Jessica went out of the pub and closed it. She turned around and shuddered, fog coming out of her mouth. It had gotten much colder tonight or maybe she was feeling cold. After all, she hadn't eaten anything since the last six hours. She had no idea how the time had passed.
She sighed and looked around, there weren't a lot of people at that late hour. Any person who was still outside was going in their homes, leaving the streets alone and quiet once again. That was one of the perks of living in Smuggler's Creek, people went to their homes and slept at appropriate time and woke up at time in the morning for their work, job or whatever they had to do. They had a good and healthy routine.
Jessica sighed for the third time, wishing she had been a teacher so that she'd had that routine. She thought of talking to her aunt in California to let her crash there while she searched for a job but her aunt always found faults in Jessica and did not approve of anything she did. After her mother died, the only relative that was left alive was jessica's aunt and it was a shame how they couldn't spend more time together, let alone ask for help from each other.
Jessica decided she'd stay at this place until something good turned up or she found something on her own, without any one's help. After all, it was her goal to be a teacher, she wanted to achieve it all on her own. But for now, she needed to get going to her home and get some sleep to be at the pub again. She needed money to travel.
She started walking quietly, making sure her breathing wasn't loud to disturb the quiet around her. It was surprising how the quietness wasn't disturbing or irritating. It was quite the opposite. It was peaceful and soothing. It allowed you to think over matters in your mind without having someone disturb your thoughts.
Or maybe Jessica had that thought too early. She heard rapid footsteps, the sound grew louder with each step it took and Jessica turned to see someone stopped right behind her. Whoever that person was, he had bent on his knees to catch his breath. He had seemed to run quite a few miles in order to reach where he was. Or maybe to catch her up?
Jessica gripped her bag tightly that was hung from her shoulder and she took a cautionary step back from the man.
"Are you okay?" Jessica managed to say but her voice came out as a whisper.
The man raised his hand, as if asking to give him a minute to get his breath back. Jessica nodded, even though she knew the man wasn't looking at her. Her heart beat had picked up pace. She took in the appearance of the man before her and in his bent state, she could figure that he was around twenty-nine or something, his hair looked very soft and silky, messy and they were dark brown in colour. He had a fair complexion and had a good body, he must work out and judging by his muscles, he must have been running for hundreds of miles to stop now and catch his breath like this.
Finally, he stood straight and cleared his throat. He looked into the brown eyes of Jessica and smiled, "I am James, James Tilly."
He put forward his hand to shake and Jessica shook, "Jessica Goldwin. Um, is there something you need?"
James' expression changed into a confused one, "You don't recognize me? James? Sometimes called Jimmy?"
"I am very sorry, " Jessica shook her head, "but that's not ringing any bell."
"I am one of Rum run's clients, very generous one at that."
It didn't help Jessica at all in remembering who the young man was. She then looked into his eyes, trying to recognize him and she remembered the same blue eyes she had seen and as much as she felt embarrassed to admit, loved and admired quite a lot.
"James? As in the guy who came to the bar a few days ago and got into a fight with the drunk Cad?"
James laughed, "Wow, that is not the way I wanted to be recalled. I got a really good beating out of it."
Jessica smiled, a little blush crept up to her cheeks. She had liked the man when he appeared to the bar. It turned out that he was a regular client and he had a lot of business in other countries and the pub benefited from his visits. The first time he had come to the bar, she couldn't help keep her eyes off of him and she was never that kind of a girl, oogling over a boy and getting her heads in the clouds. When James had left, she was sure that she'd never see him again and yet there he was, standing in front of her.
840 Words
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