Stepping Stones

Jessie

I grabbed Lindsey by the arm and scowled at her. She giggled hysterically as I dragged her away from the bakery section.

"Did you find the wine?" Lindsey asked crossing her arms over her chest,

"I think you've both had enough to drink, don't you?" The girl spoke up, I jumped slightly, forgetting that she was there.

"Who is this?" Lindsey snapped, pointing rudely at my new friend. I tried to answer but my mouth snapped shut. I didn't know the answer.

"My name is Jessie" She extended her arm, first to Lindsey and then to me, "Do you two live far away?"

"It's a 10 minute walk, ish."

"Right let's go then," Jessie ordered, pushing my gently out of the shop,

"We don't need a chauffeur" Lindsey scoffed, stalking off in front of us. She could have looked cool, of course, if her legs hadn't given way at that point. She fell in a puddle on the floor, spread out like a star fish, cackling hysterically to herself. Jessie rolled her eyes and laughed at her, ditching her basket she helped Lindsey to help feet and Lindsey buried her face in Jessie's chest as we walked out of the shop together. I couldn't have but feel a pang of jealously that it wasn't my shoulder Jessie's arm was wrapped around.

We followed Jessie down into the car park and she herded us towards a shiny black Porsche.

"Who's a little posh girl then?" Lindsey mocked, "The Essex accent had me fooled for a second"

Jessie rolled her eyes at Lindsey and swung the door open for her, "You can get in the back" she stated, pulling a sarcastic smile. Lindsey scoffed childishly and tumbled into the backseat. Jessie smirked at me and helped me as I fell heavily into the front seat, she held onto my hand a little too long.

Jessie drove like a mad man down the road and I could hear Lindsey giggling in the backseat as she was flung violently between each window. I did tell her to put her seat belt on.

"Just here" I squeaked sadly, Jessie pulled over just outside the door to our building and switched the ending off,
"Do you want to come up for a bit or?" I expected the answer to be no seeing as the clock was ticking dangerously around to midnight.

"Yeah sure" Jessie smiled, swinging her door open, I followed her out and we each took a side of Lindsey, who was slowly losing conciousness, and dragged her up the stairs, "How much has she had to drink?" Jessie laughed,

"No a lot" I shrugged, "Her tolerance has never been great ever since we were kids"

"I can drink loads" Lindsey slurred, elongating the "s" sound like a snake, "the wine was just really strong"

"Whatever you say darling," I sighed, jutting my hip out and clawing my keys out my pocket. The door fell open and we staggered in heavily. I took Lindsey off of Jessie and led her into her bedroom, mentally scolding myself for not getting her to make her bed earlier.

I made my way back into the living room once Lindsey was out for the night to find Jessie sat awkwardly on the sofa tapping away at her phone.

"Do you want a drink or anything?" I spoke up, making her drunk,

"What have you got?" She asked,

I pursed my lips and scratched the back of my neck awkwardly, "Water?"

Jessie laughed and followed me into the kitchen. She sat the work surface and pushed a box out of the way of her face, "when did you move in?"

"Today, so sorry about the boxes" I poured her a glass of water and kicked the box labelled "Baking stuff" out of the way so I could sit down next to her.

"What do you do then Beth?" Jessie asked, taking a sip of her drink,

"I'm a teacher" I smiled, fiddling with the sunglasses she'd taken off her face, I ran my thumb over the Gucci stamp on the arm.

"Seriously?" Jessie exclaimed, "What do you teach?"

"PE"

"You look like a PE teacher" Jessie murmured, her eyes travelling up and down my body.

"I'm not really sure how to take that" I laughed, hopping off the stool as my cheeks flushed scarlet red.

"It's a compliment, really" She assured me, "aren't you going to ask me what I do?"

"I know what you do" I smirked at her,

"What?" The chair scraped back noisily,

"I'm an avid listener of Capital FM. I say avid, I mean it's stuck on in the office all day but anyway, you've heard that new song by Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and oh god what's the other one's name?" I mocked, leaning against the cabinets.

"Very funny" Jessie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest,

"I didn't know celebrities were nocturnal" I mused, pulling more things out of boxes and finding places of them around the room.

"I'm still on LA time" She groaned rubbing her eyes sleepily, "I've only been back 3 hours"

"Seriously? You've been back in the country 3 hours and instead of having a Netflix sesh, you decided to go food shopping?"

"I have a few days before I'm off again. I wanted to do some cooking" she whined, sticking out her bottom lip,

"You're nuts" I yawned loudly, stretching my arms out and my blinks started to become slower and heavier.

"And you're tired" Jessie laughed, collecting her things up. She hopped off the stool and stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"How far away are you? You can stay here if you want?" I offered,

"Don't worry, honestly. It will take you the same amount of time to find me some bedding as it will for me to drive home" She smirked, looking around at the sea of boxes that made up my home.

"Okay" I squeaked, leading her towards the door.

She chuckled at me as I reached for the latch, "Are you going to give me your number or not?"

I let out a small laugh, she was certainly very forward.

"Are you asking me out on a date Miss Cornish?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, "I don't like how you know my surname already, I know nothing about you"

I smirked at her, "I like to keep a sense of mystery about me. It makes for a more exciting chase"

Jessie raised her eyebrows at me but said nothing. She pulled out her phone and handed it to me. I smiled and quickly tapped my number it, my stomach doing funny flips as I handed it back to her.

"It was nice to meet you, Beth" Jessie smiled, "Hopefully Lindsey will remember me tomorrow morning"

"Ditto" I laughed, pulling her into hug, "I'll tell her all about you don't worry"

"Should I be worried or?"

"Get out" I giggled at her, opening the door and watching her disappear down the stairs. When I could no longer see her I let the door see shut and I leant against it, my head spinning and my heart beat faster than it's ever done before. I fancy Jessie. The woman I met 2 hours ago.

Well today hasn't gone exactly to plan.