Something Symphonic

Chapter One

Everyone was happy when Joanie and Chachi had their wedding. We all wished them the best because we knew that they deserved the best. But there was no denying that it made me a bit angry…jealous, being the better word, that my best friend was taken away from me. Of course I was as happy as the rest of her family. We had known each other since elementary school, after all, but I was quick to realize that after her marriage, I would truly be alone.

I’ll be the first person to admit that I’ve never let myself grow attached to anyone, and I’ve always been the girl that gets around. In high school it worked, but now that I’m getting older, it seems to be a bit ridiculous. One day, I’m sure, everything will be different. Maybe I’ll settle down too. The Cunninghams have always been my surrogate family, and as my desperation increased so did my need to be with my “family”. Every day for two weeks I visited the house to help with any chores that needed to be done and eat dinner with them.

It was a normal day for me at the Cunningham house. I was sitting in the living room watching old episodes of I Love Lucy, and Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham were in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. “Jenny?” I heard Mrs. Cunningham ask in a nervous voice. She sounded like she had some terrible news to break to me that she just didn’t have the heart to say. I turned towards the kitchen to hear her finish speaking. “We were going to go visit Fonzie and Danny.” She continued. I immediately smiled at hearing that. She was always concerned with how they were doing but she managed to hold back from calling them every five seconds. It was good for her to put her time into watching after them, since the house was practically empty. “Jenny.” She said once more. She wasn’t entirely finished with what she wanted to convey. “Maybe you’d like to go home. I’m sure your family misses you.”

My relationship with my family was fairly decent. We didn’t spend the most time together but we didn’t kill each other when we had the chance to. I was never too fond of staying at home for a long period of time. If boredom didn’t get to me, it was one of my sisters pestering me with one of their dumb problems. I preferred the Cunninghams to my family. They were less dysfunctional than we were.

“I think what she’s trying to say is, maybe you should spend time with your own family.” Mr. Cunningham always had a better way of breaking sour news to people, and he always made sure they understood what he was saying. I understood easily what was he was saying. I had overstayed my welcome and they didn’t want me around. They were right though. I needed to do something with myself and become more independent. While I was silent, thinking of what I was going to do, Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham left the house with a sorry expression. I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t want me hanging around their house all week either.

Chapter One: Part Two


While I tried to gather my thoughts, I figured that I might as well make use of my time. I knew that I would be gone by the time the Cunninghams came home, but it wouldn’t kill me to stay a few extra minutes. Since I hadn’t been doing much around the house except bothering people, helping with the dishes seemed to be a perfectly harmless task. I stood in the kitchen running cold water from the sink. I was completely alone until I heard the door behind me open followed by a familiar voice. “Aunt Marion,” the loud voice started, but seeing that it was only me Roger stopped himself before he went any further. “Oh, Jenny.” He said looking at me and then to the empty living room. “They went to visit Fonzie.” He didn’t need to ask the question and nodded at my response. From there, where else could we go?

“You didn’t go with them?” Roger was trying to start a conversation but it wasn’t working well. Even I could see what he was trying to do, and it wasn’t helping me at all. Turning off the water, I frowned and made my way back to the living room with Roger following close behind. “Do you want to talk about it?” Playing the mute act I shook my head, but managed to release a sigh. Roger took a seat on the couch, and I was standing in a state of desperation. It must have been desperation.

In what felt like something good at the time I placed my hands on both of his shoulders. It wasn’t difficult to tell that he was uncomfortable. I could feel him grow tense underneath my hands. “I just really need to be comforted right now.” I said with a smile of satisfaction. Satisfied by the idea that maybe things could turn out for the best. After all, the Cunninghams were going to be gone for quite some time, at least it was assumed knowing Mrs. Cunningham. I felt his hands cover mine, but not in the way that I was hoping. They were pushing me away from his shoulders and away from him. “I thought you were actually upset.” He said, mumbling a few inaudible things.

Fighting back the urge to scream at him I instead sat beside him on the couch, but believe me I wanted to yell at him and tell him not to play Boy Scout today. “I am, but I was starting to feel better…much better.” The last two words were stressed to their highest capability, but Roger wasn’t biting. He was at a loss for words. A few times he began to say something but he stopped every time and chuckled. It was a bad chuckle. Finally, after a couple of minutes sitting in silence, waiting, he stood up. This time I knew what he wanted to say and it was not close to nice. I rose to my feet as well and looked at him, holding out hope that maybe he would sit back down and change his mind. He looked at me and I suppose he was waiting for me to come to my senses.

There was no good done at that moment. We were both waiting for something but nothing at the same time. And nothing is what we got in the end. My eyes clouded with shame as he walked out the front door without saying a word. My song had grown sour and it was time for me to leave before I made a bigger fool out of myself. Now with the Cunninghams tired of me and Roger hating me, I could leave with a sense that I had failed everyone, including myself. I couldn’t stay at home for good. I knew that much. I’d just have to figure something out.

Sounds Great belladiva! Can't wait to read more... :clap:

aw, thanks. I plan to have the next part done this evening and hopefully posted by tomorrow.

Chapter Two

My stay home was extremely short lived. It only took my dad to ask what I had been up to for me to rush out the door regretting even stopping by while he was home. He honestly couldn’t tell that I was hardly home. Nothing said love like your “adoptive” family growing tired of you and then your own family forgetting your existence. Of course I’d go back though. Even I couldn’t do as much running as I had been doing. Maybe that sort of thing worked for Scarlet O’Hara but for Jenny Piccolo it was always a disaster, and a dumb disaster at that. So I instead chose to go with my last resort, Arnold’s. I always loved Arnold’s. It was like a security blanket for me when I was growing up. When I went there I knew that there was always someone for me to spend time with, talk to, when I was having a down day, but going to Arnold’s now was a bit embarrassing.

I was well aware of the fact that my peers had moved on with their lives. Everyone around me was in high school or in their early college years. I on the other hand was doing absolutely nothing. What had I accomplished since high school? I had a few jobs at various department stores, but those didn’t work out. My best friend was the happiest that she had ever been. Oh, and my family forgot about. I just had to face that I was never voted most likely to do anything in high school. I didn’t have the intelligence that some people had. I didn’t have a great love interest. And I wasn’t as stunning as I made myself out to be. All I had was an empty booth at Arnold’s with a cold basket of french fries until I heard a voice.

“Hi.” It was a simple two-letter word that was usually ignored by me. It was just too simple and too naïve for me, but I couldn’t ignore it once I place the voice with a name. I didn’t bother to look up because I already knew who it was and my heart dropped to the floor. Picking up a french fry that I had drenched in salt (who cared about blood pressure?) took a bite and finally looked up speechless. “I know what you mean.” He seemed perfectly happy with the one-sided conversation, but he looked uncomfortable too. Surprise, surprise. “What are you doing here?” I finally asked, dropping the half-eaten food back with the rest. I didn’t feel like playing any games. I was definitely not in the mood for games or jokes.

To my surprise, and my disdain, he seated himself at the opposite end of the table and picked at one of my whole fries. He could have all of them, for all I cared. I just didn’t want him to bother me any more than he was. “Trying to talk to you, but I don’t know what your problem is today.” My eyes widened as my anger flared. Taking a glance around the crowded room I held back from speaking too loud and took a breath before I actually spoke. I needed to think before I said things from now on, but I was pretty sure about this thing. “My problem is that you’re acting like nothing happened. Like I wasn’t an idiot back there, and like you don’t want to be as far away from me as possible.” He nodded his head confidently like he already knew what was going to happen. Love him or hate him, Roger had a way of doing things that worked for him. He was wrong a good portion of the time, but there was something admirable about it.

“Believe me, I’m nervous being in the same room as you.” Rising a short distance from my seat I slammed my hands down on the surface of the table. “Then why are you here?” My outburst wasn’t as held back as I had planned for it to be. I sat back down like I no one could notice that we weren’t in the happiest state. I was angry, but he was too relaxed. Much too relaxed. Noticing the attention our booth was getting Roger leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. “You’re falling apart, Jenny.”

I've been looking forever for well-written Jenny-centric fic! This is a delight - I'm looking out for more!