I would never have finished this story if it wasn't for the ass kicking of my good friend Jenn. Everyone should have one.
The Last Chapter...
"That is the one Jess, you look so hot in it," Cece said.
"You think? I feel a little, um, I don't know, exposed," Jess said twirling in a circle, fanning out the skirt of her new white dress. "You don't think this might be a little too much," she said sticking her hand down her cleavage for emphasis.
"That is the perfect dress for where we are going tonight."
Jess sighed out loud "Cece, I'm still kinda feeling jet lagged, and I was all over town today looking at apartments. I don't want to put a damper on your party but I may want to leave early."
She did feel tired but mainly she felt lost. Since returning from Greece a few days ago, she felt more like a visitor to her old life. Her travels had changed her. Clinging to routines for familiarity, she was only going through the motions but feeling nothing in a surreal environment.
"Look, we are just going to go out and have fun, celebrate your return. It's the grand opening of this new club and I can get us in for free. If you want to leave early, sobeit. Lets just have fun until then, OK?"
Plastering a fake smile across her face, she took a deep breath, "OK, fun, celebrating, got it, lets do this, I'm in Cece." She slipped her shoes on as she touched up her lipstick and grabbed her purse.
The club was louder and brighter than she had expected. There were different dance floors encircling a center sunken bar with giant gold cages in each corner, filled with women and men gyrating on poles. Strobe lights, sirens and the smell of product shocked her senses lulled from a summer on the Mediterranean Sea. She instantly longed for her flannels and strawberry ice cream.
Cece found them a couple of barstools and Jess watched as her friend was immediately flanked by what looked like other models carrying on about who had arrived and what big shots were sitting where. She scanned the room noticing how young the crowd was drinking long stemmed cocktails while casually flirting over bouncing bass. She didn't belong here.
A few somewhat familiar faces from past trips to clubs with Cece popped up but nobody that she recognized enough to have a conversation with.
"Jess, you ready," Cece asked?
"For what," she wondered, somewhat terrified, searching her brain as to whether she had volunteered to dance in a cage or not.
"To dance sweetie, come on, lets do this," Cece said pulling her out to the packed dance floor.
Nick meanwhile, sat on the couch nervously checking his watch every minute while fidgeting with the remote. He was waiting for his phone to ring or a text at least. He was uncomfortable in his new tshirt and jeans but he wanted to look good tonight. Finally, his screen lit up.
OK, we're ready, you?
Yeah, meet you there...inside or out?
Inside, near the bar.
Got it, will be there.
Taking a moment to calm his nerves, he grabbed his car keys and headed out the door.
Jess returned to her bar stool and drink, a little out of breath and sweaty. "Cece, thanks for dragging me out tonight, this is better than the couch."
"Yeah it is. How are you doing tonight. You having fun?"
"I am, yeah, I am," Jess said, almost convincingly.
She noticed Cece scanning the room, looking for someone. Cece knew people, lots of people. Jess knew she was probably looking for familiar faces. Catching a smile cross Cece's lips as she recognized someone, Jess decided to give her a break.
"Go ahead Cece, I'm fine here. Go have fun."
"You sure doll? I'm just gonna be right over there if you need me, OK? Just hand signal or something, I will come right back."
Jess nodded her head reassuringly and added a "thanks doll" for emphasis.
Now alone on her barstool, she leaned back against the hard glass bar and watched men seeking their prey, waiting for the moment they would pounce offering to buy a woman a drink or share a funny line to break the ice. She giggled a bit to herself thinking how hard it must be for men to try and make meaningful connections with women in a place that felt like it was one step away from a 90's music video. She kept wondering why she was even there.
"Hey there beautiful," she heard coming from Cece's empty barstool.
Head planted firmly ahead, she didn't turn. She knew this voice, it was familiar and instantly made her chest tighten with nerves and her stomach lunge. Closing her eyes, feeling the adrenaline pump through her body she took one deep breath, and exhaled slowly inching her head sideways to find his warm brown eyes smiling back at her.
"Nick."
She stared at him with those giant eyelash rimmed orbs, glowing under the soft club lights with darkened flawless skin under her sexy white dress. Nick felt consumed for a moment, lost in her face, remembering what her soft cheeks felt like.
"Wow," he whispered breathless, taking all of her in from head to toe like a starstruck teenager. "Jess, you look great. How are you?"
He leaned towards her as they did a polite hug, soapy sweetness mixed with summer lotions radiated from her neck, instantly capturing his affections.
"I'm good," she said beaming back at him. "I'm good Nick."
Their eyes lingered on one another, both remembering their own versions of the last time they spoke. Her jaw tightened feeling rejected, him breaking their gaze to look down at his shoes in shame.
Forcing himself to look back at her, he knew he had to do this or he would always regret letting her slip through his fingers again. "How was Greece Jess?"
"Yah, it was pretty good. I just got back a few days ago actually. I'm still feeling the jet lag and my life is a bit of a mess but it'll be OK." She wanted so badly to tell him how she felt deep down, lost and confused. She wanted so badly to have his arms wrapped around her, telling her it was gonna get better.
She took a sip of her wine, licking her lips after, challenging Nick to concentrate on her eyes.
Looking around at guys with slick hair and perusing eyes, she wondered why he was here. Neither one of them fitting in. "Nick, what are you doing at a place like this? It doesn't really seem like you."
He'd been caught. This was something they had not talked about actually. "Um, I don't know, I just felt like coming out tonight, and I saw you sitting up here all by yourself." He cringed inwardly feeling his lame excuse settling between them like morning fog.
She smiled regardless, turning her head back to the crowd of dancers and sighing loudly.
"You OK," he asked.
"Yes, I'm just a bit tired. I had a terrible day looking at apartments all over town. They were either postage stamp size or the roommates were creepy men willing to trade sex for rent." She knew her nervousness was making her babble but she could think of nothing else to talk about. The awkward pauses were making her more confused, more emotional, tears bubbling to the surface.
"That doesn't sound good," he said absently, focusing more on the man lurking nearby in a blue button down and slacks, checking Jess out while whispering to friends.
"I am hoping to solve this problem soon because I start school next week, and I just need to put down some roots before I lose my mind living out of boxes on a couch."
Moving in front of her now, hoping to make his presence known to the dark haired punk ogling her, he inadvertently said "we have a room in our loft we are trying to rent out."
"You do?"
Shaking his head slightly trying to back up the conversation that just happened, the full impact of which then came down on his shoulders.
"Yeah, we do. I think my roommate had it on Craigslist but took it down after we had interviewed too many weirdos." What was he doing? This is not how tonight was supposed to go. He was supposed to take her back to his room tonight.
"Well, maybe if you guys change your mind, you could call me," she said moving her hair behind her ears and readjusting her dress nervously. "Unless you couldn't handle that Nick. Maybe it's too weird?"
Taking a swig from his beer, he stammered back, eyeing the guy who looked like he might bust in with a move, "No, no problem at all, I could handle that."
Cece siddled up to them then, "Hey Nick," she said a bit tipsy Jess thought.
"Hi Cece," Nick replied glancing over at Jess, checking her eyes for clues.
There was a pause, too long of a pause.
"Wait, you two know eachother?"
"Jess, remember I told you, I saw him at the bar when you were in Greece."
"Yeah, you told me you ran into him, not that you knew him," she said a bit accusatory.
"Sweetie," Cece said leaning over to Jess, noticing her eyes looked tense, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong Cece," Jess replied looking at Nick now who had shoved his hands in his pockets and was shifting his feet around nervously.
"Wait, wait a second," she said bringing up a finger to Cece's chest, realization slapping her in the face. "Did you? Did you set this up Cece? Did you tell Nick to meet me here?" Hints of betrayal flickered across her face.
"Jess, it was for your own good. You would have never gone back to that bar and I know you wanted to see him again," the last of her words tumbling out as she put her hand to her mouth, realizing what she had just said out loud.
Jess's face flushed instantly from embarrassment as Nick looked away trying to save her from more uncomfortableness. He took a swig from his beer clueless what he should do next.
"Cece, you know about Nikolas and you promised fun tonight, remember?"
"Yeah, I know sweetie. But may I remind you that Nikolas is currently 6,000 miles away? So, go have fun Jess."
"Argh, Cece." Jess stood up from the bar, grabbed her purse, giving one last angry nod to her friend then headed straight out the front door.
Nick stood there staring into Cece's eyes, trying to control the anger in his voice."You gonna tell me who the greek guy is?"
"He's nobody Nick, just somebody she hooked up with for the summer. He lives there, he's not here."
"Don't you think you should have said something?"
"Why, were you gonna propose tonight?"
"Harsh Cece" he said, shaking his head and draining his beer.
"Sorry Nick. Please, will you just go after her. She doesn't have a way home and I'm meeting some friends here soon. She'll be OK, she's just jet lagged and feeling sensitive."
Nick stood there for a moment, remembering how he had handled that fateful phone call the night of their date. He had blown her off as if the night on the pier had meant nothing to him. He had agreed to come tonight to make up for it and this was not a moment for him to lose his resolve. Throwing some bills down on the bar, he turned quickly, rushing out to find her in the crowd.
Jess stood on the corner waiting for a taxi to drive by. Embarrassed and confused, she stood up straighter when she noticed him walking towards her with his hands shoved in his pockets still, his chest slumped in defeat
"Hey," he said softly, seeking her eyes for some reassurance he should be there, that she wanted him there.
Turning towards him in the dim street light, she really looked at him for the first time tonight. His curly hair was somewhat more styled than she had seen at the bar, his black tshirt strained across his shoulders, soft moist lips turned downward in a worried frown. Memories flooded her senses, arms around her waist, his hips pushing her up against her car. Heat flooded her chest and she bit her lip trying to refocus on this moment. Yeah, I remember you, she thought. Her stomach fluttered again, I definitely remember you.
"Hi," she shyly responded. "Nick, I'm really sorry about this. That Cece made you do this. I'm so embarrassed right now I could melt into this sidewalk."
A distant memory of Cece leaving her number for Nick on the bar returned to Jess, remembering he had never called her.
"I tend to have a lot of weird awkward moments with you so this just seems par for the course."
Nick saw her eyes filling with tears and he wanted to grab her, hug her and make all of this go away. But he couldn't. He was disappointed too. Hoping tonight would bring them back to the pier, the parking lot, anything from that night, but instead, here they were standing on a street corner, neither of them knowing what to do. He had lost his chance with her again. He had the worst timing.
"Jess, let me give you a ride home. It's the least I can do. I didn't mean for this to embarrass you at all." He wanted to tell her how many times he had thought about her this summer. "To be honest with you, I would have tried to call you if I had known you were in town."
"Really, but you blew me off last time," she said confused.
"Yeah, I did, you're right. I'm an idiot. What can I say? Seriously though, let me drive you home, OK?"
Jess looked around at the empty streets, knowing she wasn't gonna find a cab anytime soon and decided he was her best option to getting closer to her pajamas.
"Yeah, sure, thanks."
Nick pulled up in front of Cece's apartment complex and killed the engine. Glancing over at her nervously, he planted his eyes back on his steering wheel, fists tight. He remembered driving her home once before, the night they had first met. They were so young then. She had a bow in her hair and a boyfriend. Now she was all woman, gorgeous and sexy and yet again, she still had a boyfriend. He couldn't walk away from her though. Something about her, she was special and he knew it.
"Um, so I meant it about the apartment Jess. You should come look at it. It's a loft with a rooftop, it's pretty cool. I think you'd like it."
"Nick, don't you think it would be weird though?"
"What, cuz we made out one night," he laughed nervously.
"Yeah, and we have history, kinda."
"Well, I think we could do it and at least now we know where we stand."
"Where is that Nick?"
"Friends," he said putting out his hand for her to shake.
She frowned a bit, not knowing if he meant it but she took his hand in hers anyway and shook. "Ok Nick, friends. That's what we are."
Getting out of the car and walking towards the stairs, she turned to give him a little wave. She and Nick Miller were gonna be friends. Maybe it would be better this way. Just friends. Maybe this would be the beginning of something better than passion and lust. I can do this, she told herself. Yes, a new start.
She would just have to stop her stomach from fluttering everytime he looked at her. And maybe not notice his eyes so much or his neck muscles. She could do that...no problem.
He smiled back and started his car, his chest heaved a bit thinking about what he had just agreed to. Friends. Closing his eyes, hands still clutching the steering wheel, he remembered the way her soft skin felt as he caressed it the first time they kissed, how she felt in his arms when they danced at the wedding and how cute she had been trying her first gin and tonic. Friends my ass, she would never be just a friend to him. But he was willing to try if it meant he could simply be near those eyes of hers, that smile. Yeah, he would try like hell.
End,
Mayalala
Next up, Book II in the Blue series...Blurry Lines, a continuation of this story and the prequal to The Open Road.
"He brought her a bottle of chilled champagne popping the cork into the sky, fizzy bubbles overflowing. She giggled as he handed it to her, watching carefully as she sipped the foam from the top. Leaning over close to her ear, he whispered 'Happy Birthday Jessica'."
lf you want to know what happened to Jess in Greece with the mysterious Nikolas, head over to fiction press, it's called Summer Roads by Mayalala.
Cheers,