Chapter 13// Me and You, You and Her

“So how are things going with you and Jesse?”

Adam’s question takes me a little bit by surprise, and I look up from my milkshake, focusing in on his curious green orbs. “Oh,” I reply, “Um…good I guess? I mean, we’re pretty good friends now, and I’ve texted Rita’s group a little bit since our shopping trip. He’s happy.” I glance over at Heather when I say this- I know it’s been a while since we’ve hung out and I feel really bad about it- I just haven’t had the time. Since Jennifer’s physiotherapy visit the other day, I’ve been helping her with stretching and light exercise that Anne recommended. Alongside that, I’ve been doing ironing and cleaning and everything in between, preparing for the arrival of Jesse’s Dad in two days’ time. I want him to know how in control I’ve been, and just how hard I’ve been working to try and make it up to his family. If he’s angry at me for hurting his wife, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’m already working 24/7.

“Oh right? How was that shopping trip?” Heather asks, but there’s a little bit of an edge to her voice. Immediately, I’m hit with a pang of guilt. I haven’t meant to make her feel left out, I just haven’t had the time over summer break so far to do anything with her. I can understand why she might be hurt at the fact that I’ve been hanging out with Rita’s group. Seeing my guilty expression, Heather sighs in defeat. “Sorry, I’m just a little lonely is all. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.” Her head droops grumpily and she stares at her lap, flicking the straw of her milkshake.

“Hey,” I say, drawing her attention. “I promise we’ll do something soon, okay? I’m so busy at the moment, but I’ll try and get a day off or something.” I grab her arm and look her in the eyes, trying to show her how much I mean it. She nods, a small smile sprouting onto her lips. We’re all on our break from work at the moment, and some of our employees are working. In about two minutes however, I’m back on my shift. Shyly, I glance back the corner where Jesse’s group are sat, laughing. I’ve already realised that I’ll never truly belong there, despite my friendship with most of the people. I wasn’t there from the beginning, and they’ve all bonded. I’m just grateful that I’ve made the friendships I have done, even if I don’t really pursue them after Jennifer’s healed.

“So you still like him,” Heather analyses, and I turn back to face her in surprise. “Why haven’t you said something to him? Have you shown him how much better you are for him than she is?”

“Oh come on Heather,” I roll my eyes, “He’s made it incredibly clear to me that he likes Rita. I know my place, and I’ll get through it.” With hours of Taylor Swift and Ben&Jerry- I’m sure I can do it.

“Just go up to him, grab his dick and tell him you like him heaps,” Heather snorts, “I’m sure he’ll change his mind. If he freaks out then he’s probably gay.”

Adam shudders beside me, disregarding Heather’s comment. “You’re giving somebody the best of you, and he is choosing somebody else. It won’t stop hurting for ages, you know.” He warns me, his tongue piercing flashing as he bites his lip. “Trust me, I have experience. Are you sure you want to continue this little deal of yours?” His eyes flash over me, as if evaluating my strength and I instantly tilt my head a little higher. Why does nobody think I can handle myself in this situation? Everett, Heather, and Adam- they all think I’m too weak. Do I really appear that sensitive? Would I crumble that easily?

“I know what I’m doing Adam,” I assure him, smiling slightly. “I’ll be fine. If not, then I formally give you permission to say I told you so, and I appreciate the concern.” I glance up at the clock in the corner, slurping down the last of my milkshake. “My shift starts now. I’ll speak to you guys in a bit.” I stand up from my seat and throw my milkshake cup into the bin. Adam gives me a nifty little wave, but Heather says nothing: eyeing up the corner table again jealously.

“Lois!” I hear Jesse’s voice from the opposite side of the café and my head snaps to the side to see Jesse and some of the others beckoning me over. I shoot Heather an apologetic look, before making my way over to the group, still feeling slightly intimidated by their close relationships. However, I’ll be honest, I do feel pretty cool to be called over by the popular group. I must have made it in life. I think about this for a second, before grabbing the wipe from my pocket just in case. It would be so embarrassing now if they asked me to clean their table, and I thought they wanted to chat.

I finally reach the table and Sophie greets me with a friendly grin, assuring me that no, they don’t want to speak to me just because I’m a waitress. Even Rita cracks a smile, looking up from her phone to acknowledge me. Billie however, is too busy savouring her lunch to even acknowledge the people around her. Not that I blame her, honestly- that’s the story of my life.

Suddenly realising that it was Jesse that called me over, I edge myself over to him slowly. As I get closer to him, I lean down to wipe his table. It seems a bit stupid and embarrassing, but believe it or not I do have a job, and I can tell that my boss and my best friend are watching my every move right now. I need to make it look like I’m doing something useful, instead of standing around chatting. “What’s up?” I ask Jesse, glancing down at him. Surprisingly, I see he’s glancing awkwardly away, blushing. That’s when I realise what I’ve been doing. I’ve been leaning down beside him in a thin tank top, and that I may unintentionally have been flirting my non-existent assets.

Holy fricking marshmallows.

My cheeks flush red and I stand up straight immediately, pulling up my top to ensure it covers as much skin as it possibly can. It’s not like it’s a revealing top or anything, it’s just the angle was a little off. “Um, I mean, is there something I can help you with?” I mumble awkwardly.

“Not really,” Jesse shakes his head, snapping out of a little daze, and looks up at me with curious eyes. “I was just wondering who that guy is over there.” He gestures subtly towards Adam, his eyes scanning down my boss’s form, almost scrutinising. Adam is oblivious to the attention: serving two preteen girls at the counter. His hoodie is off now: exposing the tattoos on his arm. Jesse must be curious: he’s seen me speaking to a hot, tall man and miraculously I wasn’t stuttering like the awkward looney he knows I am. Of course he’d want to know who Adam is.

“Oh that’s Adam, my boss,” I say offhandedly. I begin to straighten the chairs of the nearby tables, but Jesse isn’t paying attention to me. His gaze is solely on Adam: weighing him up.

“You guys seem cosy,” He remarks, glancing back at me.

I bite my lip to restrain my smile. It might just be my fantasising, but it sounds like Jesse is a little off putted by Adam. I wouldn’t go so far as saying jealous, because it’s quite clear who he likes, but still. It kind of makes me tingle happily that he cares about the guys I’m talking to. “Not in that way,” I snort, “Adam’s only a friend, really. I’ve known him for a few years now, and he’s gay.” I say the words without hesitation. I know Adam wouldn’t mind me telling anyone about his sexuality: he’s very open and embracing of it. It makes me love him so much more.

“Oh,” Jesse realises, eyebrows shooting up. “Right.”

“So is that all you wanted me for?” I ask him, quirking an eyebrow up amusedly, tucking a chair in with my feet and scrubbing the last table nearby. “Or can I actually order you something?”

“Um, right,” Jesse breaks eye contact with me embarrassedly, and turns back to his group. “Guys do you want anything to order or not?” A few mumbled orders come up for milkshakes and cookies, and I note them obligingly down in my notepad before turning to leave, and get Adam to serve the table. As I turn away, Jesse subtly touches my arm. I think that’s his way of a silent thanks, and I accept it with a calm smile, although my skin tingles from the contact. Grudgingly I make my way towards the counter, to record their orders to Adam and grab a mop. I’ll go back to Jesse’s table in my next break- I can wait until then, at least.

<><><><><> 

“Hey Lois.”

I look up from my steady gaze at the clock, and smile as I see Ben in front of me. Ben, adorable best friend of Jesse’s, who currently has his hands shoved in his back pockets and a small grin on his face. “Hey Ben,” I greet him happily, “How are you?” I lean over the counter, my gaze flitting back to the time anxiously. In approximately one minute, it’s the end of my shift. Heather has left already, so I can’t hang out with her, however Billie and the girls have made no secret of wanting me to ditch my job and talk to them instead. As soon as my shift is over- I can do that. Apparently they have something to ask me, but it doesn’t sound like a bad thing: I’m pretty excited actually.

“Pretty good thanks,” Ben shrugs, alerting me to his existence once again. “How are things with Jesse at the moment? I heard about the little deal you guys made.” My ears perk up at this news- Jesse told him about that? I’ve got to be careful here- I can’t complain about the plan in front of Jesse’s best friend. I shrug nonchalantly to Ben’s question, pretending to be much more interested in wiping the counter before me than talking to him.

“Jesse’s a good guy you know,” Ben mutters, surprising me. “He’s just a victim of unrequited love.”

I glance at the clock one last time and see that it’s the end of my shift now: I’m free to go. “What makes you say that?” I ask Ben casually, taking off my apron to hang it on the hook behind the cash register. Unrequited love? Please. I could teach Jesse tonnes about unrequited love. I follow Ben out from behind the desk and slowly we make our way towards the corner table. He shoves his hands into his pockets, raising his eyebrows at me.

“Jesse has been crushing on that girl for years, Lois. When he finally grew the balls to ask her out, they went out for a year before she broke his heart,” Ben’s voice lowers as we get nearer to the table: obviously he doesn’t want this conversation to be heard. “Ever since then, she’s been flitting around with loads of guys, and Jesse’s so hung up on her that he’s always there for her when they inevitably break her heart. He’s the cushion for the blow, which is torture for him.”

Huh. Jesse and I are actually pretty similar. I’m so hung up on him that I’ll be willing to improve his relationship with someone else just to spend time with him. He’s so hung up on her that he’s willing to torture himself being the one she cries to whenever she gets her heart broken. To be honest, I think we both sound pretty pathetic. I frown at the thought, and Ben just shrugs helplessly. We’re too close to the table now to say anything more on the topic though, so we split off slightly. Ben heads towards Jesse and a couple of the other boys (Everett has strangely disappeared), and I head towards Billie, Sophie and Rita.

“Hey,” I greet happily, “My shift is finally over.”

“Awesome,” Billie replies, “Now get your ass onto a seat. We need to talk to you.” She pulls a chair out beside her and I slide into it, slightly intimidated by the Cheshire cat grin on her face. I glance over at Rita and Sophie, and all look equally happy to see me. Well this is weird.

“So we’ve been talking,” Sophie glances at the other two girls, “And we were wondering if you wanted to come to a sleepover tonight at Billie’s house. It’s nothing special- just a group of girls messing around, but we figured it should be fun having you there too.” Sophie finishes with an award-winning smile, and I feel a warmth spreading in the pit of my stomach as I grin at the girls. I actually feel accepted: something I’d never expect to feel around the popular crowd. It actually sounds like fun having a sleepover with them, and it makes me feel bad that the only reason I spoke to them to begin with is because of Jesse.

“I’d love to!” I smile, “It sounds awesome. What time do you want me over?”

“About seven,” Billie replies, slumping back in her chair comfortably. “I’ll text you my address.”

“Now that all is settled,” Rita claps her hands, gesturing for our attention. “Have you guys heard? Will Lavish’s eighteenth birthday is coming up and apparently he’s having a huge garden party. We have to go!” Rita says excitedly, “You know how rich his family is- this party is going to be epic.” By this point I’m feeling a little queasy- I think if I was ever popular, one of the drawbacks would be the parties. I’m not fond of huge crowds, and I think I’d just find the whole party scene a little unbearable. If it’s anything like films I’ve watched- there’s loads of alcohol, heaps of naked and a whole lot of dancing. Doesn’t really sound like my ideal place to be.

“Isn’t Will Lavish the one that you went out with last year? The one that tried to get you to meet his parents after like two days together, and claimed to be ‘in love’ with you?” Billie reminds Rita pointedly, picking at her fingernails in distaste. “Sure, he sounds like heaps of fun.” The sarcasm laced into her voice is evident, however Rita tastefully chooses to ignore it.

“It’ll be amazing,” She dismisses, “I think we should go. His birthday is in a week- so plenty of time to get a killer outfit, methinks.”

“It sounds okay to me,” Sophie shrugs, “But we don’t even know it’s definitely going on yet.”

“I’ll make sure it goes on,” Rita replies confidently. “What do you think Billie? Lois?” Her steely grey eyes flicker between us pointedly- as if daring each of us to say no. I don’t know about Billie, but I’m not going to irritate her, so I shrug meekly.

Billie smirks a little. “I can’t go to parties, sorry. I turn into a giant pumpkin at midnight.”

Sophie and I chuckle, however Rita only raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“It’s sorted then,” She smiles smugly, “We’re going to the party. I’ll let Will know.”

<><><><><> 

“You’re going to Will Lavish’s party?” Jesse raises an eyebrow, seemingly surprised by my news. “I didn’t even realise he was having an eighteenth, although I guess Rita will somehow persuade him into it.” He shares a quick side glance with me. “As you know, Rita can be pretty persuasive.” The word slides off his tongue disgustedly, and he wrinkles his nose slightly- no doubt knowing just how Rita plans to ‘persuade’ her victim. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she’s actually a really fun, bouncy girl- and pretty smart, too. However I don’t want to even consider how many guys she’s been with.

“Will you go to the party?” I ask curiously, kicking an odd stone on the sidewalk. “Do you normally go to parties?” I glance up ahead, trying to act nonchalant as we walk up the alley together towards our street. When Jesse offered to walk home with me, of course I couldn’t decline.

“Not usually,” Jesse grunts, shrugging. “I mean, I’ll go to the odd one if it’s my friends or something, but I don’t drink or smoke or anything so I don’t see the point. It just messes up my training.” I raise my eyebrows as I hear this- I was expecting Jesse to be a party animal seeing as he’s so popular. Never would I have imagined that one of the schools ‘It’ boys didn’t drink, although I guess it makes sense. Jesse is all about his exercise, after all. Jesse thinks for a second, before turning to me. “Will you go? Do you normally go to these parties?”

“Nope but I’m going to this one,” I pop my lips. “I think it’s about time I lose my party virginity.”

“Party virginity?” Jesse smirks, raising one eyebrow.

“Is there a problem?” I tease innocently, and Jesse laughs- shaking his head so that his hair ruffles slightly. This guy could blink at me and I think I would melt. Of course, I prefer to think of the term as ‘winking at me with two eyes at the same time’.Sounds much more romantic, am I right?

“You act like you’re about twelve sometimes,” Jesse grins. He catches my eye and hurriedly adds on a second part to his sentence. “In a good way, obviously.”

My cheeks warm slightly and I wink at him playfully. “Of course it’s in a good way. You mean on a scale of one to ten, right?” Afterwards, it takes all of my effort not to pat myself on the back for successfully delivering a good comeback. I mean, I can’t take credit for the comeback itself seeing as it’s something Heather said to me a while back, but still. I think, considering how shy and awkward I can be around Jesse, to actually retort to something he said is quite a big achievement. Its fine: I’ll only be smug about it for at least a few more weeks. No big deal, is it?

“Ooh, Lois has sass,” Jesse smirks. My cheeks flush and I grin cheekily. I’m still a little nervous around Jesse, because he’s my crush and I want to impress him, but I’m a lot more comfortable than I used to be. Take our first proper encounter for example- when it took me about ten minutes to prepare to actually take his order, and when I actually did I blurted out some random crap about donuts. If you think you’re awkward, you have obviously not seen the dictionary definition of the word, because all you will see there is a photo of me smiling awkwardly back at you. Awkward.

We turn out of the alley onto our suburban street. A dim orange hue settles on our surroundings, the sun setting gradually in the distance. “I think this is my favorite time of day,” I murmur to Jesse, closing my eyes slightly and embracing the slightly chillier wind. “It’s warm, but with a cool breeze, and the sky is so pretty.” The smile on my lips drops in realization, and my eyes spring open. That was so weird- he’s going to think I’m so freaky, now! Strangely, however, when I turn to the side, Jesse isn’t looking at me like I’m a crazy person. He’s smiling at me.

My heart flutters.

“I prefer midnight,” Jesse counters, eventually glancing away. “Midnight swims are the best thing to have ever existed. Midnight snacks, too. Everything awesome comes at midnight.”

“I see your point,” I nod, “However I don’t think midnight snacks are that special. I mean, I eat snacks all day round. I don’t see why I’d need to wait until midnight to have a pizza roll.” Jesse rolls his eyes and chuckles at my statement- clearly not realizing that I was being completely serious. We reach the white gate of my house, and Jesse pauses, shoving his hands in his pockets and glancing down at the sidewalk. My hand lingers on the wood of my gate, until eventually Jesse musters up words.

“Have fun at the sleepover tonight,” He smirks, “And text me, yeah?”

“Okay,” I nod, attempting to restrain the full blown grin about to explode on my face. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jesse.” My cheeks burn a little, and I wave my fingers at him awkwardly. “Later Alligator.” Instantly I regret my words though, and the urge to face palm is unbearable. Why am I so awkward and weird around him constantly?

An amused smirk morphs itself onto Jesse’s lips. “In a while crocodile.”

Then he salutes me, shoves his hands back into his pockets and walks away, leaving me stood there gaping after him like a love struck teenager. Which I am. I always think I’ve embarrassed myself in front of him, but then he says something that makes me feel okay again. Is that a crush effect, or just a Jesse effect? I stare after him for a longing few seconds, before sighing and opening the gate.

<><><><><> 

“Tammy, where is my perfume?” I barge into Tammy’s room, not bothering to knock, with my tone seething. That thieving little brat has done it again: she’s stolen yet another item from my room. She already rifles through my makeup, and clothes. Now she’s gone the whole hog and stolen the perfume that my Dad got me for my seventeenth birthday. She knows how much that perfume means to me: I don’t see my Daddy that often. Dad is downstairs at the moment, home from another business trip for a couple of weeks. If he knows that Tammy’s taken my perfume, he’ll be furious, I’m sure of it.

Tammy is lounged carelessly across her bed, watching videos on her iPad. She doesn’t even glance up when I storm in. “On the windowsill,” She sighs, irritated, as though I’m the one that’s being an inconvenience to her. If it’s possible, I seethe even more than before. I grab the expensive perfume from the windowsill, and glare icily at Tammy.

“I mean it Tammy. Steal my stuff again and I will personally throw you into a shark pond while you’re on your period.”

Tammy raises an arrogant eyebrow. It takes every urge not to slap her cocky, smug face, and I’m not usually a violent person. At least, not until it comes to my little sister. “Don’t do it again,” I hiss, before waltzing out of her bedroom. I go to slam the door, but realise that I’ll do something so much more irritating instead, and leave the door wide open so that she has to shut it herself. The people that leave my door open are in my opinion, the worst kind of people, but I think Tammy deserves a little karma. I leave the door open, ignoring Tammy’s angry groaning.

“What have you done to wake the she-devil now?” Everett asks me, raising an eyebrow at the noise emitting from Tammy’s room. He was on his way to his own bedroom, but he winces at the angry shrieks, which makes me believe that maybe he’s changed his mind. Everett has the short straw of having a room next to Tammy’s.

“I left her door open because she stole my perfume.” I reply smugly, and he smirks.

“Hey,” He leans against the wall, eyes narrowing curiously. “Is it true that you’re going to Billie’s sleepover tonight? Ben mentioned it a little bit earlier. You actually want to go, or is this part of a plan to get Jesse his crush again?” The way he says the last part of his sentence is somewhat scornful, looking down on Jesse’s plan. I cross my arms, feeling slightly defensive.

“I want to go,” I retort, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to pack.”

“I don’t like you hanging out with my friends,” Everett whines, stopping me. “It’s weird.”

“Oh c’mon,” I scoff, “Like you wouldn’t hang out with Heather if you could. You think she’s so hot, remember?” By the time I’ve finished my sentence, Everett has flooded beetroot red. He coughs and shakes his head as though I’m stupid to even think that, but all of a sudden he’s a lot more eager to leave me to my packing: scurrying off before I can say even one more word to him.

Huh, that’s weird. I narrow my eyes, but I haven’t got time to fully register Everett’s actions. It’s half six, and I have a sleepover to be at in half an hour.

Time to get ready.

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