The fire crackled as the group of friends sat in the living room. Jessie and Lance were bundled up considerably with blankets and coats and the like. The rest of them just sat-and waited. Their hopes rose with every shade of color that came onto their friends’ cheeks.
“Why were they so wet?” JC asked himself, looking into Jessie’s slightly pale face.
He thought back. They were at a lake…but how did they get wet? And who was the man who…did something to them?
JC sighed restlessly and rubbed his tired face.
“Are they ok?” Ally asked softly.
“Yeah they’re alright,” JC said tiredly.
“I wish I knew what happened,” Ally said, sitting down next to him. “Maybe we can catch the guy or something.”
JC sighed again. It was getting to be a thing that occurred every 2 seconds in the small living room.
Claire came back from the bathroom. “Hey. They awake yet?”
“Nope. We would’ve told you,” Justin said. “But they’re not.”
“God this sucks,” Kate said.
“Doesn’t it?” Joey agreed.
“Hey! She’s waking up!!” Justin cried excitedly.
All heads snapped toward the slowly stirring figure on the couch.
“Mmm…”
“Jessie?” they chorused in hope and relief.
Surely enough, her eyes were forced open and she looked around, dazed. “What happened? Lance?”
“You’re at my house,” Chris said softly. “You were freezing.”
“Where’s Lance? He was right here I-”
“He’s fine,” Jada interrupted. “He’s on the other couch.”
“Is he ok?”
“Yes he’s fine, but he’s still unconscious.” JC nodded towards the other couch.
“Oh my goodness,” Jessica gasped. “Is he hurt?”
“Jessie please,” Joey said. “He’s fine.”
She seemed to relax-about an inch.
“What happened?” Ally asked. “Why were you wet?”
Jessica blinked. She remembered everything. But should she tell them about their almost-kiss? She decided no.
“We fell into the lake.”
“How?”
“We were on a boat,” she said slowly. “Some…bird scared us and we fell. Then we were walking back to the car.”
“And?”
JC hit Justin with his elbow.
“And then this…this PERSON…tells us to freeze. So we did. He took everything-the car, my phone, his money…everything. We were waiting for you,” she said, only above a whisper. “We prayed for you to come. It was so cold. We were freezing. We waited too long and blacked out. I thought we were gonna die.”
Silence was there, except for the crackling of the flames in the fire.
“He took everything?” Ally finally spoke.
Jessica nodded slowly, as if still remembering. “He hit me.”
“WHAT?” Jada jumped up. “He HIT you? What the hell was he-”
Joey clamped his hand over her mouth to shut her up. “Calm down.”
Finally, Jada sat down.
“Mmm…”
Jessica jumped at the voice. She turned around in her seat. “Lance? Lance is that you?”
“Jessie? What happened? Where are we?” Lance asked confusedly, sitting up.
“Lance!” the guys cried, hugging him.
“Uh…”
“We’re at Chris’ house,” Jessica said softly.
“Are you ok?” Lance asked.
“Are YOU ok?”
The guys stepped back and sat down.
“I told them everything,” Jessica said. “How he took your watch…your money…your car.”
“He took your CAR man,” Justin said seriously. “You have to find that guy and put him in JAIL.”
“It’s fine. We’re ok, right?” Lance said.
The guys glanced at each other and agreed slowly one by one.
“When this first started I didn’t know a relationship was so stressful,” Lance mumbled.
Jessica laughed and hit Lance’s leg, causing him to laugh.
Ally watched in wonder. Only 5 days ago Jessica had been COMPLAINING about going out with Lance. But now…she was there laughing and joking with him. She shook her head in wonderment.
*-*-*
“No, you should get the gold ones…they’ll stand out more,” Kate said, pointing to a row of golden tinsel. “Your house is blue, remember?”
“I think I’d remember my own house Kate,” Claire said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
“Get over it you guys,” Jessica said amusedly. She was still a little shaken, but she was recovering fast.
“Hey Jess do you think I should get the blue, gold, or red?” Ally asked, holding out the 3 colors.
“The blue and red.”
“Sure?”
“Or you can get them all!”
“This is too cute!”
“No, get this one!”
“Ack! Gross!”
“Guys! Over here! More ornaments!”
They had been at the mall all day long, searching for Christmas decorations or presents. It was 2 and ½ weeks away from Christmas, and they wanted to get a head start on the festive holiday.
Jessica wandered down an aisle, listening to her friends bicker in the neighboring one. Her eyes scanned over the vast choices of lights. Finally, she found the silver icicle lights she had been pining for since last year and pulled down a box.
‘Something tells me this Christmas is gonna be the best’ she thought to herself.
*-*-*
“Hey have you bought anything yet?” Justin asked his blonde friend.
Lance looked back at Justin. “All my money is intact. For one thing, my young friend, that guy took all my available money, and so I can’t even pay off expenses on my credit card.”
“Whoa. I see.”
“BUT,” Lance added. “After all this working I’ve done, I’ve managed to work up some change.”
“What job? You never told us what it was.”
“Internship with the mayor.”
Justin’s eyes widened. “Jeez! Where’s the money?! Show me the money!”
Lance laughed as he went down another aisle. “I don’t think so.”
The young blonde rolled his eyes. “So are you getting her anything?”
“Who?”
“You know who,” Justin smiled deviously.
Lance shook his head. “Justin, you are too much.”
He grinned. “I know.”
*-*-*
“Jessie you HAVE to come here!” Jada squealed, pulling her friend into a store.
“What is it now? Another candle sale?” Jessica said, rolling her eyes at her ecstatic friend. “Really I could spend my money on something else.”
She, like Lance, had been working hard to regain the money she had lost. She had cleared up the mess with her cell phone thankfully, and was feeling good about her well-earned cash. Jessica, with the help of her mom, got a job at her mom’s work-her assistant. It paid good enough. Twelve dollars an hour was good enough for her. But because of their hectic schedules, Lance and she had barely gone on a date since the day of the ‘robbery’.
“No, it’s better!”
“Oh aromatherapy?”
“No! For you!”
“What?” she asked irritably, still being dragged down the aisle.
“This!”
*-*-*
Claire and Ally stepped into Gap, looking around for anything worth glancing at.
“I don’t think I can buy anything here without the letters G, A, P on it,” Claire mused, looking at several shirts.
“I agree. Hey have you thought of what to get Justin?” Ally asked casually, flipping through a rack of pants.
Claire shook her head in amusement. “Nice try Al. Well…we’ve only been dating for like 3 weeks-”
“So what?” Ally asked. “You guys like each other, don’t you?”
“Well yeah but…” Claire trailed off, feeling the heat rising in her face.
Ally smiled triumphantly. “Thought so. Whatcha gonna get ‘im?”
“I was thinking of swiping my bro’s autograph of Michael Jordon and giving it to him,” Claire smiled.
“No really.”
“I’m serious!”
Ally laughed. “You’re SO kidding. I’m serious. What are you getting him?”
“I’m looking for another earring.”
“No for HIM.”
“I’m serious. Really. He said he was thinking of getting his ears pierced, so you know…why not?”
Ally stared at her. “Ha…ha.”
“What are you getting for JC?” Claire asked, side stepping to let an older woman pass.
“I don’t know. I seriously don’t know.”
“Huh. What does he like?”
“He likes basketball…football…music. He loves music.”
“Well why not a CD?”
“It wouldn’t be personal.”
“Neither is an earring,” Claire pointed out.
Ally rolled her eyes. “Whatever. But I want it my gift to be special.”
“Personalized?”
“That would be good.”
“C’mon then! We’ve got some searching to do!”
So the duo left the store empty handed.
*-*-*
“Jada that is NOT funny!” Jessica said sternly, trying hard not to laugh.
“Come on Jess! You have to admit…it was funny!”
“Yeah. Uh huh. Lance, I bought you a whoopee cushion for Christmas. NO. I don’t think so,” Jessica said sarcastically.
Jada rolled her eyes. “Fine. Why don’t you get him like a CD or something?”
“No. I didn’t work my ass off for just a CD J.”
She shrugged. “So?”
“C’mon… I think I found it.”
*-*-*
“You HAVE to get this! Come on Lance!” Justin whined.
Lance rolled his eyes. “No.”
“What girl wouldn’t love to get a pair of these wonderful diamond earrings?”
“The one right next to me who’s about to get HIS ears pierced,” Lance smiled.
“Hey, you gotta try!”
Lance laughed. “But you know…”