Chapter 4: The bar crawl -Part 1
3 months, 2 weeks and 4 days till deadline
Jess was sweating more then she had done in years.
"I didn't know pole dancing would be this hard." Sara panted next to her.
Jess laughed. The pole dancing class had been so much harder then she anticipated but it had always been unbelievably fun.
"It was also a lot more fun than I thought it would be." Jess added.
Sara nodded.
"So you're come with me again next week?" Jess asked.
"Defiantly." Sara replied.
They made their way out of the club.
"So I've been thinking that we need to get out more." Jess said as they made their way back to their apartment.
Tommy was going to ask Andy and Connor about going on the bar crawl but Jess had been wondering how to bring it up with Sara without her thinking she had gone completely crazy. Jess knew she didn't have much of a social life so when it came to completing the things on her mums list with the help of her friends she knew she needed to come up with a good reason to get them to agree without them asking questions.
Sara stopped walking and turned to look at her, her mouth open in complete surprise.
Jess sighed.
"Look I know I don't go out that often but I was thinking it was time to change that." Jess reasoned.
Sara closed her mouth.
"Just to clarify you mean clubbing right?" Sara asked.
"I was thinking more of a bar crawl." Jess suggested as they began walking again.
"A bar crawl?" Sara repeated, clearly the shock had got to Sara more than Jess thought.
Jess nodded.
"I thought me, you, the boys and maybe Katie if she wants could come could do are bar crawl." Jess explained.
Sara turned her nose up at Katie's name.
"Look I'm not sure Katie's even going to come but I would really like you to come." Jess said.
Katie had yet to get over the news that Sara and Connor had slept together when they were out college.
"It would be good to get out more." Sara agreed.
"When were you thinking?" she asked.
"Friday?" Jess suggested.
Sara nodded.
"That's good for me, I have a night shift Saturday it will give me plenty of time to recover." Sara explained.
Jess nodded and sent a quick text to Tommy.
Sara is up for the bar crawl Friday night. Let me know what the boys say. J xx
Meeting them now. Wanted to talk to you about number 25 will catch you after your Russian lesson. T xx
Jess stopped walking.
Number 25 had completely slipped her mind. Make love under the stars. She hadn't had a romantic relationship in at least six months and that one had only lasted three weeks how was she supposed to find someone to make love with under the stars.
"You ok?" Sara asked, after she noticed that Jess had stopped.
Jess shook her head. She would think about number 25 later.
"Of course." Jess replied and they started walking again.
Tommy jogged down the stairs of the lair.
"You're late." Connor said never looking away from the screen as he spoke.
"I know I'm sorry." Tommy replied.
Tommy had spoken to his dad about getting Friday night off. Tommy had told his dad they were all stress and could do with the break. His dad had said that he, Dig and Roy could man the fort for one night.
"How are the streets looking?" Tommy asked hoping they wouldn't have a busy night.
"Quite so far." Connor replied.
"Where's Andy?" Tommy asked.
Connor pointed to the bathroom.
"When he comes out I want to talk to you both about something?" Tommy said just as the bathroom door opened and Andy came out.
Connor turned his chair round.
"What's going on?" Andy asked.
"Tommy here wants to talk with us about something." Connor replied.
His brother and Andy watched him closely.
"So Jess was thinking we can all use a break." Tommy started.
"You mean from our night life?" Connor clarified and Tommy nodded.
"That would be nice but who would watch man the lair?" Andy asked.
"I spoke to dad and he said that our parents and Uncle Roy could cover for one night." Tommy explained.
"Sounds good to me, I could use a night off." Andy replied rubbing his shoulder.
"Yeah and Katie wouldn't complain about me coming home early for once." Connor added.
Andy and Connor both turned to go back to work.
Tommy cleared his throat.
"That's not really what I had in mind." Tommy said slowly.
Andy and Connor both looked at him.
"Jess wanted to know what it was like to go on a bar crawl and I said that we could take her." Tommy lied.
Connor raised his eyebrow.
"Jess?" He asked.
"The same girl who hasn't done anything but work and spend time with her family in years." Connor added.
Tommy glared at his brother. He hated how he made her sound.
Connor held up his hands in mock surrender.
"Look I'm sorry it's just you offer us a night off then you say we have to take Jess on a bar crawl." Connor pointed out.
Tommy looked at Andy for help at convincing his brother but Andy shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm with Connor on this one I could do with catching up on some sleep." Andy told them.
Tommy sighed.
"We never got a chance to be stupid kids and have fun not that I'm complaining I chose this life but once in a while it would be nice to go out with my brother and my best friend." Tommy said looking from his brother to his best friend and back again, giving them his best puppy dog look.
He wasn't sure what else to say to get them agree to come.
Andy caved first.
"A night out doesn't sound too bad." Andy confessed.
Tommy looked over at his brother.
"Please Connor, I just wanted to make this special for Jess." Tommy admitted.
Connor looked at him closely as if he was trying to look into his mind. A couple of minutes little later Connor came to a decision.
"It might be fun to see what Jess is like drunk." Connor said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Tommy smiled at his brother.
"Thank you." He told them both.
Connor cringed as Katie slammed the cupboard door shut.
"So let me get this straight, Tommy gets you guys the night off but instead of spending it here with me you are going on a bar crawl?" Katie repeated her voice high pitched letting him know just how pissed off she was with him.
Connor was sure that if Sara wasn't going she wouldn't be this mad.
"Look I know it's not ideal but Tommy really wants to make this special for Jess and they want you to come too." Connor reasoned.
Katie scoffed at him.
"They only asked me for your benefit, they don't actually want me to come." Katie argued.
Connor kept quite at that point. It wasn't that they didn't like Katie they did it was just whenever Sara was around, Katie had a tendency to make things awkward for everybody.
"And since when does Tommy do anything for anyone but himself." Katie argued.
"That's not fair Katie." Connor argued standing up from the sofa.
She could be pissed at him wasting his day off but she did not get to go after his brother. Tommy may have been a player but that didn't make him a bad person. Tommy followed his heart, he lived for the moment but when his family and friends need him Tommy was always there.
"Then why is he making you go out when you don't want?" Katie demanded.
Connor shook his head.
"He has arranged this for Jess and I never said I didn't want to go." Connor argued.
He was not going to feel guilty for wanting to go out with his brother and his friends.
"Since when does Jess ever go out?" Katie asked in disbelief.
It had been the same thing he asked Tommy earlier, going out on a bar crawl was something completely different from anything Jess had ever done.
"Well she wants to and Tommy wants to make it special for her." Connor told Katie.
It was kind of sweet.
Katie huffed.
"It's just one night, it's not like I won't get time off again." Connor argued and by the look on Katie's face it was the completely wrong thing to say.
"When do you ever get time off?" Katie yelled.
Connor walked over to her slowly, he didn't want to argue with her.
"Baby, when we got together I told you what my life would be like." Connor reminded her softly.
"Fine, do whatever you want." Katie replied.
She turned on her heel and walked away.
Connor sighed. He would not cave, no matter what. It was just one night and they deserved it.
Felicity Queen smiled as she listened to Jess repeat Oliver's words from the door way. It was only their second lesson but Jess was already showing signs of improvement.
"Nicely done." Oliver praised Jess as they came to the end of another lesson.
Jess smiled widely.
"Thank you." Jess replied.
"Dad said you were teaching my mum Russian, what was she like when you taught her?" Jess asked and Felicity swallowed hard.
She missed Sin dearly.
When they had first met Felicity wasn't too sure but after a while Sin became an important friend to her. Sin brought fun and joy to her life in a way that no one ever had, she really was a breath of fresh-air.
"A lot like you actually." Oliver confessed.
Felicity remembered Sin's lessons, just like Jess she had been a quick learner.
"What's going on?" Tommy's voice boomed from behind her.
Jess and Oliver looked over in her direction just as Felicity felt her sons arm wrap around her shoulder.
"I was just finishing my lesson." Jess told him.
Tommy nodded before looking down at Felicity.
"Hey mum." Tommy said the cheeky grin she love covering his face.
Felicity hugged her son.
"What are you doing here?" Felicity asked, she loved seeing her boys but she was surprised to find Tommy here, it wasn't very often he came round without being pestered.
"I just came by to say hi and give this one a ride home." Tommy said making his way over to Jess.
Felicity smiled, somehow it always came down to Jess with Tommy. Felicity wondered if Tommy knew he was in love with her yet.
Tommy was 20 when Felicity realised he was in love with his best friend. Jess was 17 when she started dating seriously and every time she had a serious relationship with somebody Tommy was unbearable to be around. He would punch a little too hard and play even harder than when Jess finally broke up with the guy he would be back to his normal loveable self. At first Felicity thought it was just a coincidence but it happened every time.
"Hey Tommy." Oliver said hugging his son.
Felicity followed Tommy into the living room.
"The boys agreed to the bar crawl Friday." Tommy told Jess as he took a seat next to her.
It surprised Felicity how excited Jess was, Jess had never really been the going out type.
"Cool, I just need to figure out what to wear." Jess mumbled to herself.
Felicity smiled sadly. Jess had never really had the mother daughter experience that every little girl cherished with their mothers.
"Why not ask Sara to help pick you something out?" Tommy suggested.
"She working all day tomorrow and Friday she doesn't really have the time." Jess told him.
"I could help you if you want?" Felicity offered.
She could never take the place of her mother but she could help her with this.
"Really?" Jess asked.
She sounded so young and happy.
"I would love to." Felicity admitted.
Felicity loved her boys she really did, but she would have like daughter. Someone to go shopping with, someone to go to the ballet with.
"How about we met for lunch tomorrow then go from there?" Felicity suggested and Jess nodded.
"That sounds good." Jess agreed.
"Now that's sorted we should get going." Tommy said ushering Jess out.
Jess and Tommy said their goodbyes.
Oliver teaching her Russian, going on a bar crawl and Layla had mention that Jess and Sara were taking pole dancing classes it all sounded familiar somehow.
"We could have stayed longer you know." Jess told him as they made their way out.
Tommy shrugged his shoulders. He loved his parents he really did but being surrounded by all that love sometimes made him wish he had just that and he would not bring a women into his life if he had to lie to them. Not that he believed he could find someone who would put up with him.
Tommy unlocked the door and they both got in.
"So I was thinking about number 25." Tommy started as he pulled away from the curb.
He had been going over the list in his head and he could help her with almost every one of them but number 25 would be a problem.
"Make love under the stars." Jess recited.
"If it had been sex under the starts it wouldn't be a problem but love is a different story. You need to find someone to make love with under the stars in less than three months and don't take this wrong but you're not exactly the best at relationships." Tommy reminded her.
Tommy shivered the very thought of Jess in a relationship made him uneasy and he couldn't understand why.
He had never like any of Jess's past boyfriends. She was far too good for every one of them.
"So what do you suggest?" Jess asked, she sounded so uncomfortable.
Apart from Jess taking the piss out his playboy ways and him complaining that no man was ever good enough for her they didn't talk about relationships.
Tommy swallowed.
"Maybe you sign up for internet dating." Tommy suggested, he didn't it.
Jess glared at Tommy.
"I'm serious Jess, I have no idea how to help you with this one." Tommy admitted.
"I guess, I didn't think this through." Jess confessed.
Tommy sighed. He hated how defeated she sounded.
"We'll figure something out." Tommy promised, he had no idea what be he would think of something.
THE NEXT DAY
Felicity pulled Jess into one of her favourite boutiques. It was named Maggie Mayflower, after its owner Maggie, where every dress was made by her or one of her handpicked staff. Felicity had found it last year when she was looking for something to wear QC function. Maggie had her feel so welcome and special as she helped her pick out the perfect dress.
"I'm not sure I can afford anything in this place." Jess stated nervously beside her.
Felicity smiled to herself, she had no intention of letting Jess pay. What was the point of having money if you couldn't spend it on the people you cared about?
"Felicity it's good to see you again." Maggie's friendly voice called.
Felicity looked up and smiled as Maggie came into view.
Maggie was in her late twenties with long almost while blonde hair, she tall and skinny with vibrant green eyes. Maggie had started the business when she was just 22 with nothing more than her designs and debt up to her ears but she had succeed.
"Hi Maggie, how are you?" Felicity replied.
Maggie smiled.
"I'm good thanks, how can I help you today?" Maggie asked.
Felicity looked over at Jess.
"This is my niece Jess and we are looking for a dress she can wear for a night out on the town." Felicity explained.
Maggie studied Jess.
"I think I have just the dress." Maggie said her eyes sparkled in delight.
Maggie had this ability to know what size a person was just by looking at them.
"Take a seat I'll be right back." Maggie suggested before she disappeared out back.
Jess moved over to the sofa that sat just outside the dressing room and Felicity followed.
"I finished it a couple of days ago and have been waiting for the perfect person to wear it." Maggie said as she came back into view carrying a clothes bag.
"The perfect person?" Jess asked unsure.
Maggie smiled as she handed Jess the bag.
"When I design a dress I imagine what a person will wear it for." Maggie explained.
Jess nodded and took the bag from Maggie.
"Changing room is just there." Maggie said pointing behind her.
Jess followed her directions and went into the dressing room. A few minutes later and Jess emerged.
"I'm not sure about this." She said nervously.
"I am." Felicity said.
"You look beautiful." Felicity told her and she meant it.
