Jess
Well, it might have taken me longer than expected, but damn does it feel good to have a big girl job.
My first two weeks with Celestial Weddings have been both crazy and amazing. I walked in the doors right in the middle of wedding season, hence the crazy part, but the work is so fulfilling and everything I’ve ever wanted to do.
Well, since changing my major, anyway.
Hence, the amazing.
I’ve been awake and dressed and out the door every morning by six-thirty, and haven’t come back home until after eight most nights.
The “part time” offer quickly turned full time with how busy the agency is.
My weekends have been slammed with events, a crash-course introduction to what it’s like to be an event planner for Miami’s rich and famous.
I’ve worked with brides who were absolute angels, and also had my fair share of bridezillas.
And from what my boss says — I haven’t seen anything yet.
But while I’m honored to have the job and excited to be a part of the team, I’m exhausted, and very, very thankful to have a Friday evening off.
Between learning the ropes at the office, running around town to gather supplies and work with vendors, making and taking more phone calls in two weeks than I have my entire life, meeting family after family and herding bridal party after bridal party, organizing photographers and DJs and bands and caterers and the works, all while doing my damndest to knock my new boss’ socks off and make a lasting first impression?
I’m not just tired.
I’m about two fake smiles and no problem, I’ll take care of it’s away from collapsing and never being able to get back up again.
Fortunately, I have a very understanding boyfriend, who didn’t give me even a little grief about not joining him for his formal tonight.
I know how important fraternity formals are.
They signal the end of a semester, the end of a year, the start of summer, and the transition of power.
Kade is just a week away from finding out if he’s going to be the next president of Alpha Sigma, and I know this event means a lot to him.
But he understood when I explained how tired I was, and also, how weird it made me feel to think about attending a fraternity event now that I’ve graduated. Hell, I already stayed an extra semester to finish off my commitment as the recruitment chair for Kappa Kappa Beta.
It was high time for me to leave Palm South, and now that I have a condo downtown and a salaried job to boot? I feel like I’ve taken a big step into adulthood, and there’s no going back.
She says, as she eats a pizza Lunchable and drinks a bottle of wine.
Kade did send me a picture of him looking snazzy as fuck before the limo ride to the venue downtown, and just for fun, I snapped him a nude in return.
What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t give him a chub around all his fraternity brothers from time to time?
The only thing that would make this night even better is if my sisters joined me, but Ashlei has already moved half her shit out and into Brandon’s, and I’m sure they’re very busy on this Friday night.
And Erin has been holed up in her room studying for her big exam all week, tonight included.
She’s promised me she’ll join if she gets to a point where she feels comfortable enough to take a break tomorrow, but if I know her well enough, I’ll be lucky to get a glimpse of her on a snack break.
Even so, I’m not mad at it being just me, my kid food, sweatpants, and a Friends marathon.
If anything, I’d say this is the best Friday night I’ve had in a while.
It finally feels like everything is falling into place, I think to myself as I pour up another glass of wine. It’s crazy how just being offered a job boosted my self-confidence. And now that I’ve been kicking ass for two weeks, I feel like the baddest bitch in the world.
Look out, Miami.
The city’s next hottest wedding planner just stepped on the scene.
As the night goes on, Erin does pop her head out from time to time to check on me, and I even manage to convince her to stay for half of the The One Where They’re Going to Party!
episode before she chains herself to her textbooks again.
As for me, a full bottle of wine has me feeling pleasantly warm and relaxed.
So much so that I almost don’t notice my phone buzzing under my butt on the couch.
I snap out of my haze around the fifth buzz, not even bothering to look at the number before I answer. “Hello?”
“Ms. Vonnegut, it’s Herb down at the front desk. I’ve got a visitor here for you.”
“Send him up,” I say before he even finishes, because I know exactly who it is, and if he’s even a little bit as tipsy as I am after his formal, then I’m more than happy to welcome him to a romp in my sheets to cap off our Friday nights.
Herb chuckles. “Will do, miss. Have a good evening.”
I pop off the couch with a little squeal and a heel click once we end the call, and then fly down the hall to change into my cute sleep shorts and matching spaghetti strap tank.
My hair is a mess, but I take it down just to throw it up in a slightly-better-looking messy bun.
After a quick run of lip balm over my lips and a touch of mascara, I bound back down the hall just in time for two swift knocks to sound on the front door.
Smoothing my hands over my shorts, I adjust my tits in my sleep tank and roll my shoulders back before putting on my come and get me sex-kitten smirk and open the door.
As soon as I do, that sexy smirk is replaced with wide eyes and my jaw nearly hitting the floor.
Where I expected Kade to be waiting with a drunken glaze in his eyes, I instead find his brother, stone cold sober, his hands in tight fists at his sides.
His chest is heaving like he just ran three miles uphill, and his nose flares as he lets his eyes crawl down the length of me, taking in what very little clothing I’m wearing now.
“Jarrett?” I ask, crossing my arms over myself, as if that will do anything to cover my legs or midriff or very hard nipples peeking through this silky top. “What are you—”
I stop short when Jarrett holds up one finger, his eyes hard on mine again. With that one gesture, my lips snap together, heart picking up its pace in my chest.
“You showed up on my doorstep like this once,” he says, his voice ragged, and with the words I remember all too well the night I beat down his front door. “You made me listen. So now you have to do the same.”
I swallow. “Okay, do you want to come in or—”
“I love you.”
My next words die in a chokehold, as if Jarrett physically reached out and wrapped his hand around my neck. I let my mouth fall open, shut it, part my lips again, zip them back together. Before I realize it, I’m leaning a hip against the doorframe to keep from falling over. “You what?”
“I love you,” he repeats, face contorting like it physically pains him to admit. “I never stopped loving you. I don’t think I can.”
I swallow, hating that my heart is thumping so loud in my ears, that hearing him say those words feels like wading into warm, tropical water.
“And I know it’s fucked up and wrong for me to come here and tell you that,” he says when I don’t respond.
“And I know I said I could just be your friend but goddammit, Jess, I lied. Okay? I lied. I can’t be your friend,” he says, shaking his head at the audacity of it.
“Because the truth is that I want you, all of you, everything that you have to give. And I don’t want to share. ”
My weight sinks more into the doorframe, and I cover my shaking lips with fingertips trembling just as much. “Jarrett…”
“Wait,” he says, holding his finger up again. “I’m not finished.”
I swallow, waiting.
“I know my brother may potentially hate me for the rest of my life for saying this,” he says, rolling his lips together as he looks off to the side. I don’t miss the way tears prick his eyes then, as if the mere thought of Kade hating him is too much to bear. “But I want you to choose me.”
“Oh, my God,” I whisper, so low I’m not even sure he can hear me.
“Give me a chance,” he pleads, his eyes finding me again, and this time, he takes two massive strides toward me, until he’s so close I could reach out my hand and touch him without any effort if I really wanted to.
“Don’t throw away what we had. Because I can see it on your face when you’re with me that you still feel it, too. ”
I close my eyes when he says that, freeing two tears that I didn’t realize I’d been holding at bay with my eyes wide with shock. I let out a shaky breath, swallow down the emotion, and open my eyes again.
“How can you do this?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper. I shake my head, over and over, anger and confusion settling in in equal measure. “How can you show up here and say this after all this time? After everything that… and we didn’t talk for so long… and then Kade…”
“I know it’s inconvenient,” Jarrett says, but he stands just as tall, staring down at me over the bridge of his nose.
“I know my timing is shit. But I can’t go back and undo what I did.
I can’t go back and make a different choice.
All I have is right here, and right now, and I may not know much, but I know that I refuse to let you go without a fight. ”
I think I scoff, or maybe I gasp, or maybe I just let out a whimper of a breath with my jaw still hanging down on the ground.
“Don’t answer me now. Think about it,” he says, and then he backs away, giving me space to breathe again. “I’m not going anywhere. Not until you tell me all hope is gone.”
“And if I do?”
He takes a long, slow breath, letting it out through his nose before he says, “Then, I’ll wish you and my brother well, and I’ll leave you alone. For good.” He swallows. “Forever.”
Those words spark more tears in my eyes, but I don’t know what to say back. And after a moment’s pause, Jarrett crosses the space between us, slides his hands to frame my face and tilts my head until his lips brush my hairline.
“Please,” he pleads with the kiss. “Come back to me.”
I can feel the tension in his arms, the bend of his brows even though I can’t see them as he presses one final kiss and releases me like it kills him to do so. He turns and leaves me like that, not even looking back once, and in less than ten seconds, he’s on the elevator again and out of sight.
I stumble back, hand flying up to press against the still-warm spot where his lips were.
Erin comes out of her room to refill her water, frowning at the sight of me. “Who was that?”
“Jarrett,” I whisper.
“Jarrett?!” She shakes her head, leaning a hip against the kitchen island. “What did he want?”
When I look at her, I can’t fight back the tears that gloss over my eyes, no matter how hard I try to. “Me.” I shake my head. “He wants me.”
Erin’s face goes slack. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah,” I say on a mix of a laugh and a scoff, and I look back down the hall to where he disappeared. “Oh, shit is right.”