Disclaimer: Nothing. I own that is.
Date: 3/10/2002
Cate: Fam, F, V
Author: Bryne aka Michelle Curtin
The Morning After
“Jess, can I ask you something?” Jessie rolled onto her side, propping
herself up on an elbow.
“Can I stop you?” He ran his eyes up and down her sleek form, hidden now by
the cotton sheet. He frowned in annoyance.
“Be serious, Bannon.” She sighed, rolling her eyes theatrically around
twice, before leveling the green gaze back on his face.
“Okay.”
“When did you know?” Jessie blinked, nose crinkling in confusion. “I mean,
about us.”
“Oh.” She rolled over onto her back, squirming her shoulders as her eyes
flitted up to the ceiling. Light danced across the eggshell colored plaster from
the nearby window. “I guess it was when you started kissing my ears.” Her head
turned back toward him again and she saw him staring, mouth hanging slightly in
confusion. “I hate it when guys kiss my ears.” A wide grin broke across Jonny’s
face and he began to laugh. “It’s like having bugs crawling all over you,” she
said defensively.
“You could have said something,” he replied, still laughing, as he swung
his legs over the side of the bed and sat up.
“Yeah,” she said with a shrug, swinging herself the other way, “but we
agreed to try this and I didn’t really think mentioning that was going to help
the ‘ambiance’ of the situation.”
“Right.”
“So.” She looked over at her shoulder and watched the broad span of back as
it rippled and disappeared beneath a light blue tee shirt. “When did you know?”
“About us?” Jonny asked, reaching for his jockey shorts.
“Yeah,” she said, reaching for a pair of black panties that had been flung
onto the nearby rocker.
“When you started laughing.”
“Which time?”
He turned part way around, eyebrows raised. “You only laughed once last
night.”
“Oh, last night.”
“Yeah, last night. You know, when I kissed your-” Jessie threw her head back
and laughed, slapping his shoulder affectionately.
“I forgot about that.”
“I didn’t,” he replied dryly. “You know, you may have more experience at
this than I do-”
“I ‘may’? Which one of us was the virgin?”
“But I still knew that wasn’t the right reaction.”
“Yeah, I guess that was a pretty big hint. Seen my shirt?” A black button up
fell on her head. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” He finished zipping his pants and strolled over to the door.
“You want pancakes or waffles?”
“Surprise me.” Jonny left the door open and made his way to her kitchen,
whistling.
“Hey, Jonny?”
“Mm?” he mumbled, eggs and milk carton tucked under his chin.
Jessie appeared in the doorway of the bedroom, zipping her skirt. “Did it
work?”
“What?” From the lower cabinets he pulled two mixing bowls and a spatula.
“Our ‘grand experiment’ thing? Jeez, you already forgot why we slept
together?” She slid onto the nearest seat and began to work the knots out of
her hair with one hand.
“I didn’t forget,” he replied, looking around. “Where’s the flour?”
“In the spice station.” Jessie pointed to a small wall panel and Jonny slid
out a long, well stocked rack. Pulling the flour and sugar jars, he carefully
slid the panel back and set to work, pouring dry with dry and wet with wet.
Jessie sat silently, thoughtfully, at the table, working her fingers through
the snags until her hair was smooth again.
“You know, Jess,” he said as he bent under the sink and pulled out a large
frying pan, “I’m glad I did it.” Jessie quirked an eyebrow.
“Which part?” Jonny blushed faintly.
“I mean I’m glad you were my first.” It was Jessie’s turn to blush. “And I’m
glad we gave ourselves the chance to see if there was anything between us.” Some
of the batter spilt onto the stove as he poured, splattering the white ceramic
top. “After everything that’s happened this past year, I was just so mixed up.
About everything. And now…” He shrugged, back still to her. “I just feel better.
Safe.” His head turned and she looked at him, his smile contagious.
“I know what you mean,” she said softly. “I do feel bad though.” Jonny’s
eyes widen slightly in surprise and hurt and she laughed. “No! Not for me. I
just feel bad because we don’t love each other.”
“We do love each other,” Jonny corrected her. Jessie waved her hand in the
direction of the sizzling batter and he grabbed the spatula, flipping quickly.
“As siblings.”
“Right.”
“Right.” She stopped and frowned, looking back towards the ceiling. “Jonny,
that IS how you feel…isn’t it?” There was a moment of silence. “Jonny, I-” Her
face met with a large pancake. “JONNY!” she screamed through the thick dough. A
hand grabbed her around the stomach and suddenly she was falling to the ground,
fingers slipping up and down her rib cage. “St-stop!” she hiccupped. “I
c-can’t-” The pancake was ripped from her mouth and she sat up, fast, elbow
pushing out. “QUIT TICKLING ME!” she yelled, whirling on her attacker. Jonny
scooted back, sliding across the linoleum.
“Go ahead,” he said devilishly, “ask me again how I feel.”
“Jonny I’m SERIOUS!” He lunged and grabbed her right foot, slamming back
into the floor.
“So am I!” The sock flew through the air.
“NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!” Her left swung up and caught him in
the jaw, knocking him away and she was up, straddling his chest and poking him
sharply in the stomach. “See how you like it, big shot!”
“HEY!” He flipped her off and grabbed wildly, but was fended off by a flying
knee that batted away his hand and connected with his hip. “Okay, okay, truce!”
The two stopped and lay panting, backs against the slippery linoleum. When he
had caught his breath, Jonny rolled his head towards Jessie. “That was great.”
She grinned.
“Yeah.” She sat up quickly and attempted to smooth her hair. “Your pancakes
are burning.” Jonny stretched, but didn’t move as she went to the stove and
disposed of the shriveled breakfast. “Excuse me, Mr. Quest? I think this was
YOUR project?” Jonny laughed and stood.
“All right, Bannon, all right. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”
“British now?” she asked, extending the spatula in his direction.
“Heh.” He poured more batter into the pan and shuffled back to the
‘fridge. “Hey, there’s whipped cream in here. Too bad we didn’t try this
last night-”
“Wouldn’t’a helped,” she threw back, making her way to the coffee pot and
plugging it in.
“On those ice cream sundaes.” Jessie snorted and gave him a ‘yeah right’
look with her eyebrows. “So, you want to call Hadji or should I?”
“Why, is it his turn?” Jonny looked for something to throw and Jessie tossed
up her hands in defense. “Kidding! I swear.” She waved wildly. “I come in peace
and all that crap.” He nodded, eyebrows disappearing beneath his long bangs.
“Right,” Jonny said, pointedly glancing at her once more before gracefully
changing the subject, “but, now that we’ve got ‘us’ figured out, what do we do
about, well, the rest of the family?” Jessie looked thoughtful as she reached
for two coffee mugs.
“I guess we just keep offering to help our dads with whatever’s been
bothering them, keep calling Hadji and flying out there to give him someone to
talk to about everything, and above all else,” Jonny’s head tilted to the side,
“keep talking to each other.” He smiled broadly and extended his hand, which
Jessie gladly accepted, pulling him close. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost
my little brother.”
“I’m going to ignore that ‘little’ part of the comment and agree,” he
mumbled. “I’d probably go crazy if I didn’t have you to talk to about life.”
“And love?”
“It is nice to have a woman’s point of view on dating,” he said. “Thanks for
being there for me this past year, ace.”
“Ditto, hotshot.” He kissed her lightly on the mouth and pressed his
forehead to hers. “Thanks,” she whispered. “Thanks.”
********
I think they're friends that care about each other more than most friends
do. S'all.
Any flames, send to Pegret. ::wink::
~Bryne
