Author Note – Hi, Ive made a couple of fixes to this chapter , and the next one should be up very soon as well!

Chapter 2

A few days earlier

Jackie Burkhart had travelled to England a couple of weeks ago for a summer fashion show in Central London.

Her designs had been selected by one of the big labels in the Industry and a couple of her ideas were actually being used by them that week. If the designs received good press, there was a possible internship offer for her with them.

She couldn't have been more excited at the possibility right then. She would be graduating in less than a year and it felt like the world was her oyster after that.

A couple of her other classmates had travelled along with her as well. Being able to do all the touristy stuff in London and enjoy the unusually hot summer that year was a bonus to the working trip.

It was still the early hours of the morning that day and Jackie was lying in bed, still asleep.

She was dreaming & it was one of those early morning dreams where a part of her knew that it wasn't real even while she was in the dream but she didn't want to wake up and have it end.

Jackie was in her room at home in Point Place. There were still weeks to go before summer ended and school opened. She hadn't stirred anywhere outside her home for the past three days. Her parents had fought again a couple of days ago and this time her mother had seemed to take it really badly. She had wanted Jackie by her side constantly and Jackie had complied. She wanted to do whatever she possibly could to help her parents stay together and sort out their differences.

Three whole days without seeing Eric had been really hard though. They had only been dating a short while, only a couple of months really, but she found herself missing him whenever she wasn't with him.

Her mother was better that afternoon and had disappeared into her room for a nap hours ago. Jackie wondered if she could make a short trip to his basement that evening. They had a date on Saturday evening but that was still days away.

It was right then that she heard the familiar sound of the Vista Cruiser pull up outside her window.

She was at her front door in a second and saw Eric getting out of the car.

She was surprised he had come over and walked up to him quickly.

He spoke first, 'Jackie, I haven't seen you in days, Is everything alright?'

She hooked her arms around his neck and smiled at him. 'Yeah, of course I'm okay. Mom wasn't doing well and she needed me at home. She's okay now.'

She saw the relief on his face, had he worried about her?

She continued. 'Eric, I'm sorry I didn't call or something. I didn't think you would expect to see me before our date on Saturday.'

'Jackie, you didn't come by for three whole days. I thought you were mad at me or something…' He was looking down at her like he still wasn't convinced that she hadn't been upset with him about something.

Her smile widened a little. Why would he think that? It had never even occurred to her that he might assume that.

She leaned over and pressed her lips against his cheek. 'I should have called. I'm sorry.

He turned his head suddenly and their lips met. It was the sweetest kiss she had ever received. She deepened the kiss, pressing herself against him. They were on the street outside her house but for a few minutes she let herself forget that.

They had agreed to take things really slow but she hadn't been able to stop all the crazy fantasies she kept having all the time. She wondered if he had them too. Should she ask him? Her heart thudded as she wondered what his answer might be ….

Would he be embarrassed that she had asked such a brazen question or did guys not mind so much? Would he tell her about one of his fantasies? She wondered if it would be something sweet or something wild or …something that was both …

She could feel her blood heat as the kiss continued and her thoughts were in a delicious state of chaos.

'Jackie! Wake up! Are you alright?' The deep voice calling out to her definitely wasn't Eric. She felt almost like crying at being yanked so abruptly out of her dream.

Her bedside alarm clock had apparently been shrieking for the past few minutes and disturbed the others in the apartment as well.

She leaned over and switched it off.

'Jackie' Pier's voice had softened now. 'Can I come in for a minute? Are you okay?'

What? Why did he want to come in? She sat up quickly trying to focus on getting her mind awake. She pulled the sheet quickly to her chin when she remembered that she had gone to sleep clad only in her bra and panties.

The weather had been really sultry the previous night.

'No!' She called out. 'I mean, uh, please give me a few minutes and I'll be out. I'm fine …I just overslept.'

10 minutes later she walked out and joined Pier at the breakfast table in the sunny kitchen. She poured herself some juice and gave him an apologetic smile.

'Sorry. The alarm must have annoyed everyone.'

There were 5 of them staying in the Corporate Service apartment for the week. They had a week more to go before they flew back to Paris.

Pier shrugged with a half smile. 'The others left an hour ago. So, I was the only one around who heard it.' Like most Parisians, he spoke perfect English but with noticeable French accent.

He continued speaking 'So, the others have decided to enjoy the day off and take a look at the museums. Do you want to do one of those Thames Boat cruises, Jacqueline? It's the perfect weather for it today.'

She looked down at her glass of juice. What could she say? Was it supposed to be a sort of a date given that it was only going to be the two of them? A part of her wanted to move on and she hadn't really dated anyone through all the 3 years at college so far.

But could she do it? Date one of her college friends while her subconscious mind continued to dream away about someone else, someone who it wasn't supposed to be thinking that way about…..

She still needed more time. All these years and it hadn't been enough to get over the 'crush' she still had on Eric.

'Thanks Pier. That does sound like fun but I promised to drop in at the Canary Wharf office and help out today with the preparations for Monday.'

He accepted gracefully with another shrug. 'Maybe later this week.'

She was still thinking about his invitation later that morning. 5 years had passed since that fateful summer and that was way too long to harbour a futile crush. She was almost 21 now and it was time to move on, she told herself.

She took the underground tube to commute the short distance over to the East side of the city.

As she reached the office, her thoughts suddenly wandered over to how long it had been since she had last spoken to Donna.

She hadn't even called her once best friend to ask about the wedding plans and offer to help.

As she entered the plush new offices of the Fashion house that she hoped to be working for full time soon, she resolved to call up Donna later that week. And she would also shop for the wedding gift that week too, she decided. Perhaps some lovely artwork that the newlyweds could use in their brand new apartment after the wedding.

Author note - Sorry, I know this was short and didn't really move the story forward much. But hope you liked it anyway. And I promise that chapter 3 will be up sooner than this one was. Thanks again for reading.