Betting Jessica

by Deanne Wilsted

  Jessica blushed and gave an awkward laugh. “I’m not, I mean, the caterer cooked most of it,” Jessica stammered.

  “Yes, yes I know,” Ian answered smugly. “They often come and cook for me.”

  He laughed at his obnoxious innuendo. The beer he pulled from the fridge was one more example of how wrong Jess’s image of the evening had been. She had envisioned the two of them having a chat just like this, but in her version Ian had poured her a glass of wine from the leftover dinner bottle.

  She sighed sadly. Ian looked back over at her and carried on as if he had never stopped talking.

  “Though, I must say, you’re cuter than the snowboard chicks they usually send.”

  Embarrassed, Jessica didn’t know what to say. “Umm, thank you.”

  “How long have you been working at MealTime?”

  “Oh, just this summer,” Jess tried to reply breezily.

  Ian stepped closer, and put an arm out next to her, practically blocking her against the counter. Uncomfortable, Jess looked toward the door expecting Lisa to walk in any second and get the wrong idea.

  Or maybe it was the right idea since a second later Ian was whispering in her ear.

  “Lisa leaves tomorrow for a photo shoot; maybe you should come back and cook another dinner for me then.”

  Jessica was floored. Was Ian actually making a pass at her? Here? With Lisa in the other room? What a jerk. She couldn’t believe this was the same guy she had been fantasizing about. Wow! He must have a really great PR agent, she thought while considering the best way to extricate herself from the corner he had literally backed her into.

  “Oops, speaking of Lisa, is that her?”

  Jessica took advantage of his momentary distraction to scoot past him. She grabbed one of the bags off the counter and started throwing the remaining catering stuff into it.

  “Well, I better go and leave you two alone,” she rambled. “I’ve still got to drop off all this stuff and get ready for a party we’re catering tomorrow. You know how it is, always busy, huh?!”

  Hopefully that would put an end to his flirting she thought as Lisa finally walked back into the kitchen.

  “Oh, no! Are you leaving already? But there’s still lots I don’t know,” she complained.

  “What an understatement,” Jessica mumbled and sent Lisa a sympathetic smile.

  “I’m guessing you’ll be fine. But you can ask any last questions you want if you’ll help me carry my stuff to the car.”

  Ha! She hoped that would make Ian at least a little nervous. Even with his obviously monstrous ego he would surely wonder what she planned to tell Lisa. Jessica slung her purse over her shoulder and practically ran for the door.

  Chapter Sixty-two

  There was a reason it was called being sober Peter thought, gingerly lifting the pillow which had been blocking the morning sun, off his head. In the other room he could hear someone humming along to music playing on the stereo, and he wondered who was up at such an unholy hour.

  The previous night was a blur and Peter wanted to piece together what he remembered before facing anyone. Even through the pain which was splitting his head in two he smiled at the memory of making out with Becky. The thought of Erik walking in on them and their resulting drunken conversation over margaritas made him grimace. What time had he and Erik finally gotten home, he wondered?

  He glanced over at Erik’s bed and was surprised to find it empty. Erik had been far worse off than him the night before, so how on earth was he awake already? Maybe he had fallen asleep in the bathroom. Peter laughed at the image of Erik passed out with his head in the toilet.

  The humming started again and Peter smiled when he decided it was coming from Becky, instead of Erik or Jessica. Had he talked with Becky last night? Something about her red toenails, he remembered, and… not using them to trounce on his heart? Had he actually said that? His groan must have been audible in the other room since his door opened quietly and there Becky stood in person.

  She smiled humorously when she saw the look of pain on Peter’s face.

  “Hey there. Alive after all, huh?”

  “I…” Peter gave her a blank look. “Well, I may have been sort of stupid last night.”

  Becky waited. “Hmmm,” she prompted.

  “Did I babble too much?” He asked tentatively. “You know, say anything too stupid, or anything?”

  “Not really,” Becky teased. “Other than something about being convinced I would break your heart.”

  She laughed at Peter’s repeat groan.

  “Oh, and you did say something about Erik asking Jessica out, but I couldn’t quite figure out what you were talking about. Did he ask her out yesterday?” she continued. “Is that why he was so upset with us? I mean, obviously she turned him down, right? But really, why wouldn’t she have said yes, anyway? If she’d said yes we could have all hung out and…”

  “Hold on,” Peter interrupted when he realized Becky was on a roll and mostly talking to herself. “Maybe I’ll remember something to add to your monologue.”

  Becky laughed. “Oh, right; I almost forgot. I made coffee. I’ll be right back.”

  She returned carrying two steaming mugs.

  “So, where is Erik by the way?” She pointed at the empty bed.

  Peter shrugged. “I assumed he was in the bathroom.”

  “Huh,” Becky looked out the bedroom door with a puzzled frown. “I don’t think so. At least, he wasn’t there this morning and I’ve been in the living room ever since.”

  “Maybe he needed fresh air and went for a walk before we got up.”

  Peter couldn’t imagine how Erik could face that much movement since his own head was killing him just from sitting up in bed.

  “Well, wherever he is, at least it gives us a chance to talk about last night in private.”

  Becky climbed onto the bed and gave Peter his coffee. She snuggled in next to him and tried to help him make sense of Erik’s rambling from the night before.

  “So he said that the reason they made the bet was because he had asked her out and she had said no?” Becky asked after Peter had told her about the conversation. “But that doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I know,” Peter answered. “But that’s what he said.”

  “Hmmm. I bet it was how he asked her out,” Becky said. “You know how sensitive Jess can be. Maybe she thought he was being sarcastic.”

  “I said as much to Erik,” Peter interrupted. “But he still thinks Jessica hates him and was intent on being mean.”

  “But maybe if you talk to him again,” Becky suggested hopefully. “Make him understand. He’ll have to be big about it and tell her he really does like her.”

  “Yeah right,” Peter snorted. “No way is that happening.”

  At Becky’s pointed look though, he retreated.

  “Okay, fine. I’ll try,” he said. “Who knows, maybe this morning he’s feeling better.”

  He stopped and took a huge sip of coffee. “But if I talk to Erik, you need to have it out with Jess. No bragging about her date with Ian.”

  Becky nodded. And Peter paused to make his main point. “Of course this all assumes they both really do like each other.”

  “Well, didn’t Erik admit as much last night?”

  “I guess,” Peter answered. “But what about Jess? And anyway, we’re getting way too involved in all this. We’re probably going to be the ones who get burned. Maybe we should stay out of it.”

  He looked hopefully at Becky who stared at him for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh.

  “I know you’re right, I’m just so tired of watching those two mess everything up.”

  She shifted and hopped off the bed. His reprieve was obviously over.

  “Either way, though, it’s time to wake up sleeping beauty.”

  Becky headed out the door, with Peter dragging along behind her.

  Chapter Sixty-three

  Jessica woke up convinced she hadn’t slept at al
l. It wasn’t only that she’d been out late cleaning things up at MealTime; it was more the time she had spent lying awake in bed after finally making it home. As hard as she had tried, she hadn’t been able to get her brain to stop replaying her evening at Ian’s.

  Now she still felt like crying and yelling all at the same time. How could it have ended up like this after everything? It was such a let-down. On the other hand, technically, Ian did sort of ask her out. So in a screwed up way she had won the bet; something that made it that much harder to understand why she was left with such a bad taste in her mouth.

  Maybe it was because Ian had turned out to be such a jerk.

  What had she been thinking, anyway, trying to get a date with a celebrity? She should have known he would be nothing like his press image. She’d had such a crush on him for so long that to finally learn he was nothing like anyone she would ever want to date had seriously thrown her for a loop. And what now anyway? It’s not like she ever would date him after all. So what was left?

  Jessica felt so disappointed at the way it had turned out that she couldn’t even get excited at being able to tell Erik she’d won the bet. Erik could be hard-headed sometimes, but at least he would never do anything as low as hitting on someone while his girlfriend was in the other room.

  In fact, Erik looked like quite a catch compared to Ian. Sure Erik was a little egotistical, but then with his brains and looks it sort of made sense. And when he wasn’t fighting with her he was pretty nice. And he could make her laugh more than anyone she had ever known. And then there was the way he could kiss.

  Jessica sighed, telling herself to forget all about that. Now that the bet was over Erik would go back to keeping his distance. She was sure that whenever they saw each other from now on the only thing he’d talk about would be how he’d been right all along about Ian.

  What she wanted was to simply roll over and go back to sleep. She didn’t feel prepared to talk to anyone about her night. So, when she heard a knock on her door she seriously considered ignoring it; however she desperately needed some coffee to clear her head. She’d have to face them eventually she decided and prayed it was Becky rather than Erik on the other side of the door.

  “I’m up, I’m up,” she yelled and Becky popped her head in.

  “Well?” she asked smiling. “How’d it go? Was he every girl’s fantasy? Did he sweep you off your feet?”

  “Something like that,” Jessica said wryly. “Although watching a guy two-time his girlfriend isn’t my idea of a dream come true.”

  Becky stood there with her mouth open. “What? What girlfriend? And what do you mean by two-time?”

  “If that’s coffee,” Jessica said, “you can come in all the way and I’ll tell you the whole thing.”

  Jessica sipped her coffee thankfully and recounted the evening for Becky… from the bad start at the door, to her new friendship with Lisa.

  “So, after all of the planning and dreams it came down to me trying to outmaneuver him in the kitchen,” she finished. “Not exactly what I had in mind when I made the stupid bet. And probably not really what Erik imagined either.”

  “You can say that again,” Becky mumbled to herself.

  “What?” Jessica asked.

  “Oh, nothing,” Becky said. “Go on.”

  “There’s really nothing else to say. Dinner was with a girlfriend and Ian turned out to be a jerk.”

  “But, well, he did ask you out,” Becky said. “So that’s something, right?”

  “I guess,” Jessica sighed. “But, truthfully, it’s all so disappointing; like what on earth have I been doing this whole time? Erik would have let me back out of the bet ages ago. Why didn’t I just let it go?”

  Jessica struggled to articulate why she felt so upset.

  “I guess it just felt like my last chance to do something big in my life, something that meant something to me. And now I realize that once again my success was totally dependent on another person so I couldn’t have really claimed it after all.”

  “But Jess, that’s just it. Look at yourself. You set out to accomplish a goal, and you did it.” Becky held up her hand to stop Jess’s interruption. “I know… it didn’t turn out like you thought it would, but maybe that’s the point.”

  “What? That my life will never turn out the way I want it to?” Jessica said, terribly afraid it was true.

  “No. That there isn’t some happy ending that makes the rest of our life perfect. You still did what you set out to do. And along the way you not only transformed yourself, but you had fun doing it.”

  “Maybe,” Jessica shrugged not convinced.

  “Look,” Becky continued, ticking Jessica’s successes off on her fingers. “You planned and executed an effective strategy; asked for and got help from really nice people; and set up a great vacation for the rest of us. I think you were an amazing success.”

  Jessica tried to think back to when the whole bet started. She had wanted to do something for herself… and she had. And although Erik still tormented her, even he seemed to have some respect for what she had accomplished. Suddenly she felt ready to face him and have it all out.

  “So, where are Peter and Erik? I guess I should include them in all this.”

  Jessica got out of bed and grabbed her sweat shirt. “I’ll let the two of them decide if I actually won the bet or not.”

  “Okay, but either way,” Becky answered as she grabbed Jess’s arm, “I say you’ve come out a winner.”

  Chapter Sixty-four

  Jessica and Becky stepped into a notably quiet living room where Peter sat, alone, on the couch.

  “So, you still couldn’t find Erik, huh?” Becky laughed until she saw the look on Peter’s face.

  “Not exactly,” Peter said. “Actually, Erik’s gone.”

  “What?” Becky and Jess said in unison.

  “He didn’t just disappear; he left a note.” Peter waved the sheet of paper he held in his hand.

  “But I don’t understand? Why would he leave?” Jessica asked.

  Peter looked at the note. “He wanted me to tell you congratulations, Jess. He said he was sorry he hadn’t been more supportive and he could see now you did what you set out to do.”

  Jess and Becky exchanged looks while Peter kept going.

  “Then he said it was time for him to get back to his life and let us enjoy the rest of our vacation.” Peter looked at his watch. “He should be on his plane right now.”

  Jessica was so mad she didn’t even notice Peter and Becky exchanging pained looks.

  “Figures. That’s so like him. He can’t even stick around to tell me congratulations in person. His own life,” she mimicked. “As if spending his vacation with us was so boring or something.”

  “Oh-my-God! Jess, stop it!” Becky put her hands over her ears. “Enough already. I can’t believe after all of this you can still be so blind to what’s going on in Erik’s head.”

  Peter looked over at Becky obviously surprised by how upset she was.

  “I thought if nothing else this whole bet was giving you the confidence to stop being so myopic, but I guess I was wrong.”

  Jessica looked at her friend, stunned and confused. She had never seen Becky so mad.

  “What?” she asked. “You think it was okay for Erik to leave like that? He’s always saying he’s trying to be my friend, but you wouldn’t do that. So what kind of friend does that make him?”

  “A whipped one,” Peter mumbled under his breath and Becky shushed him with a look.

  “You’re right, Jess; I’m your best friend. So I can say honestly… look around. It might be that it’s not all about you.”

  Becky went over to Peter and grabbed hold of his hand.

  “One reason Erik left was probably because he felt like a third wheel with Peter and me.”

  Jessica’s stared at them wide eyed, unsure what to think. Becky didn’t give her any time to let that sink in though before she went on.

  “However, I’m sur
e the main reason he left was because he was jealous of you and Ian and couldn’t stand to see the two of you get together.”

  “Although,” Peter pointed out, “if Jess ever did actually date Ian instead of him he’d only have himself to blame anyway.”

  “What do you mean?” Jessica asked although something in her subconscious had started to click. “I haven’t dated Ian or Erik.”

  “True, but…,” Becky said, glancing at Peter hesitantly, “do you remember the night you made the bet at all?”

  Jessica shook her head, but in her mind she was already starting to form an image of her and Erik laughing and talking and then… Jessica rubbed her temples. Hadn’t he said she’d never be able to get a date with Ian or something, isn’t that what had happened? But that didn’t make sense. Why would dating Ian have come up at all? As if reading her mind, Becky went on.

  “Erik asked you out and you must have thought he was being sarcastic. You told him it was more likely that Ian Drake would ask you out than you’d ever go on a date with him.”

  Jessica struggled with the memory. Yes, that sounded like something she would say. But then why had Erik asked her out? It was so unlike him. Even if, from the little she remembered, they had been getting along that night. Jess’s head was spinning until Becky’s wry laugh brought her back to earth.

  “Of course, I guess now that Ian has asked you out you’re technically free to take up the gauntlet you threw down that night.” Becky gave Jessica a sly look. “I mean, if you ever wanted to, that is.”

  “What?” Peter asked shocked. “You mean Ian actually did ask her out?”

  Jessica heard Becky defending her as if from a long distance away. Her brain was stuck on the idea Becky had suggested of she and Erik. For real? Sure there’d been the kisses; good kisses, in fact. But she’d never really thought about Erik like that, had she?

  “Well, of course Ian asked her out. Jess said she’d get him to, and she did. You guys need to start realizing that Jess always does what she sets out to do. Besides, look at her, she’s practically a model now.”