The Beast

T W E L V E : G R A C I A

Jessie lifted her body from Theo's as the knocking on the door continued. Theo walked towards the door with a curious Jessie behind him.

"Do you have any idea who it might be?", Jessie asked.

"I- don't know", Theo replied. He had a slight idea of who it could be but he didn't want to say it out loud.

"Oh", Jessie replied and stayed quiet till they reached the door. Theo opened it to a beautiful red headed woman. As soon as Theo opened the door, the woman squealed and launched herself into his arms in front of a perplexed Jessie.

"Theo!! I missed you soo much!!", she exclaimed, still hugging him. Her eyes wandered and she spotted Jessie. She narrowed her eyes a little, wrapped her arm tightly around Theo's waist before letting him go.

"And who might this be? Hm, Theo you didn't tell me you had a... sister?", the woman said with a smile on her face.

Jessie held the urge to roll her eyes. Sister? Seriously?

"Gracie, this is Jessie. She's staying with me for a while. And Jessie meet Gracie, my long time friend", Theo said.

That stung, Jessie thought, but put a smile on her face and stretched her hand towards Gracie.

"Nice to meet you," Jessie said with a fake smile on her face.

"The pleasure's mine", Gracie replied, shaking Jessie's hand vigorously.

"Theo, next time you go MIA on me, I'm beating your sorry ass", Gracie said, looping her arm around Theo's.

They walked towards the living room, making Jessie feel awkward and out of place. She trailed behind them slowly and when she reached the living room, picked up her book and went to her room. She had no desire to be a third wheel.

She sat on the bed and tried to concentrate on her book but not a thing was interesting any more. She didn't know what was happening to her but all she wanted to do was go to the living room and kick Gracie out.

Jessie knew she was not supposed to be feeling that way. She had no claim over Theo. He was just someone who was helping her get back on her feet. And they had kissed once or twice, period. She had to stop catching feelings.

A few moments later, there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," was all she said, sitting up quickly.

The place was silent for a moment and Jessie looked up to make sure there was actually someone at the door.

Theo was standing there, leaning against said door looking at her intently.

Jessie blushed but did not lower her gaze. Instead, she tilted her head to the side slowly in askance.

It was Theo's time to blush. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You got really quiet as soon as Gracie arrived"

"I'm okay," Jessie answered. "I just wanted to be alone for a while. You get that, don't you?", she asked sarcastically.

Theo was left a little bit confused. They had been fine just a few moments ago so he did not understand why she was being sarcastic. He narrowed his eyes at her then left, making sure to close the door gently behind him.

Jessie let out a sigh of partial disappointment, partial relief when she heard the door get closed. They were sending each other mixed signals.

The we kiss here and there and we act like a cute couple but we don't actually know what we are weren't working for her anymore. She was developing feelings for Theo, and if she went by how he had behaved with her in front of Gracie, then the feelings we're definitely not reciprocated.