Priceless

“WHAT?!”

I really couldn’t blame Tasha and Rachael for reacting that way. Even I was shocked, but it was to the point that I couldn’t speak for a moment. My eyes and mouth were both wide open, as I slowly replayed Jess’ words in my mind: I slept with Kennedy on New Year’s Eve.

“Why would you do that?” Rachael exclaimed, her voice really getting squeaky as she stood up from Jess’ couch and faced the latter. “I mean, seriously—you can’t go from not talking to suddenly sleeping with him!”

“I don’t know.” Jess looked aggravated as she grabbed her red cup from the table and brought it to her lips. “It just happened. It’s all Brian’s fault! If he didn’t host that party, Kennedy wouldn’t have gotten the chance to give me a midnight kiss, and it wouldn’t have progressed from that.”

“And let me guess,” Tasha started, “As soon as you realized what you’d done, you grabbed the opportunity to leave while he was still asleep?”

Jess just nodded, looking ashamed of what had happened. I was still quiet. Surprisingly, Erin was, too. She was just sitting there, watching the two girls shake their heads at Jess and tsk.

I really didn’t know what to say. What was Kennedy’s motive, really? None of us had talked to him about this, mainly because he sort of refused to have any deep conversations with anyone. After that talk he had with Jess, he had seemingly grown quieter.

Which could only mean one thing: he had feelings for Jess.

That, or he was just really messed-up right now that he thought he wanted Jess, or maybe he just wanted to find the best version of Gabi. I really didn’t know the answer. I had no mind-reading powers, though I wish I had.

“Okay, wait,” Erin said, finally speaking up. “Let’s backtrack for a while. You told us he kissed you that night on our Halloween Party, right?”

Jess nodded. “Yes, but I didn’t let the kiss deepen. I pushed him away.”

“And then he started hooking up with random chicks on tour, and they sent you to talk to him,” Erin added. “And he stopped that stupidity after you talked to him, right?”

Once again, Jess nodded. “Yeah.”

“And you ended that conversation by walking away from him?”

“Well, he wanted to talk about the kiss we had,” Jess blurted out. “I didn’t want to get hurt. I knew it was nothing to him—I didn’t want to hear him say that out loud.”

Tasha looked like she was in deep thought. “Wait, but after that talk he was kind of awkward with you, right?”

“That’s probably because I yelled that I never wanted to talk to him ever again,” Jess said in a low voice.

“Did he like, try to talk to you before he kissed you on New Year’s Eve?” I asked, finally finding my voice. Jess looked at me and shook her head.

“Nope. I was just in the guest room, looking for Tasha, and then he came up to me and kissed me, and well, one thing led to another,” she replied.

“Did he call you after that?” questioned Rachael.

Jess nodded and bit her lip. “I didn’t answer his calls, though. And I deleted all his texts.”

“Before or after you’ve read them?” Tasha asked, eyebrows raised.

This time Jess glanced at each of us before she sighed answered, “Before.”

Tasha, Rachael, Erin and I groaned. “Jess, he likes you!” Tasha exclaimed, pulling on her own hair. “He’s probably just scared to admit it to you or something, especially since you keep on running away from him!”

“Listen, I can’t live on probably or what-not. And I don’t wanna get hurt. Not anymore. I’m done with that. So I’ll just—I’ll just go on with my own life, and not talk to him, and—”

Jess was cut off by Tasha. “Love’s about taking risks, Jess,” she cut in, with hand gestures. “And for once, you gotta do that. You have to talk to him. you might be the one for him, who knows?”

“Might. I told you, I don’t do...unsure stuffs anymore. I don’t wanna get hurt in the end,” Jess defended, shrugging. She looked down and bit her lip. “Kennedy’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”

We all kept shut after that, and I got lost in my own thoughts. Was Stephen a risk I was willing to take? Honestly, I didn’t know the answer to that yet. It was too complicated for me; because if I did take that risk, chances were I would get hurt, Mom would interfere, and etc. Plus some of the fans who would probably hate me if they found out I was dating him, hypothetically speaking.

“I still believe it’s a chance you should take,” Tasha commented, nodding to herself. Erin and Rachael concurred by nodding as well, and then the conversation went on.

After a while, we decided to just watch a movie. I was far from focused, though. I clutched my phone tightly in my hand, deciding whether or not to just give Alex a call, ask him out, and then let him go.

~~~

I took a deep breath before I stepped forward and knocked at Mom's office. Erin's birthday celebration was starting tonight, and we were all excited about it. But I was nervous as well, for I didn't know what my mother was gonna say about this, considering she had seen me with Stephen at the rooftop. She could assume I'd be running off with Stephen and use Erin's birthday as an excuse. Or she could deprive me from leaving the house for sleepovers. Or, she could let me go and not say a thing about Stephen.

"Come in," she called, and I took another deep breath before I turned the knob and entered. She was obviously engrossed on her designs, because her forehead was creased and her eyes were focused on her desk.

"Hey, Mom," I began softly, not sure how to put it in. "It's—um, it's Erin's birthday tomorrow."

"Get my card and buy her a gift." Her tone was dismissive, but I wasn't about to give up.

"I already have a gift for her," I started. "But, um...the celebration's tonight until tomorrow morning..." I trailed off as she set her pencil down and turned her head to me. Her expression didn't change.

"And who will her guests be?" she asked sternly.

Of course, at that point, honesty wasn't an option. "The Nickelsens," I quickly said. "And then a few close friends of hers—Jess, Tasha, and Rachael."

Mom tilted her head to the side. "Does Erin know who that boy is, Bailey?"

I held my breath. I already knew who she was referring to, of course.

Her voice wasn't accusing, though. She was just asking, but it had a bit of a powerful edge to it. But well, it was my mom, she was programmed to talk that way.

"No." Like I said, honesty wasn't an option. "She doesn't."

She was quiet for a moment, seemingly thinking it through. She clasped her hands together, and then furrowed her brows together. "Are you telling the truth?"

Hell no. But it's not like you open up to me either, I thought, but physically, I gulped. "Yes, Mom," I said, my voice full of conviction.

She stared at me. Her eyes seemed to study every bit of my features. She looked like she was silently judging me, and by the looks of it, I was something negative in her eyes.

The minute dragged on, and I didn't say nor do anything. It wasn't like I knew how to lighten the situation anyway. I couldn't do anything but wait for her decision and hope for the best.

She let out a huge sigh, and to my surprise, her face softened. "Okay, you can go," she said in a less-stern voice. "Send my regards to the Nickelsens."

"Thanks, Mom!" I happily exclaimed, couldn't contain the giddiness I was feeling as I ran to her and hugged her tightly. She seemed a bit taken aback at first, but then she responded with a quick hug-back.

"Sure. Have fun." She sounded genuine and it made me feel warm inside. Just another mother-daughter moment I knew I would treasure forever, as cheesy as that sounds.

I then ran back to my room and dialled Jess' number. She was the one assigned to pick me up since Erin had informed us in advance that she was going to be pretty busy at their household, fixing everything since her parents were not gonna be there to help in the preparation. Tasha had gladly volunteered to give her a hand, though, while Erin decided to ask Trey and Garrett for alcohol duties.

Jess answered on the second ring, and I immediately told her to come pick me up. We hung up and then I decided to just sit there on my bed and wait for her. I fiddled with my phone, and finally decided to go through the messages I'd ignored for the past days. Most of them were from Stephen, which wasn't surprising anymore. There were also lots of texts and calls from Alex, and the most recent was the one this morning, asking me if I was already in Arizona. I finally replied with a yes, and invited him out on the 8th. I knew I had to do it already; I had to break-up with him or else I would just feel worse. But I had to do it personally, because nobody deserved a break-up through a phone call or a text; I owed him the truth, no matter what it would cost me.

~~~