8. What a Night!
"Jess! What're we doing? The store's closed!"
"Ahh…Don't worry about it. I've done this so many times, I've never been caught. Trust me." Jess seemed very casual about this. He was calmly looking through the rows of records in the store. It was quite dark, but he brought a flashlight along with him. After a few minutes, I joined him.
"Oh my God! It's the vinyl copy of Unforgiven by the GoGos signed by all five of them! I've been looking for something like this, practically all my life!" I said to Jess.
"Take it," said Jess.
"I'll just come here tomorrow and get it."
"Just take it now Rory."
"Erm…" I mean, it's not like I never did anything bad in my life, I thought to myself as I recalled my last yacht stealing moments.
Jess grabbed the record from me and led the way out of the record store. But as we left, I saw him take out a fifty dollar note from his pocket and he placed it on top of the cashier counter. I stared at Jess for a while; thinking about how much had changed in Jess. For the good, that is. But then again, there was also a part of him that hadn't changed so much.
Finally we reached my hotel at about two in the morning. Time had flown by so fast! Even though I told Jess I'd be alright going up the elevator myself, he insisted on dropping me. He said it was the manly thing to do.
"So you still with Dean?" he asked quietly as we went up the elevator.
"Nope, not Dean."
"Oh. So you found another stray?" Jess asked.
"His name's Logan. Logan Huntzburger."
"From Yale?"
I nodded. I felt sort of uncomfortable talking about this with him, since I sort of felt sorry for him. Jess always loved me, I thought, it's just, he wasn't into a commitment back then. As we walked out of the elevator and towards the left hallway, I looked into Jess's eyes. I could still see how much he loved me, even now. Even after he knows I'm with another man. Even though he knows we can never be. After knowing all of this, he still came to cheer me up when I called for him tonight.
Finally we reached my hotel room. I quickly took my keys out from my purse. When I looked up, I saw Jess looking at me but staring into space, as if absorbed into a new world all together. I waved my hand in front of his eyes. His eyes flickered for a moment and then he straightened up and gave me a sweet smile.
"Thank you so so much for a wonderful night Jess! I swear, I had a great time. Really, thank you so much!"
"Hey, don't thank me. Thank Al." Jess said, winking at me as he handed me the record.
I laughed. "Bye Jess." I gave him a quick hug and saw him walk toward the elevators. As I saw him walk away, I felt some sort of sadness forming deep inside my heart. I felt like crying. What's happening to me? Before I bursted in to tears in the lobby, I rushed into my hotel suite.
When I reached inside, I saw something that caught my attention. It was the shiny blue wrapping paper that covered a rectangular shape on my night table. The gift, I thought to myself. I totally forgot about that. I quickly sat on my bed and like a little kid at Christmas time, I opened the present. It turned out to be a small red, rectangular box. I opened it. I let out a soft cry.
I stared at it once more. Inside the jewelry box, was a smooth golden band that had my name engraved on it with a beautifully carved diamond on top. It was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen – even better than the one Max had given to Mom, when they were to get married.