Courage

Chapter 18. I'm coming for you

Jen's POV

I checked once more: All my documents were in my wallet, I had two books I had just bought, and my headphones. That's all I need to travel. Well, that's pretty much all I need in my life.

I have found a great shelter in reading. The books have a special magic that has trapped me.
Books are my favorite hobby now that I'm a free person.

I sighed.

In less than two hours my plane leaves New York.

I'll see Eric again.

Rose will be there for a couple of days, so I can see her too. Is not that great? I've missed her so much.
I can't wait to see his face when I tell her about Eric.
But... I also have to tell her about Colin.

And that's the worst part because I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it. But I need to do it.
I tried not to think about it all these days but it was impossible.

But if I want to move on, ready or not, I have to face my fears.

So yes, talking to a friend is always very helpful.

I took a deep breath before walking toward the anxiouslycrowd waiting to board the plane.

I was traveling in first class, so I was one of the first people to board the plane.

I sat down, took my headphones out of my wallet and placed them in my ears.
Classical music. With music you can shut out the world, don't you think?
I opened my book and started reading.

After reading only 3 chapters, I fell asleep.

I woke up in New York.

***

After taking a long bath, I wrapped myself in a white towel and walked around the room, watching everything around me.

My room is on the 9th floor, the view from here is amazing.

Here I am.

New York again.

Jamie and Rose are here too.

Eric is here.

I'm going to see him tomorrow night, that will give me time to talk to Rose first.
As I said, this is my chance to do things right. Now that I have free time, I have no excuses at all.
I can finally date someone I really like.

Now I have time for myself.

And I'm not going to waste that, because this time I want to risk it; I want to try it no matter what happens.

I'm tired of being a coward.

It's now or never, Jennifer.

***

I woke up for some noise outside the room. I turned to stretch my muscles. God, I had slept wonderfully.

I stood up and walked to the window.

Rainy day in New York. Great.

I checked the time on my phone.

11 am

Oh my God, I've slept 13 hours! Well, I guess my body needed to rest.

I had 5 missed calls from Rose.

Sh*t! I had forgotten that I would see her for lunch.

I called her.

"Jen! I've been calling you, I was starting to worry ," Rose said.

"Nothing to worry about, I just fell asleep. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I can go now to the hotel if you want."

"I just need 15 minutes to take a shower"

"I'll be there in 30 minutes."

I smiled. Rose is one of my best friends and it's always nice to see her.

I took a quick shower and decided to have a cup of coffee while I waited for my friend.

I looked out the window again. In a few minutes we will have a storm, the sky was completely gray.
I love the rain. It is the best plan to be inside your house with someone, looking at netflix for example, or doing other kinds of interesting things.

The sound of my phone brought me back to reality. My thoughts were becoming a bit weird.

I received a text from Rose.

I'm in the lobby.

I took the elevator, I still had not finished my coffee.

When the doors opened, I saw Rose but she did not see me because she was on her back. I ran to her and hugged her from behind.
She screamed at the surprise.

"Hey! You scared the hell out of me," Rose said pushing me aside. She pretended to be angry with me for a few seconds.

"I missed you, little girl."

Rose could not help laughing.

"I missed you too, Mozza!"

We sat on comfortable couch which was at the end of an extensive hallway. No one could interrupt us here.

"So what's new?" Rose asked me innocently. She knows me as a family, she knows there's something new in my life.

"I don't know where to start."

"From the beginning," She said, folding her arms. "And I want you to tell me everything, do you understand? I know you, Jennifer Marie."

"I may have met someone..."

Rose's eyes widened in surprise. I could not help laughing at his reaction.

"For God's sake, Jen!"

"He's very kind, I really like him."

"I bet. Yeah..." Rose turned completely to me. "Tell me everything in detail."

"What do you want to know?"

"The whole story, please." Rose was really excited.

"His name is Eric, and he is an architect," I said slowly, I wanted to see Rose's reactions as I told her about Eric.

"He's a friend of Jamie's boyfriend, in fact, she was the one who insisted on introducing me to Eric."

Rose was attentive to every detail of our conversation.

"One night we went to dinner all four, it was fun. Jamie had to work early in the morning, so..."
I made a little pause in my story, Rose was listening to every word I was saying intently. I must say that his expression on his face was very funny.

"So what?" She was starting to get nervous right now.

I laughed.

"Sorry, you should see your face, it's very funny."

"This is the face of someone who has been waiting to hear this for years," Rose said raising the index finger of her right hand.

"Ok, I understand. I will continue the story..."

Rose nodded.

"We were alone, we talked, we walked the streets in the middle of the night, and then he insisted on accompanying me to the hotel."

I ran my hand through my hair before continuing. "And we kissed. Well, actually I kissed him."

"This is great!"

"There is more," I said raising an eyebrow.

Rose could barely contain her excitement.

I took a deep breath, could not wait to see her reaction. "I spent the night with him the night before my flight back to Vancouver."

Rose stood up and began to make small jumps because of her excitement.

But after a few seconds her face changed completely. "Wait! What about Colin?"