“Why don’t you come home?” Megan proposed to her sister. “At least until you feel better.”
Jessica scoffed. “Surely you jest.”
Megan gave her a blank stare.
“Mom wouldn’t have it. I won’t have it!”
“Fine!” Megan huffed. “Then you’ll get no peace.”
She stormed out of the room and bumped into Ricard, who was on his way in.
“How is she?” he asked.
“Stubborn,” Megan replied and went to track down her parents.
Nancy and Drew seemed to be in the middle of a heated debate when Megan interupted.
“What is it?” Drew asked with slight annoyance.
Megan took a deep breath. Sometimes, she hated being in the middle of everything. Like it or not, however, she was the peacemaker.
“I was thinking…maybe…Jess….could, um, stay with us while she recovers.”
Nancy scoffed. At least Megan knew where Jess got THAT from.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But I just don’t see that happening.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Fine. If you guys want to go on fighting until you’re on your deathbed, that’s your business. I give up!”
For the second time in less than ten minutes, she stormed away. This time, she went about finding her siblings. She told them of her idea and they agreed that it was a good one.
“They are both so stubborn,” Carrie remarked about Jessica and their mother. “I hope I don’t turn out like that.”
“Face it,” Megan told her. “We’re doomed. It’s in the genes.”
“What jeans?” Stephen asked.
“Not jeans; genes,” Carrie explained.
“What jeans?” Stephen repeated.
Megan sighed. This could go on all night.
“I guess I should go say goodbye,” she reasoned, dissapointed in her inability to reach a consensus.
A strange thing happened when Megan checked in on her sister for the final time: she had seen the light.
“I’ve reviewed your proposal,” she said. “And, upon due consideration, I accept.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“Oh, lots of things. Ric smothering me, Mom having the satisfaction of being able to keep me at bay, wanting to see more of you guys, I suppose.”
Megan smiled. Maybe she hadn’t failed after all. Then again, the jury was still out: she still had to convince Nancy. Fortunately, Drew was on her side.
“Well…”she conceded. “I suppose it doesn’t do anyone any good to continue to harbor this silly grudge. She will, of course, have to obey the rules of the house…”
“Of course,” Drew said with a knowing wink. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Megan grinned triumphantly. Ricard was outraged at first, but eventually conceded he was ill-prepared to take care of Jessica and they could both use the break. Thus, secure in the knowledge that the family would soon be reunited, Megan and her siblings and her parents all headed home.
There were adjustments to be made and not all were seamless. The room that had once been Jessica’s had been used as a repository for random junk for the past few years and had to be made inhabitable once more. There were moments of unspeakable tension between Jess and Nancy that seemed likely to trigger an explosion that never came. Instead of rekindling a fond nostalgia, Megan found herself dwelling in newfound awkwardness.
“So wait a minute,” Sabrina said to her while they went shopping one sticky afternoon. “I thought you were glad your sister was back.”
“Sort of,” Megan replied.
Jessica still had that arrogance; that condescending attitude that made her cringe. Would she turn out like that in a few years? She hoped not.
“Maybe she can help you get a job,” Sabrina suggested.
“I have a job.”
“Bledsoe’s? Pfft. I meant like a real job type job. You keep saying she knows all kinds of rich people.”
“All kinds of pretentious people,” Megan corrected. “They just think they’re rich. Besides, I have enough chaos in my life?”
“Chaos? Like what? Come on, Meg.”
Megan felt her cheeks flush with anger. How dare she! She didn’t have a clue, a single solitary clue what these last few weeks had been like. Then again, who’s fault was that?
“Yeah,” she replied dryly. “Maybe you’re right.”
Maybe she was, allthough it seemed less and less likely. The summer that never seemed to settle down seemed even less likely to end on a high note.
“Goddamn kids!” Vern shouted. A display had been knocked over once again. Megan sighed and went to clean it up. Between work and home, she had little solace lately. She kept telling herself it was for the best and in a few more days Jessica would be out on her own again, but it did little to cheer her up. Jessica and Nancy were actually getting along now. The only person to have a problem with Megan’s arrangement was Megan herself.
“I’m such an idiot,” she muttered to herself.
The annoyances were minor, but they were there. For instances, Jessica would constantly suggest things she could be doing with her clothes or her hair. She would make thinly-veiled remarks in passing about Megan being sheltered or about Carrie being given room to grow. Megan was getting sick of it. Just a few more days, she told herself, just a few more days.
“I have an announcement to make,” Josh said to his underlings when the day was at its end. “As you all know, I have always had a great love for the theater. I always told myself, if things had turned out differently…I could have been an actor. Well, the other day, I realized things CAN turn out differently. With that in mind, I shall be taking a brief hiatus to go audition.”
Raul started to cackle uncontrollably. “You…you wanna be an actor, man? You?! No offense, but you’ve got to have style. Either that or be totally ripped and you aren’t either.”
“I think you should go for it,” Natalie urged. “Just be careful how you tell Vern. He’s likely to flip out.”
“When is he not?” Josh remarked.
“Just out of curiosity,” Megan asked. “What brought this on?”
Josh chuckled. “Funny you should ask. You see, your sister stopped in here the other day and we had a wonderfully productive conversation…”
Megan scowled. “Oh, that is IT!” she exclaimed. She stormed out of the pharmacy, determined to head home and give Jessica a piece of her mind. Nothing could stop her from doing it. Nothing except for…
Ron?! She spotted his car parked in front of the sandwhich place. He had come to visit her. How sweet! Megan smiled. That almost everything better. Almost. As she walked up to greet him, however, she became cognizant of the fact that it actually made things worse. He was making out with another girl. A few steps closer and she could tell it wasn’t just any other girl, but Meghan Cole. It was just like high school: the “other” Meg had bested her once again.
Megan:
A.)Ran towards the car full steam ahead. She was going to give Ron hell!
B.)Decided to go home and sleep. Fuck him. He wasn’t worth it. She hurt, yes, but she’d been hurting anyway and just didn’t have the strength to deal with it anymore.