| When Cassie finally got to the bathroom, she saw Jess sitting on the edge of the tub with her head in her hands and silently crying. "Jess whats goin on? I know you do not need a shower...HEY HEY HOLD UP! What were you and Nick doin while we were gone?" Cassie asked raising her eyebrows up and down. With that said Jess's head shot up and she glared and begun to yell at Cassie. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?! Why you assumming Nick and I did something? Do you think we have to just because you and Brian did?!!" Jess got up and took off down the stairs. Cassie followed and reached the bottom in time to hear Nick begin to say something but Jess cut in. "What ever. I'm outta here" With that she opend the door and walked out slaming it behind her. ****** "Nick what the hell happend while we were gone?" Cassie said after hurrying down the stairs just in time to see Jess slam the door. "I...we..." Nick stuttered. "Spill Blondie!" Cassie yelled. Nick sighed and ran his hand through his hair,"We kissed. I kissed her and she kissed back but I just...I pulled away." "And you did this because????" Brian asked. "I guess I'm just...scared...or something...I don't know. I just started thinking ya know, what if she only likes me because of my job? Even if that's not the reason, I know I'm starting to like her a lot and that's running on dangerous territory considering I'm not home 300 days a year." "Nick..this isn't news for you, that's how its been for nearly 10 years," Brian said as he watched Nick sit down on the couch with his elbows on his knees. "I know but it's...different with her...I'm REALLY starting to like her." "Nick...if anyone knows Jess better than she does, it's me," Cassie began,"She's definately not the kind of person that would like you because of your job. I think you know that already. And I'm pretty sure she's just as skeptical about this as you are. But I'm also pretty sure she's hurt by your actions because she doesn't know why you did that." "I hurt her?" "No, not at all, she just stormed out of the house for nothing," Cassie said sarcastically. Nick sighed again,"Damnet...I better go find her." "Good luck buddy," Brian said patting his friend on the back as he walked out the door. "Phew," Cassie said,"Well...now what?" "Hmm...do you smell popcorn?" Brian asked. They both walked to the kitchen and took a look around. "Kids!" Brian said. Cassie laughed and they started cleaning up the mess. ******** Jess ran down the sidewalk for a few blocks when she needed to stop to rest. She saw a park not far away so she continued running until she got to a bench where she collapsed with her head in her hands. "Don't cry...don't even think about it," she told herself. She wasn't going to cry, she was just frustrated. She finally took a deep breath and lifted her head up. She looked around and settled on a nice couple sitting not far away having a nice picnic lunch. "Why can't you get that?" She asked talking to herself again. She sat watching them for a few minutes when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a cute little girl standing on the bench next to her. She was about 7 years old and holding some handpicked flowers in one hand. "Hi!" the girl said. Jess smiled,"Hi there." "Wow you're pretty!" Jess laughed,"Well thank you, you're pretty cute yourself!" "Thank you! I'm Autumn!" she said and she held out the flowers to Jess. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jess. Are these for me?" Jess asked. "Yes, that man over there picked them for you!" She said pointing over Jess's shoulder. She turned around to see Nick and quickly faced the girl again. "He did?" "Yeah! Nick is his name. He says he thinks you are pretty too and he says he thinks you dont like him anymore." "Awe, that's not true. I like Nick a lot," Jess said. The girl sat down next to her. "I think you should give him a hug because he is really sorry because he said so and um he said that you probably would like flowers so I picked them for you and ummm...I can't remember what else." The girl gabbered not stopping for a breathe. Jess was thrown into a fit of laughter,"That's okay. Thank you Autumn." "Is Nick your boyfriend? I have a boyfriend. But if Nick is not your boyfriend can he be my boyfriend? He is cuter than my boyfriend." Jess continued to laugh. "Um well no, Nick is not my boyfriend, but I think you should stay with your boyfriend because he would probably be sad if you wanted Nick instead." Jess tried to explain. "Yeah you are prolly right. I'm gonna go play now, bye Jess!" Autumn said jumping off the bench. Jess smiled, "Bye Autumn." She watched Autumn run over to Nick and give him a high five. Then she ran over to a swing with a few other little kids. Nick began to walk over to her so she stood and took a deep breath. |
| Chapter Seven |