Jessie's Girl

Chapter 1

"So you get what I'm saying?" I broke my gaze from the asphalt floor and looked at Jessie. "Uh, sorry, what did you say?" I asked. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Never mind, its no big deal. But what's up with you?" He said, leaning back in the swing. 

I fake a smile, "Nothing! I'm just tired." Unconvinced he stood abruptly, and grabbed my arms, hauling me to my feet. "Come on, we're going uptown so we have a train to catch." I sighed. "Jessie, why the hell are we going uptown? It's fine where we are right now and I don't feel like refilling my card." 

He was already tugging me out of the gates of the playground. Still dragging me down the street, I shuffled along as we made our way to 28th street. Jessie dodged a speeding taxi as we kept going east. About five minutes later, I was being pushed onto the 6 train. "You've been acting really weird lately. Well, weirder for you."

 I rolled my eyes at Jessie, and shifted so I was facing the other way. I didn't want to tell him the real reason why I was out of wack for a while. Heck, if I did he would hate me and never want anything to do with me again. 

Sensing the cold shoulder, he just responded, "Whatever, but I know that you'll be sort of okay once we get to where we're going." I realized something. "And where would that be specifically?" I finally said. He kept his mouth shut. "Fine then." I said, crossing my arms. This wasn't like us. I guess it was just because of... the situation I was in. 

I pushed the thought away and got off at 86th. We made it out of the hot subway station and into the slightly more comfortable heat of ground level. "Hurry up I want to make it to 88th before 5." Jessie picked up the pace and I did nothing but comply and follow him briskly.

 Once we got to 87th, I stopped and finally figured out where he was taking me. In doing so, I yanked his shirt backwards and spun him around. "The Guggenheim? Really? We were there literally last week, and there aren't any new exhibits. Why did you drag me all the way up here? We could've just gotten dinner at Schnipper's, which by the way, is a heck of a lot closer to Madison Park than the Guggenheim!" He turned around and just kept walking. Exasperated, I just kept going. 

I checked my wallet as we walked, "I don't have twenty five dollars, Jess. Unless you can spot me for it, I can't pay admission." He glanced back, "You won't be needing any money." I lightened, I kind of was low on carry-on cash at the moment. I spotted the familiar rounded building, and a slow trickle of people streaming in and out of the glass doors. 

I started to make my way into the same crowd, but Jessie steered me away, towards to a familiar stand. A small woman with a dark bob smiled at us, "Can I help you two?" 

"I'll have a milk and cookies, and she'll have a mint and chocolate please." She nodded and started to scoop the gelato into the signature pink cups. "Thanks, Jessie, I'll pay you when we get home." We were walking across the street to Central Park, "And, I'm sorry for being annoyed and spacey earlier..." He smiled, and shoveled a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, and said, "It's really no problem, I just thought that you'd like coming out here for the afternoon." 

I leaned across the railing that kept me from a large lake. Joggers ran around it in large circles, along the tree lines. "I was thinking that we could go back to the apartment after this, and go out for dinner tonight." Jessie said, while continuing to clean out his cup of gelato. 

I checked my watch, 4:47. Plenty of time to catch another train back, get ready, and pick some restaurant that's in our taste. "Where we headed to?" I wondered aloud. Jessie thought for a moment, "Maybe we could go to Jersey City and eat at that restaurant, Razza. We could take the PATH train and not stay in Jersey for too long so we can still go around Midtown before going to the apartment." That actually didn't sound too bad. We'd probably just end up ordering two of their pizza's, without actually finishing them, and have a meal for the next day. I'd probably order one of their beers and if we're lucky, that jazz band would be playing tonight.