A Date with Fate (Jessie's Girl)

The first kiss ran its glorious course and concluded to give both the girls some time to catch their breath. Jessie rested her head on Annabella once more, this time on her shoulder. She hugged her tight, tilted her head up and back to face her and answered her question a second time, this time with words.

"I was just thinking how delicious you look, and how much I just want to eat you," Jessie teased her playfully.

Annabella, whose mind sometimes went astray into suggestive territory when provoked, blushed. "Oh my goodness!" she rejoined, fanning herself. She put on a southern accent and teased her back, "Why, Miss Jesseh, I do declare, you naughty thing you!"

Jessie realized what she was thinking. She laughed in embarrassment. Oops, she thought. "Oh, no, no, gosh, no!" she giggled, turning a little red herself. "Oh my God, Annabella, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that. I just meant you're so cute I could just gobble you up. Your eyes look like chocolate. Your lips look like licorice. And your skin looks like ice cream."

Annabella tossed her head back and laughed heartily. It sounded like heaven to Jessie.

"I see," chuckled Annabella, returning to her normal voice. "Well, I must admit, I've never been told that before. You fracture me."

Jessie wasn't exactly familiar with that one. "I...hope that's a good thing," she chuckled.

Annabella giggled again. "It is. It means you make me laugh."

Jessie snuggled up to her and rubbed her head against her like a cat. "I was just trying to find a way of saying how much I really really like you, sweetheart," she explained, subsequently realizing she'd placed that particular term of endearment at the end of her statement and wondering if it was too intimate for a first-date situation.

Then again, after that dynamite kiss they'd just dazed each other and themselves with, it would take a bit more than that to cross the line of intimacy.

Annabella didn't seem to mind, so she continued. "You're just so adorable, and unique, and sweet, and fun—and funny—and kind, and good, and your skin feels so soft, and you kiss like an angel, and...and..."

Eventually, she couldn't think of any more to add, so she just sighed and let her head drop back down on Annabella's shoulder. She (thought she) felt Annabella stroke and kiss her hair. "I like you too, Jessie," she whispered.

Jessie smiled, closing her eyes. She never wanted to leave here. But unfortunately, she knew they'd have to sooner or later. It had to be approaching midnight, and she was starting to fade. All she could think of to say to bring the evening to an end was, "I can't wait to see you again."

Annabella at last directed her back to her home. Jessie dropped her off, helped her get her bike out of the backseat, gave and took a final hug and kiss on the cheek, got back in the car, waited for Annabella to get inside, exchanged a final goodbye wave with her, watched as she shut the door, sighed happily, took her phone out of her pocket, kissed it and whispered, "Thank you."

***

September 28th, 7:27 p.m.

A week and a half passed before Annabella granted Jessie a second date. Well, "granted" was not entirely accurate, but while Annabella worked full-time and had her hefty palette of additional personal engagements to work around, Jessie conversely did not have a nine-to-five, and was also taking this semester off from school to rest. It was the ideal situation for her to just kick back and take it easy for six months. William still loved having her around, and of course took home much more than enough income to take excellent care of himself, Jessie, Gretchen, and one or two additional hypothetical family members. The truth was, being at home was so cushy and accommodating, Jessie didn't have much desire to get a place of her own.

Jessie certainly understood how much Annabella had on her plate, so she didn't pressure her to get together again immediately. She was grateful in the meantime Annabella could not read her mind, which was wondering, How about now? Or maybe now? Today? Tomorrow? The next day? Now? What about now? Or now? Or perhaps now?

Needless to say, when their second date did finally come about, she was intensely enthusiastic and squeezed as much enjoyment out of it as she could locate.

September did afford them a couple more encounters, the last taking place nearly a month after their initial date, on the 28th. Jessie was feeling brave, and so she told Annabella, "I want you to come over and meet my parents. Well, my parent and my step-parent. Let's just say my family." Annabella eagerly agreed, a little nervous but not overwhelmingly so.

Once Jessie got off the phone with her, she bounded downstairs and announced to William and Gretchen, "Set another place for dinner! I have a date coming over!" She promptly ran right back upstairs to get ready.

Gretchen turned to William. "So that means...?" she asked.

"Yes," William confirmed for her. "Her date is going to be a girl."

This made Gretchen too a little nervous, but she told herself to keep an open mind. William had been educating her on the concept of homosexuality (and bisexuality) to help her understand that his daughter was a lesbian. William had not perceived at first that the general idea, to put it frankly, freaked her out. And as much as she liked Jessie and wanted to adopt her and vice versa, anything indigenous to the human race for hundreds of years that had slipped by her comprehension for half a century, either by accident or religion, made her a bit leery.

She and William decided to take care of dinner together, both feeling it was a nice idea to play hosts for the kids, take care of them and let them enjoy their date. Jessie had requested Annabella to arrive at 7:30-ish, so she hoped her parents would have dinner ready a short time after.

Annabella popped up at their door at 7:27. When they heard the doorbell ring, William said, "Gretch, you wanna get that, hon?"

Gretchen wiped off her hands and opened the door, thinking to herself, So this then will be a young lady. She still didn't personally understand why Jessie dated girls, but she was really starting to hope she could. Maybe meeting this girl would help.

On the other side of the door was a young woman in a solid blue dress, matching blue dress flats, hands this time in pink gloves, one holding her purse, the other holding onto her bike. The cool 63° breeze tossed her hair, which wore no bands or flowers this evening. Her sunglasses were just perched a little lower on the bridge of her nose. When she looked up to see Gretchen, her face lit up. "Hi!" she waved. "I'm Annabella! You, I presume, are the lovely Miss Peterson, soon to be Mrs. Townsend, about whom I've heard quite a little bit!"

Gretchen was caught off-guard by her friendliness, but positively so. She chuckled out, "Why, yes, I am! Please, come in!"

Annabella sat the bike outside the door and pranced inside. William, also in the kitchen, saw her enter and gave his own hands a quick rinse and dry as well. "Welcome!" he greeted her, hurrying to the door, excited to meet his daughter's lady caller. "William Townsend. You must be our guest, Miss Fiorello."

Annabella took his extended hand, kissed it and curtsied. "Okay, then I will be!" she giggled. "Oh, Mr. Townsend, sir, if I may say so, you have a beautiful fiancée, and you are a truly striking gentleman. Now I can see where your daughter gets her gorgeous eyes."

Her seemingly effortless charm easily had the desired effect on Gretchen and William, and more. They were both instantaneously enormously flattered.

"Well, thank you, Annabella! What a sweet young lady our little girl's found herself!" commented William, prompting Annabella to glance away and redden a bit, her turn to be flattered. "Well, uh, Jessie's upstairs getting ready, so why don't you go ahead and get comfy, and make yourself at home. TV's on, you can go ahead and have a seat in the living room or the dining room, if you want. There're some bags of chips and stuff there in the pantry. Whatever you want, help yourself."

"Oh, I'll wait for everybody else to eat, thank you so much," said Annabella. She wandered out past the dining room, into the living room, admiring the décor and interior architecture, eventually fluffing out her dress and taking a seat on the couch.

While she waited, she gazed around at the furniture and wallpaper. It all looked very cozy and homey. She settled back into the comfy sofa with her purse, removed her compact, gave herself a once-over and lightly touched up her lipstick. Satisfied, she smiled, blew the compact a kiss and returned it.

A few minutes later, Jessie drifted down the stairs in a long-sleeved suit shirt, slacks and the same black socks, which she secretly thought of as lucky. She had her hair scrunchied back and a tie loosely knotted around her neck. When she saw Annabella sitting on the couch, she swung around the end of the bannister, hopped on the floor and said, "Hey, cutie!"

Annabella popped up excitedly.

"Hey yourself, dolly!" She threw open her arms and Jessie all but leapt into them.

They kissed, both their mouths curled up into enthusiastic smiles, as it had been another several days since their most recent date. They both immensely enjoyed the kiss, but immediately communicated with one mutual lock of the eyes that they had to keep it PG tonight while they were in front of the parents. Best behavior.

William came out of the kitchen, Gretchen right behind him. "Dinner is served!" he announced.

Gretchen saw the two of them together. "Oh my goodness, Jessica...you're...dressed just like your father!"

"I get my fashion sense from him," she agreed with a smirk. "It's in my blood." She turned back to Annabella and murmured, "I'm wearing his cologne too. Take a whiff."

Annabella subtly sniffed her, and highly enjoyed the signal her senses sent to her brain.

"Go ahead and grab your seats," William gestured to the table, starting back into the kitchen. "Hope you girls are hungry!"

Dinner was underway. They launched a dialogue together to get to know Annabella. It was casual, easy-hitting and moderately paced, though they could have been interrogatingly grilling Annabella and she wouldn't have been fazed. She just continued pouring on the charm. They mostly stuck to their polite conversation, though the kids did manage to sneak a couple flirty whispers in.

"You look so hot dressed like a gent," Annabella whispered.

"Thank you," Jessie whispered back. "You look hot dressed like a lady."

The girls were not the only ones at the table exchanging romantic sweet nothings.

"Guess what we're going to do tonight?" said William.

"I don't have to guess, honey, I know," uttered Gretchen. "Each other."

William grinned. "You bad girl," he declared.

Annabella thought she heard what they were whispering. She was amused.

"You guys are a tickle!" she giggled. "So Mr. Townsend, you're a pediatrician?"

"That's right," he replied.

"Aw...that's so awesome. Y'know, I think doctors are just saints. Especially kid doctors. God bless you, sir," smiled Annabella. "I bet when Jessie was little you could fix whatever she might've been sick with, just like that," she added with a snap of the fingers.

"And I work for a matchmaking service," Gretchen chimed in.

"Oh, that's right!" Annabella said, turning her way. "Jessie told me that too. Yeah, I meant to chat with you about that, Miss Peterson. Maybe you could help my Dad? He's a widower, and he's just about turned into a hermit. I feel so bad for him, and I think he could really use a nice new lady in his life."

"Well, certainly!" said Gretchen. "I'll give you the info, just bring him down to our office any day of the week."

Jessie was of course exceedingly pleased things were going so well, and her parents seemed so fond of her new galpal. She really had absolutely nothing to worry about. In fact, the tiny paranoid part of her briefly started thinking they might even like Annabella more than her, but immediately told herself that was ridiculous.

Wasn't it?

Dinner was concluded. Having sufficiently crammed themselves full, the parents asked the kids if they'd like any dessert and told them there was candy in the pantry and ice cream in the freezer.

"Maybe a little later," said Jessie. "I think we're both a little too packed right now. Would it be okay if I took Annabella on a little walk, y'know, showed her the neighborhood?"

"Oh, that sounds like a blast!" said Annabella.

"Of course!" said William. "It's your evening, you guys do anything you want. Well, within reason, of course," he added with a smile. "Have a good time!"

Once they got outside, Jessie let out a contented sigh. She let Annabella believe she was happy to be stepping out and getting some fresh air, but the truth was that she was just relieved to get out of the house. Obviously, she hoped Annabella would like her Dad and Gretchen and vice versa, which worked out beautifully, but she was now also craving some quality romantic alone time with her girl. So she took Annabella by the hand and gave her a guided tour of her neighborhood.

"This is such a pretty area," Annabella gushed, her brown eyes glowing like caramels in the slowly setting sun.

"It's even prettier with you in it," Jessie cooed to her.

Jessie felt as if a rainbow was arching above her and Annabella. She couldn't remember ever being this happy in her life. This girl by her side really was her fairy-tale princess sent down to her from Heaven. She looked radiant in her blue dress. Her eyes weren't all that were glowing; so was Jessie's heart. She felt purely blessed.

"Oh my gosh, I love this so much," said Annabella. "So beautiful." She closed her eyes and mouth and deeply inhaled the air.

Jessie gazed at her adoringly, wishing just one word in her statement was different. She wanted so much to profess to Annabella how she felt. She knew it was too soon to say this, but she just had to. Even if silently.

As Annabella closed her eyes and breathed in the mild autumn evening, Jessie turned to her with a dreamy expression on her face.

"I think I love you," she soundlessly mouthed.

Annabella was still enjoying the scent of the early night air when she felt Jessie kiss her lips. She gasped in surprise, but then settled in to relish and return the affection.

The seconds ticked by and by as Jessie Townsend and Annabella Fiorello shared their sweet lip-lock, breathing generous doses of love into one another. Leaves fell and cars passed. Streetlights began to turn on. Everything progressed exactly as normal, but in their moment, time was standing still for the girls. They felt as if fireworks were exploding above them to illuminate their devotion. Although neither of them knew or dared to suspect it just yet, they were slowly, very slowly, falling in love with each other. When they finally detached lips, both sets of dewy eyes fluttered open to see themselves mirrored in the others.

They took a well-needed breath.

"This evening will live forever in my heart as a memento of our time together," Annabella told her.

"I hope we can make dozens more," Jessie purred back to her. She fondled Annabella's cheek and said, "Well, then, my dear...shall we now, A: continue around the rest of the neighborhood, or—"

Annabella jumped in. "2: go back to your pad and have a pillow fight!"

Jessie laughed uncontrollably.

***

September 28th, 9:14 p.m.

The sun was down. The parents were in bed. The contestants were prepped and stripped to the undies. The mattress was made and ready for mayhem. The pillows were fluffed.

The game was afoot.

William and Gretchen were indeed in his bedroom together, although the house was big enough that Jessie told Annabella not to worry about making a ton of noise. She figured they probably weren't sleeping anyway, but she'd rather not think about that.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!" Jessie intoned, doing her best impression of a ring announcer, even though the two of them were alone in her bedroom. "Tonight's main event: indefinite rounds of intense pillow wars! Aaaaaand now...in this corner, weighing in at 128 pounds, a college student, from...right here..." She held up an imaginary microphone. "Jessica! Rae! Townsend!!"

Annabella imitated the sound of a crowd cheering. Jessie handed her the imaginary mike.

"And in THIS corrrrrr-nerrrrr..." Annabella overdramatized, "Weighing in at the rough equivalent of 56.25 kilograms...an HRC, from...also right here, but a little further away..."

Jessie gave her a drumroll.

"...Annabella...Serafina...FioRELLO!!" she bellowed, Jessie hitting a bunch of imaginary cymbals following the drumroll and then gesturing for the microphone back.

"One rule and one rule only in tonight's festivities, folks, and that is, that there ARE no rules!" Jessie proclaimed. Annabella "cheered" again. Jessie tossed the imaginary mike behind her and they shook hands, armed with their goose-down weapons.

"Okay," she instructed. "We go after three..."

Annabella was not one for whom patience was a ubiquitous virtue. She didn't wait for two or three.

"One!—"

"GO!" she shouted, taking the advantage and whacking Jessie early.

"Hey—!" Jessie started to shout back before being slapped with a mouthful of pillow. She was about to laugh and say, "No fair!" but simply thought, Should've known. Little devil.

And the battle was on.

They jumped on the bed on their knees, swatting at each other with all the might and accuracy they could manage. Before they knew it they were screaming, squealing and giggling like a couple of eight-year-olds.

It didn't take long for Annabella to start whapping the daylights out of Jessie. Annabella had more—particularly recent—pillow-fighting experience, and it paid off. Jessie exercised a technique more thought-out and intentionally strategic than Annabella's, but far less effective. She tried to alternate between blocking for defense and going on the offensive when she found a good opening. But Annabella didn't give her many. Annabella's method of pillow-fighting entailed hardly any defense at all, because she didn't need any. She held nothing back. She reared back to either side and winged her opponent with a wallop and quite a follow-through. Her experience was not the only handy ingredient in her pillow-fighting skills. It might not seem it to just look at her arms, but she actually had a pretty good set of biceps on her. It wouldn't take an exceptional amount of time to determine the winner.

Jessie was losing the pillow fight by a mile, but couldn't have cared less. She just couldn't believe how much fun she was having. The activity was a barrel of laughs, and also ended up turning into a surprise of sorts for Jessie. She thought she had completely outgrown such games and kiddish escapades several years ago. Having a pillow fight was something that would never have even occurred to her on a normal basis at this point in her life. Her outlook had always been that now that she was an adult, she should act like one. Back in the restaurant the previous month, when Annabella had laid out for her all the ways in which she was essentially a big kid, Jessie had thought she was silly. But being with Annabella was really opening her eyes to the realization that she didn't have to solely adhere to the typical conventions and norms of adulthood to in fact be or act like an adult.