Katie jumps slightly, not expecting Jessie to know it was her. "Um, hi Jess," she stutters, cringing at her lameness. She slowly walks forward and carefully sits down next to Jessie, not taking her eyes off of her.

"What?" Jessie asks agitatedly, feeling Katie's eyes on her.

Katie sighs as she looks at Jessie. "Nothing. I just...I missed you," she whispers softly, reaching over to brush some of the hair out of Jessie's face.

Jessie turns her head away to avoid the contact, leaving Katie's hand in mid-air. "Don't," she says icily, finally turning toward Katie to glare at her.

There is an oppressive silence between them. Katie looks back over at Jessie. "I'm sorry...about everything," Katie whispers gently.

Jessie looks at Katie, confusion written all over her face. "What everything? You've only been sitting here, like, five minutes," she says, puzzled.

"You can be such a blonde sometimes Jess," Katie says playfully, tugging at a strand of Jessie's hair. Jessie shoots a glare at her as Katie drops her hand and clears her throat nervously. "I mean, I'm sorry about before. You know, when we were still in high school."

"Good," Jessie replies, putting her cigarette out and getting up to go. "You should be," she says, grabbing her glass and moving to leave.

"It wasn't entirely my fault you know," Katie blurts angrily. "You're partially to blame too," she says more calmly.

"Yeah, but if you hadn't been so gung-ho about going to that damned dance, then none of it would've happened," Jessie fumes before turning to go again.

Katie instinctively reaches out and grabs Jessie by the arm. Jessie clenches her eyes shut and rips her arm away, but doesn't move. "Does your family know?" Katie asks.

"Know what?" Jessie asks, hoping that Katie isn't talking about what she thinks she's talking about.

"You know what I'm talking about. Do they know you're gay?" Katie asks in a frustrated tone. "Have you told them yet?"

"No," Jessie mumbles weakly, looking down at her feet. "Why the fuck do you care anyways?" She asks harshly, changing her tone.

"I've always cared!" Katie retorts quickly. Jessie's anger dies quickly and she just stands there, stunned. Katie sees Jessie's softened eyes and she takes a step forward and pulls Jessie in for a hug. Jessie's body stiffens at first, but then she relaxes into Katie's embrace.

"Hey, look. There's Jessie, she and Katie are talking," Grace says as she walks up to her mother.

"Oh, yeah. I hadn't even realized Jessie was here," Lily says happily.

"It's about time they made up," Zoe grumbles. "They haven't talked in, like, forever."

Grace rolls her eyes at her clueless sister for the hundredth time that night. "I wonder what their problem was anyways," she says.

"Yeah. It's not like they talk to us or anything," Zoe states. "Speaking of which, do you think that they're going to stand out there hugging all night?"

Grace and Lily turn their attention outside to see Jessie and Katie hugging. "I think they'll do whatever they need to do," Grace says. The other two just nod.

Jessie and Katie pull apart and Katie looks into Jessie's face. "How have you been doing Jess?" She asks.

"What do you mean?" Jessie asks dejectedly, her shoulders hunching over.

"Something is upsetting you Jess. I can see it in your eyes," Katie pauses, waiting for an objection, but she gets none. "Is it about your breakup with Trisha?" She asks.

Jessie glares at Katie. "You've been talking to Grace," she accuses. "Neither of you know what happened so don't pretend like you do," she growls.

"What did happen then?" Katie asks, suddenly intrigued as to what could get Jessie so defensive. She takes Jessie's hand in her own and they sit back down on the steps. "How and why did you two break up?" She asks softly, lifting Jessie's hand up and kissing it tenderly.

Jessie carefully pulls her hand away from Katie and sets both of them on her lap. "We didn't break up," she whispers weakly.

"You two are still together, then?" Katie asks. Jessie shakes her head slowly. "Then, what...how...what..." she stammers, confused.

"She's dead," Jessie whispers, her voice cracking and tears starting to slide down her face. Katie opens her mouth to say something, but Jessie continues. "There was a car accident."

"Were you drinking?" Katie asks, dreading the answer.

"Yes," Katie winces. "But I wasn't driving," Jessie says softly upon catching Katie's reaction. "We were driving and this truck comes out of nowhere. He hit on my side and the car flipped over. Next thing I remember, I was in a hospital and she was in a coma."

"Oh, Jess," Katie says softly, but Jessie doesn't hear.

"She died later that day. I just got a concussion and cut up," she says. "It was my birthday," she whispers, leaning her head against Katie's shoulder.

"Jessie, I'm so sorry," Katie mumbles, resting her head on top of Jessie's.

"I mean, we hadn't known each other very long, but I felt really close to her," Jessie says absently.

Katie stiffens up. "Oh yeah? Did you love her?" She asks, trying not to sound too jealous.

"No," Jessie replies without hesitation. "She came pretty close. But you're the only person I ever loved," she whispers sleepily, closing her eyes.

Katie looks down and sees Jessie's eyes closed. "I love you too," she whispers, brushing the hair out of Jessie's eyes, letting her hand linger on the side of Jessie's face. Katie sighs contently, rests her head on Jessie's and closes her eyes too.

The sliding glass door opens suddenly. "There you are Jess! Grace told me you were here!" Rick exclaims happily, causing Jessie to jump about half a mile into the air, knocking Katie over.

"Oh, Katie. Damn it. Dad!" Jessie yells agitatedly. She reaches over and helps Katie up from her position on the ground.

"I'm sorry sweetie," Rick says, his enthusiasm intact. Jessie is soon greeted by her dad wrapping his arms around her.

She grunts, signaling the end of the bear-hug. "I missed you too dad," Jessie says in a low, almost menacing, tone as she struggles to breathe.

Katie giggles. "Hi Mr. Sammler. I found her for you," she says with a tender smile directed at Jessie.

Jessie shifts uncomfortably under Katie's gaze. "Yeah. I was going to look for you and everyone else, but Katie distracted me," she smirks.

"Oh, well, let's go in now. Everyone is dying to see you," Rick says, missing the pained look on Jessie's face.

"Yeah, let's go," Jessie replies weakly.

Rick walks in and Katie looks sympathetically at Jessie's dejected form. "Jessie, you know he didn't-"

"Let's go. Don't want to keep them waiting," Jessie says pathetically. She turns and follows her father in. Katie sighs and follows suit.

Party-Couple Hours Later

Jessie is standing around, talking with Eli and Zoe. Katie is waiting, impatiently, for another chance to be alone with Jessie. They haven't been alone since Rick showed up earlier.

Jessie yawns and Katie watches her with a smile. "Jess, you look tired. It is getting a little late. Do you want me to give you a ride home?" She asks, hopefully, anticipating a chance to talk to her again.

Jessie shifts her weight from one foot to another nervously. "I don't know. I mean, I was kind of going to go with my mom, but-"

"It's okay Jess. I'll tell her you got a ride with Katie," Eli tells her. "Don't worry. Go ahead. I'll see you tomorrow," he says with a smile.

"Okay," Jessie concedes, hesitantly. "Bye," she says as an ecstatic Katie takes her by the arm and pulls her out the door. "What's the rush?" Jessie giggles, only a little drunk, as Katie drags her to the car.

Katie looks at Jessie and her face flushes Kool-Aid red. "I...um...well. I just thought that we should get out of there, you know?" She asks, hoping that Jessie does know.

"Okay," Jessie chuckles as she slips into the car. Katie goes to the other side and gets in and drives off.

Moments later, Katie looks over to see Jessie asleep, leaning against the back of the seat, and she smiles. Soon, they pull up to Karen's house. "Hey," she says softly, brushing some of Jessie's hair out of her face. "We're home." Jessie grunts her protest at getting up. "It won't be to comfortable sleeping in my car all night," she says with amusement.

Jessie promptly disproves that theory by leaning against Katie and using her as a human pillow. A few minutes of silence pass by. "Come in with me," Jessie mumbles into Katie's shoulder.

Katie looks down at Jessie and tries to decide whether that was a question or a command. "Okay," she replies.

They both get out of the car, only Jessie more slowly. The two of them enter the dark, empty house and Katie instinctively reaches for Jessie's hand. She soon realizes that Jessie is leading her up the stairs. "Jessie, why are we-" she begins somewhat apprehensively.

"It's late," Jessie replies groggily as she leads them up the stairs and into her room. She pulls Katie into the room and they practically collapse on the bed. Jessie snuggles up to Katie once again and falls back asleep. "Good night," she whispers before drifting off.

"Night," Katie replies just as softly as she, too, fell asleep.