Simpsational

Summer's End

Kayla

It had been two weeks. That was long enough. Either Jace was sticking to his no contact promise, or he was angry with her. He'd never stayed angry with her before, it was hard to know what to say when all she had was this dumb paper.

Regardless, it was time to try another letter.

J

Hey, baby. Summer is so boring without you around. Hope you're having more fun that I am.

I'm worried about you. Please drop me a note to let me know you're ok. To let me know that we're ok.

K

She scented it and sealed it with a kiss. At least this time sending it wasn't a problem.

Jace

Things were going really well with Chrissy. They were taking things slowly, mostly under the direction of Page. Page was giving Chrissy advice, too, running her puppet show from both ends. He knew that Chrissy was going to strip down to just her panties days ahead of the event and had clear instructions on how he was supposed to respond when it happened. He could sense her frustration, her desperation, growing Page assured him that was exactly what he wanted.

Page also saw to it that he didn't get too frustrated. He felt guilty about it, but it wasn't like she was giving him a choice. He had hours of playing with a topless Page, his 'training', before he did the same things with Chrissy.

"Mail call!" cried Page as she carried a stack of envelopes into the barracks. Jace got a letter from his parents every week and, after they provided him with stamps and already addressed envelopes, had been good about responding.

Page walked over to him bunk, leafing through the stack. "Looks like just the one for you, Jace," she said, handing the now familiar letter from his parents.

As he read it, he suddenly found himself thinking about Kayla. At first, he thought it was just the tails of home, but then as he pushed the letter back in the envelope, he smelled her.

He lifted it to his nose. It was faint, but it definitely smelled like her perfume. How strange.

"Letter from home?" Chrissy asked as she watched him a little too intently.

"Yeah. My parents' weekly update."

"Ah. That's nice." There was something funny in the way she said it, and she was looking at him suspiciously. He had no idea why.

It didn't end there, either. Things were supposed to progress to the next step on their date the following night, but if anything, they took a step back. He didn't push, sensing something was wrong, even though Page had stressed that he needed to be aggressive, push for more. He and Chrissy mostly just talked, and not about what was bothering her.

Their relationship continued to grow, but at a slower pace. There was no barrier of clothing between them any longer, and their make out sessions were intense, but she was holding back. He wondered if she suspected what he was doing with Page. He couldn't very well ask her if that was the problem, and they'd never talked about being exclusive, but there was something wrong.

Kayla

It had been two more weeks. Two more weeks of nothing. There was really only one thing left to do. The thing that she should have done when she first found out where he was.

J

I still haven't heard back from you, so I've decided that we need to talk this out in person. School starts back up in a little over two weeks, so I'm going to come out there on the fourth unless I hear from you. Expect me in the early afternoon.

Miss you,

K

Jace

The week's bundle of mail came in, Page handing it out as they all bedded down for the night. Chrissy had another rodeo the next day and Jace was disappointed that work would keep him from attending. Their first kiss had occurred after a rodeo, maybe their next first would happen on the heels of this one.

He held his mom's letter to his nose when Page handed it to him. It smelled like Kayla again. He wondered if his mother had randomly started using the same fragrance.

"Jace, we need to talk," Chrissy said, her voice sad. He didn't like where this was going.

"Sure. Go for a walk?"

They stepped outside, engaging in idle chatter until they were well out of earshot of the bunk house.

"Chrissy, talk to me. What's wrong?"

She sighed. "Jace, I love you. Every time we're together, I think about making love to you. I've come so close so many times, but the same thing keeps stopping me." She stopped walking and turned to take his hands. "You don't love me."

"Chrissy, I ---"

"Jace, I see it every time you get one of those letters. You aren't over Kayla."

He shook his head, "They're from my parents."

"I know. But you don't want them to be. You keep hoping they're from her. I knew what I was getting into, and I'm glad we tried. It has been a truly wonderful summer with you, but---"

"You're breaking up with me."

"Jace, we were never officially even going out. Yes, I need to end this. After the rodeo, I'm going home. School starts back up in a couple weeks and I'm hoping this won't hurt so much if I don't have to see you every day."

"Chrissy, I really like you."

"I know. I really like you too." She turned away, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I just wish we'd left it at that."