Everything comes back to you -J.MARIANO

[1.30]

𝓐fter school, a day in which Jess had actually attended, Taryn bypassed her usual study session at Luke's for something that she viewed to be slightly more important. After completing a big exam that morning, she figured she owned a speck of relaxation to herself and her favorite hobby was the place she chose to find it. She had been unable to collect fabric in the correct way to make a dress she had been thinking about for weeks and simply needed a human model to get anywhere close to where she wanted the bodice to be. And somehow, she still was unsure as to how, Taryn had managed to convince Jess to be that model. So they stood in the middle of her bedroom, purposely angled away from any mirrors, as Taryn slowly pinned together the fabric in the correct way. "I hate this," Jess complained as she stepped back to get a better look at how it was looking.

She smiled sweetly, teasingly, as she replied, "But you're being so incredibly helpful."

"Do you not have a mannequin you could do this on?"

"And why would I need one when I have you," she asked in complete earnest before pressing a kiss to his lips. The distraction worked for only a moment but he couldn't bring himself to move away. To break the joy in her eyes, that surge of life and focus, would be rather difficult both physically and mentally.

He furrowed his brow and over exaggerated a wince as she just grazed the surface of his arm with one of the pins. "Seriously, I assumed you had multiple hidden away like bodies in a closet."

"I decided ages ago that I wouldn't let anyone buy me one as I want it to be the first thing I buy with my first designer check. I know it's kind of stupid, given that I'd need to make the clothes but-"

A flickering of her light and a rapid but gentle knocking on her door interrupted her explanation. They both turned and Jess pinkened subtly as her Da poked his head in the door. "Oh I didn't know Jess was here."

"He's just helping me piece a project," Taryn smiled with a pin held between her teeth, which she removed the second her Da sent his usual disapproving glare. "Opinions?"

Her Da turned toward the bodice, instead of his daughter and the room filled with a brief silence whilst he looked over the pinned together fabric."Purples not his color."

She laughed whilst Jess internally cringed in physical pain at how this already embarrassing situation now had an audience. "What did you want Da?" Taryn asked quickly after noticing the shift in Jess' posture.

"Any opinions on dinner tonight?"

She paused for a second of thought, "Lasagna?"

Her Da nodded, choosing not to use this moment to express how he had been thinking of the exact same dish all day. "Jess, are you staying?"

He cleared his throat before responding, "No, thank you. I have work."

Her Da nodded before he left the room, choosing not to close the door behind himself. Taryn rolled her eyes jokingly before walking over to close the door back up. She paused at the door and caught the bodice from a different angle. "Yeah, purple is definitely not your color."

"You owe me," Jess pressed as she walked back over to him and fixed a misplaced ruffle of fabric.

She looked up from his chest and smirked softly before pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. "Do I?"

He sighed as she took what looked to be the final step back. Quickly and hopefully, he asked, "Can you unpin me now?"

Taryn laughed to herself before she began to unpin the major holding pins for the piece. She left the small ones that created the shape how she wanted it and helped him to lift it over his head. Whilst Jess fixed his hair briefly in the mirror, by simply forking his hand through it, she hung the piece on the back of a door to her wardrobe. As she placed yet another post it reminder on the door, Jess came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist before nesting his face in the crook of her neck. She smiled and leaned into him, letting her eyes flutter close as he started to kiss her neck.

"Don't you have to work?" she asked somewhat reluctantly, her voice showing clear evidence that she was rather enjoying this moment.

"I am working," he muttered against her skin.

She sighed, "Mariano."

The tone of her voice had the opposite effect than what she had intended. Taryn soon found herself being turned around, his hands taking her face whilst he walked the both of them over to her bed. She laughed softly as he laid her down on the bed and began something they both knew would be difficult to get out of. Taryn  despite how her mind was screaming to forget the time and to pull him closer to herself, managed to pull her consciousness back into place as he trailed the kisses down her jaw. "Come on, you're going to be late."

Jess, pausing for only a second, looked up at the clock on her wall and sighed sharply. "I hate that you're right."

"Uh huh," she laughed as the two of them climbed up from the bed, quickly straightening clothes before they made their way out of her bedroom. She kissed him goodbye at her front door and waved as he drove off in a car whose passenger seat now had a perfectly made, flowery cover. Taryn, before heading to the kitchen to talk to her Dad whilst he cooked, went to fix her hair in the hallway mirror. As she moved some of the mushed curls, a dark spot on the skins of her neck instantly caught her attention. Upon inspection, she rolled her eyes and scoffed in brief annoyance before she covered the patch with her hair and made a mental note not to move too much as she entered the kitchen.