Intermission 21: Jessica Ramirez.

They walked around the park for a good while before they decided to sit down on a patch of grass to relax. The huge group of girls surrounding a single guy is getting a lot of people looking, more than a few of them men whose eyes are burning with jealousy in the same way Jessica would look upon happy couples when she was single. She bets all those guys are only thinking of how lucky David is, but are not thinking of how much effort it takes on his part to keep everyone happy. But of course they can’t think about that when the guy in question is laying on the grass, resting his head on Sophia’s lap while Megan lays beside him, snuggling comfortably.

“You really got all your work done?” Sophia asks him, twirling his hair with her fingers.

“All that was sent to me,” he says. “I’m hoping there’s more eventually. The money was good.”

“But you were at it for a whole week,” Megan groans with her face against his chest. “we only got to hang out at school.”

“And it’s not like we can do a lot at school,” Emily agrees.

“Here’s a crazy thought,” Olivia says, grinning. “Don’t go to law school, let us work and just be there to pamper us whenever we want.”

Jessica can’t help the snicker that escapes her, and David raises an incredulous eyebrow.

“He doesn’t seem to like the idea,” Lilian laughs.

“Thousands of men would kill for what we’re offering, you know?” Sophia adds, grinning down at David.

“I promised to make you happy,” he says. “I’ll be the one to offer you to not work if you don’t want to. I’ll earn enough.” His confident tone makes Jessica believe 100% that he’ll do it.

“Sorry. I’ve chosen my career path already,” Sophia tells him, poking his nose.

“Have you?” Katherine asks her with a sigh. “I’m still undecided.”

“I bet you could do whatever the hell you wanted,” Olivia tells her.

“Agreed,” David nods.

“Even if I could, I don’t know what I want,” Katherine groans. “I envy you who are already decided.” Her eyes meet Jessica’s as well. “By the way, how are online auditions going?”

“I sent a few recordings. I’m waiting for answers,” Jessica sighs heavily. “They said to wait at most two weeks, but I’m also worried because the microphone in my computer isn’t really good, so sound quality could get me rejected.”

“Let’s go browse for better microphones one of these days before the trip,” David tells her.

“Will it be a date?”

“Of course.”

“Yes!” Jessica does a small fist pump.

“Hey,” Emily says, looking behind her, “am I the only one who think the stares are getting kind of uncomfortable?”

Jessica looks around as well, and yes, people are still looking at them.

“Let them watch as much as they want,” Olivia shrugs. “Why should we care? We’re not doing anything wrong.”

“I get that, but it’s awkward,” Emily says. “Besides, if we go back to David’s place we can do more than just talk.”

“Okay, now THAT’S a good argument,” Olivia nods.

“Dibs on the first time!” Megan says, laughing proudly at her quick reactions and getting off David.

“Do you want to go alone?” their boyfriend asks her, sitting up.

“You can pick whichever else you want. You know I don’t mind.”

“We’re a group of perverts,” Sophia lets out a soft, resigned sigh.

The whole group of perverts goes back to his place. Being in the park was nice, but there’s something undeniably comfortable about being in David’s room. The sense of belonging, despite this not being their home and being just an overly decorated shack, is heartwarming. Jessica sees Olivia sitting down on the bed, Emily going to the bathroom, Katherine and Lilian taking spots on the table and wondering if they should play a chess match, Sophia going to grab David’s laptop and Megan hungrily locking their boyfriend’s lips with hers. Everyone naturally takes a spot in the room, as if they’d done it millions of times. And somehow the time they spent together at the park along with watching all this unfold sparks an uncomfortable thought in Jessica’s mind.

She glances at the group. They’re all gorgeous and have their own quirks that make them special. That goes for the women not currently here, too. They all share some kind of interest with David as well. Emily, Megan and Julia work out with him and they can talk about sports they enjoy; Emma, Sophia and Katherine are avid readers, just like him; Lilian got into anime with him; Olivia got him interested in airsoft, which she’s low-key ecstatic about; Anzu plays video games with him and they get really competitive about it; and she’s overheard him having some very deep conversations with Mia, sometimes discussing something like the importance of semantics in conversations and other times arguing if character is determined by genes or the environment one’s raised in. That one got a little heated.

He shares something big with all of them. They’re all beautiful and love him so much it hurts not seeing him for a day. Jessica loves him just as much of course. But thinking all this makes her wonder…

…Why would David choose her over any of the others? She doesn’t question his affection for her, not in the slightest. He’s very interested in her, following her progress in deciding her future with great attention and encouragement. But it makes her realize that she has plenty of reasons to love him, but she doesn’t know why he loves her.

He knows and encourages her dream of becoming an actress, which was really the only thing Jessica really wanted from life before a future with all these people became a possibility. But… what does she share with him? She only ever reads books for school, not for herself; her own workouts consist mostly of aerobics to keep herself in shape; she tried and couldn’t get into anime or airsoft, the former because she just didn’t find it fun and the latter because she found it terrifying; she’s bad at video games, having never played them; and she doesn’t feel she can participate in the kind of high-brow conversations he and Mia have.

She swallows. She knows David well enough that she knows if she tells him this, he’ll come up with 101 reasons for why she’s worrying over nothing. But in the end, it just comes down to one, simple and selfish wish: she wants to share something unique with him. She wants something that’s only between the two of them.

She’s allowed to want that, right? To have something special with the man she loves; a shared interest they can invest themselves in and talk about at length. Well, one of the many perks of being in a relationship like this is that she has ten other girls she can ask for advice.

“Jessica? Why are you still standing there for?” David calls her, a curious look on his face as Olivia and Megan at his sides let him breathe for a moment.

“S-Sorry,” she laughs awkwardly, “I spaced out for a moment.”

“Then come here,” he tells her with a naughty grin.

He doesn’t need to say anything else. Jessica skips excitedly towards him and joins the two other girls. She gives David a deep, wet and hungry kiss that takes him by surprise at first, but then he reciprocates with some very welcomed groping of her boobs.

Yes, she wants to share something unique with him. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t appreciate every other second she spends with him and the others. She’s in love with this man, and all these other girls are now her close friends. She doesn’t need to rush. She’ll find something to share with him so long as she looks for it.