(written by Lacy) "Jade?" Jess asked into her cell phone, checking her rear-view mirror as she passed the slow moving traffic in front of her. "Where are you?" Jade asked, her voice crackling slightly as Jess passed underneath a traffic bridge. "On the highway," Jess said, wondering why she wanted to know. "Jess, Brian was just here," Jade said. Jess swerved to avoid hitting the blue truck next to her. "Wh-why?" Jess asked, trying to hide both her shock and her curiosity. "How long until you're home?" Jade asked, avoiding the question.
Jess glanced at the clock on the dashboard. "About 15 minutes," she said. "I'll talk to you then," Jade's voice said, followed by the click as she hung up. "What the -- ?" Jess wondered out loud. Her curiosity peaked, she threw the phone in the backseat and let her foot go heavy on the gas. She wondered how fast she had to go to make it home within the next 5 minutes...
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"Jade?!" Jess yelled as she entered the house, throwing her purse on the counter and not paying attention as it contains spilled out onto the floor. "In here," Jade yelled from the living room, looking up nonchalantly as Jess half-ran into the room. "Welcome home," she said, going back to her magazine. "Well?" Jess asked, sitting on the floor in front of Jade expectedly. "What?" Jade asked, looking at her like she was nuts. "BRIAN!" Jess yelled, her eyes wide. "Oh, right. Brian," Jade said, hiding her smile as she slowly closed the magazine and layed in back on the coffee table, taking care to make sure that it was perfectly straight.
"Jade!" Jess said aggrivatedly. "Calm down, sheesh," Jade said, sitting back on the couch and grabbing a pillow to place in her lap as she always did. "He was here earlier. He said he wanted to talk to ME and not YOU, which I thought was incredibly strange," Jade said, looking up at Jess to see the confused look on her face. Jade cleared her throat and continued, "He asked for my help in getting you two back together and breaking his engagement with LeighAnne because he's still madly in love with you."
Jade had barely finished her sentence when Jess screamed and threw her arms around her and started crying. "Hey, hey, what are you crying for?" Jade asked, smiling from ear-to-ear with happiness for her best friend. "Jade, oh my God, you don't even know how happy I am right now! Thank you sooo much!" Jess cried, throwing her arms around her again. Jade couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you thanking me for? You should be smacking me, I wasn't supposed to say a word to you. Brian wanted everything to be perfect when he asked you back," Jade said. "Where is he?" Jess asked. "He had a date with his fiance... he said something about telling her the truth, whatever that means," Jade said. Jess ran her fingers through her hair. She was shaking so bad she couldn't even move for fear of falling over. "Okay, I need to get my mind off this before I explode, or something. Change the subject," Jess said, making Jade burst out laughing. "Okay... how about I'm still in love with the father of my child," Jade said.
Jess looked at her. "That's a Hell of a change of subject... wow, Jade. What happened between you two last night? I looked out once and saw you laying in the hammock together," Jess said, collecting her nerves and sitting down in the chair. "Yeah... I thought he was Nick when he walked around the side of the house. He was in the shadows, so I couldn't see his face. So stupid little me came out and, again, thinking it was Nick, told him that I was still in love with Kevin. That's when he stepped into the light and I realized what was happening. Then he kissed me, Jess. He kissed me like he used to all those years ago," Jade said, knotting her hair around her finger.
"Did you two...?" Jess asked, trailing off. "No, no, we didn't have sex. We didn't even talk. We just layed in the hammock and fell asleep in each other's arms. Then I woke up this morning and he was gone. So now what am I supposed to think, Jess? I'm trying to force myself to be happy about it and think that maybe he just didn't want to wake me up out of the goodness of his heart, but something is telling me that he didn't wake me up because he doesn't feel the same way. Jess, what am I supposed to do?" Jade asked, a tear falling down her cheek. Jess sighed and sat back in the chair.
"I dunno, Jade. I really don't. I guess all you can do is talk to him... or wait for him to talk to you. But don't lead yourself to think something that may not be true, okay? He's the only one who can let you know how he feels," Jess said.
"I know you're probably right, but -- ," Jade started, but was interrupted by a toddler pulling on her pant leg. "Mommy, why are you crying?" Scott asked, his thumb making its way to his mouth. "Honey, what are you doing up?" Jade asked, picking up her son and hugging him to her, quickly wiping away the wetness underneath her eyes. "It's 5 o'clock," Jess said, standing up. "Oh, you're nap's been over for a while, hasn't it, Honey?" Jade said, brushing a whisp of hair back from his forehead.
"Let's get some supper started, shall we?" Jess suggested. "Hotdogs!" Scott said, making Jess and Jade cringe. "We've had hotdogs for supper the past three nights, Scott, how about something different tonight?" Jade suggested. "Hotdogs!" Scott repeated. Jess and Jade laughed. "Okay, hotdogs for the kid, chinese for us!" Jess said, quickly going for the phone as Jade carried Scott into the kitchen to prepare his beloved hotdogs.
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