I Swear I Love You

When it came to Zacky and Coral saying their goodbyes to each other it seemed as if the world was in fact ending. The paired emerald souls of their eyes misted over as they stood by the boarding gate, clearly fighting the urge not to allow the tears to fall as they sorrowfully broke their embrace for the last time.

“Ring me when you’re home safe, okay?” Zacky murmured to her, his forehead resting against hers, eyes closed. “No matter what the time.”

“Okay,” she whispered back. They reluctantly parted as the last call for Coral’s flight echoed overhead. “That’s me.” Their hands slowly dropped from each other’s, cherishing each moment of their unbroken connection until her lilac nails skated from Zacky’s hand. She stepped towards her gate, boarding pass in hand, and hesitated. For a moment it looked like she didn’t want to go- well, she would have loved to stay but obviously because of work reasons she couldn’t- but her head soon turned away from where Zacky stood and she soon disappeared into her gate. Zacky watched her until the very last moment and for a few more after that before he begrudgingly trudged back onto the bus, his mood significantly lower than it had been that morning.

“Coral gone?” Logan asked as Zacky dragged himself up the steps. Despite not knowing of the diversion no one seemed to mind adding a few hours to the journey so that Zacky could say goodbye to his Australian half, even if that did mean they had to wait for the past couple of hours in New York airport coach park.

His reply was swift, in time with the step he used to pass the driver. “Yeah.”

Logan pretty much guessed that Zacky wasn’t in a talkative mood from that. “Alright.” He turned his head and yelled down the walkway which Zacky was following to the back. “We’re heading off so hold your asses!”

There was a slight stumble as the bus took off before Zacky had managed to slump onto the nearest couch, but not even that minor irritation could force its way through his severely depressive exterior.

“How are you feeling honey?” Val asked as he sat down opposite her, next to Brian. Jimmy was non-existent from the group, as was Matt and Johnny. “Did Coral get on her flight okay?”

Zacky responded slightly friendlier to Val than he had to Logan. “Yeah, she did.” He heaved a loud sigh. “I wish she didn’t have to go.”

Val awhed. “You like her!”

He grumbled something incoherent at first, before speaking more clearly. “Where’s Rev?” Val’s sigh in conjunction with her brief glance to Brian’s sulking form opposite her seemed to provide the answer. “Still out back?”

She nodded glumly. “Matt and Johnny are with him, trying to calm him down.”

“He’s still upset?”

“Well… upset is one way to put it,” Val said slowly. “After you and Coral left… well… he kind of flipped. Started ranting about something before he turned and almost punched a hole in the door.” His eyes followed hers to the unmistakable dent in the door conforming to the human hand, with spider-like cracks flowing from it, splintering the paint work.

“Shit… Rev did that?”

“He could have done worse… I’ve never seen him so angry before. It’s like someone just flipped a switch on him or something.”

To their side, Brian snorted. “Just shows his real character that does. Can’t even control himself- what would that say about how he would treat someone?”

“Brian…” Val warned.

He huffed again. “Just sayin’.”

“Well just sayin’ isn’t helping anything right now,” Val chided. “Perhaps if you hadn’t provoked him-”

“I did no such thing!”

“Oh come off it Brian, you’ve done something to set him off, I mean he was glaring at you the whole ride up here! Plus then there is last time-”

“Last time has nothing to do with this time,” Brian said haughtily. “He just needs to learn to control his temper.”

“Or perhaps you need to learn to control your actions.”

Zacky simply stared at the two of them. “Wait- what last time?”

Brian looked away from his gaze while Val rose to it. “Mr. Badass here,” she said mockingly, “managed to push Jimmy over the edge last time and ended up with a busted wrist. You know, that time when Jimmy punched him in Florida?”

“Yeah, ‘course. Rev gave him a black eye.” He frowned. “I never knew about the wrist thing though.” His gaze flickered to Brian’s flitting one. “You never told me anything about that.”

He shrugged carelessly. “It wasn’t your problem.”

“It fucking would be if it meant you couldn’t play!”

He shrugged again, turning away. “It didn’t happen, so it doesn’t matter.”

Zacky simply stared at him. “What the fuck has gotten into you?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing my ass,” Zacky retorted. “Is this because of what Coral said?” He watched as Brian’s shoulders tensed, providing the only indicator of his emotions as his facial expression remained forcibly flat. “It is, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter-”

“Of course it does! What the hell are we going to do if you and Rev decide to go at each other, hm? It’s not like we can choose sides! In the middle of a tour as well-”

“Well if Coral hadn’t said anything, then this wouldn’t have happened!” Brian shot back, for once showing a bit of anger past his prior expressionless mask. His voice rose as he continued. “I don’t need to hear that Jess is married to him, okay? It’s not like I don’t already know!”

“Then why did it matter that she said it again?”

“Because I wanted it to be me!”

A stunned silence overtook both Val and Zacky, simply staring at him. “You… you what?”

“I wanted it to be me,” he repeated flatly, his eyes drifting to the window behind him. “Why couldn’t I have been the one to be married to her? If that had happened then…”

“Then?”

“Then I never would have needed to feel like this.”

“Like what?” Val asked softly, knowing that she just needed to give him a little push before his answer broke his steely exterior.

“Like I’m not the only person good enough for her.” He sighed despondently, bringing his gaze back to the party. “Jimmy’s been my friend for years… I never could take anything from him. Not even her.”

“Jess?”

“Yeah.” He sighed again. “I knew he liked her. I didn’t need him punching the shit out of me to know it either. I just… I just didn’t want to believe it, you know? To know that there was someone else-”

“For a girl you loved ever since kindergarten,” Val finished, barely even breathing the words as she looked pitifully at him. “Why did you never tell her before?”

“I was young… how was I supposed to know what I felt?”

“I guess so,” Val conceded. “But there must have been something… a time when you knew?”

“Oh yeah, of course.”

“So why didn’t you say it then?”

A sad smile ghosted his lips as his eyes wandered back to the passing scenery outside, almost as if he was questioning himself that same thing. “Because the time I realised was when Jess boarded her plane to Australia all those years ago…” He chuckled softly. “And I’ve regretted not telling her before then ever since.”

“So why can’t you tell her now?”

“Because I realised something else.”

“And what’s that?”

“I said it before. I won’t do that to Rev. I can’t.” He sighed. “Even for her.”

Zacky and Val exchanged solemn looks as the depressed guitarist fell silent, clearly not willing to participate in any more conversation from his rigid posture, probably even if they pressed him further. Not that either of them wanted to do it to him. Even without saying or doing anything, they knew how much it hurt him to finally confront himself and express the true nature of his conflicting thoughts.

The eternal dilemma of the girl or the friend.

--

“Are you finished?”

The rest of the band that composed Avenged Sevenfold inhabited the room on the back of the bus, with Johnny and Matt exchanging weary looks as Jimmy paced the length of the room once again. He had been at it for a good few hours now, from when they first touched down in the airport parking lot to now, half an hour since leaving said parking lot.

Jimmy stopped in front of Matt to say one word, before resuming his pace again. “No.”

Matt groaned loudly and fell backwards, his back hitting the bed with his arms resting over his eyes. Johnny was a bit less expressive in his annoyance than his fellow singer, instead choosing to go with a lighter approach. “Come on Jim; you’ve been at this for ages. Why don’t you just tell us what’s wrong?”

His sudden stop surprised Johnny. “Why don’t you say what you think is wrong?”

“Wh-what?” He wasn’t expecting that. “Well I…”

After his brief hesitation Jimmy shrugged and resumed pacing again, leading to an even louder groan from Matt. He rolled forward back to a seated position, producing a low, irritated growl. “Can you please stop it?”

“Stop what?” He asked in time with his turn when he could go no further and had to pace back the other way.

“All this walking!” Matt grabbed a pillow from behind him on the bed and aimed for the drummer’s head, which simply ducked and carried on walking. “It’s doing my nut in!”

“I’m not asking you to stay here.”

“Oh don’t use that against me,” he sighed. In the end Matt simply stuck out his leg as Jimmy approached the bed, sending him crashing rather ungracefully to the floor. For once in the past three hour period he actually showed some anger as he picked himself to a seated position on the floor and dusted down his pants.

“What the fuck did you do that for?!”

“Got you talking, didn’t it?” He reached down and hauled Jimmy back onto his feet before shuffling back to the other end of the bed so he could perch on the end. “Come on, out with it. What’s going on?” At first he seemed reluctant to do anything, even appearing ready to resume his insufferable pacing once again had Matt not pounced on him, pinning him to the bed. “Oh no. Hell no. You are not going back to that.”

“Shads get off-”

“No.” Matt forcibly pushed Jimmy’s arms behind his back and sat on his chest so that he had no way of escape. “Not until you tell us what is wrong with you.”

He simply stared up at him. “Nothing is wrong with me.” He tried to wriggle out from underneath Matt’s weight but could barely even successfully navigate an inch. “Matt get your fat ass off me!”

Matt shook his head and grinned. “No. But I’ll have you know my ass is fabulous. You probably could bounce a quarter off it.” He cheekily reached into his pocket and produced the aforementioned coin. “Wanna try?”

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “I’ll pass. Can you actually get off me? I can’t fucking breathe!”

“Not until you say what’s wrong.”

Jimmy growled in irritation. “For fuck’s sake Matt, get OFF!” He somehow managed to gather his knees to his chest, even with Matt’s weight barrier, and suddenly straightened out his legs and essentially kicked Matt off to the floor. He followed this up by then pouncing on him, attempting to pin down the bulk of the singer but not doing too well with it. Instead it changed the situation into a sort of playful wrestling match as the rolled around on the floor. Johnny simply shook his head and shifted back on the bed, before reaching out to the bedside table for the tv remote and flicking it on, absent-mindedly changing between the channels and leaving his band-mates to it.

Eventually the pair stopped and the two of them broke apart, both with breathless grins as they slumped back against the side of the bed. “You know Matt, if those drawers weren’t in the way I would’ve had ya.”

Matt chuckled, reaching over and clapping him on the shoulder. “Next time Rev, I’m sure. Now.” He rolled his head to him. “Come on. Out with it. You’ve got the stress out, so now down to business.”

Jimmy groaned. “Do we really have to talk about this?”

Both Johnny and Matt replied in unison, “Yes,” neither sounding remotely impressed that they had to say it either.

For a moment they thought he was about to get up and start pacing again, but it seemed his minor wrestling match with Matt had drained him of his energy to partake in the activity again. “Fine.” Jimmy exhaled a loud sigh. “What do you want to know?”

Matt shrugged. “Whatever’s going on. You haven’t been acting like yourself Jim- it’s freaking me out.”

“Ah come on, I haven’t been acting that weird.”

From behind them Johnny snorted. “Yeah right. You completely flipped back there- you nearly punched a hole clean through the door!”

“Better than punching a hole through someone else though…” Jimmy muttered darkly.

“Huh? Did you say something?”

“Oh, nothing!” Jimmy said quickly, clearly not wanting them to know his distaste for his fellow band-mate. That wouldn’t go down well. “So uh… What do you want to know?”

“What the hell got into you back there would be nice.”

When Jimmy didn’t answer Johnny decided to initiate the conversation with a question. Or rather, a stab at the answer Jimmy was unwilling to give. “Is it Jess?” Since Jimmy’s shoulders tensed and he looked away Johnny guessed he was right. “Looks like I hit the nail on the head, eh?”

“It’s nothing-”

“Come on Jim; we may not be chicks but we are your friends,” Matt said, looking at his friend in concern. “I may be the last person who knows about all these chick problems but I won’t turn my back on you- not when I know something’s up. None of us would.”

A small smile peeked out from the corners of his lips. “That means a lot.”

“Yeah well, it’s true,” Matt said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “But don’t make me say it again otherwise I’ll feel like I should just throw away my balls and call it a day!”

Jimmy laughed. “Fair enough.”

“So just that my lame-ass speech isn’t wasted,” he began, connecting eyes with Jimmy, “What’s going on between you and Jess? I thought things were good between you two- you seemed alright every time I’ve seen you together.”

“Well… we have.”

“So what’s wrong then?”

“Well…”

In the end it was Johnny again to offer up the answer. “It’s Brian… isn’t it?” And once again he didn’t need Jimmy’s verbal confirmation to know he was right. “There has been something going on between you two ever since Orlando.”

Matt turned back to the young bassist. “Like what?” He turned back to Jimmy. “I know you tore Gates a new one for fucking Jess about that one time, but I thought you got over that?”

“It’s hard to forget sometimes.” He crossed his arms over his chest as if he were trying to rein something in. “I mean come on; he was such a dick to her then!”

“Well he apologised didn’t he?”

“Well yeah, but that’s beside the point,” he said. “He shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”

“Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Not to your fucking friend you don’t!” Jimmy yelled, throwing up his hands. “Not about someone you fucking care about!”

Johnny frowned at his outburst. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to Jim-”

“If it weren’t for this band I would have fucking ended him!”

“Come on Jim, you’re being unreasonable,” Johnny said, looking worriedly at Matt. “You’ve been friends for years- fuck, you were the one who asked him to join-”

“I don’t fucking care anymore!” He pushed himself to his feet and grabbed the first thing he could and threw it at the wall. Thankfully it was only one of Matt’s many baseball caps so it didn’t break, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still annoyed he had done it. “You don’t do that!”

“Jim you need to calm down-”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Jimmy roared, turning sharply to the now-standing singer. He may not be as well-built as Matt but he towered over him in height. “I’m not going to sit back and watch some fucker treat that girl like dirt!”

“I’m not asking you to!” Matt retorted, suddenly reaching out and clamping his arms on his friend’s shoulders to prevent him from moving. “What the fuck is going on with you? Why does Jess matter so much to you?”

“Because I love her!” His hands eyes suddenly widened in alarm as he realised what he had just yelled at them after seeing a similar shocked expression in his friends.

“You… Wait what?” Matt spluttered. “You what?!”

“I didn’t say anything-”

“Don’t play stupid you know what you just said!” Jimmy turned away. “Did you say what I just think you did? Jim! Talk to me!”

Eventually he replied, but it came marginally lower in volume. “I said I love her.”

“That’s what I thought,” Matt said slowly, sinking back onto the bed and looking up at his friend. “Are you sure about that? I mean you’re divorcing the girl!”

“Well yeah I know but…” He slumped down next to Matt. “I dunno. It just… Well…” He shrugged. “It just feels right, you know? No other chick I’ve been with is like her. She’s just… I dunno.”

“Special?” The pair of them turned back in surprise back to Johnny. “Like she’s your best friend and girlfriend, all rolled into one?”

“That’s one way of putting it. Where the hell did you hear that anyway? Sounds like something you’d read in one of Val’s magazines.”

Johnny grinned. “There wasn’t anything else to read.”

Jimmy rolled his eyes as Matt laughed. “Guessed as much.”

“Well what else is there to do in between shows?” Johnny replied with a shrug. “If we’re stuck on the road I’ll go for anything.”

“Anything but read those shitty things, that’s for sure,” Jimmy retorted. “I wondered why the hell there was a ton of them around the bunks all the time. I thought Brian had been reading ‘em.”

“You should try reading them sometimes- then you might not act like such a girl when you try to say something.”

Jimmy opened his mouth to protest, but clearly had nothing to say other than a disgruntled, “Fuck off,” as the other two simply roared with laughter.

Meanwhile on the other side of the door Jess had been standing silently as she debated with herself when to knock and interrupt their conversation. It had been a good hour or so that she had been there, at first not knocking in an attempt to pluck up the courage to meet with someone else other than the curtained-off bunk since the argument between Brian and Jimmy had kicked off, but now it was simply because they had begun talking- and she had heard everything. Her cheeks were tinged with two thin trails of tears, dripping constantly to form a couple of small puddles by her feet.

“He…” She couldn’t even bring herself to repeat it. A tremble slowly overcame her as she clutched her hands to her chest, just trying to calm the tremors that were plaguing her. At some point she must have sniffed or coughed or made some sort of noise since the laughter in the room suddenly stopped, and before she could move the door opened in front of her.

“Jess?” Matt’s grin swiftly dropped as she looked fearfully up at him, tear-stained and trembling, and changed to concern. “What’s wrong Jess?”

She took one look into the room behind him and saw Jimmy’s fallen expression and quickly shook her head and ran off before he could even get to his feet from the bed. Unfortunately at the same time to complicate her problems further Brian, Zacky and Val emerged from the entertainment lounge, and she suddenly was caught between the two concerned stares of two smitten males. However before either of the parties could act the bathroom door hid her from sight once again, leaving the entire bus shrouded in a confused silence.

Jimmy reached Matt’s side and instant after witnessing the door close, soon turning his attention to the singer. “What the hell was wrong with Jess?”

Matt could only shrug. “No idea. She was upset over something though.”

At roughly the same time Brian asked the same thing to Zacky and Val to his sides, but much like Matt they hadn’t seen much either. This led to Brian and Jimmy locking eyes and they then both knew what had to happen. Neither of them knew about each other’s epiphany’s in their respective rooms, but considering Brian’s was the more submissive of the two, he was the first to walk on over.

“Do you know what’s wrong with Jess?” Brian asked, speaking as calmly as he could so that another argument wasn’t started between them. They did have the other half of the tour still to go. “I just saw her run out of the room where you were…”

“She wasn’t with us!” Jimmy shot back defensively. His tone came out perhaps harsher than even he intended from his shocked expression, especially when he guiltily looked away and apologised. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to shout.”

Brian shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Did she say what was wrong or…?”

“Nope. Matt just opened the door then she ran off.”

“Oh.” Brian shifted on his feet uncomfortably. “Do you want to go see what’s wrong or…”

“Well if you don’t want to I can-”

“I think as the only female and an innocent bystander, I should go, don’t you think?” Val interjected, smiling brilliantly at the pair of them. “After all, with all the tension on this bus at the moment thankful to you two I think it’ll be best if someone else goes, hm?”

While they didn’t seem happy about it in the slightest, the pair of them muttered vague agreements to her suggestion. Then again considering her normal role in these situations as peacekeeper she probably would have been the one to speak to Jess first regardless. However this time it was slightly different- while she sent both Jimmy and Brian back to the entertainment lounge with Johnny and Matt she decided to keep Zacky with her, something she didn’t actually give him a reason for.

“Jess?” She said softly, rattling quietly on the bathroom door. “It’s me and Zacky. Can we come in?”

When there wasn’t a reply Val turned to Zacky with a frown, who simply shrugged and asked, “Did you try the door?” He reached over and pressed down on the handle and much to both Val’s and his surprise- even though he suggested the action he didn’t actually believe anything would happen from it- the door opened.

“Jess?” Her tone was tentative as she crept into the bathroom ahead of Zacky; just in the off-chance she was having a shower. Unlikely, of course, but under the common rules of decency they thought they might as well. When the coast was clear she called him in, the door falling shut behind him before he looked forward to where Jess was sitting on top of the toilet lid after she had closed it. Val was already leaning against the sink, simply looking worriedly at Jess, clearly not knowing what to say. It wasn’t like she was getting any hints either; not when Jess was simply staring at her hands. There wasn’t even any emotion. Just Jess, her hands, and her gaze fixated upon them.

It carried on like this until finally one of them spoke, but oddly enough it wasn’t from either the third-party spectators, but from the source itself. “Why do things have to get complicated? Why couldn’t they just stay the same?”

Zacky looked up from where he had been staring absent-mindedly out the window; his back leant against the door. “Complicated? How have they done that?”

“I overheard something.”

At that moment Zacky and Val’s concerned gazes connected before he continued. “You… overheard something?”

She nodded.

“What did you hear?”

“I heard…” She stopped and shook her head. “No… No I must have been mistaken. Ignore me.”

“Jess…” Val crouched down in front of her so that she could catch Jess’ eyes hidden behind her sheet of hair. “Something’s wrong. Why don’t you tell us? We might be able to help.”

“I know I’m a guy, but I like to think that Coral has given me a lot of tricks for advice,” Zacky added, laughing lightly. “I might actually be of some use you know.”

“Oh I know, it’s just…” She sighed. “Complicated.” She looked wearily to Zacky. “I don’t mean to be rude but…”

His shoulders slumped. “Don’t worry Jess, I get it. You think I’ll go off and tell it to the others, right?”

When she bowed her head apologetically, he knew he had hit the mark. “I just didn’t want you to be put in that position. To lie to them.”

“And what, Val won’t have to do the same?”

Jess looked away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

Zacky sighed and crossed his arms across his chest. “I know they’re my friends but you are my friend too Jess. If you don’t want me to say anything, then I won’t. Otherwise, feel free to kick my ass.”

Jess laughed. “I couldn’t do that.”

“Well, I’m sure Coral would gladly do it for you,” Zacky chuckled, “I mean she did say to me before she left that I better look after you while she’s gone.”

“She did?” Jess smiled. “She said the same to me.”

“Coral asked you to look after me?” Zacky grinned. “I think as we are now I think it’s my turn to do the looking after, don’t you think?”

“I guess so,” Jess relented. Rather ironically, without her knowledge she proceeded with the conversation much like her debatable husband had. “So what do you want to know?”

Zacky shrugged. “Whatever is on your mind?”

“Actually…” Val began, “I kind of want to know what you were on about earlier.”

“Earlier?”

“You know… what you overheard?”

“Oh.” Her gaze flickered absent-mindedly across the floor and walls, before it eventually settled upon a small blemish on the bathroom door handle. “When I was sitting in Brian’s bunk, I heard Jimmy go past. He was yelling about something- something Brian had done.”

Val and Zacky exchanged looks. “Did you hear what that something was?”

They sighed with relief when she shook her head. “No. I couldn’t really make out exactly what he was saying.”

“So what did you hear?” Val murmured.

“I…” She paused for a few brief seconds, as if she were building up the courage to push out the words that were troubling her. “I heard Jimmy, Matt and Johnny talking in your room. They were trying to find out what made Jimmy so angry before, but he wouldn’t say at first.”

“At first?”

“He kept on saying he was fine, but after a while he said-” She choked on her own words then, seemingly unable to verbally relay the memory to the other two. “He… He said…” Her legs began to tremble as she tried again and again to say it, not even able to control them when she forced her hands down on them. “He…” By now her eyes were flooded with tears, unable to hold them back as they streamed freely across the contours of her cheeks until they hit the tiled floor beneath her feet.

“Jess…” Keeping true to his word Zacky pushed off from his stance against the door to Jess’ side, curling his hand caringly upon her shaking leg. “It’s okay. If you can’t say then don’t force yourself.”

After a sharp intake of breath Jess looked up at him, a grateful expression barricading any further tears from escaping her eyes. “Thank you Zacky.” She sighed. “It’s alright. It’s just that hearing it…”

“Shocked you?” Zacky offered helpfully.

She smiled. “That’s one way to put it.” Her smile dropped as she paused for a few moments, slowly losing its strength in the silence. “I… I just don’t know if what I heard was actually what was said.”

“So you’re not even sure?” Val asked.

“Well…” She looked at her hands briefly. There was no doubt in her mind what was said, it was just that she rather it was a mistake. If it was, it would certainly make the next month or so on tour bearable. “I could’ve heard it wrong.”

“So there might not even be any need to worry,” Zacky said. “So come on- what did you hear?”

“Well I probably misheard it but…” She paused just for a moment to take a breath and steady her composure in order to carry on. “I thought I heard Jimmy say he loved me.” She chuckled nervously, her eyes darting between Val and Zacky. “It’s stupid, right?” Her laughter died as she realised their faces weren’t reflecting the shock she was expecting, but rather a grim, ominous atmosphere. “R…right?”

Val was quicker than Zacky to regain control over her expression and quickly converted to a large smile. “Ah, you never know Jess! Then again, Jimmy has gone around yelling that he loves Fruit Loops before, and even Johnny once actually- although that was after quite a long drinking session if I remember rightly.” She glanced at Zacky, who had only just begun to find a more suitable expression. “That was while we were on Warped, wasn’t it?”

Zacky blinked at her. “Huh? Oh yeah… I think it was.”

“I wouldn’t let it bother you Jess,” Val said cheerfully, pushing away from her perch near the sink. “You can’t be sure anyway, so why think about it?”

Jess cracked a sincere smile. “I guess you’re right.” She laughed- happily this time. “I’m such an idiot, getting all worked up over nothing, right?”

“We’ve all done it,” Val replied, moving towards the door. “Shall we go outside? Unless you like sitting in here of course… It is the only bathroom we have on the bus though.”

“I think I should probably get out of here- I don’t want a repeat of my birthday,” Jess chuckled, twisting to turn to the mirror behind her where she rubbed at the faint black trails staining her cheeks. She turned back after she was satisfied with her appearance. “Better?”

“You look much more like the bubbly Jessica I’ve come to know,” Val said warmly, depressing the door handle and opening out their secluded conversation to the others. Since she couldn’t see them when she looked out she guessed they must be clustered around the television further down, which meant that Jess wouldn’t be as anxious to walk out then if they were still on the other side. She did however purposely hang back and not walk down to join the rest of the gang, just to make sure Jess wouldn’t freak out or anything. After all, she was in the middle of a love war, and definitely everything was not fair about it.