Title: Homemade Always Says It Best
Rating: This chapter is probably only PG, but I plan on bringing it up to PG-13 at some point.
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine...I cannot claim them. They all belong to the hardworking people involved with Once and Again.
Feedback: Yes please, I want to know what everyone thinks of this story so far.
Summary: This will be a J/K or Jessie and Katie story eventually. It's just my take on another way that the girls could have ended up discovering their feelings for each other.
Author's Note: I still love getting reviews…Thank you for all of them. And I have no inspirational or helpful comments…nothing to ramble about. So, onto the story update. Enjoy.
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Jessie picked at her food. The syrup from the waffles had already formed a miniature house with smoke coming through the chimney. She was hard at work on her syrup person when she felt someone's eyes on her. "Get too much syrup?" It was Katie. She stopped dragging her fork through the syrup house to look at the other girl, noticing empty seats.
"Where'd everyone go?"
Katie chuckled. "That's what I was about to ask. Where you were."
"I'm here." Katie rolled her eyes, not believing her. "See. Here." Jessie poked her own arm, then Katie's arm, to prove her point. "Where's Tad and Sarah?"
"They went to talk about something." They went to discuss Katie and Sarah's relationship, and to let Katie and Jessie have time to discuss it.
"Oh," Jessie didn't like what she felt was coming. She didn't want The Talk. She didn't want to hear about the birds and the bees…or the birds and the birds. Actually, she wasn't sure who was a bird and who was a bee. So, maybe it was bees and the bees…She just didn't want to hear it.
Jessie looked off in her own little world again, and Katie was trying to bring her back. This talk was important. She promised herself that before anything between her and Sarah could happen…she would tell Jessie. "I think that we need to talk too."
"Oh." Jessie didn't even try to force a smile.
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"So, you're dating now?" Tad was awesome! He really had set up the two girls. He smirked to himself. Tad had calmed Jessie down that night, and he found out that he set up two girls. Two hot girls.
"Yeah, I think so." Sarah allowed herself a small smile and a glance over at the two girls still at the booth. They were talking now anyway. That blonde girl, Jessie, still seemed kind of out of it. Sarah wondered briefly if something had happened between the two girls…Nah. Jessie was too straight-seeming for that.
"Mm," Tad pondered it for a moment.
"Don't you have any other advice?" Tad never just shut up. Sarah knew this. He always had to ramble, trying to reach a point.
"Uh, can I…" A smirk formed on the guy's lips.
"No." Sarah immediately knew what he was thinking.
"Have you…" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"No." Pervert. Sarah rolled her eyebrows at her friend and co-worker. Guys were just too much sometime.
Tad still wasn't convinced. He smirked again, jokingly. "Are you lying?" Sarah simply rolled her eyes at him. He was glad that Katie didn't hear him, or he'd most likely be hit in the arm for that reply.
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"Um, Sarah and I…we're…" Katie scrambled for the words, hoping that Jess would get the idea.
"Girls?" But she was clueless.
It was almost like she was doing it on purpose. "I'm…" Katie trailed off again. Jessie was not a stupid blonde.
"Katie?"
"What?" Katie thought that Jessie had caught on and was going to ask her a question, but then she realized that the other girl had simply filled in the 'I'm' thing with her name. "No, I mean." Silly girl. Jessie just wasn't going to get it without help. So, she blurted it out. "Jess, I'm gay."
"As in happy?" A smile and a nod, that wasn't returned by Katie. Jessie caught on. "Oh," and just like that, she was back to one-syllable answers.
"You okay?" The blonde had paled a bit.
"Yeah," a pause. "I'm fine."
Katie never planned on telling this to Jessie at an all-day breakfast joint. It wasn't practical. It wasn't…romantic. Katie scrunched up her nose. Bad thought. She switched her mind back over to her considerably more pale friend. "I don't want you to…"
"Freak out?" Jessie chuckled hoarsely, unsure of why she was reacting like that. "Billie, you're my best friend. You're my Billie. I don't care if you're straight or non-straight."
"Non-straight?" Katie had to smirk at that. Only Jessie would call someone 'non-straight' as opposed to 'gay'.
Jessie felt the room spinning a bit. It wasn't a sex talk, but it was still The Talk. She was going out with Sarah. That must be it. Her Katie was going out with Sarah. That's why they had been holding hands. "I'm, um, Tad's my boyfriend." Oh damn. That came out without her meaning it to. She felt like she was trying to make Katie jealous.
"Really? Congratulations!" The worst part was that it seemed like she didn't even care. Katie was in the world of a new-relationship. She was diving headfirst into it, and Jessie was left alone. Oh, right. She had Tad.
He and Sarah had just wandered back over. Tad sat down next to Jessie again, taking her hand in his own.
"You don't look so good, Sweetie." Katie made a horrible face of disgust. Tad had just called her Sweetie. Gag. What the hell was wrong with Jess anyway…
Wow, she really did look horrible. Kind of like she might pass out. Very disoriented and pale still. "You okay, Billie?" Billie was such a better nickname. Jessie kind of shrugged.
"I'll take her home." Tad went to pick up his jacket, but Katie shook her head.
"You're still eating." She pointed at his pile of food. "I'll take her home. Is that okay with you two?" She glanced at Tad and her girlfriend. They shrugged understandingly. The two girls were best friends. Best friends took care of one another.
"I'm fine." Jessie tried to smile at them, but everything was so dizzy. She couldn't concentrate. The syrup house was spinning, and the syrup man was frowning at her. She squinted her eyes at him and he glared with little beady syrup eyes. He was mad at her. She lifted her eyes to look at Tad; he was concerned, eyebrows furrowed. Katie looked afraid, and Sarah looked disinterested in the whole event. Stupid Sarah. Stupid syrup man. Stupid boyfriends. Stupid girlfriends. Everything was so stupid.
And suddenly the cool air was on her face, and she was half-balancing on someone. The blonde wondered briefly if that's what it felt like to be drunk. "Come on, Jess. You're tired. I'll get you home." Katie was supporting the blonde, and Jessie felt bad making her do so. So, she blinked a few times, and steadied herself. Katie was stronger than she looked.
"Katie?" They hadn't talked the whole way back to Jessie's house.
"Yeah, Jess?" Katie shifted her eyes from her shoes to the younger girl's face. It was because of Katie that she was acting like that. It had to be. Katie was gay, and she had ruined her friendship with Jessie by gaining a girlfriend. A very beautiful and funny and intelligent girlfriend. Katie liked Sarah. Jessie liked Tad. They all liked each other. God. She suddenly wished that she hadn't told Jessie while at the restaurant. It was the wrong way to tell her. It was so wrong. That had to be why Jessie was reacting like an overly jealous and confused girlfriend to the news that Katie liked someone.
"It's not that I'm not okay with you liking Sarah." Jessie said it in a rush, wanting to get it out. "So, please don't think that." A quick smile, and then Jessie was hugging Katie. "It's not that." Jessie continued, mumbling into Katie's shoulder. She didn't want to let go. "I'm just tired." She pulled back, and Katie's face looked just as confused as before the hug. The blonde girl smiled weakly at her friend, trying to prove that she was sick, tired, before rushing into the house and into her room. It felt like they were breaking-up and declaring their love for one another at the same time. It was time for a long nap. It was time for a long walk home.