Chapter 45: Just what!

"Who?" Mrs. Ranez and Jessie said almost at the same time. The difference was that Mrs. Ranez said hers in an enthused voice, trying to know more about who the guy was as it was obvious that she was the only person in the house that didn't know him. While Jessie said hers, giving Luciana this glare of "don't say anything stupid."
"I mean erm... She's dressed to meet a guy, not like I know who he is," Luciana shrugged.
"Not helping," Jessie cooed out, rolling her eyes.
"Jessie, tell me who he is, I want to know," Mrs. Ranez questioned, smiling at Jessie.
Jessie's phone vibrated out loud, and she picked it up to see a message from Charles, "I'm at your place, come out soon."
"Okay, I think I will just leave you guys now, I need to go," Jessie said while running off so she could avoid their questions, not forgetting to give air kisses to Mrs. Ranez and Luciana.
Mrs. Ranez turned to Luciana as soon as Jessie was out, "I'm the only one left in the dark, huh?"
"So it seems, Mom," Luciana stated as she picked up her phone which she kept on the dining table.
"But I don't want to be," she said, holding out her hands to Luciana's, "tell me, tell me everything I need to know."
"I'm not having this conversation with you, Mom," Luciana cut her abruptly, as she began to walk back to the stairs.
"You can start with your relationship life," Mrs. Ranez vociferated, "I'm not going to judge you."
"As I said, mom, I'm not going to have this conversation with you," Luciana bawled out from the end of the stairs she was on.
"Then, I will just sit here alone to myself," Mrs. Ranez uttered again in a loud voice, trying to get Luciana to come to stay with her.
"That's not a bad idea too," Luciana said out loudly, and the sound from her door which she closed not so quietly, came out next.
Mrs. Ranez stayed to herself, as it turned out she was alone, and went back to the kitchen from the dining where she was, to arrange stuff there.
Immediately, Luciana got inside, she screamed out loudly, but her shout was not heard by Mrs. Ranez as a result of the soundproof systems that were connected in the rooms of the Ranez home.
Luciana was vexed at everything, at herself, at every single emotion she felt. "So her mom wanted her to sit and tell her about her life?" She voiced out, trying to hold back the pain, "will she be able to handle it?"
"Tell how about what exactly, just what?" Luciana screamed out at the top of her lungs. Was she supposed to tell her mom about the fact that her father was cheating on his wife with another woman, or the part that she had a brain tumor that was affecting her terribly, or was she supposed to talk about the part where it affected her school work and her relationship with the people she cared about, "just what?" She managed to utter.
She had cried so much about the things that had been going on in her life, and she had no plans to cry again, not that day, at least. She was only going to add much sorrow to herself with the terrible head pains she felt, so she mustered up the courage and went to the wash hand basin to wash her face, trying to wash off the pain too.
"Life is going to be fine, you just have to keep your faith high," she remembered Miss Selene's advice, and smiled, wishing it will be true.
*******
Charles drove to a superstore with Jessie, as he wanted to get some chilled drinks that they were going to use for the picnic. When he first saw Jessie come out of the house, he was awed at how beautiful she looked, and held himself from giving her compliments.
They never settled on where she was going, but he did not blame her for not carrying beach clothes along, as he still had not informed her, and there was no way she might have squeezed clothes into the mini bag she carried.
"Charles, I've been asking, and you are not telling me," Jessie said out in a voice that sounded weary, as Charles got into the car, with the drinks he got from the superstore.
"Just relax, I'm not planning on running with you, not like I have a big surprise in store either, you could just wait and watch us get there," he informed her. He was fully aware that he sounded quite rude, but he didn't see the point in her being too eager when it was uncalled for.
"Okay," Jessie voiced out, with a hint of sadness in her voice as she took her eyes back to her phone and kept her attention to herself.
Charles continued driving, till he got to another store which from all indications turned out to be a female boutique. He stopped right there, and asked Jessie to come down which she refused initially as she was trying to "keep to herself." Under further pressure from Charles, she then finally agreed to step down.
They walked into the boutique, Jessie feeling quite excited. She was finally finding the love she desired to experience, and that was what mattered to her at that moment. It was not the pricking sensations, from the eyes of people who stared at them as Charles was quite handsome, or the conflicting opinions that were arising in her mind.
Happiness was everything that mattered to her, and she was glad she was beginning to experience it.
"Charles," Jessie heard a female voice call out, as a lady walked over to them.
Tension rose in the heart of Jessie, hearing the voice. She was not sure who it was, so she just waited for the lady to move closer. It was the same blonde-haired girl, the one that made her have double thoughts about Charles. It was Rebecca, moving closer to her and wearing a smile that felt so fake.
"I had no idea I will meet you here, Charles," Rebecca grinned widely as she walked over to him, "a female boutique at that, when did you become this loving?" She asked rhetorically, expecting no answer from anyone.
"Hello," Rebecca waved to Jessie, as she moved over to stand beside Charles, "have I met you before?"
Jessie was surprised as the question came at her, she never had any personal encounter with Rebecca, so she did not expect the first question to be thrown at her.
"I doubt, I am Jessie," Jessie said stretching her hands out to Rebecca, "how about you?" She inquired like she was ignorant of who Rebecca was.
"I am Rebecca, Charles calls me Becky. I am a very close friend of Charles. It is just strange that I don't know you," Rebecca winked at Charles, then turned back to Jessica as she returned the handshake.
"Ohhh... That's interesting to hear, it's not been long I've been talking with Charles though," Jessie acknowledged, nodding her head in affirmation.
Charles just stood, acting so indifferent about everything that was going on in front of him. He hoped the girls were enlightened enough to not want to create a scene, so he decided to just stay and watch whatever drama that wanted to unfold.
Charles looked at Rebecca and noticed this facial expression of hers, the only thing he could pick out from it, was the face of one that wanted to trample on a prey or pounce on it voraciously.
He turned to Jessie and noted the trepidation in her. It was not one of a scaredy-cat or someone that was being bullied. Her facial expression, displayed fear in a way of not getting hurt, and not necessarily about being intimidated.
"It actually is," Rebecca stated.
"It's strange Charles brought you to a boutique though, he never does that. Or are you guys a thing?" She questioned, sounding surprised and as though she was filled with enthusiasm.
"I brought her here, to get beach wears, is that a problem?" Charles asked, his head tilted to a corner.
"No, I never said it was," Rebecca smiled conspicuously.
Jessie was surprised that Charles came there because he had her in mind and was excited about the whole thing. She was just overthinking that Becky might have had importance in Charles's life, as he responded to her and told her that they were going to the beach, while he left her question hanging instead.
"Then that's good, if you will excuse us, " Charles said as he tugged Jessie, making his way to where the beach wears where.
Jessie tried at least three sets of wears, till Charles finally picked one he felt was good, even as Jessie was not comfortable with it. He added a kind of fancy scarf which she could use to wrap around her waist, as she kept on disputing about wearing the clothes. Charles paid for a beach hat as extra and also bought another set of beach wear asides from the one she concluded to use.
"You did not have to do this much, you know?" Jessie said as soon as they got into the car, adjusting the shopping bags that were scattered all over her thighs.
"Now this is what I get as a thank you," Charles voiced out, sounding like his emotions had just been joked with.
Jessie turned to him in a rush, surprised. "We both know that this is not what I mean, I was just saying..."
Charles stared at her, keeping this face of 'really', then said, "you want to argue your point now, instead of saying thank you?"
"Charles...," She paused and inhaled deeply, "well, thank you."
"You are welcome," Charles answered in reply, and turned his face back to the front windshield, trying to focus his attention on his road, and gave a smirk when he noticed she was not looking at him anymore.