Jessie spent the next three days avoiding Katie at all costs, or at least that's how it seemed to Katie. Even though they were in the same history class, as well as lunch, it seemed like by the time she had thrown her stuff into her backpack at the end of class each day, Jessie was long gone. Any other time, if someone acted like this towards her, Katie would become annoyed and forget about the person. It was usually easy, Katie was charismatic and fun to be around, she never had problems finding and keeping friends. Already, after less than a week of being at Upton Sinclair, she rarely found herself walking the hallways alone.
But with Jessie, she didn't feel like she could forget about her. Hell yeah, she was getting annoyed at the girl's disappearing act, but it was almost like it made her want to just grab the girl and force her to interact. Katie realized she had no intentions of letting Jessie go and the feeling surprised her. It was new, this deeper caring and constantly thinking about one person. But after three days, Jessie's blue eyes still haunted her before she opened her own eyes every morning. It was her blonde ponytail that she searched for among the sea of heads in the hallway between classes. And in history class, Katie's carefree yet consistent "A+" style of learning seemed to be suffering. Her thoughts were bombarded with observations about the blonde girl in the jeans and long-sleeved polo that sat two rows ahead and to the left of her. Every time she tried to focus on Lincoln's bills and policies, she was distracted by Jessie stretching her back or pushing her silky blonde hair behind her ears.
This was too much, and Katie decided that it wouldn't continue. She was sick of feeling like a lovesick puppy and was going to take action. Despite sensing that Jessie felt similar, she was nervous about pushing her further away. But she fought this worry by telling herself that, currently, it was impossible for Jessie to get any further away. By this afternoon, Jessie would be forced to face Katie one way or another. Katie had no idea what the girl's reaction or words would be, but she was willing to take anything over the current situation.
Feeling better about having made any decision at all, Katie returned her focus to her English professor pacing at the front of the room. While his ranting about T.S. Eliot seemed like it could be interesting, Katie figured she had already missed too much to get anything out of it anyway. She glanced at the clock and willed the last twenty minutes of school to go quickly. With her mind made up, she wanted to take action as soon as possible. Things couldn't stand still for too long in Katie's life and she was anxious to get some answers.
Looking around briefly before stepping out of the school doors, Jessie deemed it Katie-free and started across the yard to where Grace's eyesore sat in the lot. She was a quarter of the way across when she was jerked to a stop by someone holding tight to her backpack. As she whipped around to berate the attacker, her words died in her throat.
Katie caught a glimpse of her fiery glare before Jessie's blue eyes turned to the fear of a hunted deer. The fierceness in her eyes gave Katie courage and, without letting go of the girl's blue backpack, she started,
"I don't know why you're avoiding me-"
"Avoiding you? No, I'm not."
"Really? Because it seems to me that you bolt like a racehorse whenever I'm around."
"Don't be ridiculous…just because I haven't become a groupie-"
"A groupie?" Katie cut her off and had to stop herself from laughing. Encouraged, she leaned dangerously close to Jessie's ear,
"Do you want to be a groupie?" she breathed softly against Jessie's prickled skin.
Pulling out of a near trance, Jessie yanked her head back and hurriedly looked around at the students chattering and walking around them. She glared at Katie, not bothering to hide her venom this time, and pulled her around the corner of the building.
"What makes you think that?" she huffed, "I have enough going on in my life without needing to become one of your minions!"
To her surprise Katie just smiled, not at all the reaction she expected. Katie noticed her flustered look and decided to run with it,
"Then maybe I could be one of your minions?"
Jessie was lost for a reaction, what was this girl doing to her? She waved her off and stuttered,
"M-m-mine?" She recovered quickly and brushed the offering away, "I don't want any minions, thank you very much."
Figuring things were going as well as she could hope, Katie said a lightning fast prayer and reached over to grasp Jessie's shoulders. Hoping with all her heart that she was interpreting the right vibe from Jessie, she leaned closer,
"Then maybe you want this…?"
She saw Jessie's blue eyes widen. Had they gotten bluer since she looked at them last? She couldn't answer the question because by now her own eyelids had dropped. Not knowing, but willing Jessie's eyes to do the same, she brought her lips down to where she hoped Jessie's were. Thankfully Jessie hadn't moved since she grabbed her shoulders and the landing was relatively smooth. Their lip-glosses made them slide around a little, but Katie wasn't aware of anything other than the fireworks going off in her brain.
Jessie's eyes closed and with the first touch of Katie's lips, she let go of her reservations and felt the kiss travel through her whole being. She forgot about being afraid and lost herself in the "rightness" of Katie.
Katie was aware of the pressure on her lips being returned by Jessie, and her smile broke the kiss when she felt Jessie start to lean into her. As the girls seperated, their eyes connected across the inches between them. Katie tried to read her emotions, but found her mind too clouded by her own. She only became aware of Jessie's hands on her waist when she took them away. She let her own hands fall away from Jessie's shoulders and they hung awkwardly at her sides for a moment. She opened her mouth to fill the silence, but Jessie was faster,
"What the heck am I doing?"
Instead of replying Katie laughed, and Jessie unconciously smiled. She had such a nice laugh, warm and friendly. A laugh that begged for others to join it. And Jessie did, cautiously. She started to turn away, but realized that it was the last thing she wanted to do. In fact, the only thing she did want to do was get as close to Katie as she could. It was a weird warm feeling that she decided not to turn away for once. Instead of leaving, she stepped one step closer to Katie's relaxed body.
Watching her turn away, then stop, then step back closer than they were before, Katie felt her feelings of apprehension slip away. Without them, all that remained was desire and courage. And her courage allowed the desire to take over. She leaned towards her shivering crush and hooked a chilled hand under Jessie's chin.
Their lips connected and a blissful warmness traveled throughout both girls' bodies. Katie forgot about her own cold hands as she became more distracted by Jessie's hands holding firmly onto her waist. The coldness of the air around them returned only as they pulled apart and became two separate people again. Jessie instinctively wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't seem to realize that she was softly biting her bottom lip as she stared at the ground between her and Katie. Katie sighed and Jessie made the mistake of looking up into her jaded green eyes. She cursed herself for her inability to control her racing heart and quickly shifted her sight towards the building, or the road, anywhere but Katie.
"I'm not... I can't...I don't know if this is okay..." she finally managed to get out. Jessie didn't want to sound like she was whining, or imply that she didn't like their kiss. Even she realized that wasn't something she could deny anymore. She tried again,
"I'm not sure what's going on right now"
Katie replied light-heartedly, "I know what's going on. I was right here...where were you?"
Jessie was too overwhelmed to appreciate Katie's humor. She finally made eye contact with the taller girl, causing Katie to forget about being witty and funny. She didn't feel like she could be much of anything when Jessie's eyes locked on her own.
"I think I have to go now..."
Katie tried not to look too disappointed. Obviously she wasn't very good at masking her emotions because Jessie's face softened. She opened her mouth as if to speak but apparently decided against it before shutting it again. Katie reached out and poked her softly in the shoulder with her index finger,
"What were you thinking just now?"
Jessie looked thoughtful, deciding if she should tell her the truth or not. After some lightning-fast internal debating, she dropped the walls inside of her slightly and replied,
"Just wondering if I'll see you tomorrow."
"Friday? Gee, I'm pretty booked up...maybe I could squeeze you in around noonish?"
Jessie swatted her with a well-disguised scowl, "Be serious for like two seconds!"
"How about two seconds around noon tomorrow?" Katie replied with an impish grin.
Smirking at her, Jessie turned on her heels and marched away towards the royal jeep with an increasingly impatient Grace at the wheel. From behind her she heard,
"Twelve it is! You're stuck with me now!"
Jessie smiled and even laughed quietly, but not loud enough for Katie to hear. She was thinking that as bad as it could make things for her, she wasn't sure if she minded being stuck with Katie...at least for two seconds at lunch tomorrow.