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A shadowy figure finally appeared. He chuckled.
Carly squinted, trying
in vain to make out features of this stranger.
"What makes you think I
want anything to do with you?" the stranger asked.
Carly scowled. Her reaction was lost on anyone since
it was too dark to
see anything. "Could you come closer please?
I can't see a thing,"
Carly asked, shifting uncomfortably and craning her neck
to see into the
darkness.
The stranger chuckled again. "Do you want me to
leave you alone or come
closer? Make up your mind."
Carly scowled again. She quickly decided this was
not worth her time or
energy. "Forget it," she muttered, resuming her
walk. The footsteps
behind her resumed as well. Carly walked a few
more feet then stopped.
"Alright," she said, spinning on her heel again.
"Who are you?"
"Maybe you can tell me," the voice said, coming out of
the shadows.
Carly took in a breath, face to face with a man who looked
like he had
just stepped out of the pages of GQ. Well, maybe
except for the
clothes. She wrinkled her nose at his jeans, T-shirt,
and leather
jacket. Never the less, he was extremely handsome.
And cocky, she
decided. He stood there, hands on his hips, regarding
her with an
expression she couldn't quite put her finger on.
"Are you really asking my opinion or did you just lose
your drivers
license?" Carly asked, placing her hands on her hips
to mimic his
stance.
"You don't know who I am?" he asked, cocking his head to one side.
Carly rolled her eyes. Oh this was too much.
Who did this guy think he
was? Oh, right, she was supposed to know.
"No." she said, an amused
smile playing on her lips. "Should I? I've
been accused of being a
little out of touch," she admitted, then added, "you
know, if it doesn't
have to do with me, who cares right?"
The stranger smiled a bit as well. "I'm Jason,"
he said. He made no
move to shake her hand, so Carly took this to be a statement
of the
should-be-known rather than an introduction.
"So?" she said flippantly. This guy was really
too much. He sort of
intrigued her, but certainly annoyed and disgusted her
at the same time.
His arrogance was unbearable.
Jason shifted on his heels. This girl had no idea
who he was. He was
immediately drawn to her. He hadn't met one person
yet who didn't know
and love Jason Quartermaine. It made him hate the
guy. He was not
Jason Quartermaine, that he knew. And with this
girl, self-centered
though she was, he didn't have to be. He could
be anyone he wanted.
Whoever that was. "What's your name?" he asked.
Carly softened considerably. Whoever this guy was,
he seemed to be
trying. Maybe he was famous, maybe she did know
who he was but just
didn't recognize him. She searched her brain for
any famous Jason's.
She was coming up blank. "I'm Carly Roberts," she
said, adding her last
name, hoping he'd provide her with his. He didn't.
"Oh," was all he
said. Carly shook her head, her blond mane
swirling around her
shoulders. "It's nice to meet you," Carly said
slowly, condescendingly,
holding out her hand.
Jason looked at her hand, then shook it, remembering seeing
people do
this at the hospital. "It's nice to meet you too,
Carly Roberts," he
said, feeling uncomfortable.
Carly narrowed her eyes. Was that nervousness she
detected? She
couldn't quite place it. This man had a story,
she knew it. She was
determined to find out what it was. "What's your
last name?" she asked
without hesitation.
Jason was silent. What was he supposed to say?
He'd left the
Quartermaine's house and decided he'd never be considered
one of *them*.
They seemed fake to him, more concerned with appearances
than real life.
He felt like he was being forced to be Jason Quartermaine
around them.
No, he didn't feel that way, they *were* forcing him
to be that way. He
looked down at his hands that were clenched together.
His knuckles were
turning white. He knew he'd been quiet too long.
"Are you both deaf *and* mute?" she said, staring at him
intensely. The
wind began to blow and Carly felt small drops of rain
begin to pelt her
face. Jason seemed to be ignoring the sudden shower.
Carly looked up,
searching for some sort of cover.
"You're not going to melt," Jason said, amused.
"It's going to ruin your jacket," Carly said, gesturing
toward his
leather coat.
"Rain will ruin my jacket?" Jason asked, looking
down, watching the
small drops scurry down the slick black material.
He shrugged his
shoulders. "Oh well," he muttered, looking back
up at Carly who was
beginning to get soaked. There was a confused look
contorting her
pretty features. "What?" he asked.
"First of all," Carly said, pushing her now damp hair
out of her face,
"who *doesn't* know that water ruins leather? Secondly,"
she said, more
desperate than ever to know who he was, "you never answered
my
question."
Jason didn't say anything. He stared at her, beginning
to realize how
beautiful she looked, standing in the rain. Was
she beautiful? He
didn't know. He didn't know if she would be what
other people would
consider beautiful, be he supposed it didn't matter,
because he
certainly thought so. She definitely was forthcoming,
which he
appreciated. "The truth is," Jason began, deciding
to come clean with
his story. "I don't really have a last name."
Carly laughed, tipping her face up to the falling rain,
her face
twisting into a smile. "Okay," she said, a slight
hint of disbelief in
her voice. "Care to explain that?"
Jason tipped his head up, mocking her gesture of a few
seconds ago,
enjoying the feel of the cool raindrops gently pelting
his face. "From
what I'm told," he began, deciding to let her in on the
whole story,
then allowing her to do with it what she would,
"I used to be Jason
Quartermaine." Jason searched her face for any
hint of recognition.
There was none. He was encouraged to go on.
"I was in this car
accident and I lost all memory of my life before this.
So now I'm
really not Jason Quartermaine, I'm just not sure who
I am."
Carly digested this. She found herself almost envious.
"You have no
memory at all?" she asked, studying his face through
the rain.
Jason nodded. "Not really."
Carly shifted her feet. "Am I supposed to be familiar
with this
particular affliction? You're going to have to
explain this to me," she
said impatiently.
Jason regarded her, confused. "What do you mean?
I have no idea who
anyone is, and everyone seems to know who I was.
Everyone seems to have
this idea of how I should act, because it's how I used
to act. I don' t
like that, in fact, it makes me feel so angry that I
want to hit
someone. I couldn't stay with the Quartermaine's,
so I left. I
probably would have burned down the place if I hadn't.
I really want
to kill this kid Jason Quartermaine," Jason confided,
his voice
lowering.
Carly threw her head back and let out a hearty laugh.
This was rich.
She was having a hard time believing
the story, but a harder time not believing the man who
was telling it.
He seemed so sincere, even naive. But not young,
kind of old, probably
older than the person he used to be. Carly guessed
this was because he
used to be a kid, living at home, probably going to college,
with dreams
of who he *would* be when he grew up. Now he was
this, this man, who
didn't live at home, who had no future and no past, only
living in the
present because that's all he knew. Carly was definitely
envious of
him. "Where are you living now?" she asked, trying
to make herself look
as alluring as possible. It was hard, in this rain.
Her hair was
plastered to her forehead, and she kept having to push
it out of her
face. The blouse she wore was now stuck to her
chest, bunching in the
most unattractive places, her jeans waterlogged and heavy
as bricks.
Jason shrugged, loving how she was relentlessly pushing
her hair out of
her face. "Maybe I'll show you sometime," he said.
He definitely was
interested in spending time with someone who didn't know
Jason
Quartermaine.
Carly beamed. She definitely wanted to get to know
this mysterious
stranger more. She was fascinated, then almost
laughed out loud as she
realized there wasn't anymore to know, since he didn't
know a damn thing
about himself. She didn't care. There was
something about him, it was
raw, untamed. He fascinated her. "How will
I find you again?" she
asked, looked down at her foot that was swishing a puddle
of water on
it's own accord.
"I'll find you," Jason said, giving her a slight smile
before walking
away.
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