Mr. Anonymous

Chapter 15

"What's she doing here?" Bill asked Jack in a monotone voice, still blocking their entrance to the house.

"Audrey's having a sleepover with Jessie, sir. Can we come in now?" Jack asked, his tone completely different from when he had been joking around in the car.

Bill stared at Audrey for another moment and then turned around and walked into the house, disappearing into the den.

Audrey followed Jack up the sprawling staircase to a series of doors. Jack pointed to one with a "KEEP OUT" sign posted on the door.

"That's Jessie's room, there." Jack said, looking at the floor.

"Oh okay.... well thanks for all your help today. I really appreciate it." Audrey said, hoping her blush wasn't too noticeable.

"Oh it's not a problem! It was fun... maybe we could do it again sometime." Jack trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah that would be great!" Audrey said, smiling.

Just then, Jessie's bedroom door swung open.

"I thought I heard your voice! What are you doing? Get in here!" Jessie said, taking Audrey's hand and dragging her into her room.

Audrey waved goodbye to Jack over her shoulder just before the door was slammed shut between them.

As soon as she turned around, Audrey took in the dark purple and black that covered every inch of the room.

"I like your room. It's very...purple." Audrey said, trying but failing to come up with another adjective. Jessie just laughed, though.

"Come sit! We're trying to pick out a movie!" Jade said from her spot on the floor.

As they all sat around looking through Jessie's movie collection, Jade spoke up.

"So, I know it's none of my business or anything, but your step-dad is kinda... creepy. No offense." Jade said, honestly. Audrey smacked her on the arm.

"Jade, that's rude." Audrey said, glancing sideways at Jessie to gauge her reaction.

Jessie nodded. "No it's okay - he is creepy. I'm not surprised you've noticed. We hate him and wish Mom would divorce him, but he makes a lot of money, so that would be hard to live without. We have college next year and my mom has the shop to worry about... without his income, I'm not sure how we'd make ends meet. So basically, we're kind of stuck with him. I just try to avoid him as much as possible." Jessie said, shrugging as though it wasn't a big deal.

Audrey and Jade glanced at each other uneasily, unsure how to respond. Jessie beat them to the punch, though.

"Can we talk about you and my brother, though?? What's going on there?" Jessie asked, raising her eyebrows at Audrey.

"I would also like to know the answer to that question!" Jade added as Audrey's face started heating up.

"What do you mean?" Audrey asked innocently.

"I mean has anything happened between you, two??" Jessie asked suggestively.

"Well... I mean... not really." she answered, thinking to when their hands touched during the movie the night before.

The girls immediately picked up on her hesitation.

"Ooh she's hiding something, I know it! She always makes that face when she's trying to hide something!" Jade exclaimed, excitedly.

"What happened?? Tell us everything!" Jessie squealed.

"Nothing really happened! We just... held hands last night." Audrey whispered the end of her sentence, hoping they somehow might not hear it.

There was a beat of silence.

"WHAT?!?" Jade and Jessie yelled in unison and then started talking over each other in excitement.

"Why didn't you text me immediately??"

"Was it during the movie??"

"Tell us word for word EXACTLY what happened!"

"Is this why you guys went to the coffee shop today? Was that your first date???" Jessie threw in, which caused a whole new round of Jade screaming, "WHAT?!" over and over until Audrey finally shushed the both of them.

She started with the night before and told the girls everything that had happened between her and Jack, not leaving out any details.

When she was finished, Jade spoke up.

"So he's trying to help you figure out who your secret texter is?"

"Yeah, basically. So it's not like it was a date." Audrey explained.

"But you wish it was." Jessie stated, matter-of-factly.

"What?" Audrey gasped, taken aback.

"Oh come on! Anyone with eyes can see that you clearly have a huge crush on him!" Jade added, making Audrey flush red.

"It's okay - if you're worried I'll tell him, I won't. Your secret is safe with me." Jessie said, patting Audrey's leg.

Audrey sighed.

"Okay... so maybe I have a crush on Jack... but it's not like anything will happen. He's helping me find out who Mr. Anonymous is, so he's clearly not interested in me that way. No surprise there." Audrey slumped to the floor, laying her head on her hands.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jessie asked, confused.

"Audrey has low self-esteem and doesn't seem to understand how anyone could have feelings for her." Jade explained.

"It's not just that, though that's part of it." Audrey started, unsure if she could explain the way she felt in words. "It's just... Jack is so..." she sighed. "Jack is so perfect. I mean, no one is perfect, but it's like... he's as close as it gets, you know? He's so funny, and talented, and caring. And not that looks are the most important thing, but man, it's a major bonus that he's so ridiculously handsome." Audrey sighed, imagining running her fingers through his thick black hair.

Jessie was smiling and opened her mouth to say something when they all heard Diana's voice outside the door.

"Jack, don't you have homework you need to be doing?" There was a pause. "What? What are you saying? Speak up!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Jack's voice was finally heard, and all the girls' mouths dropped open at how close his voice sounded to the door.

Audrey buried her face in a pillow.

He had heard everything.