Live and Breathe Words ~ Wessa

Part 7- To Love Not Wisely, But Entirely

"He was Will, in all his perfect imperfection; Will, who's heart was as easy to break as it was carefully guarded; Will, who loved not wisely, but entirely, and with everything he had."

I'm sorry if this chapter is a little confusing, if you have any questions, feel free to comment and I'll clarify. But basically we get to see the kiss with Jessamine from Will's POV and get their backstory. Hope you enjoy!

Will knew he had fucked up. Bad.

A wave of memories washed over him as he recalled the day he had met Jessamine, recalled the day he had agreed to go out with her.

*****

Jem was visiting his family in Shanghai for an extended period of time, leaving Will lonely and depressed without his best friend. He had taken to frequenting parties in a futile attempt to distract himself, and had coincidentally encountered Jessamine Lovelavce at one such party. She had stumbled over Will, clearly intoxicated, and had spilled a vile looking brown beverage on his book that he had been reading silently in the corner, being the social person he is. After making small talk with her—unable to continue reading due to the fact that his book was sopping wet and stained brown—he came to the assumption that her cheerful and bubbly personality was just the distraction he needed until Jem came back. It had been a casual fling, and they hadn't done anything—to be honest, Will had simply wanted someone to talk to.

After not even a week he dumped Jessamine, quickly coming to the realization that she was a self-absorbed, manipulative bitch who didn't care about Will in the slightest—all she wanted was to have him at her side so she could brag to her friends that she was dating the famous Will Herondale. They hadn't even truly been dating for gods sake.

The last time he had seen her she had been a sobbing, inconsolable mess—unable to conceive why he would want to break up with her—but he hadn't seen her since that day nearly a year ago. Frankly, he had almost forgotten about her.

*****

So when Jessamine Lovelace had appeared and kissed Will in the library that afternoon, it was fair to say he had been nothing less than dumbfounded.

He had been nervously waiting for Tessa to arrive for their shift, his eyes glancing every so often to the double doors as he leaned against the front desk—appearing composed and indifferent to passerbyers, but an emotional trainwreck inside. He had worked up the resolve to ask Tessa out sometime the previous evening, and had been edgy and restless ever since. He unconsciously wrung his hands as he ran his planned speech over and over again in his mind, trying to ignore the nervous butterflies fluttering in his stomach.

He heard the creaking of the library doors and had closed his eyes to take a deep breath to calm his nerves. But when he opened them, he had frozen in shock to see a familiar blonde girl in his arms, kissing him forcefully before he could even register her presence. His mind completely blanked, and he was stunned into a state of paralysis, even as she pressed herself against him and tangled her fingers in his hair.

One moment he had been anxiously waiting for Tessa and now...

A loud crashing noise sounded, finally snapping him out of his shocked stupor and bringing him to his senses; he had aggressively broken away from the kiss and dumped Jessamine on the floor as his brain caught up with his actions and he realized what had happened.

As he found Tessa staring up at him from the floor, a hurt expression twisting over her features, an awful feeling began to settle in the pit of Will's stomach. He knew the kiss with Jessamine had lasted no longer than twenty seconds, but when Tessa had coldly addressed him—giving him a frosty glare that basically said she was indifferent to whether he lived or died—Will knew, with absolute clarity, that he had ruined everything. And he hated himself for it.

                                                                                                                                                         -----------

Tessa rested her fingertips on the cool wood of the double doors to the library, unable to help herself from remembering the events that had unfolded the last time she had been in this exact situation, almost precisely twenty-four hours ago. The image of Will tangled up in the other girl flashed across the blank canvas in her mind—permanently branded into her memory—and an involuntary shudder wracked her limbs. Her thoughts suddenly flashed back to yesterday's shift, the memory flooding her senses as she was transported into the experience.

***
After Will had stalked away to the back of the library, Tessa busied herself with attending to the library affairs—checking out books, referring individuals to sections that might interest them, organizing papers—the work keeping her mind off Will. But, almost like clockwork, the library emptied halfway through their shift, just as it had Friday night, leaving Tessa and Will alone once again. Will had not made an appearance, although she would hear the occasional soft footsteps or rustling of pages to alert her that he was still there. With nothing left to do except wait out the hours until closing time, Tessa propped her feet up on the desk and pulled out a book, becoming immersed in the paper world at once.

Five minutes before the official end of their shift, Tessa closed her book, folding over the corner of the page to mark her spot, and slipped into the London night without a word.

***

Tessa shook her head, snapping herself out of her reverie, and braced herself as she pushed open the door to the library.

Ok, I'm just going to be honest, I'm going to be really busy for the next two weeks or so with school, and I probably won't be able to update as frequently. This is only temporary and I'M SO SORRY please forgive me. I'll try to update though as often as I'm able.
Also, my plans for the rest of the book are kind of loose, so if there is something in particular you want to see happen, I can try and include it :)
Thanks everyone for reading you're the besttttt