for a girl so smart, sierra did have her moments of stupidity. considering his message, was her first mistake. getting ready and scheduling an uber was the dumbest.
but it's the date, january 13th, that's hooking her. it's symbolic. a hallmark of their relationship.
two years to the day, if she's remembering clearly, jack told her loved her. after three months, he just knew. he work up and went to bed with her on his mind. when he wasn't so busy, he was calling her. their relationship timeline is hazy, so they often mark january 13th as their anniversary date, even though their relationship started almost three months before. sierra herself couldn't even give you a date more accurate, so she just goes with it.
but it's more than the date. it's where he said it. how he said it. it was after a show in atlanta—his biggest venue at that time. she was there, watching from the crowd with their mutual friends. she remembers during his song 'pickyourphoneup' he looked at her directly, and she got tunnel vision. he'd looked at her all night, but it was never in the same way he did during that song.
after the show, the two of them went to eat. the drive to the restaurant was comfortably quiet, both of them buzzing with energy. he held her hand the entire way and drove with his left.
the restaurant was small, local. she'd been there one other time before, but here, an hour before close in the almost empty restaurant, she knew something between them was about to change. they sat, and he held her hand across the table the entire time. even when he ate and needed to use his right hand, he managed with his left.
he raved about the show like he was a little kid. it was his first sold out venue, and arguably his best show to date. sierra reassured and reaffirmed him that he performed very well. he had no bad thoughts about tonight. everything from the crowd, the music, his delivery, was on point.
so he just said it. blurted it, even.
it caught her off guard, so she said, "what?". and he didn't get upset, just repeated it again. she saw his eyes gloss over and the dopey smile on his face, felt the way his hand tightened against hers, and knew she felt the same. so she said it back, and the rest of the night it was like they were drunk on love. they stayed out all night, doing absolutely everything and nothing at the same time. sierra had an 8am class the next morning, but it was the last thing on her mind that night. all she cared about was being with jack.
sierra clears her throat and sniffs at the memory, willing herself to pretend like she never had that thought. it's enough to make her want to cancel the uber and stay home, but it's just too personal now. she has to go.
after sierra curls her recently installed frontal, she pulls off her robe and sprays perfume over her dress. it's a simple, white, turtleneck, long sleeved knit dress that's a little shorter than mid thigh. it's maybe too cold for a dress in january in atlanta, but she at least wants to give him another reason to feel bad for being an awful boyfriend.
grabbing a pair of brown, snake printed, leather knee high boots, sierra shoves her feet/calves into the shoe with effort. the tall boots make her dress look shorter, and sierra doesn't know if that's a good thing or not. probably mot, but she's not going to chaange.
she finalizes her outfit with tan trench coat and a brown LV shoulder bag that was actually a gift from the man she plans on meeting in the next thirty minutes.
taking a deep breath, sierra tries to calm herself. it's been a long time since she saw him, and she can't believe that she caved in so quickly to see him. six months of active and regimented ignoring jack, and a text message with a location was all it took. the phone call wasn't even it. she should've blocked him like rayana and most of her friends suggested, it would've been easier.
