About That Sunday

Chelsea: Dreams.

People were everywhere. Hair stylists were running back and forth between Ryan, Jessica and myself making sure every inch of us in manicured to protection. At one point I would have bet there was a man that zigzagged back and forth between us just spraying hairspray.

"Is it always like this?" I asked Ryan, who was bored with the entire thing and playing on his phone. I reached over and nudged him when he didn't answer. "Ryan."

"It's the Oscars Chelsea. We have to look our best. Plus, Jess is definitely winning tonight. It's a few times a year." Ryan rubbed his eyes and a young woman came to touch up his makeup immediately. "At least your in a dress. I'm in a three piece suite in California. It's 700 degrees under here." Ryan gestured up and down his body. "Add alcohol to the mix and I promise you I'll sweat out ten pounds tonight."

Ryan adjusted his collar to make more room for his neck and started to play on his phone again.

"Thanks for doing this Chelsea." Jessica must have heard me ask Ryan. Her eyes met mine and I was instantly reminded why I was here in the first place; for her.

She had moved into my parents old beach house with me. Even with her taking up my entire closet, everything was going great.

We spent our nights laughing on the beach or tangled in each other. We couldn't get enough.

I couldn't get enough.

It didn't take long for the entire world to figure out we were together. Everywhere we went there were people taking pictures of us. She gained an entire army of LGBT fans. To them, she was an icon; brave enough to stand as herself in a world filled equally with judgment and support.

The messages she received tore me apart. So many people came out and thanked her for the courage to do so. So many people, so many teens reached out. Their stories needed a voice. Their stories needed a way to be projected. Some were abused, some were bullied, some were beaten, a lot of them; much like Jessica, contemplated giving up. She was a voice for them.

And it took my breath away.

I had it easy. My family didn't care as long as I was making something of myself. Often, they used it to show how diverse of a family they were. But, these stories hit me hard. They spoke to me. Jessica answered them all. She read them all and with every reply she gained more and more confidence. She offered them love and support and something so much greater; hope. Hope that they could become anything they want to in this world, just like her.

"It's fine. I just hate people touching me." I winked at Jessica hoping I could see her beautiful smile.

She raised a flirtatious eyebrow at me and I felt my cheeks burn a crimson red. I hoped she didn't notice under all this makeup but, when she stood from her chair I knew she had.

Jessica walked towards me in her beautiful blue gown. It hugged her body in all the right ways. I couldn't pull my eyes from her. Her hair was up and formal and even with all the makeup, she was perfection.

"All people or some people?" She made her way behind me and looked into the mirror to meet my eyes. Her finger tips ran down my arms and left a trail of goosebumps in their wake. She leaned down so her lips lingered by my ear.  And I felt her exhale against me.

"Ew." Ryan immediately cut our interaction short. "Chelsea I swear you're whipped." Ryan stood up and gave me a small smile as he headed out of the dressing room. "Whipped as fuck."

I felt Jessica giggled against my ear. "Yeah you are."

My eyes lingered on her reflection. She was glowing and it was driving me crazy. "Oh so it's just me huh?" I joked along with her.

"I think so." A mischievous smile slowly grew of her beautiful lips.

It didn't take long for me to fire back at her. "You begged me last night." I brought back my formal lawyer voice. "For hours if I recall correctly."

"Maybe, or was I just boosting your ego?" Jessica pulled away from me slowly. I could still see her eyes on me as an assistant brought her a sliver clutch bag that matched her earrings and necklace.

"You're good to go Jessica, good luck tonight." The girl spoke before leaving us alone in the dressing room.

I stood from my chair and faced her. "Boosting my ego huh?"

"Maybe."

"Whats that's supposed to mean?" I drifted towards her.

Her reply was wordless. Instead, she answered with that same mischievous smile and a small shrug.

My hands found her waistline and we both moved back until Jessica was against the wall of the studios dressing room. My body pressed against hers as she wrapped her arms around the back of my neck. My lips brushed against hers her eyes locked on to mine.

"Chels." She whispered. "You know it's the same for me."

"I know." I whispered back.

"You look amazing. I can't keep my eyes off of you."

"I know Jessica."

"God don't be so modest." She smiled.

"I swear if this whole thing didn't take three hours I would tear that dress off of you."

Jessica's hands tightened around me as see looked around the room. "To be continued then?"

"Absolutely."

My grip on her waist loosened and she immediately pulled me back into her.

"I love you Chelsea. Thank you for this. Thank you for everything."

"No Jessica thank you. Thank you for showing there is so much more to life. I love you too. I just want to say something about that Sunday at Ryan's, it..."

"Don't," Jessica interrupted me. "Don't talk about that right now." She genuinely smiled. "We will talk about it later I promise."

"Okay Jess."

A knock on the door caused us to drift away from each other.

"You guys ready? The limo is here." Ian peeked his head into the dressing room.

He opened the door all the way when his eyes landed on jessica.

"Holy shit." Ian stood in the doorway with his mouth agape. "You look amazing Jess."

When his eyes left Jessica's Ian looked at me. It was almost like he didn't recognize me.

"Chelsea? Oh my god. The two of you are going to steal the show."

"You're not looking too bad yourself Ian. Is that Armani?" I noticed the cuff links on his dark black suit.

"Yes it is, good eye Chelsea. The limo is here for us. Are you ready for you big night Jessica?"

"More than ready."

Jessica fingers entangled in mine. She leaned in a placed a small kiss on my cheek before we walked out the door of the dressing room hand in hand.

Along both sides of the hall that lead to the car most of the studio staff had gathered. They took pictures and sent us off with a loud round of applause.

Outside, there were reporters waiting at the gate. We stepped into the limo with Ryan and Ian and the driver quickly shut the door. Jessica sat closest to the window. Her hand tightened on mine as it often did when she was nervous.

I wanted to reassure her but I didn't know what was going on in her mind.

"You've earned this moment ten times over Jessica. You're amazing and if you feel some type of way tonight just find my eyes. I'll be right there cheering you on. "

Jessica released the tension on my hand and leaned her head against mine.

"You're always there Chels and I love you so much for that, more than you'll ever know."