Tuesday afternoon.
Dan couldn't take it anymore. He hadn't heard from Jo since he left her apartment on Saturday. He knocked on the apartment door. When Jesse opened the door, she seemed relieved to see him. Just from that reaction, Dan knew the situation at the apartment was bad.
"Danny, you've got to do something. She hasn't said a word since...What happened to your face?"
His lip and left cheek looked better the day before. He licked the still swollen corner of his mouth. The bruising in the shape of a fist made it impossible to not see that he'd been in a fight, but he kept silent anyway by keeping the attention where it should be, "She didn't come to class. That's two days in a row. I'm not waiting until tomorrow."
Jesse let him in and watched him set down a grocery bag. "She hasn't left the house since you brought her home. Will you please tell me what happened? I haven't gotten a word out of her, and you look like shit."
Dan would have said something like, "Thanks a lot. Like your opinion of me matters," but he was too distracted. "She in bed?" He went through the cabinets and drawers to assess his inventory.
"No, she's in the shower. What are you doing? And, you still didn't answer me. What happened to you? Gary hasn't called back. I called him about twenty times. Did he do that to you?"
"I'm doing something," he flatly said as he opened the refrigerator and smelled the gallon of milk. Satisfied that it was fresh enough, he put it back in and moved on to opening the crisper. "Has she eaten?"
"I don't know. I had to go to class today. She definitely didn't eat yesterday..."
"Okay," he closed the refrigerator and looked Jesse squarely in the eye for the first time. "You need to leave."
"What?"
He waved toward the door. "Go visit Terrence. I don't know why, but he probably misses you."
"I'm not leaving Jo." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"I'm sorry. I can't have you hovering like this if I'm gonna get her fed."
"I don't want to leave her with you..."
"Did she tell you what happened?"
Jesse shook her head and looked to him in anticipation of an answer to her questions.
"If she didn't tell you what happened, she has her reasons. I won't go against that, so don't ask for any explanations. If you want to get mad at me, that's understandable. Right now, how you feel bears no weight. You need to leave, now." Daniel turned his back on any plea Jesse might make. He pulled out the small pots and pans and got to work as he heard the girl pick up her keys.
"How long do you think you need to be alone here? I mean I know how you are, and... Just don't do anything..."
Dan closed his eyes slowly, to keep from choosing a throwing implement. This was the same girl that set up that ambush at the shop He and took in a slow breath before answering, "I'll be here for as long as she needs."
"Well, I don't think..."
"Jesse, you've done enough damage, okay," he grumbled. "She needs to eat. She needs quiet. In all of the times I've seen you, you've never been quiet, ever. Can you honestly tell me that you would leave us alone if you stay?"
***
Jo let the shower run cold before she got the urge to get out. She shivered in the tub for a few minutes until she could get warm enough to grab her towel and huddle on the edge of the tub. She heard Jesse making noise in the kitchen. Jo sighed, 'I must have really scared the crap out of her, if she's trying to cook.' Jo couldn't remember the last time Jesse even boiled water. She lacked the desire to go out. It was too exhausting to even think about being nice to even Jesse. She knew this was wrong. Something in the pit of her stomach rolled around. She listened as the clanging continued. She was sort of hungry. She got up and slowly made her way to her room. Jo vetoed her body's idea of putting on a fresh night shirt and slipping back into bed. She pulled on a pair of jeans from the floor and her favorite baggy shirt. It wouldn't do to spend the entire day in pajamas. She paused at the door. 'What am I gonna say to her? She's gonna ask. She's the philosophy major, remember? She's gonna grill you like a ten dollar steak. No, you can't let him do this to you. You stood up. Stand up some more. What for? Did acting like some raving lunatic make you feel any better?' She caught herself in the mirror She barely recognized the sad girl looking back at her. 'Yeah, what for.' She opened the door and walked down the hall toward the kitchen. The warm scents of food hit her before she got around the corner. 'Jesse must have ordered out.' She peaked in to see the back of a man rummaging through the refrigerator. Before she could muster a smidgen of fear, he rose to turn back to the stove and smiled at her, "Good afternoon, beautiful." Dan casually said as he turned his back again and cleaned up the mess from his preparations.
She racked her brain to figure out why he would be in her apartment. "It's Wednesday?" She could barely hear herself. Instead of explaining things to Jesse, she'd resorted to silence. It had been so easy to ignore the prattling of her friend on the outside when she had the doubts rising up on the inside.
"No, it's Tuesday. I figured, you haven't had a good meal in a few days."
"I can cook," she said. Her unused voice cracked. She hunched her shoulders as he let her words hang unassisted as he continued to clean.
When he finally spoke, it was a slow low thing. "I know you can. Jesse didn't bring all of these pots with her. No double boiler, though. Dreadful," he sucked on his teeth.
"I didn't need one," she found herself replying.
He glanced up at her and said, "You don't need one until you need one."
She dropped into the nearest chair, and Daniel quickly set a plate in front of her. It was filled with a four egg omelet, four sausage patties, strawberries, and a sliced orange. He followed the plate quickly with a large glass filled nearly to the brim with orange juice.
"I'm not hungry," she tried to lie as her stomach gave her away. It wasn't a small quiet thing, either. It was a completely empty stomach rumble that lasted for a long time. She was desperately ravenous, but she didn't want him to know that. She couldn't understand why his presence made her feel warm and ashamed at the same time.
"If that's too much for you, I can make you a fruit salad." He just stood there and watched her examine the plate. They both knew she wasn't going to eat it. "Look, you need to eat. You'll get sick if you don't."
"I can't. I..." She made the mistake of glancing up into his battered, worried face. His generally disheveled hair wasn't a shock. His rumpled clothes were the norm. She saw the marks across his face and breathed, "What happened to you?"
"Nothing." He brushed off as he sat down next to her and pointed to her plate. "Food in your stomach is more important."
