Shades of Errol Flynn - Chapter Six

A new chapter of this draft serial will be posted every Wednesday. Your comments are always welcome!

Prologue~Ch. 1~Ch. 2~Ch. 3~Ch. 4~Ch. 5~

Jessica stared at herself in the full length mirror and made another vain attempt at stretching the bottom of her dress downwards. Trust me, Ellen had said. Granted the emerald green was her colour, but the dress was altogether too tight, too short and much too expensive.

“You want me to send the Navy in after you?” Ellen called.

Jessica grimaced one last time into the mirror and opened the bathroom door. “That won’t be necessary.”

“You look great,” Ellen pronounced. “Should I wear boots or shoes with this outfit?”

Jessica eyed her critically. Ellen was wearing a black leather mini skirt and a filmy white silk blouse with a black leather vest overtop to cover all the strategic places.

“I have a feeling I’m going to regret this,” Jessica said.

“Come on,” Ellen took her arm and pulled her towards the door. “I told Ben we’d meet him at Barney’s at eight.”

“Let me guess,” Jessica said, as Ellen wove her Honda Civic through the Friday night traffic. “Ben just happens to have a friend that’s in town for the weekend and wouldn’t have time for you at all unless you could come up with a friend.”

“It’s a cousin, actually,” Ellen admitted. “And it’s not as if Ben didn’t want to see me, he just has a strong sense of family obligation.”

“For this I went into debt over a new dress?”

“The dress wasn’t for Ben’s cousin, it was for you. I though having a few heads turn your way might cheer you up.”

“Who says I need cheering up?”

“I do. You’ve been down in the dumps for weeks now. And the message from Sandra didn’t help any.”

“I know,” Jessica sighed. “I guess some old memories are just harder to shake than others. I’ll open the box tomorrow.”

Ellen glanced at Jessica. “Hey, no long faces. We’re the party girls tonight and we’re going to have fun even if it kills us.”

“It just might,” Jessica muttered.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

This was, Jessica decided later that night, just what she needed. Either that or the five Barney Specials she’d had.

Ben’s cousin, Kevin, was good looking in a bookish sort of way and he was a great dancer, which made up for the fact that he spent most of the night talking about his girlfriend.

There was a country trio playing on the little stage to one side of the dance floor. Not Jessica’s favorite type of music, but it seemed to fit her mood tonight.

She watched Ellen and Ben dancing a slow dance and wondered if things were getting serious. Ellen changed boyfriends as often as she changed her taste in clothes, but Ben had been around for weeks now.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Jessica O’Connell.”

Jessica stiffened at the sound of the voice. She thought she’d gotten rid of Daniel Paxson months ago.

They’d met at the florist shop when he’d come to do some minor repair work. After a couple of dates, Jessica told him she didn’t think it was going to work, they were too different. She thought she’d let him down easy, but he had other ideas.

He began showing up at her place after work, usually drunk. He phoned at all hours until she and Ellen had their phone number changed, twice. It wasn’t until she threatened him with a restraining order that he finally left her alone.

“You’re drunk, Daniel.

“Yeah? Well I wanna know what you’re doing here with pencil neck, when you coulda been with me.”

Jessica swivelled around to face him. “I think you’d better leave before you cause a scene.”

“Oh, you do, do you?” He grabbed her arm and lifted her out of the chair. “Well I want a dance first.”

Jessica grabbed the almost full pitcher of beer Ben and Kevin had been sharing and dumped it over Daniel’s head. He roared with anger and pulled back his fist to hit her. Fortunately, Jimmy the bouncer intercepted it.

“Trouble?” he asked Jessica. Jimmy was six four and built like a truck. He was also a friend.

“I think he was just leaving,” Jessica said.

Daniel mumbled under his breath, but left without any further trouble. He’d tangled with Jimmy before and didn’t care to again.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

“I’m sorry I ruined the evening,” Jessica said when she and Ellen got home.

“Are you kidding? You should have seen Daniel’s face.”

“God, I hope this doesn’t mean he’s going to start up again.”

“If he does,” Ellen said grimly, “I’ll just have my brothers have a talk with him.”

Jessica grinned, “How many of them?”

“At least three. How did you and Kevin get along?” She looked at Jessica expectantly.

“We got along just fine. Did you know he’s going for some kind of degree in Agriculture?”

“Really?” Ellen fluffed a pillow with feigned indifference.

Jessica nodded, a devilish gleam in her eye. “So’s his girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend! You’re kidding!”

“Oh, Ellen. The look on your face,” she laughed as Ellen threw the pillow at her. “Did you really expect love at first sight?”

“It had crossed my mind,” Ellen admitted, flopped down on the couch. She kicked off her shoes and began massaging her feet.

“Wishful thinking. Brought on, I suspect, by present circumstances. Just how serious are things between you and Ben?”

Ellen snorted, “Too serious. But don’t worry, it’s mostly one sided.”

“Well, just handle him like you do all the others and everything will work out fine. I think it’s admirable how you stay friends with all the guys you dump.”

“Well I’ve got a news flash for you. It isn’t Ben who’s serious, it’s me.”

“What?” Jessica plunked herself down in a chair.

“You heard me,” Ellen admitted glumly. “I finally get serious about a guy and he wants to keep things easy going.”

“Tell you what,” Jessica said. “To take your mind off your troubles you can help me with my mystery box tomorrow.”

Ellen brightened. “I forgot about it. Why don’t we do it right now?”

Jessica yawned. “You’re just like a kid.”

“One of my more endearing qualities, so I’ve been told. Aren’t you the least bit excited about it? I can’t believe you still haven’t opened it. Just think of the possibilities.”

“I have thought about the possibilities,” Jessica said slowly. “And a shiver goes down my spine every time I do.”