Jess is finally going! That New Zealand holiday is at its dawn, and all she can think of is landscapes, walks and adventures. But what she does not expect to find, is what is waiting around the corner - someone.
Someone who will turn her holiday up...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Well, well, how's it going partner?"
"Janiiiiiine." Jess dragged out her friend's name, as she clutched the phone to her ear.
"Wow, I haven't heard your voice in weeks!"
Jess smiled. "I've texted you almost every day."
"Yeah, but we haven't actually spoken in ages! Usually we see each other pretty much every day."
"Yeah," Jess nodded, before realising Janine couldn't see her. "I suppose it is kinda strange."
"Oh you don't have to pretend! I know you're all caught up in the stuff over there, don't let me distract you."
Jess smiled again, but didn't say anything.
"So, what's been happening? What's new?"
"You know everything that's been happening!" Jess exclaimed, "Thanks to that mysterious investigator who is constantly sending you details of my activities, there is absolutely nothing you don't know."
"Humph," Janine huffed dramatically, "nothing to tell me? Are you sure?"
"N-", Jess stopped.
Should she tell her? Perhaps telling Janine would lessen the tension of the knot in her chest; make her feel just that little bit better...
"I..."
"Yeeeeeees?" Janine managed to sound both curious, and comically theatrical, at the same time.
"No. There's nothing more to tell."
"Uhuh."Jess's friend replied, clearly not satisfied.
"No, really! There's nothing." Jess managed to chuckle, before hastily asking, "What about you? It's Friday - what's this week's Hari family scoop?"
"Oh nothing much really," Janine replied, "I mean, Asha's still upset about Brandon breaking up with her, and Nora lost that beloved Typo bottle of hers - again. But really, that's no surprise, on either account."
"Hmmm."
"And..."
Jess had not heard anything much of what Janine was saying about her sisters, but at the tone of her last word, her ears pricked up.
"What?" Jess asked.
She realised, from the way Janine had started on this topic, that she clearly wanted Jess to ask her for more. She knew her friend quite well enough to know, that this was something she had been longing to break to her.
"Well," Janine began with the air of someone telling a great tale, or secret, "d'you remember the guy in my tuition class?"
"Oh yes, just the one that you kind of, maybe thought you might have liked..." Jess began with an airy tone, before changing it dramatically, demanding, "What about him?"
