I find Stella wearing a tan, flat-rimmed hat with tortoiseshell sunglasses scanning the menu when I drop into the navy velvet chair across from her. We're shaded by a massive yellow and white striped umbrella, but the bougie restaurant already has the misters on to help keep us cool. Since the majority of my clothes were stolen, I had to settle for one of Jack's old ASU lacrosse tees paired with my new jean shorts he got me from Target. I am looking college lazy at this instagramable brunch spot while she is looking Scottsdale chic.
"What is this ensemble?" She asks as she waves a finger at me. "I know it's March Madness, but that looks like a man's oversized shirt on you."
"That's because it is a man's oversized shirt," I tell her as I glance down.
"I thought you're supposed to go for slutty at Mag's, not pajama fabulous," she says before plucking her water goblet off the table.
"Stella, I have two days worth of events to get through. My lack of style will all make sense in a bit," I tell her before seeing what their brunch cocktails are. It's been very hard to keep all this from Stella, but there was no way I could have explained all of this over text. She also just checks out her face and flips her hair about when we facetime, so in person with her undivided attention was the best approach to lay this all out there.
"Yes, you have been rather vague with me since your S.O.S on Friday. My lack of paragraph length texts when I got back from Seattle was worrying," she says and then looks to the waitress who had suddenly appeared. "I'll do a peach bellini please." I glance in her direction and tell her to make it two. After she saunters off, Stella puts her menu down and adjusts her hat over her long curls.
"Alright hun, I am ready for you to spill the beans on Jack, your outfit and why I did not see a video notification from you yesterday after you said there would be one," she says with a tilt of her head. I lay my hands flat on the table, wishing I had alcohol before starting the lengthy explanation of how my life has been turned upside down since she left.
"Stella, I really do not know if you are prepared for all the bombshells I am about to lay on you."
"How has so much happened in the two days I have been gone?"
"I know, I don't even know where to start."
"Well last I talked to you, you were going to confront Jack about him wanting to kiss you, but then not kissing you when you gave him the opportunity."
"I'm not going to lie, Stella, pretty much all the bombshells are going to be Jack-related."
"I expected nothing else. Please proceed," she says before taking the straw that's dipped in the ice water and placing it between her peach lips. I take a deep breath and fill her in on everything that happened at Mag's with Maggie and Jack, what Ashleigh told me about Blake, how my studio was broken into, and how Jack came to my rescue. I then tell her how Jack confessed his love for me and told me to move in. How he took me on a shopping spree at Target. How I am taking him home to meet my parents and how I am trying to keep our relationship under wraps until I fill them in. While I was going over every detail, our drinks were dropped off, and we managed to suck them both down. We were already halfway done with drink number two when I got to the burglary. I was anxiously waiting for our food to be dropped off because I'm now more than buzzed.
"Lucy...I..." she starts after dropping her drink onto the table. "This was like four seasons of a romantic comedy that has happened over two days. I have so many questions."
"Yes, my life could be a Netflix show right now Stel. I might not have any answers, but please proceed." Although I don't know if my show would be categorized as a romcom, dramedy or traumedy.
She sits there with her mouth slightly open, processing everything I just told her. Her head is also slightly shaking and her gaze is above my head. She finally snaps her mouth shut before saying, "Is it a good idea for you to be living with Jack? This is a lot all at once. He's never lived with a girl, let alone a girlfriend." It's a fantastic question, and I don't want to tell her I've been agonizing over it since he first mentioned it.
"Trust me, I have been thinking about that," I tell her. "I don't know if it is a good idea, but after this week, we'll both be back in school and working. He's hardly home and his place is perfect to shoot videos. I'm not having to pay rent, so I can dedicate all my extra time to getting my website up and I won't have the stress of rent money weighing me down."
"Kinsey is leaving next week, you can seriously come stay with me," she offers but I shake my head no.
"Stella, I appreciate the offer, but you work from home a lot. I'd be in your way and I need silence to shoot. Jack can also help me in calculus so I won't have to see a tutor twice a week."
"I just worry you are like, diving headfirst into this. You just jumped all in, which is unusual for you. Did you do a pro-con list? Or have a panic attack yet?" She asks worriedly and we both scoot back as our omelets are dropped in front of us. I pick up a fork to cut into the veggies as I reply, "No panic attack yet. But trust me, I am nervous. I am so excited and stunned to even be in this situation. I don't think Jack would have offered if he was going to be uncomfortable. He just came in and took charge."
"Yes Luce, and that's what worries me a little. Blake kinda came in and took over your life remember? You liked his confidence and structure, but it turned into him being incredibly controlling."
"Jack hated Blake because of that remember? He won't act like that. And isn't it a good thing that I am not being timid? And that I am not overthinking everything," I remind her, and she gives me a slight nod. "And Jack is really supportive of my channels. He bought me everything I needed so I can get the ball rolling. Or the dough rolling if you will."
"Yes, putting Jack aside for a moment, please tell me your shooting schedule for this week." I nod and put my fork down. Plastering my business face on.
"It's spring break, and people outside of Arizona are itching for warmer weather and all things sunshine. So I thought I'd do a tutorial on tie-dye icing on suns, rainbows and flower sugar cookies. I also want to do a seven-layer rainbow cake tutorial and a giveaway of my new cookie cutters."
"Your what?" Stella asks in amusement.
I nod excitedly, "Jack told me last night that his dad's office has a 3D printer and I can create and make my own cookie cutters! I can do a giveaway on Instagram and link those in the video so people can buy them!"
"Well holy shit. You have been thinking about more than just Jack," Stella jokes and I let out a laugh.
"I told you, Jack has been super encouraging. He literally bought half the baking aisle at Target yesterday. You both have been encouraging me to cash in on my talent and I have so many ideas now for my website."
"Speaking of, I want to do a photoshoot with you and some of your cookies to put up on your site. I want professional-looking shots and not iPhone pics of cookies on the counter."
"My face doesn't need to be on the site," I tell her, but she quickly shakes her head.
"Yes, it does. You're gorgeous and your face will help sell your products. I want to do it before Kinsey leaves so she can do your hair and make-up."
"I'm taking Thursday off to go down to Tucson, so if we do it in the morning, I can make Thursday work. Otherwise, tomorrow is my only other day off."
"Tomorrow might work actually because I only have meetings in the morning. I'll talk to Kins and let you know."
"Fine," I answer begrudgingly, "I'm fine with either day."
"So are you going to tell your parents all of this on Thursday? That you are living with Jack, going all-in on your cookie business and are officially and finally done with wanting to live in New York City?" She asks before finishing her bellini. I pick mine up and suck it down as well. She lets out a laugh and says, "Is it really wise for Jack to be there for all that?"
"I cannot go alone. Lauren will eat me alive. She will be much nicer if she has someone she needs to impress."
"Won't Jack need to impress your mother?"
"Only Lauren can impress my mother" I reply with a frown. She slumps against her seat and folds her arms over her chest, clearly thinking about something. Her lips are pulled to the side of her face and I am waiting to see where her thoughts land.
"Okay Luce, I only have a couple questions left but I think the two that need to be asked now are why didn't you tell Jack you loved him and why did you not sleep with him? I want you to know I am glad you didn't, but I want to know what you were thinking." I sigh and look at my empty cocktail glass. I need a refill but the waitress is inside somewhere.
"Jack has the power to crush my heart. If I slept with him or told him I loved him and he hurt me...I think I'd become a nun."
"So you're never going to sleep with him?" She asks me with her eyebrow raised.
"Not until I think he's really serious about dating just me. I want to see if Jack can really just date one woman. Actually be someone's boyfriend." I confess. I then lean forward and add, "Before I left here, I saw his apple watch charging on the counter and it lit up as I was grabbing my keys. Of course I looked and saw a text from this girl Kylie Davis. I could only see the preview and didn't want to open it because I don't know if he'd notice that on his phone, but then I waited for a few seconds and saw a winky face come back from her. "
"You said he was going to the lake today?" Stella asks and I nod.
"Yeah, and I don't know who he is going to be around. I know all of those girls hang all over him and Kylie is like this tiny blonde with big fake boobs- who once hooked up with Fischer by the way- and I have no idea what he said back to her. I told him I wanted to keep us a secret, so he may be out there letting all these ho's rub him down."
"If Ariana is there, she'll have posted her entire morning by now," Stella says and she slides her phone out of her purse. I watch as her finger swipes across her screen as she mutters, "Jack hasn't posted anything yet. Doesn't look like Jameson or Taylor Hill has either. Oh, Ariana has though. I knew it." I watch her stare at her screen and her silence forces me to whip my own phone out. I go straight to Ariana's story on Instagram, and the first couple of videos are of her on Taylor's boat, panning over the sparkling water. Then she's toasting Kylie and Shawn in a boomerang and I see Jack's legs in the corner of the frame- I'd recognize those calves anywhere. The next one is a picture of her with her thin arm around Jack's neck and she's sticking her tongue out with a caption that says, "Forward, Barge!" He's smirking in the photo but his eyes are covered by his thick black sunglasses and I notice he still has his shirt on. The next one is a video that makes my stomach flip. Ariana is panning over all of the boats lined up on the barge, and as she's panning, I spot Kylie dropping into Jack's arms off the boat. She's in a stringy metallic bikini and he now has his shirt off.
I look back to Stella as I say, "So he's clearly with Kylie big-tits Davis today."
"Okay, yes. But...do you trust him?" She asks and I don't immediately respond. That's a tough question because I really don't know the answer. I trust Jack in some ways, but not others. I release a long dramatic sigh before dropping my head into my hands. I slowly shake my head and then say, "Not officially. Not yet. I know too much about him and his previous flings to be able to trust him. This is also why I don't want to go Facebook official with him yet. I don't want to look like a fool when he cheats on me next week."
Stella pulls herself off the back of her chair and leans over the table as she says, "I talked to Mark about Jack on Thursday." My eyes widen and she adds, "Yeah, I was curious what Jack was up to with you. So after you two left, I asked him about Jack, and after a lot of begging, I got him to tell me that Jack hasn't been with anyone since you left. That he was like, kinda a mess after you left to New York."
"Jack told me Fischer is the one who helped him realize his feelings for me."
She nods, "Yeah, apparently Jack was just super focused on school and spent a lot of his free time alone on the lake when you were gone. Fischer said since Jack found out you were coming back to Phoenix, he has been hyperfocused on mending your friendship." I feel my heart swell in my chest and I can't help the smile that creeps onto my face.
"So he might actually be serious about me?" I ask and Stella gives me a small shrug.
"I think going slow is a great idea, but I also don't think he's going to treat you like anyone else," she says right before the waitress comes to clear our plates.
"Dating a reformed fuckboy is playing with fire," I tell her as I reach for my credit card.
"I guess you just always have to be prepared to get burned."
"I will be scorched to smithereens if Jack cheats on me."
"Then let's just hope he keeps his hands, lips and dick to himself," she says as she drops her black Amex on the table.