If Only She'd Loved Him

Chapter 53

Saturday 1:00 pm

Jean wasn't just determined to find Sean, she was eager.  She needed to tear somebody apart.  How dare that incompetent security moron not believe her!  List Megan as a missing person indeed.  Lot of good that will do!  Put her friend's face on a poster so she could see her at the mall. And then there was Paul, Jean grimaced.  Her teeth dug into her lower lip as her hands throttled his neck long distance.  Lying cowardly piece of scum!  Jean scowled as she walked, her feet thumping the sidewalk.

The campus was quiet for a Saturday afternoon.  Most people were either visiting the city for the weekend or watching the football game up at Thomsen field.  Jean didn't see anybody she knew.  Making a tactical decision, she decided to scope out Sean's apartment before she went inside.  After all, he was hardly going to open the door to her if he was home.  She snuck around the corner of the building but didn't see anybody.  She wasn't exactly sure which room was Sean's, but after studying the open windows, she made an educated guess.  Through the third window to the right, she could plainly see a poster of two beer clad women on the far wall.  Beer clad was the right description: the women wore bikinis made out of bottle caps.  Cold in the winter and searing in the summer, quite a fashion statement, she thought.  Climbing to her toes, she peered inside the window.  The room was deserted and still a mess.  A pang of guilt shot through her: the room was a mess due to her, well... due to her and Paul. Heat flared into her face as she thought of Paul. Actual heat simmered into her cheekbones, annoying her to no end. But a moment later, she realized the sliver of warmth she felt wasn't due to anger, but to a crack below the window. 

Breaking and entering wasn't a crime under the circumstances, she reassured herself.  She shot a glance to her left, and then her right, still nobody around.  Reaching up on her toes, she strained to open the window farther.  It didn't work.   The crack was too small, and she couldn't get any purchase to push.  Frustrated, she flopped to the ground, trying to think of what to do next.  As she lay there, an idea came.  Scouring the ground with her fingers, Jean searched for just the right kind of stick.  It had it to be small, very thin, but sturdy and strong.  She found what she wanted under an old maple tree.  She flexed the small branch in her fingers, bending it back like a bow.  The stick obligingly bent, but didn't break.  In a hurry now, she ran back to Sean's window and thrust the stick under the window frame, pushing up as hard as she could.  Snap!  It broke in two.

"Mind if I try?" a familiar voice asked behind her.

Spinning around, Jean saw Matt flipping open a Swiss army knife and grinning like the devil.  The shortcut across campus had been a good idea.  At first, he hadn't been sure what he was going to say to her, but now she needed his help.  He didn't have to say a word.  His grin grew in proportion to Jean's frown.  She didn't want or need his help.  She just needed a stronger stick, that was all.  "What are you doing here?" she demanded, "Gonna report me for breaking and entering now?"

Matt stepped up to the window, putting his arm on her shoulder.  "If I did, then I'd have to report myself, " he replied.  "C'mon Jean-Genie, you can't do this alone.  I said I was sorry.  Now can't we make up?  I'll let you play with my knife," he teased.

"No," she retorted.  "We can't.  Go away.  I can handle this on my own.  I don't need you or your," then she grinned right back.  She was secretly very pleased that he'd followed her after she'd blown up at him, again, "little pocket knife."

He refused to be deterred. "C'mon, let me give it a try.  I'm good at prying apart things."

"So I've heard," she responded, but she stepped back so Matt could insert his knife under the window pane.  Feet solidly planted on the ground, he was able to push the glass halfway up before it stuck.