Jesse stormed upstairs from the kitchen, his heart racing. He paused when he got to the top of the steps and took a few deep breaths, trying to cool himself off. He needed some space.
Space. The one thing he seemed to be lacking more and more ever since their three alternate selves had arrived. Or, more specifically, Wren. He gritted his teeth. Just the thought of her made his blood boil. He let out a frustrated grunt and started pacing the floor in an effort to blow off some steam.
Jack had been sitting upstairs, deep in concentration for the past few hours, scribbling away in his journal. It had been a while since he'd had the chance to come up with new rhymes, modifying ones from centuries past. It always brought him a sense of calm, just being able to have some sort of creative outlet. The sound of someone coming up the stairs broke him away from his project, and from the heavy footsteps, it was clear that whoever it was wasn't happy. His suspicions were confirmed when he spotted Jesse, who seemed oblivious to his presence.
"What could possibly be the problem now," Jack sighed, flicking his pencil at him.
Just then Jesse felt something sharp catch him in the shoulder. "Ow!" he cried, feeling more offended than hurt as he whirled to see where it had come from. His eyes settled on Jack. He was sitting in a chair in the family room, a journal open in his hands.
"Would you knock it off?" Jesse asked him. "What's the big idea anyway?"
"You tell me, oh dramatic one," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not the one who came storming up here." He muttered a rhyme under his breath, a pinch of stardust in his hand, and his pencil floated back to him. Pointing it at Jesse, he asked, "So, what's the problem?"
"It's Wren," Jesse muttered. "She's been on my case all day. First with trying to tell me how to put all the groceries away, then getting after me about drinking milk from the carton, and now it's washing my hands before I eat, I mean—I can't even eat a damn sandwich in peace!"
"How dare she!" Jack gasped in fake exasperation. "Doesn't she know car grease is part of your essential diet?"
"Shut up," Jesse snapped. "I'm being serious. It's not just today. It's every day. I can't even breathe without her telling me how, and I'm so sick of it! She can't ever seem to let me live my life. I can run just fine on my own. I don't need a—a babysitter!"
"Uh huh, says the person who just came in here throwing a mini temper tantrum."
Jesse felt his nose twitch as he tried to hold back his annoyance. "You're not helping." Taking another deep breath, he ran his fingers through his hair and went back to pacing. "I just wish that for once I could make her back off."
Jack sat, starting to pick at his nails as he thought. He understood how Jesse felt—Wren did have a tendency to be overbearing at times. He knew she meant well, but she could be exhausting. "Well, then make her," he said simply.
Jesse paused. "Huh?"
"Make her back off," Jack sat up a bit. "If she hasn't been listening to you, make her listen to you." He closed his journal, starting to pick at its pages instead. "Surely there's something you could do, right?"
Jesse shifted his posture, his full attention on Jack now. "Easy for you to say. She actually respects what you have to say."
Jack couldn't help but pause at Jesse's statement. In all the time he'd known Wren, he had never known her to not hear people out. She was always willing to listen to whatever anyone had to say, so hearing that she wasn't respecting Jesse's opinion threw him off. Maybe it was stress, he figured. She had been a little high-strung for the past few months, so maybe that's what it was. If that was the case, she probably just needed to be snapped out of it.
"Well then, don't say—do."
Jesse furrowed a brow. "I don't follow."
Jack sighed, "dude. I'm saying to scare her or something, anything that might catch her attention."
"And how am I supposed to do that? I don't know if you've noticed, but she's been watching me like a hawk." He felt a shiver pass through his spine before muttering to himself, "it's like I'm a criminal or something."
Jack scanned the room a bit, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Yeah, she's right here in the room right now just watching us, right?"
Then it started to click. "You...have something in mind?"
Jack glanced around the room, trying to come up with something. He really wanted to help Jesse, so he had to think fast. Then, he remembered the bit of stardust still on his fingers, and a smile began to spread across his face, "What's the one thing she wouldn't expect from you?"
Jesse racked his brain. Aside from existing outside of her ever-watchful gaze, he couldn't think of many other answers. He gave Jack a clueless look and shook his head slightly.
Jack gave an actual exasperated sigh this time. He couldn't help but wonder how Jesse survived this long, but in all fairness, how did he survive this long? He grabbed his staff that was leaning on the chair and pointed it directly at Jesse, "magic, she wouldn't expect magic from you."
Jesse's hard expression softened into surprise. "Magic?" He echoed. How was he supposed to do that? He didn't possess any powers like their counterparts did.
Jack clicked his tongue as he stood, twirling his staff in his hand before planting it back into the ground. He couldn't help but get a little excited as the idea came to him, "it would be so easy! She would be so shocked that you could work magic, she would have to listen to you!"
Jesse listened closely to what Jack was saying, a thoughtful look growing on his face. He liked the sound of what he was hearing, and yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Fletcher's words came back to him from the last conversation he'd had about Wren.
Have you tried talking to her?
Of course he hadn't yet. He'd always been of the opinion that actions spoke louder than words. And yet, here was that nagging feeling, telling him to go against his instinctive response. He felt torn.
"I don't know..." he said at last.
"Oh come on now," Jack pushed. "It's obvious that she's not listening to you, and wouldn't you like to use more than words here?"
"Well...yeah," Jesse admitted hesitantly. The two sides of him were at war. He wasn't sure who to listen to.
"It would only be for a moment, just enough for her to listen." Jack started fiddling with his staff, "you wouldn't even have to do anything. You just need to hold the staff and that's it."
Jesse eyed Jack carefully. "What's in it for you?" he asked. "Why do you want this to happen so bad?"
"What? Can't I just help you out here?"
Jesse's gaze shifted as he weighed his options. Jack's proposal was starting to sound better every minute. Why bother wasting his energy trying to talk things over when a simple trick would do it so much better? A determined glint caught his eye. He silenced the voice whispering to him that this was a bad idea. It was a great one. He wished he would have thought of it himself. But then again, he and Jack were just parallel versions of each other, and that was basically the same thing. He looked back up to see Jack with a hand stretched out toward him. He reached out to grab it and they shook.
"Count me in."
