Chapter 9

***Because of this past delay in posting, me and Vicki decided to surprise you all with an extra post this week. Hopefully from here on out it'll be more of a weekly basis thing. As always enjoy and please let us know how we're doing!***

The next morning Jasmine was still waiting at 9.30am and was starting to get irritated. She couldn’t stand lateness and the fact that Richie’s lateness was going to make her late was niggling at her. She heard the car door close outside and hauled open the front door to her apartment.

“What time do you call this Rock Star?” she growled, hands on hips, staring at him. ‘Man he looks good,’ she thought, ‘stay angry stay angry for Pete’s sake stay angry.’ She told herself but was losing the battle.

“I’m so sorry Jas, the alarm didn’t go off. If it wasn’t for Jon calling me for some stupid interview request, I’d still be asleep.” He took off his sunglasses and she could see by the expression of his face that he really was sorry. 

“No matter. Come on or we’ll be late.”

The drive to Jersey City was uneventful despite the rain coming down suddenly and so fast that it became almost impossible to see more than a few feet in front of the car. They arrived at the house, a modest 2 bedroom affair in a reasonable neighborhood, just before 10am. Jasmine breathed a sigh of relief that they had not been late. The agent showed them into the house and let them have a walk around before telling them about the property. Richie stayed quiet, instead observing Jasmine as she moved through the house. It seemed that she was looking in every possible corner of the place, and he could imagine her mind whirring. 

Jasmine had an uneasy feeling about the house as soon as she stepped into the hallway from the front porch. It wasn’t that the house was falling down or that it didn’t fit her needs, it did, but there was just something missing. She couldn’t describe it and she tried to suppress the feeling as she looked around; the downstairs rooms were airy and spacious, the kitchen was perfect and it had sliding doors that led out to the small garden with a shed at the bottom. Upstairs the uneasy feeling became more pronounced, the master bedroom was shabby and a lot smaller than she had imagined, and the bathroom was in need of a total repair job. It was a pale sage color and looked like something that should have stayed in the 1970s. The floorboards creaked as they walked from room to room and there was a stale smell. 

She listened to the agent and nodded in all the right places, willing Richie to say something so that she didn’t have to. When the agent had finished they walked out into the garden to see what it had to offer,

“Well, what do you think?” Richie asked Jasmine, who was walking along the perimeter of the garden.

“It’s not me. I don’t know why but I don’t think I’d be able to settle here. There’s something not quite right about this place.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. You know when you walk into a room and you instantly feel at peace, calm?”

Richie nodded,

“Well I just didn’t get that here. When I went to your house last weekend and you showed me into the den I felt at home instantly, but I just didn’t get that here. I don’t suppose your house is for sale?”

Richie chuckled and pulled her closer, “It is most definitely not for sale darlin’, but you’re welcome there whenever you want. I guess we should put that poor guy out of his misery and head home. What do you say?”

“I say you’re right. We have time to grab a bit of lunch before the next house, or I could make something when we’re done.”

Richie thought about it for a moment, then his stomach made the decision for him, as it grumbled from beneath his sweater.

“I guess that’s the decision made then, I know a great place on the way home. Come on.”

They thanked the agent then piled back into the car and headed back towards Middletown. After a quick lunch of the juiciest burgers that Jasmine had ever tasted and a few cups of coffee they were on their way to the next house. This house was the one she had been admiring when she thought she had seen her father in town only yesterday. The wrap around balcony was more beautiful than the pictures showed, and there was a swing seat in one corner, to the left of the front door. Jasmine smiled, the place already seemed homely, and she could imagine herself swinging in the seat reading a book on an early warm evening in the summer. 

They walked into the hall and the sun shone from the front door and illuminated the hallway all the way through to the room at the end, which she imagined would be the kitchen. The room to her left was about the same size as Richie’s and had a bay window to the front, which, at this time of day, bathed the room in light.

Richie regarded Jasmine with curiosity. He could see that she was more enamored with this house than she had been with the previous one, and it warmed his heart that she would be closer to him. He took in his surroundings and liked what he saw. The house was much like his own, apart from the garden, which was a little smaller, and there only being 3 bedrooms instead of his 5. Jasmine’s body was pulled up tall as she explored the house and her body language was more positive.

“So?” he asked.

“I love it. The den is perfect for chilling out, the kitchen is wonderful and have you seen the bay window in the master bedroom?”

“Uh, yeah, I have that in my own room.” He smiled.

After fifteen or so minutes more they thanked the agent and Jasmine told him she was interested and would be in touch in the morning. Richie dropped Jasmine back at her apartment then headed home to catch up on the sleep he hadn’t had the night before.

Jasmine picked the paper up from her doormat and settled into her favorite chair in front of the television. She skimmed through the headlines, not really paying much attention to them, and then flipped through to the real estate pages. She didn’t find anything that caught her eye so she went back through the paper and read all the bits she had skipped. Her attention was drawn to the television at the mention of Bon Jovi’s name. They had been working so hard that the record was nearly finished and she guessed that was what was being said on the television. She turned it up and found she was wrong. The news item was talking about the function that Richie had been to the night before with the rest of the band. She smiled at the pictures, noticing that they all scrubbed up well and had huge smiles on their faces. Her smile disappeared and her heart sank when she saw the next piece of footage of Richie dancing with a slim brunette, who was vaguely familiar. Although she knew she had no claim over him, she had come to think of Richie as hers. They had spent so much time together that, except for the absence of a physical element, it could have been argued that they were already in a relationship. The idea frightened her enormously, what if Richie thought they were too close? What if people started to make comments? What if their friendship got ruined because of their comments? Jasmine closed her eyes and took a deep breath to centre herself. She knew that she was being neurotic and that Richie had given her no reason to worry about their friendship, but seeing the pictures of him and another woman had made her realize that the warm feeling she had inside whenever they were together was more than friendship, at least on her part. ‘Hell, how did I get myself into this position,’ she thought, and wondered how she would be able to keep her feelings in check now that she had come to realize what they were.

Richie was lying in bed, the clock read 3am and he’d still not been able to sleep. He’d put the news on when he got back from dropping Jasmine off, and had dozed on the sofa until the mention of the band had caught his attention. The news was showing the footage from the ceremony he had been to the night before. It had been a good night spent with friends and peers but his heart hadn’t been in it; he was fully aware that what had been wrong was that he had wanted Jasmine to be with him, whether it had been at the ceremony or at home chilling out in front of the television. Watching the footage brought back the feelings that had been whirring inside of him all night and that had kept his appetite to a minimum. What was it about Jasmine that had him all out of sorts? He thought back to the last two months since they first met and couldn’t think of anything but positives. Having her around had made him happier than he thought he could be, and they had such a comfortable friendship.

‘Friendship. Is that all this is? Am I confusing it for something more?’ he asked himself, ‘Jasmine hasn’t given me any reason to think otherwise, we get on so well but is that all we are, friends? Is that all I want?’

He had mulled over that question for the past few hours and it was that which was keeping him from sleeping. It was plainly obvious to him that he wanted more than a friendship, as wonderful as it was, he craved more. He needed to feel her in his arms, her lips on his, his hands on her skin and could think of nothing he wanted more than to cuddle in to her as he fell asleep and wake up with her next to him. 

He sighed, rolled over and closed his eyes in the desperate hope that sleep would eventually envelop him.

The next few days were taken up with putting the final tracks down and making adjustments to the ones that had already been mixed. Neither Richie nor Jasmine had said anything to the other about what they were feeling, and things carried on as normal. To the both of them it seemed that things would just continue to go as they always had, but to people looking on it was obvious that something was going on. During lunch one afternoon, Dorothea was showing Jasmine around the house and Richie had popped over to see his parents. Jon, David, Tico, Hugh and Obie were sitting around the large kitchen table picking at the remnants of another one of Dorothea’s mammoth meals.

“Has anyone else noticed something different with Jasmine and Richie?” Jon asked,

“Not particularly. Are they dating or what?” said Hugh, taking a sip of his coffee,

“Not as far as I know, but there is something going on. There’s something different about them today.”

“Shut up man, you’re seeing things that ain’t there.” David mumbled in between stuffing another piece of bread in his mouth. 

“How can you be sure Joker? Who died and made you cupid?”

“Fuck you boss man. I’m just saying that until they say anything then we’re not gonna know are we? It’d be nice to see Richie settled again, you know, after the last disaster.”

“Exactly, which is why I asked if you had noticed anything different.” 

Just then Richie reappeared, closely followed by Jasmine and Dot. The audible silence hung in the air and everyone shifted in their seats.

“What were you talking about?” Richie asked.

“Nothing important man, how are Adam and Joan?”

“They’re good. They have a better social life than us man, we need to get out more.”

“Speak for yourself fuckhead,” David grumbled towards Richie,

“Mom says that you are all required for dinner on Friday night because, and I quote, she feels neglected by her boys. Dot and Jas, you’ve been summoned, as have anyone you four losers want to bring with you.”

They all shrugged in agreement, even though Jasmine’s stomach was in her throat and she thought she might faint at the thought of meeting Richie’s family. Dorothea saw Jasmine go pale as she listened to Richie’s words. She leaned over to her and whispered, 

“Don’t worry about it, Adam and Joan are lovely people. They don’t make invitations if they don’t mean them, and I imagine they’ve heard a lot about you and want to put a face to the name.”

Jasmine reeled backwards, “What do you mean they’ve heard a lot about me? Why on Earth would they know who I am?”

“You’re funny Jasmine. They’ve heard about you because the guys think you’re great. Hell, I can’t go through one meal without one of them mentioning your name. It seems you’ve impressed them.”

“Oh crap.” Jasmine said, closing her eyes in an attempt to calm her racing heart.

Not long after, they got back to work and worked well into the late evening. 

Jasmine and Richie left for the half hour journey back to Middletown then Point Pleasant and sat in a comfortable silence for most of the journey, both trying to summon the courage to say something about how they were feeling. Neither of them managed it before they got to Jasmine’s apartment and as she got out of the car she briefly touched Richie’s hand, 

“See you tomorrow Rich, sleep well.”

“You too Jas. Hey, do you fancy going to a bar tomorrow night? There’s a band I want to see playing in Red Bank.”

“Sounds good. Do I need to bring stuff with me to Jon’s or will we have enough time to come back here first?”

“Plenty of time. See you in the morning.”

Jasmine waved and went straight to bed.

Richie dropped Jasmine back to her place just before 6pm the next night, telling her she had an hour before he would be back for her. She jumped in the shower and washed quickly, before picking her clothes out and making herself presentable. She was about to dry her hair when she heard a knock at her door. She skipped to the door, cursing Richie for being on time for once and opened her door. Seeing what was facing her, her jaw dropped and her hands clenched on the door handle.

Richie was running late again, and cursed himself. He was aware of Jasmine’s ideas about lateness and didn’t want to make her grumpy with him. He ran out of the house, his hair still wet from the shower, and jumped into the car. He drove well over the speed limit over to Jasmine’s house, hoping that he wouldn’t come across a Police car on the way. Putting the car in park he slammed the door shut, not even bothering to lock it and ran up the path to Jasmine’s building. Just as he reached the door and was about to press the button to her apartment, the door opened and a man rushed past him, knocking his arm as he passed. 

“Hey!” Richie exclaimed, while reaching for the door. The man didn’t respond and disappeared around the corner of the street. The smell of stale alcohol lingered in the air as Richie pushed open the door and headed up the stairs to Jasmine’s front door.

When he arrived, the door was open and he could hear the faint sound of music coming from the bedroom.

“Jas, sorry I’m late.” He called from the doorway but there was no answer. He took a step into the living room and immediately the hairs on the back of his neck pricked and his heart began to pound in his chest.