Jessica’s Problem

     They could tell she was drunk because she kept repeating, “I want my baby. I want my baby,” over and over again. No one knew why Jessica kept repeating that same phrase when she was drunk. It was only that phrase that she repeated. No one knew what she was talking about except one day when Geoff stopped by the bar to find out where his dad was. That’s when he saw Jessica sitting at the bar. He couldn’t believe that she would actually start drinking again. He helped her stop last time, maybe he can help her stop this time.

     He walked over to her at the bar and sat down next to her. “Hey, girl. How are you doing?” he asked her.

     “Me?” she asked in a drunken tone as she looked at him and pointed at herself.

     “Yeah, you, Jessica. You‘re the only girl at this bar, over here anyways.” He waved his hand across the bar and then pointed at her. “How are you doing?”

     “I’m okay, I guess,” she responded back. “Who are you?”

     “I’m Geoff,” he told her.

     “Geoff who?” she asked, puzzled.

     “Geoff Seay,” he said. “Geoffrey. You know. Your ex-boyfriend.”

     “I have an ex-boyfriend?” She asked him, still puzzled.

     “Yes, you do, girl. You have quite a few ex-boyfriends,” he told her, now puzzled.

     “So, why are talking to me now?” she asked him, still drunk.

     “I’m talking to you because you have been worrying your friends,” he told her straight up.

     “I have friends?”

     “Of course you do, Jessica,” he said, trying to comfort her. “Everybody has friends.”

     “Yeah, right.” She laughed to herself. “If everybody has friends, then where are yours? And mine?”

     “Mine are at their houses, doing other stuff. Yours are at their houses, worrying about you.”

     “So, why do you care so much about me?”

     “Because, I still care about you. I may or may not love you, but I still care about you. Jessie, you have a problem.” There, he finally said what he was thinking, sort of.

     “Ha, ha! No body cares about me. And I do not have a problem!” She threw herself at him, as if trying to start a fight. But she was too drunk and just fell on him.

     “Jessie, I know the baby you always talk about,” he said so sincere that even she sobered up a little at that.

     “You know about the baby?” she sounded like she thought no one else knew. She pushed herself up off him, but wasn’t strong enough to get all the way off of him. She did look at him in the face, with a puzzled look on her face.

     “Of course I know, girl.” He gave her a quick hug and let her sit down next to him. He wrapped his jacket and arm around her.

     “How do you know, um, what’s your name again?”

     “The name is Geoff, and I know because I was the father. Don’t you remember anything about us?”

     “I’m sorry, Geoff, but I don’t remember anything. I just remember the day I found out and the day that I lost my baby.” She started crying.

     “Two coffees, please,” Geoff asked the bartender as he walked over to them. “It’s okay, girl. Do you remember the date you found out you were pregnant?”

     “Yeah, why?” she looked up at him when the bartender gave them the coffees.

     “Thanks,” Geoff told the bartender. “I want to know because I’ll prove something to you.”

     “Okay, it was March 27. I figured I was almost 3 months along because I was starting to show.”

     “Okay, and do you remember who you had slept with during the prior 3 months?” he asked her, curious if she remembered.

     “I know John tried to sleep with me but couldn’t because he was a bastard and was pressuring me. Did I sleep with you?”

     “Girl, if I had known that sleeping with you would get you pregnant, I would have never broken up with you.” He put his head down, as if in shame.

     “Did we or did we not sleep together?” She looked up at him, wondering what the true truth was.

     “Girl, I’m very sorry to say this but I broke up with you shortly after. If only you had told me earlier.”

     She was getting impatient by now. “Did we or did we not have sexual intercourse?!” She finally exploded.

     “We did,” he said simply.

     She just couldn’t believe it. She had slept with this man and didn’t remember it. She was just too stunned. Her brown eyes went even more spacey than usual. She sobered up then. That’s when she really took a look at him for real. His dirty blond hair was a marine hair cut but had grown longer now, which looks better to her. His blue eyes sparkled down at her. His jacket was really big on her and he wasn’t exactly small himself.

     She looked down at herself and saw a small girl that was lonely on the inside and only showed it on the outside when she was drunk. Her brown hair was getting stringy now because of the lack of washing and brushing and her skin was turning pale from the lack of sun.

     “How could I not remember this?” she asked no one in particular.

     “Because,” he answered, “you didn’t expect it and because I was your first and you don’t always remember your first. And, you looked so beautiful that night. I still can’t believe you don’t remember.”

     “I’ll try to remember soon.” She took the coffee and took another drink.

     “Okay, girl, whatever you want to do.”

     “Thanks for helping, Geoff.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

     “Anything for you, baby girl.” He bent over to her ear and gave a quick kiss. “I do have a little secret that only you will know.”

     “What is it, Geoffrey?” she asked, puzzled.

     “I do still love you, but I can’t take you back because Mike won’t let me,” he whispered in her ear. “He says I deserve somebody better than you. He never knew about the baby. I never told him. I do still want you.”

     “I love you, and I still want you, babe, but I still have a question or two for you,” she told him. “If you broke up with me and I don’t remember talking to you after that, how did you know I was pregnant? And how did you know it was yours?”

     “I knew you were gonna ask eventually.” He sighed. “I knew you were pregnant because I was watching for it. We didn’t use protection and I wanted to make sure everyday that you weren’t pregnant. That’s why you probably noticed that I was looking at you a lot.”

     “Nobody noticed?”

     “Not really. They just thought that I missed you and regret dumping you, which was the truth.”

     “Okay, but how did you know it was gone?”

     “One day, I noticed that you were getting a little big in that area. I kept watching and then I noticed that one day you were flat again and cried myself to sleep that night,” he confessed.

     “How did you know it was yours?” she asked again, catching him off-guard this time.

     “I knew because I asked your friends if you had slept with anybody,” he told her. “They said they weren’t sure. They didn’t even know we slept together. I then asked them if they knew who your other boyfriends were. They told me that you had gone with Yohnny Boy, Ronnie, and Johnny.”

     “How did you know who to ask?” she asked.

     “That’s easy. I asked your sister.”

     “You asked Jennifer?”

     “Yeah, why?”

     “Because the night that me and Yohnny Boy broke up, she slept with him.” She looked down, as if she was the one that was supposed to be shameful.

     “That wasn’t your fault.” He put his arm around her. “I love you anyways, baby girl.”

     “So, did you go to them?” She looked up at him.

     “Yeah, I did.”

     “So, what did they say?” She asked him, puzzled.

     “Let’s see. Yohnny Boy said that he tried to get fresh with you but you said you were scared. That’s why he broke up with you because you wouldn’t give him anything, like he wanted.” He sighed. “Yeah, I know, he’s a jackass. And I’m a dumbass, but that’s another story. Anyways, Ronnie said that he liked you but he thought you were a little too needy and weird for him. It wasn’t because you were his brother’s age, either.” He brought her closer to him. “Don’t worry, girl. I don’t think you’re too needy or weird. I think you’re prefect.”

     “Okay, that explains a lot. But what about Johnny?”

     “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac?” he asked, chuckling.

     She playfully hit him. “No, you idiot.” She started laughing. “Johnny, my ex-boyfriend.” She looked up thoughtfully. “Although, I wish I could date Nny. I can only wish, though. I can only wish.”

     “Heh, heh. He said that he only wanted you because you told him that you weren’t a virgin anymore and that’s why he didn’t break it off with Dee Dee first. He really wanted to be with you but he just wanted you for that. He really didn’t care about you.”

     “What?” she shouted. “What do you mean by he didn’t care about me?”

     “I mean, that, he didn’t really like hearing your problems.”

     She started crying. “I can’t believe he lied to me. That bastard! I’m gonna kill him!” She started to run out the door, but Geoff caught her back.

     “It’s okay, girl.” He sat her back down. “He’s not here, and I’m making sure that he pays back for what he did to you. I’m sorry he did that to you.” He hugged her close and kissed her on the cheek.

     “It’s okay.” She kissed him back. “Thanks. Now, I’m gonna go home and sleep.” She started to walk toward the door, when Geoff called her back.

     “Hey, Jessica!” he yelled. “What were you gonna name it, anyways?”
     She turned back to look at him and walked back over to him. She leaned over and put her face in his and gave him a quick kiss. She sat down on his lap.

     “If it was a boy, I was gonna name it either Geoffrey Molten Jr. or Tony Geoffrey, after my best friend and you. If it was a girl, I was gonna name it Sara Peters, you know, after that serial killer. She was a psycho. I liked her.”

     “I like that, girl. Those are pretty names. That Sara Peters name was pretty weird, but I would have liked it anyways. You know what, girl? How about we get back together?”

     “Really?” Her face lit up.

     “Yeah. So, let me do this more properly. Will you go out with me?” He held her hand, waiting for her answer.

     “Of course, I will. I will go out with you, again. Just don’t break up with me if we do it again. Okay?”

     “Deal.” He kissed her hand. Then he kissed her lips. “I love you. You know, right?”

     “Now I do, Geoff. Thanks for being there for me. I guess I really need you tonight.”

     “I guess that you did. So, do you want me to drop you off at home?”

     “Yeah. That would be wonderful. Thanks.”

     He drove her home in his silver Toyota Corolla. After he dropped her off, he drove back home and went to sleep. He saw her the next day at school and asked if she was feeling any better.

     “Yeah. Why are you asking?”

     “Because I wanted to make sure.”

     “Make sure of what?”

     “Make sure that you were alright after I dropped you off last night. Do you not remember?”

     “Remember what?”

     “Oh, my gawd!” He shouted. ‘What am I gonna do?’ he thought to himself.

     She looked up at him and started laughing. “Of course I’m doing better, babe. Thanks for asking.” She grabbed his hand and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Trust me; I would remember something that important to me.” They started walking toward the high school from the band hall. That way, everybody saw them together, again. That was exactly what the whole school wanted. Geoffrey Seay and Jessica McNally back together. It was just perfect.

     “You had me worried there for a minute. I thought you had forgotten. I’m sorry, girl. I must have underestimated you.”

     “Well, it sort of seems like that, Geoff. But thanks for being there last night. That really helped me.”

     “It helped me, too.” They walked by the prep territory and waved to everybody. Everybody was surprised that they were back together. They could tell that by the looks in everybody faces. When they got to “the territory,” one of Geoff’s good friend’s, Dubba, came over.

     “Are you two going out, again?” he asked them, anxious to know the answer.

     They looked at each other. Geoff answered for them. “What does it look like, Dubba?”

     “I’ve got to tell Ronnie. Man, will he be furious, like how you were when he went out with her.” He ran off to tell Ronnie.

     Jessica turned to Geoff. “What did he mean by you being furious when I was going out with Ronnie?”

     “It was nothing, really.” He backed away from her slowly. “I just told him to not lay a hand on you or I would kick his ass. That’s it. I promise.”

     She sighed. “I guess that would be appropriate after what we did. Do any of your friends know we slept together?”

     “Not that I’m aware of. Why?”

     “I just wanted to make sure. None of my friends know about what we did.”

     “I know. Remember, I asked them about who you had slept with. They weren’t sure. They weren’t even sure about us.”

     “My friends are weird, aren’t they?” She sort of chuckled. “But you know what?”

     “What, baby girl?”

     “I love you.”

     He picked her up. “I love you, too, girl.” He kissed her again.

     Everybody around them was so happy for them because they seemed such a perfect couple. He was big, and she was small. She had her brown hair which looked a lot healthy today then it did last night because she actually washed and brushed it. He had his blond hair that he promised not to cut until she wanted him too.

     Everything was good. They went out for another 3½ months. They did it again, and this time she didn’t get pregnant. They were lucky. He graduated from high school soon after that. And asked her to marry him. They got married when she turned 18. She never left, but she did still get drunk every now and then. She didn’t keep repeating “I want my baby. I want my baby,” again. She always got drunk when Geoff was near to help her. They did eventually have their Geoffrey Molten Jr., Tony Geoffrey, Sara Peters, and they also had a few other kids. They had 11 kids together. She didn’t mind raising them all because he would always come straight home after work. She never once touched the liquor bottle after their first born was born. She was sober ever since that day. She still is.