Jesse’s POV
The house was beautiful. Two floors, three bedrooms, a large living room area, a small but comfortable kitchen and a front and back porch. On the second floor, the porch faced the beach. Jesse loved what Jade and Lana had done with the place. The interior décor was lovely.
She was shocked to see two women who were deeply in love and happily living together as life partners. She was shocked because she’d never been in a successful long term relationship. Seeing Jade and Lana together, so happy gave her some kind of hope.
Apart from Jade, Lana and Alex, Max was also there with a beautiful new girlfriend named Joss and Kim had just arrived. Jesse had thought she would find Billy there, but she was nowhere in sight. Everyone was friendly and Jesse had no time to feel out of place or uncomfortable.
There was a lot of alcohol and the women were drinking from the living room and low music played distinctly in the background, allowing everyone to indulge in conversation.
Alex was wonderful to Jesse and went out of her way to make her feel comfortable. Jesse was glad she’d given herself a chance to get to know her.
During the second round of alcohol, when Jesse was listening to the women’s stories as they individually narrated about their first love, Billy showed up. It was endearing how Alex was so pleased to see her and for a moment, Jesse understood why Billy could not tell her what had happened between them.
Kim was second happiest, if not first, to see Billy. She practically got to her feet and went to hug her. Billy said hello to everyone and when her gaze fell on Jesse, it lingered there a moment longer than it should have and it felt like a soft and gentle caress.
Jesse was the first to look away. When everyone was settled back down, their discussion resumed and in a few minutes, it was Jesse’s turn, everyone sat quietly and listened. She was amazed at how at ease she felt around those women and so she calmly told her story.
“When I was in fifth grade, I fell madly in love with my English teacher. I could not wait to attend her classes. I’d sit at the back of the class and just gawk in amazement at how beautiful she was. For almost a full term, I’d steal single stemmed sunflowers and have them sent to her.” She giggled at the memory.
“Did you ever tell her?” Lana asked.
“I couldn’t, I was too scared. But she found out anyway, I don’t know how. She called me to her office and I dumbly sat there as she talked. She told me that she knew I was her mysterious admirer, and while she was flattered by the gesture, she could not let it go on because she was married. I was so embarrassed, but somehow she found words to make me feel special. She made me realize that it was okay to be who I was.” She finished.
“That is so sweet,” Joss, Max’s girlfriend said.
The discussion resumed until everyone had had their turn. Billy’s story was quite brief and was more about sex rather than love, Max’s story was similar to Billy’s but Alex’s story caught Jesse’s attention. She said that she’d been fifteen when she’d fallen in love with a girl in her class.
“She wasn’t the most popular or the most beautiful, but she was the smartest girl in our class. Every time I saw her, my day would get better. We were barely even friends, we only said hello when we met in the hallways. One day I decided I was going to tell her. I didn’t know what she would say or how she would react, but I wanted to know why I was so drawn to her,” Alex narrated.
“One day after school, I nervously approached her and asked her out. She was a little taken aback, but she agreed to go out for lunch over the weekend. We had so much fun together and when I took her home that evening, I confessed my feelings.”
“How did she take it?” Jesse asked.
“She was in shock, she walked in and left me outside. I knew that she did not feel the same way, but I hoped that she would maybe open up and give it a chance. So, I went outside her bedroom window and waited for her to come back out. I sat in the cold for three and a half hours before she opened her window and invited me in.”
“Oh, wow!” Joss said.
“When I went in, she asked me what I loved about her, what I saw in her, why I had never said anything before, why then and a whole lot of other questions. We spoke for hours and I spent the night on her bedroom floor. The following morning, I woke up and went home. She didn’t talk to me for weeks, but then one day after class, she asked me how it was supposed to work. I told her that I was supposed to ask her out and she was supposed to say yes.”
Since Jesse and Joss were more drawn to the story, Jesse assumed the others had heard of it before, but nonetheless they listened intently.
“When she said okay, I was really surprised. We started going out and it was the best few months of my life. When her parents found out about us, they tried to oppose us and we tried to fight for us but they took her to Europe and transferred her to another school.”
“Did you ever see each other again?” Joss asked.
“Yes, about five years ago. She got married and has two kids.”
What a sad ending, Jesse thought. She saw a vulnerable side of Alex she’d not seen before. It may have all happened a decade ago, but it had impacted Alex and somehow made her into the person she was now.
Conversation continued, new topics coming up and alcohol was passed around the table, back and forth. When Jesse started feeling a little buzz, she excused herself and went out the porch to get some cool air. She heard the volume of the music being turned up and in a couple of minutes, the noise emanating from inside indicated that everyone was dancing.
She loved Alex’s friends. They were all so easy going, open minded and laid back.
“Having fun?”
She turned around to find Billy standing at the entrance, leaning back against the door. She had two glasses of wine in her hands.
“Yeah, I am,” Jesse said.
Billy smiled at her and then after a second, she walked over to her and handed her one of the glasses. “Good,” she said.
Jesse looked back at the sea. It was such a lovely sight. The moon radiated a glossy ray of light that created a scenic view upon the waters and the buzzing sound of waves combined made a sight right out of fantasy.
“It’s so beautiful,” she said.
“Yes, it truly is,” Billy said.
The way she said it made Jesse look at her, which made her wonder if she was referring to the sight or to her. How could she still flirt with her when Alex was right next door?
A moment later, Kim stepped out and joined them. “Hey, what are you guys up to?” she asked.
“Just drinking in this scenic view,” Jesse said.
“I know, isn’t it beautiful?” Kim asked.
“Breathtaking,” Jesse said.
“I loved your first crush/love story. You know, Billy here wasn’t very accurate with hers,” Kim said.
Jesse raised her eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah, she doesn’t like telling it so she always goes for the short unpleasant version.”
“Oh,” Jesse said.
“Kim, could you please stop? It’s over, we don’t need to talk about it again,” Billy said.
“Oh, come on, don’t be so modest.”
Jesse could see Billy was genuinely uncomfortable but Kim insisted on telling the story, so she just silently listened.
“When Billy was fourteen, a senior at her school started hitting on her. Billy wasn’t interested in the beginning, but the senior was quite persistent. They bonded later on because of the similarity of their childhood and I guess Billy felt that the senior understood her and made her feel less alone. Billy was naïve and soon enough, she fell for the senior.”
“Enough,” Billy said.
Jesse’s curiosity grew and she waited because she knew Kim wasn’t done.
“After they slept together a couple of times, the senior moved on to someone else.”
That must have hurt Billy. Having been taken advantage of like that by someone much older and much more experienced. There was probably more to the story, but Jesse doubted Billy would tell it. As a matter of fact, she looked so upset Jesse wondered why Kim wouldn’t just give her the discretion she’d asked for.
She watched Billy walk back to the house and Kim gave Jesse the ‘What-did-I-do?’ look. A moment later, Alex walked out.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“I’m not so sure,” Jesse said.
“Are you cold? Can I get you a sweater?” she asked.
Jesse tilted her head to the side and smiled at Alex.
“What?” Alex asked.
“Come here,” she said.
Alex smiled back at her and walked over to her. Jesse placed her wine glass down and reached for Alex’s hands. They were soft and warm under her touch.
“You are always so concerned with taking care of other people, who takes care of you?” she asked.
“I take care of myself,” Alex said.
Jesse pulled her closer, slowly clasping her arms around Alex’s waist. She moved one hand over Alex’s face and trailed it along her soft lovely features. She wanted to know if they were physically compatible and Alex’s lips looked like a perfect place to start.
When their lips met, Jesse closed her eyes and the sweet taste of her mouth radiated a gentle longing in her. Alex explored her with a tenderness that made Jesse’s heart flutter. She pulled her closer and deepened the kiss, making Jesse feel like she was in a romantic film.
Her heart embraced Alex so quickly it shocked her, prompting her to break the kiss and pull away. She hadn’t felt like that from something as simple as a kiss in a long time. The fact that she did slightly frightened her.
“Are you alright?” Alex asked.
She exhaled and looked at the moon staring back at them. “You frighten me,” she said.
“How so?” Alex asked, moving close behind her and gradually wrapping her arms around Jesse.
“You’re such a wonderful person, I could fall for you,” Jesse said.
It was amazing how she felt so at ease around Alex. The awkwardness that had been there during their first date was gone, but she didn’t know if it was because she liked her or because the alcohol made it easier. All in all, it felt great to be there.
“Would that be so bad?” Alex asked against her ear.
Jesse couldn’t think about it at that moment. It was something that could happen way, way into the future. It was still too early to determine anything. But from her cool, rational, composed and easy going nature, it would have been effortless to fall for her.
“I don’t know,” Jesse said.
“Why don’t we save that conversation for the future?” Alex said.
They stood there silently for a while until the moment was interrupted by Max. “Why don’t you guys come join us? Now that we’re all a little bit buzzed, the party can finally start.”
Jesse smiled and took Alex’s hand. “I want to see you dance,” she said and dragged Alex back to the house.
Someone had dimmed the lights and the couches they had been sitting on had been moved to create space in the middle. The music was loud and Jade, Lana, Max and Joss were already on the dance floor. Billy and Kim seemed to be having a heated conversation some distance away from everyone else.
“Come on,” Jesse said.
A second later, they were dancing together. She started having fun and forced herself to forget that Billy was in the room. She could not understand how she could be attracted to two different women at the same time.
**
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