For a second, I thought Georgia was going to defend her poor judgement, but she sighed.
“Yeah. About that. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have forced it on you.”
I shook my head. “Don’t be sorry. I really do love the dress, it’s just a bit more exposed than I normally like to be. But, it was the thing that got the conversation between Jesse and I started so … I think you made the right choice. You always know what to do when it comes to boys.”
Her face clouded over for a moment. “Not always.”
“Oh, Georgia, I’m sorry, I -”
“It’s okay,” she interrupted. “I think that gigantic mistake is going to haunt me forever whether we talk about it or not.”
Before I could say anything else, Georgia smiled, and gave me another hug. “So … what else happened?”
Even though we were close, I didn’t want to share every single word he said with her. Not because I didn’t want her to know, but because I wanted to keep them for myself, to process them, and hear them over and over in my mind. If I said them out loud, all I’d be able to hear was me saying those wonderful things. It was his voice I wanted to replay, not mine. I also didn’t need to tell Georgia – or anyone – I’d cried in front of him. I’d had the foresight to at least wash my face before bursting into her room. It was a weird moment, one I hadn’t been expecting. I’d blurted out my insecurities to Jesse, and instead of thinking I was stupid, he showed me I wasn’t invisible.
He saw me.
“There were lots of things,” I told her. “Mostly, I liked it when he said he thinks I’m beautiful.”
“Well, you are!”
“I never felt like I was until he said it.”
As soon as the words left my lips, I cringed at how cheesy I sounded. And not only cheesy, but lame. I’m sure it’s written somewhere in the Girl Handbook that you shouldn’t need a man to tell you you’re pretty. I didn’t need it though. I wanted it.
“You’re so cute,” Georgia laughed. “Did you just talk or did he …?”
Wooziness washed over me as I remembered the way he’d held me close to him, and kissed the top of my head. Small steps, but they meant a lot.
“He didn’t kiss me,” I said. “Just as well, I don’t think I could have handled it. Everything happened so fast.”
She reached for my hand, and smiled. “It’ll happen.”
I nodded. “I know.”
My head began to swim as the evening’s events caught up with me. Jesse Shaw thinks I’m beautiful. He asked me out! We’re going to spend time together tomorrow, without anyone else around. But before all that, I needed to get some rest. It was almost one in the morning, and I didn’t want to be puffy eyed for our date.
“I should go to bed,” I said. “Sorry for waking you up.”
“It’s okay. It was definitely worth it. I’m so excited for you!”
“Thanks, Georgia. Sleep well.”
“You too, Izzy.”
In the morning, I woke up with a huge smile on my face. I didn’t even know it was possible to wake up that way, but my cheeks hurt as if I’d been grinning for hours. Snuggling into my duvet to think about the day ahead was tempting, but starting the day seemed like a much better idea.
After I showered, dressed and dried my hair, I headed downstairs to the kitchen. Mum, Dad and Hunter were sitting around the dining room table eating cereal.
“Good morning,” I said, brightly, taking a seat at the table and pouring myself a cup of tea.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” Dad said, “You’re up and about early this morning.”
“It’s nine o’clock!”
“Exactly,” Mum laughed. “You don’t usually get up until at least ten on Sundays.”
I shrugged. “I woke up early. No point lying in bed when I could be up.”