They went back to the apartment. Jesse stopped to get the mail from the box and went up the stairs to follow them inside. He tossed the mail, which was mostly catalogs, on the small table by the door. He walked over to the machine and hit play. A woman's voice spoke through the speaker. "Jesse, it's your mother. Turn on your cell phone. And check your truck, you're always leaving it there. Call me. And Dana, you better call me too before you leave. Love you both. Bye!" Jesse rolled his eyes and deleted the message.

"Call my mom!" Jesse yelled to Dana.

She was in her room with Summer sitting on her bed. "I heard!" Dana yelled back. She glanced at Summer covering her mouth as she yawned. "Hey, Jess?! Can Summer take a nap on your bed so I can finish packing in here?" Dana asked, calling down the hall.

Summer was about to protest when he came in and leaned on the door. He looked around the room."What hit your room? A tornado?" Clothes were scattered everywhere. Summer didn't blame him of making the comparison.

"Did I ask for your critique of my room?"

Jesse put his hands in a symbolic prayer position. He widened his eyes and said pleadingly "Please, sleep in my room, Summer. It's safer there."

"I don't want to put you out."

"It's no problem. I have to go to the grocery store anyway."

"Oh, pick up some more soda," Dana told him, coming out of her closet with an armload of clothes.

Jesse raised an eyebrow to Summer. "Do you need anything from the store?"

She shook her head. "No. Thank you."

Jesse squeezed her shoulder. "Make yourself at home, Summer. Don't be shy. You live here now."

She smiled back appreciatively. "Thanks."

"Yeah, if you need tampons Jesse will pick some up for you," Dana said with a grin, dropping the clothes on the bed. "Won't you, Jesse?"

He glared at Dana and then took a set of keys out of his pocket. "I'll be back." He said quickly exiting the room.

Dana laughed. "Seriously, he will. But it embarrasses the hell out of him."

Summer laid down on top of Jesse's bed uneasily. The smell of him overwhelmed her. Not in the department store bad way, but in the make you weak in the knees way. She had smelled him all through lunch over the table. It made her want to get closer to him, to set her head on his strong chest and just breathe him in.

Summer put her hand to her forehead. She had no idea how she was going to live with Jesse for three months without losing her mind.

She pulled her ponytail out and slipped the elastic band around her wrist. She ran her hands through her hair to loosen it. Summer had put it up when it was still wet and she was starting to get a headache from the tightness of it.

She rolled onto her side to get comfortable and prepared herself for a good amount of time before she would be able to fall asleep with the scent of him so near. She breathed Jesse in another time and then fell instantly asleep.

The dream was a memory. A memory of a day Summer had not really forgotten about, but it was at the back of her head for the longest time.

"Hey," Summer said happily, entering her and Dana's dorm room. She was so glad to be back at school with her best friend and roommate.

"Hey! How was your spring break?" Dana asked, looking up from the magazine she was reading.

Summer set her suitcase next to her dresser."It was okay. Same old, same old. Mom, Dad, and the county club scene." She took off her sweater and set it neatly on the back of the desk chair.

"I, on the other hand, had an awesome break!" Dana grinned.

"What'd you do?" Summer frowned noticing there was a folded up blanket and an envelope on her bed.

"That's for you from Jesse. He came for a surprise visit," Dana explained.

"Jesse. Your friend from home Jesse?" Summer picked up the envelope, studying her name in the neatly scripted letters.

"Yeah. I didn't know he was coming. Jess was a bit bummed that you weren't here. He wanted to meet you in person. I had told him you were going home this weekend. I guess he forgot. But he brought you that."

Summer opened the envelope and read the letter. "Hey, Summer. Dana said I could sleep in your bed. I hope you don't mind. You're welcome in mine anytime (haha). Sorry, we missed each other. I feel like we already know each other from all that Dana tells me about you and from our brief, but nice, conversations on the phone. I would have liked to have put a face to that nice voice I hear. I got Dana to show me a picture of you. Now, I'm even more sorry that I missed you! Dana had said you're always cold and since I'm not there to keep you warm at night (haha, again), I figured you could use this. Take care of Dana. Make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble like she always does (no, I'm not kidding on that account). Hope to meet you someday soon. My heart is for you. Be careful not to break it. - Jesse."

Summer blushed. She cleared her throat and said to her friend, "That was really nice of him." She was a little confused about the letter. Was he kidding around or really flirting with her? And what was that about his heart?

"Can I read it? He wouldn't let me." Dana reached for the letter.

Summer shrugged and handed it to her. Maybe Dana could make sense of it. She opened the blanket. It was a knitted cotton material with the University of California's logo in the middle. Summer heard something hit the floor and she looked around. She saw an object on a string on the ground. She bent and picked it up.

The piece that hit the ground was a beautiful, fat, rounded heart made out of wood. But it was so shiny and smooth that it didn't seem like wood. It was stain painted a beautiful reddish-brown color. It hung around a leather string so it hung like a necklace.

"What's that?" Dana asked curiously.

Summer handed it to her.

"Jess made this for you?" Dana asked, turning it over in her hand, studying it.

"Oh, he probably picked it up from somewhere."

"No, he made it. See," Dana insisted, flipping it over. Summer looked over her shoulder to see what Dana was looking at. Dana pointed her fingernail at teeny tiny initials that read JJ on the back of the heart. "Those are his initials. He puts it on everything he makes. He's into wood working and stuff."

"I can't believe he made that! It's beautiful!" Summer exclaimed, taking the necklace from her to look at it again. It looked like it could have been from a jewelry store, not something handmade.

"Are you sure you two haven't met before?"

"I'm sure. We've only talked a bit on the phone, when he's called for you."

"Hmmm."

"What?"

"I- think- some-body-likes you," Dana said in a sing song voice.

"That's silly," Summer turned her back so Dana couldn't see the fire in her cheeks. She went back to her bed to fold up the blanket.

"The boy made you a heart, Summer."

"He's nice. But I have a boyfriend, remember? So..." Summer started.

"So, forget it, huh?" Dana asked with a pout.

"Forget it. I'm in deep...like... with Luke."

"You don't know what you're missing. But okay," Dana muttered, turning back to her magazine.

That night Summer climbed into bed early. The sheets had been freshly laundered, but she could still smell the scent of Jesse on her pillow case, her sheets and comforter. Was it wrong to enjoy the scent of another guy, when you were steadily dating another?

The scent of him made her melt. It reached her in places she didn't know she had. It scared her that his scent pulled at her like that. She had thought Luke smelled good and she liked to put her head on his shoulder to smell him. But this scent was different.

It was an insane reaction she had to it. Summer wanted to groan in pleasure. Jesse's scent was so good, but she dared not to. What would Dana think? She flipped over the pillow, hoping the scent would be less intense on the other side, but it wasn't.

"Dana?" Summer finally asked after tossing at least twenty times.

"Hmm?" she answered, not looking up from the book she was reading by a dim lamp clipped to her bed.

"I was just curious... do you have a picture of Jesse?" Summer asked, leaning her head on her elbow to look at her friend.

Dana looked up grinning."Of course!" She got off the bed, and went over to her desk. Dana picked up her cell phone, clicked on her gallery app and handed it to Summer. Dana climbed up on Summer's bed to sit next to her.

Summer started flipping through the photos. She saw a picture of Dana, smiling her dazzling cute smile, as she held a parrot on her arm at the zoo. The next picture was a close up of an extremely gorgeous blond guy with tropical birds behind him.

"That's Jesse," Dana said, looking over Summer's shoulder.

Summer stared. He could have been a model. His smile made you want to smile back. His light green eyes sparkled mischievously at the camera. He was tan and nicely built. If he was a model she would buy anything he was selling.

Summer knew that Dana hadn't just downloaded some modeling photos off the internet of some hot guy as Summer swipped through more photos and there were some of Dana and him together. They looked like they were having a great time and were truly the best friends Dana claimed them to be.

The fact that he was smiling or laughing and had an arm around Dana in a friendly yet protective manner endeared Jesse more to her. Summer could tell he truly cared about Dana.

She regretted asking Dana to see his picture. Her Luke was cute, but this guy was so cute she was dizzy, especially with his scent still so near. The pictures of him, his scent, and the remembrance of his nice cool voice over the phone were a lethal combination.

"Cute," Summer managed to get out, hoping it sounded indifferent.

"Still not interested?"

Summer sighed."Not interested. I like Luke. Thanks though," Summer handed the phone back to Dana.

"Okay. But if things don't work out with Luke, let me know if you change your mind, I can hook you guys up," Dana said smiling as she climbed off the bed.

"California's a long way away from Florida, Dana," Summer told her, yawning, and laid back down praying for sleep.

Summer heard the beeping of the dialing phone as she slept. It pulled at her to wake. She tried to ignore Dana, when she started talking, but it was hard to not listen.

"Hey, it's Dana. Is Jesse home?" she heard Dana ask in an attempt at a whisper.

There was silence then "Hey, it's me," Dana said quietly.

"What was that letter all about?" she demanded.

"The letter to Summer," Dana said like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Yeah, I read it," She snapped.

"Do you like Summer or something?" she asked.

"Don't worry. She's sound asleep," Dana told him.

"Of course, it's my business! You're my best friend and so is she," Dana hissed.

"Do you like her?" Dana asked.

"I mean, like her-like her?" Dana pressed.

"It matters, Jess," She said with a sigh.

"I know she has a boyfriend, I'm the one who told you that!" Dana said frustrated.

"Jesse!" she said annoyed.

"What's with the necklace then? You never make anything for anybody unless you care about them," Dana told him.

"Oh, she's nice and that's it?" she countered to whatever he said.

"Jess, I know you, there's more to it than that," Dana continued. She was quiet for awhile.

"So, that's it then?" she asked.

"No, no, I understand. Do what you want. It's your life," Dana answered.

"That's what she said too," Dana told him.

"I don't know. She said something like California's a long way from Florida," Dana said.

"Yeah, we were talking about you," she said annoyed.

"Because of the letter, the necklace!" Dana said with an exasperated breath.

"It's your own fault!" She exclaimed.

"Then why'd you do it?" she asked.

"Jesse?" she asked impatiently.

"Come on what's going on?" she pressed him. There was silence again.

"Summer said you're cute if that helps. I showed her a picture of you," she said.

"Why are you being like that?" she growled.

"Fine. I'll butt out. Don't blame me if she ends up marrying this Luke guy!" she practically yelled.

"Yup. Fine. Whatever. Bye, idiot," she said, clicking off the phone.

"Men," She muttered. putting the phone back on the cradle.

"Summer?" Dana asked, looking over at her figure in the dark.

She had gotten rather loud. But Summer kept her eyes closed and didn't move. Dana rolled over and went to sleep.

Author note:

what did you think of Jesse's letter and necklace to Summer?