Returning to No Applause, Only More of the Same

“I will assure you one last time and no more: I was merely asking about his future plans regarding the course. That’s all,” Gerald said so dismissively that Jay’s conviction only deepened. Really, it was almost obvious that would be her reaction.

“You didn’t talk like a pair of strangers,” she replied, suppressing a grin that might tell him how much she enjoys watching him squirm.

Gerald hardened his gaze where he walked beside her, leading his bike by the handlebars. As far as Jay knew, he’d been given the bike on his first day as an adoptee. Considering the colour scheme and odd design elements (such as the bright pink bag hung below the saddle), it seemed clear that the bike was probably from the early nineties or so. In other words, one of his two fathers probably owned it before him.

Andrew and James. A pair of pretty good guys, as far as cops go. Of course, being a future reporter aficionado, she couldn’t find it in her to like them too much. They were probably withholding lots of juicy state secrets.

Anyhoo, the reason for Gerald having the bike at all was a simple one. His house was in the middle of the inner city, not on the outskirts like Jay and Annie. Thus, since the road there was rather long, he needed a bike. Simple mathematics. Then, why was he walking beside his bike and not riding it?

That would be the presence of Jay herself. She was currently forcing herself onto him. Right after school, after telling Annie to bring the “unopened” letter the following day, she proceeded to follow Gerald. Hence, since Gerald was an impeccably polite and courteous boy, he couldn’t find it in him to simply bike away from her. He had to walk beside her, bringing her to his house even though she never once asked if that would be alright with him. This was all part of her calculations. If she had asked whether she could come over for the evening or not, he would have had a chance to say “no,” a highly likely outcome since he already knew what she wanted to ask about.

But, since she never even asked him about whether or not it was alright for her to come along, he never had a chance to refuse her. He was simply too polite and nervous to stop in his tracks and ask, “Isn’t your house the other way?”

A little smirk found its way onto Jay’s lips. Indeed, she knew how to flay a goat.

Gerald sighed. “I don't suppose you’ll drop the subject once we get home, will you?”

Jay made a show of pondering it deeply, furrowing her brows and thumbing her lip. “Nnnope!”

Though, despite her valiant effort, even when they arrived at his house, she hadn’t been able to relieve him of a single drop of truth.

Gerald and his adoptive parents lived in a small but charming house, just to the side of all the inner-city hustle and bustle. The brick-walled house sat nestled in between similar yet slightly different (though equally quaint) houses, all peering out towards a small park in the city. It was an immensely pleasant little thing, with a garden full of yet-to-bloom flowers and the walls covered with creepvine. Every time Jay looked at it she felt a pang of jealousy.

But she knew Gerald deserved it. Far more than she ever would, that’s for sure. Indeed, if there was anyone who deserved a pair of loving parents and a cosy house, it was Gerald. Ah, but he did deserve getting ruthlessly interrogated by Jay. As punishment for withholding his secrets.

As they mosied up to the fence outside the house, Gerald turned to look at her. Both of them had walked for the better part of an hour. “You’re not turning around, are you?”

“After coming all this way? Certainly not.”

Gerald couldn’t refuse her. After sighing and unlocking the small gate, he let her inside first. After sticking his bike in a small garage off to the side, he returned, quickly unlocking the door and inviting her inside. Once she entered, he smoothly closed the door behind her, sealing his fate.

The inside of the house was much like the outside. The wooden floor was mostly covered by a striped, woven rug that stretched the full extent of the hallway. Along the sides of said hallway hung several landscape pictures and a few mirrors, each framed by what looked like an antique frame. Honestly, it looked like the kind of house a grandma would live in, stuffed top-to-bottom with things and trinkets from a long life. Jay could remember Gerald telling her sometime that the house was actually left from one of his father’s mothers after she passed, leaving it for them to take refuge in. Very little had changed, apart from even more trinkets being added to the mix.

“Don’t forget to remove your shoes,” Gerald said warily, clearly a bit on edge. Well, she had made her intentions as clear as they could be, so it wasn’t as though his reaction was any strange. It just made her objective of pulling his secrets out of him a fair bit harder. Though not impossible.

“Yes sir, will do, sir,” she joked, slipping off her shoes and placing them in the shoe rack among fifteen loafers and monk straps. Gerald had already done the same.

Taking a peek at his watch, he tightened his lips into a line. “Would you rather have a snack or wait and join us for dinner?”

Jay considered the question for a moment. If she stayed at Gerald’s house for dinner, she’d likely be served a newly-cooked warm meal and a possible dessert on account of her presence as guest. If she went home and her mother came home before 2 in the morning, she might not have to eat four-day-old leftovers from when her mother did come home before 2 in the morning. That is, a really old pizza.s

“I’ll stay over,” she said. A real no-brainer there.

Gerald frowned slightly without telling her she couldn’t stay for dinner. “Okay, um, James recently bought me a new video game for the white box, so if you want to-,”

“No, I just want to talk.”

“It’s in the living room. You can play multiple-,”

“Let’s go up to your room and talk.”

Gerald gave off a strong impression of wanting to crawl out of his own skin. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. My room is very unkempt as I haven’t had anyone over in a-,”

“Annie was over at your house three days ago. Knowing you, I doubt you could dirty it that much in such a short time. Somehow, you’re one of the cleanest people I know,” Jay retorted, taking a secret joy in watching him squirm. Though, his reluctance to bring her to his room is a bit strange. He knows that she can interrogate him even while playing a game. “Or… is there something up there you don’t want me to see?”

Gerald twitched. Ah. Right on the money. “It’s a matter of… privacy.”

Aha, but privacy is nothing in the face of deductive journalism! With a firm hand, Jay shouldered past Gerald and took to the stairs, all the while ignoring the pleas of her friend, telling her he isn’t hiding anything at all, and that he really just didn’t have time to clean. Once upstairs, she took the first turn to the left, which led straight into Gerald’s room. She burst through the door.

“Aha! “ Jay shouted into the room. The room was, as always, impeccably clean. A simple bed, a simple cupboard, a simple desk… barely a single object of affection. The only decorative thing to be seen was a painting on the wall. Other than that, there wasn’t a single thing out of place. “Uhh…”

Gerald sidled up behind her, glancing into the room furtively. “As I said. Nothing of importance.”

Jay swivelled to look at him, trying to get over her shock at bursting in dramatically and then unveiling exactly nothing. “Uh-, um, if, if there’s nothing strange in here, how come you said it was dirty? Huh?” Maybe that’ll make him forget her embarrassing uncovering just now.

Gerald stared at her blankly. “I remembered wrongly.”

“Hey, you were here this morning! How do you forget your room is clean!?” Jay stammered at him, all the while he just sort of entered his room all casually as if they hadn’t just mind-battled over the contents of his content-less room. He sat down at his desk, turning the chair to face the bed. Moving in tandem with this, Jay sat down on the bed, still gnawing at her lip.

“So? What did you want to talk about?” Gerald asked cooly.

Damn it. Maybe Jay underestimated him. He is, after all, a man who has faced death on the daily for several years. Assuming he wouldn’t hold a candle to her in a battle of wits might have been naive of her. She hooked her fingers above her knees, focusing her intensive eyes on her victim.

Even though he might still seem a bit shaken, that could just be a cover. Like an onion, his first layer is a facade of coolness, with the second layer being a false premise of nervousness. Jay couldn’t imagine how many shrouds hid beneath these two. This might be the most decisive moment in her life. If she can get the truth out of Gerald, she can maybe rest easy. That all depends on the answer.

An answer she may or may not be given.