Jordyn's Army, page 17
We were two ends of a spectrum back then, me and Danny, and yet we both felt like outsiders, both wondering if or where we’d ever fit in.
“Maybe everyone feels like a misfit between the ages of fifteen and eighteen.” I conjecture, suddenly feeling not so different than him.
“And that, my friend, is exactly what Misfits is all about. No one fits in anywhere. We’re a bag of self-doubting, raging hormones doing shit that can kill us and we’re just plain lucky when it doesn’t.” He pauses for a moment. Looking up at the night sky, he asks, “Do you ever watch the show?”
“Not all the time, but I have seen it a few times. It’s wickedly funny.” I’m so glad I’ve seen it, or I would be totally embarrassed right now. A high school classmate has the number one primetime animated TV show, I should be watching every episode. Especially since I knew him and had a secret crush on him.
Looking back down at me, it appears he wants to say something and stops himself.
“What?” I ask. What would he reconsider saying to me?
“You know the character on the show named Lily?”
“The orange-haired one?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Your hair is kind of orange.”
“ It is not, it’s auburn, not orange.”
“Looks orange to me,” he teases. “Did you ever notice the necklace Lily always wears?”
I shake my head. Usually while watching Misfits I’m laughing too hysterically at the biting dialogue and crazy antics to notice the little details.
“Well, the idea of Lily wearing a necklace with a lily on it, came from here.” Reaching into the front pocket of his black jeans, he pulls out his fisted hand and then takes my hand and delivers something into my palm.
When he takes his hand away, I see an object glinting in the moon’s light, the jolt to my heart is so piercing, I can’t speak.
“It was me, Rose. And I’m sorry. I wasn’t sorry at the time. It was a part of you and that’s what I wanted. It’s just… I had this special thing of yours. The thinking of a sixteen-year-old derelict. It was wrong. Very, very wrong to take it. And I’m sorry.”
Looking up from my hand, my eyes meet his. I’m angry, until I see the look on his face. “You were the one who broke into my locker?”
Nodding, he confesses. “Yeah. It was me.”
“But why, Danny?” I try and search his eyes in the darkness.
“I didn’t go there to steal your necklace, Rose. I just wanted to go through your stuff. See if you had any guys’ names written in your notebooks or anything. I was just going to tease you about it. But when I went in there, your necklace was there. And I saw it on you every day. The minute I touched it, I felt connected to you. So, I just pocketed it.”
“My grandfather gave this to me.” Looking back down at my hand, the delicate rose with the garnet at the center feels like a treasure, it’s as if a long-lost piece of my heart had been returned to me. Finally.
“I’m sorry about that. At the time I had no concept that what I was doing would feel like such a loss to you. All I could think was, I had this thing of yours.”
“Danny…” I’m not sure what to say. My emotions are swirling and running the gamut, from anger to joy at having my special necklace back after all these years, to disbelief that he would do this, and his reason for doing it.
“Here, let me put it on you.” He extends a hand and I place the necklace on his palm.
Turning to face him, I lift my hair as he bends down to fasten the clasp.
Straightening up, he whispers in my ear, “Your ex is on his way back. Do you want me to leave?”
“No. Don’t leave. We’re not done here yet. And I’d rather not talk to him.”
“Well, I can help you with that.” His smile is intoxicating, and his eyes are a panoply of sorrow and remorse as he bends his head down and tips my chin up. His lips on mine are soft at first and I reach up to wind my arms around his neck. Opening my mouth, I desperately need to deepen this kiss. Feeling his hands slide down my back, I stiffen slightly before he’s publicly grabbing my ass in front of my ex and whoever else is out on the terrace, forever the good girl not ready to be slut shamed. But in another locale, I might take his hands and place them there. As if reading me, his hands slide out to the curves right below my waist and rest there. As he subtly pulls my body to him, I let my arms slide to his waist.
“You stole my necklace,” I say as if it is an epiphany.
“And now I get to give it back to you.”
That’s not all I want to get you to give to me.
“You liked me?” I parrot his sentiment from earlier.
“Majorly fantasized about you.”
“No way.”
He laughs. “Way.”
And his lips are on mine again, where there’s no coherent thought pattern as my brain has switched to tactile mode. I feel his tongue gently seducing mine and the heat from his body radiating through his jeans.
Okay, so I really might be ready to be slut shamed here.
Behind me someone clears their throat and I remember Connor had walked out onto the terrace, a thought Danny had made me lose very quickly.
“I’d like to borrow Rose for a few minutes.”
Breaking our kiss, I nod to Danny, indicating it’s okay.
“I’ll go grab us some fresh drinks,” he offers, giving my shoulder a squeeze as he passes. I notice he doesn’t acknowledge Connor.
When Danny’s out of earshot, Connor asks, “Is he the reason you moved to LA?”
Shaking my head, I realize I’ve taken on that very defensive stance again with my arms crossed and reach to the stone wall to retrieve my almost empty wine glass.
“You know, I hoped I was going to come back here tonight, see you, and find that you still felt for me what you used to feel.”
Unlike before, this time I’m keeping my mouth shut. Let him stay on the hot seat.
“I knew you might not be happy with me, but I just kept thinking that maybe you’d remember enough of all the great times we shared to be open to exploring where we are now in our lives and seeing if somehow there could still be a fit.”
It’s killing me, but I keep my mouth shut and stare him down.
“I guess I’m too late.” He shrugs.
This dam is about to burst and keeping my mouth shut has never been one of my greatest strengths. “Trusting you, ever again, is just not in the cards. What you did to me was cruel and disrespectful. You showed me who you were, and I have no desire to be with a man that treats me that way.”
Looking down at his feet, he shakes his head. “I made a mistake.”
“You certainly did,” I concur. C’mon Danny, get your handsome butt back here.
And just like that I see the door to the terrace swing open and he’s filling the door frame, a glass in each hand. “I wish you no ill, Connor, but I am not interested in being involved with you and that is not going to change. I deserve more. I deserve better. And I am not ever going to settle for anything less.”
Holding out a glass to me, it’s definitely not wine that Danny is handing me this time. “I thought it was time for a little after dinner drink, even though we haven’t eaten dinner yet.”
“What did you bring me?” I ask, smiling at him, as I bring the glass to my nose to capture the aroma.
“Amaretto.”
“Yum.”
He leans up on the wall next to me, his body possessively close. The now familiar clean scent of his soap is comforting, and I find myself leaning into him, perpetuating the charade.
“When are you heading back to California?” Connor asks us and I’m shocked he’s sticking around to make small talk.
“Monday…” I begin to say.
“Why don’t we fly back tonight?” Danny looks at me like he’s ready to go.
“Can you get a flight at this hour?” Connor seems surprised and I’m even more surprised.
“Don’t need a flight. I’ve got the plane.” He sips his drink.
I can see that hit Connor like a sucker punch. How do you compete with that?
I wonder if Danny really has a plane or if he just said that to mess with my ex. Is it real or merely a testosterone power play? I don’t know him well enough to tell.
“Okay, well, then, have a good trip back, whenever you leave.” Focusing his eyes on me, it appears he’s about to say goodbye, and is distracted. “Is that the necklace you lost way back when?”
“It is.” My fingers immediate go to the dangling gold rose.
“I see you found it.”
“Actually, it found me.” I’m not surprised this time when Danny’s arm goes around my shoulders.
And with that visual cue, Connor bids us goodbye, making a hasty retreat across the slate flagstones.
Putting his drink down, Danny turns to me and lifts me up, seating me on the waist-high wall. Taking my knees, he pushes them apart, making space for himself to stand in-between.
“Before the last interruption, I had just admitted to you that I used to fantasize about you.”
“Do I need to be washing this?” I touch my necklace.
“I already did.” His smile tells me he’s teasing me.
“Well, I kinda used to fantasize about you, too.” I know my face is bright red. I can feel the heat. “But you always had a girlfriend,” I quickly add.
“So, will you see me out in LA?”
“Maybe I already have a boyfriend there,” my response is coy.
“Maybe I can make you forget him.” Tipping my chin back, he leans down for another kiss. When our lips break, he adds the surprising statement, “I want to make you breakfast.”
“Are you staying here at the hotel?”
He nods and I begin to laugh.
“So, what are you planning on doing? Knocking the omelet guy off his station at the breakfast buffet?”
“You were always a wise ass.” Picking up his drink, he regards me over the rim of the glass. “I can make you breakfast tomorrow morning in LA.”
“You weren’t joking about leaving tonight?”
Shaking his head, he elaborates, “I’ve got the production company plane at my disposal.”
“And you want to leave?”
“I got what I came for.” He appears very sure of himself.
“What you came for?” Am I a what?
“Who I came for,” he corrects himself. “Or is that whom?”
“The former.” I’m fighting a smile.
“Yup. You are definitely still Rosie-Blowsy.”
“I don’t like when you call me that.” That took me over a decade to say to him.
“Hmm… so, let’s see, what can I call you… Rose Garden, Rose Grows, Rosie Toesy, Coming Up Rosie, Second-Hand Rose.” He stops on that one.
Second-Hand Rose? What the actual... my eyes widen at the last one, and he laughs. It’s clear he’s having a good time teasing me, but I guess that is to be expected, after all, the guy creates snarky animated characters.
Reaching out, he cups my left cheek, slowly grazing his thumb just below my cheekbone and softly zigzagging it down my cheek. “But I think I’d rather go with Rosie Cheeks.” Swoon.
And in a nanosecond, I’ve gone from wanting to smack the guy to wanting to have sex with him in the woods on the other side of this wall.
“So, will you come back to LA with me, Rosie Cheeks?”
“Seriously, Danny, we’ve known each other like ten minutes.”
“And more than few years and way too few kisses and I’ve saved you from your…” he pauses.
“You can say it,” I assure him. “My asshole ex.”
“Your asshole ex who threw up on your beautiful green dress at the prom.”
“You remember that?”
Nodding, he adds, “Maybe I wasn’t the one who was actually the derelict.”
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
“I remember a lot, Rose. I remember the Adam Levine picture in your locker. And that wasn’t even the locker I broke into.” He smiles. “I remember your purple backpack and the Red Vines you used to share with me. I remember when your finger was broken playing volleyball in eleventh grade.”
I rub my right pinky.
“Yes, that finger.”
“And you know what I remember most of all?” As his hand goes back to my cheek, his thumb gently resumes a slow, stroking motion and those butterflies I once felt, as I turned toward his desk to see the same handsome smile, are once again fluttering. “What I remember most is you giving me money for lunch, when I didn’t have any.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“Yeah, well, I was too embarrassed to tell anyone that my dad had lost his job. I used to hit you up to borrow money. I didn’t want anyone to know and I knew you wouldn’t judge me.”
I’m trying hard, but I can’t recall having lent him lunch money.
“And I never paid you back.”
“Derelict.” I smile to hide the tears that are beginning to burn in my eyes. My heart is hurting at the thought of him not having enough money to buy a school lunch and going hungry and I’m struck with the realization that perception is often far removed from reality. While we always think someone’s life is so much better than ours, they’re more popular, they run with a cool crowd, members of the opposite sex adore them, we don’t actually know the pain they harbor or the challenges they face.
And he remembered all these things about me. Details. Details that I don’t think even Connor could answer.
“So, let me make you breakfast as payback. I can actually cook.” When I hesitate, he continues. “There are a lot of bedrooms in my house if you’re not interested in sleeping with me.”
“How romantic.” My sarcasm is as heavy as the damp air surrounding us.
“Those are words you will regret, Miss Rosie Cheeks.” He laughs. “Look, I got to give you back something that I had no right taking from you, and now I want to pay you back for being the sweetest person I knew in high school, and for taking care of me, even if you didn’t realize that is what you were doing. And if I’m really lucky,” his smile grows even wider, taking on that wolfish cast, “maybe I’ll get to live out a few of my teenaged fantasies.”
Say yes, he mouths, but doesn’t verbalize the words.
“Call your pilot. I need to go pack.” And hopping down from the wall, I look up at my high school crush and wrap my arms around his neck, and this time it’s me pulling him in for a kiss, making one of my teenage fantasies a reunion reality.
4
Danny
Holding hands, we enter the ballroom in search of Des so that Rose can let her know we’re leaving. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see that asswipe, Connor Powell, watching us. Whatever he did to this woman, it wasn’t good. What I saw earlier in her defensive posture, the pained look in her eyes, and her sharp words, showed me exactly how much he had hurt her.
It’s hard to get through this room without being stopped every two seconds by people who once did not want to give me the time of day, people who thought they were too good for me, but now want to act as if we were best friends throughout our high school years. These are people who never would have pulled three dollars from their backpack to make sure I didn’t go hungry. To them, I was just a grungy derelict. That misfit. And now, they want to be able to brag to friends and colleagues that they know me, the guy who created Misfits.
But they don’t know me at all. They never did.
“Hey, you two.” Des smiles as we approach. “Looks like we’ve got a new prom king and queen here.”
“John Waters already did that one. It was called Cry Baby,” I recall the film about the bad boy and the good girl, another pair of misfits living out the roles into which they were cast.
“We’re going to head back to LA tonight.” Rose tells her best friend.
“Want to come?” I offer. “We could pick up your husband on the way to the airport.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. Just driving in a car these days makes me nauseous. We’ll take a raincheck on that, though.”
“You sure?” Rose asks her friend and I can see she’s a little nervous about leaving with me.
Bending down, I whisper in her ear, “I’ll drive you home, if you want. But then you’re going to miss my famous cannoli pancakes.”
With our hands still intertwined, she swings our arms back and forth, and smiles up at me. “You didn’t say it was going to be cannoli pancakes.”
Leaning to her ear again, I can’t help but smile as I deliver the news. “I also didn’t tell you I like to cook nude.”
Enjoying the surprise in her eyes almost as much as I’m relishing her laughter, she calls me, “Derelict.”
“Yup. That’s your boy, Rosie Cheeks,” I concur, finding her lips for a kiss in front of Des and the rather surprised group gathered with her.
As we turn to go, I lock eyes with Des. “Thank you,” I mouth the words.
“I told you, I’d take care of it. I’m that good,” she responds, her smile smug.
“I owe you one.” I leave her with a wink as Rose and I exit. Reunited.
Epilogue
Rose
As the show ends, there’s a huge round of applause and wolf whistles bouncing off the glass walls of our living room where members of the cast and crew are gathered to watch the season four première of Misfits. Although they have all screened it many times at the studio, there’s nothing like watching the first new episode on TV and knowing you are seeing it at the same moment as all the show’s fans.
As the final credits roll, seeing Danny’s name on the screen and observing the reactions of staff that adore him truly makes me feel like a teenager in love. High school’s bad boy grew up to be a really good man. My man.
My phone buzzes on the coffee table and I pick it up to find a text from Des.
Des: OMG! We just watched the season premiere of Misfits. I love the new Des character! The new girl at the school and you can already tell she is going to be a shit-stirrer. Tell Danny his debt to me is now fully paid off (he’ll know what that means).
