Have you scene the movie 'Empire Records? If you have, you know that scene at the end of the movie where A.J kisses Corey on the rooftop. With everyone else below them and the sign shining bright against the dark sky. Kissing Jess was ten times better than that scene. It was as if everything they said in the movies and books about butterflies in your stomach and fireworks were actually true.
But then I realised what I was doing. I immediately pulled away from him with a gasp. "Oh my god!" I exclaim with mortification.
Jess looked at me in surprise. "That bad, huh?"
I shake my head at him quickly. "No, no. Absolutely not! It was actually pretty amazing," I reassure him with a small smile.
"So you regret it?" He asks me again solemnly.
"No, it's just. I want this. I really really want this." I explain to him. He smiles lightly at my words. "But my mother, she could kill me and you if she found out."
He nods his head understandingly. "So we can't?"
"I'm just saying you can't tell anyone about this. No one at all." I rephrase looking into his eyes.
"I'll take it with me to the grave," he agrees as he holds a hand up.
"Hopefully by then we can tell someone," I joke. "But you should've come sooner."
"Why?"
I sigh as I answer him. "I'm going to Washington for the summer. We've got this internship thing."
Jess nods along to my words. "Well then I'll wait for you."
"You'll wait? For me?" I asked unsure.
He just shrugs as if it were no big deal. "I've waited seventeen years, I think I can wait a few months."
Someone calls my name in the distance. I groan at the signal. "I have to go," I tell Jess sadly.
"Alright," he says with a soft smile.
As I make my was back I remembered something. I stopped in my tracks and turned around. I sprinted toward Jess and wrapped my arms around him. I pressed one last lingering kiss to his lips. He smiled into the kiss.
When I hear my name being called once more I pull away from him. "Bye," I say as I make my way back to everyone else. "Oh, and welcome back!" I shouted behind me as I heard Jess laugh lightly.
I make sure to compose myself and flatten back my hair before stepping back into the wedding. Calming my breaths, I make my way over to my mother who was talking with Michel.
"Hey, honey." She puts an arm around my shoulder. "Where were you?" She had on a same coloured dress as me just in a different design. Her hair was put up in a fancy up-do held by a few clips.
I wave my hand to dismiss her question. "It was nothing," I lied. I turn over to Michel who as usual wore one of his amazing suits. "Hey, Michel."
"Ah, Bonjour Cassie." He smiles at me. He always preferred it when I spoke in french with him. Despite him hating the french, thus him coming here, he must have felt at least a little bit homesick. So I always tried my best to make him feel more at home here.
"Bonjour Michel, quel joli costume tu as." I complimented his suit with a light smile. My mum groaned from beside me.
She took her arm off my shoulder. "That's my cue to leave." She walked away to talk to some other guest.
Michel turned to me with a mischievous grin. "Maintenant qu'elle est partie, nous pouvons passer aux choses sérieuses." Now that she's gone we can get down to business.
"Michel, what on earth are you talking about? She doesn't even understand french," I say in English since my mother was gone.
Apparently that was not good. "En français!" He chided loudly, making me jump.
"Désolé, qu'est-ce que c'est?" I asked. Sorry, what was it?
He put on a thoughtful look. "Maintenant, ce n'est pas une façon de parler à quelqu'un qui a des informations importantes pour vous," he tutted with a shake of his head. Now, that is no way to talk to someone who has some important information for you.
I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. "Tu fais que ça ressemble à un deal de drogue." You make this sound like a drug deal.
"Shut up," he says in English. "Je suis sûr que ta mère détesterait découvrir ce garçon que tu embrassais." He raised an eyebrow at me. I'm sure your mother would hate to find out about that boy you were kissing.
My mouth fell open at his words. "Not here!" I whispered at him. "People can hear us!"
"Oui, mais ils ne peuvent pas nous comprendre. Personne ne parle français sauf nous." Yes, but they can't understand us. No one speaks french except us.
"Rory parle Français," I tell him cautiously. Rory speaks french.
He rolls his eyes at my skepticism. "Elle n'est pas douée pour ça, et tu vas lui dire de toute façon." She's not any good at it, plus you're gonna tell her anyway. He was always annoyed at Rory's french. It was pretty funny to watch sometimes.
I could see some other guest looking at me and Michel in curiosity, no doubt wondering what we were talking about. "Tu ne peux le dire à personne," I tell him sternly. You cannot tell anyone. I didn't bother to even ask him how he knew. I just wanted to know no one else found out.
"I won't, I just want you to remember this conversation the next time I ask you to get me away from the swans. Away from the swans do not mean towards the swan." He threatens as I try not to burst out laughing as I recall the prank I pulled on him.
"I won't if you won't," I agree as I stick out my hand for him to shake. "Deal?"
He grasps my hand in his with a nod of his head. "Deal."
~~~
"Do you really need this many books?" My mum asked me from on top of my bed.
She was trying to close my suitcase by sitting on in. The room was littered with clothes and books. Not to mention bags that I would need for Washington. It annoyed me that Jess had to come the exact same day I was leaving.
The whole day had been one hell of a rollercoaster. First we had Sookie's wedding. Then Jess came, and he kissed me. Wow, he kissed me. Me! I should remember to call him when I'm in Washington.
"Cassie!" My mum snapped her fingers in front of my face. I was pulled out of my thoughts as I look toward her. She had gone off the bed to sit down in front of me on the floor. "You look like you're high."
I furrow my brows at her. "I do not look high."
"Yeah, you do. You look all giddy and everything," she smirks at me. "What're you thinking about?"
I felt myself blush at being found out. "Hugh Grant," I lied. I couldn't exactly tell her who I was really thinking about. She didn't even know that he was back yet and I didn't wanna be here when she did.
"Yeah, he is cute." My mum agrees. She looks over at the clock on my desk that read four-forty p.m. We still had a few more hours before we had to leave for the airport. "Hey, why don't you go to Luke's? Grab a bagel or something?"
If it was any other day I would've asked my mum to go instead since I was lazy. She and Luke had resolved their huge argument and were now back to their petty arguments. Which included which one of them got to shout at Taylor that day.
But today wasn't any other day, today Jess was back. So I immediately agreed to go. "Alright, what do you want?" I tried not to show how happy I was that I got to go to the diner.
I stood up from my place on the floor as my mother answered me. "Just get me a coffee and some donuts." Walking over to my bookcase, I pick out a book I was supposed to give to Jess. "What's that for?" She asked me.
"Just thought I'd read incase I had to wait or something," I lied. Man, I was doing a lot of lying today. It's for a good cause so I got an excuse. I walked over to her and kneeled down before pressing a kiss against her cheek.
"Bye!" I bid before heading downstairs and out the door.
~~~
"Hey, Luke." I greet as I walk into the diner. The place wasn't full but wasn't empty either. It was in that little grey area in between. I was surprised to see Kirk sitting with this girl at one of the tables. Go Kirk.
I took a seat on one of the stools at the counter. Luke didn't look up at me as he tended to someone else's meal. "Hey," he said cautiously.
"You gonna look at me or keep having a staring contest with that ham on rye?" I asked sarcastically. When he didn't look up at me again I got concerned. "You okay?"
He finally looked up at me warily as if he had some kind of bad news. "Listen, I got something to tell you-"
I cut him off when I realised why he was so worried. "I know, he's back".
"You know?" He repeated with his head tilted down I was afraid that his baseball cap would fall off.
"I know," I confirm.
"And you're okay with it?" He looked at me with a slight frown. Truth be told, I was a lot more okay with it, but I couldn't tell him. So I just nodded at him. "How do you know, by the way?"
I shrug as I answer him. "I saw him at Sookie's wedding."
Luke looked at me with eyes so wide I was afraid they'd pop out of his sockets. "He went to the wedding?"
"No, I meant-" I gave up when I saw Luke was not listening to me. "Never mind."
"Is that why you came here? To see him?" Luke asked me with narrowed eyes.
"Actually, mum sent me here to grab some food." I explained which wasn't a total lie. So one point for me.
Luke nodded as he listened to me while I listed off the food that we wanted. Once I was done I just sat there for a moment with the book in my lap, I didn't know whether I should just go up there or not. Maybe I should ask Luke.
None of that was necessary however when Luke noticed me sitting there uncomfortably. He sighed before sending me a knowing look. He was packing up some food and coffee when he spoke. "He's upstairs."
The corners of my lips turned up slightly as his words. I got up out of my seat and dashed towards the stairs. Not before sending a quick 'thanks' Luke's way.
I knocked on the door of the apartment as I waited anxiously for it to open. After hearing a few shuffling from behind the door, it opened to reveal Jess standing there. He looked the same as how he did at Sookie's wedding, except that his hair was slightly messier. It was cute.
"Hi," he said with a smile on his face. He opened the door wider for me to get inside. "I thought you had to leave for Washington?"
"I don't have to be at the airport till six," I tell him as I stand in the middle of the room awkwardly. I didn't really know what to do with myself so I just handed him the book. "Here."
Jess took it in his hands with a small' thanks'. He walked over to his small bookcase and took a book from it before handing it to me. "To Have and Have Not," he read out the title.
In that moment, I decided that I was going to have it. I walked towards him and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. This one was very different from our first kiss. This one was soft and sweet since we knew that we would have time when I got back.
I wrap my arms around his neck with the book in one hand as his hands go around my waist. We would've kept on going if it weren't for the loud distraction coming from the stairs.
Both of us sprang apart just in time for Luke to open the door. He had a wild look in his eyes that said he suspected what was going on. He eyes the small distance between Jess and I with a frown.
To make things easier, Jess moved away by a few steps. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Need something?"
Luke pointed a thumb towards the door. "The food is ready," he tells me.
"Great, I was just, uh, dropping something off." I say awkwardly as I hold the book up in my hand.
"You know, you should get back to your mum. You wouldn't wanna miss your flight." Luke sort of kicks me out while he sent a pointed look towards Jess.
"Yeah, alright." I turn to Jess as he looks at me, expecting some form of hug as a goodbye. Deciding that it wouldn't be the best idea, with Luke standing there watching us like a hawk. I walk over slightly to Jess. "See ya," I try to say casually as I held up my hand for a high five. It was like I was just watching me make a fool out of myself.
Jess looked at me with a slight frown, not knowing whether to laugh or not. He reluctantly slapped our hands together, saying a quiet 'bye'.
I make my way towards Luke. "Bye," I tell him as I try not to notice the tension in the air. Since I was on a roll of humiliating myself I just went for it. I gave Luke a punch on the shoulder. But not like a punch, it was like those punches that lumberjack dads would give to their son after catching a fish. It's was like a bro punch.
He just looked at me with a frown on his face. "Yeah, bye."
I walked out the door and closed in behind me, thankful to get out of that situation. Now, onto the main problem. A punch and a high five? I might as well dig my grave on embarrassment now. What the hell was wrong with me?