Jonah's Story

Hello Readers,

Today, I wanted to switch things up. First let me explain why. At the time that I was writing "You Make Me Crazier" I met a guy named Jonah Story. Guys, his name was literally Jonah Story.  If that wasn't a sign for me to rewrite last week's blog post in Jonah's perspective, I don't know what was! It made sense because a lot of readers always ask what it is that Jonah sees in Lynn. So, I thought it would be appropriate since the story is currently taking place in his hometown.

Majority of the story will be in a form of a monologue, but there's a few scenes that are different since Lynn wasn't around to experience them.

So, I hope you enjoy! If not, just hold tight until Thursday when postings will continue back in Lynn's perspective!

Xx
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It was my first weekend off in... I can't even remember how long. I was taking Lynn with me to Long Island for the weekend.

Only a small 80% of my conversations with my mom were about Lynn, so I presumed now was the time to finally bring the two together.

My mom was thrilled, of course.

It was her life's mission to some how interject herself in one of my relationships. As a teenager, if I ever brought a girl home, she would be one of those moms that hid in the bushes and peeked through the window, or stood at the top of the staircase to the basement, trying to get a good look at what was going on. I guess you could say our relationship growing up was similar to Adam and Beverly from The Goldbergs.

I zoned out of Casey and Lynn's conversation on the ride over to the house. There was an innumerable amount of things I still needed to do at work. Deadlines and negotiations that needed to be met. Even though my team reassured me they'd take care of everything, it was still at the top of my worries.

I'd written monologue samples, but I couldn't recall if I'd given them to my producer. Did I leave them on my desk? No, I couldn't have. Bashir took them from me to give to Mike. I remember now, he was wearing a Kansas City Chiefs shirt and it sparked a conversation about football that went on for a good hour.

The vivid imagery was enough to confirm my doubts.

Coming in at a close second was Lynn. I turned around to look at her. She was just as anxious as I was. Her leg slightly trembled and she was biting the inside of her cheeks. Something she always did when she was nervous. I laughed quietly to myself.

Lynn was looking out the window, but noticed me immediately. She glanced over and a smile lit up her face.

“Welcome to Long Island!”

Casey nudged my shoulder, “or Longuyland, as mom likes to say!”

Lynn found Casey's comment to be funny, so I continued to play off of it.

If there was anything that was going to ease my spinning thoughts, it was the sound of her laughter. It was like rain on a Sunday morning. Refreshingly sweet, simple, and pure. Maybe I was a little more sensitive to it because of the industry I was in. I'd grown immune to the forced laughs of the people around me. But not Lynn's; when we met she laughed before she could even say anything. The genuine honesty of it was the first thing I noticed about her.

We finally arrived at the house and my mom came outside right on cue. Like she had been anxiously waiting our arrival. I hadn't seen her in months, and she made sure to let me know it'd been a while.

Even though she begged me for weeks to come visit her, it was Lynn she was waiting to meet.

“This must be Sofia!” She looked at me as she spoke. There was a twinkle in her eye, as if to say she was testing Lynn's reaction. Maybe she assumed that if a girl could be with a guy as sarcastic as me, she must have a twisted sense of humor.

Either way, her intentions weren't malicious, but I still didn't find it funny.

Lynn had small traces of jealousy in her, so I knew she hadn't taken the joke very well. I quickly apologized for my mom, but the dilemma was over and turned into a “let's embarrass Jonah” party instead. I was worried for nothing.

My mom and Casey pulled out some old home movies and pictures to show Lynn. I let the girls have their time together and went into the kitchen instead. After rummaging through the fridge I heated up some leftovers and stepped out into the backyard.

There was only a select few days that Long Island would let you enjoy it's weather and today was one of those days. I sat on the rocking bench under the vine covered arbor, that over looked our rectangular pool, and pulled out my phone to get some work done.

“Hey, honey.” I felt my mom's hands grip my shoulders and slide across my body into a hug. She kissed me on the cheek and walked over to sit down.

I smiled, putting my empty plate away on the table next to me. “I miss your cooking!”

“I know you do, why else would you have came home?” She laughed, ruffling my hair with her fingers. “How have things been going?”

I held onto my head and leaned back, looking up at the afternoon sky. “There's just so much to do and not enough time! Every decision has to be approved by me. I feel like I'm getting hustled left and right.”

My mom wrapped her hand around my shoulder and caressed it softly, hoping it would calm me down. “Oh, my sweet boy. You're just like your father. Always pushing yourself harder than you need to be.” She laughed to herself.

“It got me this far didn't it?” I looked over at my mom whose eyes were set on my hand that she'd been holding onto.

“It did” She pulled me in so my head was resting on her shoulder and gently rocked side to side. “But, sometimes you need to know when to let go and let things take their own path. I don't want you working so hard that you miss out on life's pleasantries.”

I closed my eyes as I listened to her voice. She kept talking and I could feel myself drifting off. But then she said something that caught my attention.

“She seems like a keeper.”

I lifted my head from her shoulder and looked at her. “You like her?” I was caught off guard. My mom and sisters had such high standards for me.

“Of course I do. I've never seen you so happy with someone.” She said without looking at me.

“You've barely even met any of the girls I've been with, Mom.” I reminded her.

“Exactly why she's a keeper.” She finally looked at me and ever so slightly curled the corner of her mouth. “She must be a big deal if you're introducing her to me.”

“Well” I shrugged my shoulders. I knew I loved Lynn, but it suddenly felt like a different kind of love with the way my mom put it. “She is.” Now I was the one avoiding eye contact. I fumbled with my jeans as I looked down at my lap. “I don't know, I guess, this is gonna sound kinda weird.”

She turned towards me, her elbow leaning on the back of the bench, and stroked my hair with her fingers. “What is it, baby? You can tell me.”

“What Lynn and I have kinda reminds me of what you and dad had.” I laughed at how ridiculous I sounded. “She's beautiful, but that's just a plus. I like her because of the person she is. She's smart and funny. She knows she's not perfect, but that doesn't bother her as much as it bothers other girls. She thinks she's always right when most of the time she's not. I let it slide, because it's just cute at how convinced she is. She has this passion that burns within her. Like, there's no in between, either she really loves something or she hates it. She over thinks just about everything. I promise you that girl takes 45 minutes just to figure out if she wants a bagel or coffee for breakfast. She'll sit there and make a pros and cons list, mom, for bagels and coffee. And guess what?”

“What?” I looked up at my mom who seemed to be humored by the whole thing.

“She ends up getting both.” My mom laughed and I sighed.

“Somebody's in love” She sang as she pinched my cheek. She could read the look on my face and knew I felt overwhelmed by this foreign feeling. “Don't worry, you're not going to disappoint her. You mean the world to her.” She rubbed my shoulder in a comforting way.

“How do you know?” I looked at her confused.

“She hadn't taken her eyes off of you the entire time you were with her. I never knew I did that with your father until my mother-in-law told me.”

I exchanged a brief smile with my mom before Casey called us inside.

Casey and my mom started prepping dinner and refused to let me and Lynn help, so I showed her around the house instead.

We went down to the basement where Casey and I spent most of our time growing up. Mandy was much younger than us, the standards of “cool” had changed by her time, so she never understood the glory of having a basement while being a teenager. 

Finally I took her upstairs so she could settle into my room where we'd be staying for the night. We sat at the edge of the bed as she noticed a picture of my dad and asked me about it. I'd seen the picture a million times. Some nights I even stared at it until I'd fallen asleep. But, there was something about having to explain the significance of the picture that flooded back memories. I was suddenly taken back to that night. I felt myself slipping to a place where I knew it would be difficult to come out of. I felt Lynn's hand on my shoulder and I snapped back to reality.

I could tell she felt sorry for me and I didn't want her to. I jumped off the bed and pretended like I had something to show her when really I just needed a second to myself. I rummaged through some comic books, hoping we'd some how drift into another conversation.

She came and stood next to me staring happily as I aimlessly searched for nothing. I remembered what my mom and I had talked about earlier. I pulled Lynn in and kissed her, letting her know how much I appreciated her.

Things would have gone further if Mandy hadn't knocked on the door and ruined the moment.

I wasn't too upset because I was excited to see her. The last time we'd spent time together was when I moved back to the City. She was in New Hampshire now, attending college, so our trips back home rarely ever collided.

I was extremely protective of Mandy growing up. She was barely able to understand what was going on when our dad passed away. I always felt like I had to be that male figure for her. She was the reason I stayed out of trouble. Even when I felt like giving up, I kept going. I wanted to set a good example.

I found myself staring at my mom and the girls through a glass window. I couldn't help but notice how well they were getting along. Mandy seemed to like Lynn by the way she enthusiastically hung on every word she said. It was cute and reassured me that I made the right decision bringing both of my worlds together.

That night, as we were getting ready for bed, I was in my bathroom brushing my teeth when I saw Lynn in my bedroom changing. It had been a long time since I'd seen her bare skin. The way she stood there with her hair falling over her shoulder. I couldn't resist myself. I begged for her attention, and after putting up a small fight, she finally let me win.

I showed her just how much she meant to me.

That night when she'd fallen asleep, I pulled her in close and held on to her body. This time, I wasn't going to let her go.