Jessi stared at her reflection in the mirror, not really seeing anything.
She ran a comb through her hair almost mechanically. In her mind's eye, she
saw herself, her former partner James, and their talking Meowth trying for
the last time to steal the twerp brigade's pesky Pikachu. She remembered all
too well the look on her partners' faces when they had returned to their
boss, Giovanni; empty handed, and been punished by being split up for good.
They were each assigned a different group, and they rarely saw each other.
She vividly remembered the last conversation she and James had had when they
'd last seen each other.
"So I guess we've both been busy. It's been a while."
"Yeah. I've had quite a few missions lately. The boss is keeping me busy."
James was staring at the floor as he spoke, obviously uncomfortable.
"Is something wrong?" Jessi asked. The amount of gentle concern in her voice
surprised her. It certainly must have surprised James, who looked up
quickly.
"Well. I've just been. I was wondering." The boy fumbled with his words for
a moment, then took a deep breath. He looked right into Jessi's eyes. "Do
you. have you missed me?"
The 'I-blew-it' look on her partner's face told Jessi that they weren't the
words that he'd been trying to force his reluctant voice to say. Her breath
caught in her throat.
"Of course I miss you, James. I think about you all the time." Her former
partner and friend shot her a brilliant grin that would be forever imprinted
in her mind.
Jessi sighed, setting down the comb. She hadn't seen James in two years to
the day. A week after that conversation, the police had surrounded the Team
Rocket headquarters. Jessi had escaped, but she had no idea what had
happened to James or Meowth. She hoped they'd got away.
She shook her head. Sometimes she got carried away with thinking about the
past. But tonight, on the anniversary of their last conversation, it was
impossible to stop thinking about her old life.
Jessi rose from her chair and crossed the floor of the bedroom. After
escaping from the police, she'd walked through the woods for three days
before emerging on the outskirts of a tiny town that she'd never known
existed. Luckily, the inhabitants paid little or no attention to the news,
so she was able to rent a small house and live a semi-normal life without
any trouble.
The house was quite nice, if a bit quaint, she thought. There was a
good-sized kitchen, one bathroom, a tiny family room which opened into the
kitchen, and, of course, her bedroom. She worked Monday through Friday from
10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. as a clerk at the local Poke Mart, a job that bored
her out of her mind, but paid generously.
Thinking about other things had calmed her down a bit. She opened the window
and leaned out, looking up at the sky. She remembered the days when she,
James and Meowth had slept out in the woods around a campfire. Meowth had no
trouble falling asleep, but occasionally she and James had stayed up long
into the night, staring at the beautiful velvet night sky dotted with bright
stars like pinpricks of light shining through a great canvas. And the
moon.oh, it had been the best part, like a globe smiling down on them,
bathing them in soft moonbeams. It had felt like no one else in the whole
world existed anymore, and it was just Meowth, curled up beside the put-out
campfire, sleeping peacefully, a blissful look on his feline face, and
herself and James, talking and laughing and gazing at the moon and stars,
and occasionally each other.
Jessi sat down quickly on her bed, tears welling up in her eyes. Life just
wasn't fair. There was just no such thing as a happy ending anymore. Maybe
there had never been. Angrily she brushed away her tears. This was no good.
Feeling sorry for yourself doesn't help at all, she told herself sternly.
Still, the tears kept coming.
"I'm not going to keep doing this!" she said aloud. Her words reverberated
in the lonely room. "That's it." she stated, standing up. "I'm not going to
think about him anymore, and that's final!" She stamped her foot for
emphasis, then looked around. Her radio, on the shelf in the corner, caught
her eye. Music, that was just the thing! It would keep her mind from
wandering. Walking over, she switched it on. Commercials.flipping stations,
she finally found one with music and settled into her bed to listen.
The song ended, and commercials came on. Jessi gave an absolutely venomous
glare at the radio and exclaimed, "Fine then. You think I care? Go right
ahead and play your stupid commercials!" She folded her arms and flopped
back down. The radio droned on from the corner. She tuned it out and
remembered one of her earlier visits after she and James had been split up.
She had gone to his room, and they had sat talking easily like the good
friends they were, while in the background, his beat-up radio played music
that helped fuel their conversation.
Jessi rolled over onto her stomach. Apparently, it was impossible to stop
thinking about someone who had been such an important part of her life.
"Poke Tunes FM- the best mix of music on the air!" the radio blared.
"Tonight we have a special program for all those lonely hearts out there."
Jessi's ears perked up. "If you want to catch the attention of someone you
remember well but feel has forgotten all about you, here's your chance. Boot
up your computer and E-mail us your dedication at." Jessi had a pencil and
paper ready and scribbled down the E-mail address. Then she reached under
her bed and pulled out her laptop.
"Tell us your name and who you are dedicating the song to along with a short
message. We'll read it over the radio, and hopefully your dream partner will
hear it and think of you."
By the time the music started again, Jessi was on the blank screen of the
E-mail message. Her fingers hovered for a moment over the keys, but soon she
was typing at lightning speed.
"Two years ago, my partner and I were split up due to an emergency. I haven'
t seen him since. I want him to know I think of him all the time. James, I
do miss you very much. So, if you would please play Selena's "Dreaming of
You", I would really appreciate it. -Jessi in Smallburg."
She clicked the "send" button, put away the laptop, and laid down to listen
for her dedication. Her eyes slowly closed as a feeling of comfortable
drowsiness overcame her. Suddenly she was jolted out of her sleep by the
sound of her own written words being read over the radio.
".and so, from Jessi in Smallburg, to James, wherever you are, here is
Selena's "Dreaming of You." Jessi's heartbeat quickened as the familiar
lyrics came over the radio.
"Late at night when all the world is sleeping
I stay up and think of you
And I wish on a star
That somewhere you are thinking of me too
'Cause I'm dreaming of you tonight
'Til tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be
Than here in my room, dreaming about you and me
Wonder if you ever see me and I
Wonder if you know I'm there
If you looked in my eyes, would you see what's inside
Would you even care?
I just wanna hold you close, but so far
All I have are dreams of you
So I wait for the day
And the courage to say how much I love you."
The rest of the song was lost to Jessi. Her eyes eased closed, and, true to
the song, she did dream of James, and their escapades in Team Rocket. But
unlike the song, her "day" to wait for was already night. She had lost her
chance to ever confess her feelings to James.
The next week passed uneventfully for Jessi. She went to work as usual, came
home, moped around and went to bed early. So on Saturday morning, she was
completely surprised by the sound of the doorbell. Jumping up, she grabbed a
brush and ran it through her hair a few times. She wondered who it could be-
she hadn't had any visitors in all the time she'' lived here.
Jessi ran out and threw open the door. What she saw nearly took her breath
away. James, her former partner and longtime friend, stood there with as
much unmasked joy as Jessi imagined showed on her face.
For all of five minutes they only stared, each taking in every bit of the
other. Jessi saw that the attractiveness James'd had in adolescence had
reshaped into more mature good looks. His hair was an inch or two shorter
than when she'd last seen it, but it was still the same style. He was a few
inches taller, too, even without the heavy boots they'd worn in Team Rocket.
All in all, the small changes only served to make him look better.
"James. it's been a while, huh?" Jessi ventured awkwardly. He smiled at her,
the same smile she so vividly remembered in her mind.
"Jessi." The boy hesitated for a moment, but then his words all spilled out
in a rush. "I was listening to the radio last week and I heard your song. I
heard where you were and I looked you up and asked around and here I am. And
I wanted to tell you. I mean, ask you." James took a deep breath. Jessi read
the expression on his face like a book; he had to say this now, or never.
When the words wouldn't come, he sighed and just smiled at her. "You knew
what I really meant to ask, didn't you? Back at the old headquarters?"
"Well. I think I did, anyway." Jessi knew perfectly well what he'd meant,
but she felt it would only be real if James said it himself, out loud.
"I. I meant to say, Jessi. that I love you. I always have, and I still do."
He took a tentative step forward, into the doorway.
"I love you too, James." Before she knew what she was doing, she had thrown
her arms around James in a gentle hug. He was startled, but, Jessi noted, it
didn't take him long at all to hug back.
"Being separated was. torture," he whispered in her ear. "We'd been together
so long, I just felt. incomplete without you. And not even knowing if you
were still alive." Jessi felt him shudder.
"I know how you felt. It was the same for me. But you don't have to worry
anymore, because you're staying here with me," Jessi told him softly.
Without realizing that she was doing it, she kissed him lightly, as if to
seal their union. His only response was to blush and hug her closer.
Jessi couldn't believe her change of luck. Her friend- her love, she
corrected herself dreamily- had finally been reunited with her, and within
10 minutes they had admitted their love for one another, hugged, and kissed.
It was a dream come true!
James pulled away slightly so he could look Jessi in the face. "One more
thing- Meowth lives with a human family on the other side of this town. I
saw him on the way here." Then it was back to the seemingly never-ending
hug.
All sorts of irrelevant thoughts bounced around in Jessi's head. This was
her "day." This was her happy ending. So they did exist, after all. Among
all of the stray thoughts, the last lines of the song that had brought James
back to her at last were most clear. She'd always tuned them out before, but
now they held a special meaning for her.
"Late at night when all the world is sleeping
I stay up and think of you
And I still can't believe
That you came up to me and said 'I love you'.
Now I'm dreaming with you tonight
'Til tomorrow and for all of my life
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be
Than here in my room, dreaming with you endlessly."
