Jessica sighed as her house came into view. The night was officially over. For some reason, that made her sad.
Lance parked the car on her driveway and got out, opening the door for Jessica to get out. She got out, thanking him. Lance grabbed her hand lightly as they walked up to the door.
After a couple seconds of silence, Jessica spoke. “Thank you.”
Lance looked up. “For what?”
“Everything. No one has ever done anything so sweet for me before,” she said softly.
“That’s a sad thing,” Lance said, “but I’m glad to be the first.”
Jessica smiled. “Bye.”
Lance returned her smile. “Bye.”
Then, on in impulse, Lance kissed her cheek gently. His lips lingered for a brief second, then parted. Lance smiled brightly, his green eyes shimmering. “I’ll see you.”
Jessica blinked as he walked down the driveway to his awaiting car. “Wait!”
He looked up.
“Tomorrow.”
Lance nodded, his smile growing wider. “Tomorrow.”
With that he got into this car, waved, then sped off into the night.
Jessica leaned on the door in surprise. She touched her cheek where he kissed it. ‘Whoa’
After that she turned to the door and opened it. “I’m home.”
“We’re in here,” her mother called back.
Jessica made her way to the living room, where she thought her mother’s voice came from. Sure enough, there she and her husband were, sitting on the couch.
“How was your date?” Mark asked.
She smiled at the memory. “It was…wonderful.”
Arianna smiled. “I see that Jessica Marie.”
“See what?” she asked her mother.
“That gleam in your eyes,” Arianna smiled. “Never seen it there before. I come to one conclusion and one conclusion only.”
“And what’s that mother?”
“You truly did have a wonderful time with that young man.”
“For once,” Jessica smiled, “you know what I’m talkin’ about.”
Mark laughed.
“Goodnight mom. Goodnight daddy.”
“Night sweetheart.”
Jessica climbed up the stairs to her room, and stopped when she heard giggles behind the door. She rolled her eyes. ‘Not again.’ Pretending not to notice, she opened the door. Her jaw dropped when she saw all her friends lying on sleeping bags on the floor.
“Slumber party?” she questioned. Before they could reply, she cried out, “SHUT!”
“What is it?” they asked, knowing Jessica said ‘shut’ instead of ‘shit’ to cut down on swearing.
“I left my purse at Lance’s house!”
“His house? You went to his HOUSE?”
“That wasn’t the kind of support I was looking for,” Jessica sighed.
Kate sat up. “So…”
“So…what?” Jessica asked, letting her hair down.
“How’d it go?” they asked in unison.
Jessica rolled her eyes. “Why should I tell you?”
“COME ON!”
“Do you have a right to barge into my personal life?” she asked, ignoring their pleas.
“YES now COME on!” they shouted.
“Did you guys practice this?” Jessica asked, in awe of they synchronicity.
“Shut up and get on with it!”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” she said, getting hopeful stares from her friends. “Never ride on horses near candles. You’ll regret it.”
They groaned.
“What is up with this Jess?” Claire complained. “Every other date you’d tell us what happened! What’s so different about this one?”
“Maybe…cuz I WAS DARED TO DO IT?” Jessica tried.
“Quit with that dare thing,” Ally huffed. “It’s just a dare.”
“Fine. I’ll tell you that we went horseback riding, ate, and went to an amusement park. That’s it. Nothing more.” Jessica turned back and looked for her pajamas.
“You went to an amusement park?” Jada asked. “Horses? What kind of date is that?”
Jessica fought the urge to say ‘a good one’ and just sighed. “Whatever you guys. Just go to sleep.”
“Are you seeing him tomorrow?” Kate asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
“How else am I supposed to get my purse back?” she asked, smiling.
The girls looked at each other.
“What? You trying to find ANOTHER guy to set me up with?”
Jada grinned.
Jessica became pale. “What’d you do?”
Claire reached behind her back and handed Jessica a piece of paper. The same piece of paper that Jessica had signed 3 days ago.
“What’s the con…” she trailed off, finally noticing the writing at the bottom. “What is up your guys’ butts?!”
Jada looked at the rest of them knowingly. “See? Didn’t I tell ya?”
“An hour? That’s it?” Jessica laughed. “You guys kill me.”
“What?” they asked, confused she was laughing. Their prediction was that she’d be furious and kicked them out.
Jessica shook her head. “This is gonna be too easy. Well, gotta go change, see ya!”
She left the room with a click of the door.
“What was that?”
*-*-*
Lance parked the car in the garage and got out. He walked up to the door and heard voices. “No don’t tell me…”
“Hey Lance.”
Lance groaned. “I knew it.”
“What?” Justin asked. “Not happy to see us?”
“You ruined my mood.”
“Your lovey dopey mood you mean?” JC asked, smirking.
Lance glared at him. “Who let you in?”
“Your mom.”
“I’m gonna talk to her later.”
“No really Lance,” Joey interrupted. “How did your date go?”
“It was good.”
Lance put down his keys on the table when he saw a familiar purse. He picked it up. “Looks like she left her purse here.”
The guys looked at each other. “So you gonna return it?”
“Duh. It’s hers.”
“What’d you do on that date?” Chris asked, nudging Lance with his elbow.
“Funny,” Lance said, climbing up the stairs.
“What’d you do?” they chorused.
“Had fun.”
“Maybe it has something to do with the Christmas lights outside,” JC smiled, looking out the window.
“Definitely.”
Lance shook his head and went the rest of the way to his room. Although it was midnight, he was wide awake. He sighed and gripped his head in his hands. He pinched himself, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming of that night. Lance smiled when it actually hurt. “Finally. A dream actually comes true.”
*-*-*
Jessica looked at the clock and groaned. “God it’s 3. Why can’t I sleep?”
She glanced at her friends, who were fast asleep. Her eyes fell on her CD player. She picked it up and set it on radio. Slipping on her headphones, she listened to the song presently playing.
"
…it makes me wonder what you’re thinking of cuz
Baby you’re always on my mind
And right now I want you with me here by my side
With me till the end of time
I just can’t help myself I’m fallin’ in love with you
Love… love
It doesn’t matter what you say or what you do
No matter what you say, no matter what you do
Just give me a chance and I know I’ll make you understand
Why… I just can’t help myself I’m falling in love with you…
-Nobody’s Angel “I Just Can’t Help Myself”
Jessica closed her eyes and finally drifted to sleep, a pair of twinkling green orbs dancing in her dreams.