"Fuck you Jimmy!" she yelled as she stormed out of the wooden house.
"Fuck me? Fuck you! You're a stupid whiny bitch!" Jimmy said chasing after slamming the screen door as he left.
"What did you call me?" she turned around as he approached her in his white tank top and blue jeans.
"Bitch, want me to spell it for you?" he said looking down at her.
"You know what?" she shook her head. "You're not even worth it!"
She stormed off into the dark of the night. She didn't even look back at him. She hated him, she hated that house, she hated his friends but most of all she hated her life.
"Another fight with Jimmy?" the old man behind the bar asked as she walked into the local watering hole.
"Fuck him," she said as she pulled up the partisan and joined him. "Mind if I put in a few hours?"
"Hell no," he said as he took a seat.
"I'm not going back," she said as she began to clean some of the glasses.
"Yes, you will," the old man nodded. "You always come here when you're mad, he will come through that door, the two of you will talk, then you will leave."
"Not this time," she shook her golden blonde hair. "He can take a fucking leap off a cliff."
"What he do this time?" the old man asked.
"That motherfucker wanted me to strip for him and his friends as they watched the game!" she shouted. "Can you believe that shit?"
The old man shrugged. "Drinking, again is he?"
"Yes! After the last time he promised he would stop," she said as she took an empty beer glass from one of the customers. She popped the top off a new one then handed it to him. She flicked the cap into the bin across from her.
"Jessie," the old man nodded towards the door. Jimmy had walked in, he had his brown baseball hat on and was wearing a brown worn out jacket over his tank top.
"What part of fuck you, don't you understand?" Jessie said as he reached the bar.
"Hey Leonard," Jimmy nodded.
"Jimmy," the old man replied.
"The usual," Jimmy said as he sat down.
Jessie folded her arms under her impressive bust. "Now Jessie, he is a paying customer if he sits at my bar," Leonard said from behind her.
"Fine," she said as she took a beer bottle, she popped the top and slid it to him. "Drink it and get the fuck out."
"Sorry Okay, things got a little out of hand," Jimmy said. "You can't be walking around those hanging out and wearing those shorts, especially with the guys around."
"This is my fault?" Jessie screamed at him. The locals were used to these two arguing, none of them stopped what they were doing. "I have massive tits, Jimmy! I have always had them if you and your friends can't handle that then watch the game somewhere else."
"I said I was sorry," Jimmy said. "I told them they had to leave, now just come back to the house."
Jessie shook her head. She had given in to him too many times. She loved his brown eyes and the way they looked under that cap, and she loved how he smelled after working at the factory. The two had been an item since they were in High School. "Please," he pleaded.
"Fine," she snapped. "This is the last time Jimmy," she said as she walked around the bar.
Leonard stood up with a smile. He had known them both since they were born.
Jessie fell back on the bed as Jimmy fell on top of her. Her legs parted as he slid into her. "Don't ever call me a bitch again," she said to him as he gently bit her neck.
"You're my fucking bitch, and I will call you that as much as I want," Jimmy said as he pushed himself deep inside her.
Jessie's legs wrapped around him as he began to fuck her. She squeezed them tightly around his frame. With each thrust into her, she tightened her grip. "Fuck!" he yelled stopping his pace. "All right!" he gave in.
Jessie had spent most of her life riding horses and being on the cheer squad in High school she had legs that could crush a man's ribs if she wanted to. Jimmy got up the mood for him had been crushed just like the aching pain across his waist. "And you wonder why I call you that," he said as he put on a shirt.
"Keep calling me that, and I will crush more than just your ribs," Jessie said as she turned over. The two slept the night away, staying angry at each other even as they woke up. Jimmy went to work at the paper factory. Jessie turned over as she worked later that day at the bar.
"You know one day, one of you are going to kill the other," Nathan said. He was the cook that worked behind the bar.
"I know," Jessie said as she took some of the orders. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Call it quits," Nathan replied. "You both had a good time, call it a failed relationship and be done with each other."
Nathan was right, but then Nathan was always right. Everyone came to the bar not only for the drinks, music, and the sports. They came to ask Nathan for advice. He was the town's councilor.
"Okay, but this town is small, not like we wouldn't know what the other was doing," Jessie said. The town was very small. It was one of the small towns that people saw from the highway as they passed it at a high rate of speed. The only time anyone from the outside came into town was to gas up, buy food, or had to make an emergency stop.
"Then leave," Leonard said from his corner. Jessie looked at him tossing her golden hair aside. "You heard me," Leonard said standing up. "What have you got going on here that is holding you?"
Jessie thought for a moment. Jimmy was the only thing she had left. Her mother died when she was a baby. She had stayed with one of her mom's friend for most of her life, then Nathan had taken her in, he had been the closest thing to a father she had known.
"He's right," Nathan said looking at her with those cold blue eyes. "You're going to be thirty in four months, what have you got to show for it? Do you want to end up like us working your life away in some no named town, in the middle of fucking nowhere?"
Jessie looked back over her shoulder at the rest of the people in the bar. It was like a scene out of a movie. Everything had stopped, and everyone was looking at her.
"Come on. There is something I want to show you," Leonard said. They walked to the back of the bar. Leonard and his wife Patricia lived behind the bar. It was a cozy place, Jessie had slept back there many times when Jimmy and she had their big fights.
"Sit," he said pointing to a chair and table in the middle of the kitchen. Jessie sat and began thinking about leaving. She had thought about it many times. Leonard came back with a photograph in his hand. He handed it over.
Jessie looked at it. It was a photo of a lady, she was wearing a white shirt, with beads around her neck, short jeans shorts and she was holding a suitcase. "Who is this?"
"I think you know the answer to that question," Leonard said sitting across from her.
Jessie looked at the picture her eyes began to water. She knew her mom's story how she came to this town from somewhere else, hitching rides across the country, then finally falling for someone in this town. They had settled down here when her mother became pregnant. Some people say the man took off. Some say he was hit by a car and died on the spot. Jessie was born, then her mother became ill and passed away.
"Who took the picture?" Jessie asked.
"I think it was him," Leonard said. "Read the back," he said as he looked at her.
Jessie turned the picture in neat handwriting it displayed the date a full two years before Jessie was born. Then underneath the date, it said in bold letters: JACKSONVILLE OR BUST.
"They were going to Jacksonville. I thought he was from here?" Jessie asked through teary eyes.
"That was a rumor, neither of them was from here, they found each other on the road. They settled here because your mother was pregnant with you," Leonard said.
"You knew them?" she asked.
"Nah, I saw them around but never spoke to them because I knew the moment they had you, they would be gone," he smiled. "He left her, before you were born, she stayed."
"Where did he go?" Jessie asked.
"Did you read the back?" Leonard asked.
"Jacksonville?" she said.
"Since they were heading south. I figure it meant Jacksonville, Florida," He said standing up.
"Where did you get the picture?" she asked.
"Found it, when I was cleaning out their apartment," he nodded. "It's yours now."
He left her there to think. Jessie thumbed the picture looking at her mom with her long legs and long golden hair. The only thing she had was that suitcase. She looked like she had no cares in the world. Except for the man that took the picture.
That night Jessie packed all of her clothes into a duffle bag it wasn't a suitcase like her mom's, but it would do. She picked it up and put it over her shoulder then headed down the stairs.
"Where the fuck do you think, you're going?" Jimmy said standing up from his chair.
"I'm leaving," Jessie said standing firm. "It's over Jimmy. It has been over for a while now."
"If you leave, I am not going to chase you this time," Jimmy said plummeting down into his chair.
Jessie stood there looking down at him. "What are you waiting for?" he asked. "If you're going to go, then fucking go!"
Jessie nodded. She walked towards the door. Then she looked around at him. "Do you love me?"
"Bye Jessie," Jimmy said his eyes were filled with tears.
"Bye Jimmy," she said as she closed the door. Jessie walked to the bar, to say her goodbyes.
"Leaving now huh?" Nathan said wiping the sweat from his face.
"Yes, tear the bandage and all that stuff," she said. Nathan walked around to the bar.
"Good," Nathan said his big burly arms gave the girl he knew as a child the biggest, tightest hug he could muster. He let her go then looked down at her. "You don't come back, you hear me, you leave, and you don't give us a second thought. You got it!"
Jessie nodded. She looked over at Leonard still sitting on his chair that was always behind the bar. He nodded at her and she nodded back. She turned to walk out the bar when a man stepped in front of her.
"Here," he said handing her a set of keys. He nodded to an old truck parked outside. "She's on her last legs, she won't get you far, might even break down a few miles from here when she does you just leave her there. She belonged to my ex-wife, and I will be glad to get rid of the damn thing."
Jessie smiled. "Thank you," the man nodded and went back to his table. Jessie got in the truck. It smelled of cigarettes and beer. The truck barely started, she put it in gear then headed out of town towards the interstate. At the light, she looked in the rear view, when it turned green she headed onto the ramp.
Miles ticked away with each one it took her further away from the place she had called home. The truck made the strangest noises as it slowly began to die. After the sun had crept up from the clouds, it gave its last breath as a cloud of smoke came out of it. Jessie pulled it over to the side.
"Okay," she said as she picked up her bag, she slung it over her shoulder. "Walking it is."
She began to walk, luckily, she was wearing much better shoes than her mother had worn. Every time she wanted to give up when the sun was beating her to the breaking point she took out the picture and kept moving forward. A sign indicating for a truck stop made her come off the highway.
"Well look at you," the man behind the register said as Jessie put the two bottles of water down on the counter.
"Bathroom?" Jessie asked. The man handed her the key attached to a large wooden stick.
"Round the back," he said as he handed her the change.
"Thanks," Jessie nodded.
When she looked in the mirror, she saw the sun had made her face red. She had dark black circles under her eyes. She washed her face, then drenched her long hair in the cold water. She looked back at the woman looking back at her. "We can do this, no getting in cars with strangers, stick to the lights. At night, we have enough money for a room. We got this right?" she nodded. The woman nodded back at her. "Let's go."
Jessie handed the key back in then began to walk back to the ramp that would take her back to the highway. She had bought a map to keep her on the right path.
The sun was beginning to go down when she saw the sign for the next city. "Next exit we get off and get somewhere to stay," She told herself.
"Well look what we got here," a truck skidded to a stop as she began to head for a motel off the interstate.
"Just want to get a room," Jessie said exhausted. She had finished her last bottle of water a few hours ago. She was barely keeping herself upright.
"We got a room for you," one of the men said jumping down from the back of the truck.
Jessie's eyes barely focused on one of the men let alone all of them.