Help a girl out.

Chapter Ten.

Liam's POV.

I follow or rather, push Jess further into the apartment in the direction of her bedroom where I know her clothes are, and close the door behind me. “Okay, so first thing first. What to wear.. I don’t know a lot about women’s clothing, but I do know what looks good.” I can’t believe that I’ve agreed to help with this. I honestly just want to tell her to cancel the date, and suggest we watch a movie instead. But I could see the wheels in her head driving her crazy, and the hurt my reaction inflicted on her, and suddenly the most important thing for me was to make her feel better, so here I am, helping. I don’t know why I was so surprised that she’s never been on a date. We grew up together. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if she was dating anyone. Plus the fact that Marc is very protected of his little sister and everybody in high school and, even before that, knew it. They would have to go through him to get to her. On the other hand, Marc and I graduated a year before her, and I, for one, haven’t been keeping tabs on what happened back home for the last year. “So, you said you don’t know where you are going, right?” I ask, as I start to rummage through her closet. “No, I have no idea… he only told me that he’s picking me up here at 7.” She almost sighs in defeat. “Well have you tried asking him where he’s taken you? You know, guys aren’t that complicated.. most of the time you just have to ask.” I suggest. “Asking? See, that’s what I mean.. My brain is all mushy, I haven’t even thought of asking!” She does an eye roll. “I’ll text him right away.” She grabs her phone while I return to look in her closet, to see if I can find something for her to wear. She would have better luck with a girl helping her out, but here we are.

A moment passes before she puts her phone away again. “He’s taking me to the movies.” She smiles. Okay, movies, that should be easy enough, so something casual. I pull out a pair of tight light blue jeans with that washed look and tears on the knees and thighs, perfect. It takes me a minute to find a shirt that isn’t a hoodie or sweatshirt. It’s an oversized t-shirt with a band logo on the front. Maybe we can do something with this. I turn with the shirt in my hand. “Try this.” She looks at the shirt in my hand. “You want me to wear my dad’s old Queen’s shirt? On a date?” She looks from me to the shirt. “Just try it on.. I think it’s gonna look great… plus this shirt says a lot about you as a person.” She sighs, then takes the shirt from me, and the jeans I threw on the bed and head for the bathroom “whatever you say, sensei” she mumbles on the way, making me chuckle.

I’m sitting on her couch flicking through the channels on her TV when she comes out of her bedroom about an hour and a half later. I’m pretty sure I forget to breathe for a moment. She literally looks breathtaking! It’s just jeans and a shirt, but it’s not ‘just’ on her! She did something with the shirt. It’s now somehow tucked in under itself, and it being oversize makes it go down her shoulder, so I can see her bra strap. She has straitened her hair and, to the best of my knowledge, it looks like she put on a little makeup.. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her with straight hair, she always has those big luscious curls. It feels weird to admit this, but she looks sexy as hell. Marc would kill me if he knew what I was thinking right now.

“So, what do you think? I tied a nod on the hem of the shirt and tucked it in underneath.. does it look stupid?” She pulls me from my thoughts. “Yes, I mean no, you do not look stupid.. not at all actually.. you look um… good.” I have to swallow before saying the last word.. “you sure? You don’t sound sure.” She counters, looking a little panicky again.. “Yeah I’m sure.. You look great Jess, any guy would be lucky to go on a date with you..” I try to reassure her. I mean every word of it. I’ve always thought Jessie was beautiful no matter what she wore, and I actually prefer the curls, but this looks good too.. I just.. It feels like something has changed, and I can’t quite figure out what it is, or when it happened?! She smiles and starts to relax a little. she walks over to sit on the couch with me. She lets out a big breath “Um, Liam? Can I..I.. No, never mind.” She looks down at her hands on her lap. “What is it Peanut?” I give her a stern look, “just ask the question you want to ask.” “Well, since this is um.. my first date and all. I don’t know what to expect.. or rather what um.. he expects?” She’s knotting her hands in her lap and her eyes are on her fingers, I feel the nervousness radiating off of her. “Well I can tell you one thing, if he does anything that you are not comfortable with, I’ll teach him manners with my fists..” I can already feel the anger rising in me at just the thought of it. If he does anything to hurt just one little pretty hair on her head, I’ll f*cking kill the guy! I need to relax. I’m pretty sure that this is doing nothing to soothe her nerves. I try to laugh it off as some kind of joke.. “No, but really Jess. This is your first date, and you are just going to get to know each other better. Just be yourself, if he doesn’t fall for that alone, he’s not worth your time..” I put my hand on hers to stop the fidgeting. She looks up at me. “Peanut, you are a great person, you’re kind, interesting and too smart for your own good. You got this!” I give her a smile that I hope looks sincere. I mean every word I just said, but somehow I struggle to be okay with this whole date thing. She smiles back, so I think we’re okay here. “When did you say he was going to pick you up?” I ask. “In about an hour.” “Okay, let’s watch some TV, and just relax for a bit.” I suggest, clicking on the remote to find us something to watch. I find a channel showing one of the ‘Die hard’ movies and settle in on the couch. It’s quiet for a moment as we both watch the TV. “Thank you, Liam.” Jess says softly, it makes me smile…

*****

Jessie kicked me out of her apartment before buzzing Julian into the building. Now I’m standing here like an i***t looking through the peephole of our door, trying to see anything.. Coming up the stairs, Julian passes the door, he has flowers in his hands. He knocks on her door and I see Jess open the door with a big smile, taking the flowers when he offers them to her. She disappears with the flowers for a moment, and comes back to the door, closing it before they leave… I know that I don’t know this guy, but I sure as hell don’t like him…