A/N: Just a bit of filler. Wanted to write a shortish chapter for a change. Haha…

Chapter 24

Jess was sitting in her room sketching out a beach scene and winding down from a long shift at the boutique when she heard the phone ring. At first she didn't pay it much mind, but then suddenly realized it might be Stacy and quickly jumped off the bed. As she opened her bedroom door she could hear her mother's voice coming from the master bedroom: "Yes, she's home. Just a minute. Jess!"

Jess jogged down the hall to her mom's room. "Uh-huh?" she asked expectedly.

"Phone for you, sweetie." As she passed the reciever to Jess, her mom quickly mouthed the words It's a boy and gave her a little wink. Oh great, Jess thought as she took the phone. Now she'll want to know all about it.

As Jess brought the reciever to her mouth her mom politely left the room and shut the door behind her. "Hello?"

"H'lo, it's Stacy. How are ya doing today?"

Suddenly giddy with excitement and relief, Jess nearly purred into the phone. "I'm fine. Went to work, even. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm ok. So you weren't hung over this morning?" His tone was a cross between teasing and sincerity. Jess stuck her tounge out at the mouthpiece before answering: "No, not really. I felt fine by the time I got into bed, actually."

"Well, that's good to hear. Guess you can handle your drink better than some girls. Er, boys and girls," he hastily corrected himself, causing Jess to giggle a bit.

"So what did you do today? I know you weren't hung over," she quipped.

Stacy chuckled. "I worked too, the lunch shift. Mr. Clark wanted me to pull a double but I convinced him to let me off at seven 'cause I was pretty wiped out. He's been asking more and more of everyone lately and it's startin' to drive me nuts." Jess made a sympathetic sound as Stacy continued. "I'd love to quit that job to surf and skate full-time," he sighed. "Gotta find some good sponsors and soon, man."

Jess was unsurprised that he had brought his favorite subject up so soon in the conversation. It must have driven Camille nuts, she ruminated as he spoke. But unlike his recent ex-girlfriend, Jess was quite interested in hearing more about Stacy's pipe dream. "Aren't you already sponsored by the Zephyr shop?" she inquired.

Stacy sighed again. "Well yeah, but it doesn't really pay. We're more like sponsored amateurs, not actual pros. In fact"- and here his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper –"some of the guys are in the process of leaving the Zephyr team to skate for other companies."

"Wow, must be pretty bad if they have to do that," Jess sympathized as she picked at her mom's coverlet, secretly pleased that Stacy was already confiding in her.

Their conversation continued in the same vein for a few more minutes, then Stacy politely said "Well, I'm probably keeping you, so I'll let ya go. Just wanted to call and make sure you're ok and stuff."

"Well, as you can see- er, hear, I'm fine, thanks." He'd better ask me out, dammit!

"So uh, what are you doing over the weekend?" Stacy asked, a hint of uncertainty creeping into his voice.

"Oh, no plans yet," she replied glibly. So ask me out, dammit!

"Right on. Well, I'm gonna surf in the mornings if the waves are good and I gotta work during the day, but…" Ask. Me. Out! DAMMIT! "…maybe if you're uh, not doing anything like Saturday evening we could um…"

Unable to contain herself any longer, Jess said it for him: "Go somewhere?"

The relief was immediately noticeable in Stacy's voice. "Yeah! I mean, I can't afford anything too fancy, but ah, well--"

Jess cut him off. "Hey, I don't care about fancy as long as it's clean and there's good service."

"Well that leaves out the place where I work then," Stacy joked.

"Verrry funneee. So yeah, I'm free on Saturday."

"Cool. I'll give you a call tomorrow once I figure out where we can go, ok?"

"That'll work," Jess breathed with relief. "Talk to you then."

"Sure. Bye, Jess."

"Bye, Stacy." Jess hung up the phone and flung herself backward on her mom's bed, stretching her arms exultantly over her head. All right, he called. And asked me out! Maybe there is a god after all.

After spending the next couple of minutes grinning foolishly at the ceiling and indulging in a brief daydream about her next meeting with Stacy, Jess forced herself to get up and go to the living room where her mother was watching Laverne & Shirley. "It just started so you haven't missed much," her mom informed her. Jess sat beside her on the couch and they watched Carmine try to teach Laverne to dance with the expected comedic results. Jess used the first commerical break to tell her mother a much-condensed rundown of the night before, omitting any mention of pot smoking and making out, of course.

"So he called just now to say hi and uh, ask me out Saturday," Jess concluded as the commercials ended and the show came back on. Now Lenny and Squiggy were showing up dressed in leather bomber jackets and pink tutus.

"That sounds fine with me as long as I can meet him beforehand," her mom informed her.

"Of course. He's a really sweet guy. I think you'll like him," Jess replied sincerely, watching Lenny and Squiggy prance around to 'Swan Lake'.

"I'm sure I will, sweetie. Oh god, those two are meshuggah!"

-----End of Chapter 25-----