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Familiar Face // J. St James (Part 2)

You swallow the lump in your throat and search your brain for the right thing to say – to no avail. You're left speechless as your eyes shift between Quinn and Mercedes, and The Jesse St. James. Nobody moves.

"You left this in my dorm," Jesse says, finally breaking the silence. "I thought you might need it, since you clearly had other plans since you left so suddenly."

"Th-Thanks." You stutter, taking your wallet from his hand. "I-I was just going to come and get it, so yeah, Thanks again."

"Okay," Mercedes scoffs. "This can't be happening. You're telling us that the guy you slept with last night was Jesse?"

"It was a mistake!" You exclaim without even thinking, and a look of hurt spans Jesse's face, which surprises you a little.

"It was a mistake?" Jesse now scoffs. "Yeah okay." He then turns his back and walks back down the hall.

"Can we please not talk about this right now?" You beg, as Quinn and Mercedes both glare at you – the whites of their eyes glistening.

"Oh no," Quinn starts, but Mercedes cuts her off.

"You best believe that we will be discussing this right now." She speaks.

"Look," You sigh, throwing your wallet on the table. "It really was a mistake. I was lonely and we shared some wine, and he was the first familiar face I had seen in months."

"Weren't you guys close friends before high school?" Mercedes asks. "And then he ditched you."

"Yeah," Quinn nods, "You were so hurt by that. Why on earth would you let him back into your life?"

"Look!" You exclaim, suddenly turning away from them. "It's not as simple as you make it out to be. Jesse and I were very close friends in Middle School..."

"Yeah, we know." Quinn says, and you can just tell that she's rolling her eyes.

"... but he was also my first love."

"Um, what?" Mercedes says, grabbing your shoulder and spinning you around to face them.

"It was middle school, and he was guy best friend, so I never acted on it, but I had very intense feelings for him." You say, feeling butterflies in your stomach as you just think about it.

"That doesn't explain why you would sleep with him now." Quinn sighs. "After the way he acted last year alone – you know, messing Rachel around like that. Surely you don't want to get involved with him."

"Yeah." Mercedes spits. "Rachel may be annoying as hell, but he treated her like dirt, and she didn't deserve it."

"I know." You sigh, starting to get frustrated because you feel like the conversation is just going in circles. It wasn't like you really wanted to date Jesse now, but even if you did, Quinn and Mercedes shouldn't be able to dictate whether or not you were allowed to.

"Look," Mercedes says gently, clearly noticing your frustration. "We understand that you're lonely here, but Jesse is not who you should turn to."

"I know." You sigh, before taking a deep, shaky breath in, even though you're not sure that you believe it. "Now let's go explore before we run out of time."

"Yeah, we leave first thing tomorrow since it's the weekend, so we need to squeeze as much in as possible." Quinn smiles.

_____

After Quinn and Mercedes left to go back to Ohio, you went straight back to feeling lonely, but this time it felt different. Before, you felt lonely because you didn't know anyone, and now you were lonely because you were without people you knew. You had only spent one evening with Jesse, but you talked for hours, about random stuff like you used too, but it was enough for you to feel like you had reconnected.