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“It’s okay, Elliott. I would never do anything to Jules.” He smoothly mumbled something into a cough but I didn’t catch it.
“Well, that may be true,” I said, skeptical, “but I’m not comfortable with it.”
Jules laughed roughly. The table got eerily quiet as Jesse and I stared each other down.
I’m not sure what had gotten into Jesse lately. I was starting to seriously wonder about his current state of mental health. For the past few weeks, I’d catch him staring at Jules but not in such a way that made me think he wanted her, at least not in the way most teenage boys wanted her. No, he looked at her with possessiveness and always a strange, dark look.
“Cappelli, you rock my world dude!” Greg suddenly said to the table, probably trying to break the unexpected tension that emanated from Jesse.
The conversation took off at a hundred miles per hour, none of us remembering the outcome of the game until that moment. Everyone told the same story in their own words mentioning things they noticed or didn’t notice, all agreeing, except an eerily quiet Jesse, that Jules was hilarious.
On our way home, Jules sat with her forehead against her window. We were both pretty tired and didn’t talk for a minute or two. I could tell that Jules had something on her mind from the pinch in her forehead, so I asked for her thoughts.
“What are you thinkin’ about babe?”
“About Jesse,” she said sadly.
“What about him?” I shifted in annoyance. He was the last thing I wanted her thinking about. I was hoping she’d let the movie idea go.
“For a long time I thought Jesse felt that I would steal his time with you from him, but after all the effort I’ve made to make sure he was always included, he still always acts so coldly towards me. That’s why I was sort of surprised he made such an effort to want to get to know me. No, I was flabbergasted.”
“I know what you mean. Jules,” I paused, “I don’t particularly like the way he gets to know girls and I don’t have a good feeling about his movie invite. God, he was acting so weird tonight.”
“Yeah, he is sort of strange, but I think that I should do it anyway.”
“I don’t think so Jules! Do you have any sense of self preservation? It’s one thing to hang out with him with me but I’ve not been able to get a grasp on him lately. He’s changing.”
“Elliott, you said yourself that I should get to know him better.”
“Yeah, around me!” I repeated.
“Well, maybe he feels like he can’t be himself without you around. You are pretty intimidating.”
“No! No way!”
“Come on Elliott! He won’t try anything. He knows that I’d tell you if he did anything weird.”
I let out a deep breath.
“Fine.” Seriously, what’s the worst that can happen? “But let me just go on record as saying that I don’t like this at all.”
That Saturday night, I sat at Jules’ house waiting for another dude to take her to a movie. I felt like a complete and utter tool.
“This is just too weird Jules. My gut is telling me this is a bad idea.”
“Oh, Elliott. We’ve already been through all of this. It’ll be fine. I promise you. He’s making an effort.”
“Yeah, but what kind of effort?”
I heard the roar of Jesse’s engine come to a halt.
“He’s here.”
The door bell rang.
“Wanna’ get that?” She asked, applying lipstick in her vanity mirror.
“What are you doing that for Jules! You don’t need to impress Jesse!”
