Chapter 294
**Sara**
"I don't know." Jessica hugged the remaining cushion to her chest. "Maybe I'm tired of feeling like I'm stuck in college mode while everyone else moves forward? Plus, Brad keeps talking about commitment, and Blake's getting weird about dating and-"
"Wait." Emily held up a hand. "They both want commitment? From you?"
"I know!" Jessica buried her face in the cushion. "What is wrong with them?"
"What's wrong with them?" Emily's eyebrows shot up. "Jess, honey, having feelings isn't a character flaw."
"It is when I specifically told them this was casual!"
I couldn't help laughing. "Welcome to the wonderful world of emotions, where nothing ever goes as planned."
"But I don't want emotions!" Jessica whined. "I want fun and freedom and-"
"A sugar daddy?" Emily suggested innocently.
"I hate you both."
Emily's expression turned serious. "Look, Jess, you can't keep bouncing between guys forever. It might feel fun now, but trust me - it gets old. And lonely."
"I'm not lonely!" Jessica protested. "I have you guys!"
"That's not the same thing, and you know it." Emily leaned forward. "Having multiple casual relationships might seem exciting, but it's like eating cotton candy for every meal. Sure, it's sweet and fun at first, but eventually, you'll want something substantial."
"Did you just compare my love life to cotton candy?"
"She's right, though." I chimed in. "You deserve more than being someone's part-time girlfriend."
Jessica flopped back dramatically. "Ugh, when did this turn into an intervention? I thought we were celebrating my decision to be responsible!"
"We are!" Emily grinned. "By making sure you're responsible in all areas of your life."
"I take it back." Jessica covered her ears. "I'm going to be irresponsible forever. La la la, can't hear you!"
"Real mature." I poked her leg. "Come on, Jess. You know we're right."
"Fine." She uncovered her ears. "But can we save the relationship therapy for another day? I can only handle one life crisis at a time."
"Deal." I reached for another slice of pizza, only to find the box empty. "Who ate the last piece?"
Emily pointed at Jessica, who shrugged unapologetically with her mouth full.
"That was mine!" I lunged for her, but she danced away, still chewing.
"You snooze, you lose!" She swallowed and stuck out her tongue. "Besides, I need comfort food. You two just traumatized me with all that grown-up talk."
"Hey, you need that grown-up talk," I shot back, reaching for the water bottle on the coffee table. "Otherwise, you'll wake up at forty still letting Brad buy you Gucci bags while Blake funds your spa days."
"Okay, first of all - rude." Jessica crossed her arms. "Second, I already said I'm changing! New leaf, new me, blah blah blah. Can we please stop with the life coaching?" She paused, a sly grin spreading across her face. "Besides, you're not exactly Miss Perfect Decision-Maker yourself. You've been dancing around it for months."
Water nearly went down the wrong pipe. "Dancing around what?"
Emily's head snapped up from her phone. "Oh, are we finally talking about it?"
"Talking about what?" I looked between them, but Jessica just waggled her eyebrows while Emily tried to hide her smirk.
"Don't play dumb." Jessica pointed her finger at me. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"I really don't." I crossed my arms, but the flush creeping up my neck betrayed me.
"Professor Thick Dick." Jessica sang out, ducking as I threw a pillow at her head.
"Stop calling him that!" My face burned hotter. "His name is Tom."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Jessica pressed a hand to her chest in mock sincerity. "Would you prefer Professor Hot Stuff? The Billionaire Bedroom Beast-"
"I will literally murder you." I lunged across the couch, but she danced away laughing.
"Fine, fine!" She held up her hands in surrender. "I'll change it to-"
"No need to change anything!" I cut her off before she could come up with something worse. "Just... his name is Thomas Blackwood. Or Tom Or Professor Blackwood. That's it."
Emily snickered from her corner. "Your face is redder than that time you spilled wine all over Professor Wilson's desk."
"Can we not bring up college disasters right now?" I buried my face in my hands. "Or nicknames. Or anything involving professors of any kind?"
"Aw, but professors are clearly your type." Jessica flopped back onto the couch beside me. "Especially the tall, dark, and loaded ones who-"
I shoved a cushion in her face. "I will end you."
"You can't end me." Her voice came out muffled. "I know too much. For how you stayed late after his Thursday lecture just to-"
"That was for academic purposes!" I pressed the cushion harder.
"Sure it was." Emily chimed in. "Just like all those 'office hours' consultations?"
"I hate you both." I released Jessica, who emerged grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "So much."
"No, you don't." Jessica poked my side. "You love us. Almost as much as you love-"
"Don't!" I pointed a warning finger at her.
"What?" She blinked innocently. "I was going to say pizza."
"No, you weren't."
"You're right, I wasn't." Jessica's grin widened. "I was going to say how much you love your dreamy professor, who you've been dancing around with for months without any kind of label."
"We're not dancing around anything." I picked at a loose thread on the cushion. "We're just taking our time."
"Taking your time?" Emily snorted. "Glaciers move faster than your relationship status."
"We're trying to put a label on it soon, okay?"
"Define soon." Emily crossed her arms. "When he reaches fifty or what?"
"Soon means soon." I threw my hands up. "That's it. Why is everyone so obsessed with timelines?"
"Because," Emily leaned forward, her voice turning serious, "if you don't decide soon, there won't be anything left to label. You'll get bored, he'll get bored, and in the end, you'll just part ways."
"That won't happen." But my voice came out smaller than I intended.
Jessica raised an eyebrow. "How can you be sure? You thought Matt would never cheat, and look how that turned out."
"Tom's different." The words stuck in my throat.
"Different, how?" Emily pressed. "Because he's rich? Because he's older? Because he makes your knees weak when he-"
"Stop!" I covered my ears. "This isn't helping."
"We're just saying..." Jessica's voice softened. "What if it does happen? What if you wake up one day and realize you've been stuck in this weird limbo for so long that whatever was there just fizzled out?"
I stared at my hands, the thought I'd been avoiding finally taking shape. What if they were right? What if, by trying to protect myself from getting hurt again, I was actually setting myself up for exactly that?
"I don't..." My voice cracked. "I don't want to think about that."
"Then don't think." Emily reached over to squeeze my hand. "Act. Talk to him. Figure out what this is before it becomes what it could have been."
"I will." I squeezed Emily's hand back. "Soon. I promise."
"Soon?" Jessica threw her hands up. "There's that word again! What is it with you and 'soon'? Is it like some magical time that never actually arrives?"
"It's not like that." I pulled my knees up to my chest. "I just need to find the right moment."
"The right moment?" Emily's eyebrows shot up. "What are you waiting for - a choir of angels to descend from heaven singing 'Define The Relationship' in perfect harmony?"
"Maybe she's waiting for Mercury to exit retrograde," Jessica suggested with a smirk.
"Or for all the planets to align," Emily added.
"Or for pigs to fly-"
"Okay, okay!" I threw a cushion at Jessica. "I get it. I'm stalling."
"You think?" Jessica caught the cushion. "Sara, honey, I love you, but you're worse at commitment than I am - and I'm literally juggling two guys right now."
"At least you're honest about it," Emily pointed out. "Sara's just pretending everything's fine while internally screaming."
"I do not internally scream!" I protested. Then, after a pause, I said, "I internally... worry."
"Same difference." Emily leaned forward. "Look, you need to talk to him before it's too late. Before someone else catches his eye, or before he gets tired of waiting, or before-"
"Before his family arranges some fancy matchmaking party," Jessica cut in.
"What?"
"Oh, come on." Jessica rolled her eyes. "You really think his family's just going to let him stay single forever? Rich families have rich people's problems. Like arranged marriages and strategic alliances and-"
"This isn't Game of Thrones, Jess."
"Might as well be." She shrugged. "All I'm saying is, you better lock that down before some socialite swoops in with her perfect pedigree and family connections."
"Fine." I threw my hands up. "Fine! I'll talk to him. Soon. Like, actually soon, not Sara-soon."
Emily narrowed her eyes. "Promise?"
"Yes, I promise." I drew an X over my heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, may all my shoes turn into Crocs-"
"Now that's a serious promise," Jessica whistled.
"Sure is." I grabbed my phone. "Happy now?"
"We will be." Emily's smile turned devious. "When you actually do it."
"I will!" I clutched my phone to my chest. "As soon as he gets back from Australia."
Jessica groaned. "That's not- wait, when's he coming back?"
"Next week."
"Okay." Emily nodded. "That's acceptable. But we're staging an intervention if you don't talk to him by next weekend."
"With PowerPoint presentations," Jessica added.
"And graphs."
"And interpretive dance-"
"I get it!" I laughed despite myself. "Talk to Tom or face death by PowerPoint. Message received."