Chapter 16: On the Road Again-Jess

(This chapter is written from Jess' point of view)

"Jess. Jess. Wake up..." I heard, a hand shaking one of my shoulders. I sighed in protest, but opened my eyes to see Dave looking down at me. I smiled, and rolled out of the too-comfortable bed, stretching. I saw Dave smile at the sight of my naked body, and I grinned at him.

"What time is it, bro?" I asked.

"It's 1:30 or so, we've gotten about six hours of sleep," replied Missy, who had also come into the room. "We need to get packed up Jess, the ferry boards at 3,"

I sighed again. Missy was fully dressed, wearing a cute pair of khaki shorts and a white tank top, she looked about 16. Sometimes I felt a little jealous at her ability to look so young and innocent. Missy started to pick up the clothes that were lying all over the floor of my room, and started folding them, and laying them on the bed. She was so organized too! I shook off my lethargy and began putting stuff away as well. Dave had said we were supposed to be traveling light, so I only had two soft-sided bags. I hated leaving all those things back at the manor, but there was a maid Roseanne that seemed to be fairly sensible, and I would have her send bags of things that I needed to some of our destinations. Dave had set a pretty good schedule of where we were to be in the next couple weeks so it wouldn't be too bad.

Where were we going today? Oh, right. Barcelona. That was one of the few places In Europe that I had been before. I had played in the school orchestra in high school and we'd gone there to play at a music festival for the Olympics. We finished getting my bags together, and I ran to the bathroom for a quick shower. The bags would be sent ahead to Barcelona, so we didn't have to carry them all on the ferry.

I started the shower, then looked at myself in the full length mirror while I waited for the water to warm up. Hmm, I guess I still look pretty good. I patted my stomach briefly. It was still nice and flat, but I missed the six-pack abs that I used to have in high school after strenuous workouts with the dance team. "Jess, you need to get in the gym with Dave and Missy, girl." I thought to myself. I was getting pretty tan from all the sun on this trip. My natural skin tone is kind of a light golden color. My mother is very pale and burns in the sun quite easily, while my dad is a dark golden color. He doesn't get too much sun, but in pictures that I've seen from his military service days, his skin was almost a brown color after long tours in the hot sun. Two weeks of sun had made my skin a golden bronze color, and I liked it.

The shower was ready and I stepped under the soothing spray from the two large shower heads. Last night had been quite long, but fun. The Austrians were a fun bunch, and they definitely knew how to have a good time, even if they couldn't hold their liquor too well. I snickered. My thoughts turned to my brother, as they had been for the past several weeks. Dave was changing, and in a good way. He was reverting to the way he was before it all happened.

I paused my thoughts and started shampooing my long hair. My hair is one of my best features, I think, and I try to take good care of it. It's sort of in between dark blond and light brown, but very shiny. Most girls dye their hair, at least in some point in their life, but I've never done it. I just haven't felt a need to change. My hair is very fine, and it gets natural highlights in the sun. Right now, its streaked with light blond, and that's just from the sun over the last two weeks. I rinsed the shampoo from my hair and applied conditioner, resuming my reverie while I was waiting for the conditioner to take effect.

I gathered my thoughts. Dave was the first man I've ever fallen in love with, and now that I'm thinking clearly about my last relationship, the only man. I know a lot of girls are secretly in love with their fathers, but that wasn't something that I experienced. I love my dad, but I would have to say that I am quite a bit closer to my mom. However close I am with my parents, its nothing compared to my closeness with Dave. I mean, we are twins, and shared most of the first eighteen years of our lives at each others' sides. I definitely regretted the time we spent apart, emotionally the last two years of high school, and physically for our four college years, but pushed those thoughts away. "No regrets, right Jess?" I asked myself.

It was time to wash out the conditioner, and I quickly treated my sponge with bath gel and soaped myself up, rinsing quickly. We had a ferry to catch after all. Anyways, I was happy with how things were going. What a trip so far! I hadn't ever been to London or Ibiza before, and it was all new to me!

I quickly pulled on a black thong and bra and a denim miniskirt and tank top. I figured I should just dress simply, we were traveling right? I stepped into my flip-flops and hurried after Dave and Missy, who were already at the door, impatiently waiting to leave. We made it to the ferry just five minutes before it was about to leave, and it headed away from Ibiza town towards Mallorca. I looked at the receding form of Ibiza somewhat wistfully. What a wonderful place!

Dave was looking towards Ibiza as well. Missy was very close to him, her head just barely leaning against his shoulder, and she was also looking at the island. All of them had calm expressions on the face, but I could tell they had a lot of fun there as well.

"So Dave, when we come back here before we leave Europe, are we going to hit Space?" I asked. Dave perked up.

"Of course babe, you know how we love Oakenfold. He's in the US right now, but apparently he'll be back in Ibiza in August," replied Dave.

Missy looked up, happily. I knew my brother played all sorts of electronic music in his house, and she must know Paul Oakenfold quite well by now. I guess he's supposed to be one of the most famous DJs in the world now, but we got to know him through some of his tracks at the raves that Dave and I used to sneak out of the house to go to, back in high school. I sighed, those were fun times!

"Dave and I saw Oakenfold play in Las Vegas once in the House of Blues," Missy said, and I thought that sounded like a fun time. Las Vegas was pretty accessible to Orange County, only about 3.5 hours drive, and I knew Dave went there fairly often.

We relaxed on the deck, feeling the nice sea breeze and enjoying the afternoon sun. Dave went into the cabin to get us some drinks, and brought us three bottles of Orangina. My eyes lit up, as I loved that stuff.

"Every time I drink this in the US, it reminds me of Europe," said Missy, eagerly sipping her Orangina. "It reminds me of summer afternoons under an umbrella in Paris."

I nodded. The few days that I'd spent in Paris on my one trip to Europe were some of the most enjoyable ones that I had experienced.

Dave demurred slightly. "I like Paris a lot, it has great food, nice museums, and I have fun when I'm there, I guess it's just not my favorite city like it appears to be for you guys,"

I looked at my brother and calmly stated, "That's because you're not a girl, Dave," Missy nodded. "Paris is a city of romance, and mystery, and it can make all things seem possible, when two people are in love," I said.

Missy looked up and added, "I completely agree. I mean, I have never been in love in Paris but whenever I'm there, it feels like a special place to me, like my feelings and emotions are more powerful than usual, and the backdrop of spectacular scenery just makes it that much more special when you're in love. Symbolism is very powerful and helps memories last longer,"

Dave shrugged. "Maybe I haven't been there in the right circumstances then," and we agreed with that sentiment.

I was getting a little hungry, as we hadn't eaten in nearly twenty hours, and walked inside the ferry towards the snack bar. Missy followed. "Hey girl, how are you doing?" I asked.

"Great, Jess!" she bubbled. I turned to look at her, and her eyes were dreamy. I shook my head slightly, and gave her a quick hug.

"You got it bad, huh?" I said.

"Huh, what?" she turned, looking a bit confused, her eyes still a bit wistful.

"Never mind." I said, turning back to the snack bar. She would have to figure this out on her own.

I grabbed some sandwiches from the snack bar, along with a few more bottles of Orangina, and headed back outside, Missy in tow. She grabbed my arm and looked at me with a serious expression. "What did you mean earlier, Jess?"

I sighed, "It's obvious you're in love with my brother, Missy."

She looked down, "Well yes, I love him, I'm not sure what to do though!" She looked like she was going to burst into tears. I hugged her again.

"It's ok babe, just do what you've been doing, take things slow, everything will be alright," I said, stroking her hair. I gave her a quick kiss, which didn't draw any attention from the mostly European crowd. "Just be yourself, Missy. You're exactly what Dave needs. A smart, beautiful girl, who loves him for who he is, not what he has,"

Missy looked up at those words, "You think I'm beautiful, Jess?" she asked in a very small voice. I looked surprised at her question.

Now she actually burst into tears and looked like she was going to run away. I set down the bag of food and drinks, and wrapped my arms around her. "Missy!" I said sharply. She stopped struggling and turned to face me. "You're a lovely girl. Dave loves you. What's wrong?"

"I'm so plain compared to you, Jess. I can never match up!" she sobbed. I was shocked.

I looked at her, completely stunned. I knew Missy had some issues with her self-image, but I never imagined that she'd be jealous of me! I'll take a second to describe Missy. She's a slight girl, a bit thinner than myself, with shoulder length light blond hair that is very fine and has a nice healthy shine to it. Her features are very delicate, almost doll like, and she has beautiful huge pale blue eyes that are a conduit directly into her soul. Her hours of daily exercise have made her body visibly firm, yet she is soft to the touch. Missy's midriff was clearly visible under her white tank top, and her abdominal muscles rippled slightly as another sob wracked through her body.

Her breasts aren't overly large, but perfectly proportioned to her body, and they are totally flawless from the quick glances that I've managed to get of them. She had a very slender waist, which tapered to slim, but womanly hips, and her long, coltish legs and firm butt couldn't have been better if they'd been carved by Michelangelo, and at 5'9" she was as tall as I was. If I were going to come up with a description of what I thought would be a perfect example of feminine beauty, Missy certainly wouldn't be far from my ideal.