Disappointment

"Jacqueline, are you ready to leave? Do you have everything you need? Car keys, wallet, credit cards?"

 Jackie rolled her eyes behind her mother's back. "Mom, chill out. You don't worry this much when Kristin goes back to college."

 Kristin popped out at the sound of her name. "That's because I rarely give Mother any cause to worry and I'm not a forgetful bug like you."

  "Hey, girls, play nice and Kristin? Don't call your sister a bug."

 "Yes, Mother. I can't wait for her to leave though. Everyone knows she is a nuisance anyways."

 "Kristy! She is your sister and she's standing right here!" Regina interjected, throwing her hands in the air.

 Jacqueline stopped packing and straightened up to full length. She was two heads taller than Kristin and the latter hated being reminded of that fact.

 "So it's okay if she says stuff like this but just as long as she doesn't say it to my hearing, Mom? And you, butt face, I don't know what your problem is but I'm not gonna make it easy for you to insult me. So you can get off your high horse because even from that height, you won't still reach the kitchen cabinets." Jacqueline flipped her the bird and Regina gasped in shock. Kristin stormed out of the room, her golden locks jumping behind her.

 "That was mean, even for you, Jacqueline. I demand that you apologize to your sister before leaving this house."

 "Or what?" Jacqueline shouted back. "You'll take away my car? Well, here," she tossed her car keys in her bed. "I never liked that ugly ass automatic anyways."

 Jacqueline also left her mother in her own bedroom. She needed space to think, to calm down. Sometimes, if not for her eerie resemblance to her father, she could have sworn that she was not their child. They all pushed her around, treated her like trash and no one had a good word to say about her. She wasn't totally bad, just going through some stuff.

 "Umph! Watch where you are going!" Jacqueline yelled as she ran into a person. 

 "Try to apply your own advice, Jackie," Richard admonished, tugging at his cufflinks. He hadn't worn that shit in years. They were a basket case, a conundrum. 

 Jackie looked up at him, a frown disrupting her forehead and pouting in disapproval. 

 "You are doing it all wrong. Let me at it," she offered, pushing his hand away. He sighed in defeat and gave up his hands to her. She worked quickly, making him look stupid at how she had conquered his problems in a minute.

 "All done. How did you graduate from college without knowing how to work cufflinks?" she wondered.

 Richard shrugged and let off a devilish grin, his jade eyes twinkling with mischief. "I had a lot of girlfriends back then."

 Jacqueline stuck her tongue at him and he laughed wholeheartedly, flashing a complete set of straight, white teeth. His hair was in its usual disarray but it still looked perfect, strands falling over his forehead in a playboy manner. She wanted to touch it so bad. Suddenly she was taken back to that night. She remembered how full it was, how soft it was to the touch, how he had moaned under her mild ministrations, how.....

 "Earth to Jackie. Jackie!"

 "Yeah, what?!" Jackie interjected, jolted from her reverie. 

 "Hmm. What were you thinking about? You were stuck in pout mode. Must be serious."

 She shook her head in denial. "It's nothing. Why are you in a suit?" If only he could read her mind...

 "I'm old and I don't have better clothes to wear," he answered and tried to get past her but she grabbed his wrist and held fast.

 "Mr Rossi? You are not funny. Why are you here, wearing a suit and trying to make me laugh?"

 Richard pulled out of her hold and looked above her head. He didn't like it when he called him that. It made him feel old inside and reminded him of the age gap between them. He wanted to hear her say his name in that smoky voice he had come to love but she never would because he was her late father's friend.

 "Now who is thinking out loud?" Jacqueline mocked, poking a finger at his chest. Only that he didn't looked happy afterwards.  "Look, I have something I have to do and that's why I'm here. I should get going." He tried to escape again but this time, her voice stopped him.

 "Have I done anything to offend you, Mr Rossi?"

 He pinched his forehead. "No, Jackie, not at all."

 She was not reassured. He seemed different from usual and he was hiding something from her. He refused to look her in the eyes and she could sense the tense atmosphere around them. He couldn't hate her too. She won't let that happen, not if she had anything to say about it. She touched his forearm to get his attention. 

 "I need your help actually."

 "What did you do, Jackie?"

 She snatched back her hand and stamped her feet childishly. Why did everyone immediately assume that she was at fault? She wasn't really a nuisance, was she?

 "Okay," he amended, "What happened?"

 Jacqueline suddenly noticed a nonexistent fluff on her leather jacket. "Mom made me mad, I lost my temper and now I need a ride back to college."

 "Why don't you just hitchhike with Kris?" Richard suggested. 

 Jacqueline frowned, her hands forming fists. "Over my dead body. It was her fault I lost my head and threw down my keys. Going back to my room to pick 'em up would be anticlimactic." 

 Richard glanced at his wristwatch. The meeting was not to begin till noon. If he ignored some red lights and drove like crazy back and forth, he just could....

 "Why don't you go with Donovan? He is not Kris."

 Donovan was one of their family drivers but just like everyone in their household, there was no love lost between them and worse of all, he was a tattletale. Anything she said or did would be reported back to Kristin, who was a fairy princess to them, who would in turn, spill her guts to their mother. 

 "You know what? Don't worry about it. I'll get a ride from Ginny instead. She is going with Cameron. I better call her now. Sorry for being a pest. You should get to your meeting." Strangely, Jacqueline felt her eyes watering. She touched her hand to her face and alas, there the tears were. She hid her face immediately but Richard had already seen them.

 "Jackie...." he began.

 "It's okay. I just have something in my eyes," she said, with the lame excuse and went away. Richard watched her walk away in all her glory and he suddenly felt like a dick.