Parchment, Part 3

“Janice, you know, this seems all so perfect right now. Almost too perfect.” “C’mere, silly! You can never have things TOO perfect!”

John came over to her, and Janice pulled him up close, and then, they kissed. Then, they let their newfound love run wild, engaging in a act of sex that neither would ever forget. After it was over, Janice rushed to get her dress back on.

“What’s your hurry? You have to go back to being the door woman again?” “No, someone else has it taken care of. My parents should be coming back any time now.” “They aren’t here right now?” “No, they went to visit someone, but should be coming pretty soon.” “Ah, I guess it would be a good idea to get dressed then.” “Hey, would you like to check out the beach?” “Right now? Why?” “I don’t know, it’s kinda romantic to be on the beach at night. You want to or not?” “Well, okay then, I guess.”

They finished getting themselves back into party form, and were about to exit her bedroom. They exchanged one more “wet” kiss, and left the room, and walked down the stairs. When the reached the main floor, John spotted his parents chatting with some people near the foot of the stairway. John walked over to his parents, with Janice by his side, and greeted them.

“Hi Mom, hi Dad. I’d like you to meet Janice Santos.” “Hi there son. So, you’ve already met your cousin Janice.” John froze on the spot. He glanced over to Janice. She gave him a sheepish, weak smile.

“So John, how’s your evening so far?” He looked out towards the ocean, normally a dark blue in color but massively darkened by the absence of sunlight. He had “mysteriously” disappeared from the Santos party, and drove off towards Baguio, intending to just go home.

After all, so much had happened, and he wanted to get away from it all, perhaps to erase the memory of what had transpired. Then he saw an empty, peaceful patch of beach along the road, and he thought of perhaps collecting the consolation prize of his trip, some precious moments near the ocean. So, he parked the car along the road, and shed his shoes, and walked onto the beach.

Upon sitting on the still-visibly white sand, he asked himself, “Why did the girl of my dreams happen to be my cousin?” Self centered thoughts then centered upon the girl of his dreams. He thought, did she even know that I was her cousin? No conclusive answer could be had, from what he knew and observed. Perhaps she was innocent of any wrongdoing in that she wasn’t aware of the fact herself.

His thoughts became brighter in nature. She does have such great looks, a beautiful body, a warm and caring personality, and inner strength. What more could a man ask for? Possibly her only fault could be a lack of morality. The thoughts turned more serious, more negative again.

He then pondered the possibility of her revealing to his parents, her parents, anyone, that she had had sex with him, her cousin. He dismissed the thought, thinking that she probably wouldn’t embarrass herself by saying such a thing. But then, she was waging somewhat of a silent war against her parents, and, she could possibly use their act as a means of “shocking” them into change. He didn’t want that to happen, it could come back to hurt his relationship with his own parents. Such a messy situation. Quite intriguing.

Intriguing. The word kept repeating itself in his mind. A large wave hit the beach, making a loud splash that broke him from his “intriguing” trance. He focused his attention on the water, waves hitting the sand. Waves hitting hard upon the sand. Then, he thought of something so grand, so wonderful, with such great potential, he had to go through with it. He wouldn’t let himself lose this opportunity for himself, being in need of a break in life.

He also had to discuss things with Janice, no matter what she was going to do. Or whatever he was going to do, for that matter. He would have to go back there to face the situation he had inadvertently gotten into, and try to make the best of it.

He got back into his car, and took a deep breath. “I have to go back there”, he said to himself. “I HAVE to go back there”. He took a deep breath, and started his vehicle, and drove in the direction of the Santos residence. Thirty minutes or so after he had disappeared from the party, he was at the door again. He willed himself to ring the bell once again. After about two minutes, a familiar face appeared again. She smiled the same way she did the last time he saw her.

“Good evening, John” “Hello Janice. I’d be more than happy to go through the pleasantries, but that hardly matters. There are things we need to discuss.” “You are so right. Let me take you in. Again!”

She took his hand in hers. He felt her warmth again, when not too long ago he thought of leaving that warmth in his past. He pulled her a bit closer. He felt glad to be there, again.

Funny, John thought to himself. The party was still going strong, as he could hear, but he didn’t see any of them. Perhaps Janice was taking him down a different path than before?

“Is this the same way we went through before? It doesn’t seem like it.” “Of course not, silly. I just thought we’d take a stroll ocean side, so you can say what you want to say in private. This is the hallway leading to the ‘backdoor’, as I call it.”

And when they got to Janice’s “backdoor”, John saw a drastically different kind of beach there. There was a swimming pool near the door, and clean, white, uncluttered sand from that point until the ocean. Obviously this patch of private beach was well maintained and cared for. They walked past the pool, and onto the sandy beach.

“Okay Janice, did you know, about, uh…” “You mean the “cousins” thing? I tell you, I didn’t know until your parents said so.” “Are you sure? I mean, are you telling me the truth?” “Look, no matter how many times you make me say it, you either believe me or you don’t.”

John ponders her last statement. She has a point there, he thinks, and what choice does he have?

“Okay, I believe you. Now, what do we do now?” “Well, I don’t know, really. Is there anything we can do? It’s all in the past, now. Spilled milk.” “I mean, are you going to tell anyone about what we did?” “You flatter me, John. The thought hadn’t even come to my mind to speak of it to anyone else.” “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay, I understand. You have a positive relationship with your family, and you want to keep it that way. Me, well… you know.” “Yes, I do know. I wish I could do something to help you.” “You know, maybe there is something you could do for me.” “Really? What might that be?”

Janice then slid off her dress again, from where she stood. It was far different this time as compared to the time in her bedroom, being out in the open with the moonlight shining on her made it seem as different as night and day. That and the fact that this time she had no underwear on underneath her dress. John was stunned: was this what he had in mind when he had the idea pop into his head of coming back here? What was Janice thinking? Janice then walked up close to John, and started kissing him on the mouth.

ohn broke the kiss to say, “Are you crazy? What do you think you’re doing?” Janice responded, “I’m doing what I feel like doing right now, that’s what.” Janice looked out towards the house, and said, “Oh, is big John afraid of being seen with me like this? I know just the cure for that.” And she pulled him, with all her strength, into the night-cool water of the South China Sea.

“Argh! You are really crazy, Janice! This is so cold!” “I am crazy, John. You should have noticed that by now. And, it’s not so cold, if you do this.”

She pulled herself close to John, with as much of her frontside touching up against his. John felt a weird sensation, with all that cold water on him, her extremely warm body against his, and the speed at which all this was happening, again. He couldn’t stop himself now. He started kissing her intensely on her mouth, then moved to do the same on her neck, and was about to move lower on her naked body when a floodlight suddenly shone on the two lovers, directed on them from the direction of the house.

John looked at her dress in the light, remembering how the woman in it changed his life so much, at the moment at least. A dark blue in color, perhaps representing her mood, her outlook on life. He then looked at Janice, and she suddenly looked like a different person. Scared, afraid, embarrassed. Someone who desperately wished that she was still wearing the blue dress.

A strange figure approached the ocean water-drenched pair. Janice positioned herself to keep the fact that she was nude a secret to anyone looking on from the sand. A loud, angry voice broke the silence.

“Janice! What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” “Just having a night swim with my friend, Dad.” “Get out of there! Don’t you know how dangerous the sea water is at night!?” “Okay, we’ll move to the pool soon.” “Go there NOW, Janice! I’m making sure you do so.”

John could almost feel the breath leave Janice at that moment. Janice glanced at John, took a deep breath, and took his hand. “Let’s go.” She winked at John. They both walked out of the water, onto the beach, with her form and posture almost denying the fact that she had not a stitch of clothing on her body. Of course, that detail did not escape her father’s attention, to his utter shock.

“What the!?” “Look Dad, I’m an adult. Keep treating and guarding me like a child and you’ll keep running into these situations.” “The hell I won’t. Who’s this guy?” “He’s my friend.” “What’s your name, mister!?”

John suddenly felt the air leave his lungs. Lie, or tell the truth? A quick glance at Janice revealed a pair of eyebrows raised, seeming to say, “It’s up to you”. She was frozen where she was standing, not even having made a move to put on her dress. She was scared. John thought to himself, only one thing to do when scared: be courageous.

“My name is John Flores, sir. I am sorry to have caused this, misunderstanding. It won’t happen again.” Flores. The name ran through Mr. Santos’ mind. So many faces and names to keep track of when you make a living in the U.S.A. and have so many friends and relatives in the Philippines. The name sounded familiar, but nothing more than that. He’d have to ask someone else to find out for sure. Perhaps Mrs. Santos would know.

“Get dressed and get back inside, Janice. I’ll let this go, but not again.” “Okay, Dad.”

As her dad walked back towards the house, she hastily picked up her dress and put herself back into it. “That was pretty brave of you, John. But you should’ve lied, should’ve given him a phony name. It’s only a matter of time before the shit hits the fan. For you.” John took a break from unsuccessfully trying to wring his soaked outfit to straighten her dress out for her. “I’ll take that chance, and do whatever it takes. For you.”

Janice looked into his eyes, with a dreamy gaze. Perhaps she really had found her white knight. “You don’t have to, you know. You stand to lose a lot more than I would from this, I think”. “Don’t worry, even if my parents disown me, I still have everything I need to survive. My mind. My publishing office. And, of course, my idea.”

©1999 Jerome Baquilar