Page 6 of Finding Jess

The sounds of the phone shifting around on the other end crackled through the speaker.

“It’s fine,” Scarlett murmured, her voice slowly awakening. “I couldn’t really sleep, anyway. The florist for the wedding backed out. I guess they overbooked our date or something. So now, on top of everything else, I have to find a new one.”

Sam hummed. “Having any luck?”

“No,” Scarlett groaned. “But I’m gonna look again tomorrow when I’m not half asleep.”

Sam nodded. “Let me know if I can help.”

Scarlett muttered something she couldn’t quite make out before falling quiet.

Sam swallowed. “Scar,” she said quietly, “when were you going to tell me she’d moved here?”

“What?”

Sam exhaled, rubbing a hand over her tired eyes. “Jess.” Even saying her name aloud felt weird after so long. “When were you going to tell me?”

A few beats of silence passed.

“Wait—how do you know that?”

Sam held back the groan that wanted to come out as the memories of the last few hours replayed in her mind. Her eyes flicked to the motorcycle helmet by the front door. With how exhausted she was, it probably wasn’t a good idea. But really, a late night ride to clear her head sounded like heaven.

“We ran into each other at the office her—“ She paused, the next word feeling uncomfortable in her mouth, “girlfriendworks at. Oh, and if that wasn’t bad enough, thatgirlfriendalso happens to be an old friend of mine.”

The line went dead for a few seconds. Then Scarlett’s booming laughter broke through.

“Scar,” Sam warned.

But the laughter continued, and as it did, Sam found herself slowly smiling as well. The first real smile she’d felt all day.

If she really thought about it, the whole situation was at least a little funny.

Sam shook her head, laughing along with her.

“You can’t be serious.” Scarlett said, still choking back bursts of laughter.

“Oh, I am,” Sam replied, picking up the phone and ambling down the short hallway to the bedroom.

“Was it as bad as what I’m imagining?”

Sam snorted, tossing the phone onto her bed. “Worse, probably.”

Scarlett’s laugh vibrated through the speaker. “Fuck, I wish I could’ve been there to see that.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if I’ve ever been that awkward in my whole life,” Sam muttered, stripping her shirt off and dropping it into an empty cardboard box on the floor.

Scarlett’s laughter died off into a light chuckle. “I’m sorry.”

Sam pursed her lips, grabbing one of her looser t-shirts off the bed. “Its fine.”

“So really,” Scarlett started, her voice going somber, “how was it?”

“I don’t know,” Sam muttered. “It was weird, obviously. But it was also—good—I guess. To see her again, I mean.”

“I bet,” Scarlett said quietly.

“Why didn’t you tell me she’d moved here?”

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