Chapter
8
“I
hate him, I hate him, I hate him!” Janie
screamed punching her pillow yet again, “he’s so weak, he was the sober one,
why didn’t he stop me? Oh I’m such an idiot.” She said trying to make sense of
it all. She had only just got home from James’ flat and they hadn’t spoken a
word since, it happened. She knew this was a wound that would take some time to
heel. The phone rang and Janie stumbled across the room to answer it.
“What?”
She hissed at the receiver.
“Are
you coming to see me today or what?” Came Jessie’s
angry voice, “I need you to help me crush my nurse’s ego.”
“Err,
yeah, I’m coming,” Janie said.
She
arrived an hour later to find Meowth at Jessie’s
bedside,
“And
where is James?” Asked Jessie the second Janie entered her cubicle.
“I’m
not his keeper.”
“I
know that!”
Meowth began to feel uncomfortable, “please can we get
through one day without fighting guys, please?” He said, remembering what he
had just been told about the day before.
“So,
Jessie, who’s this nurse you want crushed then?” Janie
quickly said.
James
didn’t show up that day, or the next day, he couldn’t face Jessie after what he
did. Poor Janie didn’t have a clue where she stood.
That
night, she sat on the end of her bed, clutching the phone in her right hand,
and dialling a number she couldn’t believe she was dialling in her left. However, Janie was desperate for
someone to talk to so…
“Hello,
Ash,” Janie whispered.
“Hi.”
“It’s Janie here, I need to talk to someone,” she said
awkwardly, “I have no one.”
“OK,
but I can’t talk here because Misty and Brock will hear,
can I come over to yours?” Janie agreed he could come over, it would be better
if she could talk to someone face to face anyway. That way she could tell if
they were really listening.
Ash
hung up, Brock and Misty were asleep, thank god! He didn’t want to have to
explain his way out of this one. Five minutes later, he knocked on Janie’s door
and walked in when it opened.
“Hi,”
said Janie, putting on a fake smile, “thanks for coming, it’s really good of
you.” She showed him where to sit and then sat down herself, pondering over
what to say next. “Look, I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but, I
have to tell this to someone, I have no one else. I’m afraid that if I keep it
bottled up any longer, I’ll explode. I can’t tell Jessie, I can’t tell Meowth. So please, just pretend you’re my friend or my counsellor or something, just for now.” She took a deep
breath before crying out, “I slept with James.” A silence followed, Ash just
sat motionless, not knowing what to do.
“Well
say something,” Janie pleaded. Ash shrugged slowly,
“I
don’t know what?”
“No,
of course you don’t, silly me, you’re just a kid, why am I telling you this?”
“You
have no one else, you’re desperate.”
“I
don’t know where I stand with James,” Janie cried as if she hadn’t heard him,
“we haven’t spoken since…”
“Call
him then,” Ash broke in.
“It’s
not as easy as that. Ketchem.”
“Well
make it as easy as that then, what happened to good old
I-can-do-what-I-want-Janie, huh?” Ash shouted almost unaware of what he was
saying.
“You’re right, you’re absolutely right, now get
lost twerp, I have a call to make!” Janie smiled picking up the phone. As Ash
left, he knew that there was something more to his and Janie’s relationship
than just ‘last resort friends’, he just couldn’t put his finger on what.
James
jumped when he heard the laud drill of his phone. He answered it slowly,
finding it hard to get the words out as he hadn’t said anything in days.
“James,
it’s Janie, please don’t hang up,” came Janie’s clear
voice as the phone reached his ear. James was too stunned to say anything at
first but then after a couple of seconds he found himself greeting his old
friend warmly.
“James,
really need to talk don’t we?” Janie said, surprised
at how easily the words sprang from her mouth.
“I’m
coming over, Janie,” she heard him say as the phone went dead. Lying back on
her bed, she allowed herself a smile. The previous couple of days had been
pretty awkward, with Jessie asking for James the whole time, plus she was being
discharged the next day. Janie paced the room waiting for that knock on the
door, why didn’t he just hurry up? The waiting was making the butterflies in
her stomach multiply.
Although
she felt guilty for what had happened between her and James, as she knew what
Jessie and James felt for each other, she didn’t see the need fuss James had
made over it. But then that was James, a bug fuss over anything and everything!
Janie
nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard James’ knock on the door. Though
she had been expecting it, it still seemed to surprise her. She opened the door
to reveal a James-like-cave-man! His blue hair looked like it hadn’t been
looked after for weeks, his were heavily blood-shot and he looked like he had
been crying for a decade.
“Come
in,” Janie managed, slowly getting over the shock of seeing James looking so
bad. He walked in and stood in the middle of the room looking lost. “You look
well!” Janie remarked sarcastically, desperately trying to lighten the mood,
like she always used to. However all she got was a cold glance. “Oh, what the
heck,” she said as she threw her arms around him and hugging him so tightly she
thought he’s burst. To her relief, he hugged her back just as tightly, they
both put their heads on the other’s shoulders and to Janie’s surprise, she
started to cry. Thick hot happy tears fell down her face as she whispered,
“I’ve missed you.”
“Me
too,” James whispered back, then raising his voice and shouting, “Jesus Christ
it’s so good to see you.”
“Same
here, I’m so sorry.”
“No,
I am.”
“No,
I am you idiot.”
“No,
I’m sorry because, I’m sorry OK?!”