Star Crossed No More (Sequel to Star Crossed Lovers) (girlxgirl)

Chapter 9

The unexpected knock on Jesse’s door slightly startled her. She was in the final stages of completing the draft, which she was going to present the following day to Global Designs. So far she was satisfied with the progress and hoped Billy would approve of the plans.

She was at home. After working all through Saturday and most of Sunday, she had just taken a long relaxing bath and put on some comfortable clothes.

She was wearing a pair of blue faded denim shorts that exposed her legs from her thighs down, and a light flowery blouse because of the warm evening weather. The only part she enjoyed about staying indoors was her freedom with her wardrobe. If it was up to her, she would have even walked around the house naked. After all, she lived alone.

She had just poured herself a glass of wine when the second knock came. The only person who liked to show up unexpected was Fred and she was not in the mood to entertain him. She went to open the door, ready to tell him off and froze in surprise, wishing she had ignored it because the person on the opposite side of her door had just been about to give up and leave.

“I thought you were not home,” Alex said.

Jesse’s heart started pounding when their gazes met. Alex was in a plain white vest and a pair of tight fitting jeans. She held a leather jacket in one hand while the other hand lazily combed its way through her golden-colored hair, which seemed shorter. The woman was sexy.

“Would you like to-,” wait, was she drunk? “Have you been drinking?” she asked.

“A little bit. I’ve had a bit of a… rough week,” Alex said, her lips curving up in a one sided smile.

“Would you like to come in?” Jesse asked.

Her heart painfully twisted at the image of Alex drinking. She didn’t have to ask to know why. She assumed Alex’s recently concluded friendship with her best friend and the realization that she had a broken heart to deal with was the reason why and Jesse’s contribution to it had her feeling guilty so she invited Alex in.

“I’ll get you a glass of water.” She headed to the kitchen and left Alex at the door to let herself in.

She got a bottle of water from the fridge and headed back to find Alex standing at the door. She didn’t know what to say since their last conversation had not ended on a pleasant note and wasn’t quite sure why Alex was there.

“Thank you,” she said when Jesse handed her the water, placed her jacket on the couch and sat on the armrest.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

Alex slowly opened the bottle of water, all the while avoiding visual contact. She appeared sad and broken and Jesse would not have blamed her if she was resentful. If she hadn’t come back, if none of these would have happened, all that pain and anguish would have been avoided.

At the thought, she recalled their memories with fondness. She was still convinced that had she been forced to make a choice, Alex would have been the one for her. It was a selfish thought, but the truth was Alex still intrigued her.

While Billy commanded a physical response from her, Alex seemed to touch more intensely on her emotions. Her deepest, earnest emotions and it confused her. She had gotten to know Alex better than she had Billy and they’d had a deeper connection based on more than their physical attraction towards one another.

In contrast, she had been sexually attracted to Billy but apart from that, neither one of them had ever taken the approach to get to know one another. Most of what Jesse knew about her was based on what Billy’s friends had shared with her.