Chapter 39: Schedules and Clues

Friday, November 1, 1985

Today was a much calmer day. All of the girls came by at various times, but they were back in their classes. Jas dropped off a bunch of homework, and Angie dropped off a bunch more. Word was that my professors were generally sympathetic (that, or university policy forced them to be) but didn’t want me getting behind. That was fine — I didn’t want to get behind, either.

This had been much worse in junior high, both because I was out longer and because I wasn’t as on top of my classwork as I was here. Some of my grades that semester were definitely pity grades, and I had always suspected that it had really messed up my Spanish progress.

Perhaps that was partially why I’d done better in this life, though I doubted it. Still, it had never been clear how much of what I knew at the start of my freshman year in high school came from my first life and how much was retained from pre-’me’ second-life Steve. I would almost certainly never know the answer to that.

I had quite a few get well cards already. The girls had each gotten me one, as had Claire, Lindsay, Darla, and Amy. I also had a few from people in the various study groups.

Mom and Dad came by around noon, double-checked that I was still doing well, and then left for Houston. They were a bit emotional, which I expected, but they were also fine.

I got up several times under medical supervision. They had me sit in a chair for a few hours, which felt good. My IV stopped working mid-afternoon, so they started a new one. Never fun, but hopefully we wouldn’t have to do that too many times.

My temperature never got above 99 degrees, thankfully. It would still be a few days until they tried withdrawing the antibiotics, but at least I was in no danger at the moment.

Darla came by in the early evening.

“Hey, Steve!” she said.

“Hi, Darla!” I said. “It’s good to see you.”

She gave me a quick hug, which I returned as much as I could, and a kiss.

“It’s good to see you, too! I was worried!”

“Me tough! Me can take it!”

She giggled a bit.

“No one can take acute appendicitis without some help.”

“True enough. Fortunately, I have good help.”

“Fortunately!”

“Sadly, I’ll have to put off our date,” I said.

She chuckled just a bit and said, “What? Sitting watching the hospital TV isn’t a good date?”

“It’s not on my top ten date ideas list. Or my top one hundred. Heck, I’m not even cleared for the cafeteria food yet!”

She giggled.

“Yeah, not my favorite date idea either. We’ll be fine.”

“We will.”

Darla hung out for a bit, chatting about classes and other little things. She checked a few times to make sure I wasn’t in any particularly bad pain — I wasn’t — and then left to head back to her dorm.

Just after Darla left, the phone rang. I was actually a bit surprised by it, since it hadn’t rung this far.

“Hello?” I said, picking it up.

“Steve!” Jess said.

“Jess!”

“Jasmine called and told me. Are you okay?”

“I’m doing fairly well,” I said. “Some pain, but it’s minor. I’m not having to take anything. I mean, except for the antibiotics, and those are intravenous.”

“Sounds awful, but ... also good?”

“It’s good.”

“So, I was meaning to call anyway, before you added a reason. And I already told Jasmine, so I think it’s marked on your calendar.”

“Oh?”

“My two episodes of ‘St. Elsewhere’ are airing December 4th and 11th. I’m ... well. Laura and I compared notes. With that, and what I know of the episodes, we think these are ‘new.’ Like, didn’t happen in her first life. So they probably didn’t happen in yours, either.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said. “Nor would Angie, I’m pretty sure.”

“I actually got to talk with the writers more than I think some people would, and we ... it’s a good storyline. But a lot of it was me...”

She paused, then said, “I don’t mean I made it good! The writers are amazing! But it’s not an idea they had, it’s one we put together. They pitched it to the producers, who loved it. I might come back later, unless it gets lousy reviews or something. Just once more, but ... I’m pretty thrilled, anyway!”

“I’m thrilled for you!”

“Switching subjects: I hear you might be in California this winter,” she said, sounding a bit excited.

“This is where I say I meant to call,” I said.

“Oh?”

“So ... our plans changed. A lot. I’m not going to explain all of the ins and outs, but we’re going to Hawaii just after Christmas, then flying back to LA at New Year’s. In theory, that’s to go to Disneyland, and we are going to do that, but — and this is a big secret from certain people...”

She giggled a bit at that.

“ ... the parents are coming out and we’re all meeting at the Rose Parade.”

“That’s amazing!” she said.

“We want you to go if you can.”

“I don’t know what my schedule is. I might, but ... if not, I’ll be back in early January, anyway. You can get enough tickets if I’m there?”

“We can,” I said. “Not inexpensively, but ... yeah. That’s already taken care of.”

“Oh, this will be so much fun, either way! Admittedly, not as much fun as if I could get you away from your parents...”

“There will definitely be times.”

“Yay! That’s something I was hoping to hear. And you’ll be...?” she said, giggling a bit.

“I don’t think I’ll have to refrain that long. If I do...”

“Jasmine will be a very grumpy girl.”

“I’d say so, yes.”

She giggled some more, then said, “Laura knows, by the way. I think she’s going to call, but she said to tell you that it’s lucky this waited so your appendectomy scar ploy worked.”

“I’m just glad she bought that long enough to calm down and listen to me.”

“We all are! The world would be a much poorer place if she was still at your throat!”

“Tell me about it! I’m just glad ... well. Imagine if she’d been some awful person,” I said.

“Yuck! I think ... I hope ... having the experience you all had would give you some perspective.”

“We don’t know,” I said. “Angie and I agree: if we hadn’t made the right decisions, we could have been horrible people but convinced we were awesome.”

“Thank God you weren’t!”

“It’s made all the difference.”

“It definitely has for me,” she said, sighing a bit. “I don’t see my life being ... this ... without you. Not that I’d be some failure or anything, but this is ... just ... it’s more. It’s better. I mean, it goes to 11 now!”

I chuckled, then said, “I’m very glad of that.”

“Me, too! And ... well. I should let you go. You need to rest and I need to get some dinner.”

“Have a good dinner. I love you, friend.”

She paused, just a second, and then said, “I love you, too, friend!”

We hung up, and I considered that. Were we still just ‘friend’ to each other? Or had things progressed to the point where we were more than friends while still not ‘partners?’

The words might not change, even then, but it felt like the meaning had. Or was, or — if it hadn’t — could. Long gone were the days where Jess might have considered making a run at me under any circumstances. And the days where my secondary relationships needed expiration dates were also in the past, I was pretty sure.

Jas and I needed to talk. I was nearly certain we were on the same page, but ‘nearly certain’ wouldn’t cut it for something like this. The odds were ever increasing that Jess might be a long-term part of my life (and Jas’s life, of course).

Of course, Jess might meet Mr. Right, and Mr. Right might not be willing to share. That was entirely possible. We would go back to being ‘friend’ in that case, and friends without benefits. I wasn’t sure it would change how we felt in our hearts, but it would certainly change how we behaved physically.

Reality might also rear its ugly head. Jess would hopefully be living her life in the limelight. I might, too, in a different way. Getting caught out by paparazzi would be fine for us, but it would bother Mom and Dad, and explaining the situation would also bother Mom and Dad.

Yet ... I wasn’t living my life for Mom and Dad. They would be able to handle it, in the end, and that would be what mattered. Their feelings about Jas and me having an open marriage couldn’t control my life.

It had to be on the list of things to talk to them about one day, at least hypothetically. Still, I was much more sanguine about the thought of telling them we were all rich and quickly getting richer than I was about telling them that Jas and I sometimes saw other people and would continue to do so.

It might come up naturally, though. We were hardly going to have ‘forsaking all others’ in our wedding vows, and that — by its conspicuous absence — might prompt some questions that would lead to an awkward conversation.

We would see. At least we had the luxury of time for now. Jess wasn’t yet where the paparazzi would follow her every move. The days might be numbered until she was, but there were days enough to let us prepare.

Saturday, November 2, 1985