Author's Note: Jesse's viewpoint of what happened the night of the Wiggles Concert.

Best Laid Plans

Jesse stormed into the house and slammed the heavy oak door shut behind him. Taking the steps of the ornate spiral staircase two at a time he made straight for his room. Although his parents were away (again), and the hired staff had retired for the evening, he nonetheless quickly closed and locked the bedroom door before throwing himself onto his king-sized bed. The sexual frustration of an hour ago had abated, but the anger still simmered. He just didn't know if he was angrier with himself or with Rachel.

Their date had started out with such promise. Granted, the Wiggles concert had not been his first choice by any means, but they had used it as an exercise in critiquing performance and stage management/production values. A live performance was after all a live performance and they could learn from it.

Since the show started and ended fairly early, after a quick snack they had stopped off at an arcade on their way back from Columbus. Rachel had then proceeded to thrash him at skee ball. He didn't really mind though because she'd been so adorably excited and thrilled by her victory. Her ecstatic hug and the kiss that followed had rapidly healed his slightly bruised ego, and Rachel had even gifted him with her prize, a blue care bear. (A care bear which currently resided in her bedroom where he'd left it after this evening's "making out" fiasco.)

Yes, everything had been going so well! They'd sung show tunes the rest of the way home and after arriving at her house they'd gone straight up to her bedroom. With her Dads away they had had the house all to themselves and Jesse wasn't one to miss an opportunity like that to make out.

Things had heated up very quickly. Rachel was beautiful, and passionate, and such a quick study that he'd rapidly forgotten she was still only fifteen and likely inexperienced. He'd totally let his hormones override his thought process, and then he'd had to go and utter those four words: "it's no big deal." That had killed the moment really fast, leaving him still totally turned on and with no release in sight. He doubted she even realized why he'd been so short-tempered and abrupt in his departure.

Jesse tugged both hands through his hair and groaned. Rachel just wasn't like any girl he'd ever met. She was talented and hot, but also sweet and naive. She wasn't an Andrea or Giselle or any of the Carmel girls who were only too eager to sleep with him because he was "The" Jesse St. James. He'd been an idiot! For someone with drama practically written into her genetic code, of course having sex would be a big deal, especially her first time. The very fact that she wasn't easy, or swayed by his status, left him bemused, intrigued and frustrated as hell.

Well, he would just have to rethink matters. Jesse had never needed to coerce a girl to have sex and he wasn't about to start now. Someone like Rachel needed (or rather - deserved) epic romance, not a quick heated tumble between the sheets. It was going to take all his acting skills and plenty of self-control but he could restrain his libido and play it cool.

Jesse chewed his lip thoughtfully. then frowned. It would likely mean a lot of cold showers in his future. He sat up and quickly swung his long legs off the bed. He might as well start with one right now because he was going to need a clear, focused mind to formulate a new strategy.