Chapter 16

(written by Michelle)

Jess stared down at her feet, not really wanting to look at anyone right now; she just didn't know what to say. She was hoping to sneak out without anyone noticing her presence but Brian was staring at her pretty fiercely. "JESS!!!" Kevin screamed from across the yard and for a second thoughts of her own dead body lying floating in the pool ran through her mind. When he reached her she was already trembling with fear; of course, his grabbing her arm and shaking her around didn't help much, either.

"What the Hell was Jade talking about?" he demanded from her. Jess looked at Brian for help, but he seemed just as equally pissed off as Kevin was. But what Kevin didn't seem to know was that Jess had just finished puking not more than 3 minutes ago and that her stomach was still a little queasy, but he found out when Jess threw up all over his boots. When she had finished emptying the rest of her stomach contents on Kevin's boots, Jess ran back into the pool house, fearing that her fragile stomach would explode again.

When she reached the pool house she found LeighAnne crying her pretty eyes out on the couch. Hoping to slip by, Jess made her way toward the bathroom. "What are you doing here? Come to ruin my life some more?" LeighAnne called out just as Jess was one step shy of the bathroom. "Excuse me?" Jess asked, knowing that this night was only going to get worse before it got better. "You heard me, Bitch," LeighAnne said, standing up and taking a couple steps toward Jess. Jess was never one to start a fight, but she wasn't exactly known to back down from one, either. "I'm sorry, I didn't seem to hear what you said," Jess said calmly, hoping her stomach would hold out 'till she finished this.

"You can't get a man of your own so you had to steal mine." Jess was shocked. Didn't LeighAnne know about the relationship she had with Brian before LeighAnne even came into the picture? "I think you have it backwards, Sweetie," Jess said, clenching her fists in balls of rage. "I don't think that I do. I saw you come out of here with Brian earlier. I know what you did with him, you slut," LeighAnne said, her eyes spitting fire at Jess. Jess swallowed hard. She didn't want to tell LeighAnne that she, in fact, was the slut, and that Brian was Jess's before he was hers, but Kevin choose that minute to walk in, followed quickly by Brian.

"Jess, what does Jade mean?" Kevin asked, his mood calmed from earlier. Obviously, Brian had talked to him. "What's there to explain, Kevin? You're Scott's father," Jess told him. Feeling that a terrible weight had been lifted off her shoulders, she quickly retreated into the bathroom and sunk to the floor. "I have to get out of here," she told herself, finally noticing the window above the toliet. She quickly hoisted herself up and out of the window, hoping she would get home safely.

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Jade paid the babysitter and thanked her before going upstairs to check on her son -- the son she was afraid would never know his father. Scott was sleeping peacefully on his Scooby Doo sheets with his Blue's Clues stuffed dog wrapped tight under his arm. Jade brushed back his dark hair and kissed his forehead. He looked so much like Kevin it was unreal that he couldn't see who his father was. Jade realized how foolish she was to take this job again and put not only herself but Scott and Jess through all of this pain again.

Poor Jess was going crazy not being able to talk to Brian about why she had really cut off all contact with him. She knew that spending time with Scott helped ease the pain of losing her own baby earlier, the baby she shared with Brian, the one he would never know of. Jade turned out her son's nightlight and went downstairs for a hot cup of coffee to get ready for the long night ahead of her as she waited for Jess to get home. She didn't have to wait long though, as she had just poured her second cup when Jess came bursting through the door and headed straight for the bathroom.

"Jess?" Jade called out, following her stumbling friend. "Wha...," Jess's voice was lost in the sounds of her throwing up again. "Nothing," Jade said, tossing her friend a damp towel and going to get her a cup of coffee. Jess emerged a couple of minutes later looking quite rough from her night of drinking, "Remind me not to do that again," she told her friend, taking the steaming cup of coffee and settling down on the couch. "No problem," Jade said, seeing the sadness in her friend's eyes, thinking about how much they reflected her own. "You talked to Brian, I take it?" Jade asked.

"More or less. He didn't tell LeighAnne about us," Jess said, swallowing her coffee hard. "I see," Jade said, sipping her own cup and staring at her friend. "Jade, Kevin knows. He knows about Scott now," Jess said, watching her friend's reaction. "I figured he would by the end of the night," Jade said, not looking up from her cup. "We shouldn't have come back, Jess. We shouldn't have come back." Jade said, finally looking up at her friend.

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