“You fell in love, didn’t you?” Jen nearly screamed at Jessica from the receiver.
“Jen! Settle down, my ear drum is about to pop!” Jessica exclaimed back, throwing her knapsack on her bed. Leave it to her best friend to immediately know what’s going on before she’s even told a hint. “And why do you think I fell in love? Or how bout this? How do you know when to call? Cause I just got in the door like 2 seconds ago...”
“I didn’t know, but I did call about 7 times in the past hour so I wouldn’t miss you. So who is he?” Jen asked excitedly.
Jessica sighed, and walked over to her window, opening the drapes, blinds, and finally the window itself. The whole house was stuffy, due to the fact that no one was in it for 2 and a half months. “Look, Jen, could we please talk about something else? I’m not really in the mood right now.” And it was the truth. Ever since the morning that Taylor left, she had been anything but herself. Her whole family had commented about it, but all had pretty much left her alone. She was glad too, because she didn’t think she could talk to anyone about it.
When Taylor left, he promised her that she would hear from him soon...and if she didn’t then...well, then she knew.
And it had been a month and a half. He wasn’t coming back. She knew that for sure. But did that stop her from checking her e-mail everyday and continuing to pray for his return? Nope. Not in the least.
“I’ll kill him,” Jen said threateningly.
“Man, Jen, you could write a book of what I did over the summer, couldn’t you? Did you hear what I said earlier? I don’t want to talk about it, it hurts too much.”
Jessica could hear an exaggerated loud sigh over the other end. “Well, if I be nice to you, would you tell me all the juicy details later?”
Jessica had to smile at that.
“Yeah, I will. Just be nice...”
“Okay!” Jen said cheerfully, “oh wait, was that too upbeat? Sorry, I should be feeling your pain, BUT...”
“BUT you have a date tonight...” Jessica ended for her.
“See? We have this whole psychic thing going on. Now what should I wear?” Jen asked her.
Jessica laughed and shook her head. “Wear that red dress thing with the ribbon. The guys go gaga, I’m tellin ya.”
“Wow! See again? I was just thinking about wearing that same thing...but with the 3 inch or 5 inch heels?” Jen asked seriously.
“Um, well, it is the basketball player right? Cause you don’t want to be too--” Jessica stopped short when she spied something out of the corner of her eye. “Oh my gosh...” she whispered.
“Jess? What’s going on?” Jen asked her, a bit worried.
Jessica swallowed. “Jen, I have to go.”
She pressed the *end* button before Jen could answer her. But she was beyond caring. Getting up from her bed, she went closer to the window and looked across the street. She couldn’t believe she was seeing this.
A blonde guy across the street who looked familiarly like Taylor was staring at a piece of paper in his hand. He was looking at the houses about him like he was lost. “Please be him, please be him...”she prayed silently. Finally, the guy looked across the street and stuck the piece of paper in his pocket. He began walking to Jessica’s house in a slow stride. Two seconds went by, and Jessica could finally make out his face. Moving as fast as she could, she made her way out of her room and bounded down the stairway two steps at a time. Rounding the corner, the reached the front door and pulled it open. He had hardly made it to her sidewalk, and she was at her front lawn.
He looked up as she ran out and stopped at the front stoop. Feeling embarrassed, she raked her fingers through her hair, and decided not to look into his eyes yet. For all she knew, he was there to tell her most defiantly, it was over.
“Hi,” he said, stopped away at almost 5 feet. His hands were stuck in his pockets, and for once, his hair was clasped back in a low ponytail.
“Hi yourself,” Jessica replied back, looking at the ground. “Don’t look at him...” she whispered to herself.
“Just get home?” he asked her. She heard a footstep on the concrete walkway as he took a step closer.
“Yeah...you?”
“Yup...about an hour ago,” he answered, “I called your grandmother and she told me your address. Hope you don’t mind...”he continued. He sounded worried. Finally giving in, she looked at him. “Why would I mind? I was hoping you would....or at least call or something...” she ended.
“I’m really sorry about that Jess. Really, I mean I wanted to, I just couldn’t. Not then...I mean, everything was going on, everything was changing and I didn’t know how to...I mean--”
Jessica smiled. “Your rambling is really cute.”
Even a blind person could see the blush that rose on his face. “Yeah, well...”
“So you like your new management?” Jessica asked him, hoping that everything was okay. He wasn’t giving her any hints, and she was beginning to become impatient. If he started rambling again, it would take all of her being not to jump into his arms...
Taylor smiled. “The management is cool. Very cool actually...”
Jessica’s heart began beating faster. “How cool is very cool exactly?”
“Well, let’s just say that they had no problems with contracting deals.”
Jessica took a step closer. Two more, and she was right there. “As in...?”
Taylor laughed. “As in they believe that me having a girlfriend has no reflection on my ability as a musician or in the credibility of our fans.”
“Thank you Jesus...” Jessica silently prayed. “So does that mean I can touch you now?” she asked him, beginning to take the steps.
“Nope,” he answered, and took a step back.
“What?” Jessica whispered, her heart sinking in her chest.
Taylor held up two fingers. “Two things first.”
The little... “Okay, what?” she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest.
“One. You can’t care when I gloat about you over national television, radio interviews, or in magazines...” Taylor started.
“Woah, what about Yahoo! chats?” Jessica asked him amusingly.
“Two,” Taylor resumed, completely ignoring her comment, “you have to learn kickboxing so you can defend yourself from teenies.”
Jessica burst out laughing. When she couldn’t stop, tears began rolling down her face. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her arm, and she looked up still giggling. Taylor was laughing too, but not for long. The next thing she knew, he was kissing her.
Completely relaxing in his touch, she was deeply disappointed when he broke it off. “Oh yeah, and another thing,” he said, pulling her closer, “you can never say the word “peachy” again. It just doesn’t go with my image...”
Jessica sighed. “Too many fruity comments, huh? I understand babe, really I do.”
“Hey! I’m hurt,” Taylor said, pinching her side.
“It’s the whole hair thing I think. We have to do something about this dear...” Jessica said, trying not to laugh.
“Hey now, I thought you liked my hair!”
“And I thought you liked my phrases too. Now how bout a nice “bed head” cut, huh? Or how bout--”
“Okay, shut up.”
“Make me.”
“Whatever...” and then an “OUCH!”
“You deserved that,” Jessica said, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck.
“Yeah, I know...but now you get to kiss it better...” Taylor responded twitching his eyebrows up and down.
“Ummm no.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Please?”
“Well, let me think about it....”
THE END
