Suffocating. Jessica’s body truly felt asphyxiated that night she laid in bed with Dorian; his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her after she told him everything that had happened. She couldn’t lie to him… not again. A promise she had made to herself and one she had kept after he picked her up from the concrete floor of an alleyway. Perhaps she had been rash in kissing Dorian hours earlier; trying to forget the pain she was in, but he simply pushed her off and wrapped his arms around her. And part of that only hurt her more. What was left of her heart ached. She was in pain in every sense of the word and it truly felt as if she was gasping for breath but only water filled her lungs as she drowned quicker and deeper as she laid awake beside him.
Jess had turned towards him; placing a soft kiss on his forehead before navigating herself out of his arms surrounded by the darkness of his room. Tears had once again begun falling from her face as she hugged her legs and she knew she couldn’t stay there. If Jess was drowning; it felt like Beryl was the poisonous water she was drowning within. She needed to be alone… to breathe… to be someone else. And walking towards his countertop; Jess wrote a simple note with the words:
𝐼’𝓂 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎, - 𝒥𝑒𝓈𝓈
Written upon a piece of paper; she left it there as she escaped into the night; something she often did at 3 in the morning. Though today… Jess wasn’t planning on returning. Rather she made a few final calls on her phone sending distractions for Dan… she just needed time without him hounding her every bloody second. And then; with only the clothes on her back and a few dollars in cash – Jess went to the train station wearing one of Dorian’s hoodies and sweatpants and hopped on the first train she found. Not even caring where it headed.
It had been a week and a half of Jess just moving around; taking train to train to different places; sleeping in train stations for the first day or two…. Or really any place she could find. In the end, Jess finally ended up in Napa Valley; finding a job in a small winery that allowed her a place to sleep. It was calming; something that allowed her to get her mind off of everything else. To be in a place where she wasn’t Jessica Pierce. Where she hadn’t had her heartbroken by the man she loved… or she thought she loved. She didn’t even know what to believe anymore.
She had finally gotten into a new groove; one that allowed her a small ounce of her grief not completely overwhelming her entire being. Perhaps part of that was she had gone so far as to not even use her name. As of right now; she simply went by Sophia. A girl who hadn’t gone through everything life had put Jessica through. Though it seemed this small moment where she didn’t feel a crushing feeling was short-lived. Because as she was going through and cleaning off the wine bottles; her eyes caught the most recent New York Times sitting on a table that someone had left. And the moment she read the news report; her heart sunk again.
“…but we have heard confirmation from the families that the royal wedding between Princess Eva and Malachi Azure will be on the 13th of this June.”
Why should she have been surprised? Why did it feel like someone had just stabbed her through the heart for the second bloody time? Sinking to the floor; the article fell in front of her as Jess stuffed her head in her hands. She couldn’t keep running away. The issue was that every fcking time she did; it kept catching up to her. Jessica Pierce kept bloody catching up to her and it killed her every time. Though it was at that moment that she realized she couldn’t ever really escape her past. And as much as she wanted to try sometimes; it wasn’t ever fully possible.
She had arrived an hour earlier from the train station; a hint of desolation in her heart – though she knew she had to do something. There was only so much running Jess could do before her past caught up to her and hell, it had caught up to her pretty damn fast. Though she had her reasons for coming back; for standing in the parking lot working up her courage to go to the football field. One to apologize for making her cousin worry – alongside making her friends worry. And two… to finally bloody stand up to Anna. A girl she knew was in that field after finally logging online and finding a flight plan from the Pierce Jet from London to Beryl.
Jess took a deep breath before starting her descent towards the field; though soon blocking her way was Andy McAllister… a man she honestly hadn’t… spoken normally to for a month. “Hey… buddy,” Jess mumbled through her lips… at a loss for words as she stood in front of her… friend? Could she still call him that? Ever since she had found out about Anna and him; things had just been… strange between the two and that idea made her heart drop.
“Andy can we just… talk later… I have a few things I need to do and I’m sure you have your own…” she started, a soft sigh leaving her mouth. The two had never been like this… not since she left freshman year and hadn’t talked to him for two years. They used to be able to read each other’s minds and now… it was… the opposite. “… things to deal with… I’m sorry Andy, I can’t do this right now,” Jess muttered; pushing past him before he could say anything else. Rather the disappointment on his features was clear and Jess couldn’t do with more disappointment in her. She was already so disappointed in herself every day that she didn’t want more.
@CerealKiller - McDad / no longer McNugget
@Littlefeets - Mr. Kingsly for real 
@astxrism - Dori