CHAPTER 1 THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II
Years later, at LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA… Alessandra Warren, RN, reaches for the set of keys in her knapsack with her right hand, while on her left were boxes of Chinese food she bought on her way home. It's not much for dinner, but neither she nor her roommate knows how to cook. Take outs make her miss her former roommate in college more. Alex flings the door open to what seems to be an empty apartment unit…
"Jessie?" Alex calls out. She hears no response, but hears the sound of movements coming from one of the bedrooms. She throws her knapsack to the couch, then heads to the kitchen and puts the Chinese food down the table. Taking off her coat, she begins searching for her missing roommate, whom she found packing in her own bedroom…
"Jess?" Alex looks at Jessie in confusion, then shifts her eyes to the already sealed boxes in front of her.
"Hey, Alex…" Jessie gives her a brief look, then looks away again. Alex gives the blonde a questioning look, but Jessie does not say anything further.
"Déjà vu." Alex whispers to herself. Her mind transports her back to that day in college, when one of her bestfriends ditched their Stanford dream and moved to New York. Then she continues. "Is it me, or am I just imagining that my brothers' ex-girlfriends keep walking out on me?" Alex jokes, and was successful in putting a smile in Jessie's face. The nurse walks towards Jessie.
"Exactly how many of your brothers' ex-girlfriends did you share an apartment with?" Jessie jokes back.
"Only those that they fell in love with…" Alex replies, while Jessie was unmoved for a while, avoiding her friend's eyes…
It wasn't easy being in Alex's situation. She loves her brothers dearly, maybe as much as she loves her close friends whom she treats as the sisters she never had. But being in the middle of everything that happened between her brothers and their ex-girlfriends, it just broke her heart…
It's not easy to be the only one who knows everything…
"You're going to New York, aren't you?" Alex looks seriously at Jessie. Jessie looks at her in the eye…
"It's something I need to do…"
Pause…
"Then I'm going with you." Alex says firmly, then heads to her own bedroom to pack. Jessie was surprised, but realizing that Alex was serious, she follows her to the other bedroom…
"What?" Jessie asks Alex.
"I'm going to New York with you." Alex pulls out a big suitcase from the top of her closet and starts throwing clothes, untidily, into the suitcase.
"Alex, I've been planning this. I'm all set to go there, but you--- You can't just leave your job here. As much as I appreciate your company, I wouldn't want to cause you any inconvenience."
"Jessie, like it or not, I AM going." Alex says, and continues packing.
"What about your job, your promotion?" Jessie asks. Alex is about to get promoted at the hospital she's working in.
"Who cares? It's time for me to do something spontaneous for a change. And besides, there are a lot of people that I want to see in New York." Alex plasters a toothy grin, and Jessie giggles. "I'm gonna find a new job in New York." Alex reassures Jessie.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yeah… This is so exciting!" Alex exclaims, and Jessie laughs; so much for Alex's enthusiasm. She has her own packing to finish.
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK… A MONTH LATER… 14th floor, Empire State Building…
"Thanks Reewa, but I have my own out-of-the-country trip to go to." The striking dirty blonde currently sitting with her back turned on her visitor friend standing by the door spins her office chair around, flashing her trademark smile that won the hearts of many.
"Who are you going with this time?" Reewa Banks, reporter for the New York Times, narrows her hazel eyes at her friend sitting behind the big table in front of her.
"I can't tell you…" Katie grins, and Reewa rolls her eyes. She knows that look on Katie's face; it was predatory, the look that she never liked.
"You're not dating the President's daughter, are you?" Reewa looks sharply at Katie, who giggles.
"Why, is she hot?" The grin on Katie's face grows even wider, for the sole purpose of annoying Reewa. Not that she will ever date the President's daughter, she's not really her type.
"You'll be doing YOUR country a favor if you wouldn't even think of that." Reewa says as a matter-of-fact.
"You do know that I'm part English and Irish, right? So which country's head of state's daughter are you talking about?" Katie jokes.
"You think you're so suave and charming?" Reewa frowns at Katie, and Katie does not say anything. The grin remains in her flawless face, and Reewa rolls her eyes again. "Fine, you ARE suave and charming, and I don't even know how you do that. But for God's sake, Katie, it wouldn't be so bad to let yourself feel sometimes." Reewa refers to Katie's 'no relationship rule'.
"Here we go again…" Katie sighs, and exaggerates the way her shoulders fall down. Reewa just wouldn't get tired of lecturing her.
"You will have to settle down one of these days." Reewa points out.
"Are you kidding me, Banks?" Katie raises her left eyebrow.
"I'll find someone who can tame you." Reewa warns her. Katie slumps deeper into her chair, looking tired.
"I'm not an animal." Katie replies indignantly.
"So what classification do you fall into?" Reewa jokes.
Pause…
"Look, I'm really sorry that I can't join you in this trip of yours, which you wouldn't tell me anything about. What's the deal? Who are you interviewing?" Katie pulls out a file from the stack rested on top of her table. She pulls the big drawer on her right and picks up her suitcase, and gets up from the chair.
"I'll only tell you if you promise to accompany me." Reewa sounds so proper, that it made Katie laugh. Katie's used to Reewa using words that Katie doesn't normally use when she's not in the court room, but still, she finds it amusing.
"You sound so proper, turns me off even more." Katie jokes again. She heads for the door.
"Come on Katie, it would be so lonely traveling alone." Reewa would have asked her boyfriend to go with her to Europe, if she hadn't broken up with him last Thanksgiving.
"Hire someone." Katie suggests.
"Jerk." Reewa follows Katie who storms out of the office. The lawyer was walking so fast that Reewa is having a hard time catching up.
"I have to rush to the courtroom, but I'll see you soon." Katie waves goodbye at Reewa as she enters the elevator. Reewa sighs. Now she has to find someone to bring with her to the trip.
The following day…
The famous luxury liner, Queen Elizabeth II, had been sailing the sea for five hours. Among those who are aboard the ship are Alex and Jessie. Jessie, the brilliant pharmacologist, is obviously adored and trusted in the new pharmaceutical company she's working in, Bendiner Schlesinger Drug Company, for she was tasked to meet an important English client in a luxury cruise aboard the Queen Elizabeth II. It was free, and Jessie was allowed to bring one person along with her, which was perfect since Alex is still available, and will be starting as a staff nurse at the New York Foundling Hospital in two weeks.
"You know what? Your job rocks!" Alex exclaims as they entered the big ballroom of the QE2. The ship was already sailing the high seas on its way to London, and Alex just couldn't contain her excitement. Jessie laughs at her friend.
"It does." Jessie looks around in awe. She had heard of how lavish the Queen Elizabeth II is, but she never imagined it would be like this: it's as if an upgraded version of the Titanic. When Alex turns to look at her friend, she finds the blonde staring in space.
"You okay?" Alex asks in concern. Jessie then looks up at her.
"This is so romantic..." Jessie looks around again, taking in all the memory of the place surrounding her.
"Yeah, and I never thought I would be sharing this romantic moment with you." Alex chuckles, and Jessie laughs. The blonde playfully hits her friend in the right shoulder. "Hey, that's not very romantic anymore." Alex mockingly warns her friend.
"Can you imagine how it would feel like, to be dancing in the center of this ballroom, looking beautiful in your Vera Wang wedding dress, and swaying in the arms of the one person you love? I bet it's magical..." Jessie stares off in space again. Alex smiles at Jessie.
"I think so too..." Alex says. She hears Jessie's deep sigh. The blonde turns to leave. "Have you found her?" Alex continues, making Jessie stop on her tracks.
"No."
"I don't think Singer & Pincus would be so hard to find, considering that law firm's reputation." Alex comments, and Jessie turns to face her again. The said law firm located at the 14th floor of the Empire State Building is not very far from where they live: the Grabler Building Condominiums at 38 Laight Street. Alex had, in fact, dropped by once after one exhausting day of job hunting, but was informed that one of the partners in the said firm, one of her bestfriends, was out of the country. She was a bit offended that the said friend hadn't bothered to call her, it's been two weeks since she left her number with the secretary, but considering her friend's busy schedule, she let it go.
"I've never really started looking." Jessie admits. This time, it's Alex who sighs.
"Isn't that the reason why we came to New York?"
"I'm scared."
"Of what exactly?"
"Of what will happen... Of how things will turn out. I don't even know what I'm doing in New York anymore. Can I just show up and disrupt her life? That wouldn't be fair..."
"Then maybe you shouldn't have left Long Beach." Alex stares at Jessie's eyes, then walks past by her.
"I just don't know what good this will bring."
"But you owe it to yourself, Jess. Or you'll forever be restless." Alex continues walking away, while Jessie stood still, watching Alex exit the grand ballroom...
At the large deck of QE2, Reewa holds her celphone closer to her left ear, straining to hear what the other person was saying on the other line. The voice of the man she was talking to was crackling due to the bad reception.
"There are some important matters that I really need to discuss with her. Problems came up, and we're in chaos. Just tell her to call me in the office or in my celphone as soon as you dock somewhere with good reception, okay?" The man pleads. He tried to contact Katie but couldn't reach her; lucky Reewa had signal. At least she could tell his law firm partner to call him soon. He realized that talking to Katie now would be useless since he could barely hear what Reewa was saying.
"But she's not with me." Reewa replies.
"I know. But I remember you mentioning something about boarding the QE2."
"Tad, I am in the QE2." Reewa frowns.
"So is Katie."
"Katie's here… In Queen Elizabeth II?" Reewa frowns even more.
"You guys didn't know you're boarding the same ship?" As if Reewa's frown was contagious, a frown forms in Tad's face.
"No. She was all secretive about it… Wait… Who's with her?" Reewa waits for Tad's response, but Tad falls into silence on the other line. Reewa hears more crackling.
"I'm sorry, I can't---" Tad was cut off, and Reewa hears beeping, signaling that she lost Tad.
"Hello, Tad? Tad! Shit…" Reewa pulls the celphone away from her ear and looks at the LCD. She still has signal, which means that Tad purposely hung up. She dials Tad's number, but couldn't reach him. Reewa keeps trying anyway.
"Reewa? Reewa Banks?" The voice calling out her name made Reewa turn around. The face of the woman in front of her looks really familiar…
"Oh my God, Alex!" Reewa wraps her arms around Alex.
"Small world." Alex smiles at Reewa when they pull away.
"And it's getting smaller. Do you know who else is in this ship?" Reewa grins at Alex, not realizing that Alex has company.
"The new Prime Minister of England? Yeah, I just saw him eating at the restaurant a while ago."
"I'm interviewing him, but I'm not talking about him." Reewa looks excited. Jessie, who's standing invisible behind Alex, was unnoticed.
"Wow, really? That's so cool. Anyway, you remember Jessie, right?" Alex turns to Jessie and finally, Reewa sees her. She smiles at the blonde, who is looking rather shy and quiet.
"Of course, Aiden's girlfriend." Reewa was almost sure. Alex and Jessie exchanged looks.
"Uhm, I was. But we broke up." Jessie and Reewa, back in their days at Stanford, didn't really get to hang out that much. Reewa's bestfriends with both Katie and Alex, whom Jessie's both close to. But there's nothing much that connects her to Reewa. Reewa's extrovert personality made her popular to everyone, the exact opposite of Jessie.
It was Jessie's relationship with Alex's younger brother Aiden, who is of the same age as her, that connected her to Alex, and Katie, who was then in a relationship with Alex's older brother, Damien. Alex was easy to get along with, while Katie, although fits perfectly in the social circle, was always mysterious and preferred to maintain a low profile. But low profile did not seem to fit Katie Singer, even until now.
"Oh… I'm sorry." Reewa looks apologetically at Jessie.
"That's okay." Jessie smiles.
Pause…
"Anyway, as I was saying, this world is getting smaller. Katie Singer is here." Reewa turns back to Alex.
"Really?" Alex looks excited, and smiles widely. Realizing that Jessie was standing beside her, Alex throws her a brief look, and noticed that the blonde looks suddenly uncomfortable. "I mean, are you sure?"
"Yeah. Isn't it great? It's like an unplanned reunion or something. Katie and I see each other everyday, but we have no idea that we will both be here. I'm going to go see her, you guys want to come?" Reewa, looking so thrilled by the unexpected reunion with her bestfriends, pulls Alex's hand before Alex could even say yes. Jessie had no choice but to follow them.
Alex, while being dragged by Reewa, looks helplessly at Jessie. Jessie knew she isn't ready to see Katie now, but finds herself trailing after Reewa and Alex. Realizing that they didn't know which cabin Katie was in, Reewa discreetly bribes one of the apprentices of the ship to spill her room number, to their favor.
Reewa grabs Alex's hand again, and this time, also grabbing Jessie with her other hand, successfully pulling both the brunette and the blonde to the cabins. Jessie begins to panic as her heartbeat seems to overlap. She had never felt so nervous in her life, not like this…
"I bet Katie would be so glad to see you." Reewa smiles at Jessie, which made the pharmacologist blush. Reewa knew how closer Katie is to Jessie, even closer than Alex.
"Reewa, I don't think---" Jessie was prepared to offer an excuse just to get off Reewa's tight grasp, but she didn't realize how late it was. Reewa lets go of Alex's hand to knock on the cabin door, the cabin just next to Jessie's, and unconsciously remained holding Jessie's, unfortunately for Jessie. It did not take very long when the door finally opens, and Jessie didn't realize that she froze to where she stood, anticipating the overwhelming reunion that's about to come…
Or didn't come…
Jessie found herself staring at a stunning blonde, who, despite the lack of make up (and clothes for that matter), a sheet of a luxurious blanket covering her body showing her bare and smooth shoulders, looks so beautiful, that even the angels in heaven should feel insecure.
Please tell me we got the wrong room… Jessie silently prays…
"Ysabella Cage?" Alex and Reewa spoke in duet, both looked surprised. But they seem to know the other blonde. The quick conversation that took place was vague. Jessie did not understand a thing. All she knows was that there was a part in her chest that was hurting. This is exactly how painful she imagined her reunion with Katie would be like, but seeing this Ysabella Cage open Katie's door felt worse…
This is exactly what she feared…
x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x
"She's our friend from junior high." Alex tells Jessie, who was sitting beside her as they occupied a table at the restaurant when they meet for dinner that night. Jessie wasn't asking, but Alex felt the need to inform her friend anyway, as to who this Ysabella is. She's not dumb not to notice that Jessie had been awfully quiet since Ysabella had opened the door for them. They didn't get to see Katie (she was in deep slumber at the time), but Ysabella promised to meet them during dinner. Jessie wasn't really into it, but couldn't complain. It wouldn't be easy explaining to Reewa, so to save herself the headache of going into details, she decided to come along.
"The STRAIGHTEST one in junior high…" Reewa still couldn't believe seeing Ysabella in Katie's room.
"Then Ysabella's father was appointed as consul in Italy, so they moved." Alex continued, hoping that Reewa would stop giving comments that obviously bothers Jessie.
"You know, this really baffles me." Reewa continues.
"Everything baffles you."
The voice, which is neither Alex's or Jessie's, made the three of them turn their heads to the direction of the voice, and found Katie Singer standing by their table, smiling at them. Ysabella was standing beside her. Jessie stares, in awe. Katie looks the same, but was more mature. She had always thought of Katie's voice as sexy, now, it was even sexier…
"Katie!" Alex jumps out of her seat and gives Katie a hug.
"Good to see you, Alex." Katie was amused by Alex's enthusiasm.
"I dropped by your office two weeks ago, you were out of town. You didn't call me!" Alex mockingly glares at Katie.
"My secretary lost your number. I'm sorry." Katie chuckles.
"Fire her." Alex jokes.
"No I won't."
"Good answer. I missed you, Katie." Alex hugs Katie again.
"I missed you too, Alex." Katie replies. Reewa smiles at Katie and Ysabella. When Alex finally lets Katie go, Katie turns her head at Jessie's direction, and smiles.
"Hello Jessie…" Katie fixes her eyes on the blonde that she hadn't seen in years.
"Hi Katie…" Jessie smiles back. She isn't expecting it, but Katie bends down and gives her a hug, giving her heart a jolt. The feel of Katie's arms around her was so comfortable…
"I missed you more than I missed these guys..." Katie whispers in her ear.
"I missed you…" Jessie couldn't explain the joy in heart upon hearing Katie say those words. But those feelings were immediately replaced with pain upon seeing Ysabella Cage.
It was a very long night for Jessie. Reewa, Alex, Katie and Ysabella had so much to talk about, and she felt out of place. The four of them had so much history together. Ysabella, being Reewa and Alex's friend from junior high, and Katie, being friends with Reewa and Alex in highschool. She wondered if Katie and Ysabella would have hit it off back then if Ysabella didn't move to Italy with her family.
Jessie felt so jealous as she watched the two of them sit side by side, giving each other a playful nudge every now and then. She learned that Ysabella came back to America, particularly in New York, after graduating at the best culinary arts school in Europe, and started her own restaurant business, with her as the head chef. Javu's is one of the most popular restaurants in Manhattan. Her father, the consul, came back also, with their family, and became governor of Illinois.
She regretted coming to dinner…
Jessie lay quietly on her bed inside her cabin, thinking of everything that had happened that day. It was more than she could take. She knows she shouldn't be thinking about it too much; tomorrow would be her meeting with that English client, and she couldn't focus if all she could ever think about is Katie.
But I can't stop thinking about Katie… If she could, she would have stopped years ago.
And her reverie was broken upon hearing the laughter coming from the other side of the wall. Jessie closed her eyes, trying to block all-too-familiar sound of Katie's laugh, and Ysabella's. When it didn't work, she buries her head under the eiderdown pillow, but it didn't work either. It's almost giving her a headache; the sound of laughter and the thought of Katie laughing with another woman that is not her. Jessie knew she couldn't stand another minute of it, so she left her cabin, and knocked at the door of Alex's own cabin…
"Jessie?" Alex rubs her eyes off of sleep, and finds her friend who looks dejected…
"Can we exchange rooms?" Jessie pleads… Alex stares at her, and after a while, nods. She has no idea why Jessie wanted her room, but when she occupied Jessie's, Alex finally realized why…