I slid into her car and gave her my address, which she punched into a GPS. We sat in silence as Jessica pulled back out into the road. The swish swish swish of the wipers seemed to amplify the tension in the car, ticking off each awkward second. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Look, I—” I started at the exact same time Jessica opened her mouth to break the silence as well. “Sorry, you go first,” I said.
She shook her head. “No, you go first.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“I don’t know what’s making you feel so weird.” She sighed. “This is about that kiss, isn’t it? It’s not something you need to feel awkward about.”
“I’m surprised you’re even acknowledging it, considering you disappeared this morning.” There was more edge to my voice than I wanted there to be. Had I really been that offended?
“Me?” A look of realization dawned on her face. “Oh! I went for a jog this morning. Sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up. I was going to cook you breakfast.”
Could that be true? The thought of Jessica being so thoughtful towards me made something warm roll over me. I decided I had to be honest with her. “I felt weird about what I did. I thought you were freaked out too and wanted to pretend I’d never kissed you.”
“I wouldn’t say freaked out.” She flicked her blinker on and pulled off the highway. “But maybe kissing a woman is a bigger deal than I thought it would be—scratch that—kissing you is a bigger deal than I’d thought it would be. I dunno if it’s because you’re a woman or not.”
Well how was that supposed to make me feel?
Her GPS was leading us closer and closer to my apartment and things still felt just as uncomfortable between us. We were outside the brown brick building when I squeaked out the craziest idea I’d ever had.
“Maybe we just need more practice until it feels comfortable.”
Jessica raised an eyebrow.
Words spluttered out of my mouth so fast I could’ve choked on them. “I mean, I think we both found that kiss weirder than we were expecting. Maybe it’ll take more time to get used to the feeling of kissing a girl.”
Jessica just stared at me, brows closed in, showing she was thinking hard about what I’d said. Oh God, why had I said that? She was going to think I was a weirdo, first kissing her, then trying to lure her into doing it again. Not that I was luring her into anything. I just wanted the movie to go well and that meant working out whatever was going on between us.
She still wasn’t answering. Fuck.
Finally, she turned the ignition of the car off and unclipped her seatbelt.
“Yeah, let’s do this.”
8.
Jessica
“Right now?” Amelia’s eyes went wide.
“Well, when were you thinking about doing it? Do you want to suffer through another awful rehearsal?”
Amelia stared at me, seemingly unable to respond. Poor thing was really freaked out.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Yeah, let’s do it.” She closed her eyes and looked to be waiting for something. It was only when I looked down to her pursed lips that
I realized she expected me to kiss her.
“I was thinking we could go up to your apartment,” I said.
Amelia’s eyes snapped open. “Oh yeah, of course. Umm, it’s not exactly fancy...”
“I’m sure your apartment is as charming as you are.”
Amelia’s big eyes got even bigger and her cheeks turned pink. I would’ve laughed, except I’m not that mean.
I was right to assume her apartment would be charming. The building was old, but in a way that had character. The elevator rattled as we ascended to the seventh floor where Amelia unlocked the door to her apartment.