A soft sigh escaped Jess’ lips as she felt his lips on her hand. For the first time in a long time, Jess felt free. As if nothing was holding her back. For such a long time, that thing was always her guilt for leaving her friends - especially Dorian. But now as she laid within his arms, she felt happy. Maybe Jessica was fooling herself - getting lost in a delusion of momentary bliss. But all she knew was she didn’t want to leave it. Leave a bubble where they were, for once, okay again. The warmth she felt in his arms only strengthened that ideal in her mind. Dorian DeLoughrey felt like… home. One that she missed like crazy when she had left.
When she asked him the question about his letter - her own letter still sitting in the pocket of her jeans settled on the floor a little away from the two of them - she smiled as he told her that he didn’t open the box. For some reason, that idea made her happy - and moreover - the possibility of opening it together. As they were supposed to do the first time and as was hoped by the 14-year-old Dorian DeLoughrey and Jessica Pierce who had naively made the promise in the first place. So as he asked the question of if she’d read it with him, along with the fact that they should probably head back she nodded, though after a second, allowed her hands to cup his face. “But I can’t promise…” she started - scooting closer to him, “… I won’t make fun of what a 14-year-old DeLoughrey wrote. That’s a right of passage,” she joked. Though with space now closed between them, Jessica brought her lips to his once again, savoring the feeling before pulling away and smiling at him. It was harder, however, to get herself to stand up leaving the warmth of his body so she could put her clothes on. Part of her just wanted to stay there forever but they both knew that wasn’t possible. As she reached her discarded Items, Jess put her pants back on and her shirt, watching as Dorian had begun to do the same. “I missed you,” she whispered - after getting the last of her clothes on.
She waited until he finished getting dressed before walking over to him and wrapping her hands around his neck once again. “Dori…” she mumbled, closing her eyes momentarily before opening them up once again to meet his own. “I’m sorry I left like… I did. You deserved so much more than that I just… I didn’t know what to do but that’s not an excuse.” she whispered before pulling him into a tight hug. It wasn’t the whole story - but maybe a fraction of the bigger reason she had left. One… one that she now intended to tell him about. “I…” she started… “Why don’t we head back,” she whispered, pulling him in for another kiss before making him turn around so she could jump on his back and the could walk them both back. After all - he always boasted about that soccer stamina - he may as well use it.
As Dori walked, Jessica had her arms and legs wrapped around his back as her head leaned against his shoulder - her eyes almost begging to close. It wasn’t a first for Jessica to be staying up late - honestly, she didn’t know how late it was but it likely didn’t beat her record of staying up for 72 hours a few months ago simply because she couldn’t physically sleep. But now - now Jess could feel her body comforted by the man holding her and falling into exhaustion. Though she kept herself up for a few moments, placing small kisses on Dorian’s neck as he walked every now and again - leaving marks that would likely bruise in the morning - though he had enough of those from the fun they had hours earlier. After a few moments, however, she may have fallen into a light, blissful sleep because the next thing she knew was her name being called softly because they had arrived at his tent. Groggily opening her eyes, Jess returned on her own two feet and turned him around to face her one last time. “Dorian,” she whispered - her exhaustion clear in her voice. “I want to…” she started taking a deep breath, “tell you what really happened that night… why I left,” Jess uttered. She knew he deserved that much from her and she wanted to tell him. So, with that, she took his hand within her own, leading the man to his tent to be alone once again but as Jessica opened the flap - what she saw inside woke her up immediately. Within Dorian’s tent, electric candles adorned the interior as the tent was filled with the polaroids that originally sat in the box. So much for not opening the box… Though the most surprising aspect was a girl asleep in the middle of the tent, lingerie on her figure as she slept in Dorian’s bed. Emily Dalton, if Jess recalled correctly, seemed as she had fallen asleep waiting for Dorian - an open letter in her hands which Jess recalled as the letter to his future self.
Jessica stood frozen for a moment, looking at the scene as the previous bliss she felt with Dorian crashed down and reality set in. , Of course, was all she could think as she straightened up and turned towards Dorian who had clearly been waiting for her to enter. “This…” she started, pointing at the two of them. “Was clearly a f*cking mistake” Jess muttered - letting go of his hand harshly before walking away from the man - something she clearly should have done when he told her he lied about Anna to hurt her.
