Chapter 4

It’s been about a week since I stayed with Jess and I think I can honestly say that I’m more content than I’ve been in a long time. I haven’t seen her since the following day when she insisted on giving me a ride to work which I was so grateful for. All this cold and snow is actually ridiculous and I have no idea how I’ve been able to stand it.

Jess told me she had to do some traveling for her job this week but she wouldn’t be gone long. Our communication hasn’t stopped though. We still texted each other every day and talked on the phone whenever we were both free.

I was on my way to work when I got a text off of Jess. I fumbled around with the phone with my numb fingers until I finally managed to open the text. I couldn’t help but smile as I read what she wrote.

‘Hey babe I’m on my way home today. Fancy dinner again tonight? x’

I continued walking as I typed out my reply the best I could. The cold wasn’t making it very easy on me today.

‘Sounds great. I don’t get off work until 6 but I’ll head over after. Have you had a nice trip?’

I only had to wait around thirty seconds before I got a response back. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was staring at her phone waiting for my reply.

‘Yeah it was okay. Really missed home this time around though’

I didn’t get a chance to text her back again as I had arrived at work by now. I turned my phone off and stuck it in my coat pocket as I walked quickly through the dining area to the back. Hailie was already here wearing her usual overly fake smile. She caught site of me as I was tying my hair back and waved enthusiastically as she walked off to one of her tables. She was a bit odd but friendly nonetheless I suppose.

I carried on through my shift as I normally do. I was only doing eight hours today but that still wasn’t too bad. Travis kept making comments at the cough I’d developed lately but I’m positive it’s just a cold. I mean, what do you expect when you walk an hour to work every day in the cold anyway? I at least held it in while I was around customers and food so it wasn’t that bad. I felt fine otherwise.

When it finally came time for my shift to end I ran into the back to grab my coat and let me hair fall loose again. I was about to walk out to the front when I saw Travis standing at the bar giving me an odd look.

“Something wrong?” I asked as I walked in his direction.

“No, nothing’s wrong. That I know of anyway. You just seem a bit different today,” he remarked.

I took a deep breath and looked him dead in the eye, assuming he was talking about my cold or whatever.

“Look, Trav, it’s just a cold. I should be over it soon and-“

“No, not that,” he interrupted. “You just seem, I don’t know, happier than before? It’s a nice change.”

He smiled at the end reassuring me that he wasn’t going to tell me off for anything. I returned his smile and nodded in agreement.

“I do feel a bit happier. I think I’m finally starting to settle in,” I said as I pulled my coat around me.

“Well good. I’ll see you later then. Remember it’s your day off tomorrow,” he called after me.

We exchanged goodbyes and I was finally able to leave the restaurant. Hopefully I could hurry so it wouldn’t be too late when I got to Jess’s house. I turned my phone on and sent Jess a quick text to let her know I was on my way. Seconds later I got a response.

‘Look behind you x’

I stared at the text in confusion before turning to see Jess’s car parked just a few feet away. How I missed her, I have no idea. She was standing outside the car with her hood pulled up and a rather large coat draped around her.

“Hey!” I exclaimed, as I jogged over to her. She pulled me into a tight hug as I reached her which I immediately returned. Can I just say that Jess gives the best hugs in the world? Would that be weird of me to say? Probably but it’s true.

“Hey, you ready then? I thought I’d pick you up since it’s quicker than walking,” she laughed.

“Yep. You didn’t have to do that, Jess. I don’t mind walking,” I said as I got in on the passenger side.

She scoffed as she took her place behind the wheel, finally pulling her hood down so I could actually see her face. She wasn’t wearing much make-up. Maybe a little around her eyes but she still looked gorgeous as always.

“I wanted to though. I don’t mind driving you anywhere, Elena,” she said.

I smiled at her gratefully and decided not to argue any further. We made small talk in the few minutes that we were in the car. Jess made a comment about this cough I seemed to have developed the last few days but I dismissed it as a cold just as I had been doing. I can't understand why everyone was acting as though I was dying just because I had a cold. Before I knew it we were already at her house. Definitely quicker than walking.

As soon as I stepped out of the car Jess was already at my side, pulling me to the front door by my hand. I laughed as I tried to keep up with her.

“A little excited there, Jess?”

“Yep, just a little,” she said as she hurriedly unlocked the door and pulled me inside. “I started everything before I left so the food should be done soon.”

“Sounds good.”

Jess walked into the kitchen to check on the food and I trailed behind her so we could talk while she was cooking. Her house was just the same as it was last week. Impeccably clean and organized. She told me last week that she has a bit of OCD and I was really starting to believe it now. I sat down at the island in the middle of her kitchen while I watched her move back and forth in front of the stove.

“I didn’t have time to make anything big but I hope you like lasagna,” she said. “I’ve only been home for about an hour or so.”

“That’s perfectly fine. You don’t have to go out of your way for me, Jess.”

Jess glanced at me briefly before turning back around to get the pan out of the oven. I’m about ninety-nine percent sure she rolled her eyes at me but I ignored it. Jess plated everything and set mine in front of me before sitting across from me with her own, just as she did last week. She cleared her throat nervously before speaking.

“Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I just kind of thought-“

“Jess, you can ask me anything,” I assured her. It was thoughtful of her to be conscious about my feelings but honestly I wasn’t bothered by it. Not anymore and especially not with her.

“Well, erm, do you think you would ever ride horses again? You mentioned how much you loved it before and I just wondered,” she said cautiously.

I was thoughtful for a moment. I already knew what my answer was but I wanted to express it in a way that would make her understand my reasoning. I didn’t want to just give her a simple flat answer because I knew that’s not what Jess would want.

“I’ll never ride another horse again, Jess. I did love it but it’s just not something I want to go back to. I came here so I could start a different life and that’s exactly what I intend to do now. I don’t even think I’d be able to handle it now. It would just remind me of things I just don’t want to bring to the forefront of my life right now,” I said simply.

“I understand. I just thought it would be hard to let go of something you love like that,” she said.

I paused for a second as I thought over those words. I saw Jess look back up from her plate to look at me worriedly, probably thinking she had set me off or something.

“That’s true,” I started. My voice lowered as I continued. “But sometimes the things you love can hurt you the most.”

Nothing else was said for the next few minutes. We ate in silence but it wasn’t uncomfortable or awkward. I kind of felt like Jess wanted to say something else though with the way she kept glancing up at me.

“What is it, Jess? I know you want to say something else,” I said. I smiled at her so she’d know I was fine with it and she smiled back nervously.

“Sorry, I just. Well, I was wondering. Have you ever been in love?” she asked, looking me straight in the eye.

I placed my elbows on the counter top and propped my head up with both my hands as I thought back.

“I thought I was in love once,” I answered truthfully.

“What do you mean?”

“I had a serious girlfriend about three years ago. Her name was Ashley and I thought I was in love with her. We were together for about eight months or so. Could have been close to a year, I’m not really sure now.”

“What happened? Well, if you don’t mind me asking that is,” Jess said, guiltily.

“Oh no it’s fine. Umm let’s see,” I frowned as I remembered what went on the night we broke up. “We were together however long, and Ashley was a bit upset that she hadn’t met my parents by that time. She’d only really met my sister. I never introduced any of my girlfriends to my parents ever. I never told her how they didn’t accept me and I don’t think she would have understood anyway seeing as her whole family was fine with her.”

“So she ended it with you because of that?” Jessie asked incredulously. She even looked a little angry if I’m being honest.

“Oh no. I took her to meet my parents. Needless to say everything went to hell that night and my parents told me to end it with Ashley. They were still so convinced that I would find a guy to be with and they just wouldn’t listen when I said I wasn’t going to change,” I said.

“Wait, so you broke up with her because your parents told you too?”

“Yes and… no. That’s where the love part comes in. I thought I loved her but I realized I didn’t love her enough to go against my parents. I wasn’t willing to fight for her and it wouldn’t have been fair on her for me to just pretend. So yeah, I did end it but not just because of my parents. I just didn’t love her enough,” I explained.

“That makes sense. I never thought of it like that to be honest,” Jess said.

“Yeah. I had a few girlfriends after that but honestly nothing serious,” I shrugged. “What about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever been in love? To be honest, I think you’re too beautiful to be single for long,” I blurted out.

She scoffed slightly at my unintended comment but I swear I saw her blush slightly as she broke eye contact for a moment.

“You should talk. You look like you belong on the cover of a magazine for god’s sake.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I said, smirking slightly.

“Yeah I’ve been in love. We were together for a few years before I found out she didn’t love me as much as I loved her.”

What. She? I didn’t say anything and just let her continue. I could have misheard after all.

“My job forces me to travel a lot basically,” she continued. “I wasn’t home much and well, the day I decided to come home early was the day I found out she’d been cheating on me with another woman for a year or more.”

Jess started to look genuinely upset over the memory and if I’m honest that made me angry. Angry that someone could hurt someone as sweet as Jess is. I don’t know how anyone could break her heart like that but if I have anything to do with it, I’ll make sure it never happens again.

“I’m sorry, Jess,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“No it’s okay. That was a few years ago now. I just have to learn not to fall so hard so fast. My friends always warned me that I tend to do that,” she said, laughing slightly toward the end.

“Still, you deserve a lot better than that,” I said honestly.

“Thanks,” Jess said, blushing slightly again. She stood up then and grabbed our empty plates. “Let me just wash these and we can go into the living room.”

I watched as Jess stood at the sink, humming quietly to herself. I suddenly remembered how she mentioned she sang for a living and I tried to focus on the sound. I have yet to actually hear her sing but I felt like she would have a beautiful voice. It would match the rest of her perfectly. Ugh, don’t think like that, Elena. She’s just a friend. Just a friend.

“Elena?”

“Huh?” The sound of my name being called suddenly snapped me out of the daydream I was apparently having. I looked over at Jess who was now standing across from me laughing slightly.

“Did you not hear anything I said?”

“Um, no?” I said, feeling slightly guilty that I had ignored her.

“Me and a couple of my friends are going out to lunch tomorrow and I asked if you wanted to come,” she said.

“Oh sure,” I said without evening thinking. Nice job, Elena. You’re broke as fuck. Who needs grocery money anyway.

“Great!” Jess said as she typed away on her phone. Ugh what if her friends didn’t even like me? I was suddenly regretting my answer but there was no way I was backing out on Jess.

“Okay, so you wanna watch a movie or something?” Jess asked. “And I can drive you home later so don’t worry about having to walk. Don’t you dare argue with me either.”

I smiled and followed her out to the living room without even attempting to resist her offer. To be honest, at this point I don’t think I could ever say no to this girl.

A/N  Here's another really long author's note.

Okay firstly I am so sorry I suck at updating lately. Like everything just decided to happen all at one time. My horse is sick and homework and just yes everything happened that could possibly happen. Oh but on the bright side school is over for me on the 12th so that means so much more time to write :D

Secondly, is this okay in just Elena's POV or do you want to see Jessie's as well? I didn't plan anything for Jessie's POV but I mean I guess I could. Let me know in the comments what you all prefer.

Thirdly, if you have any questions, any questions at all, ask me because I don't even pay attention when I type anymore so if anything confuses you. Tell me.

And lastly, thanks for reading and thank you for dealing with my failure at updating. Hopefully the long chapter makes up for it. Dedicated to LydieBug because it's her birthday and also she finally updated today and that makes me happy. So basically I'm broke as hell so here's a chapter for your birthday ;)