Jessica's Fate

Chapter 73

3 months later...

Things had been going well.

I loved my classes and was delighted to find that I hadn't fully grasped the way that the classes worked. Instead of being in class all day every day, well, I was in classes from 8 to 5, Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a two-hour break between sessions.

Tuesdays, I worked in the on-campus restaurant, honing skills and working with various instructors at different food stations.

And Thursdays, I was at the diner all day, baking my heart out to fill the dessert case and freezer back up again as well as do my baking for my weekend jobs. I'd decided there was no reason to keep any time free so I pretty much was taking any job that came along. Sometimes there was a day off, sometimes there wasn't.

On occasion, mom got mad at me because she thought I was working too hard but It kept me busy and I was enjoying it all.

It was the middle of December already and I hadn't thought about my ex boyfriends at all.

Okay, fine, just now when I was patting myself on the back about not thinking about them.

Point is, I'd been making enough money that I was going to be more than able to buy the presents I wanted to get for everyone and I was thrilled. I needed to be able to move beyond a tin of their favorite cookies and a pair of funny socks or a tie, depending on which of my brothers it was.

I'd fallen into a terrible habit of not really caring about my appearance anymore. It was just so much easier to get out of bed and do the whole messy bun thing, wear my glasses and leave the house in my most comfortable clothes. I was a little more dressed when I was working at the restaurant but only because I was wearing my chef's coat and my messy bun was far more restrained.

I probably should have remembered that impressions were everything.

Well. At least today, probably.

I hadn't really had much experience with boys, if you think about it. So, I'd never really bought in to what the girls at the diner used to say about always running into the guys they were crushing on when they looked like crap. They seemed to think it was a big deal and always talked about making the choice to be all 'messy bun and getting stuff done' with no make-up and tired and unshowered and wearing the sloppiest clothes or getting themselves put together. Because it never seemed to work out. When they wanted the guy they liked to see them all polished and pretty, they never ever ran into them or talked to them. But throw that hair up and be all unkempt and never fails, they'd end up seeing them first thing.

It apparently was an actual thing because at least half of my classmates thought the same thing.

I clearly didn't care much because I was the messy bun girl all the time lately and they weren't.

So, I didn't hesitate at all when Kota called me and practically begged for me to bring him lunch. His college was just a few blocks away, I wouldn't even have to drive to take his lunch to him.

And he wouldn't have to either, mind you. And I usually saw him at least once a week because he wanted to support me and my choice of education.

Well, and apparently, the sandwiches were good.

But he had a session with one of the students he mentored or something and didn't have much time for an actual lunch today so I reluctantly agreed to make his lunch and deliver it during my two-hour break. I could have seriously done something terrible to his lunch but I just wanted him to be impressed with the smoked turkey breast that I'd worked on today. It was fantastic.