If I Was Perfect Then This Would Be Easy

"Good morning, California! It's a lovely weather outside today, probably the best so far! So grab your boards and--"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I gladly accepted the silence, now that the radio was off.

I was alone. Again. Not surprisingly, Jack had decided to sleep at Val's, doing things not worth mentioning. This made my brain swirl. Hypothetically speaking, if Michelle lived with Val (which I didn't know for sure) and Jack and Val were all happy bunnies together, Michelle wouldn't be very happy about it. So, I assumed she could only be withBrian one person. I shook my head, already sick at the thought. Besides, why should I be interested in that jerk's life?

"In this hole, that is me, the dead are rolling over, in this hole, thickening, dirt shoveled over shoulders..."

The water ran freely, the sound intertwining with my singing. I wasn't as angry as I should have been after wasting all my night in town with Chris Nunez. Instead, the over all feeling I got while moving around my apartment doing nothing could be classified as quite chippery or animated.

Swimming in my own little world of liability, I kept dancing around wearing nothing but pajama shorts, a tank top with and a hair do that put Def Leppard to shame, so when the doorbell rang and revealed was Jimmy, I shrieked. Well, I would have liked for it to be a shriek, but the sound resembled more to a rubber duck being accidentally stepped on.

"Morning!"

Holding several bags that smelled like heavenly coffee and other treats, Jimmy waltzed in the room, happier than ever. I sometimes could not understand that man at all.

"Yeah, morning," I greeted, sending him a look to clarify my confusion. "Dude, I missed out the part where you called me like the civilized person you are and announced your arrival."

"I missed that part, too. Now this," he pointed at the bags which now laid on the kitchen table, "my dear, is part of the Reverend's plan to catch your off guard."

Given my state, I gave him credit for at least doing that. And just as I attempted to open my mouth with a witty comeback, the power of coffee struck again. Seconds later, I could be found at the table indulging with all the good stuff Jimmy had brought.

"You are my hero right now," I proudly confessed, taking another bite of the donut.

He grinned like the mad man he was and placed his right arm over his heart. "I am honored."

Like the foolish woman I was, I paid no importance to Jimmy's odd behavior (because it was odd, no matter what I could have possibly thought) and cataloged him as his usual self, even when he sat quietly next to me and ate away. Oh, how stupid of me to think of Jimmy as quiet.

"You know what, I've been talking to Darren and Dom."

Somehow, the association of Jimmy, Darren, Dom and the verb 'to talk' hit me like a very bad idea. Bad as in the amplitude of the Holocaust. "Oh really? How interesting."

"And guess what."

"Hmm?"

"Nunez has a thing for you."

Those were the only words I caught out of his phrase before choking on pure air. Jimmy knew not to interfere, but didn't wait for me to regain composure either. What was it with these people and trying to hit me when my guard's down?

"He gave you a car. Shit, it's cool, but don't run into his arms, m'kay?"

"Jesus Christ, Jimmy!" I was stunned by my friend's outburst. "Do you honestly think of me as a materialistic bitch? For one, that car was a gift from all of the guys and secondly, what makes you think I ran into his arms?"

Jimmy knew more than it showed. Either that, or he was bluffing. And there was one rule The Rev seemed to forget: you don't bluff with me. Two could play the game, I decided, so I put on my poker face and left Jimmy at a loss.

"I saw the two of you in a Starbucks." Aha! Uh oh. "And you were sorta holding hands. Okay, not sorta. You were holding hands. And he seemed pretty fucking excited about that gesture."

"Wow," was all I could breathe. Come to think of it, 'wow' described the situation perfectly. Jimmy was officially on my black list.

"Look, I wasn't stalking. I accidentally ran into that coffee shop, already worried about the two of you disappearing like that. And no offense, but when a fine girl rides off in the sunset with Prince Charming - the Miami suburbs version, there are plenty of reasons to worry."

"You're not fair."

"Neither are you."

I agreed with him. Maybe I was hurting Brian with what I was doing, maybe I wasn't fair. Wait, what?! "Jimmy, what's really going on?"

And that's when I hit the soft spot. Things finally made sense the second I saw Jimmy's hand around a cup of coffee with cream. Oh, the treachery I sensed.

"Oh hell no!" I barked, jumping to my feet. "Jim, if someone put you up to this, you're a dead man."

"Sit down and shut up, stupid. You don't really think I'd do what someone else told me to."

He had his point, but the battle was not over yet. "Something's going on and don't you dare lie to me. You drink coffee with cream, Jim. Cream!" His eyes widened at the sight of the poison. "And for fuck sakes, you're wearing Johnny's sunglasses!"

"The cream has its explanation, alright? I needed something sweet. But the glasses were an honest mistake, I swear!"

Satisfied by Jimmy's retreating tone, I returned to my seat, grinning like the Mad Hatter in Hello Kitty shorts. Once I learned about his plan for the day, there was only one conclusion I could come up with.

"Did your mother drop you at birth?"

"That is a mystery yet unsolved. All I want to do is take you out, see Huntington and relax. Let's have a conversation. Maybe we could even go shopping for some cool shit."

I had always thought of Jimmy as the weird one out, but this even gave Dom and Johnny a run for their money.

"You're weird."

"I'm not really good at this."

"Funny, I could tell."

A sigh finally escaped my lips. Yes, I was mad at Jimmy because he was sure as hell hiding something, but I was intrigued. And when I was intrigued, Satan was intrigued.

So, the peculiar morning continued with me changing my clothes and going out with Jimmy. Though he spoke about going shopping or something (I couldn't resist the urge to scream 'What the fuck, Jimmy?'), we started our day by simply walking around town and occasionally entering some shops. It didn't take me long to start questioning Jimmy's sanity - not that Jimmy had ever been the sanest duck in the pond.

So when hours passed by and The Rev's odd behavior finally got to me, I cracked.

"This is turning awkward." Perhaps awkward was the wrong word and the situation hadn't felt odd until I said that.

I didn't know to interpret his sigh as a bad sign. That was my first mistake.

"What was Brian to you?"

"A thing."

He ran a hand through his hair - a gesture that indicated a stress Jimmy rarely felt.

"I had no idea this would be so hard." More silence. So this was what Jimmy was up to? Talking to me about Brian? "Look, Michelle isn't any better than you."

"Oh, yeah, he made that pretty clear when we last talked," I blurted sarcastically.

"Did you care the very least about him?" He grew impatient and this time, I detected a sign of exasperation in his tone.

"Maybe, maybe not. What difference does it make?"

"It just does!"

Woah, Jimmy! I sighed, finding myself at a loss of words. Funny enough, having this conversation with Jimmy wasn't as odd as it should have been, although the subject hurt (as expected).

"Fuck you, Jimmy! Brian can go to hell! He deserves it!"

"Oh, come on! You're just as hotheaded and arrogant as he is!" Dead silence. I stared in his eyes. For once, he seemed almost intimidating (which was probably because of the truth spilling out of his mouth).

"You cared for him." It wasn't a question.

"I...I think I did, but I didn't mean to. I mean, I did, but..." I groaned. My explanations led nowhere. I expected my little 'thing' with Brian to be, well, little. Having already experienced short stands, I didn't plan on starting to care - it was logical not to, given how few things we truly knew about each other. And yet, in that short while by his side, I began to care.

Jimmy nodded. Maybe he understood? My breath quickened as I tried to control the storm inside me. I could feel my throat ache.

"Then why are you so angry at him?"

"Because!" My voice gave in. What use was there in hiding that anymore? "He...at Jack's party, he said some things. And I just...had it."

Jimmy frowned and put a hand over my shoulders. It felt good to have that feeling of being comforted. Even though I always got that from Jack, Cate, Dom or Corey, this time, Jimmy seemed to know better. He didn't ask what Brian had said. He didn't need to.

"There are some things going on with him, Ace, and he's never been good at handling stuff. He'll come around..."

I followed Jimmy's frozen gaze to a tall redhead holding several bags. She eyed us with a fake smile and began heading towards us. With every 'clack' of her heels, a vein pulsed at my head. Why?