Jessica's Fate

Chapter 100

"I'll miss you too. We can still talk."

"It won't quite be the same." I took a sip of tea. "But I like that. Maybe we should always talk on Wednesday nights."

He smiled. "That's an excellent idea. We'll make that our plan. I will definitely want to keep taps on my little birdie."

I squinted at him for a moment. "Tabs. You want to keep tabs on me, not taps."

He shrugged and grinned. "Same."

I laughed and we talked about what was going on in his family for a while before he had to leave. But not before I'd loaded him up with several containers of leftover food to take home. And not before he'd hugged me in a bone crushing hug. Well, if I hadn't grown up with guys, it may have been bone crushing. It was just a good hug that reassured me he would always do his best to have my back.

I studied my reflection in the mirror. My hunter green formal dress fit like a glove. I smoothed the fabric over my hips and tilted my head, observing how I looked. It wasn't as low cut in the back as some of my other dresses but the straps criss crossed over my shoulder blades before crossing again at the base of my neck. The square shaped cut out was revealing quite a bit of cleavage but you know, I didn't mind one bit.

I'm absolutely positive that Josh won't mind either.

I'd gone ahead and employed a bit of double stick tape strategically just to make sure everything stayed where it was supposed to. I was wearing my stiletto heels and had gone with a very dark, smokey eye, as per Gabriel's instruction. My eyes looked much greener than usual.

It was likely the shade of the dress enhancing them but still. I'd done a good job with my make up.

A pair of chandelier earrings and my hair down, gently curled but parted on one side to allow me to keep half of it over my shoulder while the other half fell in front of my shoulder and framed my face nicely.

I tucked my lipstick and my phone into a black clutch purse before I headed downstairs, hearing the car door slam and figuring it wasn't going to be long before my Mom opened the front door to let Josh in to wait for me.

"Jessica, baby, Josh is here." Mom called up the stairs. "And I swear, I don't know how you keep finding these hotties that look amazing dressed up."

"Luck." I called down to her. "And watch it, that's my boyfriend. It's creepy when my mom calls him a hottie."

She laughed and I heard the door open. "Josh, you look wonderful. Come on in, she'll be right down."

"Thanks, Erica."

I heard him kiss her cheek as I made my way carefully down the stairs in my heels. No sense in breaking my neck tonight. On second thought, there's never any sense in breaking my neck, these shoes should probably live downstairs because then I'd just put them on when I safely got down the stairs. "Hi." I smiled when his head jerked up to look at me.

His jaw dropped and he blinked. "You're amazingly beautiful." He finally murmured.

"Thank you." I stepped closer to him. "I seem to have misplaced my hot stalker cop. You're looking like a movie star on his way to the Oscars." I tilted my face up and smiled at him.

He laughed before stepping another step closer and lowering his face to mine. "You look like you should be on a red carpet yourself." He said before kissing me.

Mom cleared her throat. "You guys don't want to be late... you know... man of the hour and all." She said, her tone of voice sounding awkward.

I felt my cheeks heat up with a rush of color. "Right." I pressed my lips together and stepped back from him. "Thanks, Mom."