the ordeal of being known
: Chapter 30

Jess

Finally, after having about four games out of LA, the team was heading back. It could not have come at a worse time. It had caused a delay in his plan. Normally, that would have been fine, but Layla was an anxious woman and he could not imagine what was going through her head.

They were doing remarkably well this season. Other than the one he ruined, the whole season was smooth as butter.

It did not help that after his teammates had seen the pictures; he was constantly getting teased in the locker room. They had so much fun talking about his tattoo, which he really didn’t mind.

As soon as they landed, Jess texted Layla to meet him at the diner.

She wore a brown cardigan with a long beige fitted skirt and her hair was down.

It was a little awkward. He didn’t know if he should just go for the kiss, but god he missed her so much; he kept contemplating buying the musk she wore all the time and ditching his own cologne.

Layla hesitated for a moment before wrapping her arms around his waist. It gave him the opportunity to wrap her in a bear hug.

“I missed you so much,” he signed. It seemed to mean a lot to her. That word, I missed you.

She smiled softly at the word every time.

“Where are we going?” she asked him.

“I’m taking you on a date. We haven’t been going out on enough dates, you know?” He took the milkshakes to go and then they headed over to his car.

The destination was close to the diner, so it was best that they go from there.

On their way there, he stopped to get some ice-cream. When he got back in the car again, she noticed the ice-cream in the cup was shaped like a flower.

“Flowers?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

“You said you’ve never gotten flowers before, so I figured I should replace ways to constantly give them to you. To make up for all the times you didn’t get them.”

Once they arrived at the movie set, Layla’s brow furrowed slightly, but she stayed quiet.

Jess led her inside. It was huge. He paid a good amount of money for the transformation. The movie set was divided into separate sections. Each section was made into a replica of a room from a tv show, movie or book from Layla’s favorites.

One room was made into a replica of Luke’s diner from Gilmore Girls. That’s where we’ll sit and have our milkshakes, he thought.

Another section, a slightly bigger one was made to replicate a few rooms from the Adam’s Family movie set.

And lastly, there was a small section that was meant to be Camp Half-Blood from the Percy Jackson books.

Layla stood at the door, staring at everything with her mouth open.

“What is this?”

“It’s our date.” He tugged on her hand. “It was hard to narrow it down to these three since you love so many, but I thought you would feel delighted by these the most.”

It was one of the first things that she mentioned after he found out about her mom. She told him she used to consume so much media in order to escape whatever she was feeling.

“But why?” she asked him. Jess didn’t mention the hitch in her voice. His Layla was sensitive, despite pretending she wasn’t.

“I fucked up a little bit unintentionally. You told me you loved me and I didn’t say it back because I didn’t think it was the right time.”

“It wasn’t?” she asked.

“I stressed you out the whole day. You were up for hours and I gave you a scare.” He gestured at the sets. “I didn’t want to tell you I love you that day because of that. I wanted you to be able to associate the day with better feelings. I didn’t want the memory to be tainted with anxiety. So I thought I would recreate places from media that made you feel comfortable.”

“Oh,” she whispered, looking around.

Layla to the audience: he’s just so…

First she explored the Addams Family set. Jess made out with her on every surface of the set. He told her it’s what Morticia and Gomez would have wanted and she agreed.

Then they had their milkshakes and burgers in Luke’s diner, where he pretended to take her order, cook it, serve it, and then sat down and shared a meal with her. He made her pancakes as well; she ate everything because it was only appropriate.

Layla finished before he did. She went exploring a bit on her own; she disappeared for a bit and then bumped into Jess on her way back to the fake diner.

“I was looking for you,” he signed.

“Oh, what did you need?”

“I haven’t had desert yet, it’s about time.”

Layla couldn’t look away from the heated look in his eyes. She laughed.

“That was a little corny, wasn’t it?” she said, running her hands on his biceps.

“It was, but I really would like us to fuck on this counter later, it that’s alright with you?”

“Won’t it break?”

“I guess we’ll have to replace out.”

After that in Camp Half-Blood, she looked around each camp; it was a lot smaller than what the actual camp would be like. They felt like giants. There were wooden swords on the ground, which she picked up and started poking at his stomach. Jess ignored it at first, but then when the pokes increased in strength, he grabbed her jaw and started attempting to pamper her with kisses.

“You must be too scared to fight back,” she told him, somehow managing to look down her nose at him.

“Precisely.”

“Coward.”

“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”

Her attempts failed. He was strolling through the camp while she tried to attack him like she wasn’t even there. When she gave up and threw the sword, Jess picked her up and easily turned her upside down.

“Cheater,” she screeched. “Put me down!” Jess walked over to the table and laid her down. He made some space for himself between her legs and pinned her in place.

“When I first met you, do you know what I thought about you?”

“What?”

“You’re so full of life.” She laughed like it was ridiculous.

“That’s not really a word I would use to describe me, Jess.”

“You are,” he insisted. “I saw your work, your paintings, all that beauty, all that sadness and life that you made with your hands. It comes from you. It’s how you look at things, you’re so full of life, and you can shine a light on it and paint it in a unique way.

“I—”

“And I thought you’re too full of life to be half loved by someone. I hoped that someday you would let me love you in full force, and I do. I love you so much. Every day, I wake up and I choose to love you even more. I’ve never felt like this before. I know it will never feel like this again. My heart knows what it’s like to have the wind knocked out of me because of you.”

“You should. I’m stunningly attractive,” she joked because she didn’t know how to respond.

“You should tell me you love me now.”

“I already said it.”

“It was an emotional day. It doesn’t count.” There was a look of embarrassment in his eyes that made her think he spent a long time thinking that her confession was the result of worry, something she said to distract him, not that she actually meant it.

“I love you,” she told him. “You are the only man I’ve ever loved.”

Jess to the audience: I’m not going to lie, that last line did wonder to my ego.

Layla to the audience: I regret the last line sometimes.

“You love me,” he said, shaking his shoulders and doing a little dance.

“You are annoying!”

“Oh, this is so good. How the mighty have fallen. Is that the right term for this moment? When did you realize it? Was it the perfect moment when the sun was shining on my hair or when I walked out of the bathroom after a shower and the towel was low on my waist and—”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” she said, hitting his chest.

Nevertheless, she spent the rest of the day repeating it to him, as per his request. She got bored with repeating the words, eventually. She started kissing down his body, testing to see what spot made him speechless.