Happy Place || A Jerrie Fanfiction

I - BABE

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you  — WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

I flinched and pulled my phone away from my ear by reflex at the shriek of my manager/best friend named Jessica Nelson. I knew that I'll get an earful from the woman, but I didn't know I'd get it in a literal sense. Jesy was still shouting, so I put the phone down on top of the rounded plastic table, and heave a deep breath before looking around.

I find myself seated inside a restaurant by the beach. A few people inside, including the waiters and waitresses. Its roof made of bamboo and so do the chairs and tables - though it was designed as if it was modern. The only thing that wasn't made out of bamboo is the floor, which is the beach sand itself.

Everything was so hot - the sand, the water on the beach, even the air is scorching. Even when I'm merely wearing a bikini underneath a robe, I find that the heat is too much as well. My slippers seemed to be absorbing the heat of the sand beneath them as my feet felt it, too. It was the complete opposite of Korea where I was reading the first few scenes of my new movie.

When I hear no sound coming from the speaker of my phone, I put it back to my ear again, my elbow on the table. I asked, "Are you done shouting, Jes?"

From the other line, I hear her groaning in frustration. "Jade, where are you?"

I leaned back on the chair and pursed my lips as I look around again. "If I tell you, you'd come find me."

"Of course I'd come find you," said Jesy. "You're my best friend."

I could tell from the tone of her voice that she's exhausted and I suddenly have this feeling of guilt towards her for giving her a hard time handling me. But I remembered why I left, and so that reason alone shook the feeling away.

"I just need a break, Jes," I sighed out, looking at my empty plate absentmindedly. "I just need a break from everything."

"And you will get that break," Jesy tries to console, "but after you finish shooting for the movie. Just come back, Jade."

I shook my head, even though I know she couldn't see me. "Jesy, I'm taking a break right now."

Right now actually meant last week when I stayed awake in my hotel room in Korea and ruminated over my life decisions after doing what I think would be the worst mistake of my life. And of course, that led to the epiphany that perhaps I needed to recalibrate myself. And that meant leaving everything behind.

"Okay, okay. Look, I can help you, okay?" Jesy sounded like she's rushing. "If you want a break, then that's fine with me. I'll tell Steve that you'd be in . . . where are you?"

"Somewhere here on earth," I fill in.

In my head, I see Jesy rolling her eyes. "Okay, whatever. I'll tell Steve that you'll be taking a break for a week and if he doesn't want —"

"No, no, no," I cut her off. "Tell Steve that I'm taking a break for two months and that if he wants to replace me in the movie, then so be it."

"What? Two months? Jade, he's gonna kill y —" was all I heard from her before I hung up and slammed my phone on the table.

I closed my eyes shut and rubbed my face with my hands as if to get rid of any thoughts running around my head, then crossed my arms. I find myself looking outside again. It was already 2 in the afteroon and I have come to the conclusion that in Miami, the sun's intention is to blind everyone with its brightest rays, so I fished for my aviator sunglasses from my bag and wore it.

I picked this place for it was one of the most serene places as told by the one and only Google. And I am so grateful for that. There were only a few people here, even though it was summer. There were a bunch of huts by the ocean. And although I wanted to sit for awhile in there, they were all occupied by a person or more. At the far end, half-naked teenagers were playing beach volleyball. In the middle, there were children playing and swimming around accompanied by some adults and a few teenagers. At the other end were beach benches that seemed desolate.

I decided to go accompany the beach benches.

I already put my phone in the bag and was about to get up from my seat when one of the waitresses approached me with a cola in hand. For a moment I assumed that I've been recognized and was about to tell her that I have no time for pictures when she placed it down in front of me.

"This is for you," she tells me, she sounded so enthusiastic when she said it that I thought she was being fake. She was wearing a close-lipped smile, one you would give to your customers as if to appear polite. "The guy at the bar thinks you're cute so he told me to give you a cola."

She nudged her head vaguely toward the bar, where a sleazy-looking guy was at. He caught me looking at him, and had the audacity to bite his lip in a way he thought would bring me down to my knees (but did not), and threw a weird wink my way.

I cringed and inwardly shuddered, then looked back at the waitress. Her blue eyes stared back at me with expectancy. I raised my aviators up on top of my head, smoothing back my ombre hair in the process.

"He didn't ask you to get my number for him, did he?" I questioned her.

She chuckled and shook her head. "Don't worry, he didn't. And even if he did, I wouldn't do it." Then she leaned closer to me, close enough for me to see that the blue in her eyes almost looked like the blue in the ocean outside. And then she whispered, "Men like him, we can easily live without, babe."

Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun, so a strand of her hair fell down at the side. I was tempted to tuck it behind her ear for some unknown reason. She then moved away, flashed a wink, which surprisingly had my heart rate going up, and walked away. And I did not realize that I wasn't breathing until she disappeared inside the door separating the kitchen and the room.

I waited for her to get out of the kitchen, but after a few moments, I felt impatient. So I left instead; leaving the untouched cola; leaving the sleazy-looking guy; leaving with the thought of the blonde waitress who just called me 'babe'.