"Dammit, get out of here, this is my rocket! Not yours! Git!"
On the small screen, Jessie waved her hand through cobwebs, scattering the gossamer threads to the breeze. She moved around the cramped metal confines of the nose of the rocket slide, breaking up webs and pitching trash out between the close-set bars before finally settling down cross-legged on the floor. "Sorry about that. First time I've been up here this year, little bastards forgot who owns this place."
I smiled broadly at the screen. Damn, it felt good to see her.
She was just as gorgeous as when I'd last seen her - dressed unusually conservatively in a knee-length denim skirt made entirely out of patches, and a pink and black striped tank top appropriate for the warm May air. She'd shaved the side of her head again like when I'd first met her, and the rest of her black hair had been cut to chin length and gelled into spikes. Between that and the dark eye makeup, she looked positively vampiric.
Just the way I liked.
Jessie tucked her hair behind her ears and very demurely folded her hands in her lap and looked directly into the camera. "So. How was your day?"
"It was good. I got a promotion at work, that was nice. They like the metrics I'm putting up, and they want me to make them even more money."
"Wow, you've been there what, for, five months and already a promotion. That's great!"
I shrugged. "It's work. But I'm full time now, so more money and the potential for benefits. I kinda don't want to go back to teaching. Maybe I will, maybe I won't, not sure yet." The college had promised me a return to work date of the beginning of the fourth semester as long as I didn't get arrested again, and I was hemming and hawwing privately about whether I should go back at all. "How about you, how was your day?"
"It was a day. I'm waiting on my friend McKenna to get her code running and give me a demonstration. I'll be able to do much more effective advertising when I can see and hear what our product does, and I'll be able to advertise it to potential buyers more easily. Other than that, did some sewing for the clothing company. That's about it. Looked forward to our date tonight."
"Not sure I'd call it a date..." I was sitting in my side yard watching the sun go down, a craft McDonald's burger and a mug with some high-end Wild Turkey in on a card table next to me. Unable to go Milwaukee, I'd proposed Skyping Jessie while we were both outside, and "sharing" a meal. I'd sent her giftcards for the new McDonald's meals she wanted to try, and money enough to buy bourbon a few shelves up from what she usually drank. I was going to sit on my lawn, she had taken her meal to the top of the rocket slide jungle gym thing she'd shown me back in December, and we were going to eat together.
As together as two people can be when separated by hundreds of miles and legal bullshit.
"What else is new in your life? Anything fun?" Jessie asked.
I shrugged. "Got two stripes on my belt in martial arts class. Gonna compete in a pistol shooting competition tomorrow. Achieved my personal best bench press yesterday. That's about it. Work. Sleep. Training."
"Sleep with anyone fun?" The look on her face was amused.
"Got seduced by one of the police officers working on my case. That wasn't fun. Sienna set up a rendezvous with a model on her birthday. That WAS fun. You?"
"Just a girlfriend or two," she said innocently. "Saving myself for the next time I see you."
I raised my eyebrows and gave her a disbelieving look. "Really."
Her cute smile spread to a grin. "Ok, well, there was this really cute shelver at the grocery store I go to." Her voice grew wistful. "He has a really nice dick..." Then she burst out laughing.
"More detail than I needed," I said with mock disapproval. "But seriously, I'm glad you're having fun."
"Me too. You mentioned your case... Any movement on that? Any closer to being cleared?"
"Nada. The woman I, uh, I met with said there's no evidence against me. So that's good. My college told me I can return to work later this year. Might not want to."
"I'm sorry."
"It is what it is. I'm making it work. You wanna break into those burgers now? I'm famished."
Paper rustled as we unbagged the burgers, and Jessie groaned as she took a bite. "That is some damn good fast food..." she announced after she finished chewing.
It was good, I had to admit. Better than fast food had a right to be. I uncorked the bottle at my feet and poured some into my mug. Jessie poured a few fingers into her Solo cup, and I raised my glass to the screen in a toast. "To the internet. The bastards can't keep us apart."
Jessie giggled and pretended to clink her glass with me, then took a sip. The look on her face as she swallowed was almost like watching her get penetrated- a series of winces, shivers, and finally a wide-mouthed gasp. "Shit, that is...wow...yeah. That is strong."