Help a girl out.

Chapter Six.

Liam’s POV.

Jess got back with our coffees and took our orders, so now we’re just waiting for our food. Marc is talking about something that happened at the party after we left last night. To be honest, I’m only half listening, my attention going back and forth between this conversation and to where Jess is. She goes around the diner, taking orders and filling up coffee cups. Sometimes she looks our way and smiles. Right now she’s behind the counter talking and laughing with Lily. I never really noticed before, but her laugh is really beautiful.. Wait! Beautiful?? What the hell is with my thoughts today! Maybe I slept too long.. Yeah definitely.. That must be it! 

She is called over to another booth with a bunch of guys. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but they are saying something that is making her giggle.. I sort of hate that I don’t know what they are talking about, that makes her act like that. “Then she apparently stormed out!” Marc snort laughs, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Who? Who stormed out?” I ask, confused. “Heather! After Dylan told her you left the party early, and that he didn’t know where you went.” He continues to laugh.. “Oh.. Well, I’m just happy that I got out before she saw me.” I say. “Yeah man, that girl is some kind of cray-cray!” He states. He’s not wrong. Heather and I started dating in our last year of high school. She started out being this sweet, kind of shy girl that always seemed to be near us always, she was a cheerleader after all. When we had dated for about 5 months or so, she started acting all crazy, super clingy, and jealous af f*ck! I couldn’t even ask a girl for a piece of gum without her going on a total rampage. It just all got old real quick! One day she took her jealousy out on Jessie. I mean what the hell?! She didn’t deserve that, she was just my best friend’s little sister. I caught Heather standing in the hallway of our school, in front of a very scared looking Jess, screaming at her to stay away from her man or else.. I was so angry! I broke up with her right on the spot, and made sure that Jess got home okay, apologizing profusely all the way to their farm.. She was never supposed to get caught up in any of our relationship drama.. Anyway, the school year was almost over at that point, so I just went on ignoring Heather from that point, but since the universe clearly doesn’t like me, of course we are now all at the same college too. Only upside is, the campus is a lot bigger here, and it’s easy to avoid Heather, since we don’t share any of the same classes and also, she lives on campus, and has no idea where I live off campus. We’ve had some run-ins at parties and stuff, and every time there’s drama. I’m so over all the drama.

Again I’m pulled from my thoughts as a plate of pancakes is being put in front of me. “Thanks”, I look up at Jess and smile. “Don’t forget to leave a good tip.” She jokes and walks off again. We eat our food and after Marc is done flirting and making Lily turn her maybe to hang out later. With a definite plan, we went home.

*****

I hear the buzzer of the front door. I guess Lily is here. I love that my bro is happy and all, but I’m about to sit here in my room and listen to them fooling around in the room next door. There’s another party tonight, but I really don’t feel like going to a party right now. ugh! I know.. I could go over to Jess’ and see if she wants to see a movie or something. I know the girl loves movies and owns almost every movie known to man. I stand up and leave my room. Marc and Lily are on the couch talking.. “Hey guys.. I’m heading out..” I say as I pass them on my way to the door.. “Where are you going?” Marc stops me. “Just out..” I say, for some reason I don’t want to inform him of my plans to go to his sister’s. I don’t want him to get the wrong idea or anything. 

I close the door behind me and go across the hall and knock on her door. A minute goes by as I wait for her to open. I hear rustling on the other side, so I know she’s home. She finally opens the door looking somewhat confused. She’s wearing an oversized t-shirt and I spot some nightwear shorts underneath as the t-shirt rises with her arm on the door. Following my gaze down her body, she gets aware of her less than fully clothed state and quickly wraps her arms around her body, which only makes the t-shirt crawl higher. Clearing my throat and making my eyes meet hers, I say “So, um.. Your brother and Lily are in our apartment.. and honestly I’m not about to deal with all that, so i was wondering if you might want to watch a movie or something?” She covers her mouth to hide the giggle, probably because I’m seeking refuge from my own apartment. “Sure, come on in.. I’m um.. I’m just gonna put on some pants.” She moves towards her bedroom. “You don’t have to change on my account.” I call after her, shutting her front door and going over to sit on her couch. A minute later, she comes out with the same shirt and sweatpants covering all of her smooth legs. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. She joins me on the other end of the couch, and sits down with her legs tucked underneath her. “What do you want to watch?” She asks, grabbing the remote. “So… why do you do that?” I ignore the fact that she just asked me a question and ask my own, that for some reason is wracking my brain. “Do what?” She asks, looking puzzled. “You know.. Cover up all the time, always wearing sweats or big hoodies.. I mean.. the first time I saw you in anything else since we were kids, was today at the diner..” her expression tells me that she is both a little shocked and maybe also a little self-aware about my question. So I jump in and continue.. “I mean.. There’s nothing wrong with hoodies and big shirts.. You actually look cute in them… But sometimes it feels like you are ashamed or something.. And trust me when I say, you have nothing to be ashamed of!” I didn’t really mean to slip out the last part. Her face is turning bright red! “Sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” I state. “No..no I know.” She finally says something. “You don’t have to answer, It was a stupid question..” I should have stopped myself from asking in the first place, but it somehow hurts me to think that she is not confident in herself or even worse not comfortable around me, okay I don’t know if that’s worse, but I would hate that! She looks thoughtful for the longest minute, then she turns towards me on the couch. “I actually don’t really think that much about it.. I wear the shirts and hoodies, because they are comfortable and I guess I can be a little shy.” She shrugs before she continues “I started wearing them half through middle school when these…” she gestures to her chest “..started to grow, and one day a boy from my class made a comment about me being the only girl who had any and how the bumps under my shirt looked like I had stuffed them to make’em look bigger.. So the big shirts and hoodies helped hide them a bit, and then I just got used to wearing them. I convinced my dad that dresses made it hard to play, so he wouldn’t buy me any new ones…” She looks down for a moment, giving her head a little shake.. “Now that I say it out loud, it sounds kind of stupid.” She laughs a little. “..but, it’s the truth.. And the reason I just put on pants when you came in, is that you are my brother's best friend, and I didn’t think it was appropriate..” I feel kind of weird that she only sees me as her brother’s best friend. I’m her friend too, aren’t I? I mean I’ve known her just as long as I have Marc.

“Hey! I’m your friend too. I’ve known you since you were, what? 5 years old?!” She laughs. “Ha, you can’t tell me that you have not always seen me as Marc’s little ‘annoying’ sister! I clearly remember you guys shooing me away and running from me, cuz you knew I couldn’t keep up..” “Okay, okay you got me there.. But we were kids and girls had cooties..” I laugh with her.. “I actually think this is the first time that we hang out, just the two of us.. If you don’t count the time you took me home after Heather almost attacked me in the hallway of school.” She looks at me. “Sh’t you remember that.. talk about a crazy chick..” and we both laugh…