Life Ain't A Fairy Tale (17 page)

After cleaning the first floor, I go up the
stairs, carrying the mop, the broom, and the dustpan in my right
hand and the bucket in my left hand. Before I start cleaning the
second floor, I sit down to take a breather. I think about Jessica.
I remember the name, Jessica. She could be Sara's favorite cousin
from Mexico. Maybe, she is another Jessica. Either way, her
Japanese eyes are so sexy. The infatuation I feel for her is very
strong considering that it is the first time I see her.

When I hear the door open downstairs, I get
back up to continue cleaning the second floor. As I clean the
second floor, Sara and Jessica talk in the kitchen. I take my time
sweeping the second floor. I don't have the energy to go any
faster. I overhear their conversation from upstairs.

"Wow. Look Sara. Everything looks clean now.
I wonder who did this." This is the voice of Jessica. I can tell by
her Spanish accent.

"Oh, that was Jimmy. He knows how to clean
the house." Sara responds.

"Wow, that was pretty fast."

"You know my real problem with him."

"Yeah. Why haven't you dumped him
already?"

"I don't know. I am confused. Part of me says
to dump him and another part of me says that I don't know."

"Well, he is pretty good at cleaning the
house."

"I don't want a servant. I want someone who
believes in love."

"Okay. If you don't want a servant, dump
him."

"Yeah. I don't want to be one to dump him. We
haven't kissed each other for many months. I treat him like a
stranger since Valentine's Day, but he doesn't leave. He doesn't
say anything."

"I think you should dump him. It is clear you
don't like him. Who wants to be with someone just for pity?"

"Jimmy doesn't care if I haven't dumped him
for pity. It has become clear that he will stay here until I dump
him. It is just difficult. Actually, I feel bad about breaking up
with him. I don't even want to break up with him. I want him to be
a different kind of man. That's the only problem."

"You told me he isn't going to change ever.
Don't feel so bad. He won't get mad. He is already used to not
having you as a girlfriend. If two people don't kiss or have sex
with each other, are they really still a couple?"

"That is the problem for me, Jessica. He
wants us to be best friends under his weird conditions. He doesn't
even know what is a real best friend. I don't feel he is a great
friend for me. He is too quiet. Specifically, he doesn't trust me.
He hides his feelings and thoughts from me. I can't live with a guy
like this. If I tell him to break up, he will be heartbroken. He
has already told me that the most painful thing for him is when a
woman doesn't want to be his friend."

"Why should you sacrifice yourself for him?
He will be fine. I know men better than you do. They fall in love
with other women quickly. It is not worth to be in a relationship
like yours. If I were you, I would dump him."

"I will make a decision soon, Jessica. Really
soon? I deserve to have real love in my life."

"Of course, there are many guys out there
waiting for you. Jimmy isn't boyfriend material from what you tell
me. I would never consider him as a hot guy. There are many better
out there."

"During the beginning of our relationship, he
was amazing. Jimmy was full of energy, prideful, confident, and
very talkative. I wanted to be around him all the time, but he
changed into a sluggish, boring, shy, and surprisingly insecure
man. He did warn me beforehand that he was a boring person who was
scared of airplanes and heights, but I thought it was because he
lived alone and had no one to go out with. I thought he needed my
encouragement to conquer his fears, but he told me the truth. I was
too optimistic. He always tells me that I am too idealistic."

"I know exactly what he did, Sara. He
impressed you by being more cool and fun than he normally is. Once
he got you, he went back to his old ways. All men are like
that."

"Besides that, he tells me that love isn't
real. He is such a weirdo."

"Oh, yeah. He is a little crazy. Well, not
really. All men are like that. The only thing they want is sex.
They will lie about love to get you in bed. At least, he is honest
about it."

"I don't believe that Jessica. Not all guys
are the same. Some are different. Jimmy is a nice man. I will
always remember him no matter what my decision will be."

It is obvious from their conversation that my
days are numbered as Sara's boyfriend. At least, I had the chance
to have her as a girlfriend. Sara has been very special to me.
These have been the best months of my life. This was the one thing
I wasn't able to experience as a person until Sara said yes to me.
It is a beautiful series of moments that I will always remember
until the end of times.

After cleaning the second floor, I go
downstairs to put the mop, the broom, the bucket, and the dustpan
back in the closet. I pass by Sara and Jessica without greeting
them. This upsets Sara. She is going to dump me anyway.

"Jimmy, do you have any matters? Aren't you
going to greet our guest? She is Jessica, my favorite cousin,
remember?"

"Yes. I do. Hello." I greet her with a simple
wave and go back upstairs to my room. I want to rest a little.

As I go up the stairs, I overhear Sara
complaining, "Look at him. How rude? Look at how antisocial he
is?"

Jessica responds, "He is not a big fan of
cleaning anything. You should dump him. It is the best thing for
him."

Going back to my room, I turn on the computer
to pay a credit card bill online and take a glimpse of my fictional
story. I login to pay the credit card balance for clothes bought at
a store before Sara left to Mexico. I did this for my parents when
I lived at their house. After paying the bill, I click on the word
processor. When I do, someone knocks on the door.

It is Jessica telling me to go downstairs
because Sara has to talk to me. I leave the room to go downstairs.
Sara waits for me in the dining room with a large chicken, rice,
and spaghetti. Now, I remember why I feel so down besides knowing
that Sara will dump me. There is no food in my stomach for many
hours. I need the food's calories to pick me up. Now, Sara doesn't
look so angry with me.

"Jimmy, aren't you going to eat today?" Sara
observes me sit down and eat.

"Yes. I am now." I say after swallowing a
chunk of chicken after chewing and savoring it.

"Well, I have to leave again to do a
presentation about the biotechnology we use at Biopharm. This time,
it is in Nevada. I will leave early in the morning tomorrow and
come back in two days."

"Really? You didn't get to rest from the
airplane drive."

"Don't worry. I will be fine, Jimmy. Jessica
will be here to keep you company. She won't be living with us for
long, but she will be with you these two days."

"Okay."

"Good, then." We eat peacefully quiet. The
food she ordered tastes really good. I love to wash all the salt
down with ginger ale.

Sara and Jessica sleep in her room while I
sleep in mines. My computer was still on. I turn it off. I change
into my pajamas to go to bed. This could be the last few days that
I will sleep in Sara's house.

The next day, I wake up late to eat because I
don't have tutoring. When I go downstairs, the cereal and milk is
ready in the dining room. I love waking up to this meal. I haven't
been served breakfast since I was a teenager. I decided that it was
too easy not to serve myself. My mother won't last forever. When
someone serves the food for you, it tastes more delicious.

As I sit down on the sofa and watch TV in the
living room, I see Jessica going upstairs with a broom. She wears a
sleeveless green shirt and blue hot pants. This is the biggest butt
I have ever seen. Her thighs look sexy as well. How can something
so little have something so big?

"Jessica. That is my job. Give me the
broom."

"No. I'm fine. I did this for a living in
Mexico."

"I don't care. Give it to me." As I sit up
from the sofa, Jessica leaves the broom on the second floor to walk
down the stairs towards me.

"Sit back down, Jimmy."

"It's my job. It is what I do."

"Not today. You relax and watch some TV." She
puts a cushion on my back.

"No. Don't worry. I don't need the cushion
now." I place the cushion to my side.

"Okay. Don't do anything? Just sit there."
Looks like today is my lucky day.

The video game console already has the
basketball game in it. I play the game. Basketball games get old
quickly because from one year to the next, players change to
different teams. The first thing I like to do is update the teams'
rosters to match them in the present as much as you can. You can't
add new players that didn't exist the year before. I enjoy having
the players pass the ball around and pretending to be the greatest
coach ever.

After playing for a while, Jessica sits down
with me.

"I want to play, too." I love her Spanish
accent.

"You like playing video games?"

"Yeah. Why not?" I like the way she looks at
me, as if I am an interesting and attractive man, which I am
not.

"Girls don't play video games." I tease her
with the stereotype of women not playing video games. I know
stereotyping people is meaningless and ignorant. It is one of
society's ways of inhibiting people to act the way they want and
feeding more ignorance to people who believe the stereotypes to be
true.

"Yeah. We can."

"You don't know anything about video games."
Jessica tightens her lips when I say this.

"If you don't let me play with you, I never
will."

We play basketball against each other in the
video game. It feel hot sitting next to her. Her Japanese eyes are
sexy. She has a wonderful smile too. I adore long, black hair. I
tell her how to pass and how shoot. On purpose, I play badly to
keep the game's score interesting. I feel sorry for her. I let her
win.

In the dining room, I will prepare soup after
playing the basketball game. When I mention this, she tells me that
it will be ready in a few minutes because she made it earlier. I
like to eat the soup cold, I tell her not to heat it because I will
eat it now. It tastes very good. It has chicken drumsticks.

"Jimmy, I heard you work as a tutor." We sit
in front of each other at the dining room table.

"Yes. I do."

"It must be fun helping other people with
their homework." Jessica flashes her eyes very coquettishly.

"Yes. It is."

"How long have you been working as a tutor?"
Jessica pushes back her long hair that covers her front shoulders.
She looks very sexy when she manages her long, black hair.

"A few years."

"You know something. I also believe love
isn't real." Jessica only says this to get on my good side. I will
tell her what I think.

"Yes. Love is a fantasy. There is no way that
two people can love each other for so long. That is
impossible."

"You are right, Jimmy. People who believe in
love are fools. I am a more practical person like you are. I look
for what is in my best interest."

"Yes. That is the way it should be. It should
be a cold, objective, and calculated decision. It shouldn't be
based on emotion. It is about getting along and tolerating each
other, not love."

"Yeah. It is always good to use reason
instead of following your heart." It seems we are in agreement, or
she pretends to agree with me. I will change the subject
randomly.

"Sara tells me that she really cares about
you."

"What? No, she doesn't."

"What do you mean? She keeps telling me you
are the best cousin ever." Her demeanor changes from being cheerful
to bitter. She doesn't like Sara very much, but she did a very good
job pretending to like her in Sara's presence.

"Yeah. I am the best cousin to her. She
always takes center stage over me. That is why she likes me." I see
that she is good at being a phony and talking behind other people's
back.

"Say it isn't so?"

"Yeah. Since I was a little girl, when Sara
visited Mexico, she was the American girl. She was treated like
royalty. Everyone in the family ran to serve her and adore her. One
time, my mom took a doll from me and gave it to Sara. I was
punished for getting mad at her. When she visited Mexico as a
teenager, I knew what I had to do. I pretended to adore her and
joined everybody in worshiping the ground she walked on. For Sara,
everything she ate and every gift she received had to be the best.
When I asked for something, my parents said no to me because our
budget was tight. At least, my sacrifice was worth it. Finally, I
am here in the United States, my biggest dream." Jessica is a
bitter and jealous woman. With friends like these, who needs
enemies?

"Why do you pretend to like Sara?"

"I need to have someone looking out for me. I
am here on a work visa. Sara promised me to find me a husband to
make my American citizenship possible." I feel sorry for Sara
because she believes Jessica is her best cousin.

At night, Jessica and I watch prowrestling on
TV. Jessica accompanies me in everything that I don't expect a
woman to like doing. Jessica is only trying to please me. I don't
know what her ulterior motives are. As long as she doesn't plan to
hurt me, it doesn't matter. Besides breaking up Sara and I. She
pulled really hard for Sara to dump me. There are many good
wrestling matches tonight. Jessica is under the impression that the
wrestlers are hitting each other for real. Not all of prowrestling
is make believe. When you fall down on the mat; your back hits the
canvas hard and with intensity.

"Jessica, do you really like to watch
prowrestling?"

"Yeah. Why can't I like it?"