Chapter Twenty:

What Lies Ahead

Jessie awoke, warm, refreshed and more happily then she had in a long time; before Jeff had left during the night, he ensured that Jessie managed to get into bed and practically tucked her in before taking his leave. She had never been tucked in by her parents as a child, so it was a nice change from just heading to bed alone; she had also wondered where Jeff went when he left her alone every night, but she was too scared to ask. She imagined that he probably just didn't sleep and just stayed out all night doing God-knows-what because he always had bags under his eyes, although that might have just been from many late nights before he came to England.

She also wondered where he went during the day time when he wasn't stalking her or checking up on her – if he did do anything else – but yet again, she was too frightened to ask him. Knowing him, he would just say that he wondered around aimlessly like a teenager in angst, backhanding her question to begin with. His sarcastic attitude would never cease to amaze her.

"I get super nervous around you...and I...um...I've never found any girl as cute as I find you."

Jessie giggle and hid her head underneath her duvet; she had never felt so giddy over a boy before, but Jeff had the power to do this to her. When she had crushes when she was younger, she never felt this happy about it because it was all unrequited love, but now she knew, she knew that Jeff loved her back. It was a first for her, but it was an extremely pleasant first.

Since she had met him, she'd cried, she'd laughed and she'd felt love for the first time in her life and it was all because of the scary Jeff the Killer that she had always heard about on the news for killing others. She knew that others would be disgusted with her for loving someone like him, but she couldn't help it; her feelings for him were too strong to ignore and there was nothing she could do about them.

Especially since she would be moving in with him soon enough.

*Beep* *Beep*

Jessie's phone that was laying on the floor, was telling her that she was receiving a text; after picking it up and checking who it was from, she was pleased to see that it was from Sally.

"Heya! Heading to buy a few games in town :D Wanna come?(Also you need to tell me about the date :/)"

Since her schedule for the day just included her laying around the house thinking about Jeff and waiting for him to come back at night, she thought that she might as well head out, meet Sally and pick up some manga books and maybe some new games while she was at it. Besides, she would have to let Sally know what happened on the date at some point, so it might as well have been now.

"Sure. Meet you at yours in an hour (^_^) xx"

~:~

"He did what?!" Sally yelled out in the gaming shop. Jessie hadn't been too enthusiastic about telling Sally what had happened between her and John, but she knew that her eccentric, gamer friend wasn't going to quit until she found out anyway, so there was no point in attempting to keep it from her. "He didn't make you...I mean...you two didn't-?!"

"No! No! We didn't!" Jessie interrupted, placing her finger in front of her lips, signalling for Sally to be quieter; when Sally became angry, she had a habit of being extremely loud and to over-react, but a gamer shop – and one that Sally and Jessie were frequent costumers at so the people who worked there knew them both – wasn't the place for it.

She clutched her fists and grit her teeth. "When I see that mother fucker, I swear to God, I'm gonna make him regret ever laying a finger on you!"

Jessie was concerned with what she had just done; she thought that maybe telling Sally wasn't the best idea after all. Telling Anthony – if he were talking to her – wouldn't' have worked out too well either; when it came to guys and Jessie, he didn't have a high tolerance level for them either, but she just always thought that it was because he was her 'protective brother' and didn't want any guy corrupting her. He would kill a thousand men for her, and since his confession, she had figured out the real reason why. Sally was just a protective friend who didn't know when to quit. Hers and Anthony's situations were completely different.

"Don't worry..." Jessie picked up the new Deadpool game and held it up, letting Sally see it. "I took care of it. Deadpool would've been proud of me."

Sally frowned. "How? Deadpool's a complete pervert. He would've been more proud of John."

"Nuh-uh! Deadpool doesn't approve of rape or molestation. He's all about the sluts and hoes!"

Jessie's statement managed to pull a small laugh out of Sally, just like she had planned; Jessie joined in the laugh and also sighed with relief that she had managed to calm her friend down. She had always managed to keep Sally chilled whenever things got too intense or just plain scary and Sally had always been able to make Jessie stand up for herself when she needed it. She couldn't imagine life without Sally by her side, helping her through these things.

"Why don't you come and live with me...?"

It was only then that Jessie had realised.

Jeff lived all the way in America, meaning that coming back to Britain was going to be difficult, especially since Jeff had to highjack a helicopter in order to get himself there in the first place; if Jessie agreed to move away with Jeff and be with him, she would have to leave Sally behind.

She would have to leave everyone she cared about back in Britain.

The laughter and cheerfulness stopped completely. There was no way she could be happy about any of this now. She was so caught up in the excitement of last night and her feelings for Jeff that she wasn't thinking when she agreed to move with him and was blinded by her happiness when she made the decision.

But...she didn't want to leave him either.

"What's so funny?"

Jessie jumped and Sally's anger came crashing back.

Jessie slowly turned her head, only to reveal that John was standing there, holding a few games himself; he was wearing a turtle neck, which alarmed Jessie. He must've been hiding the marks that she left on him when she tried to strangle him; her legs became jelly from seeing him, alarming Sally and putting her in ultimate defence mode to protect her friend.

She stepped in front of her the otaku friend of hers, blocking his view of her and pulling an irritated face, attempting to intimidate him and warn him to keep away from Jessie.

"What? I didn't do anything..." He calmly stated.

"That's not what Jessie tells me." The rest of the store stopped what they were doing to watch this demonstration, all having no idea what was happening, but still intrigued by the confrontation. "I thought I told you that if you touched Jessie, I'd hang your balls on a peach tree."

"Well, I forgot about that. Sorry. But, I need to speak with Jessie alone, so I need you to leave, Sally." There was slightly more aggression in his tone with that last statement.

Sally laughed scarily. "Over my dead body. After what you did last night, you'll be lucky if you leave here with your face intact."

The two didn't move from their spots. They just stood there, staring at each other with hatred in both of their eyes; there was no way that Jessie could move either. She was frightened to speak to John after everything that had happened between them and was terrified that he was angry with her and was going to try and get payback. Despite the fact that Jessie was extremely good at handling herself when she needed to, or when her bloodlust appeared, she hated confrontations more than anything in the world, however she didn't want Sally to constantly protect her from them either; she had spent her life hiding behind Anthony and Sally when it came to things she didn't like because they both felt a need to protect her from that stuff and the fact that she lived by herself most of the time meant that she hadn't had practice arguing with people, be it parents or siblings.

Although, Anthony wasn't around to do his job anymore and she might be leaving with Jeff sooner or later, so Sally couldn't be there for her to hide behind pretty soon either. She needed to sort this situation with John out before she left with Jeff and she needed to do it independently.

She tapped Sally's shoulder, catching her attention. "Sal, it's alright." She then caught eyes with John and sternly said "I'll talk with you over there." She was pointing near the stores front doors.

"Good." He smiled at her sweetly, then smirked at Sally with triumph.

"You sure? After what he did?" Sally whispered into Jessie's ear loud enough for john to hear on purpose. Jessie simply pulled one of her fake smiles at her concerned friend, reassuring her that she would be okay.

"I'm sure." And with that, she left Sally by herself, concerned and ready to rabidly attack John if he pulled anything funny. The two walked with John awkwardly towards the doors.

Once they reached the front of the store, Jessie's heart was beginning to hurt and she began to sweat slightly; she may have talked tough about speaking with John just now, but she couldn't help but be worried about it. She couldn't even make eye contact with him now in case he glared back at her with hatred in his eyes.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..." She thought to herself as she gripped the Deadpool game that she had picked up earlier, but forgot to put back on the shelf. They stopped in front of the doors since Jessie didn't want to get into trouble for walking out of the store with a game that she hadn't paid for – especially since the whole store had been watching them a moment ago as they were causing a public disruption. She liked that store and she would've greatly appreciated if she could go back there.

"So..." John began, making Jessie jump. "What happened yesterday..."

"I'm sorry!" Jessie interrupted; she wanted to get this part of the conversation out of the way first, before John had the chance to yell at her. "It's just that...when you...I mean...when you-!"

"I'm sorry." Jessie stopped and finally looked up into John's eyes.

"What...?" She whispered.

"You clearly weren't ready. You were justified in what you did. I was such a dick."

The apologetic girl's eyes began to water; she couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could John be so understanding about what she did? She could've easily killed him and yet, he was the one who was apologizing to her.

"I was wondering..." He began again. "Would you meet up with me tomorrow? So we can talk about this whole thing properly, without anyone else around?"

Jessie pulled a concerned face; she knew that he was referring to Sally when he mentioned no one being around them, but after last night, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be alone with him yet. She didn't exactly trust him. John noticed Jessie's expression and quickly reacted.

"Not at mine or anything. At the park. The one near your house. Tomorrow at 8pm?"

"Why so late?" Jessie asked suspiciously.

"There won't be any kids there or anyone really, so we can talk properly." This was because people were sacred about Jeff being in Oxford and they all wanted to head home early and lock their doors, preventing them from being put on the long list of his victims. Jessie knew this well.

"What do you wanna talk about?" She asked, still gripping her game.

John placed his finger in front of his lips and winked. "That's a secret."

Realistically, that time was reasonable for Jessie; she would probably get home in time to see Jeff, since John couldn't possibly want to talk for more than an hour or so and she could spend the day concentrating on moving with Jeff and figuring everything out before speaking to him. Besides, if this was what she had to do in order to make up with John before she left, then that's what she would have to do. She refused to leave holding a grudge on someone and someone holding a grudge on her.

"Okay. Tomorrow at 8." She nodded.

"Good. I guess I'll see you then. I'm gonna go and pay for my games." He walked past her and knocked her forehead playfully with his fist as he walked by. "Bye bye, Jessie."

Jessie turned around gently touching where he had just knocked her, noticing that he passed Sally; she frowned at him and he just ignored her, still smirking at the fact that he had just 'won' against her. Jessie could understand Sally's concern, but she wished that she could be slightly more discrete about her apparent hatred for him and she didn't have to broadcast to the whole world that she hated him like she had been doing.

Her brunette friend paced herself, but she wondered towards Jessie with a worried look.

"He didn't do anything, did he?" She asked aggressively. "What did he say?"

Jessie shook her head. "Nah. Don't worry." She turned to her friend and pulled another fake smile.

"It's sorted."

~:~

On the way home, John paused in the middle of the pavement.

He had succeeded in convincing Jessie to meet him tomorrow; the thought of it caused him to grin uncontrollably. Him being able to act nice and trick people had come in handy once again.

He pulled his mobile out of his pocket and dialled a number that wasn't saved on his phone, blocking his number while he called.

He waited for a moment before speaking.

"Hey...yeah don't worry. It's defiantly happening. Tomorrow at 8 in the park...what's that? Oh yeah, she's cute as fuck...and a virgin..." He chuckled.

"Yeah...that's right...you can do anything you want to her..."