After I finished In the Morning, my mind kept wandering to how exactly the relationship between Leo and Jess started. I thought it was really cute, the way it played it out in my head, so I decided to write a little short story about it. Here it is.
This is a finished story.
Leo walked into the apartment around five-thirty after work. It was another long, annoying day. This was the kind of day that, a year ago, he would have opened his drawer, taken out his coke, and done a line or two. However that was gone and so were his cigarettes, so all he had was an unmade pot of coffee in front of him. He let out a deep sigh. It was the hardest when he was alone. Usually there was someone here when he got home, but not today.
He sat down on his couch and looked around him for the remote to the television. It was sitting on top of the television and he was too exhausted to get up to get it, so he just sat there, staring at the blank screen. Work was brutal. It was good money and it bought him this apartment and all of his things, but it was still brutal.
The front door opened and Jessica came inside, holding a brown paper bag. She had on a pair of low rise flared jeans with her clunky boots just barely poking out from underneath, with a tight tank top that showed off some stomach. Her long blonde hair was up in a pencil and she had two pairs of long dangly gold earrings from her ears, a small thin hoop hanging from the cartilage on her left ear. She saw Leo on the couch and gave him a big smile. "Hey Leo," she said. She put the paper bag on the counter. "I didn't know you were home already. Mom wanted me to send some food over. How are you doing?" She walked over to him and sat down next to him.
"I'm exhausted," he said. "Work sucks."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "Do you want me to make you some coffee?" He looked at her blankly. "I'll make you some coffee."
"Thank you, Jess." She walked over to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee.
"Oh, Taylor called today," she said, turning around and looking at him. "Have you spoken to him lately?" Leo shook his head. "Well Kris went to the doctor and it turns out they're having a boy."
"Really? A boy?" She nodded. "That's great."
"And Ginger's pregnant too," Jess said. "They just found out the other day. They're all really excited." She got two mugs out of the cabinet and poured the both of them some coffee before she walked back over to him. "Here."
"Thanks." He took a sip.
"You should go out there to see them," Jess said. "Taylor asked about you, you know. He said he's tried to call you a few times."
"I've been swamped with work. I haven't been home, and when I am, I'm like this," he explained.
"Well I still think you should go out there to see them."
"I don't think so," he said. "I mean they're all so busy�"
"Leo," she said, giving him a look, "they're your best friends. Taylor is your best friend. You should go out there to see them, all right? They'd love to have you." She took a sip of her coffee. "You want to watch some TV?" He nodded. "Where's the remote?"
"On top of it," he said, pointing towards the television.
"Oh. Is that why you were just sitting here staring at a blank screen?" He nodded. "You're so silly, Leo."
"No, I'm just very, very tired." She got up and grabbed the remote. "So what are we going to watch?"
"I don't know. There's bound to be something on." She plopped back down next to him. She pulled a leg up on the couch and rested her head against his shoulder, clicking through the channels. "Mom's been asking about you. We haven't seen you in a while�it's why she sent me over. She was worried you were, you know�"
"Yeah, I kind of figured."
"You're not, are you?"
"Of course I'm not," he said. "But if you hadn't come over I just might have tried." She looked up at him with big, hopeful eyes. He never realized it before, but she had amazing eyes.
"Really?" she asked.
"Yeah. It's been a long week�I'm not happy about it."
"Well I'll just have to stick around and make sure that doesn't happen," she said, settling on a station. "You know you can always come over to our house if you feel like that. I'll take care of you. You're not as annoying as the rest of my family."
"That's because I'm not around all the time."
"I wouldn't mind you being around all the time," she said, looking shyly up at him. He smiled. "I'll make you dinner." She got up. "And by that, I mean reheat something Mom made. You better be hungry."
"Yes, I am."
"Great." She dropped the clicker. "Oh, shit," she said. She bent over and picked it up. He looked over and quickly averted his eyes, realizing he could see down her shirt, but found himself taking another look. "Here you go." She tossed it back over to him and he caught it.
"So, what'd Mom bring me?"
"I don't know." She walked over to the bag and opened it. "Oh, it looks like a casserole."
"Oh, score." She put it in the microwave and a few minutes later they were sitting at Leo's dinner table eating. "Well, you can certainly nuke a good casserole, Jess," Leo said, giving her a smile. She smiled back at him. He looked at her perfect white teeth, smiling at him, and he couldn't help but realize how beautiful she looked when she smiled.
"I know you're kidding, but thank you," she said. "Oh, you got a little�" She wiped at a bit of sauce against his mouth and he instinctively turned, his lips brushing against her thumb. She paused a moment before pulling her hand back, and they both turned back to their food.
"So, um, what else did Taylor have to say?" he asked, picking up his fork. Diana's casserole was something he always looked forward to; she was the mother with the awesome cooking that everybody loved. His own mother couldn't cook if her life depended on it, but he hadn't spoken to her in years.
"Uh�not a whole lot," Jess said. "He's been doing a lot of writing lately, but he's not going to do anything with it. He's doing it just to do it." Leo nodded.
"That's good that he's writing again," he said. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Are you writing?" A small smile came across her lips and she began to blush. "Don't get all shy on me, you wrote some awesome stuff the last time I read it."
"You only read it because you stole my notebook," Jess said. "If it were up to me, you wouldn't have read it at all."
"Oh come on, Jess," he said. "It's wonderful! You should do something with it." She shook her head. "You should. I've heard you sing, I've read your stuff�I'm sold." She shook her head again.
"I'm not my brothers, Leo," she told him. "I'm not them and I've never wanted to be them. You of all people can understand that." He could. Their entire family was so musical and so was he, which is one of the reasons he really bonded with Taylor when they first met. He'd been playing bass guitar for a year and a half when he met Taylor, and the family taught him just about every other instrument there was. When the boys got a record deal, Taylor asked him to come and play bass on the album, but he didn't want to so he stayed in Tulsa. He didn't want to do that and although Jess said she didn't, he could see that deep down she did want it, but she was just afraid she'd be labeled because of her name.
"Yeah�but that doesn't mean I still don't want to hear it."
"I'll sing if you play guitar," she said, giving him her best smile, her blush disappearing. He nodded.
"All right."
"Well, I'm done." She took their plates to the sink and rinsed them off. The phone rang. Leo got up and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Leo, hi, dear," Diana said. "How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm okay, Mom," Leo said.
"Just okay?"
"It's been a long week."
"Oh, well you better rest up this weekend," she said. "Did Jess come over there?"
"Yeah," Leo said. "She's actually here now. We ended up having dinner. You make the best casserole, Mom." Jess looked over and smiled. She turned around and bent over to put the plates in the dishwasher. Leo looked at her and caught himself checking her out, but quickly turned away. This was his best friend's little sister, and it didn't matter if she'd just turned eighteen. Taylor would have a conniption fit.
"Oh, thank you dear. I was just wondering where she was. Could you send her home? I need her here."
"All right. I'll see you later, Mom."
"You better! Don't be a stranger! Stop by anytime."
"I will. Bye, Mom." He hung up the phone. "Your mother wants you home."
"I figured," Jess said. "I just needed to get out of the house."
"You know we could always do something later," Leo said, scratching his arm. She closed the dishwasher and turned to him. "Tomorrow even�like a movie or something." She shrugged.
"Sure." He walked with her to the door.
"Thanks for the coffee, and dinner, and the company," he said. She smiled.
"Anytime, Leo. If I didn't have to go I wouldn't leave. Maybe I'll see if I can come back later." He nodded.
"All right. I'll be here." She looked up at him.
"Jesus, Leo, you're such a messy eater." She ran her thumb over his cheek, getting a bit more sauce off. His hands shook and he put them behind his back so she wouldn't notice. She looked up at him, her hand still on his cheek, and looked in his eyes. "Is it�different?" she asked. He nodded. It definitely felt different. He put his hand over hers on his cheek and pulled it away from his face, dropping back down to his side but not letting go. "I should go."
"Wait," he whispered. She did. His hand still on hers, still shaking, he leaned in and softly brushed his lips against hers. She responded, letting him take a soft control over her, kissing her cautiously. She opened her mouth first, letting him know it was okay, and he allowed himself to touch her tongue. He slid his arms around her waist, bringing the lower half of her body against his.
"Leo�" she said, pulling away from him a bit. She was blushing again. "I don't know if we should do this."
"Why not?" he asked. "This feels right." He could see tears in her eyes and she looked down. "Doesn't it feel right?"
"Yes�but no one's going to like it. I just turned eighteen last week, you're twenty-two, that's four years."
"So?"
"Everyone's going to talk about this, all of my brothers will beat you up, Mom won't trust you around me as much because you're just as bad when it comes to girls as Taylor was�" He shook his head.
"Taylor changed and so will I. And with all the rest of it, I don't care."
"But I do. I don't want that to happen." He softly lifted her chin.
"If it means that much to you, we don't have to tell anybody," he said. "It can just be the two of us. This is right, Jess, and you've always known it was right. You and I, we can be something. We can be happy together." Jess put her head against his chest, hugging him tightly.
"Leo�I'm just scared."
"So am I. Nobody has to know. We can still go out and do things together�we're great together and everybody's always thought so. It'll just be different when we're alone." She looked up at him.
"I do want to do this."
"Then let's do it." She smiled.
"All right. All right. Are we still on for that movie tomorrow night?" she asked. He nodded.
"Definitely."
"Great. I'll see if I can stop by later tonight." She kissed him again. "See you later."
"Yeah�" She kissed him again and slipped out the door. When the door closed again he smiled to himself and walked away.