Elizabeth touched her lips, as she lay curled up
on her studio couch. She couldn’t
believe she’d done it. She had kissed
Jason.
The whole embarrassment of the situation was
overwhelming. She hadn’t even gone
outside today, for fear that she might run into Jason, even though they had
settled the impulsive gesture with a friendly dismissal.
A quiet knock summoned Elizabeth from her
thoughts. She walked over, hesitantly,
peeking beneath the green shade that covered the window on her door. It was Jaime.
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t quite ready to test the waters
with Jason. As much as Elizabeth
believed the kiss was a reaction to Lucky, part of Elizabeth knew that it was
something she had wanted to do since Italy.
Elizabeth chided herself for letting Jason give her an easy way out of
why she had really kissed him.
She felt close to him and was attracted to everything about him.
As she opened the door, Elizabeth smiled, waving
Jaime into the studio. “Hi! I wasn’t expecting anyone to visit. I thought you might have to work this
afternoon.”
Jaime shook her head. “No. I work later
tonight. I prefer the evening shifts,
there’s more energy and I’m a night owl!” Jaime laughed.
Elizabeth shut the door behind her and motioned
for her to have a seat. “Can I get you
anything? I’m afraid I don’t have
much. I’ve been meaning to get a
refrigerator in here for sometime.
Maybe spruce it up, so I can actually live here!” groaned
Elizabeth.
Her visitor made a place for herself on the
couch. “Uh, no. I’m good,” Jaime dismissed casually. “I can give you hand if you ever plan to do
it?” She paused for a moment. “The redecorating I mean!”
Elizabeth followed suit and sat down on the
couch, tucking her left leg underneath her.
“So what’s up? Did something
happen?” She didn’t quite know why she
asked that question, but as Elizabeth studied Jaime’s face, she could tell
something was wrong.
Jaime seemed to hesitate before shaking her head
and denying any troubles. “I’m
fine. Really.”
Elizabeth worked up her best glare and
smiled. “You know I don’t like it when
people lie. I can tell something’s
wrong. Why don’t you tell me?” coaxed
Elizabeth.
Jaime took a deep breath and sighed
miserably. “My dad’s in town.”
The short phrase explained a great deal. Elizabeth didn’t know much about her family
history, but she knew Jaime dreaded the work that her Father was in and had
pretty much disowned her entire family.
“When did he arrive in Port Charles?” Elizabeth inquired.
Jaime pushed back her long black hair and
slouched back into the couch. “I saw
him a couple of nights ago. I thought I
was being followed, which was scary, but then I got this gut feeling that it might
be Rosco, so I ducked into a nearby church.”
Elizabeth nodded. It gave her
shivers to think about Jaime having to confront Rosco again. “I was in there for a bit and then someone
came in after a few minutes. I was sure
it was Rosco.”
Jaime shuddered at the memory. “But it turned out to be my Dad.” Jaime picked up a small sketchbook that
Elizabeth had been working in and began flipping through the pages. “We had another one of our heart-warming
talks and then I told him to leave me alone.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe there was so much anger
between the two. Even though her family
hadn’t been a picnic, Elizabeth couldn’t imagine being born into a mobster
family. “Well did he tell you why he
was here?”
Jaime nodded.
“He said that he had sources, which led him to believe Rosco was in Port
Charles!” Jaime scoffed. “Can you
believe that lame excuse? Why would
Rosco be in Port Charles?”
Elizabeth stared at
Jaime, who then looked up from the sketchbook.
Their eyes met. Suddenly Jaime
pulled away from her gaze and shook her head.
“No!” she exclaimed, shaking her head vehemently. Jaime practically sprang up off the couch.
“No.”
She reached out to her
distraught friend and held her hand.
“Look, I’m sure I’m probably wrong about it. Really,” Elizabeth said soothingly. “I mean you’re totally right. I’m sure he isn’t even near Port Charles.”
Jaime’s dark eyes
clouded and tears began forming in the corners of her eyes. Elizabeth watched as she closed her eyes and
slump back into the corner of the couch.
“I hope so,” Jaime whispered. “I
can’t imagine him coming back for me.
I’m still so messed up about the whole thing. I mean I try to do as many normal things as possible, but I just
keep remembering!”
Elizabeth couldn’t stand
to watch Jaime so confused and helpless.
She bit the corner of her lip as she decided whether Jaime would welcome
a hug or not. Finally, Elizabeth slowly
reached out to Jaime, who had begun to shake from crying. Wrapping her arms around her friend,
Elizabeth whispered to Jaime, “It’s going to be all right. You can talk about this anytime.”
After a few minutes,
the tears subsided into sniffles, and Elizabeth grabbed a box of tissues near
by, proceeding to hand Jaime the white soft disposable squares one by one. “Are you all right?” Elizabeth asked
worriedly.
Her dark-haired cohort
nodded as she wiped her nose and chuckled.
“I’m such a dork!”
Elizabeth felt relieved that Jaime was able to laugh again; the dark cloud that hovered over her friend had dissipated. “No, you’re not a dork! Geeky, maybe!” teased Elizabeth.
Jaime rolled her eyes
at Elizabeth. “I don’t want to talk
about this anymore,” she sighed. “Let’s
talk about you!” Jaime had a mischievous
glint in her eye. “How’s Jason?”
Elizabeth shook her
head. “Don’t ask!” she sighed. “I am such a screw up when it comes to
relationships!” As Elizabeth heard the
words come out of her mouth and saw the look on Jaime’s face, she knew she had
made a slip.
“So you guys have a relationship?” Jaime implied, rascally. “Do tell!”
She threw the box of
tissues at her impish friend. “I didn’t
say that!” Elizabeth protested.
Jaime pursed her lips,
and put her hands on her hips. “You
know you can’t lie to me!” informed Jaime.
“You’re holding something back!
What is it?”
“Did you guys kiss or
something?”
Elizabeth felt her
face flush at the mention of ‘kiss’, and looked away. “Look at the time!” Elizabeth exclaimed, looking at her
watch. “I really have some errands to
run!” She arose to grab her coat when
Jaime pulled her down.
“You’re not getting
away that fast! You kissed Jason! You
did! Didn’t you?” Jaime squealed, and
clapped her hands in joy. “So are you
guys an item now?”
Swallowing hard,
Elizabeth peered up at Jaime shook her head.
“No!”
Jaime frowned. “What?
Come on! You guys totally like
each other! Why not?”
Now it was Elizabeth’s
turn to slump back into the couch.
Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest. “I
don’t know!” Elizabeth
pouted. “I kissed him and then we were
kind of embarrassed.”
Elizabeth felt Jaime’s
steady enamored gaze upon her, and she knew her face was reddening. “Look, we were talking one minute and then
suddenly I kissed him. It was just an
impulse. And then,” Elizabeth paused to
catch her breath, which she’d realized she’d been holding. “I said I was sorry.”
Jaime jumped up and
opened her mouth like she was about to scream, but nothing came out. She began to do a little dance and was
hopping up and down like a bunny. “What?”
she screamed. “You said sorry?” Jaime exhaled loudly, in a
show of disbelief.
“I can’t believe you
did that! What did he say?”
Elizabeth rolled her
eyes and hugged a pillow that sat beside her.
“What does Jason always say?” lamented Elizabeth. “He
understands.”
Finally Jaime had
finished her little dance and sat down, alert and focused on the story. “What do you mean? Why would he say he understands?
What did you say, when you said you were sorry? What explanation did you give?”
Elizabeth sat up and
patted Jaime on the knee. “It’s okay
Jaime! Breathe,” Elizabeth
said laughed. “He gave me an explanation!”
Jaime frowned
again. “What do you mean?”
“He saw how
embarrassed I was, and assumed that it was because I didn’t mean it, when really,
it was just because, well, I couldn’t believe I’d actually done it.” Elizabeth sighed and got up from the
couch. “I am glad I did it, but I think
Jason thought I was embarrassed and wished I’d never done it!”
Jaime shook her
head. “Oh boy.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yeah.
You can say that again!”
Elizabeth began fiddling with a container of paintbrushes. “So he said it was probably because of what
happened between me and Lucky and I was angry and…”
Jaime got up and
leaned on the counter beside Elizabeth.
“You told him it wasn’t true right?”
Elizabeth smiled
miserably. “No?” Elizabeth
squeaked shyly.
Jaime laughed out
loud, which wasn’t the reaction Elizabeth was expecting. “Elizabeth!” Jaime sighed
exasperatedly. “You’re such a
character!”
Elizabeth watched as
Jaime cleaned up her mess of tissues while she shook her head. Meanwhile, Elizabeth was wondering what she
meant. She was a character? Finally, Elizabeth couldn’t
take the silence anymore. “What do you
mean?”
The Asian girl turned
around and smiled. “You really
clueless! But in a good way!”
Was that a
compliment? Elizabeth wasn’t sure. “So
what should I have done? I mean I don’t want to lead him on
though. I did that once before and I
know I hurt him. Right now I don’t know
what I want and what I’m doing okay? So sue me if I don’t
want to lose one of the best friends I’ve ever had over a kiss!”
Jaime put up her hands
in a sign of surrender. “Wait! Stop!
I’m sorry!” she apologized. “I
didn’t mean to say that it was a stupid move, but from my point of view,” Jaime
paused. “I think you already know what
you want, but you’re too scared to do anything about it.”
“No! That’s not true!” protested Elizabeth.
Had she known what she
wanted, it would make her life easier, thought Elizabeth. But she didn’t know.
Suddenly a tiny alarm
began to chime. Jaime put up her hand,
signaling for her to wait a moment. She
looked at her watch and shrugged apologetically. “I have to go. My shift
starts in 15 minutes and I still have to get to Kelly’s and change.”
Elizabeth let out a
slow breath. She had a few good
arguments to counter Jaime’s reasoning.
Elizabeth ran her hands through her short hair. “Fine.
But let me tell you, I had some good reasons!” Elizabeth retorted.
Jaime laughed. “I’m sure you did.” She headed towards the door. Elizabeth followed her guest to the hallway
corridor. “Thanks for dropping by anyway,” Elizabeth teased.
Jaime nodded. “Yeah.
Well, just one last thing,” Jaime smirked. “You know I’m
right!” She stuck out her tongue and ran down the
hallway before Elizabeth could say anything.
Elizabeth shook her
head and sighed. She knew she was. That was the problem.
~~~
Jason had his hands full with Sonny’s coffee business and also figuring out the situation with his brother A.J. and Courtney. He didn’t know what to make of marriage of his brother and Sonny’s sister. After the informal run-down on the whole fiasco, Jason didn’t realize how desperate A.J. was.
As he tried to help
Sonny juggle his relationships with his own sister, Jason couldn’t quite help
but think about Emily. He hadn’t heard
from her in a few weeks. Jason always
kept in close contact with her, especially since the shooting.
Emily was surprisingly
nosy about Jason’s love life, not that he really had one since Robin. But since Elizabeth’s break-up with Lucky
and Jason meeting up with Jaime and Elizabeth in Italy, he seemed to be
inundated with voice mails about what was going on.
Jason sighed and made
a mental note to give Emily a call as he walked into Carly’s club. The look of ecstatic glee on Carly’s face
made him smile. He sort of even missed
her loud brash attitude. “Hey,” he
nodded as walked past the tall dark brute standing just inside the hallway.
Carly skipped towards
him, clapping her hands. “You
jerk! Why didn’t you call me and tell
me you were coming into town?” she chided, feigning anger. Quickly she gave the charade up and launched
into his arms. “I missed you so much!”
Jason chuckled out
loud. “Had business with Sonny,” he
explained squeezing Carly tightly. “How
have you been?” Jason pushed away,
looking at Carly in the eye.
Carly turned around
slowly, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Fine,” she said stiffly. Suddenly she whirled around with her arms
stretched out. “I’ve got club Jason! I’ve never been
better!”
The strained smile and
her feigned excitement did nothing to convince him that she was anything, but
fine. “You know you don’t have to
pretend with me Carly.”
Carly swallowed and
her ear-to-ear grin melted into a thin line and her arms fell limply at her
sides in weariness. She rolled her eyes
and walked towards the bar and opened a bottle of beer. She held out the bottle for him. Jason shook his head. “I still have to run some errands.”
The irritated blonde
shrugged. “Whatever!”
Jason leaned up
against the bar. “Have you talked to
Sonny at all?”
Carly took a swig of
the amber bottle. “No. Why should I?” questioned Carly. “We’re done. Divorced actually, so that allows me the ability to not have to talk to him if I like!”
Jason knew Carly was
miserable. The fake smile and her
upbeat demeanor were sure signs that Carly was in emotional turmoil. He patted the hand that rested on the
counter. “You’ll be okay Carly. You’re a fighter.”
Carly backed away and
chuckled softly, shaking her head. “You
don’t know Jason.” She looked up at the
ceiling. “I think I’ve really blown it
this time!”
Jason watched Carly
open her mouth like she was about to laugh, but no sound came out. She ran the tip of her tongue along her
lips. “There’s no turning back on this
Jason.” Carly lifted her hand up and
casually wiped a tear forming in the corner of her eye. Sniffling loudly, Carly shone a big smile at
him. “Well, there’s no point in
wallowing in it, is there?”
Carly walked from
behind the bar and made her way beside Jason.
“Are you going to drop by when there’s actually people
here? Then you can see it in all its glory!” Her eyes twinkled
in pride.
Jason shook his head
when someone entered the club. He
turned around and saw Jaime bounding down the stairs. She smiled at him.
“Jason! What a surprise! How did you know I worked here?”
Jason was about to
answer when Carly stepped in front of him, intercepting his bubbly friend. “He’s not here to see you, missy!” snarled Carly.
Jaime brow furrowed
and looked over Carly’s shoulder in confusion.
Jason shook his and sighed.
“Carly, stop it.”
She turned on her heel
and glared at Jason. “You know the
little mouse?” Carly inquired nauseously.
Jason nodded. But before he could elaborate Jaime
interrupted. “We were in Italy. He showed me around a couple of years ago. And then, well, he rescued me.”
Carly shook her head
and looked squinted her eyes in irritation.
“What?” she spat. “What is she talking about Jason? Italy?”
Jason rubbed his chin,
trying to think of how to explain this to Carly, who was ready to blow a
gasket. “Well, I met her in Italy a
couple of years ago when I left Port Charles.”
Carly nodded, but the
sour look on her face remained.
“And then we met up
again in Italy this past month. She got
kidnapped and Liz and I went to find her.”
He tried to make it as short an explanation as possible, knowing that Carly
wouldn’t get past the part about him knowing her.
“Is that why you
stayed away so long? Cause you and
little Miss Prissy had to go find her?”
Jaime laughed in
disbelief. By the look on her face,
Jason knew that she was going to go off on Carly. As Jaime opened her mouth, Jason got up from the stool he had
been leaning on and moved in between the two fiery women. “I really should get going. Sonny has some errands for me to run. Jaime?”
Jaime looked up at
Jason flustered. “But I…”
Jason motioned with
his eyes toward the exit. “Could you
walk me out? I need to ask you
something.”
He quickly began to
escort Jaime towards the exit before she could say anything that might lose her
the job. Jason turned and looked back
at Carly who just stood there glaring and tapping her toe. Finally she turned and walked out of the bar
room.
Jason felt Jaime
squirm out of his grasp. “Hey!” grunted
Jaime, who looked very unhappy with him.
“You didn’t have to drag me out of the room. I could have handled her!”
Jason sighed. “I know you could have handled her. But I also know that you like your job and you wouldn’t’ want to lose it over a silly argument.”
Jaime folded her arms
across her chest. “How do you know?” pouted Jaime.
Jason smiled. “Jaime, you wouldn’t have gotten anywhere
with Carly. She’s just upset about some
personal stuff. Don’t take it
personally,” Jason explained.
Jaime pursed her lips
and looked up at Jason. “How can I
not? She was so rude!”
Jason rested both his
hands on squarely on her shoulders.
“Just count to ten whenever she tries to get under your skin. I know you have a lot more patience than
that.”
Jaime rolled her eyes
and finally broke a smile. “All
right. I hate it when you make sense.”
Jason hugged her. “I have to go…uh, I’ll see you probably
tonight. Carly asked me to stop by.”
Suddenly Jaime had an
unexpected mischievous look on her face.
“What?” Jason queried.
“Oh, I was thinking
maybe you could bring Elizabeth?”
Jason blinked a couple
of times. He had specifically tried to keep
busy so he wouldn’t have to think about their last encounter. “I don’t think she would like to come. She and Carly don’t get along.”
Jaime grinned. She reached out and patted him on the
chest. “Oh, I’m sure you could possibly
convince her that she would have a good time.”
Jason shook his
head. “Why are you suggesting this?”
Jaime rolled her eyes
and began to make her way back into the club.
“Cause you guys are so dense sometimes,” Jaime muttered.
Jason thought he heard
her call him and Elizabeth dense, but let it go. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Leaning on the door,
one hand gripping the handle, Jaime warned him, “Not without Elizabeth though!”
Jason sighed and shook
his head. He nodded and waved
goodbye. He guessed he would be taking Elizabeth out tonight.