The Roads To Paris

7

I don't know how long I'm standing there but Cole finally looks up and sees me. He doesn't waste a second more as he goes back to kissing the girl. I think I hear the sound of my heart falling and shattering to pieces. I finally walk up to Cole and yank him off the girl.
" You are supposed to be getting us drinks." Is what I lamely come up with when I have nothing else to say
" Well I took a little detour. Don't worry this will only take a second." he says not bothering to explain himself
" It already has."
Is he seriously joking??? Why would someone ask you to be their girlfriend just to kiss another girl
" You know, you're a really sick person. Like mental institution, padded walls, straightjacket sick. I almost feel sorry for you but I don't. How can someone be so void of all human emotions??"
He looks at me like I'm crazy and laughs
" Wait what the hell is this bitch talking about."
I take a step back as the word ' bitch' comes as a slap to my face. I've never been called bitch before, at least not in an offensive way.
" Why would you ask me for a relationship if you were going to kiss everything within a fifty mile radius?? What was the point of all this?"
By this time I'm almost bawling but I manage to keep it in check at least till I'm not in such a public place
" Oh?? You thought we were dating??" Cole says laughing loudly
" Aye Bruno, Sean come listen to this shit for a second." he yells to some brunette guy and the guy I thought was Sam from earlier.
" This bitch over here thinks we're dating. And you know I don't mind when the hos be all over me but this the shit I don't like. I don't want no ho putting a leash on me and making me her pet. Just because she kissed me earlier, practically throwing herself on me she thinks we in a relationship." he shares a laugh with two friends and then continues
" You know Paris, I didn't peg you to be the slut ty....."
Before he can finish his statement he receives a punch in the jaw.
" I thought I warned you not to hurt her Cooper." Jesse says sounding really pissed
" And what do you care Holden? She don't even like you very much, so why you standing up for this bitch?" Cole says.
This is a side of Cole I've never seen before, a side he probably guided against me seeing and I fell right into his trap. I begin to sob afresh feeling really bad when I remember calling Jesse a sanctimonious prick
" Call her a bitch, or a ho, or a slut one more time. I dare you." Jesse says sounding very serious.
" Sorry man, just saying, you gotta put your bitch on a leash. You're letting her run around a lot and she's getting into my space."
Jesse looks at me very irritated then looks back at Cole
" I told you not to call her a bitch." he says through his teeth
" Well she's acting like one." Cole replies.
I see that Jesse is holding his anger in and I hope he can hold it in longer than this conversation
" She's less of a bitch than the girls you hang around with. Butch doesn't even define her, at all, in any way possible. She's a lot of things, good and bad, but ' bitch' isn't one of them." he says taking his tone up a notch
" She can't be less of a bitch than the girls I hang around with cause she's also a girl I hang around with." Cole says matter of factedly
Some guys come over probably to chase us away before we start a fight in the middle of their party
" I blame that on poor judgement and not on sluttish characteristics." Jesse replies and turns to the guys coming to chase us away
" We're leaving already."
he grabs my hand roughly and drags me through the party
" I could've defended myself you know." I say to Jesse sniffling
He doesn't reply, just keeps dragging me through the party.
He stops in front of Heaven, Damien and Benny.
" Peanut are you alright?" Damien asks and I nod slightly
" Oh Paris, why didn't you tell us what was going on?" Heaven says sounding concerned and for the first time, I feel guilty for not treating Heaven like a sister
" We could've at least warned you, even though you have a tendency to be stubborn and not listen to anything we tell you about Cole." Benny adds
" If you guys don't mind I'll take Paris home." Jesse says to them.
They all look at Jesse, and look at one another, before smiling discreetly and simultaneously saying " Sure."
Jesse leads me to his car and opens the door for me. I get inside and stay seated looking out the window until Jesse startles me by slamming his own door shut.
He doesn't drive and we sit in his car for almost an hour until I say " You can say anything else but please don't say I told you so."
" I did tell you so, didn't I? So why shouldn't I? I warned you that Cole was up to no good."
" Since when was I one to listen to advice?" I reply
He chuckles slightly and I laugh along with him.
We sit in silence again but this time it's more comfortable than awkward.
" What are we waiting for?" I ask after sometime
" I'm not sure. I guess I want to say the right words to you, so you don't wake up tomorrow feeling like you had your heart stumped on but you wake up feeling refreshed."
I smile to myself thinking of all the other possibilities asides the fact that this is the real Jesse Holden sitting in the car right next to me. So far, cloning is the most possible one I've thought of.
He sighs deeply and starts the car.
" I really thought Cole was going to be the one. Don't laugh about it cause I'm being serious. I've never met anyone as genuine as he is." I say to no one in particular
" If I may ask who is ' the one' and when do you know you've met this ' one' and also the most genuine people are usually the most likely to con you." Jesse says in a mocking tone
" I don't know Jesse." I say sighing exaggeratedly
" I don't know. Maybe...... Nope. I don't know." I say sighing again
" Well I do. Maybe ' the one' is the person you want to grow old and die with. Or the person who you feel like the real you around. Or the person that's currently available to suit your fantasies and you force your brain to believe you can't do without."
I don't know if this ride was meant to calm me or aggravate the situation but I know I'm thoroughly beyond pissed
" Stop the car." I say in between gritted teeth
" What??!" Jesse says off guard
" Stop the damn car Jesse or I swear to God I'll roll out of it while it's still moving."
He slows the car down a bit and I push the door open and jump out. I leave the door open just to spite him and jog lightly in the direction of home.
" What are you doing Paris? Are you crazy, get back in the car." he yells
I ignore him and keep jogging.
" Please get back in the car. Why did you even get down from it in the first place?"
" Oh I don't know maybe it's because I saw a spider. Or maybe I felt like a jog in the night's cool breeze. Or maybe it's because I chose to tell someone ( someone who I don't like very much by the way), I tell him how I really feel for the first time in my life and he picks today of all days to question my life choices and coach me on how I should run my life. How bout you huh? Mr life coach, got anything to share while we're still in this ' safe' circle so I can wonder if you're a bitch to me cause deep down inside you know your friends can only take so much from you until they decide I'm an ideal replacement." I say ranting
" Don't be like that Paris. If you want us to talk about this thing with Cole and give our honest opinions, we will, if you want us to pretend to care about the weather and world news and shit, we will, if you want us to remain in absolute silence, I promise you, we will, just say the word. And lashing out is not the way to deal with problems you can't seriously be trying to transfer your anger on me when I'm trying to help. Please just get in."
Almost as quickly as the words came, I immediately regretted them. Jesse was just trying to help in his own weird way and I should be grateful that he's offering his friendship at a time like this. The friends I doubted, I feel too ashamed by my thoughts and actions to go back to and the friend I trusted was a huge con. Right now, Jesse is my only friend.." If I get in we're getting ice cream." I say
" Now that you've mentioned it, I'm craving ice cream." he says playfully
" Get in." he says and we share a little laugh
We stay silent for a while until we get to Mr Cones, an ice cream shop with all the best flavors and toppings.
Jesse gets down and comes around and opens the door for me. I've realized how chivalrous Jesse is at this point. He shoves his hands in his pocket and only takes them out to open the door for me.
" Ladies first." he says smiling
For someone who doesn't smile often, his smile is really contagious.
We walk up to the counter and I ask Jesse if it's to go, which he answers in the affirmative.
" Lemme guess." Jesse says concentrating hard on my face. I pose like it's for the Monalisa painting and he gets a good look at my face.
" Rocky road..... No, chocolate swirl.....no, something with chocolate in it." he guesses
" You were right the first time." I say laughing hard
" And toppings?" I ask when I've calmed down
" MnMs." he says
" When in doubt always go with the MnMs." I add
" Not the type with peanuts?" he asks
" I'm allergic." I say with a ' whadyaknow' hand gesture
" Noted."
" And we're splitting the bill." I say not wanting him to pay for my ice cream
" I'm buying, don't bother arguing it. You had your heart broken tonight and I insist on being your knight in shining ice cream shop." he says with a flourish and we laugh all the way to the back of the current customers ordering on the queue. I can't believe we laughed through that long line
" And lemme guess, you're a vanilla kinda guy." I say teasing
" Haven't had that in a while, I don't choose the same flavor twice in a row." he says
I'm shocked by this fact about Jesse which I hadn't known before and I begin to like him more already.
" Wow. That's a new one." I say laughing
" Life is for the living babe. I don't think we get to have mango flavoured ice cream or rainbow swirl while we're six feet under."
I want to laugh again at that but I muse over the fact that he didn't realize that he called me babe.
" Can I get a rocky road with MnMs and a rainbow swirl with chocolate sprinkles to go please?" Jesse says placing our orders.
We wait a little before we are handed our ice cream and Jesse pays for them. We switch cones and laugh for what seems like the hundredth time today over the guy mixing up our ice creams.
Jesse snatches an MnM from my cone and throws it in his mouth.
" Just wanted to make sure this one didn't have peanuts. You never know."
We head to the parking lot and Jesse opens the car door for me again.
Once we are settled down with our cones in our hand and our seat belts on, Jesse drives slowly in the direction of my house.
" To answer your question......" I take a long pause before I say what I'm about to say.
I know bringing it up isn't the best idea right now but it has to be brought.
" When someone is ' the one' they're kind of like... Ummm. How do I put this, they kind of like complete you. Like when they're around you don't feel this nagging emptiness. I guess." I look down shyly
" But ion know." I add
" That's the thing Paris. That's my problem. If you don't realize that you're not empty then you're gonna keep searching for someone to fill you, to complete you, and that's not healthy. I don't wanna say the only person you can depend on is you but honestly, it really is. And look, this is not the right time to be bringing it up, and asides from all this Cole crap.l, there's something you're not telling us. And I'm not gonna be bugging and pressuring you to tell us. I just want you to know that whatever it is, you're bigger than it. No matter how big it may seem at the moment, always know you're bigger than all your problems."
Jesse looks at me sincerely and I hold his gaze.
We're already in my driveway and I've successfully finished my ice cream, so with my empty cone and the rest of my shit in hand, I put my hand on the handle of the car door.
" This is my stop."
And get the hell down