~O~
Jen actually smiled as she and
her mother rode in the limousine back home.
“Did you enjoy your brunch?”
Helen asked as she looked at her reflection in her hand held mirror. Jen
smiled, not really listening.
“Jennifer?”
“Huh?”
“Did you enjoy your brunch?”
“Um, yeah…I guess so…”
“Good.”
After another block had passed,
Jen spoke again.
“Mother…at one, a friend is
picking me up for lunch, okay? I just wanted to let you know…to get your
permission.”
“Oh…” Helen said, slightly
jaunted. “…well, yes, that’s fine.”
“Okay,” Jen said quickly, in
relief.
“How long will you be gone?”
“Not long…an hour or two at
best.”
“Oh, well, yes…that’s fine. You
don’t need to ask permission to go out with a friend. You’re a grown up…of
course that’s fine.”
Jen stared at her mother in
disbelief.
“Why would I mind if you went out
with a friend?” When Jen didn’t answer, Helen looked over at her. “Hmn?”
“N-no reason…”
~O~
Jen got home, and changed into
more comfortable clothes. She glared at the long, floral dress her mother had
made her wear to brunch earlier, and made a face. She kicked it into the back
of her closet, then closed the closet door and sat down on her bed to slip on
her shoes.
Jen was dressed more like a New
Yorker now. Despite the warm weather, Jen was wearing a tight, pale colored
long sleeved t-shirt, dark denim jeans, and she slid on her trademark leather
clunky boots. It had been a while since she’d worn them…and it felt good to
slip back into them.
She got up and went to her
mirror.
Jen wiped off the disgusting pink
lipstick her mother had wanted her to wear, then started to apply some
chapstick. She stopped when she noticed there was a scab in the corner of her
lips…another place her mother’s nails had dug into her. She dropped the
chapstick and looked for her darkest shade of red.
She pressed her lips together and
stood back. Vampire colors were out, but this shade hid the scab, and that was
all she was concerned about. She applied some more concealer to her cheeks and
jaw line, then dusted on more powder. Mac make-up always covered…hid, so
well.
She looked in the mirror.
God, she seemed different.
She twisted her hair into little
pigtails and held them in place with rubberbands, before finally turning and
leaving her mirror. She picked up her bag before leaving the room.
~O~
Pacey arrived right on time,
wearing one of his Hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts that he was so well known
around Capeside for. Jen almost laughed.
“You’re going to stand out in
that,” She said.
“You’re going to roast in that,”
He pointed at her outfit. “It’s like, a million degrees out here!”
“I’m a New Yorker…I can take the
heat,”
“Oh great,” Jen mumbled trying to
shove Pacey out the door.
“Jennifer, I’d like to meet your
friend,”
Helen came to the entryway, still
in her expensive Chanel suit from the brunch, and carrying a martini glass. Her
eyes lit up when she saw Pacey.
“And who is this attractive…yet
oddly dressed, young man?” She asked. Jen looked mortified.
“This is Pacey Witter…from
Capeside. Pacey, this is my mom.”
“Nice to meet you,” He said
warmly.
“You as well,” She said, taking a sip of her drink. “A Witter, huh? Are the Witter men still as debonair as I remember?”
Jen blushed. Pacey grinned.
“So you know of my clan, heh.”
“I knew your father,”
“Well, mom…I’ll be back in a
couple of hours.” Jen again shoved Pacey out the front door, and started to
close it behind them.
“Are you driving?” Helen asked.
Pacey turned and smiled at her.
“Uh, yeah…I’ve got my friend’s
car.”
“Oh, Jennifer…why don’t you let
Julio drive you…the limousine is so much more elegant.”
“No thanks mom,” Jen said
bitterly. “We’re fine,”
She slammed the door and rushed
towards Jack’s car, sitting at the end of the driveway.
“Jen…wait up,” Pacey said.
“Let’s just go,” She said
hurriedly, looking back as she watched her mother stare at them through the
window.
“Sure.” He said, a little baffled
as he unlocked her door.
~O~
“I’m sorry,” Jen said, rubbing
her forehead as they pulled away.
“For what?” Pacey asked, smiling
as he looked over at her.
“Just for my mother…she’s…she’s a
bit of a…of a…I don’t know.”
“You don’t need to apologize for
your parents…are you forgetting who my father is?” He grinned at her then
looked back to the road.
Jen smiled and eased back in the
seat.
~O~
“So…what made you
decide to stay here?”
The dreaded question.
Pacey and Jen sat
across from eachother in a Mom ‘n Pop kinda pizzeria where local kids hung out;
eating pizza, playing skeeball, or battling it out on old arcade video games.
The table clothes
were red and white checked, and the lights were set low. The waitresses all
looked related, and called the cook “Pops”. The food was good, and the
atmosphere was noisy…just what Jen needed, compared to the high-class ritzy
brunches and the boring afternoon teas she had been attending with her mother
every day for the last couple of weeks. This was the first time she’d been able
to get out alone. Well, not exactly alone, since Pacey was there.
She was glad he was
there…
Pacey stared at her across the table. They sat in a booth with high backs for privacy, leaving them pretty much secluded in their corner.
Jen didn’t want to
answer him.
He asked again.
“Jen…what made you
decide to stay with your mom in New York?”
She took a bite of
pizza, and acted like her mouth was too full to answer. When she swallowed, she
tried to change the subject.
“So, Jack was really
messed up from last night,”
“Yes,” Pacey said,
smiling slightly, realizing what she was doing, and not about to let her off
nearly that easily. “He was very messed up…but you didn’t answer my question.”
“Hmn?”
“About staying here?”
“Oh,” Jen started to
pick up another slice, but Pacey slapped her hand away. She looked at him, her
mouth agape, as he leaned over the table towards her.
“Why don’t you want
to answer my question?”
“What? I don’t—what
do you mean?”
“Jen…you’re avoiding
it…why?”
“I’m not avoiding
it!”
“Jen,”
He was smiling
persuasively, and Jen knew she couldn’t get away from those penetrating eyes of
his. She sighed, sitting back against the seat and looked down at her food.
Pacey’s smile started to fade at her expression. She finally looked at him, and
he, too, settled back in his seat.
But she still didn’t
speak.
“Come on, Jen…what’s
up?”
“Nothing!” She said,
exasperated.
“It’s obviously not
‘nothing’,” He said softly. “Come on…You know how much your Grams misses you.
And Jack, and everybody…what made you stay?”
“It’s—It’s too hard
to talk about...”
“It’s not hard…tell
me.”
“Pacey—”
“Jen…”
“Pacey, don’t make
me—”
“Jen, I want to know!
Now, come on…what’s going on?”
She shook her head.
He leaned forward, peering across the table at her. He didn’t like this; her
sudden secrecy. Jen was never one to hold things in. It had to be serious.
Pacey started to grow worried.
“Why wont you tell
me? We’re friends, you now… You’re supposed to be able to talk to me about this
stuff.”
She still sat
silently.
“Fine.” Pacey sat
back in a huff. “I mean, if you don’t trust me…”
“Pacey…” She finally
said brusquely. “My father beats my mother.”
“What?” Pacey snapped
when the words finally registered.
“My dad…he…” Jen
looked as if she were about to cry. She set her elbow on the table and rested
her forehead against her hand. Pacey watched her.
“Jen? When?”
“Oh, God,”
She did start to cry
then, though only a few tears came out. She quickly wiped them away. And Pacey,
his face wrought with surprise, empathy, and concern, passed her a napkin.
“Thank you,” She said
as she took it. She wiped her eyes and nose, then took a deep breath. She tried
to speak, but couldn’t.
“I’m here…” Pacey
said in a low voice as he reached across the table and took her hand. “I’m here
for you. Whenever you’re ready to talk, just start.”
~O~
“I didn’t want
anybody to know,” Jen sighed softly.
“Well…” Pacey started
slowly. “What’s your mother going to do? I mean, she’s going to leave him,
right?”
Jen laughed inanely, shaking her head.
“No, Pace...”
“Well, she can’t just
stay with him,”
“That’s exactly what
she’s going to do.”
“But—”
“Pace, look. You
don’t understand. I…I shouldn’t have even said anything.”
“What do you mean,”
Pacey said, rising and moving around the edge of the table to sit beside her.
“Of course you should’ve said something… You should have said something
sooner.”
“Pacey, really, it’s
none of your business. I shouldn’t have said anything. Please just forget it…”
“I will not forget
it!”
“It doesn’t even
matter!” Jen said adamantly, and shrugging her shoulders all too nervously. “My
father…He’s in Europe. After that, he’s spending a few months in the Orient.
It’s not like he’s going to be here. She’ll be fine,”
“But what about when
he comes back?”
“Well…I’ll be here.”
“Jen,”
“I’ll be here, and
I’ll protect her.”
“Jen…You can’t
protect your mother. If anything, she should be protecting you. Has your dad
ever hit you? Has he??? If he did—” Pacey was starting to feel angry.
“No! God, no!
Daddy…he never…he never hit me,”
“Well, what’s to keep
him from starting??? Abuse spreads…it spreads fast! I don’t understand how a
woman could just stay in an abusive relationship like that…especially with her
teenaged daughter in the house,”
“It’s…complicated,”
“It shouldn’t be. I
mean, what if he did start hitting you,”
“Pacey, please. I
don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Well, I think you
should! I think she should talk to somebody, too…a psychiatrist, or the
police,”
“No, she wouldn’t…she
really doesn’t need to,”
“She needs to do
something! Eventually, she’s going to have to face up to it and make a choice.
I just hope…I hope it’s not too late by then…”
“Pacey! I don’t need
to hear this!”
“He could kill her,”
“Pacey!”
“He could hurt you!”
“Pacey, please!”
“I just don’t want
you to get hurt, Jen. If there’s anything I can do to stop that, I will… Don’t
think I’m going to let this go.”
Jen’s face fell as
she slouched farther down into her seat. Pacey placed his arm around her
protectively, and sighed heavily.
“Jen…I can’t let you
get hurt here.”
“Pacey… Please let it
drop…” She whispered. “Okay? It’s okay… We’ll be okay… I don’t want to talk
about this anymore…”
Pacey looked at her
skeptically. He knew it wouldn’t be okay if she kept thinking with this
attitude…this denial.
Still, he didn’t want
to make her more uncomfortable than she already was. He realized it had taken a
lot for her to even admit it…
And so, against his
better judgment, he let it drop.
~O~