Second Chance

Second Chance

“Man I couldn’t stand that guy,” Jessica said.  

“What was wrong with him,” Tiffany asked. 

“He was friends with Jarred and Jamie and was at the house all the flipping time. I always wanted to play outside with the boys, but he’d be like, “you’re too little,” or “you’re going to get hurt.”  His favorite line was, “this is a ‘boys-only’ game.”

“Maybe he was just being protective, you know?  Like, maybe it was an over-protective-older-brother type of thing. How much older is he than you?” 

“Three years, and it seemed more like a he-was-just-being-a-jerk kind of thing to me.” Jessica scoffed. “None of my actual brothers were protective like that.  They didn’t care if I ran around outside with them, and they were actually related.  Why would he need to be “protective” and all that? I think he was just liked picking on me.”

“Well, you know what they say about little boys picking on little girls, right?” Tiffany taunted with a smile.

“Oh no! Trust me.  It was nothing like that.  It wasn’t like playful picking on me, it was like get-out-of-here-you-big-baby kind of picking on me.  Not only that, but it always seemed like he couldn’t stand having me around.”

“Well, according to Jamie, he’s not like that anymore.  He asked about you the other day; if you were coming tonight.”  

Yeah, probably hoping I wasn’t.” Jessica snorted sarcastically.  

“Seriously, Jess.  It’s your brother’s engagement party.  He had to be expecting you to be here.”

“Then why ask?”  

“I don’t know.  Maybe he’s just curious about you. I don’t think he hates you like you think he does.” 

“Hey, my love.” Jarred said, coming up behind Tiffany and putting his arms around her.  “What are we talking about?” 

“Jessica is convinced Eric hates her and is dreading seeing him tonight,”  Tiffany informed him.

“What?!  Jess, Eric doesn’t hate you.  He was asking about you the other day.”  Jarred informed her.

“That’s what I told her,” Tiffany responded.

“Why now after, how many years was he gone?” Jessica inquired.

“10 years, and he’s made a really good life for himself now.”  Jarred told her, somewhat defensively.  “Besides, he was always nice to you when we were growing up.”  

“He was? That was him being nice? Man, I hate to think of what he would have been like if he were mean then.  He would never let me hang out with you guys when he was around.”

“That wasn’t him being mean.  He was just super protective of you.”

“Again, that’s what I told her,” Tiffany said, in a know-it-all voice.  

“Why did he have to be so protective?  You guys didn’t care.  And he wasn’t protective like that with Josh, and he’s 9 years younger than you guys.”

“Yeah, but you were the only girl.” Jarred countered.  “That’s why he was protective of you.”

“Well if I needed that much protection, why weren’t you guys protective?  You were always putting me in danger.  Like the time you took the training wheels off my bike and pushed me down the driveway?”

“You were fine.  You ended up figuring it out.”  Jarred laughed.

“Jay, I was 4!” Jessica exclaimed.  “What if there had been a car coming?  Oh! And the time you ‘taught’ me how to swim?’” Jessica turned to Tiffany.  “Did he ever tell you about that?  He just picked me up and threw me in the pool! I was 5 and had never had any lessons.”

“And now you swim like a fish, so you’re welcome.”  Jarred quipped.

“Yeah, thanks a lot, bro.” 

“And who was it that fished you out of the pool? Oh yeah, that was Eric.  Besides, if Eric didn’t like you, why’d he kiss you that one time?”  

“What! He kissed you!  You didn’t tell me that!” Tiffany exclaimed incredulously.  

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.  He also spun me around and pushed me before he took off.” Jessica reminded Jarred.

“Yeah, he saw Jamie coming. Man, Jamie got him good for that one.  He had that black eye for weeks.”  

“So, then, why do it if he knew he was going to get hit?” Jessica asked.

“Um, I don’t know Jess.  Why does a guy kiss a girl?” Jarred asked, laughing.

“You talking about Eric?”  Jamie had snuck up on them unexpectedly.  “Man I was so mad about that,” he said.  

“Dude, Jess is convinced that Eric hated her when we were growing up.” Jarred told him.  

“Yeah, sure. That’s why he kissed you.”  Jamie rolled his eyes.

“OMG, why are we even talking about this?!” Jessica said, exasperated.  “It was just a weird thing that happened.  He probably doesn’t even remember it.”  

“How old were you?” Tiffany asked.  

“She was like 11! And he was 14!  He had no business making out with her.”  Jamie exclaimed.

“Whoa, what?” Tiffany asked at the same time Jessica argued, “That is not what happened!”

“Whatever, if he ‘hated’ you, I doubt ‘whatever that was’ would’ve happened.”

“What did you do?” Tiffany asked, giggling.

“Like I said, he spun me around, pushed me, and took off.  By the time I turned around again, he was running away”

“Yeah, with me and Jarred in hot pursuit.”

“Oh my gosh, you guys can enjoy this little story all you want, but I’m done talking about it.” Jessica declared and started to take off.  

“Wait!” Tiffany exclaimed, laughing.  “Did you even like it?”  

“Like what?”  a new voice asked.  She smacked into him and looked up. Whoa. When did he get there?  And where had he come from?  And how much had he heard?

“Nothing,” Jessica said, her face turning hot from embarrassment.  

Wow, Eric had really grown up.  He stood all of 6’2 with dark hair and dark eyes. Tattoos covered his forearms up to his rolled-up shirt sleeves.  He looked nice too, well-dressed, respectable, far from the obnoxious teenager she remembered.  

“We were just recounting some of our favorite childhood stories.”  Jarred said with a smile.  

“Yeah?  Like which ones?”  

Jessica shot Jarred a death glare that said, ‘Don’t you dare!” Of course, he dared. 

“You remember that time you kissed Jess?” Now it was Eric’s turn to be embarrassed.  

“Oh yeah.  Sorry about that, Jess.  I guess you probably knew how I felt about you, huh?”

“Wait, what?” Jessica was very confused.

“Hey, Jamie, I think your lovely bride-to-be is looking for you,”  Jarred said with a knowing smile.

“Oh, Jarred, there’s something I wanted to ask her about the wedding. We should go, too.”  Tiffany added, grabbing Jarred’s hand and pulling him with her. 

“I guess we’ll talk later,” Jamie smiled as he walked away.  “You two should catch up.”

And then they all deserted her.  Traitors.  

An awkward silence hung in the air for a couple of moments.

“So, Jessica.  How’s it going?” 

“Um, yeah.  Fun times.”  Jessica responded, not knowing what to say.  After a few more moments of silence, she prodded, “What did you mean ‘how you always felt about me?’  I always thought you hated me.”  She felt kind of stupid making that comment, but suddenly, she wanted to know.

“What? No. Why?  Why would you think that?”  Eric stammered.  Hmm, Jessica thought.  He’s kind of cute when he does that. Whoa, where did that thought come from? The idea that he was cute surprised her, but he really, really was.  

“You were always sending me away saying I couldn’t hang out with you guys. Like you thought I was an annoyance.”  

“Really?  That’s what you thought?  Wow.  I’m so sorry, Jess.  I never thought you were annoying.  I just didn’t want you to get hurt, ya know?  Playing football with a bunch of older guys didn’t seem like the best idea.  Hey! I did let you play that one time.  When we did the obstacle course.  You remember that?”

“Not really.  What happened?” Jessica asked.  She actually did remember that day, she just wanted to hear how he described it.  She was starting to think that maybe she really had had it all wrong all these years. 

“You kept asking over and over saying you could do it and that you could beat everyone, so I told the guys to let you go, and I would “time” you and let you win.”  

“And then you acted all upset that I beat your time and threw your watch down.  I knew it had the wrong time.  I picked it up to hand it to you and couldn’t figure out why it was wrong.”  Jessica smiled.

“I thought you didn’t remember?”

“I guess it’s coming back to me now.” Jessica answered, waited a beat, and then asked, “so why did you kiss me?  I was only 11.”

“Uh, maybe because I liked you?  I never wanted your brothers to know, but they caught me.  I’d never seen Jamie so mad.  My face hurt for like a week after that.”  Eric shook his head, remembering.  

“So, it was more of a protective thing like Tiffany said?  You weren’t just being a jerk?”

“Well, I don’t know.  Maybe I was a jerk sometimes, but yeah, I didn’t want you getting hurt.  We were pretty rough.  I would have felt bad telling your mom you got hurt because of us.  And I really didn’t want to tell your dad.  He still scares me.”

“Why did you care though?  Jamie and Jarred didn’t care.  You didn’t seem to care when it was Josh running after you guys.”

“I don’t know.  It was different with you.  Josh was a boy, too so it was okay for us to play rough with him, and he was so much younger, we just played differently when he was around.”

“So you couldn’t do that when I was around?  And why were you so worried about me?  I could handle myself.  I beat Jarred up all the time!”  Jessica was remembering more and more.

“Yeah, you did.  If anything, you were the mean one.  Always playing dirty.  That’s why I was worried.  I just knew one day you were going to do something crazy to someone, and they weren’t going to hold back, and then I’d have to go after you and beat up whoever it was.” 

“I did have brothers for that, you know.  Not that they would’ve done anything about it.”  

“Jess, I’m sorry, I just liked you, ok?  I didn’t realize you were so upset about all that.  I guess I thought you understood.”  

“Nope, I was clearly out of the loop on that one,” Jessica replied.  

“Well, you may have been the pretty one, but no one ever said you were the brightest crayon in the box.”  Eric jabbed at her.

“Hey!”  Jessica started.  “ I happened to be one of only two siblings to finish high school and the only one with a college degree thank you very much.”  

“Yeah, that’s a major accomplishment for where we come from.  I mean, it’s a major accomplishment anyway, but especially coming from the ghetto like we did.”  He got very serious all of a sudden.  

“I heard you’re doing pretty well for yourself as well.”

“Well, it’s no college degree, smarty-pants, but I’m doing alright.”

“So, maybe I was wrong about you all this time,” Jessica said quietly.

“Maybe,” Eric said.  “Maybe you could give me another chance?” 

“Maybe I will.”

“You wanna go for a walk?” Eric asked as he held out his hand.

“Sure.” Jessica grabbed his hand, and they started to walk outside. 

“Maybe I’ll try that kiss again.

“Maybe I’ll make sure my brothers don’t beat you up this time,”  Jessica said with a laugh as Eric pulled her close.