After
a quick shower at the hotel, John dialed June’s room number and using the same
extortion mechanism she had used on him previously that day, he spoke.
“I’m
starving and craving Thai…”
“Then
it’s your lucky night, big brother, there’s a magnificent food stall a 20
minutes’ walk from here, feel like taking a walk on a lovely night?”
“Isn’t
it gonna rain soon?”
“Maybe,
in a couple hours. I’ll pick you up in 5, 'kay?”.
…
"Chang
beer?" John incredulously inquired. "What happened to the non-alcohol
policy?"
"Heat
and humidity", June showed first her thumb and then her index finger in
front of her. "You can't get by in Southeast Asia
without a bottle of ice cold beer and I'm 100% positive you know tha". She
grinned and took a long sip, then exhaled with emphasized relief.
"So
when where you planning on telling me about this guy?" John asked and took
a small portion of Phat tai to his mouth.
"Cause..."
June played with her chopsticks incide her Khao phat, "…the date is indeed
set...", June admitted unapologetically. "I'm going back to the states
for the 4th of July, and he's going back home to start his own business in Jakarta
"You
don't feel like you're there or you don't want to admit
that to yourself?" inquired John and took a sip from his ice cold Chang
beer bottle. A drop of bottle sweat fell to the table. June looked up to the
sky and realizad that it was going to rain any minute now.
"Either
way, the result is the same"
"But
you're enjoying it aren't you? I mean…the fact that you know when it’s gonna
end" June felt her automatic resistance to this kind of comment. Coming
from anybody else, she would have felt it like an unforgivable intrusion, but
coming from her brother, the initial resistance was usually immediately
followed by acceptance and thankfulness that their connection was still intact
despite the distance. Only her brother could speak directly to her heart.
She
chuckled softly. "Of course I enjoy being with him...he's an awesome
guy, a good friend, and you know how hard it is for me to even get to that point,
so...", she sat back and held the bottle of beer in her hand. She smirked.
"Knowing that it's going to end just makes me enjoy every moment so much
more".
"But
really? There’s not one chance at all for the poor
bastard?"
June
chortled and swallowed another sip of beer. "If it's meant to happen
then it will, I may even return in a couple of years if this idea I have takes
some sort of form, so who knows...maybe...", she shrugged, "I care
for him, John, don’t get me wrong, but right now I need to have the freedom to
focus on this project".
“Alright...you
know what you’re doing, then”, John shrugged after meditating for a moment.
By
the time they finished dinner, thick drops of water had began to fall from the
heavily charged sky above their heads. They hadn’t walked for 300 metres when the
skies opened up and started pouring rain. In a matter of minutes the streets
were flooded and they were still a couple hundred meters from the hotel. Taking
a taxi seemed an impossible task, so they decided it was better to just
run.
Once
back at the hotel and thanks to his PR abilities, John was able to get the
concierge to handle them two towels and allow them to use the service elevator.
They said their goodbyes on the corridor and each headed to their rooms. In the
bathroom June peeled off her wet clothes and wrapped herself in another dry
towel, then used a smaller one to start drying her hair. Even before she looked
outside the window, the idea had already formed in her head and in response,
smirk curled the corner of her lips. Still drying the tips of her hair with the
towel, she approached the window and looked down at the turquoise glowing curvy
pool several floors below. She loved swimming in the rain.
...
Half
an hour later, she was letting herself float on the surface of the water, hands
slightly extended to her sides, legs stretched, thighs slightly parted. Rain
wasn't falling as hard as an hour before, but still she could feel the warm,
heavy drops that fell from the sky softly hit her skin. It was almost 1 in the morning, and she had
the pool all to herself.
For
the first time in the whole day June finally felt completely relaxed. Her ears
where submerged in the water so all she could hear was the soothing sound of
the drops joining the mass of pool water together with the remaining buzz that
was left from the show. It had been a long day, but far from being exhausted,
June felt energized and ecstatic to finally be able to share a piece of her brother's
world. After all these years it was the first time she had really shared
an everyday 'normal' working day with her brother.
She
thought about the following day, when they would make a short trip to Ayutthaya
It
made me so mad cause I wanted it bad for us baby,
And
now it’s so sad that whatever we had ain’t worth saving.
She
remembered and hummed the last notes. In her head, Jon's voice sounded rather
like a lament.
Then
all of a sudden, she felt an arm slide under her knees and another one under
her shoulder blades. She gasped and tried to incorporate herself but not
quickly enough to prevent the strong arms to lift her up until she was
suspended out of the water. After the initial shock, she laughed out loud.
"John!
You stupid asshole!", she smacked at his torso, but she didn't
remember her brother having such thick chest hair. She scratched her eyes
to clear her view.
"I
get that at lot, actually", Jon grinned and his pearly teeth sparkled with
the glow coming from the underwater lamps. Thick, wet dark strands of
hair stuck to his neck and partially on his shoulders, wet skin that shone with
a mixture of turquoise and orange lights, the drops of rain on his skin
producing a beaded effect that made him look as if his body was covered in tiny
little diamonds.
"Jesus
Christ, Jon", she laughed once the confusion washed off her
mind. "I'm sorry, I thought it was..."
"He
gets that a lot, too, you know", he interrupted her.
June
looked around her and realized she had drifted to the shallow end of the pool.
Jon released her, allowing her to stand in front of him. The water reached his
low waist, but covered June's navel.
“You
scared me to death you know that?”, she softly smacked his torso again and then
started moving back to the deep end. Jon followed.
"I
looked out the window and thought there was a lady in disgrace that needed some
rescuing from dangerous waters".
June
looked back over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “And I take it you flew down
here, didn’t you?”
Jon
took his index finger to his lips. “Shh, nobody knows”. He smiled widely, the
turquoise glowing water illuminated his chiseled body and highlighted his
sparkling and equally turquoise eyes.
Once
Jon caught up with her, she spoke. "So how's everything? I haven't
met the new baby yet, but John says he's adorable, and I bet he is...last time
I heard you were still calling him 'buddy'…I assume you've already decided on a
name, haven't you?"
Jon
chuckled and smiled, but it was a bittersweet smile that didn't go by unnoticed
by June. "Yeah, we have. We've named him Jesse. Jesse James".
"Wow,
another cowboy in the family, huh?", the water reached June's chin and she
pushed herself forward. Extending her arms in front of her, she stroked
forward.
Jon
observed her toned, tanned body and how the beaded straps that held her white
and green stripes bikini together on the sides of her hips floated under the
water.
Half
way through the pool, June looked over her shoulders and seeing that Jon was
frozen to the spot she tipped her head towards the opposite side. "Comin?
or are you just testing the water?"
Jon,
caught off-guard by her assessment, secretly laughed at the possible second
meaning of her phrase.
He
hated being put in the situation when his body and his mind didn't agree. As a
man, the fact that he felt attracted to June was undeniable, but beyond his
attraction, there was also curiosity: who was in reality this woman that
appeared in his life every once in a while? She had been there all the time and
she hadn’t gone unnoticed by him, but now he couldn’t keep away from her, he
wanted more. That’s what had led him down to the pool after seeing her from the
window of his suite. His decision had been, however, preceded by a brief
internal debate regarding his intentions with her.
The
fact that she was in a relationship by any mean represented an obstacle for
Jon, but the fact that she was his friend’s sister, did. He admitted to himself
that after separating from his wife, he was in the ´fooling around´ mood, and
June wasn’t someone to mess around with.
On
the one hand, he felt relieved that he and Dorothea had finally amicably agreed
that separating was the right thing to do. The happiness the arrival of their
new son had brought was a diamond that sparkled in a sea of mud. Their marriage
was ruined and they both knew it even before the boy had been born. As much as
they loved their children, they were both too tired to fight for something that
was clearly beyond salvation. Procrastinating would only cause further
suffering.
On
the other, he was frustrated that he still couldn’t leave it behind. Things
were going too well, and every minute detail had to be taken into account, and
that included Jon’s most personal issues. He had agreed with John and the rest
of the PR team advice, he’d agreed that it would be better to keep that matter
as private as possible in order not to take focus away from at the tour and the
new album. That, of course included any ‘fooling around’ that might be
involved.
Jon's
stare didn't go unnoticed by June, but she felt safe and at ease with him. He
was a man, after all, the fact that he looked at her in that way was nothing
else but normal. She recognized, though, that the atmosphere, the luscious
place, the moment, the weather, and above all, the company, somehow conjured to
produce a reality that felt rather far away from real.
"How
do you go back to our normal life after this?" June’s question was mostly
rhetoric, but Jon chuckled softly and shrugged.
"I
don't, I just find something else to do"
"Like
what?" June inquired carelessly.
"Well,
let’s see…I bought a land by the riverbank at Jersey ,
when this is over maybe I'll waste some time and money and build something in
it".
"I
see, the family's quickly getting bigger..."
Jon
hesitated for a few seconds before answering, he chose his words carefully.
"No, not really" he replied firmly. "Things have changed,
June", he spoke against the surface of the water that reached his
chin. "Remember when we met at the cafe?", he asked, June
frowned and nodded silently, then he continued. "Well, that wasn't even
the beginning...things have been going worse for some time now, and it got to a
point where no matter how hard we tried, no effort seemed enough, everything
simply fell apart in front of our eyes".
"But
what about the baby? How...?"
"We
wanted to have a last try at having a family, changing the focus, sharing the
experience of being parents again...The arrival of Steph had made things right
for some time... We thought with Jesse the same thing was gonna happen, but no
matter how much we love him and how much we wanted for things to go right, we
couldn't, and we just stopped trying".
"But
a baby changes too many things...maybe if you wait some time..."
Jon
shook his head slowly. "We've discussed this from every angle, this is the
best for everyone. It just doesn't feel right anymore".
June
paused for a moment and spoke hesitantly, she didn't quite know what to make of
this new information. "I'm really sorry, Jon, you were great together".
"I
know. It's been a hard decision to make...call me an asshole, but now that it's
done, I'm glad it's over". His tone was even business like, but inside he
felt a sort of relief: he knew that sooner or later June would find out, and he
wanted to be the one to tell her. If he wanted to earn her trust, he had to
start by not keeping secrets.
"It's
OK, I understand", June brushed her hand over his bicep. It had stopped
raining, a soft breeze blew and the moonlight seemed to be cooperating to push
aside the clouds in the sky to see the scene by the pool. "Thanks for
confiding in me"
Jon's
lips stretched into a bittersweet smile. "Come 'ere I need a hug".
June
giggled and the two joined for an underwater hug. Their almost bodies touching
each other produced a sensual sensation that they both decided to ignore for
the sake of friendship. "I'm so glad to see you again. Has it been more
than a year?", June finally asked after a few moments.
Jon
frowned "Christ, yeah...", he nodded. "Promise me you won't
disappear for as long again", he released her, but his embrace was so
comfortable June was forced to silence a wince of complaint.
"Promise.
In fact I'm planning on going back home for the summer. I'm missing some good
ol' joysey accent".
"What
about Mr. Asia? Do we have to believe what John says?"
"His
name is Winston and regarding my personal life...", she chortled and then
spoke with faux-sternness in her voice. "I'm the one you should discuss it
with not my brother, are we clear?", she waggled a finger at Jon.
"Fair enough", Jon agreed with a deep nod and afterwards rubbed
his hands together. "Now how 'bout some exercise?"
June chuckled softly. "I can't believe you still have any energy
left". However, by the time she had finished her sentence Jon was swiftly
bracing towards the other end of the pool. Without losing any more time, she
joined him. They swam back and forth for nearly half an hour until June stopped
and started moving towards the edge of the pool. A moment later she felt Jon
move behind her. Once she got to the ladder, she started climbing up and as she
did so, looked over her shoulder and down at Jon.
"I don't know how I'm gonna be able to wake up in less than 4 hours
from now, and I'm not even the one working tomorrow..."
"Meh...", Jon took importance to the matter and waited for June
to finish her ascent to start his. "I can do it with my eyes closed...what
do you think the sunglasses are for?"
June chortled and teased, putting on her robe and tipping her head towards
the building. "OK, Mr. Rockstar...bedtime".
