(written by Michelle) Jess waited until she heard the door slam after Jade and immediately rose to her feet, with some difficulty of course. She walked slowly to her closet, grabbed her sweats and headed down to the basement. She had discovered the weight room down here the first night they moved in, the equipment was still in good shape, so she decided to make the best of it. Putting in her MTV Party To Go cd, Jess got to work.
An hour later, drenched in sweat, Jess took a quick breather before getting to the hard stuff. Her aching and weak muscles were already beginning to feel better and even though she was tired already, she knew that if she kept going she would be her old self in no time. Turning the music up louder than it already was, she hit the treadmill for a quick 3 mile run/walk. "Jess, Jess, are you home?" Brian called as he entered the house. That's funny, the lights are on and the door's unlocked but nobody's home, he thought to himself as he found his way toward the kitchen.
He opened the fridge to find the remnants of Jade and Jess's dinner, "Don't mind if I do," he said aloud to no one. As he walked over to the pantry to get some bread, he heard the music playing downstairs. Being curious as to who it was, he made his way down the steps, at the bottom he found Jess on the treadmill, drenched in sweat. He thought to himself how cute she looked with her hair a mess and the sweat making its way down her face. He walked over to the boombox and shut the music off, causing Jess to stop running. "What are you doing down here?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips. "Brian," Jess said, stepping off the treadmill, "you scared the crap out of me." "Well, you deserve it. Now are you going to answer my question as to what you are doing down here?"
"Look, before you go into this speech on how I shouldn't be overexerting myself, will you just listen to me?" she begged, grabbing hold of his arm. "I guess I could do that, it will give me more time to think on how I'm going to punish you for not listening to the doctor," Brian said, flashing her a smile. "If I stay up in that bed all day, I'll waste away. I can't do that Brian, I have too much riding on this job. Since I only have a few more weeks here, I need to work hard to get back into shape. Can you understand that?" she asked hopefully.
"I guess I can. I understand how hard it is to get back into shape after you've been out of shape. But, it's a funny thing you brought up that job thing, I want to talk to you about that." "Oh really?" Jess said, while getting up to grab the nearby towel. "Yes, really. Jess I don't want you to go back to Philly, I want you to stay here with me." Brian said, looking up at her with fear in his eyes. The towel Jess was holding dropped to the ground and her eyes began to swell up like saucers as she stood there looking at him. Stay here in Orlando, with Brian? Could she do that? Could she walk away from her dream job to live with a man she didn't know that long? Did she love him? "Forget it, I guess I got your answer," Brian said, running up the steps. Jess just stood there, what else could she do? Brian had totally knocked her off her feet with one question. She had a lot to think about...
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The hot tub water did nothing to clear Jess's mind as it seeped around her. In the time it had taken her to climb the steps and get into the water she had become sure of one thing, she was in love with Brian. There was just something about him that made her knees go weak and her heart beat faster, but could she move in with him? If she did, it would mean leaving everything behind, including Jade. Jess and Brian had only been going steady, for lack of a better word, for less than a couple of weeks, was moving in together the next step? After all, they hadn't even seen each other naked. For a moment Jess's mind traveled to what it would actually be like to see Brian naked, but then it snapped back to the problem at hand. No, she couldn't move to Orlando, there was too much at stake for her back in Philly. Climbing out of the tub, Jess prepared to tell Brian her choice.
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Jess stood outside Nick's door waiting for someone to let her in, normally she would have just walked in, but this was different. "Jess, what are you doing here?" Nick asked. "Is Brian here?" Jess asked, as she pushed past Nick. "Yeah, he's upstairs in his room, but he said he doesn't want to be bothered." "I know," Jess told him while walking up the steps. She stood outside his door, trying to get up enough courage to open it and tell him all the things she had decided. Taking a deep breath she opened the door to find all of the lights out and Brian sitting at the window. She walked up quietly behind him to find that he was staring at her balcony, the site of their first kiss. "I never realized how small that thing really is," she said, breaking the tomb-like silence. Startled, Brian turned in his seat, "What do you want," he questioned her. "We need to talk Brian." "I think I've heard enough," he said. "No, you didn't hear anything, you jumped to conclusions." "So then you'll stay," he looked to her.
"I didn't say that either." "Then what do you want?" "I was getting to that before I was so rudely interrupted." Jess took a seat on his bed and turned to face him, she wanted him to see the love in her eyes for him. "Brian, I'm not ready to give up on my dream just yet. I can't really be with you until I see if I can succeed or not. I would stay here in a minute if I knew that that's what you really want, but I can see in your eyes that it's not. I came here to tell you that I love you, Brian Thomas Litrell. And that no matter where I go, you'll always be in my heart. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, but right now my life is in Philly and yours is on tour. Do you understand what I'm trying to say, I know it's not coming out quite right," she finished.
"No, I understand what you're saying, and you're right. We're not ready to move in together yet, we still have a lot of exploring to do. But, I'm not letting you go that easy, I have something for you," Brian said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small velvet box. "This is a promise ring," he said, slipping it on Jess's finger, "It means that you will always belong to me, and I to you." "Thank you Brian, it's lovely. And thank you for understanding me, I know it's not easy." "It's easier than you think." He gently kissed her lips as the two fell backwards onto the bed, tonight they wanted to show just how much they really mean to each other.
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