A Perfect Fit

23

Isabelle

"You nearly had sex with Jackson?" Jen shrieks as the two of us sit at our usual table at the Maple Leaf Cafe.

Others inside the cafe instantly turn to glance at me, and I can feel my cheeks flushing red in embarrassment. "Don't say that so loudly!" I exclaim.

"Sorry," she sheepishly replies. "It's just that I feel like I'm reading a book right now and I've skipped like ten chapters. Because not long ago you were telling me how you couldn't stand him." She pauses for a moment and innocently adds, "Unless you were planning on having hate sex with him?"

"Jen!" I groan.

She lets out a cheeky smile and laughs. "Okay, I'll stop."

"I probably should've started from the beginning," I mutter, taking a drink of my coffee.

Jen leans forward in her seat. "I'm all ears."

With that, I tell her about everything that's happened between Jackson and me since the reunion, the gala, the kiss in his hotel room plus some of the more steamy details, running into Oliver, and then Jackson's words to me after our encounter with Oliver.

When I finish talking, Jen's expression softens. "I know Oliver is a dickhead but you can't let him stop you from being open to the good things in your life."

"I know," I sigh. "I didn't even care when Oliver showed up with his fiancé at the reunion but when he brought up our break-up in Washington, it was as though something snapped within me and I was reminded of how heartbroken I was."

"And that's all understandable considering what that asshole said and did to you," Jen assures. "Your feelings are all valid, Belle, but let me also ask you this: how do you really feel about Jackson?"

"I mean...I wanted him so badly when we were at the hotel," I confess. "And that's never happened to me before with anyone else, not even my ex."

Openly admitting it, saying those words out loud only make me realize how certain I am about my feelings for Jackson.

I've fallen for him.

I'm not sure exactly when these feelings began to form, but I suspect they'd been buried there for some time and our kiss at the hotel had been the catalyst for them to finally bubble to the surface.

But it's one thing to have feelings for someone and another to act on those feelings.

It's been eight days since the gala, and now that we're out of our fake dating bubble and back to reality, I haven't heard from Jackson. I'd considered sending him a "how's it going" text but had ultimately chickened out.

He obviously has his own life, but it's as though a new fear has been unlocked within me—that he's regretted everything he said to me about being there to catch me when I'm ready to take a leap of faith, or that he's having second thoughts. I know I shouldn't be thinking like this, but it's like my overthinking brain can't help but automatically jump to the worst possible conclusion.

"I forgot to add, I have actual confirmation that he has feelings for you," Jen then says.

"Actual confirmation?" I frown.

A tiny smile creeps up her lips. "Aaron said Jackson told him that he likes you."

I can feel my breath being caught in my throat. "He did?"

Jen lets out a nod to confirm.

I pause for a moment. "Hang on, knowing Aaron's personality, are you sure he wasn't just joking?"