This Love, This Hate (A Lesbian Romance)

TLTH Chapter Thirty-Two

This Love, This Hate

Chapter Thirty-Two

                The next morning, Missy awoke with a sorrowful moan and slowly rose to a sitting position, trying to ignore how violently her head was swimming. She had been on the loveseat in the basement beneath a warm afghan in one of Raine's shirt and her bikini bottom, no idea at all of how she got there or why she was here alone and Raine was nowhere in sight. She shakily stood and wobbled up the stairs, holding the railing tightly with one hand and her head with the other. The closer she got to the house's main level, the more the sweet smell of home-cooked food wafted into her nose and made her realize just how absolutely starved she was. Her thin stomach let out a loud roar and she giggled, making her way to the kitchen island expecting to see one of the hired staff preparing food and grinning when she realized it was Jesse. "You cook?"

                "I have many hidden talents, darling." Jesse replied, turning from the bowl of yellow liquid he was mixing and grinning at her, "From the way you were acting last night, you must have a mountain of a hangover."

                "You're telling me," Missy whined, taking a few aspirin from the medicine cabinet near the meat freezer, "Why were you here?"

                "I got some...rather unfortunate news over at the Farr household and came over here to check on Raine, only to find the two of you drunk of your skinny little asses," He paused to chuckle as he turned his attention back to the meal he was preparing, "So I confiscated the alcohol before the both of you went into some kind of alcohol-induced coma, found you a shirt and settled you in, and slept with Raine upstairs."

                "Slept with Raine or Slept with Raine?" Missy teased after grabbing herself a bottle of sparkling water out of the fridge.

                "Just slept with her,  I'm dating Malarie right now and she and Zoe are...something. It wasn't anything beyond being there for a friend, she's really messed up over the stuff with that jackass Randall." Jesse explained as he poured what Missy guessed was some sort of egg mixture into a greased cake pan and began cubing up some ham.

                "I know," Missy noted, chewing her lip and absentmindedly watching him work, "Where is she?"

                "She's out by the pool...said she wanted some fresh air and time to think. I didn't question it." Jesse replied, pausing to meet Missy's worried gaze, "This will be a while, why don't you go have a little chat? I'll let you two know when it's done. I'm trying one of my mum's old recipes."

                "Okay and...Jess?" Missy asked, hesitating halfway towards the door.

                "Jesse." He corrected, a darkness Missy didn't understand filling his eyes.

                "Thanks...for checking on us. I don't remember what happened but I'm glad you were here to take care of us, even if it was because of something else bothering you at Zoe's." Missy said softly; apologies and thank-yous still felt so foreign to her as she tried to separate herself from the shallow bitch she used to be.

                "Don't mention it, I'm here for you too, not just Zoe and Mal." Jesse reminded before she headed out to the pool.

                Outside, Raine was sitting atop the pool's rock-framed waterfall—her parents had designed a small circular infinity pool at the top before it appeared to cascade down into the main pool for more intimate conversations or when fewer people were over to entertain. She was perched atop one of the rocky sides, watching her toned legs move slowly in the cool water while she let her mind wander. This morning she'd changed into a white lace romper and strapless bra and ran some curl-defining product in her hair before heading right out here, mind on Zoe and despite her hardest attempts to block it out, Randall. Also on her mind was Jesse's kindness she vaguely remembered from the night before and of course the every-present issue of her sexual identity. What was she? Did she have to choose? Did other women even appeal to her or was Zoe an exception?