Water Ch. 174 - I'm Not In Kansas Anymore

 

"You know everything about her, but don't know her at all." Is what Beth heard when Jon's phone rang. The lyrics caught her attention and Jon's voice made her ask, "What song is that?"

He holds up a finger indicating hang on.  "Hello?" He didn't recognize the number.  "This is, who is this?"  A short pause and then he asks quite rudely, "How did you get this fucking number?  Don't ever call again!" And he closes his phone.

Rolling her eyes, Beth asks, "What was that all about?" 

"Jesus Christ, can we ever get a moments piece?"

"Who was it, what did they want?" She firmly asks.

"Just a reporter, wanting to interview us about the loss of our daughters. Wanted to make it a helpful article." He sighs, defeated.

She sees he's frustrated and she's the reason, but she can't help herself when she says, "Maybe we should do ONE.  To set the record straight?"

"You can never do ONE.  They're vultures. The articles get so far from the truth, we'd need to do more to set the first record straight."

 

She shrugs her shoulders and follow it up with, "You know, you're fans probably want to know what happened.  I'm sure you have friends that wonder too.  Maybe we should do one."

 

"I'm not doing one, there are more important  things to deal with at the moment."  He sits next to her and asks, "What else happened with Richie?  My best fucking friend."

 

"I told you all that there is to tell you, Jon.  It was a kiss.  I was caught off guard and blind sided.  That's all.  Just one kiss."

 

"How can you down play it like that?"

 

"Like what?"

 

"That it means nothing?  Let's talk about what you would have done if I had just kissed Dorothea."  Jon puts just kissed in air quotes.

 

Beth snaps her head to look at him, "How can you even compare the two?  Richie has a crush and you were married to he forever.  Not a good comparison.  And anyway, it was a meaningless kiss, Jon.  Why are you making it such a big deal?"

 

He gets up again, and starts his nervous pace, running his fingers through his hair and doing that nervous thing that he does with his fingers.  "But you kissed him back.  He's my best friend!"

 

Beth stands up, walk to him and stops just outside of his personal space.  Looking him in the eye, she reminds him, "I could have never told you and you would be none the wiser.  Can we move passed this please?  It meant nothing Jon.  Richie is lonely and I was at the wrong place, wrong time."

 

"But he's my best friend.  How do I handle this with him?"

 

"You don't.  You act like it never happened and we all get on with life as we know it.  His crush will pass when he finds a new flavor of the week."

 

"Like I did.  Don't you get it.....you are hard to move passed."

 

"I'm done with this conversation.  I was open and honest with you.  Now why don't you tell me what you said to Richie when he pointed me out the night we met."

 

Jon has the puzzled look again and asks her, "What are you talking about?  The night we met, I knew I would have you."  And he gives her the smile, that melts hearts around the world. 

 

She sighs, "What did you tell Richie when he pointed me out?  Something like I wasn't your type?  Does that ring a bell?"

 

Jon laughs and is quick to tell her, "You're not!  You're blond, I have never liked blonds, plus your independent and have a career.  So not my type."

 

Beth is tired and feels that her and Jon could dance around there two subjects all night long.  She didn't fly to Salt Lake to talk about Jon's type and Richie.  She's glad that she told Jon about Richie, but the tired and exhausted part of her wishes that she hadn't.  She wanted to be with Jon, with thoughts of no one between them.  She grabs his hand, "Can we please stop with all this serious talk?  Honey, I came here to be with you.  Not talk about bullshit.  I've had enough bullshit talk to last me for weeks.  Can we get something to eat?"  She pleads with I'm, practically begs him to stop with the important conversations for the night.

 

Jon sees the frustration in her face and he mentally agrees that the two of them have had enough for now.  He reaches out and pulls her to him.  She buries her face in his chest and he holds her there, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head.  "I can't stand the thought of another man touching you, let alone my best friend."

 

She head butts him and says, "Enough, Jon." 

 

Laughing at her, he asks, "What do you want to eat?  I'm pretty hungry too."

 

"Food.  I don't care.  I really haven't eaten since I left New Jersey this morning."

 

He continues to hold her and she starts to rub his back, loving what she's feeling with her hands and  the way he makes her heart feel. She loves this man, more than she thought she would ever love another, after Brian.  Her love for Jon has changed and grown, since the lost of their daughters and she truly wants to cherish the love that they have and help it grow.

 

Jon gently guides her to toward the door, "Do you need your purse?"

 

"No, you're buying."  And out the door they go.  They have no idea where they were going, Jon just wants her to eat.  When they walk off the elevator, they both are overcome with the smell of Italian food. Looking down the hallway, they see that the little hotel restaurant is open.  Jon looks at Beth, in a way that asks, what do you think.

 

Pushing him toward the door, she says "I don't care, I need food."  And they go in.  The waiter sets them in a corner away from everyone else and they are treated with presidential treatment.  They both eat until they couldn't swallow another bite and washed it all down with a nice bottle of wine.  It was the first meal they had eaten alone, together in weeks.

Bellies are full and they both are very grateful that they are together, alone.  And Beth, for one,  is looking forward to the time alone together that they have coming up.  She's missed him, all of him and she wanted mothing more than to be with just him.  Walking back to the room, Jon asks her, with a little laugh in his tone, "Will you still marry me?"

She takes his hand and states a very simple fact, "I'll die with you, even without being married.  I just want us to be a family."

He's shocked by what she had just said, considering how upset she was earlier about the divorce or lack of.  Kissing the side of her head as they walk back upstairs, he says, "I promise, I'll marry you Beth Ann.  You will be a Bongiovi.

 

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