Forbidden

Jessa Davis was on a mission. Her skin was hued bright red, as she scrubbed mercilessly at every inch of her body. She was thoroughly convinced that, in doing this, the remnants of her former boyfriend and best friend would be washed away forever. It was a fools conception, as Jessa knew very well, but the scolding hot shower also helped keep her mind off of the constant vibration coming from her bedside table.

It started early that morning. Jessa awoke at about eleven, fully rested and completely content as thoughts flashed back to her night spent with Jason, Brandon, and Ben. She would have been satisfied at just spending the rest of the day in that same spot; wrapped in her covers and watching movies or things of that accord. Her plans were ruined, though, when her cell phone vibrated violently no more than five minutes after waking. It didn’t even cross her mind at first that the text alert could be from Scott or Alyson. She simply reached over, swiped her thumb across the screen, and felt her heart drop when she read those six ungodly words: ‘1 New Text Message From Scott.' Ever since then, the texts and calls have been nonstop. Alyson entered into the equation about twenty minutes after Scott, and that was when Jessa decided it was time for that shower.

She was beyond happy that her parents weren’t home, as they would have screamed bloody murder at her for being in the shower for that amount of time. A waste of water, they’d call it, while Jessa simply called it relaxation.

Nevertheless, after making sure her hair was completely rinsed of the soapy matter, she quickly toweled off and made a dash down the hallway to her room. She quickly changed into some comfortable clothes and flopped back in her bed. Almost immediately, a vibration sounded from the bedside table, and Jessa let out an annoyed groan.

“Jesus, leave me alone, already.”

She made a blind grab in the direction and snatched it up in her hand, pausing to prepare herself, and unlocked the screen. A scoff left her lips as she read the incredible claim: ’27 New Text Messages’. Another one came through whilst holding the device, sending the grand total to twenty-eight, and it briefly made Jessa wonder if these people even had lives outside of her. She was nothing special, and obviously, nothing cared too much about, so why would they even waste their time in trying to contact her?

Still wondering, but finding herself to be strangely interested, she began to skim through the many messages. Each one was either labeled Scott or Alyson, with the exception of a few here and there labeled Taylor or Nate. Nate? Why in the world would Nate, of all people, wonder where she was? Jessa shook her head at the thought and continued looking. She was about to just put the phone back when an intriguing display had her stomach on edge. Jason. Jessa swallowed thickly and opened the text.

Hey. I just wanted to see how you were doing. Let me know, whenever you get the chance.

The message alone had her heart racing, but the concern behind his words made her weak at the knees. Every other message held words such as fuck and bullshit and involved orders for her to text them back ‘right fucking now’, the latter coming mostly from Scott, though. Even so, it was like a slap in the face. Jason cared. He didn’t have to, he had absolutely no reason to, but he did.

Hey, Jason. I’m doing okay, thanks for asking. How are you?

Jessa responded to the text rather quickly and set her phone down on her chest. She suddenly wasn’t so bothered by the insistent texts flowing her way. Maybe, just maybe, life without her old friends wouldn’t be as stressful as she thought. She had Jason, she had Ben, and she had Brandon to make things alright; and her parents, well, they weren’t going to be too happy when they found out Alyson, Scott, and the rest of them were gone. But…who even cared? What more could they do to her besides the things they already do?

That’s good! I’m glad. And I’m okay; just chillin’ with Brandon and Benji. They say hi, by the way. Has anyone texted you or called? Like, Scott or Alyson? I hope they’re not bothering you too much.

Jessa smiled and began texting back. Her heart fluttered in her chest as her fingers typed furiously, telling Jason how many texts she’d gotten and what exactly they contained. It felt good to talk to somebody; somebody who wasn’t family; somebody who wasn’t required to be there for her simply because they were related.

Family…, Jessa thought, and right away her beloved cousin flashed in her mind. He’d always hated Scott, thought he was the scum of the earth. She chuckled to herself as she knew he’d be ecstatic to hear about their parting of ways.

After finishing the text, Jessa flicked through her contacts to Dan’s name and pressed the button to call him. It rang loudly in her ear for a moment or so before his quirky voice filled her sound waves.

“Hello,” Dan said, though it sounded more like, ‘yello!’

“Hey, Dan,” Jessa replied with a chuckle.

“Hey, lil’ cuz! What’s up?”

“Eh, nothing much; just trying to enjoy my Saturday, you know. What’s up with you?”

“Same; chillin’ in the basement with Chloe.”

“Sounds fun. Tell her I said hi.” Jessa grinned as she heard Dan fumble with the phone, before informing Chloe.

The other blonde replied rambunctiously with a, ‘Hi, Jessa!’, and she laughed happily.

“She says hi,” Dan spoke again

“I heard. So, uh, guess what happened to me last night.” Jessa got comfortable in her bed again as she prepared for the long conversation that was about to commence.

“Oh, my God,” Dan gasped. “You had a three-some?!”

“What?! No, you idiot. Guess again.”

“Uh,” Dan said dumbly. “I have no clue. What happened?”

“I went to this party with Alyson and…” Jessa paused as a series of beeps sounded in her ear. “Oh, hold on a sec, Dan.”

“What?! You get me all intrigued and then you tell me to hold on? Girl…”

She laughed as Dan cursed on the other end, and she pulled the phone away from her face to open the text message just received from Jason. On normal circumstances, she’d wait until after her conversation was over to reply to any texts that came through, but for some reason, Jason DiMera no longer fell under the category of normal circumstance.

Oh boy. Yeah, I figured they were going to be starting something already. Don’t worry about it, Jessa, okay? Just don’t even respond. If they really cared, they would have wondered where you were last night instead of waiting until today. Hell, for all they know, you could have been kidnapped by some hoodlums! This isn’t the case, though, because you came willingly. ;) Anyway, ignore those fuckers. They don’t deserve the time of day from you.

Jessa laughed heartily as she put the phone back to her ear. “Where was I, again?”

Dan scoffed, jokingly offended. “You mean before you rudely put me on hold? You were telling me about what happened to you last night.”

“Oh, right. So, I went to a party at this football player’s house with Alyson.”

“Eww,” Dan remarked toward the mention of Alyson. He’d always thought she was slutty, which actually turned out to be true.

“And some…stuff…happened.” Jessa rolled her eyes just thinking about it.

“Spill.”

“I caught Scott with Alyson.”

“Caught them doing what?” Jessa loudly cleared her throat, and Dan immediately understood. “Oh, hell no!”

“Hell yes. And it was pretty obvious it’d been happening for quite a while. They were only kissing when I caught them, but God knows what else they’ve done.”

“That fucking asshole! And I told you Alyson was trashy and disgusting. I bet she has a shit load of STD’s.”

“It’s possible. Anyway, so I’m done with both of them and I’m totally done with that life, altogether.” Jessa felt proud to say it, wearing a dignified smile the whole time.

“Done as in what?”

“Done, as in, when I caught them, I went upstairs to the bathroom and ran into that kid I was telling you about the other day.”

“Jason?”

“Yes. We talked and I’m going to hang out with them from now on.”

Dan didn’t answer right away, making Jessa think maybe they’d gotten disconnected or something. She even looked at the phone to make sure and saw the seconds were still ticking away.

“Danny?” She said. “Hello?”

“I’m still here. Hold on, let me put you on speaker phone.” Dead air once again. “Okay, please repeat this so Chloe can hear?”

Jessa sighed. “I’m going to hang out with Jason and his friends from now on. What’s the big deal?”

Chloe’s familiar squeal sounded and suddenly her voice came through the receiver. “Jessa’s got a new boyfriend!” The last part was drawn out exaggeratedly, and Jessa couldn’t help but roll her eyes, feeling a slight blush creep up her cheeks.

“He’s not my boyfriend! God, you guys.”

“Aww, and she’s modest!” Dan said now. The conversation was turning out almost identical to the one they’d had when she was over at his house.

“Shut up. Gosh, I thought you’d be proud of me for finally taking a stand, not making fun of me!”

“Oh, believe me, we’re proud. Right, Chlo?”

“Of course! That’s why we’re poking fun. This is like…the best thing to happen since…oral sex, or some shit. And you should take that as a highly praised compliment because oral sex is the bomb.”

“Oh, my God,” Jessa groaned. “I swear, I’m surrounded by sex-crazed people. I’m pretty sure on the way back from the party, Ben and Brandon were mumbling something about getting laid with another pair of twins they knew. I mean, I’m no virgin, but I still don't see what the big deal is.”

“Of course you don't see what the big deal is; the only person you've been with is Scott. I'd hardly expect you to know what good sex is from him.” Dan and Chloe both laughed at the former's words, to which Jessa rolled her eyes. “And who's Brandon and Ben?”

“Jason’s friends. They’re really nice, and drive a Corvette.”

“We must meet them,” Dan prompted.

“Yeah, maybe they can let me drive it!” A shriek was heard and Chloe cried in complaint, as Dan had obviously done something she didn’t approve of.

“I don’t fucking think so,” he said. “Go get me a soda.”

“Fine, but you don’t have to be so mean. It was just a suggestion.” Chloe’s voice faded out and Dan’s voice became clearer once again, as he’d taken the phone off speaker.

“Anyway, so, how are things other than that?”

“They’re okay. I haven’t told Scott or Alyson about what my plans are so they’ve been texting me nonstop all morning, along with a few other people.”

“That’s to be expected. Tell them to fuck off or something. You deserve so much better.”

“I know, and I’m finally realizing that.”

“Well, good. How are things with my lovely aunt and uncle?” Dan’s voice was laced with sarcasm during the last part.

“Pretty much the same. They don’t know anything about my sudden change in friends so things are as you’d expect them to be.”

“Oh, God. I can only imagine what’s going to happen when Donna finds out you’ve dumped her precious little Scotty.” Dan then went into a long spiel of mocking how Donna was going to sound once she found out, complete with a dreadfully squeaky voice and dramatic gasps and whimpers. Jessa couldn’t help but laugh at her cousin’s antics.

“Good lord, Danny. What would I ever do without you?”

“Crash and burn, of course. But hey, listen, Chloe’s calling me. I don’t know what she wants but I’d better go see what it is. Can we talk later?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll text you.”

“Sounds good. I love you, lil’ cuz.”

“Love you, too, Dan. Tell Chloe I said bye.”

“Will do. See ya.”

Jessa clicked her phone off and sighed as she looked at the screen to see she’d gotten five new text messages during the call. She heard it go off but knew automatically that it was either going to be Scott or Alyson, so she ignored it. She skimmed through them once again, rolling her eyes at the constant curses used in Scott’s messages, and coming to a stop at Jason’s message from before. She hit the reply button and typed a response out, letting him know his words were highly appreciated and she would do just what he said and ignore her ex-boyfriend and friends.

Locking the device again, Jessa placed it back on her chest. She turned the television on and relaxed into her bed as the familiar, soothing voice of Jack Skellington sounded, and excitement filled her gut. The Nightmare Before Christmas, by far, was her favorite movie of all time. She, of course, had the special collector’s edition DVD stashed away in one of her desk drawers, but it was always a treat to watch when it aired, so she kept it on and continued to text back and forth with Jason. Brandon and Ben even jumped into the mix an hour or so later, and it made Jessa feel amazing. These people, whom she would never have even dreamed of becoming close to, were slowly filling her with absolute ease.

Now, Jessa could only hope that when Monday came, this peace of mind was tenacious enough to help her through it, secure and untouched.