Fortunately, Marisa steps in before things get too crazy.

“I bet you’ve been thinking it this whole time, and you just never said anything, you bastard!” Jessica was angrier than I’d ever seen her. In the face of her fury, my own irritation vanished. Now I was just puzzled.

Fortunately, Marisa intervened. “Jessie, he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. He doesn’t know anything about what happened back then, he and I never spoke about it, I swear.”

Jessie had a temper, but she almost never got beyond reason. She looked from Marisa to me and back again, and saw sincere confusion on my face and something like regret on Mari’s. Like a sudden patch of sunlight on a stormy day, Jessie’s beautiful smile flitted across her face.

“Sorry Mike, I didn’t mean to get so crazy,” Jessie apologized gracefully, and then brought me up to speed. “Marisa and I had a huge fight a few months ago, which I guess you never heard about. She thought I was acting and dressing too much like a slut”--Marisa frowned slightly, apparently not liking this characterization of her views--“and I was really hurt. Marisa’s apologized a lot for hurting my feelings, but, well--“

“I never took back what I said,” Marisa finished. “And it’s still a sore subject, as you just found out.”

“I just figured you must have known about it,” Jessie explained, “And because you were yelling about the fight and about my clothes, it seemed like you agreed with Marisa.”

There were a few moments of silence as we all calmed down and digested what had just happened. Then, almost reluctantly, Jessica spoke again. “What still bothers me, Mike, is that you may not have known about the fight we had, but based on what you just said, it really DOES sound like you agree with Marisa!”