AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lift the dress on a hanger and hold it up to myself in the body-length mirror. “What do you think?” I ask Jesse.
He’s looming in the back of the store as if he’s trying not to stand too close to me. He looks up like he’s surprised I’m asking his opinion. I slept in his clothes–which smelled amazing, by the way–and had the curious decision on whether to put my torn, dirty wedding dress back on or go out into town in clothes that were obviously Jesse’s.
On the one hand, I could look like a crazy runaway bride, which I am. On the other hand, I could look like the kind of girl who hooks up with a guy she just met on her first day in town, which I am not–no judgment, either, that’s just not how I roll.
So it was back into the dress for me.
“It’s good,” he says.
“You’re sure? You barely looked.”
“I would really prefer to wait outside,” he says.
“I need a second opinion, though. I never shop alone. I hate returning things. So I want to make sure I’m sure before I pick something out.”
“It’s good. Yeah,” he says again, eying the dress.
“I’ll just go try it on, then. Oh,” I say, laughing and blushing all over again. “I might need some undies before I do that. I’ll just buy those first, I guess?” I shuffle over to another part of the store and pick up a pack of panties and the cheapest bra I can find. I glance over my shoulder and see Jesse is trying very, very hard not to look at me now. He’s actually just staring at the ceiling like he’s afraid it might suddenly spring a leak.
I smile to myself, then go to the register. “Um, Jesse?” I call out. “Can I borrow a little money? I promise I’ll have Jake pay you back.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” He comes over and fishes out his card. He pushes it across the counter to the young girl ringing me up. She eyes the underwear, Jesse, me, my wedding dress, and then Jesse again.”
“So,” she says slowly.
“Don’t,” Jesse warns.
I’m surprised for a second by the way he’s talking to her like they know each other. Then I remember he grew up here. He probably knows everybody. He probably could tell me a handful of stories about this random, lovely young girl working the register at a random clothing store in town. The thought makes me smile, because it’s such a novel concept after spending most of my life in busy cities. I’m used to the relative anonymity of city life–of only having a few regular pillars of my life and being surrounded by otherwise anonymous masses.
“Okay,” the girl says. She’s in her early twenties with strawberry blonde hair and a not-so-polite way of chewing her bright pink gum. “I won’t ask why you’re buying a runaway bride new underwear.” She pops her gum, scans the underwear, and taps Jesse’s card to the reader. When she speaks again, her eyes are down and her voice is low. “I’ll just assume you ruined some poor guy’s wedding night by stealing his wife-to-be and ruining her panties in the process.”
Jesse sighs. “I don’t…” he pauses. “I don’t know how to explain this situation, exactly. But, no. It’s nothing like that.”
She eyes him, amusement sparkling in her eyes. “Oh, sure. When I asked you to go to that Halloween party with me, you were still too heartbroken to say ‘yes’. I guess I just missed your recovery window by a couple months, huh?”
I bulge my eyes a little, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. On the one hand, I feel bad for her. On the other hand, the curious part of me–which is admittedly maybe one of the biggest parts of me, aside from my ass the morning after I eat ice cream, that is–wants to know more about this “heartbreak”. I try to imagine a woman who has a guy like Jesse Prince in her life. Gorgeous, hockey star, apparently quite the gentleman. Why would someone break his heart?
“Come on,” Jesse says to me. He leads me toward the fitting rooms.
I smirk at him when he stops in front of the door. “Were you planning to come in with me and make sure these fit?” I ask, holding up the pack of panties with my fingertip.
Jesse’s eyes blaze. “No. I just didn’t know if you knew where the fitting rooms were.”
“Okay. Mind bringing me that dress and waiting here in case I need a different size?”
He looks like he wants to refuse, but he just nods his head and goes to get the dress. I’m impressed when he brings me the exact one I asked him about and in the size I was holding. Apparently, he was paying attention.
It takes me a lot of effort and grunting before I realize I’m not getting out of my dress entirely without help. I can’t manage the zipper in the back, and I feel like a walking cliché at this point, but I slowly crack open the door to the dressing room. “Jesse?” I ask.
“What?” he breathes. It’s kind of adorable how uncomfortable this is all making him.
“I’m sorry to ask, but could you please help me with my zipper?” I turn around and gesture toward the zipper running down my back with both thumbs.
He wordlessly takes the zipper and pulls it down. I can’t decide if there’s any way he could’ve done it without it feeling erotic. But the way he slowly pulls it down makes me imagine his eyes drifting down my bare back as the zipper trails in its path. Some little part of me feels guilty about all this. But when I think back on the last few months, it feels like I was already single, as crazy as that sounds.
Landon and I were always the type to avoid rocking the boat. Rocking boats is a good way to sink them, after all. Before Landon, some outside disaster always seemed to end my relationships so I didn’t have to. Once, I had a boyfriend realize he was asexual and wanted to go explore Buddhism. I’ll admit, it was hard not to see that one was some kind of personal attack. I had another boyfriend who was running a secret Pokemon card crime syndicate and bailed on me when the law was getting too close. Then again, that could have just been the most believable story he could think of to explain why he was with a different woman a week later in another state. I once even dated a guy who watched a documentary on hunting for gold in Alaska and he decided it was his life’s mission to strike gold himself. Last I heard, he was not having much luck.
“Are you… okay?” Jesse asks.
