TILL DEATH DO US PART | JENLISA

EIGHT

JENNIE

***

Five Ways To Her Heart

May 1st, 2011

***

It’s nice to forget the past, and just be for a while.

“Where are you taking me Jennie?”

Her laugh is the best in the world. I hold Lisa’s eyes closed as we crunch over the dirt road at the edge of a cornfield. Her hands wrap around my wrists softly, and I peek around her to make sure I’m not going to walk us into anything. “Just wait, you’ll see.”

Even as she leans back into my guiding embrace I can tell she is trying not to ask again. It lasts all of thirty seconds because she is phenomenally impatient. “Are we going someplace public or private?”

“Both.”

“How is that possible?”

I know it is driving her crazy. And to be honest, she was very good about keeping her eyes closed in the car, so I feel a little guilty keeping her in suspense for so long. We are in Effingham, for the fireworks, ’cause it’s something she always wanted to see. And I’ll give her every wish she could hope for, for the rest of her life.

“Hey Jennie?”

I glance up from studying, to eye my fiancée. “Yeah?” She has an oversized red and black book behind her and I smile quickly before going back to my microbiology.

“You won’t believe what I found.”

It clicks when I remembered those colors. “Your yearbook.” I say without looking up.

“Yeah, I thought it was packed away in storage.” She sits across the dining room table from me. When she drops the book I glance up at her. She’s flipping the pages as her eyes trace the images.

At least she is being quiet. I try to read again.“Hey Jennie?”

“Yeah?” I narrow my eyes at the text, ‘RNA dependent polymerase’ and reference my notes. I add more information to the novel forming in my notebook. Why the fuck I decided to become a doctor is beyond me. It is so much work and it doesn’t help that my needy fiancée is breaking my concentration.

“Do you ever feel like you missed out on things in high school?”

My mind whirls, as I focus on the words ‘dsRNA is a replicative form of virus and specifically serves as template for genome synthesis.’

“Jennie?”

I sigh, super irritated over the interruption. “What the fuck, Lisa?”

I think she winces, because for two fucking seconds she is fucking quiet. “You’ve been going for hours.”

“I’m finally getting this shit.”

“Can you take a break?”

I scribble a few notes about mutations, specialized proteins and viral mRNA molecules.

“Guess not.”

I glance up at Lisa’s frown. “Huh?” I shake my head. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m just stressed about this class.” I set the book aside and stretch out the kink in my neck, and when I shift I realize my ass is completely numb. “Wow, we need fluffier seats.”