Title: Listen to the Rain
Rating: T (Some language and slight sexual content)
Summary: Basically some teen loving going on between Jessie and Katie. Some of the other regulars of the show will make an appearance in here. There will also be some lovely humour, and some angst they have to deal with first.
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the Once and Again characters. They are not mine, as I've previously announced. Dana Johnson, and the Dean featured in this chapter are the two characters of my own thus far. Other than that, they don't belong to me.
Feedback: Oh, you know I love it.
Author's Notes: Sorry that this has taken a little while to get an update, but don't worry, even if it takes a little time, I won't forget about this piece as long as people keep reading it and liking it. I've just had some stuff to do with getting ready to go back to school soon. (Who needs school? Well, besides the fact that it's required by law...Hmm...) Anyway, thanks to everyone who has been reviewing (especially those who I get a review from quite often) :) I appreciate it. (And yes, the part of that about not needing school was a joke, it's just part of my weirder sense of humor that appears at times.) Also, I hope you enjoy this next section, and don't worry about the ending of the chapter. Remember, things can change ;) . And to answer anyone who may have been wondering, yes, there is a reason for the title, that will appear eventually.
Jessie snuggled in closer to her pillow. Her alarm clock was blasting a very annoying beeping at her. Apparently it's time to get up...and apparently Jessie doesn't care because she seems to be sleeping through it. After a minute or so, and after hearing people trounce around downstairs for a bit, she wakes up more thoroughly. She turns off the alarm before yawning and stretching out on her bed. Okay, so she's up. Well, as long as up doesn't mean she has to be off of her bed yet.
She went sluggishly through her morning rituals as she thought about the fact that she had a date tonight. She had nothing against dates, or of going on them. In fact, she quite liked the idea of going on a date with Katie. Unfortunately, her date tonight was with Tad. Though, Katie was going to be there too...on her own date, of course. Ironic, isn't it? Even once she finally talks to Katie about "feelings" then, they still end up in a very screwed up date? She sighed and trotted down the stairs to a very impatient Grace who was staring at someone. A quick glance told her that Grace was looking in the mirror. Jessie rolled her eyes, Grace was staring at her own reflection. The only other thing of interest in the mirror would be Eli, and she surely wouldn't be staring at him. Would she? "Grace?" Jessie tentatively stepped towards Grace trying to figure out what she was so caught up in looking at. Grace immediately blushed, and returned to her impatient face.
"You're late again today," she tried desperately to hide where she had been looking.
Jessie squinted confused and looked at her watch for a second. She was early today, by five minutes. "Grace, I'm early. Look." Jessie held her wrist up by Grace's face who looked annoyed with it for showing the right time.
"Yeah, yeah. Well, you're gonna make me late with your babbling. So, let's go now?" Irritated Grace gave another quick glance at Eli, that Jessie noticed, and then headed out the door. Jessie raised an eyebrow before following her step-sister. For his part, Eli stood there buttering his toast trying to not stare at Grace. He had a lot of fun the night before with her. The only problem was it more than a 'step-brotherly' type of feeling that he had been dealing with.
Katie was not very happy at the fact that her alarm clock was going off. In fact, a very peculiar Christmas song was playing. Agh, she immediately regretted switching her alarm from the annoying beeping to have it go to radio instead to get her up. She didn't hate Christmas, nor Christmas music for that matter. However, she didn't like Christmas music in February. That was a little early for her to start her 'celebration' of the Christmas spirit, or a little late depending on how you look at it. She reached over and picked up the alarm clock and tried to turn it off. Unfortunately, in her sleep confused mind she turned it up. That did not do well with her. Well, it ended up with the radio smashing against the closet door. Huh, those things really did break as easily as you saw happen in movies. It was going to have to be a closed coffin funeral for the poor thing considering how many pieces it broke into as she tossed it angrily.
Hm, at least she was awake now. She stood up and immediately picked out what she felt like wearing for the day before wandering into the bathroom. A little while later, she sat at the table looking glumly around the kitchen. She wasn't sure what to eat! Nothing sounded particularly good, nor particularly gross at the moment. She grinned realizing exactly what she wanted. Katie would cook an omelet! That's it! She scrounged around in the kitchen looking for the ingredients, and the tools needed. Perhaps "tools" was a bad choice of words when cooking, utensils then. Katie looked for the utensils needed. She found a frying pan easy enough, and the stove...The stove...She rolled her eyes at her stupid still-sleepy mood, and then located the rest of the ingredients.
A few minutes later, Katie was driving through a certain, very popular fast-food restaurant and ordering off of the menu before venturing off to school. Yum, they had omelets here! Katie sighed. Hmph, who wants to make a successful omelet anyway? Not her. Nope, she wanted to come here, of course. That was the plan all along...
Both girls were ecstatic to see each other and spent several moments hugging and touching discreetly when they got the chance. Well, really it was every time they got the chance. "I made my breakfast today," Katie boasted.
"Trying to get me to stay over so you can make me some huh?" Jessie turned to her Billie and smiled at her widely. Okay, so she wasn't so opposed to that idea.
Katie laughed, "I made an omelet."
An omelet? Katie made an omelet? Jessie could see it normally, for Katie was not that bad of a cook actually. However, Katie was not a morning person, therefore Jessie found it nearly impossible that Katie had made more than a bowl of cereal in the morning. Jessie read Katie perfectly and then smirked. Which, made Katie squirm. "What?" Katie was looking at Jessie exasperated, trying to figure out what she was thinking.
"You went out and bought one didn't you? You didn't make it at all, did you?" Katie blushed and looked down at the floor. Damn. Jessie caught her in that one. She knew her inability to accomplish tasks after first waking up. Katie then nodded sheepishly, and Jessie smiled at her girl. "Aw, it's okay. I know you can make a good one...as long as you've been awake for several hours."
Katie rolled her eyes at Jessie's joking, before laughing too. Both girls had a good day until after school when they had to be apart again. The plan was for both girls to get ready at their own houses. Then, for Katie to show up at Jessie's house early so that they could meet the guys together and ready when they showed up.
Jessie had thrown almost every article of clothing on the floor and still couldn't find the top she wanted. Sometimes as a girl, heck, even as a guy, it could seem like the whole day could be made better if the outfit was good. But, no. Jessie has to get stuck with the most disagreeable outfit in the world. Well, outfits would be a much better term at this point. She had 4 pairs of jeans, two pairs of capris, and a pair of shorts out for possible clothing. Oh, she had apparently completely forgotten about skirts too...Suddenly a thought occurred to her. She'd wear all of them! Yes! The skirt could go on the top, with the shorts below that, and the jeans. Um, the jeans would fit in there somewhere. "I'm going insane. That's it. I'm insane. I cannot wear all of that clothing. I'd be wearing more clothing than a nun. No offense to any nuns of course." She pulled a hand through her hair raggedly as her eyes scanned her room. "Now I'm commentating to myself! And apologizing to nuns who aren't even in here. Oh my God, I really am insane. No...No, I'll just figure out what to wear, that'll make it better. Yes, better." After realizing that it was February and still quite cold, she ruled out the idea of skirts, shorts, and skorts just to be safe. Finally, she decided on a pair of low-rise blue jeans. She had even picked out the midnight blue tennis shoes with the silver stripe down them to go with them. The only thing left after she decided on her socks even was the top. She had all of them sorted into piles. Which was sorted into more piles, and so forth. Finally, she saw one that held her attention and she grinned and picked it up. Oh crap, no wonder she liked it. It was the one she had worn yesterday and now had a peanut butter stain on it thanks to Katie. Mm, Katie. That thought made Jessie grin again. Okay, maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad. Sure, she had to go on a date with Tad, but she could sit next to Katie, so it would be okay. Maybe she wouldn't even be seated next to Tad! Surely, that would work.
Katie spent quite a while getting ready too. She dug through all of her clothing frantically. Finally she decided on a pair of tan capris and a white shirt. Hehe, okay, so it wasn't that hard for her to pick out. Suddenly, Katie changed her mind. The tan pants just didn't look right with the white shirt. She tried on a pair of black pants. Great, now she felt like a waitress. She didn't want to be taking orders! Unless, it was for a main dish of Jessie. She grinned and giggled at her own 'dirty' joke. She was getting weird now. Well, truthfully, she'd always been weird but she hadn't had a chance to try out her 'pick-up lines' until now. Not that she'd actually use that, of course. It was way too cheesy for a Singer to use. Nope, she was classy. At least, more classy than that pick-up line. Unfortunately, her outfit was not. She decided that the shirt was definitely going to have to stay. It was a white button-up shirt with off-white stripes running up it. It was short-sleeve, and was usually for dressy events, but she would wear it tonight just to see Jessie's reaction. After a while, she decided on some pretty casual dark blue jeans, and a light gray zip-up-the-front sweatshirt to wear over the top of it. After deciding to leave her hair down, she looked at the clock and realized she was to be at Jessie's soon.
Grace let Katie into the house and told her that Jessie was up in her room. Katie knocked on the door, but received no answer. Inside, she could hear Billie Holiday blasting, which made her smile. Inside Jessie was dancing around. Thing is, it was really bad dancing, which was kind of cute. Only thing is...One, she had about 20 shirts thrown around in various places in the room. She was obviously having a hard time deciding what to wear. Two, she was dancing around currently not wearing her shirt. So, she was in her bra. Katie stood there for a moment gawking. Jessie danced around in her circle, and picked up another shirt before tossing it aside. Then, she noticed Katie standing there staring. "Katie! Hi!" Jessie smiled at the other girl, momentarily forgetting about her shirt. Which, Katie, of course, did not forget about. Jessie looked down and almost shrieked. Now, Katie grinned at Jessie's embarrassment.
Jessie quickly threw on a long-sleeve black sweater, with a V-cut neck. It looked absolutely perfect on her. "Wow." Jessie looked at her feet bashfully and shuffled them around. "You look stunning." At this Jessie rolled her eyes, still obviously embarrassed at dancing around without a shirt on. "I mean it, Billie. You're beautiful." At this Jessie finally smiled and rolled her eyes up to look at the other girl.
She was finally regaining her speech, "Really?"
Katie nodded, "Yes, really."
It seemed Jessie's sarcastic wit was back soon enough as well, for she replied with, "Do you mean my shirtless dancing, or me now?"
Katie fumbled for a moment, gawking at what she had just said. Apparently, Jessie was noticing the shirt that Katie was wearing for she was doing quite a bit of staring herself. It was almost past staring, it was at gawking. If you were to ask it, she'd admit it. She was gawking at Katie again. It was Katie's fault though, she had to be all beautiful and sexy in white. Then smiled, knowing the perfect answer. "Both." Jessie grinned back, and both girls stepped forward as Katie smoothed back a piece of hair from Jessie's face. Jessie's hair was up in a messy bun. "I love you, Jess." Jessie smiled at Katie, and leaned in closer to Katie before slowly kissing her.
The kissed buzzed through both of them. Immediately an electrical charge pulled them closer together. They only leaned apart far enough for Jessie to reply to Katie, "I love you too." Both girls shared a smile before leaning back in. A car horn suddenly honked. Katie sighed, noticeably irritated at being interrupted.
Jessie looked just as unhappy. "Some kids get a bell, we get car horns!"
"Maybe we'll get a television show, and lots of money out of this anyway?" Jessie giggled at Katie's response before hearing Grace yell from downstairs telling them that the guys were there. Right, the guys. They had a double date to get to.
Dean was standing downstairs with Tad in the doorway. Both looked rather happy to see the girls as they walked, and both noticeably checked out the girls as they walked down the stairs. This did not go unnoticed by any of the girls in the room, including Grace, who shot a look at Jessie. Great, another lovely talk with Grace was obviously going to take place once she got home tonight.
They all walked out together, and graciously Dean opened his door for Jessie. Jessie settled into the backseat, and Katie practically leapt to the other side of the car to sit in the backseat with Jessie. This made both girls burst into giggles that the guys did not understand. Both of them were dressed nicely in blue jeans and t-shirts. No, the t-shirts were not matching. Dean's was dark-green and had a hooded sweatshirt pulled over it now. As for Tad, his had some form of funny phrase on it about cannibals and eating clowns. The girls sat in the back, and the four talked pretty merrily all the way to the theatre. After the tickets were paid for, by the guys, though the girls did try to pay their own ways, they went and both guys bought a medium popcorn and drink for their dates and both of them to share.
They found seats, and Jessie and Katie tried to sit together. However, the guys had other plans. Apparently they had noticed that they would not get as much attention from the girls if they were around each other, so the seating order was as follows: Tad, Jessie, Dean, then Katie. Almost immediately, the movie started. It was pleasant. The movie was pretty funny, and neither of the guys was trying anything.
Then, Jessie noticed Tad's arm sneaking around her shoulder after he yawned. She tried to lean towards Dean, but Dean was busy trying to get a hold of Katie's hand that suddenly seemed interested in holding the popcorn box. He offered to hold the popcorn, but she politely refused saying that she hadn't eaten yet. However, Tad did not give up so easily. Eventually the girls shared a look, and as they did Tad's arm dropped around Jessie's shoulder. Jessie flinched visibly, but Tad didn't notice. However, Katie certainly noticed his arm.
Dean mistook Katie's trying to see around him for wanting to be near him. The poor guy tried to hold Katie's hand again which made her grab another handful of popcorn. Sighing, he instead put his arm around her shoulder too. This was not going as planned for the girls. It was all falling apart, for it was not suppose to be like. Not at all! It was at a kissing scene in the movie and Tad apparently had decided to try his luck with Jessie again. He was leaning towards her when she freaked out and shifted in her seat enough to bump Dean in his seat. Which, he mistook once more as a sign from Tad to get closer to Katie. Of course, Katie's eyes just got wide as she noticed the lovey-dovey look in his eyes as he looked at her. His face was getting closer, and Katie and Jessie both were growing panicked. Suddenly, Katie grabbed Jessie's hand, and excused both of them. "I have to go to the bathroom. All that pop, you know. Jessie, come with me." Jessie agreed and they were suddenly both out of the theatre leaving two gaping boys in their wake. They'd be back.
In the lobby, Jessie was about in tears. "He almost kissed you! Dean almost kissed you."
"Like I was too happy about it? Tad was trying to put moves on you too!" Katie was just as agitated as Jessie was at how this date was unfolding.
"What do we do?" Jessie was unsure of if they should even go back to the date, or what.
"Well, I certainly don't want Dean trying to kiss my girlfriend!" Katie was becoming more agitated by the moment, and she was starting to pace. They were drawing a few nearby people at the concession stand to them.
"Girlfriend?" Jessie smiled. Katie had called her, her girlfriend. She was someone's girlfriend. More importantly, she was Katie's girlfriend.
Katie stopped pacing and turned to Jessie. "Of course my girlfriend! What else would you be? I mean, if that's what you want" She smiled shyly at Jessie, who returned the smile.
Both girls had now forgotten they were in a public place for they were so wrapped up in each other. "Of course that's what I want! I love you, Katie." The shared smile, turned into a shared grin.
Just then, a man walked by seeming angry. He looked like he had just gotten dumped. "Freaking dykes, go get a room. Better yet, find yourself a man." He looked them both up and down. "A real man, I mean." He sneered at them, then stomped out the front of the building. Oh, no.
This was exactly the kind of thing that neither girls wanted to see. It was tearing them both apart, but Katie had heard a few similar comments before when there were rumors with Sarah and herself. Of course, then it had not been with a girl she loved. Jessie was completely flabbergasted. She had just been called a...Several tears ran down her face, as she looked at the man who was out on the sidewalk now. Katie reached out to Jessie, but Jessie flinched. Katie pulled her hand back immediately. "Jessie?" Jessie bit her lip, and wiped away her tears quickly before walking back into the theatre. No, no. This was going the wrong way. Katie followed her, "Jessie. Jess!" She was getting desperate because she knew she had to talk to Jessie before she convinced herself that it was wrong for her to love a girl all because of some crude comment a random jerk made at a theatre.
Jessie immediately sat in her seat next to Tad, and Katie had no choice but to return to her seat by Dean. Tad looked at Jessie, but could not see her tears in the dark. Instead he smiled at her and put his arm around her again. She leaned into his embrace for the first time that night as she continued crying. Perhaps, the man was right, this was the right relationship for a girl? With a guy...
Katie was crying now, too. Though, she had no choice for the moment as Dean reached for Katie as well. Fine, if Jessie was going to be like that. She could too. Katie knew it was wrong, but could not help her next actions. She snuggled into Dean still crying, glad that he was wearing a dark sweatshirt so the tears were neither visible nor felt on his chest. It just wasn't fair.