The Right Choice

Chapter 20

“How much longer did you say?” Jessie spoke into the phone. “Okay. I’ll be waiting here. See you soon.” 

Jessie stood waiting under the large neon-lit sign for ‘Tony’s Triple Treat’. The harsh glow of the yellow light of the sign made it appear as though she had a divine light falling on her. Every minute or so she would get double stares from people passing by. She was unclear as to why. ‘It could be the weird yellow light.’ She thought. Or it could be the fact that her pictures had continued to appear in all forms of media over the course of the past week.

The Saturday morning spent with Taylor had given her some relief. Her friend had mocked, teased and comforted her, all at the same time. That’s what you expect from friends, right? They give you the good, the bad and the ugly even if you just want the good. Taylor reminded her that it was simply a matter of time before there was some new thing for the press to focus on. All Jessie had to do now was to wait.

The street junction where Jessie waited was brightly lit as all the street lights had turned on just a few minutes ago. The cars zoomed by as she looked around hoping to spot the person she was waiting for; Aaron. He was running late; had been stuck in some meeting with his editor. But, he was on his way. Even then, Jessie had been waiting for almost twenty minutes and was getting anxious as people continued to take a peek at her. She cursed her delayed date. ‘Why is it taking so long?’

The fast food restaurant behind her was buzzing with activity. Tony’s Triple Treat was one of the oldest fast food restaurants in the city. Named after its founder Tony Patts, it was one of the first few ‘low price but high quality’ food joints in the city. Famous for its three course fast food menu and its ‘Triple Treat’ burger, it had attained legendary status. Jessie remembered coming here with her friends from high school. This place had been a setting for her first date.

Rick Garner also known as ‘Ricky’ by the entire school had been her first boyfriend. The hockey player had been one of the very few single ones on the team. As a sixteen year old, Jessie had a huge crush on him. A silly game of truth or dare at a sleepover had revealed all of that to several girls in her class. And as everyone knows, ‘girl gossip’ travels faster than the speed of light itself, this news had spread like wildfire around the school. Jessie had been embarrassed to the core.

A few days later her friend Shelly had run up to her during gym class and rapidly said, “You will not believe what I just heard from Casey who heard it from Anne who overheard Max talking to his girlfriend Jennifer about hearing Rick tell Freddie that he may or may not have a crush on you.”

Jessie stood stunned as none of what she just heard made any sense. She shook her head and had asked, “What?”

The freckle-faced girl had taken a deep breath in and repeated the entire thing again. Jessie had still remained clueless about what was being spoken. Finally after getting Shelly to slow down, she found out that Rick possibly had a crush on her too. Her face had quickly attained a deep red color and a warm fuzzy feeling had taken over her body. Externally though shocked, internally, she was doing a happy dance.

Sometime between the walk from the gym to her next class of the day, Rick had walked up to her. He had walked along her side and introduced himself. Jessie had found it hard to look directly at him but as they walked, she had taken a peek at him now and then. The preppy look definitely suited him and his sleek, well-styled hair made him stand out amongst his peers. Jessie had been grinning widely without even realizing that she was doing it. He had awkwardly asked her how she was doing and what classes she had. Funny he should ask, considering they had almost all classes together.

After talking around for a bit, he had finally come to the point and asked her out. Jessie had hesitatingly said yes. It had sounded too good to be true. Their choice of meeting place was Tony’s. They had bonded over the large sized ‘Triple Treat’ burger, fries and chocolate ice-cream. She still remembered feeling the butterflies in her stomach.