**Hey guys! Sorry this update took awhile but my muse wasn't cooperating with ideas. I have a couple more but would love some prompts if you have them! This one came from the LiveJournal Just Kiss Her Community.
Prompt: Jess had a very awkward period throughout secondary school. She knows she's past all that, but sometimes she wonders if she's really grown up at all. Becker assures her that she has.
Becker guided Jess through the crowded hotel ballroom, his hand resting on the small of her back.
"Thank you again for doing this," she said quietly.
"Of course, I'm quite fascinated to see into your past a little honestly. You're almost as secretive about your past as I am mine."
"It just wasn't that interesting," she replied
Jess closed her eyes, recalling her days in school. She'd been picked on mercilessly, tormented for being young and geeky. Jess had graduated school at fourteen, and during her time there she had been incredibly gangly and wearing braces.
She wasn't even sure what had possessed her to come to this five year gathering thing, why she'd opened herself up to the torment of it. Sure she wasn't that girl anymore, she'd come into her figure, had an amazing boyfriend and a good career. Okay, so maybe her original intentions had been to rub it in a little…only seeing these people again, the insecurities flooded back.
"Excuse me," Jess turned to find a tall, blonde standing there, studying her, she recognized her immediately.
"Kayla, long time no see," Jess said, uncomfortable under the scrutiny.
Kayla Peters had been the center of Jess' torment and as one of the popular girls, Kayla had gotten plenty of backup. The woman seemed taken aback by Jess' immediate recognition.
"I was just over there and I was trying to place you but it wouldn't come to me and then I thought maybe it was your friend who attended here, but I would certainly remember him," she said, giving Becker a thorough once over.
Jess forced a smile, "Jessica Parker, we were in the same homeroom."
Kayla looked thoughtful, studying the girl, trying to place her, "I feel awful, really, but it's not coming to me."
"Really? Maybe this will jog your memory, you and your friends used to get me to help you with your homework all the time," she said, tensing.
Kayla's eyes widened, "Jessica Parker…you look…different."
Becker wrapped his arms around Jess' waist and she leaned back against him.
"I guess five years will do that," she said coolly, "People change, mature," she said the last word a little more pointedly than necessary.
Becker could hear what sounded almost like anger in his girlfriend's voice, and he could definitely feel the tension in her body. What had this woman done to Jess? He finally seized the opportunity to pull her aside and talk to her.
"What was that about?" he asked.
"Kayla and I…don't have the best history. It's nothing big."
He raised an eyebrow and Jess sighed.
"I was a bit of a geek in school, gangly, braces, it didn't help I was also advanced for my age and graduated early. She and the other popular kids took advantage of that…bullied me into doing their homework, that sort of thing."
Becker hugged her, "I'm sorry you had to go through that, but you are right about one thing, people do change," he pulled back and looked her in the eyes, "And you Jess Parker, are beautiful, caring, brilliant and intelligent and you help save lives everyday, I bet blondie can't say that about herself," he smirked.
Jess leaned up and kissed him, taking his breath away with her intensity.
"Thank you, Becker."
