Chapter Twenty-One: All.The.Tears.Inside.Are.Raindrops[PART ONE]

(the next morning)
    "Hey, we never discussed what the loser had to do," Chin yawned, finding Jenny in the kitchen.
    "Wha...?" Jenny looked up in mid chew; magazine in one hand, half a bagel in the other.
    "The bet we had...We never discussed the terms." Chin tried to act nonchalant as she headed for the fridge. Jenny eyed her.
    "So you're saying you were sad in front of him or something? Was this while we were at the beach...?" Jenny raised an eyebrow.
    "Maybe..." Chin mumbled, not looking at her, attempting to pour milk into her bowl of cereal. She was standing at the counter, trying not to smile.
    "Oh...my...gosh." Jenny's eyes widened. "Oh...my...gosh!"
    "You sound like a broken record, dearie," Chin stated, putting away the milk. Jenny shot up from her seat and turned Chin around. She looked her friend in the eyes.
    "Something happened? You kissed him? You guys are together? What!?" Jenny whispered excitedly, listing the possibilities. Chin looked around them. Everyone else was in the family room, out of earshot if they kept their voices down.
    "Maybe," Chin answered softly, grinning. She brushed past Jenny and took her bowl to the kitchen table.
    "That means YES!" Jenny exclaimed. Before Chin could sit down, Jenny grabbed her arm, and dragged her to the family room. "CHIN AND AJ ARE TOGETHER!!!!" she shouted for the whole world to hear...at least it seemed that way to Chin.
    AJ came walking down the hall into the family room. He raised an eyebrow at all of us, having heard Jenny's proclamation, half-waiting for our responses.
    "I SO helped with that match," Nick beamed.
    "What are you talking about?" Hannah asked, confused.
    "He's all talk," Howie shrugged.
    "Do you think I'm that STUPID that I said all that stuff at dinner by mistake? Um...no." Nick rolled his eyes. We all looked at him oddly.
    "Sure, Nicky," Julie whispered.
    "HEY!" he exclaimed, knowing that we were going to tease him about not believing him. That prompted some random discussion, and we didn't notice when AJ silently pulled Chin out of the room. Once alone and unseen in the hallway, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.
    "So...What do we do now that it seems to be official?" he whispered, his forehead and nose touching hers respectively.
    "Keep it that way," she smiled as she kissed him.

(4/22/00)
     We all clamored into the house after an eventful day. For some reason, it had been decided that all of the guys' days with us were not going to be relaxing and "boring," thus we were shoved out of the house and made to do something whenever we didn't have classes or papers to worry about. (Of course, otherwise, the guys were content with lounging around our house when we were out.) As soon as we were free, it seemed we had a tiring agenda to complete.
    Today had been a water park day. Leave it to the guys to make sure they knew what weekday we all didn't have a class so they could round us up and drag us to the nearest water park. Saying we were tired would have been an understatement.
     Brian picked Jenny up and took her to her room. She was too tired to squirm or shriek. He lay her down on her the bed and tucked her in. She still didn't complain - she was half asleep.
     "Hey, mister?" she spoke softly before he left the room.
     "Yeah?" Brian turned around.
     "Can you put on your CD for me? I wanna fall asleep to it," she murmured as she attempted to point to our boom box. Brian smiled.
     "I'm too lazy," he said as he sat beside her on her bed. "but I'll sing to you," he grinned. Jenny smiled, her eyes still closed. He knew which song was her favorite. "There are people that say what you wanna hear... Even on a rainy day, they'll tell you the sky is clear...When you really really love someone, am I right when I say that you want them near? ...And if you care, you'd even tell them things that they wanna hear?" he sang softly.
    After a yawn or so, it seemed Jenny was almost off to dreamland. Once he finished, he didn't want to leave. He made an excuse for himself to stay by switching to another song. "If I don't have you...to hold you to...I can't go on, in this world alone, baby it's true...If you said goodbye...girl, I would die... I'm a star with no night, a day with no night...If I don't have you..." AJ's yelling from downstairs interrupted his serenade. He sighed, leaned over, and kissed Jenny cheek before leaving her in her quiet slumber.
     "What is it, Age?" Brian asked, a little annoyed, once he reached the foot of the stairs.
     "Someone's antsy. Anyway...everyone wants to go out to dinner and hang out and stuff. Actually, Chin insists that we see 'Center Stage' or something cuz it came out yesterday, I think...Anyhoo, go get Miss Jenny so we can go."
     "I thought everyone was dead tired...She's asleep."
     "Oh...Well, we're sorta awake now-"
     "Don't worry about it. You guys go, okay? I'll stay here so she doesn't wake up alone," Brian replied. The unwritten rule was still to be obeyed. "Well, have fun," Brian said and went back up the stairs. AJ watched after his friend and sighed. Why didn't Brian see what he saw? He shook his head and returned to the family room to join the rest of us and get us to leave.

     "No..." Jenny whimpered, tossing and turning.
    Her dreams had gotten worse. No longer did they contain a simple party with just a girl and Brian...events from the past few months had integrated themselves, morphing the dream into a much more horrible nightmare than she had ever thought possible.
    She'd start off in our house. There'd be blaring music coming from one of the rooms...the same party from her old dream. Only this time, we'd all be there, but we'd ignore her. The only person who would notice her would be Brian, but a moment later, a girl would take away his attention. The phone would ring, and she'd pick it up, and all of a sudden find herself on a dark street, in her costume, covered with broken eggs. She'd feel like someone was following her, so she'd keep running and running and running for what seemed like eternity. In the blink of an eye, she'd wake up in a basement, alone. She'd hear Brian's voice, but it'd seem to come from everywhere, making it impossible to find him. She'd turn around, and there would be our balcony door. Behind her, the railing would appear, making the door her only available exit. She'd open it, but there would be no noise or music coming from one of the rooms anymore. She'd walk down the shape-shifting halls, trying to find the stairs, but there would only be the elevator. She'd step in, and turn around just in time to see the doors closing, with Brian reaching out for her on the other side, trying to warn her of something. By the time she'd react quick enough to run towards him, the doors would seal shut. Then she'd fall, and fall and fall...

     Brian opened the door to our room to see what seemed to be Jenny fighting with her covers. He slowly closed the door behind him and walked over to her bed, with the moonlight as his only guide.
     "Jenny?" he whispered, shaking her lightly with one hand. She shrank away from his touch, but continued to toss and turn. "Jenny?" he asked, a little more louder this time. He placed his other hand on her other shoulder and shook her again. "Jenny?!"
     She opened her eyes and shot up in bed, almost knocking him backwards. She looked at him, tears immediately springing from her eyes. With a sob, she hugged him tightly. He was a bit taken back at first, but then wrapped his arms around her. She cried like never before. She held on to him for dear life, to keep from drowning. Brian stroked her hair, he rubbed her back - he had never seen her like this.
     "Shh, Baby, it's ok," he whispered, not thinking about his choice of words. He lightly kissed the top of her head, rocking her back and forth. They stayed like that for what seemed to be an eternity. Slowly, her sobs subsided, and she pulled away from his strong arms only a bit, partly because he wouldn't completely let go of her. "Can you tell me what's the matter?" he asked softly, as if afraid to. She looked at him. How could she tell him?
     "It was...just a dream," she mumbled, looking down, avoiding his eyes.
     "Just a dream?" he questioned her. "Then why did you break down like that?"
     "Don't worry about it." She tried to push further out of his grasp, but he still wouldn't let go.
     "I'm going to worry until you tell me," he told her. "You don't just hold someone who's crying like crazy for God knows how long and then let them leave without an explanation," he spoke painfully.
     "I'm sorry." he looked up at him. "I...It's just......Thank you." She hugged him again, resting her cheek on his shoulder, staying in his embrace.
     "You wanna tell me?" he whispered into her ear after a few moments of silence.
     "It's stupid," she whispered back. Brian shook his head.
     "I bet it isn't."
     "It's just over this guy..." Jenny muttered, not knowing what else to say. Brian had the right to know something...just not everything.
     "Oh, Jenny..." he sighed, pulling back a bit to look into her eyes. He cupped her face with one of his hands. "No man is worth your tears," he began, wiping away some of her tears with his thumb, "...and the one that is, won't make you cry."
     She studied his face. He was being such an angel again. Why?
    AJ burst through the doors, interrupting her thoughts.
     "I thought you guys had left," Brian said, turning around, his arms leaving the embrace fully. Jenny quickly wiped her face, making sure no evidence of her tears remained.
     "Yeah, we gotta be going. Just telling ya...and just wanted to make sure you two werenít doing anything naughty," AJ chuckled.
     "Funny, AJ. Real damn hysterical," Brian replied.
     "Don't I know it? G'bye now...see you two in a couple of hours. Sweet dreams, Miss Jen," he winked at the both of them and left. They sat silently, looking after him. They heard the garage door open and close, signaling that the house was now empty except for the two of them.
     "I'm gonna go check on the animals." Brian made a pathetic excuse and he knew it, but he had to be alone for awhile. Jenny nodded and watched him leave the room. She sighed and lay down and closed her eyes, hoping she wouldn't be haunted again.

(an hour later)
    Jenny sat up. She had actually slept...peacefully. She looked around our room and stretched. Her eyes fell on a piece of paper that was on her nightstand. There were words written in Brian's handwriting
    Even if I'm not with you physically, always know this: All through the night I'll be right here...standing by you, watching over you, caring for you. And through bad dreams, I'll be right here...holding your hand, telling you everything will be all right. And when you cry, I'll be right here...to tell you not to worry...and that you were never anything less than beautiful. I'll be right here... I'll be your angel standing by. Always.
     He must have left it there when she was asleep. She noted that he had changed the words to a Jewel song, but that didn't matter. The fact that he had written it out to her...
    She silently smiled, clutching the paper. She looked through her drawers and found her journal, carefully placing the note inside it. She got up and went downstairs to find the man responsible for the note.
     Brian was sitting in the family room with the TV on, animals around him, almost asleep. Sprite was on his lap, his left arm resting around her. His head was leaning on the couch, right by where Coke was curled up. Roky, even though not much of a puppy in the physical sense anymore, had jumped up on the couch and had snuggled up beside him, Brian's right arm draped over the dog. The two remaining dogs, Darwin and Kezia, were stretched out on the floor, keeping his feet warm.
    Jenny grinned and walked in silently, not wanting to disturb the scene. She quietly sat on his left side and turned her attention to the TV. Brian opened one eye and looked at her profile that was lit up by the different colors on the screen. He lifted his left arm up from its resting place on the white cat and wrapped it around her, pulling her close.
    "Had a nice nap?" he whispered.
    "Yes. You?" she turned and smiled at him.
    "Let's just say I know the animals don't hate me," he replied. "What do you wanna do?"
    "What time is it?"
    "Around nine," he checked his watch. Roky opened a sleepy eye and shifted positions.
    "Wow. It's not as late as it feels."
    "No kidding..." Brian looked at the TV. He had no clue what they were watching. "Hey, you wanna go rent some movies?"
    "Umm..."
    "Please?" he looked at her. He knew she wouldn't refuse.
    "Fine. But you're driving." She got up and headed for the garage. Brian carefully maneuvered his way around the animals and followed her.

(about 10 minutes later at the local video rental store)
    "Oooh. Let's get this one. Can we get this one? C"mon. Can we? Pleeaaaaase?" Brian practically squealed like a little boy. Jenny rolled her eyes. As soon as they had gotten into the car, he had been acting like a goofball...His only intentions were to make her smile.
    "Brian, you're a freak. What is it?"
    "Ace Ventura," he mumbled.
    "How many times have you seen that movie? Not to mention The Mask, and Dumb&Dumber?" Jenny placed her hands in her hips, eyeing him.
    "I...um...I can't count that high. Please?"

-->Chapter Twenty-One: All.The.Tears.Inside.Are.Raindrops[PART TWO]
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