Change of Plans

As I was getting ready for a fun night out with my best friend, Jackson, I couldn’t help but wonder who would be at the bar tonight. It had been a couple of weeks since Carmen and I had broken up, and I was ready to move on. When I was honest with myself, I recognized that was how I lived my life. I was a love-’em-and-leave-’em type of woman, wanting nothing serious.

When my phone rang, I almost ignored it because I had little time left before I was supposed to meet Jackson at his house next door. However, something in my gut told me to answer it. Seeing Jackson’s name on the screen, I felt confused because I knew I wasn’t late. The knot in my stomach grew as I hit the button to answer the call.

“Hey, Jacks, what’s up? I’ll be over there in about five minutes. I’m almost ready.” As I waited for Jackson to answer, I realized his mother was crying in the background. “Jackson, what’s going on? Why is Mom crying?” He needed to talk because I was about to run over there.

“It’s Jessica, Sue. She called Mom last night to say she was coming home, but she still hadn’t arrived. We’ve all tried calling her, but her phone goes straight to voicemail. She told Mom that she needed to come home, that things weren’t going well with Alicia. She was crying when she spoke to Mom, and Mom told me Jess had a black eye last week. We need to find her, Sue.”

Feeling like he had punched me in the stomach, I slumped down onto my couch. “Does Mom have any idea where she might be? No, wait… let’s look at Alicia’s place. I’ll be right over, and we can head over there. Tell Mom not to worry; we’ll find her and bring her home.” I hung up and quickly grabbed my keys. Jackson didn’t sound in any condition to drive. Not that I was much better at the moment, but I was the better choice.

Jessica had a tendency to like bad girls. However, nothing bad had ever happened, at least not that we knew of. Now I couldn’t help but wonder if Alicia had been abusing her, especially knowing that Jess had a black eye. Alicia would pay if she hurt Jess. Jackson wouldn’t have time to do anything.

Jackson and I had been best friends since we were in kindergarten. We were on the playground at recess one day when a boy bullied me. He called me a dyke and pushed me down on the ground. Before I got up, Jackson punched him in the nose. We were in kindergarten. I didn’t know what a dyke was and had never thought about my sexuality. But somehow, this little kid on the playground knew what I didn’t know. I was a lesbian.

Ever since that day, Jackson and I had been best friends. Our parents were neighbors before we were born, so we knew each other. But we hadn’t played together until that day.

Jessica was born when we were 10 years old, and by the time she was five, she tried to follow us everywhere we went. Being 15-year-olds, that was the last thing we wanted. No matter how we tried to get her to play with her own friends, she often ended up tagging along with us. Because of all the time we spent together, we became close friends. We would find her, and if she was hurt, someone would pay.

It took less than two minutes to get to their house. When I ran in, the first thing I saw was Jackson’s mom, standing in a corner, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed. It broke my heart. I ran over to her and took her in my arms. “We’re going to find her, Mom. Don’t worry.”

Looking around the house, I saw the place where I had spent so many hours of my youth. It was as familiar to me as my own house. I saw the family pictures, and I was in many of them. Sometimes it seemed like the Silvers were more like my family than my own had been.

To say my parents were cold would have been an understatement. When they found out I was a lesbian, it was the last straw for them, and they threw me out of the house at age 17. The Silvers immediately let me move in with them. When I called Mrs. Silver “Mom,” it was so much more than because she was my best friend’s mother. She was my mother in every way that mattered.

When my parents died in a car accident when I was 21, I learned they had not completely given up on me. They left everything they owned to me, including the house I grew up in. I was still living with Jackson and his family. However, once the house was mine, I moved back in. I was 27 now and had spent the last six years remodeling the house, one room at a time. When we were 23, Jackson moved into the house with me. He had been visiting Mom before we went out tonight when he called me.

“Why can’t she be with someone like you, Sue? I would never worry about her if she were with you. I know you would take care of her.” Her words shocked me. She knew I wasn’t the one for her daughter, since I could never see myself settling down. If that were true, why was I ready to burn down the world to find her and bring her home?

My feelings suddenly took an unexpected turn. She was my best friend’s sister and had been a part of my life since she was born. Why did I all of a sudden have feelings for her? Was it just the fear that something bad had happened to her? Or was it more than that? I wasn’t sure, but I would do anything possible to find her so I could figure out where these feelings were coming from. “Like I said, we’re going to find her, Mom. We’ll bring her home safe, or someone will pay.”