While gisting Frank about my life in the city, Jessica bounced into the house together with her friends. Suzanna, Shirley, Fred, and two others that I assumed were Vivian and Jack.
"Hello, Jessy's back home!" She said and told her friends to settle down in the available couches.
"Welcome back, sis" I waved at her.
"Thanks, who do we have here?" she asked staring at her Frank. She didn't even wait for me to reply her before she walked over to him and sat close to him on his couch, "Well, hello handsome" she uttered in a low tone, acting strangely.
"Hi, are you Jessica?" Frank asked.
"Yes, and who might you be? Laura's friend from the city?" she rudely asked, prompting me to chime into the conversation.
"No, he's not. We just met today" I muttered.
"Oh, that's interesting. A stranger. He picked you up from the road and brought you home, right?" she asked.
"Yes," I said and tried changing the topic, "by the way, ain't you guys going back outside for the..."
"We have a new plan" she said.
"What's that?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Don't worry Laura, I will brief you later. By the way, meet Vivian and Jack" she introduced me to her other to friends.
"Hi guys!" I waved at them with a crooked smile on my face.
"Hi Laura!" They smiled as well.
Just then, Frank's phone rang and he quickly picked the call. "Hello, dad" he said, obviously talking to his father. "No, I won't be back now" he withdrew from the couch and stood to his feet. "Really?" he added, walking towards the door. Where was he heading to? Didn't he just said he wouldn't be going home now? "Okay, I will talk to Mr. Lee about it. Later, dad" he hanged up the call and gave me a worried look.
"Is everything okay?" I asked out of curiosity and walked over to him, while Jessica's friends began chit-chatting in what seemed like a whisper.
"Maybe he needs some massage" Jessica sarcastically said, referring to Frank.
"No, I mean... yes, everything is fine" he ignored her and explained to me, "My dad just informed me about something and it's urgent, although I won't be leaving Cornfield. I would just make some calls and email some files, that's all. I will be back soon, or are you going somewhere?"
"To the streets, maybe. But you can call me anytime, my contact is in your dialer, remember?" I wrinkled a brow at him.
"Yeah, sure" he smiled and then pulled the door open, "Tell your aunt I will see her soon" he said.
"Okay, I will" I beamed and escorted him out to his car.
The street was empty, the people had headed to the other side side of the county. Hopefully, they wouldn't be back until late in the evening for the grand party.
"Okay, bye" I waved back at Frank as he drove away.
When I turned about to head back to the house, I found Jessica staring at me weirdly by the doorway. She had that weird smile I had never seen her with.
"Is everything okay?" I asked. I was expecting her to reply me instantly but, all she did was heave a sigh and return back into the house. What was she taking? Was she mad or something? I didn't just know.
I went back into the house as well and saw her serving her friends snacks.
"Laura, help me with some wines please. They are in the fridge" she said.
"Okay," I walked over to the fridge, pulled the door open and brought some cans of non-alcoholic wines for them. Not forgetting to take one for myself, after all I was kind of thirsty.
"Cheers to the founding fathers of Cornfield!" Jessica said as she raised her own can.
"Chairs!" Her friends raised theirs as well, and began giggling while toasting.
"Come on Laura, let's toast" Shirley said, extending her own drink to me for a toast.
"Okay, cheers" We toasted and everyone began opening their drinks.
"Oh, wow, this is great" Fred said the moment he took a gulp, "I fucking love this!" he added.
"I love it too" Jack positively commented and so did Jessica, "You can say that again!" she licked her lips.
The rest of us, however tried as much as we could to swallow the bitterness of the wine.
"Are you guys okay?" Fred asked, giving us a surprised... or rather, puzzled gaze.
"Don't mind them, they are not used to this kinds of wines" Jessica said and the boys laughed scornfully at us.
We weren't mad at them though, after all it wasn't as if Jessica was wrong. I wasn't used to bitters, and it was obvious Shirley, Suzanna and Vivian weren't used to it either.
When my parents were still alive, they hardly keep wine in the fridge. And if they do, it definitely had to be non-alcoholic, as well as non-bitters. But despite that, I wasn't allowed to take them. My colleagues at the college back then would make fun of me whenever I reject alcoholic substances from them, they would call me daddy's pet or mommy's girl. I mean, they thought I was deprived of the right to freedom. Freedom to get drunk. Naomi was the only person that understood me, and now I miss her so badly. If only I could get to meet her soon, I couldn't think about my college life without bringing her into the picture. She was a very nice soul, and a very good friend.
"Guys, like I said earlier, we are going to do a lot of stuff outside but with our costumes on" Jessica uttered, pulling me out of my trance with her loud voice. "I don't know about you guys but I think we need to pay Kaylee's shop a visit. We need those remote control toy cars and planes" she added.
"You mean, steal them?" I asked, totally confused.
"Aw, who talks about stealing anything here? We are only going there to borrow, you know? We will return them back as soon as we are done" she explained but still, I wasn't satisfied.
