Brief Encounters_The Encounters Series

by Scarlett Hopper

  I push open my door. To my surprise, Jess is sitting on my sofa, looking at his hands. His head shoots up and he looks me up and down, but not in the good way.

  “Hey,” I manage to get out as I close the door behind me. “What are you doing here so early?” I ask, trying to hide my embarrassment, not because he’s caught me doing the walk of shame, but because that walk was straight from Dylan’s car.

  Jess eyes my outfit, recognition of the boots and skirt flashing in his eyes. Momentary hurt seems to cross his face, but he looks away fast enough for me not to be certain.

  “I invited Viv and Will to the gala with us. They had to run back to the house because Viv left something there. We figured you’d gone out for something and would be back soon, so I waited.” I can’t really tell what he’s thinking; his face isn’t showing a lot of emotion. His usual smirk is gone, and instead I’m facing a blank canvas.

  “Oh, yeah. I didn’t make it home last night,” is all I say as I sprint to my bedroom to put my stuff down.

  Act normal. If you act normal, it will all be fine.

  Taking a breath, I turn back into the living room and try to strike up casual conversation.

  “So, did you have fun last night? I mean, it’s great that you guys won the game.” I think he can tell what I’m doing because I don’t really talk hockey a lot.

  “Yeah, it was fine I guess. I was bummed you skipped out early though.” His voice carries a hint of sadness, and I can’t help but think about last night again.

  “I guess I just wasn’t feeling it, you know.” I speak nonchalantly, hoping he doesn’t bring up me walking in on him. Without waiting for him to reply, I continue, “I need to take a quick shower before we go. Give me ten minutes?”

  He gives me a small smile, and I basically sprint to my bathroom before things can get any weirder between us.

  When I’m finally showered and dressed, I exit my bedroom to find Will, Viv, and Jess all in the living room, talking intensely. As soon as they notice me, Viv breaks out into a huge smile.

  “Eleanor Ivy, I swear to god you look more beautiful every time I see you!” I’m wearing a black cocktail dress covered with gold leaf on the left side. It ends just above my knees. I’ve paired it with black pumps and let my hair fall naturally, along with adding smoky makeup.

  “Definitely looking good, Ellie,” Will chimes in, and I can’t help but smile. I’ve always loved this dress because my mother had one just like it when I was growing up.

  “Well, you’re all too kind,” I say with a giggle as I grab my black clutch. “Shall we go?” I look into the mirror one last time.

  Everyone gets up to go, and I see that Viv also looks stunning. Her blonde curls are piled upon her head in an updo, and she’s wearing a short strapless red chiffon dress with gold pumps.

  “Wow, Viv, might I say you’re looking phenomenal!” I gesture for her to do a little twirl. She glows even brighter at my compliment and takes Will’s hand. They walk toward the door, and I realize Jess hasn’t moved. He’s still standing by the couch, just looking at me. I give him a smile and signal for us to go.

  “You’re breathtaking, Eleanor Ivy,” he whispers into my ear after he walks over to me.

  I can’t help the bashful smile that forms across my lips. “Thank you,” is all I can reply.

  “Let’s go. We don’t want to be late.” Jess takes my hand and leads me out to the car.

  Okay, well, this is definitely a different Jess from the one I saw this morning, but who am I to complain?

  “This is where you grew up?” an astonished Vivian asks as we pull up to a mansion that looks as if it could belong to the royal family. It’s a white colonial-style house that has three levels with huge windows on each side. The entrance to the property has a huge set of iron gates emblazoned with, “The Parker Estate.” It proceeds into a driveway about a mile long. The house itself is surrounded by greenery and, from what I can see, a huge swimming pool. But all of this is just what I can see from the car.

  “Yep, I spent eighteen years at this place. My mom grew up here and so did her father,” Jess says as he hops out of the truck and gives his keys to the valet. Although there don’t seem to be many people near the front of the house, we can hear chatter and music coming from around the back.

  “Maybe one of us should marry into the family.” Viv giggles into my ear as she walks past me to get to Will. “I could get used to this,” she says as he slides his arm around her waist.

  “You’ve ruined me, Parker!” Will jokes as he pulls Viv closer to him. “Now that the girls know you’ve got this, I’ll be lucky to have a girlfriend tomorrow.”

  Jess chuckles, then looks my way. “Shall we?”

  I nod, and he leads us to the back of the house.

  Holy crap. If I thought the house was big before, I was seriously mistaken. His backyard is three levels. It looks like a long-ass grass staircase. Three freaking levels!

  The first level is open grass surrounded by rose gardens and marble statues. There’s a huge fountain in the center. And this is just what I can see with all these people here. The whole property looks like something out of a Jane Austen novel. Any second I expect Mr. Darcy to walk out and greet me.

  “Do you like it?” Jess asks me as he takes two champagne glasses from the waiter.

  “Do I like it?” I say in awe. “I think it’s pretty obvious from the dumb look on my face that I love it.” I laugh as he passes me the champagne flute.

  Jess’s grin grows wider at my appreciation for his family home, and he happily sips his champagne.

  “No wonder all the girls want you,” I joke. “One look at this place and they would never want to leave.”

  Jess’s face drops. He stares intently at his champagne glass, which even I know isn’t that interesting.

  “What?” I say curiously.

  He looks as if he’s going to say something important, but instead just gives me his signature “well, what can I say?” smirk.

  “Jess?” an older voice calls from across the masses of people. Jess instantly turns around, and a huge smile spreads across his face before he walks forward.

  “Mom!” Jess greets the now-visible woman.

  Wow, she’s gorgeous. I can see good genes run in the family.

  She has soft golden-blonde hair pulled back in a twist on her head and mesmerizing hazel eyes, like Jess’s but less green. Her features are warm and welcoming, something that reminds me of my own mother. Her black-and-white silk wrap dress is paired with stilettos and a diamond necklace. She reminds me of a 1940s movie star with her red lips and poised demeanor.

  As she pulls Jess in for a hug, I can tell how much she loves him, not wanting to let him go for a second.

  “I’ve missed you so much, Jess. You really need to start visiting your old mother more often.” I’m almost positive she’s saying “old” as a joke, because I cannot see a wrinkle on this woman’s body. I would guess she isn’t a day over forty-five.

  Realizing that I probably seem like a creep just staring at Jess and his mom, I look around for Viv and Will, who seem to have wandered off without me.

  “I’ve missed you too,” Jess says as he pulls her closer to him. “Mom, this is Eleanor,” he says as he pulls away from the hug and looks at me.

  She seems to automatically understand something that I don’t, because her face lights up.

  “Eleanor! Jess has told me so much about you! I’m so glad I can finally put a face to the name.” She says this as she pulls me in for a hug. I automatically stiffen at her embrace, but loosen up as I realize this is just her being friendly.

  “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Ms. Parker. Thank you so much for inviting me to your home today.” I smile at her.

  “Ms. Parker is my mother, darling. You can call me Caroline. Now, Jess, why don’t you give Eleanor a tour of the grounds before the speeches begin and no one can escape.” She winks at us, then scans the crowd. “Well, I best be off greeting s
ome people whose names I won’t remember in five minutes. It was lovely to meet you, Eleanor. I do hope I’ll be seeing more of you later.”

  She gives Jess’s arm one last squeeze and then makes her way through the crowd.

  “Your mom is super nice,” I say as Jess leads me into the house. “She really loves you.”

  At the mention of his mom, Jess’s face erupts into a smile. “Yeah, she’s amazing. I’m really lucky to have her in my life.” I can’t help the small twinge of pain in my chest. Almost automatically after saying it, he looks guilty, as if realizing what he has said.

  “Shit, Els, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” He stops walking and turns to look at me. I’m not really sure what to do, so I decide to feign ignorance.

  “Nothing to be sorry for. She seems amazing.” Not wanting to be stuck in an awkward conversation about parents, I walk up the marble steps that lead to Jess’s house. He follows behind and is quickly at my side again.

  Once we get to the main doors, he pushes them open into a huge living room. All the guests are outside, so the house itself is empty. Floor to ceiling is all marble with gold detailing on the ceiling. The room is filled with what looks to be antique furniture and a huge old grand piano in the corner.

  I used to find houses like this quite impersonal, because all the people I knew who lived like this only cared about showing off what they had, but this place is different. There are photographs on every wall and surrounding every coffee table or available space. I love this living room, and not for the reason that most would. Yes, the stuff it’s filled with is breathtaking, but to me, it’s so incredible because it’s a home.

  As I look over all the photographs surrounding me, I can’t help but notice that a lot of the photos have someone cut out of them. Most of these pictures include Jess when he was a lot younger, and the person next to him has just been completely cut out. As if sensing my curiosity, Jess answers the question I haven’t even asked yet.

  “It’s my dad,” he states as he comes up next to me. “He left us when I was little, and Mom proceeded to cut him out of every photograph we had together. She couldn’t bring herself to just throw the ones I was in away, so she still hangs them up, lord knows why. He really did a number on her, took her years to get over him. Only meeting my stepfather helped in the end.” His voice doesn’t have any anger in it, just remorse, so I feel the need to console him.

  “I’m really sorry, Jess.” I wrap my hand around his. He seems to relax under my touch, so I don’t pull away. “So, when do I get to see your bedroom? I bet it’s just filled with posters of ’90s boy bands,” I say, teasing him.

  He shrugs. “What can I say? Who doesn’t love a little NSYNC?” He starts singing “Bye Bye Bye” to me, and I don’t even try to fight back the giggles.

  “Oh, Jess Parker, you really know how to charm a woman.”

  “I do the best I can,” he jokes with a goofy expression. “Now, let’s continue this tour before we’re hauled outside to listen to some boring-ass speeches about stuff we’re just pretending to care about.”

  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

  After the grand tour of the house, which only took forty minutes, not even covering every room, we end up at Jess’s bedroom.

  “Ahh, the final stop of the grand tour.” Jess smirks as we arrive at his bedroom door. “Now I warn you, the amount of Justin Timberlake plastered on my walls may make you jealous, but just remember, he was before I met you,” he teases as he turns the door handle.

  “Oh god, just open it already,” I say as I give him a nudge. He gives me one final smile, then pushes open the door.

  Well, it definitely isn’t what I expected. But come to think of it, I’m not sure what I expected. There’s a king-sized bed with blue sheets in the left corner, while the other side of the room has a long navy couch and a flat-screen TV. His white walls have posters on them that range from U2 to Stephen King, and then personal photos from his life. I can’t help but notice the centerpiece of the room, a record player with more vinyls than I’ve ever seen one person own before.

  “So, what do you think?” he asks as he goes to sit on his bed. I, on the other hand, continue to inspect the bedroom that housed my friend for all of his adolescence.

  “I like it,” I reply. “It’s very you.” I give him a smile and proceed to inspect all of the photos that cover the area above his desk. Most of the pictures must have been taken before Jess attended Breslin, because I don’t recognize half of these people, plus Jess looks a few years younger.

  “These all from high school? I don’t recognize anyone,” I ask for confirmation.

  “Yeah, my group of friends never really changed all four years of high school.” He doesn’t offer a lot more information, so I take it something might have happened between some of them.

  I don’t know what it is, but I feel a sort of jealousy toward the people in these photographs. They got to see Jess grow up. They were able to know a side of him that will never be attainable to me, especially Annalise, whom may I mention doesn’t seem to be present in any of these photographs.

  Their bad breakup that Wolf alluded to at the kickback runs fresh in my mind, and I wonder if Jess did to Annalise what his mother did to his father. He has never willingly brought her up; only that one time at his kickback have I heard about her. I’m sure she was once a staple in his life, covering his walls, but now she’s nothing but a person mentioned in passing. I can’t help but wonder what happened between the two of them, but even now with how close Jess and I are, I would never ask.

  Deciding I’ve had enough of looking through his past, I join him on the other end of his bed.

  “So, did you enjoy looking through my awkward teen phase?” Jess’s face is only showing amusement, so I can tell he doesn’t mind my interest.

  “Oh, Jess Parker, you were many things, but awkward was definitely not one of them and you know it,” I reply with a smirk.

  “So now that you know all about my awkward high-school phase, it’s your turn. What were you like in high school?”

  I suddenly regret my desire to look through his photos and let myself be subjected to this line of questioning.

  I shrug and give the broadest answer possible. “Oh, you know, like most people, I kept to myself.” Lie. “I tried to distance myself from the popular crowds. Not my thing, you know?” Another lie.

  You were the popular crowd.

  “Hmm,” Jess says as he looks at me intently, as if imagining me as a loner or something.

  Great.

  Desperate to redirect the conversation, I rack my brain for potential subject changers.

  “Oh!” I say as I reach for my purse. “I have something for you, Mr. Parker.” I rummage through my purse for the mixtape I made Jess last week.

  “Got it!”

  I pull out the mixtape that I only spent five hours on, not that I’ll ever tell him that.

  His face is pensive one second, but as soon as I pull out the tape, his expression changes. Now a huge smile has taken over as he carefully eyes the mixtape in my hands.

  “You made me a mixtape?” he asks as I hand it to him.

  I reply with a small shrug as if to say, No big deal. I was going to give it to him a few days ago, but after what’s been going on the past few days, I honestly didn’t even know if there would be a friend to give it to anymore.

  I have to say I’m thrilled that there has been no awkward tension between us since this morning. I don’t know what changed in Jess, but after I left for my shower, his attitude has been nothing but friendly.

  “Pink Floyd ‘Us and Them,’” he says with an approving nod. “Oasis ‘Wonderwall,’ Matt Corby ‘Brother.’ Jeez, Ellie, this is an amazing mix. I love it,” he says as he continues to read off the rest of the song list. From the look on his face, I can tell he really does love it.

  Jess pulls out the CD, then proceeds to place it in the CD player next to his bed. Nowadays not many people still have C
D players; it’s always something I appreciate when people still own them.

  The first song that plays is “The Air That I Breathe” by the Hollies. The first time I ever heard it was in The Virgin Suicides, and I think I fell in love automatically. I think Jess likes it, because he just closes his eyes in order to listen to the music.

  As the sound of the Hollies fills the bedroom, I notice tiny details of Jess that I haven’t seen before. He has a small scar below his chin. It would probably be invisible to most people, but right now his head is tilted back. I would say it’s his imperfect feature, but I like it. It makes him more human.

  I wonder how he got it. Hockey, probably, not that I would ever ask. The last thing I need Jess knowing is that I’m looking closely at him like a weirdo.

  As the song reaches the chorus, he begins to softly move his head along to the music.

  “Great song, Els. So far so good,” he says as he opens his eyes. He proceeds to slowly pull off his black suit jacket and throw it across a chair next to him. He rolls up the sleeves of his white dress shirt and undoes the top buttons. I know I should look away, but I can’t help staring at him. He kind of looks like a Greek god in this moment. His deep-brown hair is brushed to the side perfectly, and I can see the outline of his six-pack through his shirt.

  Fuck me. I thought I’d gotten this out of my system last night with Dylan.

  This is all only physical, I keep telling myself.

  “You hot?”

  I snap out of my trance and give him a quizzical look.

  “Your cheeks are flushed. I was wondering if you wanted me to open a window,” he says with a confused smile.

  “Oh,” I quickly reply. “No, I’m fine, thanks.”

  Thankfully, the next song comes on and gives us a brief distraction. We just listen in silence.

  “I feel like you’re really far away right now. Come here, Els.” Jess motions to the spot next to him on the bed.

  I consider saying I’m fine where I am, but I don’t want to make things weird, especially when Jess seems to have forgotten that the past two days even happened, so I reluctantly get up and slide into the spot next to him.