Percival
It took a awhile to,get all the melted cheese out of my hair. By the time I'm decent enough to go back to eat, the sun has started to set. When I look at a clock in the hall I see that it is already 5 o'clock. I find Jocelyn in the kitchen with a plate filled with tiny sandwiches.she smiles when she sees me and it lifts my heart. “What took you so long?” She jokingly asks. “Oh you know, the usual, cheese in my hair, pesto on my everything.” She scrutinizes me up and down, “oh everywhere huh?” she looks so suggestive. Raising her eyebrows she sidles close to me. I'm trapped where I stand. She gets so close to me that I feel her hot breath through my shirt, on my chest. “well it’s a good thing you made it in time…” her hands are behind her back, she stands on her tiptoe and still has to tilt her head back to look into my eyes. “For dinner!” She shoves a mini sandwich in my mouth before I can even register what she says. She backs away quickly and looks up at me in anticipation. I chew slowly, unexpected flavor bursts on my tongue. Kind of spicy and sweet and savory all at the same time. “Wow!” I gasp as I finish swallowing. “Oh good you like it! Its an old recipe my… someone taught me, it's sweet and spicy ham with ricotta cheese.” She looks down suddenly bashful, any trace of the sexy bad girl gone now. I lift her chin so she is looking at me again, “this is the best baby sandwich I've ever had.” She laughs, somehow it's a different laugh than before.this is a sweet girlish laugh. It makes me want to hold her in my arms and never let go. I quickly shake that thought out of my head and shove another sandwich in my mouth.
We eat and talk and laugh for a while until Jocelyn starts growing distant. Her laugh starts to sound hollow and there is no more smile,in her eyes. “Jocelyn, are you ok?” She looks at me and shrugs noncommittally, “just...tired” I doubt it but I accept her answer no wanting to pry. I walk her to her room and we say our good nights. After dropping Jocelyn off I amble slowly back to my room. I slump in my bed as soon as I reach it. Closing my eyes I think about the afternoon. Jocelyn’s laugh keeps replaying itself in my mind. I start to fantasize about that laugh. We are at a beautiful beach and Jocelyn is leaning back in my lap and laughing at the waves that are ticking our feet…
I know I shouldn't be but I can't stop thinking about her, I know it's wrong but… I think I'm in love with Jocelyn.
The days come and go quickly. Days turn to weeks and before you know it, Jocelyn has been here for a month and a half. We hang out a lot, play Mario Kart and talk about life. Jocelyn is teaching me how to,cook a few simple dishes. The chefs haven't come back and slowly, almost too slowly to tell, the house servants begin to disappear without a trace. I mention,this to Jocelyn but she hasn't seemed to notice.
“I'm used to doing everything by myself, I guess I would have only noticed them if they had been cleaning my room and making my bed!” I love that way she looks at me with a smile in her eyes. “Wait you do all that by yourself?” I exclaimed, “How did you learn to take of yourself so well?” Jocelyn sighs and slumps into herself. “My father was never around, and when he was he was tired and had a very short temper around my mom and siblings and I. My mother and I, we didn't get along very well, and was very tired most of the time, too tired to take care of her own children.” she stares into space with bitter memories in her eyes. “I had to learn at a young age to take care of my whole family.” Jocelyn lamented the story of her youth to me. Describing hardships that would mentally cripple adults, and she was only 12. She went on, “I wanted to run far away but I knew that I couldn't leave my sister and brothers alone with our never-attentive mother. So instead I sought distractions. Anything was welcome. At first it was school, I got into all the honors and gifted classes, and I studied to get away from my life. I would lock myself in my room, along with 5 year old Ivy and 2 year old Joseph and Sammy. They would color and I would study.” Jocelyn hesitates here and shudders. “What is it?” I gently probe. She wraps her arms around her torso and looks sick all of the sudden, she stutters, her voice cracking. Tears drip off her chin as she lets the tears flow without restraint. “So many bad things… I let so many so many bad things happen to me.” She sobs and puts her head in her hands. For a moment she is silent until, “The world is a dark and scary place, for a timid girl as myself.” I take Jocelyn into my arms, letting her weep into my chest.
It doesn't take long for Jocelyn to cry herself out. Soon she falls asleep in my arms. Her room,is too far away from the game room where we are, my room is much closer. The halls are only still as I carry Jocelyn to my room, her eyelids flicker as I lay her gently on my bed. I sit on the edge of the bed next to her. I watch her dream until I can't keep the fatigue away anymore. I drag myself to a hard rocking chair and drift into dreams of my own, dreams of a good life.
