Power of Persuasion

Chapter Eight:

I liked the fact that Jesse lived in his basement. It was like he was completely cut off from the world around him. I was sitting on Jesse's bed, the sheets were crumbled up in a ball at the edge, and the one pillow was folded in half. I had out our psych homework, and I was looking it over while he made some microwave mac n cheese.

This was the stupidest assignment so far, and it hardly made any sense. Each one of the 50 questions had 5 potential answers all ranging from 1 being disagree, 2 being slightly disagree, 3 is neutral, 4 is slightly agree, and 5 is agree. The questions were so vague and obviously depended on the situation, but I began to ask Jesse some of them anyway.

"Are you the life of the party?" I asked.

He laughed with a mouth full of processed cheese and noodles and held up a 1, meaning disagree.

Before I could ask him anymore, he snatched the paper from my hands and filled out some of them himself, answering out loud.

"I feel little concern for others. That's probably a 4." He said circling his answer.

"I am always prepared...That's a one"

"I get stressed out easily? 5." He sighed and then did a few of them in his head.

I sat on his bed against the frame, and hugged his pillow which smelled of aftershave and sex dreams.

With his mouth full of his dinner, Jesse perked up "Do you think I have a rich vocabulary?"

I almost laughed when he asked. "Undoubtedly." I answered, winking. He smiled, and continued to answer questions.

My dad knows I'm staying at Jesse's house for the weekend. I told him we'd be working on our psychology project; which is true, and that we'd be sleeping in different rooms; which is not true.

"Jess, where's your mom?" I asked, clenching onto his pillow. "It's a Friday night, Soph. She's out, finding her next victim." Jesse got up and threw away his dinner. One of his sweat pant legs was pulled up higher than the other, and he had bed head to the max. I couldn't help but blush at his awkward adorable nature. "Are you hungry?" He asked, turning around to look at me. "Only a little." I replied getting up from his bed as he turned back around to look in his cupboard. "Well, what do you feel like?" He asked, rummaging through all his snacks. "I got some Cheetos, Oreo's; but no milk, so that sort of defeats the purpose..." I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. My chin rested on his shoulder and he stopped mid sentence and looked down at my hands "What a great feeling," he started. "having a girl like you so much that you can't even stand without her lovin' on you." He giggled and put his hands on top of mine.

What a comforting feeling that was. Hearing his heartbeat through his back. His hands just laying on top of mine. My warm breath making a moist spot on his neck. He breathed heavy when I began kissing up his neck and to his jaw line. He clenched my hand tighter and turned around to face me. "I thought you were hungry?" He said in a breathy tone as I kissed him everywhere on his face, but his lips. "I am." I whispered between kisses. He let out a soft laugh and picked me up, wrapping my legs around his middle.

Taking me over to his bed, he set me down, and leaned over me giving me kisses up my neck, running his hands up and down my sides. He crawls on top of me and runs his fingers through my hair and kisses down my collar bones, then suddenly, we hear the front door open upstairs and two staggering feet stumble in. We hear loud over dramatic laughing and we both freeze. Jesse is still on top of me and we're both just listening not moving at all. We hear two pairs of feet totter all the way into his mom's room, and then the door shut. He looks down at me and smiles "Top coat collection?" and I repeated 'Top coat collection." and grinned

We both sprang up and walked up his stair case like spies, humming the Mission Impossible theme song. He slowly opened up his door and peeked his head out. "We're clear." He whispered, pretending to talk into a walkie talkie. I let out a small laugh and tip toed up the stairs and into his living room.

Although, the house was decorated very modern, it was an old soul. The floor boards creaked, and the doors squeaked. You can try and cover it up as much as you want, but the foundation is old, and that you can't fix.

A mans coat was lied across the couch, and a half empty bottle of Sam Adams was on the kitchen counter. Jess walked over and picked the bottle up "What a cheapskate." He said swishing around the liquid. He walked back down his staircase into his room to put the bottle away. I sat on the couch next to the mystery man's coat and dug through the pockets and pulled out a wallet, a box of matches and a pack of Parliaments. I ran over the the door way and walked a few steps down "pack of Parliaments" I said throwing them down to Jesse. Laughs echoed through the house from his mothers room. Jesse ran back up and grabbed my hand pulling me back over to the couch.

I stood and watched as Jesse rummaged through this mans wallet, pulling out a few twenties, but not all of the cash. He also pocketed a few gift cards, and even the matches. His face was so content and serious. Everything he did just...flowed so naturally. "I've never been so attracted to you" I let slip out of my mouth. It was one of those things where I was thinking it, and I didn't realize I said it until Jesse let out a slight laugh, causing me to blush. "There is something so alluring about breaking the rules, huh?" He didn't even look at me when saying this. But, there really was. He pulled out the Man's ID and put a name to this John Doe. It was Bennett Avery. A 42 year old man, with dark hair and hazel eyes. Putting his wallet back in the coat, Jesse searched the inside pockets.

His eyes got wide as his hand hit to what seemed to be the 'jackpot'. "Holy Shit..." He stammered. Then, we heard a palm against face from behind closed doors. A scream now echoed, and a door was squeaking open. Jesse shot up, pulling my hand and running to the basement. Only having time to crack his door, he watched as the man picked up his coat and left, slamming the door behind him. I ran down the steps and sat down on his bed to catch my breath "Damn..." I sighed. "My heart is beating so fast." Jesse didn't reply. He just walked down slowly, one step at a time. It was then when I finally realized what is was that he was holding. It was a gun.

His eyes were wide and fixated on it. It was small, but a gun is a gun. He sat next to me on his bed, it still in his hands. Fitting perfectly in his palm. I want to know what was going through his head right now. If holding it scared him any more than watching him hold it scared me. "Jess..." I whispered. "Uh huh?..." He whispered back, still not looking at me. I laid my hand on top of the gun that was being cradled by his hand. "Is it loaded?" I asked. He finally turned his head and looked at me "Uh huh." He said. He did look scared. Which weirdly made me feel a little better.

He laid his other hand on top of mine, and picked my hand up. He opened the side table drawer and set the gun into the Top Coat Collection with all of the other things he stuffed into his pockets. He laid down on his folded pillow and looked up at the ceiling. "Can you hold my hand?" He whispered. I crawled over him, and laid beside him grabbing a hold of his hand.

I'm guessing he wanted to forget that a gun was ever there. he wanted to hold something besides a 32 caliber. He wanted to forget that something that had the potential to take a life away was ever against his skin.

We fell asleep this way. Breaths soft and hands clenched.