Jerry had been sure that his decision to step over his principles and way out of his comfort zone would pay off. As it turned out, it didn’t. When he’d returned to his room, Kyle was alone, not looking any less upset than before. The feeling that nothing had been fixed didn’t disappear the next morning.  

They resolved the credit card issue by taking money out from ATMs in different parts of the city, then they’d had a quick, quiet breakfast and drove away towards Amboise. There was no point even reaching Tours because they no longer needed a place to rest. They’d be sleeping after they searched their second castle. Jerry just hoped it wouldn’t be as big as Avignon.   

As he sat between Jessie and Tina, Jerry worried on his lip, his eyes glued on Kyle and Kay. She was riding shotgun this time since Jimmy had retreated to the trunk with Billy, trying to bring improvements to his prototype watch. The events of the previous night had left a round scorch mark on his wrist. Jerry was beyond impressed with his twin’s tinkering skills. And even if he slightly resented not being told about this great improvement in their means of communication, he agreed that if there were only two watches, Kyle and Jimmy were the ones who should be wearing them.

The watch had been a subject for five minutes of blissful conversation in which they acted like a team once again before returning to the tense, pressing atmosphere of now. Jerry couldn’t remember when he last felt so helpless and uncomfortable.

Kyle and Kay hadn’t apparently worked out anything, Jessie and Tina were very obviously ignoring each other, Jimmy had lost his cool about the Tina situation and they all spent their time in huffy silence. Even the radio was unable to cover the blaring silence between them. And then there was the matter of Sam and Tom being in trouble and Christine still missing. The air in the car was suddenly impossible to breathe.

“I’m stopping for gas,” Kyle announced just a few seconds before he took the nearest exit. “I want a full tank since I’m not sure how many stations we’ll find once we come off the freeway.”

“We can get some food, too,” Jerry suggested. He wasn’t remotely hungry and they'd all had breakfast, but food always made him feel better and maybe some of the others would lighten up, too.

“Yeah, knock yourself out,” Jimmy muttered from the trunk. “I could use a flat surface to wrap this up.”

Jerry was grateful that Jessie climbed down the moment Kyle cut off the engine, because he really needed the air. Kyle climbed down to fill up their tank while Jimmy, Billy, Tina and Kay headed for one of the nearby picnic tables set on the corner of the parking lot. At least they were dry and they could sit.

“I’ll come help you pick the food,” Jessie said, grabbing his elbow and leading him towards the shop.

Jerry followed her a bit reluctantly, his eyes on Tina who’d crossed her arms over her chest, and looked away from them pointedly. With a sigh, Jerry picked up the pace so Jessie wouldn’t drag him anymore. What was the point? Whatever he did, Tina was still going to be upset, and he didn’t want to get on Jessie’s bad side, too.

“There’s no escaping Tina’s bad side,” he mumbled.

“Excuse me?” Jessie turned her attention from the food display to him.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have come together. It will just make Tina more upset,” he answered. He cringed internally, expecting Jessie to smite him.

Jessie pursed her lips as if holding in any negative remark on Tina. “I wanted to talk to you, actually.” She looked away from him, focusing on the food. “I need to know if you’ve changed your mind and you’d much rather we stopped talking altogether.”

“No, of course not,” Jerry said surprised, but Jessie cut him off.

“Because if that’s the case, I don’t want an encore of last night. I know that Tina is worried about Christine and maybe herself, but she has to stop. All of this is hurting me, hurting others. It’s like Alice all over again…” Her voice faded.

Jerry got a very uncomfortable knot in his chest. Alice was a subject he’d pushed to the darkest corners of his memories. So much so that he often forgot Tina and Alice had been friends.

“This is nothing like Alice.”

“It’s exactly like Alice. Because all she did, everything she said, was based on jealousy. And now Tina is jealous and I’m too exhausted to deal with this.”

“It’s not the same thing!” Jerry lowered his voice, realizing he’d been a little too loud. He opened his mouth to argue further, but closed it, because he didn’t think Jessie needed his arguments right then.

It was different, because in Alice’s case, Jessie wasn’t in love with someone else. Alice had been right to be jealous because Jimmy had obviously been smitten with Jessie the moment he saw her. Tina on the other hand had him while Jessie had Jimmy. Two separate, independent couples who should be minding their own business. But pointing out that Jessie had actually stolen Jimmy from Alice didn’t seem like a great idea. Even if Jerry was sure that relationship had been doomed from the start.

“I’m not seeing much of a difference. At least I’m not feeling it.” She sniffed, her eyes glassy as she kept staring at the sandwitches.

“Jessie, no, don’t cry, please!” He was so bad a this. Where was Kyle? He knew how to do this whole friends with girls thing.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it,” she said, her voice thick. “You and Tina are fighting because of me, and then she goes on about Kyle and Sam and Tom and I don’t want…” She took in a deep breath. “I want our friendship to be beyond the shadow of a doubt. You guys are like brothers to me and Angie and Kay are my best friends. How can Tina even think I’d do anything to hurt them?”

Jerry had no answer to that. He had no idea what was happening in Tina’s mind either. “I wish she would stop, too,” he finally said, his tone quiet. “And I’m very grateful for the way you are handling it. I’m a little afraid Kay might slap her if she gets wind of what she’s implying. And once Angie, Sam and Tom arrive… I’m a little nervous she’ll say something to Sam or Angie or… ”

“Why don’t you talk to her?” Jessie asked quietly.

“I’ve tried. She seemed to understand, but then last night happened, so I’m not so sure anymore.”

“I never asked you how your conversation went.”

“Fine, at least until I got a little closer.” Jerry tried very hard not to show his disappointment, but her rejection still hurt. He wasn’t touchy or pushy, didn’t force himself on her. So the one time he did want to get a little closer, he’d thought she’d want it.

“She didn’t take that well?” Jessie asked, her tone full of understanding.

“Not at all. And I told her I’m not happy with us, with how we’re never moving forward. The entire conversation was irrelevant. She doesn’t seem to care much about what I want.”

“I’m sure that’s not true. She loves you.”

“Does she?” A bitter laugh escaped his lips as another unpleasant memory came to the forefront. One of how he’d confessed his feelings and how she’d stood by idly, gracing him with a very insufficient ‘me too’.  “She’s never told me, you know. I just chose to believe it because at one point she told me she felt the same.”

“Did you ever tell her?” Jessie asked tentatively.

“Yeah, I did…and trust me, the words usually provoke tears,” he mumbled.

“God, Tina’s weird!” Jessie slapped her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Except… well, I kinda did. I don’t understand why she acts like that. I’d definitely want you closer.” She blushed a little as she said that last part.

Jerry stared at her for a few seconds then laughter bubbled up inside him. “You’re the first girl who’s ever said something like that to me.”

“Tina should. Because I tell Jimmy all the time.” She shrugged as if it were common knowledge.

It made Jerry squirm. He’d been so worried about Kyle and Kay that he’d missed checking on how she and Jimmy were doing. Apparently a little too well. He should keep a closer eye on them, not let them wander off alone.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you scheming?”

“Nothing. Look, it’s our turn. Let’s get food.”

Jessie didn’t seem fooled, but dropped the subject. So the two got food and headed outside. She immediately headed for the table where Jimmy, Billy and Tina sat and dropped the bags on one end before heading to look over Jimmy’s shoulder.

Billy held a magnifying glass for him while Jimmy worked with a tiny screwdriver and tweezers. From time to time, he drew something on a plan laid out on the table next to him. Tina sat as far away as possible, her arms and legs crossed, looking away. Kay had disappeared off somewhere. Jerry hoped she was and wasn’t with Kyle. At the same time. The conflicting feeling gave him a headache.

He watched Tina for a while, knowing too well that he should talk to her, but his anger wouldn’t let him. When they did talk, he didn’t want to hurt her more or make her feel bad. So he focused his attention on Billy and Jimmy who was drawing again.

“You’re left-handed?” Jerry asked, surprised.

“Who, me?” Jimmy raised his eyes from his sketch. “No, I’m not. I just draw faster and straighter with my left hand.”

“But you’re writing now,” Jerry pointed out.

“Of course I can write as well, but I write faster and more intelligible with my right hand.” Jimmy threw him a look that spelled out obviously, then returned to his left-handed writing and drawing.

“You know, they say geniuses are left-handed.” Jessie ruffled up Jimmy’s hair affectionately.

“Why thank you, Jessie,” Billy said, doodling on the corner of the sketch to make it obvious that he was left-handed.

“Dude, quit writing on my sketches,” Jimmy mumbled.

“Am I your trusty assistant or what?” Billy retaliated. Though the words were playful, his tone was bitter and caused Jimmy too look up.

“What?”

“It’s nothing,” Billy mumbled looking away.

Jimmy clicked his pen shut. “No, really, what? Don’t hold it in.”

“It just gets annoying,” Billy said, not being through at all.

“Define it,” Jimmy said, narrowing his eyes.

At that moment, Jerry had an unexplainable impulse to end the conversation. But he knew listening to Billy and fixing whatever ailed him was important as well. He was just too sick of all the fighting.

"It gets a little overbearing with you guys. Always so perfect, so lucky... so easy." Billy looked away, the uncharacteristic darkness taking over his face.

"What?" Jimmy's tone was silent but deadly.

Jerry shuddered as he practically felt the anger rising inside his twin like a tidal wave. The shock of the invading feeling kept him silent even if alarm bells blared inside his head.

"Perfect?" Jimmy continued, in the same dangerous voice. "Lucky? Easy?"

Billy turned to him, a stoic look on his face while Jerry mentally begged him to drop it. "I've known you a Tom for so long, and I know things started out shitty for you, but even then, except money, you've had it all."

"Really now?" Jimmy now sounded interested, but Jerry knew it was just a very thin cover. His twin was ready to blow.

"Talented, intelligent, movie star handsome," Billy continued. "I mean even the fact that you can make this watch... And now? Now you're rich, you have a loving family and perfect girlfriends and it's just not fair!"

"Why are you comparing yourself to them?" Jessie asked, but Jimmy raised his hand to quiet her.

"You're right, Billy," he said, "we're perfect and lucky and it all came easy. Never mind Snitch Gravel who would probably leave you alone if you stopped hanging out with us. I mean having someone out to kill you is nothing but a mild inconvenience."

Billy's eyes grew wide and he seemed to return to his usual self, but Jimmy wasn't even close to done.

"And you're also right about everything being so easy for us. I mean it's not like Tom and I lived for eighteen years without a family, working our asses off with two or three jobs at a time. It's not like every skill we have is a result of hours upon hours of dedicated study. It just fell from the sky. You know why I can make this watch Billy?"

Billy shook his head but wisely kept his mouth shut.

"I'll tell you why," Jimmy continued as if they were having a pleasant conversation about the weather. "It's because I've never had a second of free time in my life before finding my family. And you should know that better than anyone."

"You're right, I'm sorry," Billy said, raising his hands in surrender.

"I know your life hasn't been all roses, but trust me, we've all had it hard. Kyle growing up away from his family, Sam's pathological needto be perfect, Jerry's obsession with rules... Sure, your dad was absent for most of your life, but maybe it was better."

"Hey," Jerry interjected. "Sam and I had a great childhood."

Jimmy ignored him. "We all have our ghosts, our flaws, our imperfections. You just have to trust that life balances it out."

Billy nodded, but a questioning expression came over him as he looked at Jessie. "You have demons, too, pop princess?"

Jessie shuddered at his words and for a second Jerry was sure Jimmy would punch Billy square in the face.

"Nah. It's not like she was running away from home when Herrison recruited her," he said instead, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Her life was just perfect and peachy."

Billy opened his mouth and closed it again, the ran his hand through his silver blond hair. "Gah, we're all freaking cursed."

"We were," Jessie said, her eyes drifting into the distance and at Kyle who was walking towards them. "Some of us still are. But we're working on it."

"I'm really sorry for all this," Billy mumbled. "But it's easy to forget when it looks so perfect from the outside. And I sometimes feel so alone."

"You're not alone," Jerry said. "You have us now. We're your family."

Billy nodded as Kyle reached them.

"Tender family moment?" he asked, quirking one brow.

"Yeah, but you missed it," Billy answered with his usual grin. "Where's Kay?"

"I don't know."

"Here she comes," Jessie said nodding towards the rest stop. "Let's have our snack and get out of here."

Everyone agreed, but as he munched on his sandwich absently, Jerry couldn't get the conversation out of his head. There were so many things he'd never bothered to analyse.

Like where Billy's mother was or even who she was, how he'd grown up with a traveling father who left him alone for days. And even if he'd heard the general story, he'd never dveleved deeper into Jimmy and Tom's story. Or Jessie's. He'd never bothered to ask her just why she was running away from home. Or even how Kay was so willing to abandon her own family and move to Chicago.

Deep down inside, he'd known that there was darkness behind their stories, details that would make him see life could be hard, unfair, painful. And in truth, that was why he didn't want to know.

Billy was wrong. There was no such thing as easy.

❄❄❄

With inhuman effort, I have managed to update. This is a bit of a transition, but I'm hoping I made you a bit curious about character background. And how easy it is to think some people are perfect when they're in fact harboring demons of their own.

If I manage to write anything this next week, we're raiding another castle in the next part. Fingers crossed.

Sacrifice a massive amount of goats 🐐🐐🐐