Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm sorry that I haven't been updating this as regularly as I would like. It's just that life's been a bit hectic and a lot of things are changing for me. I'm hoping to keep updating this story on a weekly basis and even twice weekly to make it up to my loyal readers. Enough about me though, now comes the part that you are probably skipping this to get to.. xo

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my original characters.

It had been a week since her breakup, and Zoey was starting to get sick of feeling sorry for herself. Her female friends had talked to her time and time again about how her ex was a stupid jerk and that it wasn't her fault. She knew that they were right, but she couldn't help but mourn the fact that her relationship of 3 years was over. As if to pull her out of her thoughts, the bell attached to the door frame rang. "Hey, I'm takin' my break." She called back to her boss as she turned around and saw Jess sitting at a booth in her section.

Zoey took off her apron and sat across the booth from Jess who was not so surprisingly reading a book. "Hey Jess. I hate to tell you but I'm on my break. If you're willing to wait like 15 minutes I would be happy to take your order." She smiled as Jess closed and set his book down.

"That's alright. I just ate not too long ago. I'm actually on my way to work. Matt wanted me to come in early today. I just thought that you should know so you don't think that I pulled a Houdini on you. I should be home around five." Jess explained as Zoey leaned forward to hear him better. She wondered why Jess didn't just text her that. Unless, he just wanted to see her, which she really didn't mind at all. She thought that it was really nice of him to come and see her.

"Thanks for letting me know." She replied before pausing to think. "I might be going out tonight. Some of my friends are gonna pick me up around 10 since we don't have work tomorrow and it's Saturday. You're welcome to come if you want." She offered with a grin. It was then that her phone buzzed. A text from one of her girl friends.

'Hey girl. Make sure to look your best tonight. And be ready for some intense fun. xo- Isabelle' Zoey could only chuckle. She looked up to see Jess with a questioning expression. "Nothing. It's just my friend Isabelle. I can tell that she's excited to be going out tonight just from her text." Jess nodded quickly, his own phone going off. He reached into his pocket and answered it with no hesitation, only mouthing sorry. Zoey acknowledged him with a smile. She leaned back and crossed her legs. She knew that she didn't have much longer until her break was over.

Before she knew it, Jess had hung up the phone. "Everything okay?" She asked, curiosity getting the best of her. "Yeah, That was just Chris calling to make sure that I was on my way and to tell me that he needed to go." And with that, Jess started to leave the booth. Zoey got up with him. "So, I guess that I'll see you at home then." She stated, stepping towards Jess, initiating the hug that happened next. Jess didn't really seem like the public display of affection type of guy so the hug was relatively short, but it was a nice hug nonetheless.

"Yeah, see you at home." Jess said. The corner of his mouth quirked up momentarily before he left the diner that he had gotten more acquainted with over the past week.

LATER THAT EVENING

Zoey had only been home from work for about forty-five minutes before Jess arrived to the apartment. The brunette had felt the need to take a shower and since Jess wasn't there to complain about the hot water being gone, she jumped at the chance. By the time she was done, she thought that she was alone since she hadn't heard the door open or close. She wrapped a towel around her and stepped out into the hallway. Her glance instantly went to the living room which seemed to be empty. She walked back to her bedroom, slightly oblivious.

"Hey Zo." Jess called from his bedroom. He couldn't help but eye Zoey since she was in a towel. It only took her a second for her to respond, which was by yelping and jumping a little. Jess smirked as Zoey turned her glance to him. He gave her an innocent look. "What? I thought that you heard me come in.."

Zoey tried to calm herself before responding. "I guess that I didn't.. I should probably get dressed.." She said coyly, stepping away in the direction of her bedroom as she held her towel closed. 'Jess had just caught me in only a towel..' The thought caused heat to rise to her cheeks. The girl closed the door and got dressed relatively quick, putting on a form-fitting dress and heels. She put the towel on her head and wrapped it into her hair. Her makeup was light with a cat eye and a bold lip.

It was fifteen minutes later before she was finished, leaving her room with poise. Jess was seated on the loveseat watching some show on television. "Are you going with us?" Zoey asked as she straightened her dress before sitting down.

"I don't know, some of the clubs around here aren't really my scene.. And, you do realize that you have about an hour before your friend said that they would pick you up, right?" Jess inquired, quirking one of his eyebrows as he glanced at the girl right next to him. Zoey's dress was a nice shade of red that sit well with her skin tone. 'She looks good.' He thought.

"Oh really? Then, what is your scene?" Zoey teased lightly, her body turning more to face him. "Because I'm imagining some indie coffee shop.." She couldn't help the little chuckle that came out. Jess simply smiled and rolled his eyes. "Well, then you're in for a surprise. No indie coffee shop. The park is pretty nice though, and it's not very far away." Jess paused. "Random question, but why come to Philly? Why not just stay in Michigan? I mean, don't get me wrong. It's nice to finally have a roommate, but I'm just curious."

Zoey blinked and pursed her lips trying to think of why she picked Philadelphia. "After graduating from U of M, I decided that it was time for a change of pace. Philadelphia seemed like a good place to start. There are really good arts programs and musical programs here. It just feels like some place that I need to be. A place for me to figure out who I am as an adult, make decisions and survive. Eventually I want to go to New York, but that's still a few years off. New York can wait. I don't think that they're ready for someone like me yet." Zoey explained, trying to watch Jess's facial expressions which stayed pretty neutral. She tried to keep herself from rambling. She was pretty sure that if she did she would come off as some Rachel Berry wannabe or something like that. "The original plan was for Robert to come and join me, but as you know.. that changed.."

Jess sat and took everything that she was saying in. He agreed that Philadelphia was a good place to live. It was up and coming and it was nowhere near as crowded as New York. "Believe it or not, I don't think that I've heard you sing since you moved in here." His mouth quirked to the side. "Sometimes things happen for a reason, or so I've been told."

"I'll have to change that soon then won't I?" She smiled before it started to disappear. "I've heard that too and my mother raised me to believe in fate. If it's meant to happen, it'll happen. Sometimes thinking about that helps, but other times it's frustrating.." She trailed off, not wanting to bring down the mood."Tonight should be fun though. I wish that you were coming with us." It was then that Jess stood up slowly. "Hopefully it will be. Maybe I'll show up for a little while. I'll text you, but in the meantime I have some things I need to do. Write a second book for instance."

"You wrote a book?" Zoey asked, her eyes lighting up. "Maybe I could read it.. What's it called?" She stood up and stepped towards Jess. She took a moment to straighten her dress before looking back up at Jess who she caught casually gazing at her.

"The Subsect. It's called The Subsect." Jess cleared his throat. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Isabelle was always early. This time it was about fifteen minutes. "I'll have to remember that so that I can pick it up." Zoey said genuinely as she started to make her way to the door to reveal Isabelle, a slender brunette in a green dress.

"Ready to go?" Isabelle asked in a chipper tone after Zoey opened the door. Isabelle didn't squander the opportunity to look past her friend to the handsome guy in the apartment. "Yeah, I'm ready." Isabelle's eyebrows went up as if to say who's that. Zoey smiled and rolled her eyes before turning back to Jess. "Text me if you want to join us." Her grin was genuine as she looked into his eyes. Jess smirked back. "I'll be sure to do that." He responded, giving the girl a little goodbye wave before the apartment door closed.

That was the chapter. I hope that you all enjoyed it. Please don't forget to review so that I can see what you think and/or follow this story to see when it gets updated. I hope that all of you are having a fantastic day/night. xo