53. Chapter 53

Chapter Fifty-Three

Steve was in his room when Jessica got there. He'd pretty much been in there since he'd gotten home from the doctor's office. He'd made himself a sandwich even though he hadn't really been hungry, and had gone up to his room to eat and then sleep.

He was awake but still laying down when Jessica knocked on his bedroom door before coming in. He could tell just by looking at her face that she'd had a stressful day. She was a little pale and drawn in on herself.

"Hey," she said softly, letting her bag fall off her shoulder and to the floor.

"Hey."

She crawled onto the bed with him and got as close as she could without actually being on top of him, though her head did end up on his chest. He wrapped an arm around her and held her, waiting for her to start the conversation.

She stayed silent for a few minutes, but Steve could also feel her relaxing, so he gave her the time she needed. He actually wondered if she was planning on going to sleep, but then she was taking a deep breath and sitting up a little so she could look at him.

"So . . . ? What did the doctor say?"

"Well, I can go back to school tomorrow since my head isn't hurting or anything. He asked me exactly what happened to cause my flare up yesterday and when I told him he acted like it was no surprise."

"So . . . it was normal?"

Steve sat up too. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean it was good."

Jessica shook her head. "What does that mean?"

"It means I can't play basketball. He said I could try baseball when it comes around, but that probably won't be a smart thing to do either."

When he and his mom had gotten to the doctor's office, they'd checked in and had to wait a good thirty minutes before they were even called back. They had to wait another fifteen just to see the doctor.

"Because of my injuries . . . it could cause permanent damage if I get hurt again. Uh, he said that as I'm healing I might have a hard time focusing on things – which . . . I kind of have that problem already, so . . . it could affect how I am in school anyway."

Jessica brought her hands up to cover her face and he watched as her shoulders slumped forward. Her hands fell back to her lap.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know that – I know that wasn't what you wanted to hear."

"No. It wasn't. I was kind of expecting it, though."

Jessica reached for one of his hands. When she had it, he tried to intertwine his fingers with hers, but she seemed to want to play with his fingers instead.

"So what had you all stressed when you got here other than the obvious?" Steve asked.

"I didn't sleep well last night," she admitted. "And I was worried all day. I got into it with Billy twice today and –"

"Wait, what?" His hand twitched in hers. "Is that smart?"

"I don't – I don't know. It . . . it wasn't even really an argument. It was mostly me just scolding him and him being a jerk about it. He said something stupid and I couldn't keep my mouth shut about it, so . . . yeah."

"Oh. Okay. Just be careful not to antagonize him too much."

She nodded and sent him a small smile.

"Did Hopper bring your car to you?"

"I don't even know if Hopper knows what happened. My mom called for a tow yesterday."

"Oh." Jessica looked down, her hands still playing with his fingers. "Steve, I, uh . . . I have to tell you something just because I don't want someone else telling you."

"Okay . . ."

"Okay. So . . . the argument, or whatever, lasted pretty much until after lunch. It started in English class."

"It was that bad?"

"Well, it was more Billy said something stupid every time he talked to me. I – I went outside to try to call you during lunch to see if you'd gotten back from the doctor, but I guess you hadn't because I didn't get an answer."

"Yeah, it took a while."

"Billy was taking a smoke break and he saw me, wanted to know if I was still mad at him, which I wasn't until he made an offhand comment about you and it made me angry again. Anyway, I don't know if anyone saw, but you know how people talk, so . . . I was sitting there on the sidewalk when he came up to me and he sat with me for a few minutes. I tried explaining why I was mad and that was when he started acting like a jerk, so I got up to leave. He . . . kind of wouldn't let me."

"What does that mean?" Steve asked, mind going to the fact that Billy could be a loose cannon when he wanted to be. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, I – um, he sort of hovered over me and trapped me against the wall. He moved when I asked him to. It just – it kind of freaked me out a little, or I guess the word disoriented is a better description."

"So . . . basically he got you alone so he could scare you."

"I don't think that was his intention. At least not at first – and honestly, I think he's just naturally intimidating. He doesn't know how to be anything else. He backed off when he realized he was bothering me."

"Still not cool to trap you against a wall."

"No, it wasn't." She took a deep breath and then let it out. "Anyway, we started a new book today in English. Another not long one. I got yours since you weren't there. Uh . . . I don't know if you're going to like it. The first four parts are kind of boring, even to me."

"Great. Easy to follow though?"

"Yeah, for the most part. It's Frankenstein."

"Oh. Can't I just watch the movie?"

She grinned and nudged his shoulder a bit. "Maybe we can do that too, but you know the movies are almost never the same as the books."

Jessica and Steve ended up reading more than the first four sections, which Steve did find boring – just as Jessica thought he would have. She didn't even know if the letters really had anything to do with the rest of the story yet. It was mostly being used as a plot device so Victor Frankenstein would have an audience to tell his story to.

They continued on through the first five chapters, which basically just outlined Victor Frankenstein's early childhood and his interests – natural sciences and then not so natural sciences, since he ended up making a person out of other people. Victor had only realized the horror of what he'd done after the fact and had basically abandoned his creation.

During his studies – if one could call them that – he had basically isolated himself and let his work become an obsession. He'd had friends, a family, people who cared about him, but they hadn't seemed to matter once he'd started . . . creating.

"I hope we're not quizzed on this," Steve said. "I can't remember all of it."

"Yeah. It doesn't get interesting until the creature comes to life." Jessica shrugged. "There's really not much else, plot wise until then. I don't think there will be a quiz."

"If there is?"

"Uh, then we're both screwed because I have no clue what kind of questions could come out of the first five chapters. I mean, there were only a few main points. They took Elizabeth in when Victor was five. His mom declared she wanted them to marry someday. They become best friends. He meets and befriends a boy named Henry. Victor started studying occult science – alchemy – and then sees lightning in action and realizes alchemy is an outdated science."

She looked at Steve playfully. "Your turn. Summarize."

"Do I have to?"

"Yup."

Steve sighed as if this were the hardest thing he'd ever had to do but eventually started talking.

"Okay, uh . . . Victor's mom died of scarlet fever. Elizabeth had it and the mom was taking care of her, so . . . yeah. Before she died, she said she wanted Elizabeth and Victor to get married. It wasn't too long after that that Victor went to college. He studied anatomy, I think, and pretty much abandoned his family for a few years. He tried to create a person for some reason and he became obsessed with it."

"Okay, good. Just remember he thought he could create something wonderful; that's why he was doing what he was doing."

"He was crazy. Anyway, the night the creature came to life, he realized how horrific it looked and got spooked. But . . . Jess . . . wasn't he using other body parts to make a whole person? What did he expect it to look like?"

"That's a good question." She grinned. "Maybe you should ask the teacher."

"I don't need to know that bad."

"Of course not. Anyway, he meets Henry again, who takes care of him for a while, nurses him back to health or whatever, and then he's given a letter from Elizabeth. The end for now."

She put her book down on the bed and plopped backwards onto the mattress, her head hitting the pillows just right.

"No more reading?"

"No. I can't with that book."

Steve looked at her with false astonishment. "You mean you don't want to know what the letter says?"

"Not that worried about it, to be honest."

Steve put his book down too and then relaxed beside her on the bed. She moved closer so their sides were lined up, touching enough to feel the heat from each other's bodies.

"I'm hungry," she said.

"You didn't eat today," he said.

"You weren't even with me today. How do you know?"

"Well, for one, you were worried and you don't eat when you're worried. Two . . . you look a little pale, but I didn't want to say anything. When did you eat last?"

"Before work yesterday."

"Jess!" he exclaimed as if he were questioning her ability to take care of herself. "That's, like, almost twenty-four hours ago."

"I wasn't hungry until just now."

"Still . . . not good." He sat up. "You want to eat up here or . . . ?"

"Can we go out? I mean, do you feel well enough to? We can call it in and go pick it up, bring it back here, watch a movie maybe."

Steve smiled. "That sounds good. Are you staying the night?"

"I wasn't planning on it, but I'm sure mom won't care since you weren't feeling well yesterday and all – and since your mom's here. We can pick up some of my stuff before getting food."

Jessica called her mom first before they went to pick up some of her stuff. She hadn't wanted to just assume it was okay. She was eighteen, but she was still living in her mom's house. Because Steve's mom was home, her mom didn't care – just as Jessica had suspected she wouldn't – and so she and Steve were now at her house in her room.

She was filling her overnight bag with night clothes and clothes for the next day, along with stuff she needed for a shower.

Steve was on her bed using the phone to call in what they wanted for dinner.

"I want a chocolate milkshake," she said, because it hadn't been part of her original order.

"For your fries, I know," Steve said. "Still gross."

She shrugged and grinned his way. He'd always said that, but he'd never tried it. It was his loss.

Once the order was put through, they hung out in her room for about ten minutes because the diner had said to pick up in twenty.

"Did the doctor clear you to drive again? For in the morning? Or do I need to take you?"

"I can drive," he said. "Besides, you have to work, so I don't want you to have to rush to take me back home so you can come here and get ready."

She smiled, loving the fact that he was always thinking of ways to make her life easier.

"Well, I could've taken my work clothes with me, but that works too."

"Hm." Steve grinned and leaned forward so he could speak quietly. "So . . . since we both have to shower tonight, can we maybe shower together?"

His breath had tickled her cheek and her neck. It had her laughing and scrunching up her shoulders to fight the sensation.

"You know, you have had a one-track mind lately," she teased. "What's up with that?"

"I'm sorry, we just haven't been able to be together for a month."

"Oh, poor baby."

She knew what he meant, though. It was true that she didn't really think about sex all that much unless they were actually having it or planning on having it, but she couldn't deny that she missed the intimacy of it as well. She would almost never say no if Steve initiated because she liked the way it felt too.

"We'll see. It depends on where your mom is."

They had fooled around a few times even when his parents were in the house because his parents never searched them out, not like her mom would – or even like Dustin would.

"I have a condition, though."

"Really?" Steve asked, hesitant because she'd never put a condition on their physical life before.

"Yes. Because of your head injury . . . you have to tell me if you start to feel weird if we do something. Okay?"

"I should be fine. I mean, unless you're thinking of adding shoving me around to the list of things we do together."

"Steve!" Although she did shove his shoulder for that remark. "No. But . . . promise."

"I promise. I don't want to be in pain any more than you want to cause me pain. Okay?"

"Okay." She leaned towards him and placed a soft kiss on his cheek before moving to place one on his mouth. "You know me giving you a hard time about this is only because I don't want you to hurt yourself, right? It has nothing to do with me not . . . wanting to."

"I know that. You wanting me has never been a problem," he said, lightly teasing with his words.

She laughed and nudged him with her elbow. "A'right, Mr. We-should-shower-together. Watch it."

"Okay, okay."

She kissed his cheek again before saying, "Come on, I want my food."

Steve and Jessica read a few more chapters while they were eating that night, and they still thought the book was a little boring and a lot messed up. It was really kind of tragic.

Victor didn't want to tell anyone about his creation because he thought they would think he was insane, which . . . he kind of was, going around creating things out of body parts. His brother was killed, and Victor was certain the creature had done it, but another woman was blamed and executed for it because Victor wouldn't say anything about the creature.

Jessica kind of thought Victor didn't say anything because he didn't want to have to take the blame for what he had done, what he had created.

They watched TV for a little bit after they finished their homework, and Steve's mom was in bed by ten that night. They gave her about thirty minutes to settle in and get to sleep before they made their way upstairs and to the bathroom.

Steve was obviously going to get his way.

Despite the fact that it had been a while since they'd been able to be with each other this way neither of them felt rushed. In fact, they got sort of giggly once they were under the spray of the water and able to touch each other.

They started off with kissing and then she rubbed his back, massaging as she washed his skin. He let out a few satisfied moans that had almost nothing to do with arousal even though it felt good just the same.

It wasn't until she ran her teeth over his shoulder to nibble a bit that things took a turn to the more physically intimate. They liked washing each other's body and hair before getting to other things, because that was a whole other type of intimacy they enjoyed.

"You, uh, think we can be quiet enough if we close your bedroom door?" she asked softly, before reaching around to rub his lower abdomen, smiling when his muscles twitched and he began breathing more heavily.

He covered his hand with hers. "I think we can definitely work something out."

"Good."