To Bid You Farewell

Chapter III

He left before Joanna could object. Jason went back to his room. His room took the bigger space of the left wing, snugly located in the corner, overlooking the front and the back spans of the green gardens of the estate and the thick forests beyond. Jason settled in his couch in front of the fireplace and lit up a cigarette. He still felt weird and numb, and the butterflies in his stomach were nowhere near settling down. He took out his phone and thought about calling Andrew or Fabian, or any of his other friends. He didn't know what to do and he didn't trust his own judgment in Joanna's presence. But before he had the chance to dial any of his friends' numbers, Joanna knocked on the open door of his room.

"Who are you calling?" she asked.

"Valerie Valbridge," Jason lied.

Joanna's face winced and Jason could see the anguish starting to fill her eyes. He reveled a bit in her agony as he remembered the fire that consumed him when he learnt that Joanna started seeing another bloke – four bloody days after their break up.

"Yeah, umm, we started seeing each other a while back," Jason kept on lying, "she's a really nice girl, you should meet her."

Joanna's face was expressionless. "Yeah, I'm sure the girl who slept with the entire rugby team is a fascinating person."

Jason amusement started to surface. "Are you jealous?"

"Of course, I am!" Joanna cried.

Jason was used to Joanna's blunt honesty and strong sense of attachment. "Well, there's nothing you can do about it. I'm not yours anymore, remember?" he retorted coldly.

Joanna's face was heated and she looked on the verge of tears. Jason kept staring her down until he finally found some sympathy in his heart.

"Come on, come sit by the fire, it's bloody freezing."

Joanna approached Jason and set the empty mug on the coffee table in front of them. She was still wearing the bathrobe and Jason could not help but run his eyes up the flesh of her exposed thighs. A fire lit in the bottom of his stomach but he managed to curb in his desire.

Joanna settled on the coach and abruptly nestled herself on Jason' lap.

"Joann-" He began to object but Joanna hushed him by pressing her finger to his lips.

"Don't, just please," her voice drifted off as she lulled herself to sleep.

Jason gave up his attempt at trying to get Joanna off his lap and settled to finishing his cigarette as he prayed that Joanna doesn't sense his rising member poking her in the cheek.

Just as Jason put out his cigarette, a great thunder rumbled through the sky and suddenly all the lights in the house flickered and everything went dark.

"What was that?" Joanna got up, startled.

"Don't worry, it's the storm, it must've hit the electricity lines or something," Jason got up carefully and used his phone's flashlight to navigate his way around the room.

"I'll have Frederick call some men first thing in the morning, but for now, I guess we'll have to get adjusted. Maybe we both should go to sleep."

"But I don't want to sleep." Even though Jason could not see Joanna in the dark, he could sense her pouting.

"Fine, let me see if I can find some candles in the bathroom or something."

Jason searched the cabinets of his bathroom as best he could with the dim beam of his phone's flashlight. All he could find was a pair of scented bath candles (why he had them was beyond him), but he guessed they could do.

He returned to the couch and lit the candles with his lighter, taking out a cigarette and lighting it up with one of the candles' flames.

"Can I have one?" Joanna asked.

Jason looked at her; her face was only half illuminated. Joanna never smoked.

"You want a smoke?" he asked.

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

Jason took one out and gave it to her. "Do you even know how to smoke?"

"I'm not a child, Jason."

Jason smirked. Joanna lit up the cigarette and tried to inhale but instantly pulled herself into a fit of coughs.

"This –" Jason said as he pulled the cigarette from between's Joanna's fingers and put it out in the crystal ashtray, chuckling, "- is not for you."

"Hey!" she objected, by didn't try to get the cigarette back.

As Jason smoked, the two remained silent, listening to the thundering sounds of the winds and rain. The entire evening was very nostalgic. Jason could remember an exactly similar night that occurred a year before. He and Joanna were sitting on this very couch, heavily snogging and petting, when the rain started falling. They broke off and spent the rest of night watching the rainfall, listening to Opeth's To Bid You Farewell.

Jason smiled. He picked up his and opened the music player. He put the song on, and waited to see Joanna's reaction.

She turned her head once she recognized the tune and looked at Jason.

"Oh no. Don't tell me you just did that," she said as if Jason had just told a very lame joke.

Jason laughed and Joanna did too. "That was a nice night," he remarked.

"Yeah. You remember going to the cliff the day after?"

"Yeah, that was when we first –" Jason paused and gazed at Joanna.

Joanna drew her face closer to Jason's. She said, faintly whispering, "that was a nice night."

Jason smiled. He remembered that evening vividly, as if it had just happened yesterday. He remembers reaching the edge of the cliff just as the sun was going down. He parked his black Dodge Charger and he and Joanna got out, settling themselves at the hood of the car. Before long, they started kissing, and it kept escalating until they finally found themselves in the backseat of the car with barely anything on. It was their first time ever. Jason's first and Joanna's first. Jason thought it truly was magical.

All of a sudden, Jason's face turned cold and bitter. "Yeah it was nice. Everything was bloody great until you had to go and fuck everything up!"