9.78 Juliette’s Shenanigans

Early one evening, Jonathan was at home. He took the day off to be with Skyla. Just as he was about to go to the basement to workout, he heard a knock at the door. It was his sister, Juliette.

“Juliette?! What in the world??”

“Hi! I’m fine…how are you?”

“Sorry hi! Ummm…who…what happened?!”

“Are you going to invite me in or what?”

“Of course! Yeah!”

He let her in and took her to the courtyard to sit and uncover this mystery. “Ok, you’re here now…spill!”

“Well, if I must. Arjun came by and—

“HA! I knew you liked that guy! And you always pretended not to!”

“Ummm, is this my story or yours?”

“Whatever. You and Arjun are together now, and I’m totally gonna gloat forever.”

“I could totally go back home and you’ll never know what happened!”

“Fine! I’m listening.”

“I thought so. ANYWAY…Arjun came by the other day. He said never got a tour of my house. Lame! Anyway, I let him in and showed him upstairs. I mean, there are only two tiny bedrooms, two bathrooms and a nursery up there. Anyway, we went back downstairs and watched TV. But, I kept smelling this…this tantalizing scent! It must have been his cologne. It was intoxicating! I asked him what it was, and he said it was sandalwood something. Whatever it was, it smelled amazing.

“I need to find out what they put in that stuff! I was acting so weird…like, I was juiced or something! I felt like I wasn’t in control of myself. I started feeling all mushy and flirty and junk. I kept, like, scooting closer to him and sniffing him! Jerk face looked at me like I was crazy. I was stroking his hair and telling him how cute he was and saying crap like he should come by more often, and…ugh!! I hate myself. Next thing I know, I leaned over and kissed him! And then we started making out!! He asked me if I wanted to go upstairs, and I said yes! What the plum is wrong with me?? Anyway, so I figured seeing as how I will NEVER woo hoo with him ever again…and maybe not with anyone the way my plummy life is going on…I figured I should benefit from the situation and so I tried for a baby instead.”

“Juliette!”

“What? You know I want to have a child.”

“You also wanted to get married! Why don’t you just marry him?”

“Ugh! And be stuck with him for the rest of his life? No thanks!”

“But what about the baby?

“What about the baby? He can come see it whenever he wants to.”

“What did he think about you being pregnant I mean?”

“Oh. I don’t know. I told him I was pregnant, and then I sent him home.”

“That’s so mean, Juliette.”

“Ummm, have you met me? Look, it’ll be fine. He’s older than me and will be an elder in a few days. I don’t want him dying in my house. That would be sad…for the child.”

“For the child…riiiiight.”

“Whatever.” Suddenly, Juliette jolted up and ran away.

“Where are you going?”

“To throw up!”

“Throw up?”

“That’s what pregnant women do!”

Later that night, when Jonathan was cleaning the kitchen, he got an unexpected visitor.

“Ahem…”

Jonathan looked up and saw the ghost of his father peering at him. “DAD?! DAD!” He lunged himself at him and squeezed him as tight as you can squeeze a ghost.

“Oh, dad! I’ve missed you so much!! I was so lost when you died! I thought I was gonna be depressed forever.”

“Death is a hard thing to handle, that’s for sure. But I see you and Skyla have been keeping busy! The house looks great!”

“Thanks! And I opened my restaurant too! I wish you could see it. I named it Sky High Cafe…after Skyla,” he said with a cheesy grin.

“I’m glad to hear you and Skyla are doing great. Are there any children yet?”

“Nah. We’ve been trying, but no luck yet. It’s ok though. We have a lot going on with the restaurant, the renovation, and her father.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he’s sick a lot. The doctor said he won’t get better.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that, son.”

“Yeah…it’s really stressing Skyla out. I wish I could do something for her.”

“Just keep being there for her. That’s all you can do.”

“True that. But, you know, dad…when we do finally have kids, I hope I can be as good a father as you.”

“No. Be a better father than me! I could have done better. I didn’t know what I was doing half the time.”

“We couldn’t tell. You were great!”

“Well…thanks.”

“I love you, dad.”

“Love you too, son.”