the sky and then at me. "Are you high?", he asked. I didn’t answer for fear of how he would feel if I told him the truth. I couldn’t control it as I busted out laughing. "You are!", he said pointing a finger and smiling at me. "Is that a problem? Me being high?", I asked. "Yeah.", he said with his best serious face, "It’s a big problem." I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders as if to say that I didn’t really care whether he liked it or not, "What’s the big deal? It’s not like I do it all the time." "The big deal is…..", he stopped and acted as if he was gathering his thoughts, "The big deal is you’re holding out on me." We both laughed. I retrieved the pipe from the gutter and lit it again. We both laid there on the roof, getting high and staring at the stars. We pointed out to each other a few of the constellations. It was nice. Then he said something, I forget what it was, and we started laughing uncontrollably. I was really enjoying myself. We talked and laughed. Some of it made sense, and some of it didn’t. He completely opened up to me about a lot of things. I don’t know if it was the pot, the alcohol or what. I assumed it was because he was high. Whatever it was, I was glad for it. I know that my emotions were a little over exaggerated because of the drugs, but I could feel myself falling for this guy – this guy whom I had only known for a week. It was too fast. I had to stop the feelings I was having. After he had told me all there was to tell me about him, he began to ask about me – about my past. I had to change the subject and fast. Realizing that we had drunk all of the beer I said, "I think I’m a little toasted. Maybe we should call it a night." He didn’t press for answers although I could tell that he wanted to. "I’m not sure I can make it down the ladder.", I said laughing. "I’ll go first. That way I can catch you if you fall.", he said laughing also. So, he went down first. Now you have to remember that this was a very old and rickety ladder. I made it down the first 3 rungs just fine. Then there was a loud ‘SNAP!’ The rung broke and I fell. He tried to catch me, but the force of my fall knocked him to the ground. I landed on top of him. We were both laughing so hard that we could hardly catch our breath. Suddenly he stopped laughing. I was laying on top of him, my face only inches from his. My lips only inches from his. I stared into his eyes. There was something there, deep within his eyes that lead me to his soul. I had never had that feeling and it scared me tremendously. Breaking the tension and our stare, I jumped up and said, "Guess we should find those keys." He sat up and smiled only slightly, "Guess so." He followed me into the house. "You look in the living room and I’ll check the bathroom. Maybe you left them in there.", I called as I walked to the bathroom. I looked around. "No keys in here. Did you find them?", I asked walking back into the living room. "Yep. They were on the end table. I must have set them there when I used the phone.", he informed me. I walked with him out onto the front porch. "Well, I gotta get going.", he said reluctantly, "We leave out again in the morning." "I had a really good time Jeff.", I said as he walked to his motorcycle. He smiled, "me too." "You be careful driving those whole two blocks home.", I called. He laughed. He put on his helmet and climbed onto the bike. He revved the engine and waved one last time as he pulled out of the driveway and sped down the street. I watched him until I couldn’t see his tail lights. I went back into the house and closed the door. I sighed loudly - a happy sigh - then made my way to the bed. My mind replayed the nights events as I drifted off to sleep - nightmare free sleep. I awoke the next morning to the sound of saws and hammering. "What the hell?", I asked myself attempting to rub the sleep from my eyes. I walked to the kitchen and looked out the window. There were about four guys out in the far part of the yard building what seemed to be the gazebo that was in my plans. Again, I said, "What the hell?" I threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top, pulled my hair into a pony tail and headed out back. I had taken a few steps when I almost tripped over something. I looked down to find a metal ladder with a piece of paper taped to it that had my name on it. I removed the folded paper and unfolded it. It read: "Jade - I thought you might need a new ladder for the next time we go star gazing. Meet me on the roof next Thursday night. I’ll bring the smoke, you bring the beer. See ya! -Jeff I smiled and was lost in thought for a moment. Then I remembered the guys working in the yard. I stuffed the note in my pocket and walked straight to where they were diligently working. "Excuse me.", I said causing them all to stop. "Yes ma’am?", one of the men said. "What are you doing?", I asked. "Umm. We’re building a gazebo.", he answered like I was suppose to know. "I can see that, but why?", I asked. "We got the work order in this morning.", the man said handing me a slip of paper. I looked it over. It had my name and address. At the bottom it said, "needed supplies on site. Per customer." "I didn’t place this work order.", I demanded. The man shrugged his shoulders and went back to working. I looked at the gazebo. It was exactly as I had designed it and in the exact spot that I had planned. "Excuse me again. I hate to keep bothering you, but where did you get the plans for this?", I asked the man. "Jeff dropped them off at the shop this morning.", he explained as he returned to his work. I just shook my head. What was I going to do with him? Last Chapter ..*.. Next Chapter ..*.. Chapter Index ..*.. Home |