Chapter 11

I opened my eyes as the sun streaming through my bedroom window became too bright to pretend to sleep anymore. I had gotten absolutely no sleep since Jess texted me and my eyes felt puffy and swollen from crying. What was I going to do? I was an absolute mess all because I’m incredibly stupid.

I do know that I need to get myself composed so that I can at least face Jess today. I don’t want her to think anything’s wrong and I especially don’t want to upset her. We may not be any more than friends but I was going to damn well make sure I was the best friend I could be and I’m going to support her in whatever she wanted to do.

I slowly got out of bed, noticing that for the first time in weeks I wasn’t greeted by that annoying as hell cough which already brightened my day a tiny bit. I grabbed my phone as I walked out of my room and saw that I had a missed call. I stared at the number for a few minutes and suddenly stopped in my tracks. It was a Georgia number, not one that I recognized but that was where it was from nonetheless. I threw my phone down suddenly like it was a hot iron scalding my hand. I left it where it fell and walked quickly into the kitchen, not caring If it was broken or not.

I busied myself with making some breakfast but no matter how busy I kept my hands I couldn’t keep my mind from wandering back toward that call. Who could be trying to get in contact with me? Who could possibly have found out my number here and better yet, what did they want from me? I shook my head as I threw my newly made toast on a plate and headed into the living room. Maybe it would be best to just leave it alone. My parents made it obvious they wanted nothing to do with me and I had no desire to go back where I wasn’t wanted. I don’t know who else could possibly try to get a hold of me.

I turned on the TV and sat down, trying to eat the food I had made. I tried to simply focus one whatever show was on at that moment because the last thing I wanted to think about right now was home. More than anything, I just wanted Jess here. She helped me keep myself together when I felt broken. She would know what to do.

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I must have somehow fallen asleep on the couch because I suddenly felt myself being shaken violently awake. I heard someone yelling my name over and over and I jumped violently as I was startled awake.

“Elena! Elena, are you okay?!” I heard Jess’s frantic voice yelling desperately right in my damn ear.

“What?” I said, my voice breaking slightly from being asleep so long. I looked up to see Jess standing over me looking very concerned. “Of course I’m okay. Why are you freaking out?”

I could actually see Jess’s whole body relax as she realized I was indeed, just fine. She sat down on the couch beside me as I sat up and gave her a questioning look.

“I texted you an hour ago to tell you I was at home and when you didn’t answer I started calling your phone. I must have called a hundred times and you wouldn’t pick up. I thought something awful had happened,” she spoke quickly.

“Oh, shit sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” I told her as I laid against the arm of the couch. I was still incredibly tired despite the unplanned nap.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she said. She started to say something else but I was struck by the realization that Jess was here. Here and not in New York. I suddenly sat up and quickly pulled her into a hug, refusing to let go for however long.

“So you missed me then?” she laughed as she returned the embrace.

I nodded furiously against her shoulder as she continued to laugh at me. I wasn’t joking at all I really did miss her. A lot.

“It’s getting late. We should probably get going,” Jess said suddenly.

“Huh?” I questioned as I pulled away from her. “Where are we going?”

“My house. Bring your things with you. I want you to stay the night.”

I jumped up excitedly, finding a renewed energy at the fact that I was going to be spending time with Jess. To be honest, I just wanted her all to myself for as long as possible seeing as there would be another girl. Just the thought of Jess being with someone else sent an ache to my heart and so I quickly focused my thoughts on packing up the things I needed.

When I managed to get a small bag packed for myself I walked back out into the living room to see Jess sitting there with my phone in her hand. She had her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at it and it was then that I remembered what happened earlier. Shit, I hope she didn’t see anything. I didn’t want to put a damper on our evening by having to talk about it.

“Everything all right?” I asked her nonchalantly, hoping nothing in my voice gave me away.

“I saw your phone on the floor and picked it up. Why is your screen cracked?” she asked.

“What?!” I rushed over and grabbed my phone, examining the screen. It has a single crack running all the way across it which was fucking great because I really had the extra money to fix that. “Ugh I dropped it earlier and didn’t bother picking it up.”

“That’s weird that it broke if you just dropped it on your carpet,” she said, standing up. “Oh, well. Let’s get going now and I’ll take you to get your phone fixed tomorrow.”

Jess grabbed my hand before I could respond and led me out of my apartment and out to her car. I held tightly onto her hand as I listened to her babble on about her trip and how happy she was to be back home. Honestly I could probably listen to her talk like that for hours but soon we were in her car driving in comfortable silence as per usual.

This time though, I took it upon myself to reach over and turn on the radio. I felt like Jess was still nervous about me listening to her music or anything like that even though I knew who she was.

I noticed that Jess was a bit tense when I first turned the radio on but she gradually started to loosen up a bit and even started to tap her nails against the steering wheel along with the music. I know that music is Jess’s absolute passion but oddly enough, it was the side of her I had yet to really see. The only exception would be that morning I walked out of her guest room to hear her singing and even that blew me away.

We were nearly to Jess’s house and I was hoping they would happen to play one of Jess’s songs. I feel like that’s what I should have done this week rather than drive myself crazy but the thought never even crossed my mind. I still had a hard time seeing her as anything but just Jess and not Jessie J. But then as if the DJ was reading my mind I heard him announce.

“Up next we’ve got one from Jessie J.”

I saw Jess’s hands clench around the steering wheel at the words but I could only grin excitedly. As the opening of the song played I recognized it within two seconds.

“Whoa, wait. This is your song?”

“Erm, yeah…” she said, sounding slightly timid. “Why? Do you not like it?”

She actually sounded worried that I might not like it and I thought that was really cute but on the contrary, I actually love the song. I know it’s called Domino and I remember it being all over the radio for the longest time.

“Actually I love the song. Grace was obsessed with it when it first came out. She had it playing constantly from her room,” I said, laughing a bit at the memory.

“Really?” she said excitedly. It was dark but I could still make out the stunning smile that took over Jess’s face. The one that never failed to make my stomach do flips and almost make me forget where I am.

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When we finally got to Jess’s house she pulled me by the hand as usual and excitedly dragged me into the house. Did we really need to run? I struggled to keep up with her as she pulled me through the door and locked it behind her. I took my shoes off at the door and Jess took my coat to hang up while I walked into her living room. As soon as I crossed the threshold I was taken aback by what I saw.

There was an undecorated Christmas tree next to Jess’s fireplace along with a huge assortment of boxes of decorations in the middle of the floor, lights and all. I heard Jess walk up behind me and I turned to her questionably.

“I thought you could help me decorate seeing as it’s December,” she told me. “That’s if you want to. We can do whatever you want—“

“No, Jess this is perfect. I love doing this stuff,” I said as I practically skipped over to the tree.

I heard Jess laugh behind me at my obvious excitement as I grabbed the first strand of lights. We spent the next hour and a half helping each other decorate the tree and hang all the other decorations. I do have to say, Jess’s OCD nature really showed itself tonight. I had noticed early in the night that if I didn’t place an ornament on the tree exactly right Jess would move it, thinking that I didn’t notice. So needless to say I decided to have some fun with this. I started placing ornaments in horrible spots purposely and when I heard her sigh quietly in frustration I burst into laughter.

“You’re doing this shit on purpose aren’t you?” she accused.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, feigning innocence as I placed another ornament on the tree.

She rolled her eyes at me but I could see a hint of a smile playing on her lips. I stopped my antics after that and before I knew it, we had Jess’s living room completely decorated. The time went by so fast but I enjoyed every second of it.

“Wait, I have one more thing,” Jess said, reaching into another box. “Come here.”

She patted the floor next to her and I sat down beside her, peering into the box. She pulled out two felt stockings and turned them over in her hands. They were both written on in glitter, one saying Jessica and the other saying Elena…

“Jess, I—“ I didn’t even know what to say. Jess had just recreated a typical Christmas for me. She remembered everything I told her. Instead of finishing what I was trying to say I put the stockings down and hugged her for the second time that night. I buried my face into her shoulder and felt a couple of tears slip down my face.

“Please don’t cry, babe. You’re going to set me off,” she said into my hair with a slight chuckle.

“Sorry.”

I let go of her and picked up the two stockings again. I hung them above her fireplace where they should go and just stood there for a second, taking it all in. I felt so much happiness right this second, I never wanted this night to end. Ever.

I then saw Jess plug in the tree and the white twinkling lights lit the whole thing up, making it look even more gorgeous than it was before. I watched Jess admire it which then gave me an idea.

“Hey, Jess?”

“Yes?”

“There’s one more thing that would make this perfect,” I said before grabbing her hand and pulling her down so that we were both sitting on the floor. “I know this seems weird but I used to do it all the time when I was little.”

I guided Jess with me as I laid down and scooted myself up so that I was somewhat under the tree, looking up at the lights from below. Jess didn’t say anything as she scooted in next to me so I just continued to stare up at the seemingly endless lights above me. They always kept me so mesmerized when I was a child, I actually couldn’t remember the last time I did this. It was oddly relaxing.

“It’s pretty isn’t it?” I whispered after some time.

“Beautiful,” she whispered almost breathlessly.

I turned my head expecting to see Jess gazing up at the lights as I was but instead I met her gaze which had already been on me. We were a lot closer than what I expected and she absolutely took my breath away. The lights shined on her face and I could see the reflection of them dancing in her eyes. Her gorgeous green eyes that I always found myself admiring.

Neither of us said anything for several minutes but the intensity of her gaze never wavered. Before I could even comprehend what I was doing, I felt myself leaning closer to her ever so slightly. Our foreheads touched and I felt her nose brush against mine gently but I didn’t move any closer. I closed my eyes, praying that I hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of my life. I soon got my answer as I felt Jess move so that her lips lightly brushed against mine, almost as if she was giving me silent permission to continue. It was like electricity shot through my whole body as I felt that first contact. That was all I needed and without any second thoughts I closed the gap between us even further, pressing my lips fully onto hers.

A/N  Enjoy. Thanks so much to everyone who commented on the last chapter. I put this up earlier than planned just because of all the support. As always let me know what you think :)