A Friend's Love Ch. 02

"Jesus Christ Jessica," he chastised, "I ask you to do one fucking thing and you can't even do that! I swear to god I feel like you waste my time more than anything!"

The sound of footsteps going walking past the top of the stairs and into what Ryan thought must have been the master bedroom echoed through the living room.

"Sorry about that," Jess turned to Ryan, "He's an asshole at times."

"Oh I'm sorry," Ryan laughed as he took a seat on one of the couches, "You're telling me Tim Middleton is an asshole sometimes? That's an understatement."

"I know he was a little rough in high school," she replied, sitting down herself, "but he isn't that bad now. I mean, he's still a dick...but he's not physical with anyone anymore."

"You're talking about Tim..." he paused, "The same Tim that bullied over half the school? The same Tim that put that kid with cerebral palsy in the hospital? He wasn't a little rough, he was a word that I'd rather not say to you right now."

"That's a little harsh, Ryan," Jessica stated.

"Harsh?" Ryan asked, "Jess, I was one of those kids he bullied in high school. I saw the inside of every trash can my freshman year because of him."

Before Jessica could reply, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hey, babe," Jess hollered back to Tim, "You remember Ryan Taylor?"

Tim looked up and saw Ryan sitting there and he remembered exactly who he was.

"Oh shit!" Tim replied, "What's up shit stain? Long time no see!"

"Hey Tim," Ryan said, keeping the tone quick with him. It didn't really matter, as fast as Tim acknowledged Ryan, he ignored him just as fast.

"Babe, listen," he called out to Jessica, "When I ask you to do something for me, just do it. It's not that hard, okay?"

"Tim, I had car trouble," Jess reiterated.

"I don't care," he replied more loudly, "I ask you to do me a favor, then you fucking do it. That's all there is to it. Now I have to go to work, can you have dinner made for me when I get back, or will you have another excuse for why that isn't fucking done either?"

Ryan's anger at the entire subject was growing intensely. He felt himself start to lose his sense of cordiality when he heard Tim cursing at Jess like that. He hated that she was with a dick head boyfriend, as James put it, but knowing that it was Tim made the entire situation worse.

"Don't talk to me like that!" Jess hissed back at him.

"Shut the fuck up," he shouted back at her, "I'll talk any way I want, it's my house!"

"You heard her," Ryan said boldly, his anger had gotten the best of him.

"I'm sorry," Tim looked at Ryan sitting down, "I don't remember you being a part of this conversation, so just shut the fuck up."

"I said," he spoke again, standing up, "You heard her, don't talk to her like that."

"Oh yeah?" Time asked, walking around to stand face to face, looking up at Ryan, "What the fuck are you going to do about it shit stain?"

Ryan stood there, looking down at him, with a little smirk on his face. He knew full and well what he could do to him, and the thought of his high school bully trying to intimidate him made him laugh internally.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Jessica said, pushing Ryan and Tim away from each other, "Babe, Ryan is just irritable from traveling so long. I'll have dinner in the fridge for you when you get home tonight, okay?"

"Whatever," Tim said as he turned to head toward the garage, "I'll see you around shit stain."

"Looking forward to it," Ryan replied.

Tim walked out into the garage and slammed the door shut. They could hear his car pull out of the driveway and take off down the street. Ryan sat back down on the couch, shaking his head at what he just witnessed.

"Ryan, what the fuck was that?" Jess hissed at him, sitting back down as well.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"Why did you do that?" She asked, "I don't need you defending me."

"Jess," Ryan was caught off guard by Jessica's anger, "I was just trying to help."

"Why do you think I need your help?" She glared at him.

"Because I'm you're friend and he's clearly a dick to you." Ryan retorted.

"You haven't even really met him fully," she stated, "How would you fully know unless you actually got to know him?"

"Well your dad got to know him," he sassed back at her, "and he said he's a dick head too. Frankly, he isn't wrong."

"First off," Jess took a deep breath, "Where the fuck do you get off talking about my personal life with my dad? Just because you moved back and are his partner now doesn't mean you have to learn all about my life."

Ryan could tell she was getting heated at him talking about her boyfriend like that. He didn't want to anger her, but seeing her with Tim set him off. He didn't even care about her having a boyfriend anymore, he only cared about her having a piece of shit boyfriend like Tim.

"Look Jessica," Ryan spoke in a slightly more firm tone, "I'm just trying to tell you, I agree with your dad, he's not a good person, he never was, and I guarantee he's not a good man for you."

"Wow," Jessica replied sarcastically, "You talk to my dad for a few minutes about me after all these years and suddenly you know me, and what's good for me?"

"No..." Ryan gritted through his teeth, trying not to get heated, "I know you because I've known you since we were five fucking years old. Your dad did talk to me about you but I literally just saw it for myself when Tim left for work. He's a piece of shit, Jess."

Jessica stood up out of her chair, looking down and getting loud at Ryan, "Who the fuck are you to say my boyfriend is a piece of shit? You don't know him and you don't know me!"

"Jessica!" Ryan shouted and shot out of his chair loudly, "Jesus Christ! Stop with the bullshit defensive rhetoric, it may work on your dad but it won't work on me, I know you too damn well!"

"You don't know me at fucking all Ryan..." Jessica hissed back at him.

"Oh shut up Jess..." Ryan sarcastically snapped back, "I'm your best friend and you know it! I've been your best friend almost our whole lives, so don't act like I'm not!"

Jessica looked down at the ground for a second as she took a couple deep breaths, anticipating her rebuttal.

"If you're my best friend..." she paused to look back up at him, "Then why has it taken you three weeks to even acknowledge my existence since you moved back? Answer me that Ryan. Or better yet, since you saw Penelope two weeks ago, why don't you tell me why you didn't even feel like acknowledging my existence for these past three weeks...but you were just too busy fucking one of your exes rather than seeing your 'best friend' as you put it!"

Ryan glared at her in disbelief that she would use that as ammo in the argument. "One of my exes? You mean Olivia? Are you really going to act like that has anything to do with what we're talking about right now? Oh wow," he shouted sarcastically, "I ran into her and we hooked up for some fun, big fucking deal!"

"Don't act like it doesn't have anything to do with this," Jess snapped back, "You got back in town and started your new life and decided to say 'fuck it, I'll get around to saying hi to Jessica at some point!'"

"I didn't come to see you because I found out you were taken and I got fucking nervous!" Ryan shouted, "You really think I didn't want to come to see you? You really think I didn't want to come see my best friend?"

"You may have been my best friend years ago Ryan," Jessica returned fire, "But admit it, you stopped caring about me once you left for college. You're not my friend, Ryan...you're just a memory, that's it."

Ryan took a sharp inhale through his nose and started to walk toward the front door of the house.

"Oh just leave, Ryan," Jess shouted as he walked away from her, "That's what you're best at!"

Ryan stormed out of the house, leaving the front door open. He went to his car and popped the trunk, grabbing the large duffel back, and walked back into the house.

Ryan walked right up to Jessica, so close that they could feel each other's breath on one another.

"Tell you what, Jessica," Ryan spoke in a low, aggravated voice in her face, "Why don't you ask your precious Tim some questions about yourself that I'll guarantee he doesn't even care about you enough to know. I guarantee he doesn't know that your favorite flower is a stargazer lily, or that your favorite song is Fortunate Son by CCR. He doesn't know that you're not scared of rain but you're scared of thunder ever since lightning hit outside your bedroom window when you were eight. He also definitely doesn't know that your favorite movies are action-comedy, your favorite books are gothic horror, or that your favorite scents are lavender and honey. No, he wouldn't know any of that about you, after all, he's only your god damn boyfriend..."

Ryan's eyes started to well up a little bit talking to Jessica like this. Remembering every instance on how he knew those things about her made his heartache grow worse. He knew her so well and it hurt him that she thought that he wouldn't remember everything he did about her.

Jess was speechless at what Ryan was saying to her. She had no idea that Ryan remembered all those little intricacies about her.

Ryan took a step back from her and opened up his duffel bag.

"And when Tim is done fumbling around with those easy ass softball questions about you...why don't you read these in your off time." Ryan flipped the duffel bag upside down as dozens of envelopes fell to the ground. Jessica looked down with a quizzical look on her face. Ryan threw the bag down to the floor as well and pointed to the envelopes.

"One hundred and eighty-four letters Jessica," Ryan paused as she looked up at him, "One hundred and eighty-four fucking letters. I wrote to you every goddamn week since I have been away. Each one labeled, dated, and ready to send out to you. But I never sent them out, because you didn't want me to message you or write to you while I was away. I obliged your wishes Jessica, but that doesn't mean that I ever...EVER...stopped thinking about you or caring about you. You know what was the only real good memory I had from back home the day I left and kept with me while I was away? You were."

Jessica was star struck at what Ryan just told her. Her mouth hung open in utter shock as she had no rebuttal, no comment...she had nothing she could respond with.

"So don't you ever say that I forgot about you or that I stopped caring." Ryan spoke, gritting through his teeth, "Because my memories...and my feelings for you...they never left me, not for one fucking second while I was away or since I've been back home."

Ryan turned around and walked back out the front door, slamming it shut as he left. He got in his car, started the ignition, and pulled out of her driveway. He drove around for hours trying to clear his head. Finally, after an hour of driving around town since the sun had already set, he headed home. He was still shaking in anger, the argument he had was the last thing he ever wanted to have happen, not with Jessica, not with his best friend.

To be continued...