They walked into the hallway and started out the building, when they heard someone call after them.
“Jessica, Angie,” a voice said. They turned to see Brian and Nick standing behind them.
“Hey guys,” Angie said smiling. She walked over to Nick and gave him a quick kiss.
“What are you two doing here?” Jessica asked.
“Doing some recording,” Brian answered.
“Same here,” Angie said.
“Are you guys all done for today?” Nick asked.
“Yeah,” Jessica answered.
“Why don’t we go out for lunch?” Brian suggested.
“Sure,” Jessica said and they all started to head out. Before they left, George ran after them.
“Jess, Jess,” he yelled as he caught up to them.
“May I help you?” she said smiling.
“I wanted to give you your birthday present. It’s today right?” he asked.
“Yup,” she said half smiling.
“Oh shit! I know I forgot something. I’m so sorry Jess,” Angie said hitting her forehead.
“It’s ok, we’ve been really busy lately,” Jessica said smiling.
“Here’s your present,” George said handing her a small box. She opened it to see a small charm bracelet she immediately recognized.
“Oh my God, It’s your charm bracelet!” she exclaimed. “I…I…I can’t believe you’re giving this to me!”
“You loved it so much that I decided to give it to you for your 21st birthday.”
“Thank you so much Uncle George!” she said giving him a big hug. He put it on her and she eyed it. “I’ll treasure it forever.”
“Good,” he said smiling. “Well I gotta go get some work done. I’ll se you girls Monday.”
“Thanks again Uncle George,” Jessica said giving him another hug.
“No prob. Bye.”
“Bye,” Angie and Jessica said in unison as he walked away.
“Oh my God Jess, I can’t believe I forgot. I’m sorry,” Angie apologized.
“That’s ok. I was kind of trying to forget myself,” Jessica said looking down.
“Well happy birthday!” Brian said. “How about to celebrate, lunch is on me?”
“Sure,” Jessica said smiling. They headed out the building and to a nearby pizza parlor. Jessica and Brian talked while Nick and Angie gave each other little kisses. They were sharing a sweet kiss when something hit their heads.
“What the hell!” Nick said and looked over at Brian and Jessica who were busting up laughing. Angie and Nick rolled their eyes at them and went back to their “conversation.”
“Oh, that was too funny,” Jessica said in-between laughs.
“Yeah, I love to piss him off. It’s so funny!” Brian laughed.
“Anyways, so do you have a girlfriend?” Jessica asked,
“Yeah, I miss her like crazy right now. She lives in LA and I haven’t seen her in almost a month,” he said and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He opened it to the picture of him and his girlfriend and handed it to Jessica. “That’s girl,” he said.
“You two are too cute,” Jessica said eyeing the picture.
“Thanks. I lover a lot,” he said as Jessica handed him his wallet back.
“How long have you been together?”
“About three years.”
“That’s a long time.”
“When you’re in love it doesn’t seen like a long time at all.”
“I wouldn’t know about that,” Jessica said softly.
“You’ve never been in love?”
“Nope. My longest relationship lasted three weeks, and that was only because I was sick for a week and couldn’t break up with him,” she said and Brian laughed.
“Well, I may not a fortune teller,” he said, “but I see love in your future.”
“What do you mean by that?” Jessica asked confused.
“I know this really nice guy that’s head over heals for you.”
“And who might that be?” Jessica asked sarcastically.
“Some guy named AJ.”
“Oh, I think I know who you’re talking about,” she said and they both laughed.
“But really, you’re all he ever talks about.”
“Really?” Jessica asked blushing.
“Yeah, he likes you a lot. I’ve never seen him act like this about a girl before.”
“I’ve never felt like this about a guy before. I always thought that stuff like that was just in stories, that it never happened to real people,” Jessica said and looked down. “My dad ran out on me and my mom when I was young…”
“Wait a minute,” he interrupted. “Your dad ran out on you and your mom.”
“Yeah.”
“Have you told AJ that?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“You should tell him.”
“Why?” Jessica asked confused.
“Cause his dad left him and his mom when he was young too.”
“You’re kidding me.” Jessica said wide eyed.
“No.”
“Woah that’s just trippy,” Jessica said shaking her head. “But anyways when he left it made me stop believing that love between a man and a woman could exists.”
“Just because it didn’t work out with your mom and dad doesn’t mean you can’t fall in love.
“I was always afraid that I was going to get my heart broken, so I would dump a guy before he could dump me.”
“Well ya know what? I have a feeling AJ’s never going to hurt you, and if he does I’ll kick his ass,” Brian said and Jessica giggled.
“How come I feel so comfortable talking to you about this?”
“I don’t know, but I can tell we’re gonna be great friends.”
“Definitely,” Jessica said smiling. They finished their meals and headed for their cars. Brian and Jessica got in their separate cars while they waited for Nick and Angie to say goodbye. After about 5 minutes, Jessica got a little antsy and honked the horn interrupting their kiss.
“Stop your kissing and let’s go,” she teased. Angie gave her a nasty look and then turned her attention back to Nick.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow night?” she said.
“Yup. We’re gonna have so much fun. Whenever one of us throw a barbecue, it’s always a blast.”
“I can’t wait,” she said smiling at him.
“Your bringing Jessica right?” he asked.
“Yeah I guess I can bring the little brat along.”
“Good cause AJ would kill me if she didn’t come,” he said and they both giggled. Nick took her hand and kissed it gently.
“I wish you could come out with me tonight,” he said looking into her eyes.
“Me too. But it’s Jessica’s birthday and I want to take her out to celebrate,” she said as Jessica honked the horn again. “Hold your horses,” she yelled at her.
“I’ll see you later,” Nick said looking into her eyes.
“Ok. Bye,” she said and gave him a sweet kiss goodbye. They gave each other one last glance and headed towards their cars. Angie had a dreamy look on her face as she stared out the window. Jessica rolled her eyes and started to laugh.
“What?” Angie asked looking over at her.
“Nothing, your just too funny,” Jessica teased and Angie stuck her tongue out at her.
“So what you want to do tonight?” Angie asked.
“Nothing. Truthfully I want to sit in my room and forget this whole day,” she said sadly.
“Why?’ Angie asked confused.
“Do you remember what my mom promised we would do today?”
“Oh yeah, Jess I’m sorry,” she said rubbing her best friend’s back.
“I wanted for 4 years for my mom to take me to Vegas, and now… now,” she said as she felt tears filling her eyes. She didn’t speak all the way home. As soon as she pulled up to the house, she ran inside.
“Angel… here kitty, kitty, kitty,” she yelled fort her cat. Seconds later her kitten walked up to her and Jessica picked her up and carrying her to her room. She plopped down on her bed and started petting her cat. There was complete silence as Jessica laid there thinking to herself. After about 30 minutes Jessica got up and put on her pajamas. Even though it was only 3:30 in the afternoon, Jessica was extremely tired. She laid down on her bed and closed her eyes. She laid there for 3 hours trying to get to sleep but she couldn’t.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Angie looked at the clock and sighed. Jessica had been alone in her room for 3 hours and she was starting to get worried. She knew that Jessica wouldn’t talk to her so she didn’t try to talk to her. The phone tang and she reached over to pick it up.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hey Ang. It’s AJ, can I talk to Jess?”
“I don’t think she’s up to talking to anyone right now.”
“Why?” he asked worried.
“Today’s her birthday and she’s really missing her mom.”
“Brian called me and told me it was her birthday. I wish I would have known sooner. But why is it upsetting her?”
“Cause her mom promised to take her to Vegas on her 21st birthday and it reminded Jess about her mom.”
“Poor baby. Do you think she’d like it if I came over to talk?”
“When she gets like this she won’t talk to anyone.”
“Well I’m coming over to try anyways.”
“Suit yourself,” she said as she hung up the phone. Angie smiled to herself as she thought how good AJ was for Jessica. She really needed someone in her life that could hold her and tell her everything was gonna be ok. AJ was definitely going to be the stability Jessica needed. But she still doubted Jessica would talk to him today. Thirty minutes later, AJ arrived at the house.
“Hey man,” Angie greeted.
“Hey, is she in her room?” he asked.
“Yeah, but I’m telling you, she’s not gonna want to talk to you.”
“I’m just gonna use the old AJ charm on her,” AJ said smiling. Angie rolled her eyes at him and sat back on the couch. AJ said smiling. Angie walked over to Jessica’s room and knocked on the door.
“I don’t want to talk right now Ang,” Jessica yelled from the inside of her room. AJ opened the door and waked in.
“Angie, please leave me alone. I really don’t feel..” Jessica said and turned around to see AJ standing there. “Oh, AJ, hi.’
“Hey baby, happy birthday,” he said as he sat next to her.
“Umm… thanks. What are you doing here?”
“Angie said you were down, so I’d thought I’d come over and try to cheer you up,” he said and gave her a quick kiss. “You ok?”
“Not really,” she said softly looking away from him. He lifted her chin to look into her eyes and could see the tears forming.
“Tell me about it,” he said sweetly.
“I miss her so much AJ,” she said and the tears started poring down rapidly. AJ wrapped his arm around her and patted her back.
“I know baby, I know,” he said trying to console her. They talked for an hour about it. Jessica felt so much better talking to someone about everything. AJ listened to every word she said and gave her advise.
“AJ I really appreciate you helping me out,” Jessica said as she wiped away some more tears.
“It’s no problem. I care about you a lot and I would do whatever I can to help you out,” he said and wiped a falling tear from her face.
“No guy has ever been so sweet to me without wanting something in return.”
“I don’t want anything from you… actually I do want one thing, for you to be my girlfriend.”
“AJ, we’ve only known each other for a month. Don’t you think we need some time to get to know each other?”
“I know all I need to know,” he said and then leaned down to give her a passionate kiss.
“Well you’ve talked me into it,” she said and kissed him again. After a little while they broke apart and laid in each other’s arms.
“I bought you a gift,” AJ said and Jessica looked up at him.
“Hon, you didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to,” he said and handed her a small box. She opened it and inside was a braided silver bracelet.
“Oh my god AJ, it’s beautiful,” she said and gave him a big hug.
“Just like you,” he said sweetly. She smiled at him and gave him a peek on his cheek.
“Here put it on me.” He put the bracelet on her wrist and she smiled.
“Thank you,” she said and leaned forward to kiss him. They broke apart and laid down on the bed. Their bodies laid so close that they could feel each other’s heart beating as they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Chapter 8
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