(written by Michelle) Jess threw the covers from her body in a rage. For 5 hours now, she had thrashed around, not being able to go to sleep. She had listened as the house grew quiet and Jade had gone to bed, with the heavy footsteps of Kevin behind her, Jess had noticed. It seemed as if everytime that Jess had closed her eyes, images of Brian appeared and no matter what she did, they wouldn't go away. The night was quickly going from bad to worse as a headache threatened to creep up on her. Putting on her slippers and bathrobe, Jess made her way downstairs where they kept the tylenol.
She passed the unconscious bodies of Nick, AJ, and Howie, stopping only to check and see if Nick was still breathing. When she found he was still snoring, she continued on her path to the kitchen. Taking two tylenol and savoring every last bit of her water, Jess slowly made her way back to her bed. When she reached her bedroom, the balcony door that she had shut earlier was wide open with the curtains billowing in the light breeze that blew through her room. Stepping forward to shut it, she noticed Brian's figure on her balcony, illuminated by the light of her bedroom.
He looked deep in thought and for a second she thought about not disturbing him, that he would find his own way out, after all this was the second time he had found his way up here, but her curiousity got the best of her. "Brian?" she said, reaching out to touch him, to make sure he was really there. He made no indication that he even felt her touch so Jess called his name again. "I can hear you, I'm not deaf, I just don't feel like talking right now," he whispered to her. "I understand, I'll just go back to bed then," Jess said, moving toward the open doors. "What's the use, you aren't going to sleep anyways." Jess stopped moving and turned to face him, "What did you say?" "I said that you won't fall asleep tonight anyways, what's the use of trying?" he repeated for her. "You were watching me? How long have you been out here?" she questioned, goosebumps forming on her arms, even though they were protected by her robe.
"A few hours at least. I love just watching you sleep," he told her, finally meeting her eyes. Jess was surprised, when did he watch her sleep before? He must have read her thoughts cause he answered her questions, "I watched you the first night you were here. I thought to myself how angelic you looked, that's when I knew that I had to meet you. I watched you again every night after that, and then when you were in the hospital I stayed with you. I was afraid that if I left you would....." the tears began to fall from his blue eyes, "That you would leave me before I wanted you to. Then I watched you last night, after we, we'll you know. I watched as you smiled in your sleep and I felt my heart swell with something I've never felt this strong before. And tonight, when you wouldn't talk to me, I felt my heart break and I thought the only way to repair it was to watch you sleep again." Brian paused again and cautiously took one step toward Jess, "I guess I did want to talk tonight after all," he said, smiling.
He brought her face up to his and slowly enveloped her lips in a sweet kiss. He pulled away from her and noticed the tears winding their way down her cheeks and he gently kissed them away, "Why are you crying?" he asked. "Because I'm happy, and for once in my life I'm not going to run away from a good thing. I'm going to hold onto it with both hands," Jess said, bringing her lips to meet his in another passion filled kiss.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jess awoke the next morning in the arms of Brian. She watched him sleep, as he had done to her, and thought about what he had said to her last night. He made her feel things that no one else had before, and that was one of the reasons why she had turned away from him, but that turned out to be harder than she had anticipated. Jess looked on as the rise and fall of Brian's chest matched hers perfectly, and it was at that moment she felt her heart swell, just as Brian had. He began to stir slightly, so Jess laid her head back down and pretended to be asleep.
She could hear him as he propped himself up on one elbow and gently pushed back the strands of hair that had fallen in her face. She felt her body tense up as he leaned his lips close to her ear, "I love you Jessica," he whispered to her. She could feel him move away and stand up, yawning incredibly loud, probably hoping to wake her up. Jess sat up in bed, "Why don't you say that to my face?" Brian spun around quicker than anything and immediately jumped into bed, bringing his face just millimeters from hers, "I love you Jessica." Jess smiled, "I love you too, Brian."
Brian rose to his feet on her bed and began to jump up and down all the while screaming "I love you," at the top of his lungs. Jess allowed Brian to bounce her up and down and couldn't help but laugh out loud and scream along to his antics. His jumps were getting higher when the bed made an awful sound and collapsed beneath the both of them. This only heighten their fun and Brian rolled on top of Jess and began to kiss her all over. The door to her bedroom flung open and an angry Jade and Kevin bust in, "What the hell?" they both yelled.
Brian and Jess quickly stopped their make-out session and sat up straight in Jess's busted bed, trying to stop laughing and look innocent. They looked like a pair of 2 year olds, who had just gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Seeing that everything was alright, Jade and Kevin flashed the pair evil looks and closed the door behind them. When they were gone Jess and Brian looked toward each other and said the one thing that was on both of their minds, "What happened with those two last night?"
Back to "All That Heaven Allows" Index