By Irina
Jessica doesn't have everything she wants, but she definitely has everything she needs. Taylor Swift's "evermore" is on repeat when she opens the window in her room and inhales the chilly November air. The sky is dark blue and the moon is nowhere to be found. There are a couple of houses in front of her own, which still have Halloween decorations, a narrow street, and a lot of crispy leaves on the pavement. This town is quite small, but Jessica adores it. It's her home. The house is dead quiet - her parents have a night shift at the hospital. She's always been so proud of them. They had met at school where they both were taking a Chemistry class. They had the same dream; to become doctors and save lives. Jessica understood early on that both of her parents were very selfless people, and, as her mom says, that quality definitely passed down to her. Lucas, her best friend in the whole world, says the same. He always tells her that she should think about herself more. Carter, also her best friend in the whole world, agrees with Lucas and then looks at him. He always looks at him. Jessica doesn't understand why Lucas keeps being an impulsive person and pretends that he doesn't see how hopelessly in love with him Carter is. The doorbell rings, and Jessica smiles. She quickly goes to the door and opens it. Carter smiles widely, standing next to Lucas, whose face can’t be seen because of three pizza boxes and a bunch of disks with video games and films in his hands. “Let me in or everything will fall down. I swear to god, my arms hurt so much already” Jessica chuckles and steps aside. "It's your fault," Carter says. "It was you who suggested playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who will carry all these boxes and who will carry two bottles of juice." “Oh, shut up.” Carter rolls his eyes, not unkindly. Lucas rushes to Jessica's room to put everything he's holding on the table. Next to it, there is a bookshelf with many poems and detective books that Jessica is so fond of.
“Hey, Jess, how about we rewatch “Scary Movie” for the millionth time?”
“I thought we were supposed to study?” Jessica looks at his best friend with a smile.
“Yeah, that was the plan,” Carter adds. “Our big History test is on Monday.”
“Oh, come on!” Lucas exclaims. “It’s Friday night. Normal teenagers have fun on Friday nights! Besides, you two are literally the smartest people at school. You won’t fail that test, so stop worrying.”
“Oh, but I am worried. Last time, Mia Wills got a higher score than me. There’s no way I will let her be a valedictorian.”
“Don’t forget about me,” Jessica says. “I’m still a part of that race and deserve that just as much as you.”
“Of course, you do Jess,” Carter smiles at her. “I will be happy to see you giving that speech but not Mia Wills. She’s literally the worst.”
Jessica chuckles.
“Yeah, she is.”
“Blah, blah, blah, smart people talking. Let’s just watch “Scary Movie” and eat at least half of that pizza tonight. We shouldn’t forget about our Halloween tradition. And tomorrow we will study, I promise.” Lucas comes closer to Carter and looks at him with puppy eyes. He knows it will work for him. If Jess could be immune to his methods, it was always difficult for Carter to resist him.
Just as it is difficult for him to resist Carter and his deep brown eyes, that look like dark chocolate and always are so warm, like a hot cup of tea in cold weather.
Every time Lucas and Carter look at each other, they’re in their own little world.
Jessica rolls her eyes.
“Okay, okay, let’s watch the movie.”
Lucas smiles widely and jumps on a couch. Jessica turns off the music.
“Speaking of Halloween,” Carter says and sits next to Lucas. “Check out the photos I took that night.” He pulls a flash drive out of his pocket and connects it to Jessica’s laptop.
His photos are always the best, and neither Jessica nor Lucas has any doubts that they will absolutely love them. They’re looking at themselves in their costumes from a couple of days ago. This year, Jessica chose Batwoman. She dyed her hair dark red last month, so it was a perfect choice. That new lip gloss she took from her mom shines beautifully on her lips. Jessica never uses lipstick; lip gloss has always been her thing. She smiles widely at the camera, with Lucas as Elvis by her side.
Next photo was taken by Jessica when the boys didn’t see it. They were talking, smiling warmly, their eyes locked on each other. Carter in his BBC’s Sherlock costume, looked so good next to Lucas. They’ve always complemented each other in the best ways possible.
“We look gorgeous, don’t we?” Lucas grins.
“Always so humble, huh?” Carter looks at him with a playful smile.
Jessica tries her best to not shout something like, “Get a room already!”, because it wouldn’t make her a good best friend. Instead, she goes to pour some drinks and opens pizza boxes. As she opens a bottle of Cola, a golden bracelet on her wrist catches her eyes. She’s always loved this beautiful harmony; her black skin and this piece of jewelry are in. Her late grandmother gave the bracelet to Jessica on her 11th birthday. She’s never taken it off since that day.
Her room is full of little things that make her happy and grateful. Especially, a box with old tickets, theater booklets, and postcards. And also many-many photographs everywhere. Most of them were taken by Carter. There’s even a picture of Jessica and her grandmother when she was younger. And a great number of wonderful memories of the three of them. Her grandmother used to call them the Golden Trio. They’ve always been obsessed with Harry Potter.
She comes back and sits on the couch next to Carter, who puts his head on Lucas' shoulder. Scary Movie has just started. Lucas takes two pieces of pizza and gives one to Carter. He thanks him and finds a more comfortable pose, putting his legs on Jessica’s knees.
Jessica takes a sip of Cola. Outside, a cold wind picks up red and yellow leaves and carries them in the air. Autumn is chilly, but here, in a little house in a small town, the three of them couldn’t be warmer sitting next to each other and enjoying a simple Friday night together.
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