Jessica POV

                I silently crept into the room, carefully watching over my prey. Tiffany seemed to be far too occupied with watching herself in the mirror to notice me. Her fingertips ran gently over her face, as if it were oh-so delicate and would break at her very touch. I pressed my body tightly against the wall, leaving no space in between, and held my breath as her fingers traced over to her lips and then a bit lower. I was barely able to fight back a groan at the somewhat suggestive sight. I couldn’t wait any longer. I couldn’t control myself. It was now or never.

I tip-toed behind her, crouching down to avoid being captured by the mirror. Then, without warning, I s my arms around her tiny waist and stood up before whispering carefully into her ear.

                “Boo.”

Tiffany shrieked and batted my hands away from her as she struggled not to fall off of the make-up chair and failed. She took deep gasps of air, trying to recover from the shock I had caused her. And despite her initial instinct to try and strangle me to death, she soon broke out in that same heart-melting smile of hers.

“Oh my god, Jessi, you came!” She exclaimed, then sprung up and drew me into a tight hug, swinging me back and forth in excitement. No matter how long we were friends, it seemed that I never would build up immunity to her smiles, since I always seemed to get infected with and return them by reflex.

“Of course I came! I know how important this is for you.” Tiffany squeezed me even more tightly (If such were even possible) and pressed her soft lips onto my cheek. It had only been a few weeks since we had met but the bond between us had continued to grow since then. Here I was skipping out on a date with my boyfriend just so I could be here and watch the 25^th performance of her musical, which I had absolutely no interest in whatsoever. Even if my boyfriend was Jay, and he doesn’t really count, it was still really out of the norm for me. I took my arms out from around her and shyly rubbed the place where her lips had met my cheek while a blush began to betray my cool exterior.

                “Aww, you’re blushing!”

                “Am not!”

“It’s ok, don’t be shy!” She teased. I put on a childish pout in an attempt to make her feel at least slightly guilty, but failed miserably as her smile only broadened. “I’m the one who should be blushing anyway. It’s supposed to be your boyfriend who comes to these sorts of events.” Tiffany’s smile slowly faded off and switched to a mildly dejected face, looking towards the ceiling instead of at me, taking her hands off of me.

I instantaneously realized the problem and smirked, poking at her tummy teasingly, “Someone lonely?” I accused with a grin. Tiffany, however, wasn’t amused and wouldn’t have it. She slapped my hand away and turned around with her arms crossed across her chest. “It’s ok, don’t be shy!” I mimicked, “If you want to take my boyfriend, I won’t stand in your way,” I continued half-jokingly.

She chuckled, turned back to me and took my hands into hers. “At this point, I really wouldn’t hate that idea either. Being single !” Oh how much I wished to switch places with her. What I would give to be single… “How are you and Jay, anyway? It’s been so long since I’ve seen him!”

“We’re… us.” I let out a soft giggle, “Not perfect, but you know, we’re us.” I wanted to puke as she smiled again and went on about how cute of a couple he and I were. I hated lying to her, my supposed best friend. But how could I tell her that Jay and I were fake when she liked us together so much? I made myself sick sometimes…

Tiffany and I walked hand in hand down the sidewalk. After the show she had insisted that we go out for coffee rather than dinner, then back to her place for movie night. As the cool fall wind bit at our necks, we unconsciously clasped our hands closer together, as if we never wanted to let go. Or maybe it was a delusion of mine. The warmth between our hands made me nervous. Maybe I was the one who never wanted to let go. But I dismissed the feeling of attachment and kept my eyes straight forward. All that mattered was what was in front of me, even when I felt her eyes on me. Out of the corner of my vision, I could see her same bright smile.

“Two caramel coffees, please.” Tiffany ordered as soon as we reached the counter. I looked at her, mouth agape in a mix of faux surprise and faux anger, but she took no notice of it and grabbed her drink, motioning for me to grab mine, to which I reluctantly complied. We moved over to grab some sugar and I took the opportunity to express my slight frustration with her actions.

“You ordered for me without asking,” I pointed out. She looked up at me and I couldn’t help but stare. The cold had slightly colored her nose and cheeks a soft rosy red. Her cute pink lips pursed together for a moment before she replied with a shrug. I was somewhat tempted to continue my ranting but she was already staring at something behind me. Not a second after I had noticed did a pair of hands cover my eyes.

“Guess who?” The male voice called to me. ‘Oh my god’, I thought, ‘I’m going get or something’. My female idol reflexes then kicked in and I spun around, attempted to knee the man in the crotch but failed as he quickly took a step back. And there Jay stood, considerably hurt that I would react in such a way to his game. “You told me you couldn’t go out with me today, I find you here pestering Tiffany and then you go and try to hit me where it hurts… exactly what kind of girlfriend are you, Sica?!”

“What kind of boyfriend are you?! Sneaking up on me like that, of course I would freak!” Before long though, I noticed that the entire shop was staring at us, including Tiffany who was fighting back a fit of giggled and was failing miserably. I let out a deep sigh, “What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were going to ask your manager to find a schedule to fill the day.” People began to timidly approach us, CDs and pictures in hand.

Without a word to them, we held out our hands, palms up for their items and took them, signing them without any thought. “I was. I did. I’m on break right now.” We handed the people back their things, turned to them, smiled and bowed. Tiffany now looked more upset than Jay did before, watching our fans as they walked away. Was she jealous? I frowned, knowing it really couldn’t be helped.

However, a man did approach her, but without a pen or anything of the like in his hand. He leaned casually against the trash bin, smiling a crooked smile at her. “Hey, you alone?” I glared in his general direction. “If you’re not busy, then maybe we could do something sometime.” I could see Tiffany shy away, fidgeting, her gaze now on the ground. Rage began to boil up inside of me at the sight.

“This is why I hate men,” I grumbled to myself. I listened quietly as the man went on for a bit, watching the steam rise up from my coffee and dragging my nails across the Styrofoam of the cup as I contemplated my next course of action.

“Wow, how annoying,” Jay said in an obnoxiously loud tone, “He can’t even tell when I girl isn’t interested?” Jay looked at me with a smirk on his face and I instantly knew what he was insisting. I grinned back at him. I may not have been in love with my boyfriend, but at least he was funny.

“Surprising, isn’t it? Since it’s probably really common for him, you’d think he’d be able to spot it.” I commented back with an uninterested tone.

“Seriously. ‘You alone?’ What is he? A from some crappy awareness commercial?”

“Boy ain’t got game.”

The man, now thoroughly embarrassed, tried to keep his attention on Tiffany. “Maybe we can go someplace quiet and…”

“Oh he really is some kind of . Jay, do we get to be on TV?”

“I don’t know, Sica. Hey, bro, which channel are you with?”

“He won’t tell. It’ll blow his cover.”

“Oh you’re right. But why do they always need to make these dudes so ugly? Isn’t average unattractiveness good enough?”

“Can I just get your number?” The man asked, extremely irritated.

“Jay, this is like watching one of those horror movies more than an awareness commercial. I mean, you’re watching and you’re just like ‘No! Don’t do it! He’s gonna get you!’, you know?” I continued in almost a monotone.

Then the man snapped, “Look, , you got a problem?” He glared directly at me, causing me to look away from Jay and back at him.

“Yeah, I do. She’s with me and I do appreciate being noticed.” Tiffany heard those words and carefully walked over to me, then hid herself behind my back. She nearly melted my ice cold stare that I was giving the guy as her warm breath ran over my neck as she brought herself closer to me. The man began to take a few aggressive steps towards us and Tiffany clutched on tightly to the back of my shirt.

“Actually, I have a problem too,” Jay said just as obnoxiously loud as before, moving forward and bumping the guy. “You just called my girlfriend a . I don’t really think I like that. And…” he glanced around the store, “The only I see here is you.” I watched on in awe as my boyfriend stood menacingly over the man. Sometimes he really wasn’t so bad to have around. The man shook with either anger or fear or a combination of the two.

The man then broke eye contact and huffed out something like “ this” or something to the same effect. He left, passing by us, causing Tiffany to press even closer against me, nuzzling her face into the crook of my neck. I was then unable to keep my focus on being angry at the man’s retreating figure while Tiffany’s body and my own had no distance between them.

“Thank you,” she muttered into my neck, causing me to shiver slightly. I nodded and looked to Jay who grimaced at the distance between Tiffany and I and the lack thereof. I grinned, mouthing the words “You jelly?” at him.

Jay clapped, surprising Tiffany resulting in her jumping and removing herself from me. “Well then, you girls should be on your way. Go straight home, ok?” We nodded in agreement and I walked up to him. “What is it?” He inquired when I draped my arms over his shoulders.

“Nothing,” I said, then kissed his cheek and withdrew myself. “I’ll see you Saturday. I’ll call.” His face turned bright red and he smiled. I took hold of Tiffany’s hand and led her outside to her manager’s car.

Jay POV

“I hate men,” I repeated to myself. “Sica…” I stepped into my manager’s car, waiting to be driven to whichever program I was supposed to do (I didn’t care).

“What about me?”

Jessica POV

“I’m jealous of you and Jay,” Tiffany admitted as we walked into her apartment. I cocked an eyebrow. I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what had invoked that sort of statement from her, but a safe guess would probably be something to do with how he and I had been so in sync when it came to annoying the guy who had been hitting on her. “You guys are so close and… I really kind of wish I had someone like that.” She set her purse on her kitchen counter. “You want popcorn before we start the movie?”

I went ahead and sat myself down on the couch in front of her TV. “Sounds good.” I called back at her as I set my own bag on the floor. Then my eyes began to wander around the room. It was the first time that I had been to Tiffany’s apartment and it was so…

Pink.

                ‘Why is everything pink?’ I asked myself before realizing that the answer to my question was pretty obvious. Because it was Tiffany’s apartment, what other color would it be besides pink? If she had a choice, everything in the entire world would probably be a shade of pink. I shivered at the thought of such a world. It’s a good thing that it wasn’t her job to choose colors of anything.

                The microwave dinged and Tiffany came out with a large bowl of fresh popcorn in hand. “Oh, Jess. I thought we could watch in my room, if you’re ok with that.” I quickly got up from my seat and nodded, picking up my purse.

                “Sure, sure, no problem.” I insisted as I let her lead the way. ‘Come to think of it, this place is pretty big isn’t it?’ I wondered if it was just my imagination but there seemed to be quite a bit of room for someone who was living alone, but my thoughts were interrupted as she pushed the door open to her room and to my surprise, no pink.

                Great. Now there’s something that’s going to keep me up at night trying to figure out. Tiffany deposited the bowl of popcorn on her nightstand and plopped herself onto her queen-sized bed, patting the spot next to her. “Come on, Jessi! It’s comfy.” She said enticingly. I rolled my eyes and laid down next to her, immediately grabbing hold of her hand by habit.

                Her attention was completely captured by the TV and using her remote to pull up something from Netflix. “You shouldn’t be jealous, Tiffany.” I finally replied. She glanced at me, then back at the TV, getting back to what she was doing. “Jay and I really aren’t as close as you probably think.” I rolled over onto my side and stared at her profile, admiring her beauty once again. “Besides, I think we can be really close. I mean, look.” I said, gesturing out with one arm, “Do you really think it’s often that I stay the night at a girl’s house watching movies?”

                Tiffany allowed another fleeting glance at me with a smirk creeping up on her face as she selected the movie, then to her side as well to meet my gaze. “Jessica Jung, you have got to be the sweetest girl I’ve ever met.” She paused for a short moment. “Now take off your mask and show yourself!” She sat up so quickly I didn’t even have time to register it. Then, when I had noticed, in her hands was a pillow, which then softly collided with my face.

                “Oh no you didn’t—“ Then it hit me again.

                We spent most of an hour chasing after each other all over her apartment, trying to smother each other with the feathery weapons, and then realized the movie was still on and the popcorn had gotten cold and we decided to just go to sleep instead.

                I found myself sitting up in bed, quietly watching the girl’s sleeping features; the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, the way she would sometimes grip tighter onto the blankets, the cute look on her face… all of it was so wonderful.

                “I’m so sorry Tiff.” I murmured. She rolled over onto her back, causing me a bit of a shock. My palm was pressed firmly against my mouth as I had felt like I was about to scream. After closer examination, I found that her eyes were still closed and I was in the clear. I let out a sigh of relief. I noticed a stray strand of hair and unconsciously tucked it back behind her ear. “I’m sorry, but I’m not someone who can protect you.”

                My eyes travelled from her unopened eyes down to her lips. Knowing full well what I was doing, I ducked down and grazed my lips cautiously over hers. I sat back up and observed her for a moment. No fateful moment in which she would wake up from my kiss and magically be able to return my feelings, whatever my feelings were anyway... I wasn’t even sure of it myself.

                I ran my fingertips gently over Tiffany’s forehead, brushing her bangs out of her face. She scrunched up her face a bit in discomfort, but didn’t wake. “You know,” I began to her again, “It’s dangerous to come so far into the woods.” I reclined back into the bed, facing her. “You never know if something bad might get you.” I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep soon after.

                I dreamt a pretty dream of pink cakes, pink houses and Tiffany in a pink dress.

A/N- Look at me, I'm so cool. I updated. Go me! -Crickets-

... Anyways.

I honestly had this written out already for like... five days. But I kept starting to type it out and then thought "Oh I should change this" but was too lazy to go ahead and actually do so. And half of you probably hate me now because I made a JeTi moment and made Jay sad. But that's ok. There's more to come. JeTi and JaySica alike. Thanks for the comments, thanks for reading, etc. (: