Jessica“Jessica! Wake up!” Julie’s voice is the worst alarm I have ever heard after very having barely any sleep. I swear I just fell asleep not even an hour ago. I couldn’t stop thinking about Damon’s dad and my mom.I wonder if he knows they knew each other. “Five more minutes,” I groan, and she laughs, hitting me with the throw pillow.“No, because we will miss the school bus,” she counters. I smile, my eyes slowly opening. My whole body is exhausted, but I am so excited for today; Mikey and I have a date.“Fine,” I giggle, throwing off the blankets and sitting up. “Are you two ready to go? Do you have everything?” I ask, looking around. I usually prepare everything the night before, but I forgot last night.“Yes. I made both our lunches and got stuff together, but Jackson is saying he’s sick,” Julie says, rolling her eyes, “But he’s probably faking,” she says snootily, and I nod, getting up. “Jackson,” I call, walking toward his room, but he isn’t there. “Jackson!” I call again
Damon“Hey baby, wake up.” Tabby’s tongue is in my ear, and I slowly open my eyes, looking around- did she sleep over? “What are you doing here still?” I ask, my voice scratchy and annoyed.“Well, I couldn’t walk home so late,” she pouts, rolling over and looking into my eyes, but this annoys me further. She knows damn well I don’t do sleepovers.“As you pointed out last night, Tabby, you live on the grounds. I am pretty sure you would have made it home just fine,” I groan, sitting up, and she stares at me.“Does this break our deal?” she asks me with a whimper. I scoff, turning to face her, “No. This doesn’t break our deal, but you know the rules.” I remind her.“Your parents are never going to believe we are a couple if we don’t act like one, Damon. They need to believe that I am your girlfriend. If this doesn’t look real, my father will surely take me back to New Jersey.” She sighs, sitting up on her elbow.She has a point. I am not worried about fooling my parents or hers. The
Jessica“Can I come in?” Damon sighs, shifting on his feet. I nod, looking at him, and then back down to the brown carpet flooring. I thought Mikey may drop by, but why is Damon here instead?I can’t believe he is here.“You didn’t need to do this, Damon,” I smile awkwardly, and he sets the bags on the kitchen counter.“I know, but when Mikey told me your brother was sick, I knew you would need some stuff. I am sure leaving the house when you have a sick kid is not easy. Plus, I know you didn’t get much sleep last night after work since you hung out with Mikey.”He says this with a bit of dismay, and I watch as he searches the bags, looking for an item. Is he jealous?“Yes, I had to cancel our date today. Jackson is really sick,” I sigh, tears welling in my eyes, but I push them away. I really miss my mom right now, but this isn’t the time to sulk. He nods as he grabs a humidifier from a bag and opens the packaging, reading the instructions. I watch in awe as he holds the canister an
DamonMy heart is racing when I hear the knock on the door. Jackson had a fever that was high enough to cause seizures, and I think they would have started soon if Jessica and I hadn’t gotten him into the cool water. As soon as he opened his eyes, I could tell something was wrong. It was almost like he was hallucinating.Jessica’s face is puffy from crying as she stands, but I shake my head, “Stay here. I’ll get it.” She nods, and I walk out of the bathroom. We could have taken Jackson to the ER, but she told me she didn’t have health insurance. I was already pretty sure they didn’t, so I called Tabby on instinct instead. Whenever someone is sick, I always call her.I open the door, and she grins at me, wearing only a trench coat with her lab coat over it. Her doctor’s bag is in hand, and honestly, I have never been so happy to see her in my life, “Hey, he’s in here,” I tell her, but my mouth gapes as she opens her trench coat, revealing she is wearing only lingerie underneath. My ey
JessicaI say nothing as I watch Tabby look at the tubes of swabs she took from Jackson, looking for a positive marker. I don’t understand why I am so angry. Damon is my boss and someone I shouldn’t even think about, but I do think about him…way more than I should. I think I am mad that he lied.Damon Ricci does do girlfriends; he just doesn’t do me.“Yep. Influenza for the win,” Tabby announces, shaking the vial in her hand. Jackson smiles brightly and then sighs, laying back down as he coughs pathetically. I watch as Tabby smiles, rubbing his forehead, “Don’t worry, this should only last three days to five.” Jackson sighs, looking into Tabby’s eyes.“And you’ll check on me, right? Dr. Tabby?” He groans like he’s in pain. Damon chuckles but then quickly hides it by clearing his throat, “Sure. Dr. Tabby would love to come to check on you every day.”Tabby nods, smiling, “Yes, I can do that,” she then turns her attention to me. “Jessica, have you ever had the flu?” she asks, throwing
DamonMy heart is racing when I reach my car. Mikey knows that I am not the touchy-feely type. He just saw me hug a girl that he really likes. He called DIBS on her, and I can’t be with her. He will never forgive me if I keep doing things like this. I don’t understand why I can’t get Jessica out of my head, but it’s a BIG problem. I tried to convince myself I came here for him, but I know that is truthfully a lie. I just hope I can smooth this over with him.“Took you long enough,” Tabby sighs, leaning up against her red convertible sports car. “Tabby, it took as long as it took. Get over it,” I say through gritted teeth. I watch as she stands straighter. I know she has to be confused about these sudden mood swings lately, but as far as she knows, Jessica is one of my employees; she can never know who she really is. “Well, I told my father we could video chat in forty-five minutes. Are you ready?” she asks me as she plays with the strings on her trench coat, teasing me. My eyes wa
JessicaI still can’t get over the fact that Mike ran out of here like the apartment was on fire. I know he recognized my parents were at the club in that photo, but why did he freak out like that? This town isn’t big; maybe he met them that night and didn’t know how I would react? I haven’t brought it up since, but I have started a text so many times to ask, only to delete it. That is no longer a worry on my mind, at least not the last few days because the flu took me over too.There’s a knock on the door, and I grumble as I stand wearily. Jackson has gotten over the flu, and luckily, Julie seems as healthy as a horse, so they are both at school. I feel like death, though, and I am only on day three of five of the flu. Damon has had Tabby check in on me every day, and I really do not want to see the perky bitch today, but I know she’s been ordered to check on me. Too bad she loves bringing up her relationship with Damon and just how happy they are.Gag. I unlock the door and open it
DamonThe video chat with Tabby’s father was fucking awful. The man is from Russia, and not only was his heavy accent hard to understand, but he threatened me at least five times that if I hurt his daughter, he would cut out my heart, roast it over a fire and eat it in front of my entire family. But Tabby just laughed the entire video call, ensuring I nodded at the correct times but met her father’s approval. He has decided to let Tabby stay for now, but he wants us to come for a visit to New Jersey in the near future.It has been over a week since I have seen Jessica, and even though I know I shouldn’t, I am driving to her apartment now. Mikey really freaked out about the photo, but I told him we needed to play it cool. He hasn’t spoken to her since, which also makes me a little paranoid.Not only am I going to check on her because she has gotten sick, but I am also going to see if I can feel out any weird- you-murdered-my-parents-vibes.I have been sending Tabby every day since sh