Chapter 5 5

UGH... this was why she did not like to drink, it always caught up with her the next morning and this time was no different. She groaned as the headache hit her hard. She went to the medicine cabinet and took out some ibuprofen to fight the hangover. She looked terrible, her mascara was smeared and she had dark circles under her eyes. She had been so tired the night before that she had neglected to remove her makeup.

She noticed that there was still no groceries in her kitchen, so she made a mental note to go shopping after she got the car. Then she remembered. The car. Kennedy was on his way to her place and judging by the time, he would be here any minute and she was in no way prepared for that.

She really was not a morning person and staying up this late without having a shot of coffee made her grumpy. Then she heard the knock on the door.

She was startled, she looked awful and she was not prepared to see him again now. At least not the way she looked now. There was another knock. "Take it easy. I am coming,"

She hurried back to her room, washed her face, and then put on a robe. She went ahead to open the door, after all, it was better to look like that than like a sleep-deprived junkie.

"Good morning," Kylie said as she opened the door and to her surprise it turned out to be Jessica. "I thought Kennedy was the one coming?" she asked, confused and a little disappointed.

Jessica just laughed, "Good morning to you, too. You were obviously looking forward to seeing him again,"

Jessica realised that Kylie lost her composure as soon as she saw her.

"No, it's not that," she tried to explain, not only to Jessica, but to herself. She had been expecting him, but she did not know she would feel that way if he did not show up.

"Well, something came up for him and he could not come. He gave me the address of the car rental place. But do not worry, I brought breakfast." she said, showing her the bags she had come with. She had breakfast with her.

Kylie tried to cheer herself up, "Yay! I am already suffering from coffee withdrawal syndrome," she joked as she led her into the kitchen.

Jessica dropped the bags on the table and started unpacking them. She pulled out the pancakes with maple syrup.

Kylie sat down at the table. "This is delicious," she said after taking a bite.

"Yeah, I know," said Jessica, who also helped herself to a plate and joined in. "You really need to go shopping, because I can not come here every morning to feed you."

"I was planning to do that today after I get the car," Kylie explained.

"Okay, but Kennedy will be coming by later..."

"What!" said Kylie, startled. She had thought she would not see him again today.

"For dance class," Jessica finished what she had just said. "So we have to get going."

Kylie tried to regain her composure. "Okay, sure. No problem, I'll just freshen up and I'll be down in a minute," she said.

"Okay, I'll clean up here," Jessica said, pointing to the bags and plates on the table.

Kylie went up to her room. She was excited at the thought of seeing Kennedy again.

Seeing Kennedy again! Maybe it would not be as bad as she imagined, maybe it was the drink that had made her nervous around him. Now that she would see him with a clear head, she was sure everything would be different. At least, she hoped so.

After she showered, she applied only a light sheen, pinching her cheeks for colour.

"I am ready, let us go," she said to Jessica as she came out in jeans and a red tank top.

Jessica had already finished cleaning up and had been looking through her phone in anticipation of Kylie. Kylie locked up and followed Jessica to her car and they drove to the address that Kennedy had given her.

An hour later, she finally had her own car.

"Thank you for helping me with this and with everything else you have done for me. You really are an angel," Kylie said to Jessica, who hugged her.

"You know it's nothing," she replied humbly.

"Please do not say that. I would not be here without you. You have made my transition here very easy, and I am really grateful for that. I do not think I would have been able to handle it all on my own, so I thank you for all your help."

"You are very welcome. You know I have you, baby," Jessica said. "I love you and the fact that we are back together. I was not happy when I had to move, but now you are here too, it's like old times."

"Yeah, I missed you a lot too," Kylie said, remembering the time Jessica had left New York.

"Now that that's settled," Jessica said, pointing to the car, "I guess I have to go, and do not forget Kennedy will be joining you later," she reminded her.

It's not that she could forget that little fact, she'd had it in her mind since Jessica had mentioned it. She wanted to take it easy. Although she had been disappointed in the morning, she was still glad for the respite.

"Sure, I have not forgotten. I just have to pick up a few things from the mall and then I'll head home."

"Okay, but hurry," Jessica said, getting into her car. She waved goodbye and sped off.

Kylie heaved a sigh of relief. She would take care of Kennedy when the time comes, but right now she had some shopping to do.

_ _ _

"The nerve of that annoying man," complained Jessica as she took a sip of her beer. The crowd was loud and rowdy, but she did not notice them. "Imagine, resignation letter or apology letter, my ass."

Just remembering what had happened two hours ago made her seethe with anger. In her defence: How could she have known that the Bees would invite themselves along with visiting dignitaries? As the head of the planning committee, it was her responsibility to make sure that the guests were well taken care of and that the event ran smoothly. She had chosen the venue to be outdoors, where visitors could enjoy the ambience of the surroundings. She had provided food, fresh honey and various drinks. Everything had been going well until the bees decided to join the party. A hive had fallen from a nearby tree and the bees had stung the people in the area mercilessly, probably in revenge for the fresh honey. The perfect event had turned out to be a big disaster and the press had caught it all on camera. The dignitaries had all been hospitalized for bee stings, and that was exactly why her boss had asked for the apology letter. She had scoffed at the idea of apologizing for something that was beyond her control. It was a natural disaster and in no way her fault, and that was exactly what she had told her boss, which had led to the ultimatum.

Jessica tipped the last sip from the bottle and when she looked around she realized she had exceeded her limit of two bottles, but still she ordered another bottle. Her words became careless and her eyes blurred, but she did not care.

She asked for a napkin as she set to write her resignation letter. There was no way she was going to apologize for a wrong she had not committed; it was not as if she had been an exception to the bee sting.

She had the red marks on her body to prove it.