Chapter Text
“What do you mean you ‘made plans’?!” Pizzazz spat into the receiver.
On the other end of the line, Stormer was working together some timid excuse about how she and Roxy couldn’t drop everything and meet up with her in five minutes. It was obvious from the way she was mumbling that she was keeping aspects of her plans to herself. That certainly took a lot of nerve.
Thankfully, Roxy stepped over and took the phone away from her. With any luck, she’d to put an end to the excuses, and to assure Pizzazz they’d be on their way.
“Pizzazz? What the hell is this about?”
No such luck, then.
Pizzazz groaned and lowered her binoculars, setting them on a coffee table beside the landline, and closing the open window. “Lose the attitude and get over here! The Holograms just drove off, and we’ve gotta scope out Starlight Manor before they get back!”
“What are you talking about? It’s not like we don’t know what the place looks like.”
“It’s not the layout I’m interested in, it’s her stuff! Jem’s gotta have some personal things laying around, and that’s going to be our key to finding her identity!”
Pizzazz could hear Roxy pressing her fingers into her forehead and sighing. “You want us to sneak around her house? It’s 7pm on a Friday, Pizzazz. Call Zipper or something.”
Stormer quietly spoke up, from somewhere further away from the phone. “Sneak in? Didn’t they get a new security system installed?”
“None of that matters! Look, I got some gadget from Techrat that’ll get us in for sure!”
“Techrat?” Roxy scoffed. “You still trust that dweeb?”
“I didn’t, until Jetta was nice enough to test this thing for me.”
“Uh huh. And where is she now? The hospital?”
“Relax, she’s fine. I just… well… I don’t know exactly where she is, but-”
“Pizzazz, look, we were just about to head out. You and Jetta are just gonna hafta do it yourselves.”
Pizzazz’s grip on the phone tightened. “What could be so important that you’d skip out on sabotaging the Holograms for it?”
“Nothing,” Roxy answered evasively. “We’re going bowling!” said Stormer automatically.
There was a pause on both ends of the line before Roxy groaned and Stormer muttered an apology.
“Did you two really make plans to go out and do something fun without me?!”
“Yeah, Pizzazz, we did.” Roxy spat back. “Because sometimes, it’s more fun to hang out without you!”
Pizzazz continued holding the phone up to her ear for a long moment, even when Roxy had nothing left to spew at her. She reeled with the effort of swallowing down the discomfort that the declaration drew up. There was a brief interlude before her anger caught up with her.
“Fine! At least Jetta will hang out with me!”
“I thought you said you didn’t know where she was.”
“I don’t!” Pizzazz slammed the phone down on the hook, and tightened her arms around herself as she seethed.
“So,” Jetta clicked her tongue, “That didn’t sound like it went well.”
Pizzazz rolled her eyes and glanced at the empty space across the room. “Don’t give me any attitude. Just grab the Viza-whatsit, and let’s go!”
“I’m over here, actually,” Jetta said, tapping an empty glass that was hovering in the air. It was the only way she could indicate her position. “And that bleedin’ Invisi-gun is over there, and you couldn’t pay me to go near it again! Not until I’m hunky-dory!”
Pizzazz snorted contemptuously, dismissing her concern with a lazy wave of her hand. “Don’t be silly. Techrat said it’ll wear off in a couple hours! Now come on, if you don’t come with me, I’ll have to go alone!”
“Then go alone, Pizzazz!” Jetta shouted, dropping the glass, and obviously expecting it to shatter dramatically. It didn’t, and she had to kick it across the hallway where it tumbled down the stairs. “I’m not moving another step until this wears off.”
“Fine, fine! See if I care!”
Pizzazz swiped the Invisi-gun off the table, and stomped all the way down the staircase and out the door, just barely avoiding tripping on the empty glass.
Jerrica was the sort of person who kept careful track of these sorts of things. She had a small spiral binder in her dresser drawer where she made note of the date each time she started, and ended. She was prepared for it.
But today, her body was not nearly as punctual as her calendar.
Her period started a few days early, resulting in a series of canceled plans and apologetic requests for her sisters to pick things up for her from the store.
The rest of the Holograms were, at Jerrica’s insistence, carrying on with their weekend plans anyway, regardless of Jerrica’s absence. But they’d only been convinced to do so when Jerrica assured them over and over that Rio would be around later to provide for her.
In reality, she had left a few voicemails that were not yet returned. But she was sure it would only be a matter of time before Rio hurried to her side. So, pretending those plans were already confirmed just made things easier.
“Got everything you need?” Shana said after a quick, half-hug. She was mindful of putting too much pressure on her torso.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. Among all the Benton women, Jerrica often had the worst of it when it came to the pains.
Aja, already heading out the door, spun around to face them both as she walked backward out to the Roadster. “Call the place if you need anything, and we’ll send Kimber back for ya!” She pulled her hood up over her hair as she walked out into the rainy night.
“Hey, don’t volunteer me!” The youngest Benton had their bag of gear slung over her shoulder as she headed out the door after Aja. She shielded herself from the weather with it once she was outside.
Raya put a gentle hand over Jerrica’s arm as she approached, in the same way an equestrian would put their hand over an irate horse to keep it from spooking. She offered Jerrica a soft, understanding smile. “Feel better…” she hurried away after the others before Jerrica could reply.
Shana chuckled lightly at her skittishness. “I think she’s anticipating your mood swings.”
“I don’t get those, she knows that. It’s not like this is the first cycle I’ve had since she moved in.”
“Right. Well, before we go, where’s Rio? On his way?”
Jerrica tried very hard not to sigh forlornly. “Yeah. He should be here soon… with all this rain, I really hope the streets didn’t get flooded.”
“Hey, he’s a resourceful guy. He’ll be fine,” Shana reassured.
The sound of the Rockin’ Roadster’s horn blaring made Shana look out the door at Aja, already seated behind the wheel.
“Come on! We’re wasting valuable lane time!”
Shana inched further out the door, taking a moment to pull the hood of her raincoat over her afro. She looked back at Jerrica one last time. “We should be back late, so don’t wait up for us if you need your rest. Have a good time with Rio!”
After she shut the door behind her, Jerrica remained where she was, listening to the engine rev, and drive off onto the road.
She felt a tightening in her stomach that had nothing to do with her cramps, and walked briskly over to the telephone in the kitchen. She could almost dial the number without looking.
It rang, and rang, and despite how hard Jerrica crossed her fingers, it kept ringing until it beeped.
“Hey, you’ve reached Rio Pacheco. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you.”
Another beep.
“Rio, it’s probably too late now,” she sighed, “I guess you’ll probably be listening to all of these messages tomorrow. Listen, don’t feel bad. I’m fine. I hope you’re alright, I’ll feel pretty bad if you got stuck somewhere or something. But I hope you’re just out with friends.”
When she inhaled it sounded pathetically like a sniffle. She coughed to cover it up.
“I’ll still love if you come over tomorrow. Today, I guess, when you’ll be listening to these.” At the risk of sounding needy, she added, “…I could really use some company. I hope I see you soon.” She hung up.
Was it selfish to want to cuddle with her boyfriend on the sofa when she wasn’t feeling well? It sort of felt selfish. Although Rio had never complained about hanging around when Aunt Flo came to visit, Jerrica knew it wasn’t his favorite couple’s activity. He preferred going out and doing things when they were together. Something Jerrica refused to do when she was menstruating.
Knowing this, it was hard to dismiss the picture that appeared in her mind of Rio sitting by his phone and purposefully ignoring her calls.
No, he would never do that. There was definitely a good reason he couldn’t answer the last five times she called.
Getting as far as his answering machine meant his power wasn’t out. But tonight was a weekend night, and that meant he was probably out with friends, still operating under the assumption that Jerrica wouldn’t need him to be over until a few days, when her period was scheduled.
But despite what she’d said in her message, she was really hoping that he wasn’t actually hanging out with friends while she was in pain, alone, at home. And she knew that was definitely selfish of her.
Maybe, he’d be around later and surprise her. That was something he’d probably do.
She kept herself in slightly higher spirits by imagining him showing up on the porch, covered in rain, and holding a big grocery bag of sweets.
With a wistful sigh, she plopped herself down on the loveseat by the TV to wait for him. It was close enough to the door that she’d hear if he knocked. And he would, she assured herself.
The Rockin’ Roadster, as they called it, had pulled out of the property some time ago. Sneaking in while the gate closed behind them was simply not a possibility anymore. Pizzazz wasn’t about to dig through the mud to go under the fence, and she hadn’t brought bolt cutters, or a torch to melt the metal.
Pizzazz stared angrily up at the gate. She supposed she ought to count herself lucky that the Hologram’s hadn’t sprung for barbed wire.
She pulled her jacket more tightly over herself against the onslaught of rain, and gripped the bars. She experimentally attempted scaling the vertical rods, to minimal success. She got about a foot and a half up before she lost her grip and slid down.
If Roxy was here, she could just climb her shoulders and leap over the fence. Jetta could keep a lookout, and Stormer could be the soft thing for her to land on.
“Ugh, stupid band,” she growled, pulling the bars angrily, as if through sheer force of will, she could bend them. “Stupid bowling!” she pulled harder. “I’m plenty of fun to hang out with!” She yelled, letting go of the bars so she could stand back, and kick the hinge of the fence as hard as possible.
Some internal mechanics within the lock clicked, and the gate gently swung open.
Oh. Sweet.
She strutted through the open gate and gently shut it behind her once she was on the lawn. But her confidence was shattered when she got closer to the house, and noticed that some of the lights were on. The lights in the main room just outside the foyer, to be exact.
That meant someone was still home.
Fuck. She was sure she saw all the Holograms leave the house earlier. Well, a bunch of them anyway. It was hard to count the number of occupants in a moving car from a mile away through her binoculars. But the Holograms never went anywhere without every single one of their bandmates. Something that apparently, they didn’t have in common with Misfits, Pizzazz thought, still bitter.
She snuck up to the front wall, and peeked in through the window. She couldn’t see a whole person, but the blonde bob of hair sticking out from off the arm of the sofa told her all she needed to know.
Great. It figured that Jerrica would still be up, and in the way.
This was exactly the sort of situation that an invisibility gun was supposed to solve, but no amount of being invisible would make the act of kicking down a door any less suspicious. She still had to find a way in that wouldn’t draw attention. A quick, careful examination of the perimeter revealed no obvious alternate entries. Both back doors just lead to the kitchen next to the living room, or were otherwise close enough to where Jerrica was that she’d notice a door getting kicked off its hinges.
Geez. Maybe she really should’ve just called Zipper. Assuming Eric hadn’t left him to face all those legal charges alone after the Hawaii thing, he would probably be willing to do this kind of dumb stuff.
Her best way in would be to break in to one of the upper floor rooms, and hope that she could get in fast enough to not be noticed. It wasn’t much of a plan, but as Pizzazz stood motionless in the rain, she was unable to come up with any better ideas. And going back home empty handed would mean failure, and it would make the other Misfits right for not joining her.
Luckily, the siding of the manor was made of very climbable brick. Even in the rain, it wasn’t as difficult to climb as the fence had been. She used a rain gutter to help pull herself up until she got to a window on the second floor. If memory served - and she remembered the layout of Starlight Manor very well -, this was not one of the children’s rooms. She couldn’t see into it, but she was pretty sure this was the window of their second TV room.
She tried lifting it open, but of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. Good on Jerrica for locking her windows, but it wouldn’t be enough to keep Pizzazz out!
While holding herself up precariously on the ledge, her hands gripped tight on the top of the sill, she folded one leg back, and let lose her most powerful kick directly on the center of the glass.
It made a pathetically quiet thunk.
The force of her own kick knocked Pizzazz off her balance, and she fell backwards. She cried out for only a moment before she hit the ground, silently staring up into the rain.
No broken bones. Her backside had taken the brunt of the fall, and sacrificed a small bush that was now a flat mess of leaves beneath her. She stood up, assessing the damage to her clothes. No rips or tears, as far as she could find. But her pants were dirtier now than they ever had been. And her pockets felt distressingly light.
She patted her jacket down, in search of the gun, and saw it laying in the mud beside her. She snarled as she reached for it.
“This is stupid,” she growled, pointing the barrel at herself. “I’ll just knock, and sneak in while she’s wondering who did it.”
Still a pretty risky move, but less risky than trying the window again.
She pulled the trigger, and waited for the familiar buzzing sound. But all she heard come out of the device was a faint sputter. She frowned, looked down into the barrel, and tried again. It was even quieter this time. She looked down at her sleeve, and her hand, checking for any sign of translucence.
It sure didn’t look like it worked. Pizzazz pulled the trigger on herself again. Still nothing.
“What the hell’s wrong with this thing?”
She turned the pistol over and over in her hands, trying to examine it for any signs of an on/off switch, or battery compartment, or something that would indicate a simple fix. She smacked the side of the barrel against her palm a couple times, and tried it again.
This time, the gun emitted a few stray sparks, and a sizzling sound that sputtered out into silence.
She snarled, and threw the thing across the yard where it clattered on the driveway. “Techrat, I’m gonna kill you!”
She stood there with the rain dripping down her chin, trying desperately to think of a way to salvage the situation. It was getting cold. She sniffled and hugged her arms across her chest.
No, this was defeat. She’d faced it enough times to be very familiar with the feeling.
Well, go big or go home.
She walked miserably up the steps to the door, committing fully to making this attempted break-in the most embarrassing failure ever. Or, with any luck on her side, at least she might be able to dry off.
Jerrica heard the doorbell, and all at once, her whole face lit up with joy.
He was here! and he’d probably just been caught up in traffic on the way over from buying essentials. Rio might even be cradling a massive bag of chocolates in his arms at this very moment.
Jerrica ran to the door and flung it open. “Oh, Rio, I’m so…”
Her face fell and she stood stiff and mortified at the entryway, looking at an aggravated Pizzazz standing on the steps, hair messed, and covered in dirt from her boots to the collar of her jacket. Her normally huge, imposing mane of hair was rendered slick and flat by the rain, like a soggy cat.
Jerrica was so confused by what she was looking at she couldn’t even speak.
This silence clearly annoyed Pizzazz, and she huffed as she turned her gaze awkwardly to the ground.
“Can I just come in?” Pizzazz mumbled angrily.
“Uh…” Jerrica blinked at her several times. “No…?”
Pizzazz snarled under her breath and glared out at her through her wet hair. “Look,” she said, “I walked here, it’s only been an hour, and I’ve already had a hell of a night. Just let me clean off in your bathroom for a sec, and I’ll leave, ‘kay?”
Jerrica meant to slam the door in her face. But somehow, she opened the door wider. Perhaps it was a random spark of generosity. Her Good Samaritan kicking in. She rarely found herself sympathizing with Pizzazz, but maybe it was just too much work to insist that she leave. Besides, she did look very pathetic.
She watched Pizzazz stomp on past her and head directly down the hall toward the nearest bathroom, without a word.
“…You’re welcome,” she muttered as Pizzazz disappeared, rounding a corner and slamming a door behind her. Probably waking up somebody upstairs.
Jerrica was left standing in place, wondering at the reality of the moment for a time.
How did she even get here? The gate could only be opened from the outside with a code. Minx’s attempt at installing a far superior security system had resulted in Jerrica and Rio committing to installing a slightly less obtrusive one after that whole incident was over. But maybe she ought to give her a call, and ask about that other, very loud one.
It was no real question what Pizzazz had been up to. Something nefarious, no doubt. Snooping about for something to sabotage, or break, or steal. That was all she ever seemed to do.
But it was unusual to find her working alone. And despite the clear criminal intent by appearing on her doorstep so late, the sheer level of pathetic that she looked, standing filthy on the porch, invoked a sympathy in Jerrica that she knew Pizzazz did not deserve.
But was this part of her plan?
Jerrica just let her right in to her home. And now, she was behind a door. Planting a bomb, for all she knew.
Jerrica stepped uneasily toward the bathroom, and rapped against the door with her knuckles.
Pizzazz was a bit disarmed to hear the knocking as she was divesting herself of her clothes. Halfway through pulling off her tight pants, she froze, instinctively pulling them back up a little ways.
“What?!” she growled, “I just got in here!”
“You’re just cleaning up, right?” Jerrica asked through the door, her voice forcing out some stern tone. “You’re not messing up my plumbing or anything, right?”
Pizzazz realized, pressing her brow low, that it hadn’t honestly occurred to her.
Her plan had ended when she failed to sneak in. Now that she’d been seen, it wasn’t as if she could get out again unnoticed. Hell, she didn’t think she could even get up to Jem’s room without Jerrica following at her heels every step of the way. And it wouldn’t be a mystery who’d done it if she took anything.
She briefly considered putting an upper decker in the toilet, but that felt a bit low, even for her.
“You’re really hesitating to answer the question.”
“Pfft,” Pizzazz scoffed, finishing the work of undressing, and stacking her dirty clothes in the sink. “What, you wanna keep an eye on me? Hold my hand? See what kind of panties I wear?”
Somehow, Pizzazz could hear Jerrica rolling her eyes. “Just don’t take too long. I’ve got my eye on you.”
Pizzazz planned on taking all the time she wanted.
Her boots were easy to wash off with a bit of effort. They were made of a treated leather that held up well against water. It only took a minute of scrubbing to get them clean. But the pants were more effort. She had to put them under direct water, and scrub out the streaks of mud and dirt and bush that were stuck to them. The jacket was slightly less work, if only because it had been designed to withstand things like rain.
She left her outer clothes off, and set them aside to dry. Now came the hardest part: her hair.
It was already pretty messed up. In order to return it to its former glory, she’d need the help of Madi, the only stylist at the salon she trusted with her hair. She could probably improvise some treatment that would make it vaguely resemble what it usually did, but judging by her own reflection, she’d have to be very optimistic to hope for anything nearly as big and proud as it usually looked.
First things first, she had to get the dirt out. And since this bathroom consisted of little more than a toilet, washer, and dryer, she was going to need to do this the hard way.
Combing, then, would have to do. She haphazardly grabbed the first comb she saw, rinsed it, and started pulling it through her hair. As she worked, she grumbled and reached for the mirror cabinet in front of the sink.
“You got any hairspray in this bathroom?” she asked, pushing aside five different toothpaste tubes and several boxes of bandaids, all adorned with their own sets of characters. Ponies, and robots. Ah, yes, the two types of girls. What a relief that Jerrica catered to them both. Heaven forbid children use bandaids without cartoon characters on them.
“Not in this bathroom. This one is for the girls.” Jerrica answered, still apparently keeping guard outside. “There was an incident once and… well, we don’t keep haircare products in this bathroom anymore.”
“Great.” Some snotnosed twerp makes a mess, and now Pizzazz has to suffer for it.
After a buttload of more combing and periodically rinsing off the comb, Pizzazz’s hair was clean, but still a shadow of its former glory. The most she could do for it at this point would be to blow-dry it.
Apparently, a hairdryer wasn’t too dangerous for children to have in their bathroom. Pizzazz found it under the sink cabinet. When setting it on top of the sink, she knocked over a bottle of soap. It toppled down to the floor, missing the trashcan, but forcing Pizzazz to put her face close to it in order to retrieve it.
That’s when it caught her eye.
An empty plastic pad wrapper was sitting on top of the pile of trash in the bin.
Jerrica’s?
Well, it could be anyone’s. Maybe one of the girls’. But the way it was sitting on the top of the trash, making it the most recent thing discarded there, and the way none of the little Starlight brats seemed to have been up for some time, seemed to indicate that Jerrica had been the last one here. And the last to leave her garbage in the bin.
Not that it mattered. Pizzazz wasn’t about to offer her any sympathy just for having a uterus, and all the functions that came with one.
She picked the soap off the floor. Whether she cared about leaving their bathroom a mess or not, the Starlight kids could definitely stand to keep their hands cleaner.
Pizzazz dedicated around twenty minutes to drying her hair, and continuously combing through it to try and shape it back into the proper mess she liked it. Satisfied at the end of her work, she checked her wet clothes in the sink.
Her pants and jacket were still very wet.
“Hey, not that I want to, but you wouldn’t happen to have something I can change into, would ya?” She was answered by silence, and growled, pounding once on the inside of the door. She refused to add the insult of being ignored to her list of misfortunes for the night. “Hey! Did you hear me?”
She shoved the bathroom door open before she was finished dressing, such was her determination to not be ignored.
Jerrica was gone.
She probably shouldn’t have expected her to stick around keeping watch for the entire ordeal. Pizzazz stood in the bathroom doorway, pants slightly down her hips, as she searched the area for the stuffy little blonde.
A moment later, and she saw an arm lazily stick out from the sofa in the living room just around the corner, followed by Jerrica’s face. She was eyeing Pizzazz with an angry kind of trepidation for a moment, until her eyes twitched down, and suddenly she glanced away.
“Just go,” Jerrica grumbled, waving her away. “You know where the door is.”
Pizzazz pulled her pants up the rest of the way and shuffled over to her.
Jerrica was laying on her back across the loveseat, one arm resting across her forehead in a very renaissance looking way, and the other pressing buttons on the television remote. When Pizzazz leaned her folded arms across the back cushion by her head, Jerrica flinched just a little.
“What is it?” she sighed, glaring up at her impatiently.
“My clothes are still wet,” Pizzazz explained, irritated that she had to clarify the situation.
Jerrica sat up a little and winced. She used her pain to imbue her tone with a righteous indignation. “Well, I’m not going to let you do a load of laundry, if that’s what you’re asking. You’ve already gotten more out of me than you deserve.”
Okay, yeah, she was definitely on her period.
Pizzazz hummed thoughtfully, and smirked down at her, in a way that visibly made Jerrica uncomfortable. She leaned in closer. “I bet if I butter you up real good, you will.”
“Pizzazz, you should know that Rio is coming over any minute now, and once he does, he won’t ask politely for you to be gone.”
“Aw, gonna sick your lame-ass boyfriend on me?” Pizzazz straightened up and moved away from the sofa before Jerrica could deny it. “If he was even half as good as you pretend he is, he’d be here to help you while you’re on the rag.”
Pizzazz was hit in the back of her head with a pillow. Hard enough that she had to rub out the pain with her palm. She spun around and saw an expression on Jerrica that…
It made her feel something.
Jerrica’s brows were knitted together angrily, but her eyes were tight and narrow from a pain that might have been cramps, or something entirely different. Pizzazz stood there silently, allowing Jerrica to fume at her from across the room. A moment later, Jerrica groaned and fell onto her side in a heap of pain, back into her nest on the loveseat. She said nothing.
Pizzazz felt strangely compelled to do something. What was it that people were supposed to do when they hurt someone’s feelings? She awkwardly rubbed the numbing pain on the back of her head.
Pizzazz left the room without saying a word.
She went back into the bathroom and flung open the little round door to the dryer. She heard Jerrica protesting from the other room, but ignored her.
“Come on, come on,” she muttered to herself, feeling all around the interior of the machine. “There’s always a loose dishcloth or… aha!”
She snagged a single sock out, and victoriously slammed the door shut as she strode out of the bathroom and into the kitchen.
“Pizzazz, I told you! I’m not gonna let you do any-”
“Got any rice?” she interrupted.
“What?”
“Rice. You know, the little grainy things people eat with soy sauce? Am I speaking English here?”
“The cabinet by the sink has a box of it, but why…?”
Pizzazz was there before Jerrica could finish. She filled the sock up with as much rice as it would hold, and began tying off the open end, attempting as she went along to recall how to make any sort of knot.
“I bet Jem and the Singalong’s would’ve given you a heating pad before they left you here all alone, if you had one,” Pizzazz said, finishing the knot and stepping over to the microwave. “You really should get one. But lucky for you, I know how to do the nifty homemade kind.”
It wasn’t something she’d ever learned from her own necessity, but Roxy knew a lot of pretty surprising do-it-yourself stuff. The sort of things a woman living in a mansion was rarely in need of, but here it was, finally coming in handy.
She tossed the full sock into the microwave, and hesitantly considered the keypad before deciding on two minutes. Then she leaned back against the counter, and folded her arms, self-satisfied as she smirked over at Jerrica.
Jerrica’s expression was difficult to read now. It slowly faded into a more readable emotion: confusion.
“Why?” she asked.
“I’m buttering you up. Let me do laundry? These pants are gonna chafe big time any minute now.”
Jerrica made a face similar to a frown, but it almost looked amused. “I’m not going to let you walk around Starlight Manor in your underwear. And you’re not quite my size, so…”
“Jem’s not here, right? She’s about my size. I’ll just borrow a few of her stuff, and…”
Jerrica burst out into a little laugh that might have been louder if she weren’t in so much pain. “Uh, no. That won’t work.”
“What, don’t trust me not to snoop around her room?”
“Well, now that you mention it, no, I definitely don’t. But… here.” Jerrica rolled over and grabbed something off the floor beside her, briefly giving Pizzazz a perfectly acceptable view of the back of her pajama pants. Then Jerrica sat back up and tossed a blanket at her. “Just… keep yourself covered, alright? The girls sometimes come downstairs in the middle of the night, and Rio is-”
“Going to be here any second, yeah yeah yeah.” Pizzazz, rolled the blanket up in her arms just as the microwave dinged. She attempted grabbing it, but apparently two minutes was way too long. She waved the heat off her fingers, and stuck them in her mouth to cool them. She decided to come back for it later.
For the time being, she was determined to take advantage of Jerrica’s strange period-induced generosity, and she rushed into the bathroom before she could revoke her permission.
She threw her pants, socks, and jacket in, leaving the boots to sit on top of the machine. She kept her shirt on, knowing the small lap blanket would barely cover her legs, and certainly not her whole torso. The slight dampness was enough to put up with on her chest. And if Jerrica was such a prude that she refused to let her walk around in her underpants, she definitely wouldn’t let her walk around in a bra.
At least her shirt wasn’t going to chafe.
She rarely ever touched dryers – they were the kinds of appliances that her daddy paid people to operate -, but she was confident enough in her laundry ability to press the power button, the normal setting, and the start button. Wrapping the blanket around her waist and tying it off at her hip was the most uncomfortable part of the process, and it left a long expanse of one leg exposed, along with a peek of her boyshorts, if anyone were to happen to glance in that area.
Whatever.
She emerged from the bathroom again, dressed now in only her small top, and Jerrica’s short lap-blanket. Not her most fashionable look, but it was better than soaking out in the cold dark night. Pizzazz strode over to the microwave. The sock was a bit cooler, but Pizzazz was cautious enough to hold it through the barrier of the edge of the blanket around her hips as she walked it over to Jerrica.
She plopped it down onto her lap without warning, and Jerrica flinched when it made contact. Her hands flew down to adjust it.
“Still too hot for you?”
Pizzazz had meant to say it in an unkind way. Like Jerrica was such a wimp she couldn’t handle it. That kinda way. But judging by her expression, Jerrica hadn’t taken it that way. She’d taken it genuinely.
Jerrica settled it just beneath her tummy, pressing it against herself through the thin fabric of her light blue pajamas. She sighed gratefully. “Perfect, actually.” She sounded a bit surprised. “How have I never heard of this before?”
“I’d love to know, actually. You live with, what, five other grown women? I’m surprised you don’t always get together and discuss crafting tips every time your cycles sync up.”
Jerrica’s smile faded, much to Pizzazz’s delight. But it didn’t fully transform into a frown. “I’ll let that slide,” Jerrica muttered, closing her eyes and sinking deeper into the cushions. “I’m not letting you ruin the rest of my night. Soon you’ll be out of here.”
“Yeah yeah, but for now you’re stuck with me.” Pizzazz snatched the remote away from Jerrica’s side, and moved around the sofa to sit on the floor in front of it. “So, what kind of channels do you have, huh?” She began surfing through before Jerrica could even begin to answer.
Jerrica sighed, sounding fully resigned to losing control of her television. “Cartoons, mostly. It’s mainly the girls that use the TVs, after all.”
“What do I look like, some kind of geek? We’re not watching some dumb little girl’s cartoons. Come on, what else is there?” Pizzazz caught glimpses of late night talkshows and nature documentaries as she searched, but refused to stay with them long enough to find out if they were interesting.
“Well, I doubt they’d be playing this late anyway. I think this time of night there’s a channel that plays old royalty free movies. You know, black and white stuff.”
“Ugh. I’d rather watch paint dry. Or my pants.”
“I’m not going to stop you if you want to spend the next half hour in the bathroom, out of my line of sight.”
Pizzazz only snorted gruffly in response, and kept on clicking through channels. After a few extremely brief glimpses of truly asinine TV, Jerrica sprung up excitedly.
“Oh, go back! Back to that last one!”
Pizzazz creased her brow, and would forever wonder what possessed her to do what Jerrica told her. She was immensely disappointed when she did.
“What, this?”
“Are you kidding? Lasso My Heart is a classic! It’s gotta be Meg Bryan’s best movie! Oh, and its still in the opening act!”
Pizzazz watched the screen for long enough to see a woman in a truly horrible looking bonnet and southern belle outfit start to climb up into the back of a horse-drawn buggy. The subtitles did not adequately get across her nigh unlistenable accent. Some man in a great big top-hat leaned up and kissed her, and that was when it occurred to Pizzazz that this was a romance.
“Oh no, I’m not watching this!” Pizzazz scoffed. But before her thumb could press down on the button, the remote was yanked out of her grasp.
Jerrica stuffed the remote down the front of her shirt, and grinned smugly down at Pizzazz. “Then go sit in the bathroom. It’s my house, and my TV.” If she ended up driving her away, all the better. But she had to admit, there was something undeniably appealing in the thought of forcing Pizzazz to sit and watch a romantic western musical with her.
Pizzazz growled harshly between her teeth, looking in the moment less like a vicious glamrock criminal, and more like a bratty child. She stood up suddenly, and marched loudly into the kitchen. “Does this stupid little house of yours have any popcorn in it?”
“No. And even if I had any, I don’t think I’d share it with you.” She couldn’t resist making the most of what little power she had. But it was short lived.
“Too late, already found it.” Pizzazz shook the bag over her head proudly before tossing it into the microwave. It would probably emerge smelling a little like rice, but popcorn with a rice smell was better than a sock with popcorn smell.
She could demand that Pizzazz put it back, but in the state she was in, she couldn’t convincingly threaten to so much as hobble off the sofa. Unless…?
She put her forefinger to her earring before she even fully formulated a plan.
“Yes, Jerrica?” came the melodic whisper of Synergy.
She looked up over the back of the loveseat as she thought, watching Pizzazz avoid eye-contact with the TV.
Well… was this really so bad that it warranted chasing Pizzazz away with a holographic lion?
Despite all her rudeness this evening, the past few minutes had been their most civil interaction since Ba Nee’s going away party. Maybe, if this night could end in some half normal way, they might be on somewhat better terms.
“Never mind,” Jerrica whispered back, lowering her hand. Then, louder, she spoke across the room. “Fine. Pop one for me too, and we’ll call it even.”
“Sure, you get dibs on whichever one has the most burnt kernels.”
“Jokes on you, those are my favorite.” It was a lame attempt at reverse psychology. One that Pizzazz clearly didn’t fall for when she walked back over to the sofa and handed her a bowl of half burned popcorn. But to be fair, her own bowl looked almost just as burnt.
Geez, did Pizzazz even know how to use a microwave?
There was some strange familial feeling in the way were fighting. It was more tame than Kimber was on some of her worst days. And considering everything Pizzazz had done in the past, sitting with her now and taking up space by the TV with her was downright charming. As if for this moment in time, they were not bitter enemies, but gently teasing friends.
Oh boy, my hormones must be doing something to my brain if I really just thought of Pizzazz as charming just now.
She tried to rationalize it away while simultaneously trying to watch the movie.
It was in one of its musical portions. This was the song where the lead was expressing her excitement at being married to the well-off city merchant.
Pizzazz was lounging in the other seat. A small couch that didn’t have as good a view of the TV, and was really only comfortable if it was sat in in the way one is meant to occupy a chair. Pizzazz was laying across it like it was a chaise lounge. Given what it was she was wearing, it allowed far too much of her leg to be visible in such a posture.
…Were those boyshorts?
Not exactly as sexy and revealing as she expected of her. Not that she’d ever imagined Pizzazz in sexy underwear. Except that now she was. Oh god.
During the commercial, Pizzazz turned her head to the side to meet Jerrica’s stare. Jerrica felt oddly embarrassed. With how confrontational she always was, Jerrica sort of expected Pizzazz to berate her just for looking in her direction. She quickly averted her eyes.
“Hey.” Pizzazz said.
“What?” she asked quickly, anticipating that somehow Pizzazz had been reading her mind, and preparing to defend herself.
Pizzazz raised herself up on her elbows over the arm of the seat, and the whole thing creaked loudly over the noise of some ad for hair gel. “This chair sucks.”
That was no doubt thanks to all the climbing and roughhousing the girls did on it. “Thank you, Pizzazz. I’ll be sure to get that checked out right away for you.” No doubt Pizzazz was more accustomed to far finer seating arrangements. But Jerrica was not remotely about to start catering to her, and if Pizzazz thought she was, then she had really misjudged her generosity.
Without taking her eyes off of her, Pizzazz scoffed and sat up into a more normal position. And, already finished with her entire bowl of popcorn, she dropped it haphazardly on the floor beside the couch. A few stray bits spilled out onto the floor, but Jerrica was willing to worry about it later, once Pizzazz was gone.
Without a word, Pizzazz got up and stomped over to Jerrica, staring imposingly and expectantly down at her legs stretched over half the sofa.
“I’m not moving over for you.” Jerrica told her sternly. Not sternly enough to keep Pizzazz from picking up her feet in one hand and lifting them like a drawbridge to plop herself down beside her on the more comfortable loveseat. When her heels came back down, they had nowhere to go but on her lap. Jerrica supposed that was better than Pizzazz shoving her legs into a constrained, far less comfortable position. But she still didn’t like the feeling of Pizzazz’s thighs through the blanket between them. Their close proximity radiated tension.
Jerrica was in too much pain to protest, but she did grumble loudly.
“So, what’s this movie about anyway?” Pizzazz asked, reaching for Jerrica’s bowl.
Jerrica hoisted it out of her reach before she could get any of her burnt popcorn. None of the stuff left was any good, but it was hers, darn it. “You would know if you just paid attention.”
“Hmm.” She folded her arms across her chest as she leaned back into the cushions. Back in Lasso My Heart, a new character was singing about her desire for a bigger, more important life. Pizzazz tilted her chin at her when she came on screen. “Who’s that?”
Jerrica closed her eyes and wished extremely hard that Rio was next to her, and not the most horrible member of the Misfits. Maybe, if it was a hard enough wish…
But she opened her eyes, and it was still Phyllis Gabor.
“Pizzazz,” she sighed, “you can always just leave if you aren’t enjoying yourself. In fact, I’d prefer if you did. I’m sure your mansion has at least one dryer.”
Pizzazz scoffed. “Funny, I thought you and your Holograms were more of the ‘neighborly good will’ types. Jem is, anyway. I guess she’s just nicer than you.”
The way that last comment irked her definitely showed. She glared at the TV, while in her head she was grabbing Pizzazz by her frail little shirt and screaming, that’s because Jem isn’t real! She’s supposed to be a good example, and that means being nice to even stuck-up brats like you! But I don’t have to be nice if you don’t deserve it, so you bet your ass I won’t!
No one had any business comparing her to Jem. Least of all, Pizzazz. And especially not if she was just going to be using the comparison to bring up all the ways in which Jerrica fell short of her idealized alter ego.
“Hey,” Pizzazz said again. She sat up a bit, turning her upper body toward her and ignoring the movie. Her expression was strangely serious. “Level with me for a second. What’s the deal with you two?”
Immediately, Jerrica felt her nerves kick into overdrive. All anger replaced by fear. “What deal?”
Was she suspicious?
“You know…” she shrugged, “She stole your sisters, your boyfriend, and she’s basically the face of your family business now. There’s gotta be some sore feelings in there, am I right?” She smirked.
Jerrica felt something inside her snap.
The immediate impulse she had was to slam her heel down on Pizzazz’s leg, but she knew an infuriated Pizzazz could do a lot more damage than she could in a momentary impulse of violence. Her second thought was to summon up that holographic lion she’d been considering. But both those ideas fell to the wayside in favor of another.
Jacqui had given her some advice, years ago, some time before her passing. Not terribly useful advice, but the kind that was suddenly rising to the forefront of Jerrica’s thoughts. She imagined her mother as she remembered her; her blonde hair glowing in the sun, and lowering herself to a modest crouch in order to be at level with her daughter’s eyes. ‘If you ever run into someone who’s trying to bully you, just turn your nose up and ignore them. They’ll leave you alone if you don’t give them the reaction they want.’ Jerrica had never really been convinced of the validity of this advice. But Jacqui had been such a confident matriarch, that even as an adult, it felt convincing.
A holographic lion still wasn’t totally off the table, though.
But for the time being, Jerrica’s defense was to roll her shoulders back in a lazy shrug. “You wouldn’t be the first to think so.” And that was true. Her sisters had originally expressed a lot of these concerns in the beginning. That didn’t really mean they were unfounded, though.
Pizzazz’s smirk faded, much to Jerrica’s relief. She was starting to think there was something to this advice after all.
But then Pizzazz doubled down. “Well, maybe if I’m not the first, then there’s something to it. C’mon, can you honestly say it doesn’t bug you that a prettier, more talented woman swooped in and started schtupping your boyfriend?”
Despite how tightly Jerrica was hanging on to her façade of indifference, that one hit her. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t pretend that Pizzazz wasn’t getting to her. She couldn’t just let herself get hurt.
And maybe she shouldn’t have, but she was so desperate for defense that she couldn’t help picking up the ammunition she’d just been handed in the midst of the insult.
She looked right back at Pizzazz, and mimicked her self-satisfied grin. “You think Jem’s pretty, huh?”
Pizzazz’s sharp smirk fell instantly, and for the first time since she arrived, Jerrica felt victorious. A real, genuine glee sprouted up in her at the sight of an angry Pizzazz.
“What’re you…? No! I just… ugh!” She shoved Jerrica’s legs out of the way and stood up, getting in the way of the TV. “Obviously I just mean that other people find her more attractive. More attractive than you are!” She was starting to yell, furiously clamoring to regain her ground in this verbal battle.
But Jerrica was unaffected now. She tried very hard not to smile. “But what about you?” she asked innocently.
“What? What about me?”
“Do you think Jem is prettier than me?”
Pizzazz was speechless for a moment. Backed into a corner, as she was. Saying no would be a compliment, which she would obviously be loath to give her. Saying yes would be admitting to exactly what she’d just denied.
Of course, Jerrica didn’t believe there was any truth to it either way. All she’d really done was force Pizzazz to stumble over her own insult. And maybe it was unkind to accuse her of finding a woman pretty, thereby accusing her of something much deeper. But she couldn’t help making a little fun of her. Especially not when it was her only weapon of defense.
At a loss for words as she was, Pizzazz clenched her fists at her sides and started screaming incoherently at her. Jerrica found a strange satisfaction in her anger.
“Jerrica?” A small, hesitant voice sounded from the stairs. Jerrica and Pizzazz both turned to look over at Krissie, standing nervously in her pajama’s, and not taking her eyes off of the Misfit standing by the TV. “Should I…” she eyed the phone sitting by the kitchen counter, “… call the police?”
Wincing, Jerrica quickly hauled herself up out of the loveseat, leaving the rice sock and popcorn behind. “No, Krissie, it’s fine,” she said, moving across the room toward her. All the while, Pizzazz remained uncomfortably still by the television. Krissie was still eyeing her with trepidation, even as Jerrica stood in the way of her view, and put a hand over her shoulder. “Did we wake you?”
She shook her head while maintaining unbroken eye contact with Pizzazz. It became uncomfortable enough for Jerrica to interrupt.
“Krissie, it’s fine. She’s only here until her clothes dry. Go back to bed, okay?”
“You said to call the police if she ever showed up again, Jerrica.”
Oof. She kind of hoped Pizzazz hadn’t heard that. “Yeah… I know…” She knelt down closer to her, and whispered conspiratorially in her ear. “Listen, Pizzazz is really rich. I’m pretty sure she’d just pay off the cops anyway if we called them. I’ll handle it, so don’t worry, okay?”
“People can do that? People can just pay money to not get arrested?”
Jerrica grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around back toward the stairs. “Yes, yes, I’ll tell you all about it later, Krissie. For now, just get to bed. And don’t mention this to anyone.” She gave her a gentle shove, and Krissie obediently went marching to her room. She looked back over her shoulder at Pizzazz once more before fleeing out of sight.
She hoped she wouldn’t be going back to reconnaissance with the other girls upstairs, likely also awake at this hour.
Jerrica stood up straight, and immediately shrank back down, holding herself tightly around her gut, and clenching her teeth. Boy, she hadn’t realized how much good that sock was doing until now that it wasn’t on her.
In her sudden pain, she hadn’t noticed Pizzazz stepping past her, back into the kitchen. She watched in confusion as the Misfit begin rifling through her cupboard.
“We don’t have more popcorn in there.”
“I know,” Pizzazz grumbled. “Just go sit down. You’re making me hurt just lookin’ at you.”
With one eyebrow raised, Jerrica moved back onto the loveseat, getting cozy once more on her blankets and pillows. Her rice sock was room-temperature now, she realized with chagrin. She pressed it against her tummy anyway.
“So,” Pizzazz muttered a bit quietly, filling up the kettle with water from the faucet. “Krissie’s still here, huh?”
“You know her name?”
“I owned this place very briefly, if you recall.”
“Yeah, but… I guess I’m just surprised you remember that.” Pizzazz definitely hadn’t enjoyed her ownership of Starlight Manor, and by every indication hadn’t enjoyed her time with any of its orphans. The orphans pretty unanimously hadn’t enjoyed their time with her.
“Early on, me and Jetta were taking bets on who’d get adopted, and who wouldn’t.” Pizzazz said searching through the cupboard with one hand. “Krissie’s a sweet kid. Not like Ashley.” Pizzazz smirked. “Ashley hasn’t got a chance.”
“Why not Ashley?” Jerrica barked back indignantly, rising a bit out of her seat on the sofa. “She’s smart, and she’s determined, and she’s a good hearted person! Any family would be lucky to have her.”
Pizzazz shook her head as she pulled a mug from the cupboard. One with hearts and stars all over it. It was Jerrica’s, but that was probably pretty obvious by its design. “Yeah, but none of that matters to parents.” She closed the door of the cupboard in a strangely delicate way. “Ashley’s a troublemaker.”
“So are you,” she countered.
“I know,” Pizzazz agreed without a moment’s hesitation.
Jerrica reflected on that, sinking back into the loveseat. There was something a bit somber about how easily she agreed. Then, Jerrica nearly jumped when Pizzazz leaned over her, and twitched her open palm at her.
“Here, gimme the sock.”
Her expectant tone was enough to make her not want to, but she handed it over, and then Pizzazz disappeared. A few seconds later, Jerrica could hear numbers being punched, and the microwave humming to life. She could also hear the shuffle of moving fabric.
Curiously, she sat up again and turned her focus back to Pizzazz.
A mistake, as at that exact moment was when she apparently decided to untie the blanket from around her waist.
“W-what are you doing?!”
Pizzazz glanced over at her as though her alarm were totally unwarranted. She shrugged, and tossed the thing onto the floor carelessly. “Rio’s not coming, is he?” she asked rhetorically.
“Don’t change the subject!”
“And how likely is it that another kid is gonna wander down here?”
“It doesn’t matter how likely it is! Put that back on!”
“Pssh. Don’t be such a prude.” She pulled at the edge of her underpants and let the elastic snap against her thigh. “These probably cover more than some of the stuff I’ve worn to shows.”
Jerrica bit down a little on her lip before giving up. She idly wondered which shows Pizzazz had worn more revealing clothes to. Certainly none of the ones she’d been forced to watch from backstage before going on as Jem. She mentally ran down the list of every scant outfit she knew Pizzazz owned. Frankly, nothing really compared to the scandalous sight of her standing in the kitchen in her underwear.
At least she was still wearing her shirt. Her tiny, sleeveless shirt, that left her midriff exposed. It was better than nothing.
Pizzazz flipped one of the burners on, and pushed the kettle over it. When her hands were free, she reached up into a nearby cupboard and snagged the box of raspberry tea from a collection of other flavors. Without any hesitation, she took out a packet and brought it up to her mouth, tearing it open with her teeth, and extracting the bag from within.
It gave Jerrica a strange feeling to see her navigating the space so casually. Although, she supposed, her house wasn’t all that unfamiliar to her.
Pizzazz’s eyes reflexively caught Jerrica in the middle of her staring. She thought that she might snap at her or something, but she just looked away, bashfully examining the floor in a way so uncharacteristic of Pizzazz.
“Hey… don’t tell her, alright?” Pizzazz muttered, almost too quietly to be heard.
“What?”
“Jem…” she rubbed at a faint redness on her cheek. “don’t… mention what I said. I’m doing this in exchange for your silence, get it?”
What, about thinking she’s pretty? Why on earth did she care? There couldn’t have been any real truth to it anyway. And it wasn’t like her to care what Jem thought. Jerrica refused to give it much thought. She shook her head.
“Only if you keep up your good behavior. I’m not about to make you a promise just so you can go right back to being mean to me when I get the sock back.”
“Hmmph.” Pizzazz leaned back against the counter, gazing past Jerrica at the TV. Judging by the sound of it, they were at the part where Kate’s husband was breaking through the avalanche to save her, unaware that she’d by now already fallen for the rugged frontiersman. There was going to be a very catchy song soon.
Jerrica knew this by sound only. She was still staring at Pizzazz, trying to figure out what strange change had come over her, and why.
She’d sooner threaten Jerrica to keep her secret than try to bargain for it, wouldn’t she?
The microwave dinged, and in a moment Pizzazz was throwing the hot sock at her. Jerrica was too grateful for it to be annoyed by her carelessness. She sank back against the arm of the sofa, sighing happily as the heat on her abdomen relieved her ache once more. Before she knew it, her eyes closed and opened to find Pizzazz sitting beside her again.
Her mug was sitting in Pizzazz’s hand, untouched, and unoffered. She glanced down at her when Jerrica saw it.
“It’s gotta cool,” she muttered. “Unless you wanna burn your tongue.”
It was not a question, but Jerrica still shook her head. “Don’t really wanna sit up, either.” Jerrica wasn’t honestly all that fond of tea anyway. But the novelty of having Pizzazz doing things for her was such a strange delight that she didn’t even really feel the need to refuse it. It was enough just to see Pizzazz holding it for her.
On the screen, Milly and Kate were embracing, reconciling after the tumultuous final act, and beginning their duet. Jerrica hummed along as well as she could, despite the ache.
Pizzazz cocked her head down at her, the muscles of her brow forming her makeup into some disgruntled shape.
Jerrica stopped humming. “What?”
“…Nothing.” She lifted the mug to her mouth, hovering her lips just barely over the edge to test its heat. Satisfied, she handed it down to Jerrica. “You just sound… never mind. Forget it.” She turned her attention back to the TV as Jerrica finally sat up to take slow, cautious sips of her tea.
She always tried to make Jem sound a little bit different than herself. Could Pizzazz really detect the similarity in only a little hum?
But Pizzazz had dropped the subject, so, to maintain the fragile peace, so did Jerrica.
It was not lost on her how strange this situation was. Even in all her most tame moments, Pizzazz had never spent so much as a second sitting quietly beside her. And now that this was reality, it felt already strangely normal.
It wouldn’t last.
Once tonight was over, and Pizzazz went home, they’d both be right back to their usual dynamic. But Jerrica felt a strange impulse to make the most of her temporary docility.
“How did you know Rio wasn’t coming?”
Pizzazz shrugged. “It seems pretty obvious. It’s already after nine. Like I said, if he were any good, he’d be here. And I know you’d say anything to get rid of me.”
Jerrica tried to resist the urge to defend him, and nearly succeeded, but she couldn’t quite let it go wholly unchallenged. “Why do you have to say that about him? I seem to recall you liking him too, once.”
Pizzazz tossed her head back and chuckled, in the kind of way she only ever did egotistically. “I wouldn’t expect a good girl like you to know, but there’s a difference between liking a guy, and wanting to steal someone’s boyfriend. ‘Sides, sometimes it’s fun to flirt with someone who you know hates it.”
She frowned dubiously back at her. “I’ll take your word for it.” Although, it really didn’t surprise her at all to know that Pizzazz was motivated by the anger of others. Jerrica suspected that Pizzazz wouldn’t be so amused by it if she were on the receiving end of that kind of tactic. Something to think more on later, maybe.
In no time at all, her tea was gone. She leaned forward to set her mug down on the floor, beside her empty bowl of popcorn. But before it made it that far, Pizzazz had already grabbed it out of her hand.
“Movie’s probably almost over by now, right?”
“Yeah,” she hesitated, sensing that Pizzazz’s temporary tameness had reached its end. She felt disappointed by that. And even more disappointed that such an obvious conclusion to their meeting would leave her feeling let down. “At least give me back my mug.”
Pizzazz made some puffy sound through her teeth that wasn’t really an answer, and walked to the stove, flipping on the burner under the kettle once more.
Oh. She was refilling it.
She had already accepted that Pizzazz was going to ransack her kitchen for anything breakable. Maybe it was unfair to have assumed the worst, but… Jerrica was unaccustomed to trusting her.
Jerrica was still stunned and staring when Pizzazz moseyed back over and wordlessly handed her back a fresh cup of tea before plopping herself down beside her on the loveseat, like she belonged there.
Why on earth was she still being nice?
As far as Pizzazz could tell, the bad guy was trying to steal some lady out of this backwoods cabin from… her boyfriend? Husband? She was engaged or something to somebody, but which of the two men it was, Pizzazz still wasn’t sure. This movie felt like a strange combination of two different terrible stories. Every time she tried to pay attention to the screen, she felt herself dying a little of boredom. At least the music had been entertainingly bad.
Her attention wavered again as one of the women started sobbing out her feelings or something. Mid eye-roll, she caught Jerrica staring up at her.
“What?”
The last few times she’d caught her staring, she’d taken the hint to quickly look away. But this time, she didn’t. She shook her head slowly as she gazed at her, like she was trying to figure something out. “Why aren’t you always like this?” she asked
Pizzazz grimaced skeptically down at her. “You mean half naked and bored out of my mind? Happens more often than you’d think, actually.”
“I mean nice,” Jerrica corrected. “You’re not so bad at it, when you put in the effort.”
“Excuse me?” Pizzazz adjusted herself to face her more directly. “I’m not one of your charity-case orphans, Ms. Benton. I can do without the backhanded compliments.”
Jerrica fidgeted a little at being called ‘Ms. Benton’. But she seemed somehow pleased, and not insulted by the title. “Okay, maybe that was a bit backhanded,” she admitted, but didn’t look truly apologetic. “But I leveled with you, so now it’s your turn. Why aren’t you nice”
“Pfft. Good lord, it’s always the same with you people,” Pizzazz sighed, turning away again. “Always with the ‘what gives you the right?’, and ‘how dare you?’, ‘why do you do this?’. Look, maybe I do the things I do just because I find it fun, okay? I don’t have to justify myself.”
Jerrica’s amusement was irritatingly impervious to her aggression. Instead of being appropriately shot down, she just shrugged.
“Alright,” she said, but it sounded like, ‘if you say so’. She took a sip of her tea before gaining the confidence to say more. “But, to be honest with you, I really prefer the nice Pizzazz. She’s a lot more fun to hang out with.”
Pizzazz flinched at those last words, and hoped Jerrica hadn’t seen how sharply they’d affected her. It was pitiful. Pizzazz defended herself from the confusing feelings she elicited in her usual way.
“Well, sucks to be you, then.”
But despite how much she wished she didn’t, she thought deeply on the fact that Jerrica admitted to enjoying her company. Jerrica, of all fucking people. She had to be kidding. But every stolen glance in her direction revealed no humor in her.
In no time, the characters on screen were singing again, to a tune that reprised the opening theme. Any minute now, the credits would roll, and then she’d be… free?
She’d been free to leave at any time. She certainly wasn’t hanging around for the company or the entertainment. Ugh. What an embarrassing impulse of good will this had been. Now she’d have to make up for it by kicking over her recycling on her way out.
Finally, the music came to an end, and the credits were rolling.
Jerrica reaching down into her shirt caught Pizzazz’s attention, but it wasn’t until she pulled out the remote that she remembered that’s where it had gone.
Jerrica’s thumb hovered over the power button hesitantly. She glanced up at Pizzazz, making a face that was both beseeching, and bracing for rejection.
“Do you…” she asked carefully, “…wanna watch something else?”
She couldn’t quite believe her ears. “Huh? here? With you, you mean?”
“Yeah…” Jerrica glanced away again. “If you want.”
Pizzazz was caught totally off-guard by the request. As lucky as she was to have been offered initial shelter from the rain outside, this was beyond all scope of imagining; that she’d be invited to stay longer. She could only assume that Jerrica must’ve been very very lonely.
But for once, Pizzazz wasn’t sure what she wanted.
Did she really want to go back home? The only thing there was Jetta, who would probably still be peevish about the whole ‘getting turned invisible’ thing. And what was for her here? Only Jerrica Benton, and what remained of her snack food.
Mainly, though, she was curious to pursue this strange generosity. How long would Jerrica be willing to shelter her before getting fed up? How much of her hospitality was part of her goody goody act, and how much was genuine? Was any of it genuine?
“Yeah, alright,” Pizzazz shrugged. “Nothing sappy this time, though.”
Jerrica all but beamed up at her, looking much too pleased that she’d accepted. It almost made Pizzazz regret her choice. Jerrica handed her the remote. “Put on whatever you want,” she said, standing up and setting all her little things on the floor. “I’ll be back.” She walked out of the room and headed down to the bathroom.
Alone with the TV remote, Pizzazz felt mischievous again. There were always a few channels playing something scary this hour. Pizzazz did not particularly enjoy horror films, but she knew Jerrica wouldn’t either. She smiled to herself, thinking back on that night at the opera house. If she ignored how scared she herself had been at the time, the memory of Jerrica running around terrified was a treasured little morsel. The enjoyment she’d get from seeing her upset would outweigh any of her own discomfort.
It was the perfect way to test how willing Jerrica was to put up with her.
Sure enough, after flipping through a couple more channels, she found something that looked like a horror movie.
It had to be at least already halfway over, judging by the level of bloodshed already. Some guy with a knife was wandering down a hospital, and Pizzazz was sure she was supposed to be able to recognize him. She wasn’t really into this kinda stuff though, and so she had no idea who it was supposed to be.
She cocked her head to the side at the sound of the bathroom door opening again, and Jerrica returning. She looked a bit more worn than she had before. She curled up beside her, leaning deeply into the cushions with a sigh. It was a moment before she seemed to notice what was on.
“Oh, Nightmare On The Thirteenth Halloween: Two?”
Pizzazz’s heart sank. “You’ve seen it, huh?” It wouldn’t scare her if she’d seen it.
Jerrica shrugged. “Yeah, a bit. But it’s fine. I probably can’t pay much attention to it anyway.”
“Past your bedtime?” Pizzazz sneered playfully at her.
Jerrica stretched and sighed. “No. But I took some pain pills, and they’ll probably knock me out pretty soon.”
Excellent. That meant she’d be able to turn off the movie without looking like a wuss. “Well, hurry up and go to sleep. The minute you’re out, I’m gonna start snooping around your house.”
Pizzazz figured there was a fifty-fifty shot that Jerrica would recognize it as a joke. But a much smaller chance she’d be amused by it. She was fully prepared to dodge another thrown pillow.
But to her surprise, Jerrica retaliated in a far more aggressive way.
She said nothing, and after a moment of thought, she turned and laid sideways across the loveseat, laying her head astride Pizzazz’s bare lap. “Good luck getting out unnoticed,” she purred, eyes closed as she smiled at the ceiling.
Pizzazz was rooted to the spot, unable to even relax her tight shoulders. Even seeing her there with her own eyes, and feeling the weight of her head on her thigh, it was a long time before Pizzazz understood what was happening.
Oh god. What if she really did fall asleep there? What if Pizzazz was stuck on the damn sofa all night? She’d have to carefully replace her leg with some kind of pillow in order to escape. She would have considered carrying her up to her room, but she didn’t consider herself quite strong enough for it to be worth the effort. Of course, her only other option would be to give her a blanket to make her more comfortable, so she’d stay asleep.
Ugh, good thinking, Pizzazz, she berated herself internally, why don’t you just imagine kissing her goodnight, too?
Jerrica shifted slightly, getting more comfortable on her. The slight motion was enough to bring Pizzazz back to the present. “You’re blushing,” Jerrica pointed out smugly. Instinctively, Pizzazz moved her hand up to her cheek, as though she were capable of rubbing away the heat with the back of her hand.
“Am not,” she said, a bit too quietly to be very convincing.
Jerrica’s eyes were filled with a cheeky kind of delight, and some strange emotion that Pizzazz couldn’t recognize. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen it before. Certainly not directed at her. “You know, Pizzazz,” Jerrica teased, seemingly committed to getting a rise out of her, “it kind of feels like my boyfriend did show up.”
“What are you talking about? We’re the only ones… here…” Pizzazz’s normally arrogant, sharp tone, faded quickly into some uncertain whisper as she looked down at Jerrica, processing the meaning of her words.
She was speechless. Too speechless to react in whatever way Jerrica had wanted, probably. Too speechless to even be angry.
All her gentle teasing that night had so far been a not-so-subtle attempt to get her to leave. Was this just more of that, or did she mean it a little? And more importantly, did Pizzazz want her to mean it a little?
Jerrica, who had been unabashed in meeting her gaze, seemed to suddenly lose her nerve when Pizzazz was confused, and not angry, with her teasing. She turned away, and became self-conscious about where she was resting her head. She struggled a bit to sit up, releasing Pizzazz, and occasionally stealing glances at her as she hugged her knees to her chest.
The violence playing on the TV screen was an apt metaphor for the feelings welling up inside Pizzazz.
Fuck it.
She reached over and draped her arm across Jerrica’s shoulders to pull her closer, testing her sincerity. The stuck up little band manager made a sound almost like a squeak when Pizzazz pulled her head to her shoulder. Cute. Yeah, Jerrica was kind of, sort of cute. Pizzazz felt victorious, for the first time that night. Jerrica was so nervous; she couldn’t even look at her.
Until she did, shyly turning her head just barely toward her. There was a question in her eyes, but her mouth was clamped shut, unable to speak it. Jerrica smiled awkwardly, and made a sound that was almost a chuckle, but was too soft and breathy for that to be what it was. And it certainly didn’t break the tension.
Pizzazz couldn’t resist the urge to push harder. She smirked back at her, eager to make her even more uncomfortable. “That so, huh?” she asked, snidely.
Without words to commit to her answer, Jerrica’s eyes said everything when they fell to carefully examine Pizzazz’s lips.
Then the doorbell rang.
Pizzazz was shoved away before she even had time to register the sound. She blinked, trying to recall where she was and what was happening. Jerrica was already on her feet, panicking.
There was some indiscernible muttering behind the door.
“Go hide or something!” Jerrica hissed urgently.
“Why?” Pizzazz scoffed, still feeling very shaken.
Jerrica didn’t answer, and moved closer to the door. “It’s my sisters,” she sighed with relief. Who did she think it was? She turned back to Pizzazz. “You should still definitely hide!”
“I’m not gonna hide!” Pizzazz said firmly. “Just explain to them why I’m here, what are they gonna do about it?”
“I’m not going to argue about this with you, Phyllis!” she said, “I don’t want them to see you here!”
The use of her real name only made her less inclined to obey. Jerrica didn’t know her. She didn’t understand what it meant to be called by that name. She had no right to use it. Pizzazz scowled at her, and strode across the floor to her.
“Why not?” she asked, disdainfully. “Embarrassed that it was me you were cuddling with, and not Rio?”
Jerrica winced. The sound of keys jangling on the other side of the door turned her pained expression angry again. She futilely glanced around the room, as if the solution to all her problems would be somewhere there.
Then, reaching some decision, she gritted her teeth, and put a hand on her earring.
“Pizzazz,” she said, more gently now, “please… please just… whatever happens, don’t say a word. And don’t move until everyone is gone.”
“What’re you-”
Several things all happened at once. A strange flash of light enveloped her, Jerrica ran back to the loveseat, and the front door opened.
Aja was the first through the door. “Ah, see? I told you guys she was still awake. The lights are still on and everything.”
Shana followed behind her, shaking her head. “Well, I just hope for our sake that the doorbell didn’t wake the girls.”
One by one the Holograms entered the house, all passing right by Pizzazz without giving her a passing glance, or saying a single word. All except Jem, for some reason. Pizzazz kept expecting her to show up with them, but Raya, the last one in, shut and locked the door behind her. She didn’t seem to notice her either when she passed her to enter the living room.
Huh. Was this some sort of weird new passive-aggressive thing? Were they pretending not to notice her out of spite?
She glanced at Jerrica, who looked back apprehensively. Jerrica put a desperate finger to her lips, and then when she was approached by one of her sisters, transformed the gesture to make it look like she was scratching her mouth.
Kimber rushed over to her side. “Oh, Jerrica, you will not believe who we saw at the bowling alley! It was outrageous! We had just the craziest, most exciting night!”
“You’ll have to tell me all about it,” she smiled, then glanced very briefly at where Pizzazz was standing, and frowned. “…But maybe tomorrow. I’m exhausted, and I’ve really got to go to bed.”
“Need help getting up the stairs?” Aja offered, moving to her side.
“No, no. Thanks, but I really feel fine. Well, better, anyway.” Jerrica reached for the remote on the arm of the sofa and switched the TV off, not that even a single person in the room was paying it any attention. She stood up, and attempted to usher her sisters out of the room with her.
But in the movement, Shana spotted the second discarded bowl of popcorn over by the other seat. “Where’s Rio?” she asked, halting. “I didn’t see his car in the driveway.” The room fell silent, waiting for her answer.
“Actually… well, he never showed. I uh… popped a second bag because I was just… so upset that Rio wasn’t around, and I ate them both.”
Pizzazz supposed the story would be difficult to corroborate with him later if she were to pretend he’d been here. But geez, it was such a lame lie. Luckily none of the Holograms were keen on calling her bluff.
“Really? Oh, Jerrica, I’m sorry,” Shana said, sympathetically embracing her. “It was raining pretty hard. Maybe his power went out. I’m sure he’ll be around tomorrow.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Jerrica was very clearly not enthused by the prospect of seeing him right now. It made Pizzazz gleeful in a way she herself couldn’t’ve explained.
“Hey, what’s with the weird sock?” Kimber asked, picking up the rice sock off the other end of the loveseat.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Aja swiped it and frowned, untying the end and pulling out a fistful of warm dry rice. “What the heck did you do to it?”
“It’s… uh… hard to explain. Look, I’ll clean it up in the morning, I promise.”
“Never mind the sock,” Raya said, moving away from the other Holograms, and staring directly at Pizzazz. “When did we get this weird floor lamp?”
This was getting beyond ridiculous. Pizzazz held up her fist, so she could threaten an explanation for their weird behavior out from her. But when she raised her hand, nothing was there. Her whole mind went blank, attempting to work out an explanation for her incorporeality.
Jerrica quickly pulled Raya away before Pizzazz decided that she had probably dreamed all the events of the night.
“Pretty crazy, right?” Jerrica laughed, grabbing her shoulders in what appeared to be a vice-like grip, physically moving her toward the stairs. “Fans send over the weirdest things, hahaha!” The rest of the Holograms cautiously followed after her, exchanging strange glances. Jerrica hung back and just before going out of view, halted at the top of the steps, steering the rest of the women up ahead of her. She looked at Pizzazz, held her mouth uncomfortably still, preparing to say something. Then she shook her head, smiled a bit forlornly, and mouthed ‘go!’ at her, just before flipping off the lights, and rushing up the rest of the way to join her sisters.
When her face was out of sight, the same strange flash of light seemed to dissipate from around her. Pizzazz remained where she was for a while, standing alone in the dark for a time. She reached up and pinched herself on the shoulder. She could definitely feel it. What was more, she could see herself again.
Okay… not a dream, then?
She probably should’ve taken her meds before leaving the house.
Maybe she’d get an explanation out of Jerrica sometime. Assuming she would ever speak to her again. They didn’t exactly have the most pleasant farewell just then.
Pizzazz scoffed, and scolded herself internally for caring. What did it matter? Since when did she give a shit whether Jerrica Benton talked to her? Since never. She didn’t care. And she was glad that now they’d be able to go right back to being enemies.
She stomped into the bathroom, snagged her clothes out of the dryer, and slammed the door angrily shut. She didn’t care if she woke up the whole manor. She didn’t care if Jerrica got pissed. In fact, now that she was gone, she was free to do whatever she wanted around the house. She could make a mess of things just because she felt like it, or raid the fridge, or steal the batteries out of the TV remote.
Pizzazz stumbled through the dark living room, back over to the loveseat, felt around by the foot of it, and swiped her prize. A little something to show for all her misery tonight.
Satisfied, she slipped out the door.
The rain had died down a bit. And home wasn’t too far. She buttoned up her jacket and grimaced as she left the Starlight property, feeling more glum than she had in a while. She was tempted to look back at the building, to see if maybe she’d be able to spot Jerrica watching her through the window. But frankly, that would only add greater insult to her already substantial insult.
Somewhere along the way, she nearly tripped over a flattened clump of circuits and metal that had once probably been the Invisi-gun. A victim of the Rockin’ Roadster, or whatever the hell they called that car. Hopefully, Techrat wasn’t expecting to get it back.
The gate was much easier to get through from inside. If Pizzazz ever had to sneak in again, she swore she’d just bribe a child again or something. None of that ‘climbing around in the rain’ stuff again. The gate automatically locked behind her, and Pizzazz followed the road out toward the street.
What an extreme embarrassment tonight had been. Still…
She pulled Jerrica’s mug out of her jacket pocket, and admired it. It was nothing like daddy’s fine china, and had probably cost Jerrica Benton about three bucks at a flea market, judging by the condition. Really, if she paid any more than that, she’d been ripped off.
But the fact that it was Jerrica’s made it so much more valuable. Not for any weird reasons. Just because stealing was fun. That was all.
Pizzazz twirled the handle around her finger all the way home.