Newest Story: "Life, Love, and Other Mysteries."

Life, Love, & Other Mysteries
Chapter 1

The sun was already shining, when Jael's alarm clock began blaring signaling time to start what she knew was going to be a busy day. It was the day that her youngest sisters Bryna and Maeryn were making their trip from home to their new school The University of Delaware, making two more members of the family to join them in their new home. Sighing, she realized that meant she was definitely getting old. Not only in this year had she become a mother, her baby sisters had graduated high school and turned eighteen. Babbling from the nursery alerted her that her daughter Eliana was already awake. Grabbing her robe, Jael climbed out of bed and fixed the covers unwilling to let her little corner of the apartment become a wreck, partially because of her ocd. Then, she threw open the door and made her way to the nursery waving a hasty hello to Cambria and Carina who were at the kitchen table enjoying what was most likely a low-carb, no substance breakfast.

"Mommy's little girl is awake already?" she asked as she entered the nursery, which was freshly painted a serene color of sage to welcome their newest addition. Eliana had only been with them for three months, but it seemed as if she'd been part of the Douglas family for a lifetime.

Babbling greeted Jael, as she reached into the white sleigh crib to retrieve her chubby Haitian baby. A smile spread Eliana's chubby cheeks as she greeted the world in her own special way. Talking to her baby as if she was going to reply, Jael made her way to the kitchen to begin the day that would most likely change their lives again for the better. There had been a few of them lately, and so far everything was going fine. She hoped it would stay that way.

"Jae, Elisha already called for you." stated Cambria, as they entered the kitchen.

"Thanks, I'm going to give him a call and invite him to the party tomorrow. I figure he and Khalil will want to come." she replied as she set Eliana in her high chair and buckled her in securely.

Carina turned to Cambria, "I guess we suck at life. No one calls us this early in the morning...except maybe Mom."

"I'd call you guys...if I was up that early, or I wasn't in the same apartment." Jael laughed and began heating up the baby's cereal.

"Right," they answered in sync.

The phone rang, and Cambria grabbed it. "Hello!" she answered cheerfully. Her face turned a bright shade of red as she listened to the person on the other side of the phone call.

Jael looked at Carina and raised an eyebrow, "Who do you think it is?"

"Chippendale dancer?" asked Carina with a laugh.

"Probably." Jael shrugged and went back to feeding the baby, keeping an ear open for clues into who it was on the phone.
"Are you serious?! MOM!" Cambria exclaimed.

"Mom?" Jael and Carina asked at once.

After five more minutes of something akin to bickering and embarrassment, Cambria hung up the phone and dropped into a kitchen chair covering her face with her hands.

"So?" asked Carina, turning toward Cambria.

"Don't leave us in suspense!" added Jael.

Eliana seemed to add her two cents in a babble and hand gesture at her aunt.

"Ezra asked if he could help mom and dad move the girls stuff up here. Which means he'll be staying for the week as well, and he'll be staying in our apartment!"

Carina and Jael traded surprised glances, and then smiles.

"Perfect." said Jael.

"Perfect? Are you kidding me?! He's coming HERE...to our house, in our church, he'll be all over...I could barely get by at home with seeing him every so often. How am I going to live with him for a whole week?" demanded Cambria, covering her face again.

"Most women would be excited to live with the 'man of their dreams' for a week...not you, it's a disaster." sighed Carina.

"Really, I don't get it." Jael announced, wiping off Eliana's face with a rag. "He's gorgeous and probably getting more handsome as we speak. You know it's going to be good."

Carina covered her mouth to keep from laughing, as Cambria jumped up from her seat. "You couldn't get it, Miss. I'm-in-love-and-everyone-else-should-be-too!" She stormed out of the kitchen and into her bedroom slamming the door behind her.

Jael turned to Carina with a sigh, "Who said this week was going to be boring?"

"Not me that's for sure!" she replied with a sigh of her own.
--
The sun shone through the window as Cambria laid on her bed screaming into her pillow. "WHY GOD?!" She screamed. Her world was truly ending and nobody realized why. The line played through her head like a broken record. "He wanted to help" her mother had said. She rolled her eyes than stood up. Why was she acting like a high school girl? So much drama. But no really this was going to be the worst week of her life! She would have to try her best to cook for this man when surely he knew she did not cook. She had a feeling her family was against her. Heck the whole world was against her at this moment and she wasn't sure why. She looked at herself in the mirror and smirked. STOP IT! She told herself than wondered why. Maybe this would be a good thing. Maybe he would realize how much he was truly in love with her and the whole world would love her again. She threw herself on her bed and squeeled into her pillow.

"Cambria!" She jumped up at the sound of her sister's voice and ran out of the room trying to now hide her excitement.

"What's up?" She asked watching Jael and Carina standing with their purses.

"Carina and I are going shopping to get some food for this house for our company." She said exchanging smiles with Carina. Cambria rolled her eyes and smiled."So can you watch Eliana?" She asked.

"Of course. Take your time." Cambria said. The said goodbyes than left. Cambria walked into the living room where Eliana sat in her playpen. "Hey little one how are you doing?" She asked. The doorbell rang just as she was about to change the channel. She picked up Eliana and walked out to the door. "Who is it?" She asked.

"Jessie." She heard her neighbor yell.

"AND KASSARAH AND JUDY!" Her other neighbors yelled. It took all her power not to yell
"ONLY JESSIE PLEASE". She opened the door and let them all in.

"What's up girls?" She asked as they all walked in. Jessie looked at her than walked to the kitchen to get a drink. She often came over just for something to snack on. And some company since she lived alone.

"We heard noise and wanted to know what was up!" Kassarah said. Cambria walked into the living room hoping they'd leave. But, of course they followed.

"So what was it?" Judy asked.

"It was nothing!" Cami said setting Eliana in the play pen.

"Screaming did not sound like nothing." Kassarah piped sitting down on the couch. Judy wasnt to far behind her.

"My family is coming in tomorrow with a friend." She said flipping through the channels.

"A cute friend?" Jessie now asked walking into the room with a carrot and a bottle of water.

"I believe so." Cami said with a smirk looking at Jessie.

"Do we get to meet him?" Kassarah and Judy asked in unison.

"Sure whatever." She said rolling her eyes. They both got up and walked into Jael's room as though they had gotten the answer they came for. Cami looked at Jessie and they both laughed.

"So who is he?" Jessie asked. She got herself comfortable on the couch. Cami laughed.
"Why does it have to be a guy? Why can't it be a girl?" Cami asked.

"Because, you wouldn't say a girl is cute. Or at least I would hope you wouldn't. Which in that case I should be leaving now." Jesse said. They both laughed.

"Ok ok It's Ezra. You know I told you about him." She said blushing once more.

"Oh yea! He's coming here? That's awesome. When do I get to meet him?" Jessie asked.

"Tomorrow when he gets here? He's moving the twins stuff into your apartment! You'll also be at our party right?" She asked putting on Disney Channel.

"What party?" Kassarah and Judy both asked coming from 2 differant rooms.

"No party!" Jesse and Cami both answered at the same time. The two girls shrugged and went off into the rooms again.

--

The store was extremely ordinary as always, as was Carina's life as of late. She often woke up and wondered what she was doing with her life, she went to work and came home and that was pretty much it. If she went anywhere it was with her sisters, not that she didn't want to be with them but for once in her life she'd like to say she was in love. Honestly, truly, hopelessly, madly in love. She glanced at Jael, who was pushing the cart beside her and humming happily as she grabbed various items off of the shelf. Jael had Elisha in her life, and she'd gone from unhappy and life-less to upbeat and excited adopting a baby and talking over wedding plans incessantly. Not that most people enjoyed being married off and parents, but honestly she'd always wanted a baby of her own. She was having fun spoiling her niece now though, and hopefully in the future more nieces and nephews.

She was daydreaming about a child of her own when Jael tapped her on the shoulder, "I'm going to get the chicken and such from over here, could you get the dairy products?" Jael asked, thrusting a list of products into her hand.

Carina nodded and turned her cart toward the dairy section hoping she wouldn't be run over by an elderly woman in search of milk and cheese. She was still daydreaming, but she came too really quickly when she ran her cart into the back of an extremely tall, muscular man. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" she spouted, pulling her cart back.

He turned around and flashed her a quick smile, "No problem, just trying not to get run over by that old woman over there." he gestured with his head and whispered as if she was part of his conspiracy.

A flicker of recollection came to life in Carina's mind as she stared at his face. BJ! Shaking her head she smiled at him as much as at her thoughts, she was going crazy. "I hear ya." she said, casually strolling around him and grabbing the items from her list and tossing them into the cart. "Sorry again." she said, turning back and heading to the meat department.
"Was that BJ?" asked Jael, turning her cart back toward the dairy. "BJ!"

Turning what she knew must be six shades of red, Carina wished that the floor would just open up and swallow her whole cart and all. It was him! It was the guy she'd met when her sister had been tutoring the basketball team back at home and she'd taken an instant liking to him. Here she'd thought she was losing it...

BJ and Jael were carrying on a conversation, and Carina couldn't be any more embarrassed, so she chose to tune them out and grab the remaining products on the list. Casually, she strolled up to the line of registers and caught sight of Jael coming up beside her wearing a large smile looking much like the proverbial cat who'd eaten the canary.

"What did you do?" Carina demanded, pinning her sister with a look.

"Nothing. I invited an old friend to the party tomorrow is all." she winked and began unloading the groceries onto the conveyor belt.

"Lovely, just lovely. This party is headed for disaster within an hour!" Carina exclaimed grabbing her cell phone and texting Cami to let her know that she wasn't the only one being sabotaged. Their family had it in for them, that was for sure.

Love- Chapter 14

Love
Chapter 14

Six months later...

Jolene touched the final divorce decree and sighed as she folded it and set it into her filing cabinet with the rest of her important papers. Time to move on as she'd written in the letter months ago, she'd hoped that he'd change...but change never happened with her ex-husband. She should be used to that by now-but she wasn't.

Her phone rang shrilly, and she reached over and grabbed it. "Good morning." she answered.

"Hey...how's it going?" her ex-husband's voice spoke on the other end.

"Yes, I received the divorce decree.." she spoke quickly, knowing thats all he wanted...that and asking when he could pick up the boys. "You can get them around noon, I'll be leaving right after that to go to a book signing in Washington."

"I asked how it was going, not all of that." he grumbled.

"Sorry, it's going just great. I'm getting all packed up here. How's it going for you?" she flopped herself onto the bed and closed her suitcase.

"It's going well, just brought the baby home. It's a girl."

She shook her head, "Congratulations." Her heart and stomach did a simultaneous flip of jealousy.

"Thank you. I'd like to come get the boys a little early so that they can meet their sister, if that's okay."

Jolene found herself shoving the anger down once again before she nodded in agreement, "Sure, what time would you like to get them?"

He sighed, "How's a half hour from now?"

"Sounds good. They'll be ready."

"Okay, see you then." he hung up.

She sighed as well, "Yes, see you then." With yet another nod of resignation, Jolene kicked it into high-gear and got both boys ready for their weekend stay at their father's. Everytime they went she sat around the house alone and feeling the massive devistation of being without her family. But alas, this was the new life she lived. At least this weekend she'd have her flight, book signing, and a weekend away to keep her mind busy.

It wasn't long until Danny had arrived and took Matthias and Malachi and their belongings. After many kisses and hugs, she waved good-bye to her boys and their father- and began to load her car for the trip to the airport.

--

Danny smiled at his sons' antics as little Malachi bounced in his jumper seat and Matthias played peek-a-boo around the corner with him. He held his newborn daughter in his arms as he and his girlfriend settled in to watch the evening news.

"Breaking news tonight! An airplane en-route to Washington has crashed, leaving few survivors."

He sat straight up and looked at his girlfriend, "Jolene was on a flight to Washington."

Matthias turned around "Mama?" he asked, popping a thumb into his mouth.

Quickly, Danny handed over the baby and grabbed for his cell phone. "Jolene, it's Danny, I know this is probably dumb, but I'm worried that you were on that plane...give me a call back when you land."

As he hung up his cell phone, he turned his eyes toward the ceiling and prayed a quick prayer. "Don't let it be her. Please."

Unfortunately, he sat awake all night long waiting for a call that never came...

--

Danny stepped up to the casket and touched the top, supposed to be saying his last good-byes... How could he? What exactly did you say to the woman who'd given you everything and still held your entire heart in her hands. The last few months of her life had been spent ironing out divorce details, and fighting for all the time she could get with her sons. And now what? Now she was gone.

"I'm so sorry." was all he could say. And he was, just like he'd heard Lydia repeat earlier. Love was worse than Life.

"Goodbye, Jolene. I love you." he whispered, and pressed a kiss to his hand and then to her casket. Goodbye this time, was forever, a goodbye to life and love.

Love-Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Jolene sat at the coffee shop, warming her hands around the paper mug that held hot cocoa. The coffee shop was quiet compared to her home, and she was relishing every moment that she sat there. Thankfully, her sisters had taken the boys for her, so that she could speak to Doug in peace.

"Hey," Doug said, sitting in the seat across from her.

"Hi." she replied, folding her hands in her lap. He looked good, all too good sitting there.

"I'm glad we could meet to talk. I needed to say some things to you." he said, his dark eyes locking on her's.

She nodded, her stomach seeming to flip with his words. He was over her drama, and she understood that. No man would want to deal with what he'd dealt with for her. "Okay."

He folded his hands on the table and looked down, "I cannot be with you if you're still married to your husband. I don't enjoy being lead around in that way. I need a woman who is sure of where she's headed, and free to do as she wants."

Her face burned with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, Doug. I didn't mean to lead you on. I'm divorcing Danny, I cannot stand by him while he is with another woman. He's going to be in my life for the boys, but that is it from here on out." she stated, sipping her cocoa, and hoping it would stay in her stomach where it belonged.

"I'm glad you've made your decision. Thank you for filling me in." he said, standing.

"Where are you going?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I'm going to grab a coffee." he winked at her and spun toward the counter.

Jolene couldn't help but watch after him with a happy heart. Love wasn't so awful after all. Or was it?

--

Danny knocked on the door again and again, still no answer. Lowering himself onto the front stoop he looked over the note Jolene had left him.

"I'm moving on."

His heart couldn't take anymore. She was moving on, fine, that was good for her. He couldn't handle the up and downs of love, or whatever this feeling was that had settled in the bottom of his stomach.

"You okay?"

He looked up to see Elyse standing there before him. He smiled, "I am now."

"Why's that?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're here." he took her hand in his and sighed. "I'm so sorry."

She looked down at the note he'd crumbled and thrown into the yard. "Does your happiness have anything to do with that paper?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm glad you're here. I'm in love with you."

"Right." she nodded and turned away from him.

"Come back here." he called after her, "Let's go get something to eat."

Together they walked to her car, and he could feel himself lifting again. Things were going well. At least, for the moment.

Love- Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jolene wished she could take back everything she'd said the day Malachi was born. Unfortunately, her life never seemed to be on the right track lately. As soon as Danny had left for work this morning, she'd packed up the boys and went to her sister's house.

"He's having a baby with another woman? And you're sticking around?" Lydia looked at Jolene as if she'd grown three eyes.

"I get that you're trying to keep your family together..." Chrissy's voice wore on as she toyed with a piece of string that'd come loose from Malachi's itty bitty pajamas. "He doesn't deserve you all though, Jo."

"I don't know that I have the strength or presence of mind to go through this again. And I still haven't called Doug." she laid her face in her hands.

"I think you should leave his sorry behind." claimed Lydia, stealing the baby from Chrissy and kissing his forehead.

"I'm with her." claimed Chrissy.

Jolene looked at her cell phone, it'd been two hours since the time Danny told her he'd call. Was he with her?

"If you're waiting for him to straighten up and change, maybe you shouldn't be with him. That man is not going to change, Jolene." Chrissy lay her hand on her sister's shoulder and sighed. "I wish he would for you, for them...but it's not happening."

Jolene sighed, "Me too."

--

Doug looked at the phone in his hand and sighed, she hadn't called in two weeks. When would she call? The phone came to life in his hands, and to his surprise it was her number on the screen.

"Hey stranger." he greeted her.

"Hi there." she replied. "How have you been, Doug?"

"I've been okay, wondering about you, MJ and the baby. How are you all?" he took a seat on his mother's couch.

"The boys are good, I need to talk to you...I was wondering if you had time to go have a cup of coffee as friends." her voice sounded as if she'd had a rough two weeks.

"That sounds great. Name the time and place."

He could hear the smile in her voice as she rattled off the coffee shop they'd went to before and tomorrow night at seven. Maybe things were looking up again.

After he'd bade her goodbye, he closed his phone and found his mother looking at him.

"She contacted you finally?"

He nodded and scrubbed his face with his hands, "Mom you don't understand..it's complicated. She's still married or rather in the middle of a divorce or I'm not even sure what they're doing now! She has two kids, and I'm so confused with the whole thing..."

She shook her head, "You can't be involved with a married woman, Douglas. Meet with her this time and tell her that. You cannot even see her if she's not divorced from her husband, that's asking for disaster."

Doug sighed, he knew she was right. What would Jolene say? Only tomorrow would tell.

--

Danny looked at his ex-girlfriends growing stomach and wondered what he'd do now. "You're sure that it's mine?"

She rolled her eyes, "No I've been screwing around with more than one married man, Danny."

He could only shrug. "I'm sorry, it's just that this really makes things difficult. You didn't see the way she looked at me..."

"I'm banking on it's the same way I'm looking at you now. Like you ruined her entire future. Leave, Danny. Leave now." she pushed him toward the door.

"I'm sorry...I know I messed this up for all of us." he sighed as she closed the door in his face.

His cell phone came to life in his pocket. Grabbing it, he opened it. "Hello."

"It's been nearly five hours since you were supposed to be home. Your son is hungry and I asked you to bring him something for dinner..Where are you?" his wife's voice held anger, embarrassment, sadness...

"I'm going to grab something and be right there. I was just leaving...a friends." he stated quickly, hoping she wouldn't suspect what he was doing.

"Right, listen Danny, I'm used to this by now...so bring MJ something home. I have to give him a bath because it's already bed time. Tomorrow you'll be the one at home because I have to meet a friend as well." she spouted off and then the line went dead.

Sitting behind the steering wheel, he lay his head against it. His life was officially a mess. She was going out with Doug tomorrow, he had a baby on the way with another woman and they had two babies who were stuck in the middle. Life had officially become a mess years ago.

Love Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Jolene breathlessly sat back on the couch, letting the urge to clean the house go. She had finally gotten home after three weeks in the hospital monitoring both she and Malachi, and she couldn’t believe how messy the house was. Apparently her husband and MJ had only been coming back to the house to eat, sleep, and change. Plates, cups, and clothes littered nearly every inch of her living room and kitchen. Groaning, she got back up and picked up the clothes, tossing them into the laundry basket.

“What are you doing, you should be relaxing.” said Danny as he came around the corner from the nursery.

“I’m cleaning up the mess my boys left.” she winked and stacked the plates high.

“Don’t worry about that, sit down I’ll get it love.” he took the stack of plates from her and moved toward the kitchen.

Sighing, she resumed her seat on the couch as the dishwasher started in the kitchen. The ringing of Danny’s phone awoke her moments later, and she reached over and grabbed it. “Danny!” she called.

No answer.

Shaking her head, Jolene opened the phone “Hello.”

“Who is this?” asked a female voice.

“This is Danny’s wife...who is this?”

“Danny’s baby’s mother.” came the response.

Dropping the phone where she sat, Jolene stomped into the kitchen. “Your baby’s mother is on the phone for you in the living room. You can take that back to your house with you, to get the call.”

“Jolene, you don’t understand.” he started, reaching for her hand.

“Can you make me understand later?” she asked, holding back the feelings that wanted to come pouring off her tongue.

He nodded slowly, and walked away bent on answering the phone.

She didn’t care what he said right now, she was going to clean. There were some things that Jolene could not do...deal with a messy house, and keep her mouth shut when it counted. This situation dealt with both of those things. So instead of opening her big mouth and messing everything up without using her ears, for once she was going to ignore her husband and clean the house.

--

Danny sat on the couch feeling his world spin around him for another time in the past two years. It didn’t seem anything could go his way lately.

“Listen. I can’t be with you. I have a real chance to make it work with Jolene. I love her. I don’t even know if you’re really pregnant or not! If you are, and it’s my baby, I want to be involved, but if not you won’t hear from me. Sound okay?” he sighed as she agreed. He really hated that life presented these situations to him only lately.

“I’ll let you know when I find out for sure, Danny.” she hung up then.

Standing, he pocketed his cell phone and walked back into the kitchen. “Jo?”

She turned around to face him from where she’d been standing at the sink. “Yes?”

“We need to talk. I need to tell you what’s going on, and I need to know if we can still move on.” he pulled a chair out for her at the kitchen table.

She sat and nodded.

He lowered himself into the chair across from her and folded his hands. “She might be pregnant.” he said, looking down at his hands instead of his wife. “I told her that I will not be with her, regardless. I’ve told her that we’re trying to work things out...that I love you. If it is my baby, I am going to take care of that child though.”

She set her hand on top of his, “We’ll work through that too. It’s not as if our situation isn’t complicated enough. I wouldn’t have it any other way than you taking care of your children, Danny. You know that. I still love you, no matter what happens.”

He nodded and smiled at her, “What about Doug?”

Sighing, she linked her hands with his, “I’m going to call Doug and tell him that we’re trying to reconcile, and that he’s still welcome to hang out with MJ, because MJ misses Doug.”

Again, Danny nodded and kissed her palm. “We’re going to make it Jolene, just keep loving me.”

She smiled at him, “Always.”

"Love" Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Jolene watched as Danny rocked Malachi to sleep, she sighed and realized it was now or never. No way would they be alone ever again after they went home from the hospital. "We need to talk about all of this, Danny." she whispered.

"I know." he replied, laying the now sleeping infant in the small hospital bassinet.

"I want to apologize for pushing you away, Danny. I just feel like since Matthias was born that you've doubted my love for you because he isn't yours biologically. I feel like you resent me...and I can't handle that. So, I pushed you away and expected you to stay around...and that was stupid of me." Tears slipped down her cheeks as she aired her feelings.

"Maybe I did resent you a little in the beginning, if you'd just come home with me that night..."he sat on the side of her bed and linked his hand with her's.

"I dont resent anything that happened that night, I'm glad we have Matthias."

"Me too." he nodded, "I don't care that he isn't mine biologically, he IS mine in every way that counts. I'm his Daddy."

"It's my fault you went with her...but I still felt so disappointed and I am angry about that." she used her free hand to wipe away the tears.

"I don't know why I did, Jolene. I felt I needed someone to hear me out, she listened. I didn't mean for it to spiral out of control, but it did. I'm sorry." he pressed a kiss to her hand.

"I'm going to try to listen more often. I need to get back to myself, but it's tough sometimes to be anything but who I've become. Bitter, hurt, angry..." she rattled off her faults one by one.

"Does that mean you'll give us another chance?" he whispered tugging her closer until their eyes met.

"I'm going to try." she smiled and kissed his cheek.

--

Danny walked out of the hospital lighter than air, she was really going to give him a second chance. Or at least try to. That was as much as he could ask for after all they'd been through in the past few months. Thankfully he had a real chance at getting his family back, which was everything.

His cell phone rang in his pocket and he grabbed it swiftly. "Hello?"

"Danny?" his girlfriend of the past year's voice greeted him.

"What's up?" he asked, hoping to make the break-up swift and as painless as possible.

"I'm pregnant."

His whole world seemed to drop to his feet.

--

Doug shoved his equiptment into his locker and slammed his head up against the door. It'd been nearly a week since he'd heard from Jolene. He didn't even know what they'd named the baby and if it'd been a boy or a girl. Unfortunately, no matter how much he denied it to himself he was in love. With her, with Matthias, and even with the baby he hadn't met yet if that was even possible.

His phone rang and he reached for it, grabbing it off the locker room bench. "Hello?"

"Douglas, how is Jolene?"

His mother.

"I don't know." he sighed, grabbing his duffle bag off the bench and walking toward the door.

"What do you mean you don't know? Why don't you stop at the hospital and see her?" his mother had all the hope in the world to have him married off and having grandbabies by numbers.

"Right..okay mom." he groaned and opened his car door climbing inside.

"Don't you okay me, and stop rolling your eyes! That woman and her son are good for you."

He nodded, "I know mom."

A New Story..."Troublesome Thompsons"

Troublesome Thompsons

Story 1

I just wrote a short prologue to see if anyone would be interested in reading more...

--Prologue--

The sky was dark and foreboding as Audra slipped out the backdoor and pulled her coat closer against the biting wind. She was not the kind of girl to sneak out while her parents were asleep, but the tips Tiffany and Jennifer had lent her about her boyfriend Jesse sneaking around on her had gotten too much for even her to bear. Generally, Audra Thompson was a strong, unshakable force to be reckoned with, however when it came to her heart she became one of those mushy-head-over-heels women she hated. At seventeen, she'd run into so many girls who put their entire being into a relationship, only to be let down. Now, Audra feared she was becoming one of those girls. She loved Jesse, had told him so a few times now, and he had reciprocated. Unfortunately she'd gotten word that tonight Jesse was taking Michelle Gallagher to the drive-in, after telling Audra he was staying home to work on a big history paper due tomorrow. If she caught him with Michelle tonight, she had no idea what she would do...Climbing into the car, she took off toward the drive-in, hoping beyond hope that Tiffany and Jennifer were being jerks.

Before she knew it, Audra was climbing through trees and brush, trying to distinguish if that was Jesse's red mustang in the theater's lot, or if her eyes were deceiving her. She bit her lip to still it's quivering as she saw Michelle Gallager's face pressed again her boyfriend Jesse's in a kiss. Closing her eyes, Audra spun around and ran from her hiding place back toward her car. Why had she come out here? How could he do this to her? No man would ever hurt her this way again, Audra would make sure that they wouldn't.