Disclaimer: I don't own anyone on Once and Again. I was simply lucky enough to get to use them for writing purposes. I don't own them, and can't claim them. The only characters thus far that I can claim are Ash and Gina because they obviously weren't part of Once and Again originally.
Rating: T.
Summary: Jessie/Katie story. It's about them meeting in college and as they get, well, a lot closer. Also, Grace, Tad, and Sarah have their lovely parts in here too.
Feedback: I love feedback! I really truly do. (And, no, this does not mean that someone should tell me to marry it, lol.) Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me feedback on any of my writing, but especially to those who keep updating their feedback on every chapter I write. I appreciate you guys/girls giving me feedback a lot.
Author's Notes: I decided to take a break today when I got home from work, so I decided to finish writing this chapter. (I was going to write it in all one part without taking a break, like I have done on other chapters, but I wrote this one in two writing sessions because something called a bed called to me.) So, yes, Stef, I did write most of that in one part last chapter since you were wondering about that. Also, to those of you who were wondering about the pancakes and nachos I've never actually eaten that. It's a mix between some weird food that I have eaten though. Haha. I eat nacho cheese with grapes, and I've eaten pancakes with peanut butter. Both were actually pretty decent, so I thought I'd combine the two in this story. I'll have to try it sometime and let you guys know how it tastes unless someone wants to test it for me and lemme know how it is ;) Anyway, I hope you guys/girls like this chapter. Enjoy.
Jessie woke up the next morning feeling so refreshed. Last night had been, so, wow. It was the best date that Jessie had honestly ever been on. She had woken up a minute before her alarm would have normally gone off on a day that she had classes. Even though it was Sunday, she was okay with getting up early for once.
She was so energized! What should she do now that she was up? Hm, go running! That was a weird thought, usually she didn't think too far into making a point of exercising because she was kept busy enough running around anyway. Oh, breakfast sounded good too! She glanced over at Grace who was still sound asleep. Finally, she decided that she would get dressed, brush her teeth and her hair quick and then go get breakfast at some fast food restaurant. Quickly, she walked about the room throwing on a sweater and a pair of jeans, followed by a quick comb through of her hair before quickly going to brush her teeth. She didn't really pause to see how she looked in the mirror though, she'd be back at her dorm soon enough that it wouldn't really matter. So, ten minutes later she was out the door.
At the fast-food restaurant, Jessie ordered two breakfast sandwiches and a large orange juice deciding that she would share with Grace when she got back. The cashier, a guy, kept smiling at her. In fact, she was getting a lot of looks and a few smiles. "Have a good time yesterday?" The male cashier was questioning her now, great.
"Um, why?" Jessie was pretty skeptical of this guy and the way her was practically leering at her.
"You just look...refreshed is all." Jessie got a confused look on her face then grabbed her food and left quickly. She didn't want to have to deal with him. Looked refreshed? What the heck.
She got back to her apartment and was just taking the food out of the bag when Grace seemed to acknowledge her prescreens. Well, the blanket acknowledged her anyway, the one covering Grace completely, including her head. "What'd you get me?"
"What," Jessie questioned, feigning innocence.
"I smell food...Do I get some?" Suddenly, a very Grace-like head appeared out of the pile of blankets looking around expectantly.
Jessie laughed, "Yes, you know I got you something. It'd be a horrible death for me if I didn't." Grace smirked and nodded as she climbed out of bed to get her share of the orange juice and her breakfast sandwich.
Jessie pulled her hair back behind her ears so that none of the biscuit would fall into her hair. That was the bad thing about these biscuits, so flaky. Almost as flaky as some girls she knew. Hehe. Jessie was on a roll that morning with jokes already.
"Holy crap, Jessie!" Grace was screaming now, as Jessie looked confused.
"What? What's wrong? Did some of the biscuit fall in my hair?" Jessie looked down suspiciously into her hair, ready to freak out if there was food in it.
"No, there's nothing in your hair. But...Um, I'm going to take a wild guess and say your date with Katie went well last night." Jessie was looking forward to telling Grace about her date, how did she already know it went well? As if to answer Jessie's question, Grace replied, "You do know you have a giant hickey on your neck right?"
Jessie's eyes widened as she ran to pick up her compact mirror. In fact, the same one that she had dropped the night she had first met Katie in the restaurant. It was true. There was a giant hickey in the middle of Jessie's neck. Hehe, guess there had to be some pay-back for what Katie was doing last night when they were dancing, huh? Oh wait. Crap. Jessie suddenly realized why everyone was staring at her whenever she would pass by them. They were staring at her neck, at her hickey!
Grace laughed. "So, want to tell me more about this great date?" Jessie nodded. Grace was going to get to hear the main points of the date anyway. Though, while telling the story, Jessie wondered what Katie was up to so far.
Sarah was sitting patiently at the side of Katie's bed. And, of course, by patiently, I mean very impatiently. After a few seconds, she simply asked, "Sooo, how was last night?" No answer. "Katie? Katie? Kaaaaattieee?" Maybe if she drew out the name long enough, Katie would simply wake up! "K to the A, to the T, to the I, to the E. Katie. Katie!" Still no answer, so Sarah was forced to sigh.
"What the heck do you want? It's early." Katie simply rolled over, turning away from her apparently insane friend.
"It's eleven," Sarah retorted.
"Like I said, it's early." Oh, Katie was very good at clarifying this morning. Sarah simply sighed once more, getting more impatient with her sleeping-loving friend.
"I want to know how your date went last night. What else would I want to know?" Katie smiled on the other side of the bed. "Yes, I know your smiling." Suddenly, Katie stopped smiling. It was kind of creepy, if you think about it, how close she and Sarah seemed sometime. Of course, not close in that way. Katie giggled as she thought of Jessie. Now Jessie, that was a horse of a different color. Well, really it was a situation with a different girl. But, that worked too, right? "Come on, and stop giggling. Just spill the story already. How was it?"
Katie rolled over, and looked at her friend. "So, how was it?" Katie was still questioning her.
This time, Katie decided to answer. "It was great, to be honest. We went out to eat at a restaurant nearby."
"Frankie's," Sarah wondered.
"No. So, we just sat there and talked for a while about everything..." Katie had a blissed-out smile on her face just remembering the date.
"So, where did you go?" Wow, Sarah was very inquisitive today.
"Angelo's. And, it was great. I mean, we had good seating, and good food. Plus, good conversation." Wow, Katie was sounding too corny, so she decided to lighten it up. "Plus, for once, I had good company."
"Meaning, not me?" Sarah feigned looking hurt, but laughed.
"You? Never." Katie was being sarcastic, and Sarah stuck out her tongue at the other girl who was still laying lazily in her bed.
"Oooh, did you get the hamburgers there? Those are really good. Last time I went there with Ash, she really liked it." Wow, way to get side-tracked. Ooh, suddenly, Katie saw why Sarah was side-tracked. Ash. She wanted to talk about her girlfriend because today was their anniversary. Katie had almost forgotten.
"Yes, we got hamburgers, and, yes, once I tell you about my date, then you can tell me what you have planned for Ash tonight." Sarah beamed. That works for her. "But, you have to stop interrupting me, or else we'll never get to you and Ash." Sarah nodded once more, intent on not speaking for a little while at least. Katie laughed.
"Well, then we went out dancing." Katie grinned, remembering this part, and decided to answer the question she knew Sarah was now wondering. "Yes, at the same place that we went the other night when we first saw each other." Sarah nodded encouragingly, she honestly wanted to hear about the date.
"Well, after a little bit of dancing. Mind you, I was dancing well for once! It seemed like it all fit together, and then, we kissed." Jessie was just finishing telling the story of last night to Grace.
"Hence the 'curling iron burn' on your neck?" Grace pondered out loud, smirking because she knew it wasn't that. "Yeah...pretty much." Jessie didn't stray away from it, just simply answered the question which made Grace laugh before she turned serious.
"You know, I really am glad that you had a good time."
"Me too," Jessie added. "Thanks."
"When are you two going to go out again?"
"Probably tonight," Jessie responded as she finished off her breakfast sandwich.
Grace nodded understandingly. "Try not to burn yourself on the curling iron tonight, will ya? Least, let it not be such a long burn so that it looks like that." Jessie glared at a smirking Grace, who was trying not to laugh. Just then, before Grace could make another sarcastic comment, Jessie's cell phone rang. "I bet that's her!" Grace was almost as excited for Katie to be calling, as Jessie was.
Well, maybe not quite. Jessie's eyes got really big for a second, before she bounded across the room to her phone. She didn't bother to look at the caller I.D. because who else would call at noon on a Sunday? "Hey you, I had a lot of fun last night." Jessie whispered this sexily into the phone as she grinned thinking of Katie. Suddenly, her grin shrank, and she had a horrified look on her face. Her eyes closed, she shook her head softly as if wishing she hadn't done something. Grace was bewildered. What, did Jessie have bad service here?
"Oh, hi Dad." Jessie said in a normal tone of voice, just as she remembered who also called on Sundays. Her dad and Lily always called at noon, with Karen's call usually coming on Wednesday night. Grace's eyes widened as she saw the pained look on Jessie face. Wow, that was going to be a fun one to explain. Grace burst out laughing just as Jessie was mumbling something about a joke with a friend of hers. Yes, just a friend, indeed.
"Huh, her line is busy." Katie had decided to see if Jessie wanted to do something that afternoon, but apparently that would have to wait a little bit anyway.
"So, that means you'll help me plan for my date tonight with Ash?" Sarah was looking at her eagerly, she really didn't want to mess this date up.
Katie looked at her best friend and nodded. After some planning, she would call Jessie back. Then, maybe they could go see a movie that was out or something. That'd be good.
After half an hour of convincing her father that nothing bad had gone on with some guy last night, he was starting to let up. In fact, he didn't even sound suspicious when she said when went out dancing with a friend of hers named Katie. She hadn't ever told anyone that she wasn't into guys before, well, besides Grace. Grace kind of figured it out for herself anyway, and Katie, well, obviously she knew. Until she knew for sure what kind of relationship she had with Katie, she didn't want to go and delve into that with her father.
"Fun conversation?" Grace asked Jessie after having talked with her mom, Lily after Jessie's dad, Rick, handed the phone off. "God, that was one conversation I was really hoping to never have with my dad." Jessie said as she slumped back into her seat.
"One about where you had been last night," Grace questioned.
"No, one about why I was answering my phone like that." Grace laughed just as Jessie's phone rang again.
"Wow, you're a busy person today," commented Grace. "You better check who the caller is this time, though. Don't want to make the same mistake again."
After helping Sarah out with her plans for Ash and their six month anniversary, Katie decided to try calling Jessie again. Sarah had gone out to make sure her reservations were still in order at her restaurant of choice, for once not a fast food restaurant even. She was giddy as she walked out the door.
"Katie?" Jessie asked questioningly into the phone. No doubt, her dad had tracked down this Katie girl now just to make sure she wasn't some sleazy boy who wanted to date her. Not that all the guys that Jessie had dated were sleazy, but in a dad's eyes when it concerns his daughter, what boy isn't sleazy? Well, besides the one that doesn't date her. Though, if he isn't dating her, surely he wants to date her. Rick was just protective like that, of all three of his girls, Jessie, Grace, and Zoe. When it concerned his son, Eli, he just told him he better take care of any girl properly, and treat her nicely. Of course, after living with three girls for a while, Eli knew how to take care of a girl properly as it is. He was not out to be a guy that the three of them would think of as a jerk.
"Yeah?" Katie asked back into the telephone.
"Oh, good. It is you this time." Jessie sighed a, well, sigh of complete relief.
"Who else would it be?"
"My dad." What? Her dad? Why would her dad be with Katie?
"Uh, Jess. Why would…"
Jessie cut the other girl off mid-sentence in order to explain. "My dad just called, and thinking it was you, I answered the phone in a way I shouldn't have. Now, he's trying to find out what's going on, despite my great story that I came up with." Katie was a bit hurt. Why didn't Jessie just say who she was with? "I told him I was with you, but I really didn't think he would want to hear about certain parts of the date. Like the part, where you give me a hickey."
Katie almost choked, even though she was eating nothing. "What? I gave you a hickey?"
"Apparently so. You mean…" Jessie trailed off, wondering if Katie didn't want to remember that part for some reason.
"Oh Jess, it wasn't suppose to sound like that. I just meant that I didn't realize that I had…Um, that I had…Well, I just didn't see it after we finished dancing is all." Katie had stumbled through that, looking for the right words for the, well, right girl. A silence overcame the two as they started thinking about last night, and immediately the same want came over the two, even though they weren't next to each other.
"Basically, I blame you for this." The silence was interrupted by Jessie.
"Blame me for what? The hickey? I already admitted to that part…" Katie trailed off, trying to figure out what Jessie was getting to.
"No, I meant that I blame you for what I'm about to do."
"What are you about to do?" Katie was still at a loss for words.
"I'm going to tell you that I miss you, and sound all corny."
"I miss you too. In fact, would you like to go see a movie and get some coffee or something this afternoon?
Maybe that would take away some of the missing." Sarah, who had wandered back into the room just a
moment ago, was silently watching Katie, as she talked on the phone to Jessie. She was smiling, and kept
fidgeting around. Plus, Katie had just asked out Jessie for another date! Go Katie!
"I'd like that." Jessie was grinning, while Grace was trying to snoop to find out what Jessie was liking.
"Good," Katie nodded her head before realizing that Jessie couldn't see her.
"Good…So, see you in half an hour?" Jessie didn't want to waste any time until she got to see Katie next. She could be ready in half an hour, if need be, and she definitely needed to be. Her sanity depended on it already.
Katie laughed, "A bit eager are you? Sounds good to me, so see you then."
Jessie smiled, "See you then."
Half an hour later, Sarah had already told Katie that she looked great, and Katie vice versa with Sarah.
They were both ready for their respective dates. However, a short and quick knock on the door startled them both.
"You should go get her." Grace was inspecting Jessie as she continued getting ready for her date. Grace planned on having a get together with someone tonight, though, she refused to say who. Which, of course, just made Jessie even more curious. Jessie knew she'd get it out of her sometime though, so she wasn't worried.
"What? Why?" Jessie looked up from the pile of clothes that she had been digging through to eye her step-sister, who shrugged.
"She's always the one who ends up here. So, why don't you end up there for once?" Hm, Grace actually made sense for once. "It'll be a nice surprise for her." Jessie nodded and smiled, and within a few moments she was ready to go. She was decked out in a green sweater and a pair of black pants. She thought it looked coffee house-ish anyway, well, that and a movie. She then grabbed her purse and trotted over to the dorm she knew Katie could be found in.
Ash was suppose to be getting picked up by Sarah, but her dorm room-mate had been driving her insane with stories of night from last night. Quite frankly, she didn't want to know whether or not Gina had been dancing on a bar table for her boyfriend. Neither did she want to know the reason for Gina's black hair being basically hacked off, to her shoulders anyway, when she had come home this morning was because she had fallen asleep at her boyfriend's house and one of his stupid buddies thought it would be funny to cut off a chunk. Though, it seems that the buddy's eyebrows had been shaved off by her last weekend, so perhaps she had it coming. Either way, Ash did not want to hear these 'fun' stories. So, she decided to pick up Sarah herself.
Ash was wearing her little black dress, and toting her black handbag. Her red mane of wavy hair was draped over her shoulders. She got to Sarah's door just at the same time that some pretty blonde haired girl in a green sweater did. What was she doing here? Jessie was eyeing Ash just the same, both forgetting that not just their girlfriend lived there. "Who are you?" They both asked at the same time before laughing and knocking on the door.
"I'm Jessie."
"Well, I'm Ash." They looked at each other for a moment not sure of what else to say because they weren't sure if they were competition for each other or what. Just then, Katie swung open the door prepared for a lost delivery boy or something. She was wearing a long sleeved purple and black shirt, with a pair of tan pants.
Sarah was standing next to her in a blue skirt and a pretty white top. She smiled at Ash, who was grinning back. "You look great, Sweetie." Sarah stood there in awe of Ash for a moment. While Ash, on her part, was pretty much staring at Sarah.
"Thanks, you do too." Ash replied as she slowly realized that Jessie must be there for Katie. Jessie had already, obviously, realized who Ash was there to see.
Katie and Jessie were grinning at each other sheepishly. Both were very clearly checking the other out as well, which Sarah decided to point out. "Ash, ready to go? We have a full night, and these two seem to want to keep checking each other out and grinning." Both of the two girls immediately blushed while Ash left. After a quick introduction between everyone, seeing as Jessie and Sarah had never met, both couples set off on their own ways.
"So, you were checking me out, huh?" Katie asked as she took Jessie's hand into her own.
"You know it." Katie was not expecting such a bold answer and she blushed feverishly. Jessie giggled. "Guess you like my answer, huh?" Katie kind of nodded and smiled as they walked along to the coffee house.
Once there, both girls decided to try to guess what the other liked to drink. Jessie decided to go first, and she ordered Katie a French Vanilla cappuccino. Katie smiled, then ordered the exact same thing. Jessie's mouth dropped open. "You knew what I wanted!" Katie just grinned a Cheshire-cat-like smile.
"Wait. You just ordered the same thing I did…" Suddenly, it began to click within Jessie's head.
"Yup. You had ordered it, and I could tell by the way your eyes lit up, that you ordered it because it was your favorite too." Jessie decided to try to pout.
"That's not fair! You so totally cheated. Do I get a re-count on this vote?" Jessie was still pouting.
"There was no count in the first place, so no. Though, I admit, it is a good drink. Not my favorite though. My favorite is hot chocolate on days like this, with marshmallows. You did good though." With that, Katie leaned over towards Jessie's ear and Jessie tried to make herself not move away as she thought the taller girl was about to kiss her, in public. Unfortunately, Jessie flinched and moved back a few inches. Katie noticed. She wasn't going to kiss her anyway, instead she whispered in her ear. "Plus, you tasted like cappuccino last night." Jessie smiled remembering last night, and breathed out as Katie's smooth breath dangled and lingered against her ear delicately and deliberately. Katie reached out and smoothed a piece of Jessie's hair down across her head, and ran her hand down Jessie's arm. Jessie closed her eyes. It felt so good, but not in public, no. Jessie opened her eyes again, and Katie was already paying for Jessie's cappuccino. Katie knew that Jessie had closed her eyes because it felt good, but she still had originally flinched. So as she paid, she had to focus on trying to not look hurt.
The two girls took their cappuccinos with them as they decided to walk toward the movie theatre. They decided on a romantic comedy while they stood their finishing their drinks. They walked inside and both looked longingly toward the balcony. Both girls loved sitting up there, though, tonight it was blocked off because not enough people were there to have to open it up. They had to wait for their tickets first before deciding where to sit anyway. Suddenly, Katie looked over at Jessie, and Jessie realized that she was actually sad that she had moved. Katie knew that Jessie wasn't out yet, why was she upset? "Katie, what's wrong?" Jessie had a pleading tone in her voice, as she tried to get Katie to look at her.
Katie sighed, "You moved when I went to say something in your ear. It made you flinch. I really like you, Jess, even though we just met a few days ago. It feels like so much longer…but, I'm not sure I can do this so well if you're going to always flinch when we're in public together, afraid of what someone may think…I'm so sorry, but I don't think I can hide my feelings for you in public now, and even less if we were girlfriends longer. What am I suppose to think if my girlfriend flinches away when I touch her?" Girlfriend. Katie had called Jessie her girlfriend. Katie's voice sounded so desperate, as if she was trying not to cry. Jessie felt bad, she felt so bad. She just, well, she had never had reason to come out before. I mean, she could look at girls and flirt, but she had never had a relationship that meant enough to her for her to be out. And Katie, even though this was just their second date, meant a lot to her.
"I'm your girlfriend?" That was the first thing, and only thing that seemed to be able to slip out of Jessie's mouth at the moment. Katie looked at her with tears obvious in the corners of her eyes.
"Well…" Katie hadn't missed that she had called Jessie her girlfriend, but what else would she be? Katie wanted her to be her girlfriend anyway. "I mean…If you want to be." Katie lowered her eyes, "Though, I'm not sure how you'd feel being out with me in public. It's up to how you feel." Katie had laid her self completely out there. All that was left, was for Jessie to say a few words, and then either they'd be together or they'd have some more complicated issues to work out. Jessie had seemed skittish in the coffee house, so Katie just hoped that Jessie knew what she wanted enough to be able to handle it in public now. Jessie knew what she could and couldn't handle.