“What have
I done?” Wes moaned.
Jasmine
shook her head and sighed. This wasn’t good. She went to her bed and sat down
beside Wes and patted him on the back.
“You got it
bad, huh?” she said. “You really like her.”
He nodded.
“May I ask
why you like her so much?”
He glared
at her. “What the hell kinda question is that? You should know. She’s your
sister!”
“Humor me,”
Jasmine said. “Pretend I’m a total stranger. How would you describe Janet?”
He shut his eyes tightly, then after a minute’s contemplation he told Jasmine everything he
loved about her sister. “Janet’s perfect! She’s beautiful, she’s charming,
she’s adorable, she's compassionate, she’s funny, she’s so sweet, she’s sexier than should be
allowed and she’s super smart. Smarter than me, anyway,” he said contemptuously.
“She’s…she’s just…perfect. Everything I want in a girlfriend. I’m so damn stupid! I
screwed up everything!”
“You missed
a few,” Jasmine said. “She’s stubborn, fiercely loyal, at times rude, she holds
grudges from infinity and beyond, she’s lovable, got a nasty temper, she’s always
for the underdog and she holds people up to unattainable standards and then
claims to hate them when they eventually fall off the pedestal she puts them
on. You just fell off your pedestal, Wes. Did it hurt very much?”
He blinked
at her dumbfounded. “What are you saying?”
“I’m
saying, she likes you, Wes, a lot, more than she even knows,” Jasmine whispered.
“Didn’t you
hear what I just said? She hates me!” Wes shouted.
“Wes,
you’re not listening to me,” she said, very quietly. “She wouldn’t be this
upset if she didn’t like you so much. It’s just like with our dad. She and Dad
were thick as thieves, until…”
“Your
parents separated,” Wes finished for her.
“Yeah. She
loves him, but claims to hate him because of what he did, but I hear her cry at
night for him, just as much as Mom does. We all miss him, but for Janet, it’s
like half her heart went with him. She hates herself for missing him so much and
for still loving him when she doesn’t want to and she takes it out on him every
time she sees him and anyone else who gets in the way. She wants to be with him,
but hates herself for wanting to. Get it yet?”
He opened
his mouth to speak, then closed it and shook his head.
“No, I
didn’t think so. Not many would. Girls aren’t easy to understand. Only reason I
do is we’re twins. I know her and I know how she thinks.”
“If you
know, tell me what I can do to get her back,” he said. “Please Jasmine! I’ll do
anything.”
She smiled
and stood up. “Why don’t you go downstairs and I’ll have a little talk with her,
okay? I can sometimes make her see
sense.”
She pulled
him up off the bed and shoved him down the hall towards the stairs.
“Tell her
I’m sorry I tricked her. Tell her I’m sorry I hurt her,” he said earnestly.
“But tell her I’m not sorry for the time we spent together. It was the best
time I ever had. Tell her the best since my mom died, okay? You tell her!”
“I will. Go
on,” she said, giving him one last push. She turned to her room and went
through the adjoining bathroom and into Janet’s bedroom.
Jasmine
found her sister sniffling on the bed with the occasional tear trickling down
her face. She looked nothing short of disheveled, her hair all over the place
and her dress in disarray as she lay on the rumpled bed. She looked as bad or worse than Wes.
“Janet,”
Jasmine spoke softly.
“Go away,”
Janet mumbled.
“Sorry,
can’t do that. It’s in the Good Sister Manual,” she said as she sat down on the
bed and pushed Janet’s hair out of her eyes.
“If you
start with that page, chapter and paragraph stuff I will kill you,” Janet hissed.
Jasmine stifled
a giggle. “Janet, Wes messed up. He knows it. He’s sorry he tricked you, but he
only wanted to get to know you. He likes you, so much it’s not even funny.”
“I don’t
want to hear it,” Janet growled.
“Then it’s
too bad you already have, isn’t it?” Jasmine said. “Pity about the thin walls
we got in this house. Wes had no idea you could hear everything he said about
you as clearly as you would if you were right there with us in my room. Too bad
you couldn’t see his face though. Anguished, I would say. Sorta like a sick
puppy that’s been kicked around once too often. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t
crawl into a corner to lick his wounds.”
“Why don’t
you sell that to Hallmark. I’m sure they’ll like it, but I ain’t buying it!”
Janet snapped.
“He thinks you hate him.”
“Got that
right.”
“No, you
don’t,” Jasmine said. “He made a horrible mistake but, really, he didn’t do any
harm. It wasn’t a real virus. Janet, you have a great guy that’s crazy about
you. Give him a break, okay? He truly is sorry he’s upset you so much. He’s a
good guy and--” Jasmine stopped abruptly. “Is that the doorbell? Who could that
be?”
“Mr.
Sebastian,” Janet said, sitting up and grabbing a tissue. She blew her nose. “He’s
coming to dinner with us… with you. I’m not going.”
Jasmine
glowered. “Don’t even go there! You have to go. Mom’s counting on all of us and
I don’t care about your made up problems with Wes,” she snapped.
“Made up? He
lied to me, he tricked me and almost ruined…”
“He ruined
nothing so get over it! You look a mess. Fix your face and fix that nest you call your hair and come downstairs.
Mr. Sebastian will get a kick out of seeing us together.”
“Fine! But
you tell Wes to stay the hell away from me or I’ll rip him a new one…even in
front of his father,” Janet snarled.
“I don’t
know how that sweet disposition doesn’t get more lovesick boys after you. Don’t
take forever,” she said, before walking out the door.
Janet stared
at the closed door as another fierce battle took place in her head.
Jasmine's right. Wes didn’t do anything truly bad. The computer’s fine.
He’s a manipulative ass.
You mean like you?
I don’t have diabolical purposes in mind.
Neither did he. He only wanted to get to know you.
He’s just like every other guy.
He’s not anything like other guys and you know it. You’ve said
it yourself.
He’s a lying jerk and I hate him.
Who’s the liar? You like him more than you’re willing to admit
even to yourself.
I don’t like him at all!
No, of course you don’t and he’s not the sweetest guy ever …
except for Dad…he even reminds you of Dad, doesn’t he?
All the more reason to hate him.
His kisses don’t send you to the moon, either, and the sky isn’t
blue.
Janet
put her face in her hands and burst out in tears all over again. She did like
Wes, far more than she wanted to and she hated herself for it.
