Sparkle
by Kat
it had been a few weeks since jessie's last visit to the jazz cafe.
jazz wasn't really worried that anything had happened to jess cuz she
knew very well the strains & busy schedules that come with being an
active high school student, as well as just a regular gal with a life
of any kind. don't be fooled to think that jazz is just some kind of
older stalker being quasi-perverted by crushing on a high schooler.
the two bonded over their common love for expanding knowledge in
order to find not only yourself but to fully understand, tolerate &
accept everything and everyone around them. over the last few years
jessie actually taught jazz a few things as well as the wisdom &
openness jazz let jessie see. of course jazz was completely clueless
to the once ever so close bond between her secret love & her new
favorite employee. so much that will happen over the next few weeks,
could completely take her world for a turn...
it was a foggy summer morning, with the promise of a beautiful yet
slightly chilly day lingering through the uptown suburban chicago
area. jess had tried to distract herself from thoughts surrounding
katie since school got out. as hard as she tried, katie's harsh
voice over the PA system still rang clear in the back of her mind as
she handed in all over her exams. luckily she didn't let it distract
her, although she certainly could have. it was tearing her apart,
but jess refused to let one girl, one perfect & perhaps most right
girl for her walk right out of her life over something so silly that
she didn't even remember, get to her. it had been at least a month
since jess had seen katie. but it would not be a day later the two
would meet, under a very distrought situation. jess was planning on
going on a vacation with her mom & henry in the end of the month to
the south pacific for a surfing & scuba diving excursion to remember
as an early graduation gift. not knowing very much about either
event, jess decided it was time to give her good friend jazz a visit
to get some reading material to at least give her a better
understanding of the two.
getting into full "sufer chick" mode, she came into the cafe in a
cool ass pair of blue & black shaded hibiscus knee length board
shorts, a black billabong hoodie, & black flip flops. her hair was
newly highlighted to give her that beach babe look, or at least
that's what she was going for. with her hair long and flowing, along
with a light blue & white striped drawstring backpack completed the
deal.
if you could have seen the look on jazz's face when she first set
eyes on the "new" jess, the whole world would have known the desire
she possessed towards the girl. jazz didn't even let jess pass the
historical fiction. she ran & picked jess up, twirling her around in
the process. finally she stopped & gently rested jess's feet on the
ground, straightened her arms out which were still holding jess'
shoulders & just stared in awe.
"damn j, you look great! what brings your hottness to this part of
town?" yeah, jazz was definately excited. most of her customers had
over the years become good friends or at least aquaintences(?) with
her, so she didn't have to hide her sexuality. plus, being as brash
as she can be, no one knew to second guess it. *"j" is a nickname
jazz came up with.
"ha. what hottness? are you kidding me jazzy? you look pretty good
yourself." she paused to take a quick head-to-toe glance at her
older beautiful friend. jazz had grown even more lovelier than the
last time jess had seen her. a thin long black skirt that touched
the floor, black flip flops with one of her toes sporting a cute
little silver ring, a white spaghetti strap shirt showing off all of her assets(?) in the best possible way & her dark brownish-black hair
was put up in a lose bun with two chopsticks, set off the most
gorgeous yet completely gap casual look. *jessie never named
her "jazzy" as many of her college friends used to call her, but now,
jess was the only person allowed to call her that. to everyone else,
it was either "jazz" or just plain "jasmine." no exceptions or
questions.
"so what can i do for you? besides giving you the pleasure of my
company as well as my extensive wisdom beyond my years?" jazz
jokingly said to break up their little awe fest, as much as she just
wanted to stay in that moment forever.
"well, actually, i'm going on a trip at the end of the month with my
mom & henry to the south pacific to go surfing & scuba diving & i was
wondering if you had any good books i could read to get a better
understanding of what i'm getting myself into."
"you're actually in luck. i just got a shipment of resources
dedicated especially to those looking into vacations and activities
in the south pacific."
"wait, are you joking?"
"no. well, yes." she paused to laugh. jess was still very naive & a
lil gullable despite her intense brain usage. but jazz still admired
that most about her. kept her in the hopeful mood to let anything
happen, even if she's risks getting hurt. jazz had lost that same
fire some time ago. "your mom actually called me during easter to
ask me to order some books on the subject. but i did just get them
in. i swear. come & see. they're still in the boxes...beach blonde."
all jess could do was smile. karen being so supportive as she's
been, had always been quite fond of jazz. even though she was a bit
too old for jessie when she first came out, karen knew that if
something ever happened, once jessie got a little older & maturer,
she couldn't object to the two of them spending some "quality" time
together.
jazz led jess to her office in the back of the store. it was still a
early for anyone other than the regulars to show up, so jazz had the
time to be occupied. she led the beach blonde to the stack of books
& told jessie she could look through the pile & find what she
wanted. jess sat down on the floor as she made her way into the big
cardboard box in front of her. meanwhile, jazz decided to let her
inner clown through, knowing fully the flirting points this could
bring. she went behind her desk & grabbed an acoustic from behind &
sat kiddy-corner on the desk. slowly jazz began a bubbly 50's esque
(?) guitar rhythm & the the words flowed out, half serious, & half
extremely jokingly.
"who's that beach blonde girl? she's hotter than the sun. who's
that beach blonde girl? she outshines everyone. who's that beach
blonde girl? who's that beach blonde girl?" she repeated this little
array of independent clauses until she got an outburst of laughter
from jessie, who still wouldn't give jazz the satisfaction of knowing
that she was completly turned on by jazz's creative way of saying she
looked nice.
meanwhile...
"hey mel, who's in jazz's office singing?" katie was running a
little late for work this morning. she caught every red light from
her house to downtown. just her luck. she knew running all of those
yellow lights & kissing the roof of her 2003 blue & white mini cooper
would get her into trouble sooner or later. of course, the trouble
about to happen wasn't quite what she had in mind.
"oh hey kat. that's actually jazz singing."
"that's cool. who's in there with her? her latest 'quest?'" katie
was most definately kidding by that one, knowing very well that jazz
never talked about her social life outside of the cafe, as far as
relationships go.
"she wishes. it's just her & j back there."
"who's jay?" was all that kept running through katie's mind as she
continued to her section of the cafe. as she went back towards the
music center to start up a rotation of new music for the day, she
called back to mel, the guy she'd been hanging out with at work the
most. "hey, have you seen the new tonic cd? cuz it's not back here."
"i think it's in jazz's office."
"should i go ask her? or just wait?"
"naw, just go now. i'm pretty sure jazz won't mind."
"ok. thanks"
"no prob katie."
katie straightened her black work apron as she walked back towards
jazz's office. dressed in work attire she had on a pair of old black
high top converse, straight leg jeans, & a red polo, with her hair
pulled back into a loose ponytail. as she came closer & closer to
the office, the laughing became more clear. katie knew that laugh
from somewhere. almost like a memory she couldn't quite remember.
jess's back was turned in towards the office, between the box of
books & jazz's desk, so her identity was unknown, especially in her
new clothes & hair do. jazz looked up, a little startled, to see
katie politely standing there.
"umm...sorry to interrupt you jazz, but do you have that new tonic
cd? i can't seem to find it & mel said you had it."
"oh yeah kat, hold on a sec. i wanted to listen to it on the drive
home so i just put it in my diskman. it's in my car."
"if it's ok with you, i'll just go get it if you want."
"yeah, that'll work. you know which one it is. let me go grab my
keys."
"ok. thanks. sorry to bother you."
for the past few minutes, jess didn't want to be rude to whatever
employee was standing there, so she just kept herself occupied by
looking for the books on her list. that voice kept sounding so
familiar. jess couldn't shake it.
jazz came jogging back from the store safe to reveal a cd. "here you
go kat. oh where are my manners? kat, i want you to meet my friend
j." jessie slowly started to turn around as jazz continued. "j,
this is kat, our newest assistant manager." when jessie finally
turned around to see katie standing there, she couldn't believe it.
she felt like she was going to faint. the girls just looked at each
other, not sure exactly what to do. time between them seemed so
distant, yet so familiar.
"oh my god" was all jessie could manage before she collapsed on the
floor...