What Connects Us: Jessica and Jeremy

Fragment Eleven

A/N: This fragment has been edited shortly after posting.

***

Does he truly remember my office?...Jessica wondered. 

          She'd been sitting on her desk, looking at the man who stood before her in disbelief, as if he was merely a projected image of her imagination. He looked at her office, inspecting every wall. Surely her office had changed over the years; her walls, much like her, were stripped of life: the hinges of the paintings were still stuck to the wall, while the lively paintings had been donated in a charity event two months after their divorce. The pictures of her and him on her desk were long taken care of, and her Omega clock was discarded as well. 

           Tapping her foot against the carpet nervously, she wondered how she'd begin telling him what she had to say. She tucked a strand of her light brown hair behind her hair and glanced at him again, but the glance was soon stalled in time. His eyes fluttered as he looked at the wall, and his lips parted as he looked around, but he soon after his inspection was done, and his eyes rested on hers. She abruptly averted her eyes away, ending her wistful moment in sheer embarrassment. She cursed herself at how acquiescent and calm she was, when she was truly facing a thunder of clashing emotions deep inside.          

          "Jeremy, I wanted to ta-" she began, before she was interrupted by him, who stood at the center of the room with crossed arms.

           "Mr. Finley," he corrected. She paused in perplexity as she unconsciously returned her eyes to him. Her body swam in a sudden wave of unheralded heat as she remembered how she used to  melt into his icy blue eyes. She could feel the heat inside escalate almost to a scorching point; as the thunder inside her head grew louder and stronger.

            "Mr. Finley," she continued as she regained herself. "I wanted to talk to you about." She took a deep breath and licked her lips before continuing once again, "I wanted to talk to you about what happened seven years ago."

            He raked a hand through his hair, and she exhaled a sigh of hopeless nostalgia amidst the infuriated fumes trapped inside. He still does it...she thought, maybe he's still...him... 

          "Ms. Keys, this is unquestionably the wrong time and place to discuss such issues," he scorned. Her boiling point had reached its maximum.

            "Oh really? Then when is it a good time, Jeremy?" She could feel the corners of her lips curl downwards repeatedly, and her vision slightly clouded by undesired tears; the wrong place and time to carry such emotions. 

              He raked his hand through his hair again.  

           "When is it a good time to explain to me the reason you decided to just leave me from halfway across the world? Not calling me for God knows how long? Not checking up on me? Not passing by the apartment when you stopped by? When are you going to start explaining?" she said, disregarding her escalating tone. She mentally cursed herself at her quivering voice as she continued in a softer tone, "Was there someone else?"

                   She couldn't allow him to leave without explaining, she just couldn't.

                  He took five steps forward, and stood before her in a relatively close distance; too close for formal affairs, yet too far for affectionate matters. Too close for him to sense her aggravation and dismay, yet too far for him to sense her hopeless yearning. 

                  "You left me broken, Jeremy," she began, and her tears rolled down her cheek as she gave in in utmost defeat. "For seven years you left me confused, wondering if I had done something wrong. Why?"

                      "What was done is done," he said indifferently as he looked out the window from where he stood. "As I said earlier, this isn't the right place or time for such discussions."

                    He walked back to the door before he paused and turned to face her. "And Ms. Keys?" he said, she remained looking at the pool of tears forming on her black skirt. She was too weak to fight back; the fire inside escalated to a point where it was beyond extinguishing. It was as if she was speaking to a new person, a new person ignorant of their past.

                  "Never speak to me about this again."

  *

"How exactly did I think one bucket of cookie dough ice-cream was enough?" Holly asked rhetorically as she scooped the remnants of the ice-cream at the bottom of the paper bucket. Jessica smiled, but her mind was somewhere far away.

                "Hey," Holly nudged her, "I called you over so you'd avoid thinking about him. If it makes you any better he's been cold with me as well."

                Jessica sighed, "I know, but I just can't stop remembering what'd happened at the office."

              Holly smiled wholeheartedly at her. "It's because you haven't had enough ice-cream. Anyway, I can't believe you're going to Alabama for six months."

                   "Arkansas," Jessica muttered mostly to herself.

                  "Are you excited?" Holly asked a bit enthusiastically, her dirty blonde hair jumping along with her. Jessica shrugged and folded her legs on her couch, wrapping her dangly slim arms around them as she buried her chin in her knees.

            The two women sat in silence in front of the muted TV, gazing through the screen into thoughts of their own. 

                  "Holly?" Jessica interrupted as she still gazed through the screen. "Hmm?" Holly said, as she licked her spoon.

                  "Why didn't you tell me about Jeremy whenever he came back from France?"   

               Holly squirmed uncomfortably in place, "Well, Jeremy told me to do so. I honestly stopped talking to him after I got into a fight with him. He was a changed person, and I didn't want to make things even worse by telling you," she paused briefly. "I knew you wanted to see him, I really did. But then I figured it'd be best for you not to."

                  Jessica stood up from her couch to face Holly, blocking the TV. "So you decide what's best for me, now? Where am I in this?" she reprimanded. Holly stood up in defense, "I'm know, and I'm so sorry, Jess, I really a-"

               Jessica ran a hand over her hair, "I'm sorry but I need some time alone." She'd already lost Jeremy, she wasn't ready to lose Holly as well.

              "Just go, Holly. Please, just go," she said while opening the door. Holly obliged, and gave her friend an apologetic look before leaving. 

                Jessica sighed, and cleaned the coffee table free from accidental ice-cream spatters and mug stains. Her phone vibrated against the glass surface of the coffee table, causing her to jump in slight surprise. She chuckled at her response, but it quickly died out as she glanced at the screen.

             *Meeting tomorrow at Mr. Charles Finley's office at 8:30 to discuss the Arkansas chapter further. Business leave scheduled for Wednesday. Please make sure you hand in your legal documents tomorrow. 

                  Jeremy Finley, COO, Finley Enterprises.*

              She grabbed the packet of papers assigned to her to study and flopped down on the couch. She chewed on the end of her pen thinking of how seven years ago a text from Jeremy would shower her with emotions. It would either make her smile, laugh, or even make her blush bashfully from messages and pictures meant for their eyes only. This time there was nothing but confusion.