Dr. Pepper and Other Things

Jessie lives life in her own little world. But when Devin steps in, Jessie gets the chance to see life from a brighter point of view. At least until he's gone.

Apparently entertaining me at school wasn’t enough for him. He had to entertain me all the way home after our bus dropped us off at the mutual spot.

“Okay, so I have to ask, what do you do all day?” No response from me. “Seriously. You said you don’t have a lot of friends.  Like, no one lives by you. What do you do?” I rolled my eyes at him, and he gave me that plastered grin I was getting way too used to.

“Read. Watch TV. Eat. Sleep.” I deliberated before elaborating, “I swim in the summer. I go out to the island sometimes.” I winced as I said the last thing. I should have shut up at ‘sleep’. Don’t leave room for conversation.

And of course: “You mean the little one in the middle of the lake?” I didn’t dignify that with a response. After a moment he spoke again, “I’ll take that as a yes.” Silence passed between us as we reached the front of my house.

I turned to him, and rolled my neck, “So, why exactly did you walk me home again when your house is in the other direction?” Why exactly are you still bothering me, when you can be annoying the hell out of someone else?

“To be nice,” he shrugged, “and to meet your parents.”  His persistence could get him far if he stopped wasting his time talking to me.

I mumbled “ulterior motives” under my breath, and walked into the house, shutting the creaky screen door in his face with a roll of my eyes.

“Can I come in?” He asked pathetically.

“Well I didn’t lock you out, did I?” I stopped and turned around, examining him as he walked in. He ran his fingers through his short hair.

“You know,” he cleared his throat, “usually, people, you know, hold the door open for people they are inviting inside.” His eyes scanned the room. Taking in the plain walls, the old staircase, tiled floors and the extreme amount of stuff we had lying around.

“Who said I was inviting you in?” I said it more to myself than him, but he must have heard me, because he half smiled to himself.  He followed me into our torn-up kitchen, and I pulled a carton of orange juice out of the refrigerator and took a swig from it.

He raised a curious eyebrow at me, “Don’t you have cups?”

“Yup, they’re size B.” I gave him a nod, and took another sip. I let that sink in for a minute. He shook his head as he realized what I meant.

“Good one.” He leaned against the counter and stared up at ceiling, taking in every stain and shoe print that rested on our ceiling.

“Thanks.” I finished up the carton, and tossed it into the already overflowing trashcan, knocking an empty soda can that was resting on the top of the pile of trash onto the floor. Devin looked over at it, waited for a reaction from me, then walked over to promptly pick it up and put it back on top of the trash pile.

“Maybe you should get around to emptying that,” He raised his hands in surrender, “just a thought.”

“Duly noted,” I mumbled. He waited for a second, stupidly expecting me to move from my place. After a minute, he got up and tied the ends of the bag together.

“Don’t lock me out,” he said as he walked out the front door. A moment later, I heard the familiar creek of our front door opening again. A very large part of me wished he hadn’t come back in.

I looked over at him as he positioned himself back leaning against the counter. His dark eyes, chocolate eyes, were watching me. As if they were looking through me. Searching for something. It annoyed me a bit, so I looked away.

I walked over to the cabinets and pulled out a bag of cheese puffs. As I took off the paper clip that was sealing the bag, I did my very best to be nice.

 “You want anything?”

“I’ll have some cheese puffs.” Wrong answer.

“Anything but that.”

“Got any drinks you haven’t put your mouth on?” He gave a weak laugh. I mumbled a few mild curses as I pulled a Dr. Pepper out of the freezer.

“Isn’t going to be frozen if it was in the freezer?” He looked at me curiously as I handed him the drink, and I shook my head.

“No. This refrigerator is a piece of s**t. Only the freezer works very well. So we put anything we value in there. The rest of the stuff goes in the warm box... That’s what we call the big part of the refrigerator.” I watched as he tapped on the top of the drink. He was getting smarter. I actually hadn’t shaken the drink, but I made a mental note to myself for later. That could be useful.

Seemingly deciding it was safe, he popped open the soda and took a sip. He shrugged, “Not bad.”

“It’s soda. It always tastes the same.” We didn’t look at each other for a moment, our eyes scanning the room. The floors I had grown up on. The scratches on the walls I had already memorized.

His delayed response; “You have a pretty sketchy looking refrigerator there.” I leaned over and punched his shoulder.

“Oww,” He looked over at me, “what was that for?”

“Don’t insult Sally.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

He drew out each word, like he was talking to someone with mental issues, “Your refrigerator has a name?”

“Everything important in this house has a name,” I gave him a once over, “So what are you doing in here again?”

He seemed like he was about done with me, “You know, I’m not really sure.” He straightened up, and began to walk towards the front door.  Jerk.

“What are you doing?” I followed him as he walked towards the door. Why was I following him?

He seemed a little annoyed now. Good. Maybe I finally got my point across. “Going home.”

“Bye.”  I turned around and walked back towards the kitchen, pointedly locking the door before I did. I slid the chain over to the brace on the other side of the wall, and gave a cold look to his retreating back.

He called out his goodbye without turning around, “See tomorrow, Jessie.” Don’t remind me.

And with a last wave Devin walked away from 14 Redwood Drive for the first time.

Author's Note

Has Jessie's character satyed consistent so far? I have some issues with characters personalities changing when I write parts of a chapter at different times.

Reviews

[Daydreamer54]

He raised a curious eyebrow at me, “Don’t you have cups?”

“Yup, they’re size B.” I gave him a nod, and took another sip.
LOL, hilarious! XD She is SO unlady like! If devlin had any ounce of intrest in her, i'm sure he'd been turned off.
Of course the fridge is important, we all gotta eat! :P Anytway.
creek-creak. and i saw another mispelled word but i forgot it. Anyway....msg me when u have up the next chapter! ^^
PS- her character stays opersistant