Chapter 8- Jess
Since Jessica found out that her sister had lied about Nick she didn’t wanna read the diary anymore, so when Tara asked if she could borrow it she’d said yes. She never wanted to see it ever again.
“I can’t believe Jennifer actually lied to me,” she thought to herself as she sat in her office trying to work out a schedule for the guys. She and Lindsay had booked them on both radio and tv-shows, so they would have a lot of things to do a couple of weeks.
“I need to talk to Nick.” Before she’d change her mind she dialled his number and waited for him to answer.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Nick, it’s me, Jess.”
“Hi,” he said in a surprised voice. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
“I know. I need to talk to you but I don’t wanna do that over the phone. Can we meet for dinner tonight?”
“Sure, where and when?”
“Pick me up at work at six and we’ll go some place.”
“Okay.”
“See you later then.”
She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. She had really missed him. They had become really close friends when he was dating her sister and the thought of him leaving Jenn wasn’t the only thing that had upset her. She was upset with him for leaving her too.
“Jess? Hello?” Lindsay said and waved at her. “Come back down to earth again please.”
“I’m sorry. I just have a lot on my mind right now.”
“That’s okay, we are finished here now anyway.”
“That’s great. I need to leave now but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sure. Bye!”
She walked out of the office and took the elevator down to the lobby to meet Nick. She was nervous about seeing him. Even though they worked together now, she hadn’t really talked to him. She took a deep breath and walked out of the elevator.
Nick stood down in the lobby waiting for Jess to come down. He was nervous.
“What am I gonna say?” he thought. He knew he had to ask about Jenn to get some closure but he didn’t know how. He didn’t want to upset Jess. He saw her coming out of the elevator and took a deep breath.
“Here we go,” he said to himself and went to meet her.
They arrived at the restaurant fifteen minutes later. They hadn’t said much in the cab. None of them knew where to begin.
“Wow, this is a lovely place,” Jess said and looked around the restaurant.
“I know, I found it last time I was in New York and I totally fell for it.”
A waitress came up to them and gave them two menus
“What would you like to drink?” she asked and looked at them.
“We’ll take white whine.” Nick said.
“So you remembered?”
“yeah best way o get you sick is giving you red. ”
They ordered their food and started eating. They still hadn’t talked about Jennifer. None of them knew how to bring it up. Suddenly Nick stopped eating, fork halfway to his mouth, and looked over at Jess.
“I can’t do this anymore Jess. I need to know about Jennifer.”
Jess slowly looked up at him.
“I understand that. What do you wanna know?”
“I wanna know how she died…”
“She had leukaemia Nick. They tried everything but it was too late.”
“Oh my God, I had no idea,” Nick said in a low voice. “I wouldn’t have left if I knew...”
“Don’t blame yourself Nick. I know now that she lied to us all.”
“I’m so sorry about that.”
“Me too.”
After the conversation about Jenn they started to find their way back to their old relationship. They’d always had fun together before and Jess noticed that she could still talk to him about everything. She knew she had to help Nick through it all… even though it was four years ago Jenn died he only recently found out about it.
“If you ever wanna talk about her don’t hesitate to call me okay?” Jess said as they were having dessert.
“I appreciate it, but right now I need time to let it sink in. But I’m so happy that you’re back in my life Jess.”
“I’m happy too.” She took his hand and smiled at him.
Rrriiing!
“Oh, @#%$. Sorry, I forgot to turn it off.” Jess said and looked embarrased. “I need to take this, it’s Ryan.”
“Hi baby, where are you?”
“Hi, I’m out with Nick. I told you about that.”
“You did? Sorry I must have forgotten about it. Do I see you later tonight?”
“I don’t know… I have an early morning tomorrow. I need to sleep.”
“Please, please, please…” She heard him beg and she couldn’t help but smile.
“Fine,” she laughed. “I’ll be there later okay? But I need to sleep, remember that.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too.” She hung up and turned towards Nick again.
“Sorry about that.”
“That’s okay. I didn’t know you had a boyfriend?”
“Well I do. We’ve been dating for about a year now.”
“I’m happy for you. I hope he treats you well.”
“He does, he’s wonderful. You have to meet him sometime.”
“Maybe tomorrow at the release party?”
“Yeah right… I almost forgot about that. He’s coming so you’ll meet him then. And Tara.”
“That’s great, I can’t wait to see her.”
After dinner they took a cab and Nick came with her to Ryan’s to make sure she got there alright.
“See you tomorrow then,” he said and gave her a big hug before she got out of the car.
“Yeah, good night.”
Jess went into Ryan’s apartment and saw him sitting on the couch watching TV. They spent a quiet evening cuddled up on the couch and Jess fell asleep right there. She was exhausted from all the emotional tension she had dealt with the last couple of days.
The next day went by in no time. Both Jess and Lindsay were busy working on the last details on the release party for the single inconsolable. They had made sure that everyone was going to be there that night.
“I need to get home and change clothes for tonight,” Jess said to Lindsay as they realised there was nothing more for them to do.
“Yeah me too. But I’ll see you later.”
Jess got home and saw her answering machine blink. It was Tara letting her know she’d meet her at the party. She took a shower and got dressed. Just as she was putting the finishing touch on her make up, Ryan called and told her he was outside waiting for her in the cab.
She took her coat and went downstairs. She really looked forward to this night and when they arrived at the party she went straight in to look for Tara.
“Ryan come on.”
“I’m coming, slow down baby.”
“I don’t wanna. I wanna see Tara,” she smiled and kissed him. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”
“Maybe we don’t have to just sleep tonight?” she whispered in his ear and smiled.
“You’re bad Jess,” he groaned and kissed her again.
“Hey, you two. Stop that or get a room,” Tara laughed as she came towards them. “This is such a cool party Jess. Everyone that is someone in the music industry is here tonight.”
“I know. I’m really pleased with this.”
“You should be. Now come on. Introduce me to the boys. I haven’t even seen Nick yet.”
“Come on then.”
“I’ll see you ladies later okay, I think I’m seeing a familiar face. I’m gonna go and say hello,” Ryan said and gave Jess a soft kiss before he left.
Jess and Tara went back into the V.I.P room to look for the guys. They were all sitting around a table laughing and drinking. They were not supposed to be seen at the party before they had performed so they were all waiting to get on stage.
“Hey guys,” Jess said and smiled. “This is Tara. My best friend. Hi Nick.” She went up to him and gave him a hug
“We all heard about your sister Jess and were sorry for your loss.” Brian said and went up to hug her.
“Thank you.”
“So this is your friend?” he continued and turned to Tara. “Hi, and welcome.”
“Hi. Nice to meet you all,” Tara said and looked up into Brian’s blue eyes.
They rest of the guys all got up to say hello.
“Hi I’m Leigh. Howie’s girlfriend. Nice to have some females here for a while. I wish Leighanne, Brian’s wife could have been here but with Baylee being sick I totally understand her.”
“Hey what’s wrong with us?” Howie said and pretended to look hurt as he tried not to smile.
“Yeah, we’re wonderful,” Alex said and smiled. “And you’re gorgeous,” he said and turned to Tara and looked her straight in the eyes.
“I guess you look fine too,” Tara said and smiled. Jess and the others just laughed.
“Ouch…woman you sure know how to tell a guy he’s not wanted.” Alex tried to look sad but Tara didn’t notice. She had turned around to search for those beautiful blue eyes again.
“So he’s married,” she thought and felt a bit dissapointed. “To bad, he looked like a nice guy.”
Tara got along with them all and they had a great time. But Jess couldn’t help to watch Tara. There was something in her eyes that made Jess worry. As she watched Tara watch the guys getting up on stage it hit her. Tara had been looking at Brian all night.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Read, review, but most of all: enjoy!
