the extra (jenna / female reader)

Chapter 15: Wear It When You Miss Me

Last chapter! 🫣

Your POV

The rest of the party felt like a daze as I tried to process everything. Jenna and I mingled between our friend groups, everyone excited to learn that we'd finally confessed our feelings, and it felt like a dream. Tim, Jenna, and the rest of the main cast gave very heartfelt speeches that jerked a tear or two, and everyone said their bittersweet goodbyes as some of us, myself included, were due to leave the very next day, which is now today. Although I was tempted to take Jenna's offer of staying at her place, I reluctantly went back to mine to finish off some last minute packing. I almost offered for her to stay with me, but I know I would've been too distracted so we unfortunately separated at the end of the night.

I don't know what's next for us - if there even is a "next" or an "us"- and although I'd prefer to live in this blissful state of ignorance, we needed to have that conversation. Jenna offered to meet up for one last coffee and had a driver ready for me before I even woke up, and now I bit my nails while I waited for her at the cafe that was not too far from my now former apartment. All my stuff was packed into the car and I was due to meet Troy at our gate in about an hour.

I opted for decaf coffee since I was already riddled with anxiety, and I took it upon myself to order Jenna's tea concoction for her. Right as I went to check the time since Jenna was running late, I hear the bell that hung on the front door ring, signaling someone coming in. In comes the small, dark-haired woman, wearing baggy denim jeans, a large black jacket, chucks, a tote bag, and her signature headphones. The smile on my face is automatic as I take in her simple, yet incomparable beauty. She waves and makes her way over to me and I have mixed feelings of wanting this to be over and wanting to stretch out this small window of time as far as it could possibly go.

"Good morning." I greet her and get up to give her a hug; one that lasts longer than usual. One that feels like we're both starting to feel the reality of the situation. I hear her mutter a "Good morning" into my shoulder before we both sit down.

"I'm sorry I'm late... post-wrap is already chaos and we have to do a bunch of reshoots. Is this for me?" She looks flustered as she points to the tea. The reminder of how busy she's about to be - already is - is not lost on me and it makes my heart sink a little.

"Earl Grey with honey and shot of ginger, right?" She smiles and my heart begins to heal at the sight.

"You know my tea order. What a keeper." She takes a sip before giving a small "Thank you".

"I tried it the other day. It's pretty good." I smile in return.

"And good for you. Tim put me on to ginger and now I feel like I can't go without it." She responds and I nod in response. We make time-wasting small talk until a silence falls over us, the air full of things we'd rather not have to address, but needed to.

"Um, so-" Jenna clears her throat and leans forward putting her elbows on the table. I feel queasy as I lean forward as well and listen intently. "I'm gonna be honest... I don't really know what I'm doing here." I wait for her to say more, but apparently that was it.

"How do you mean?" I urge her to continue, not sure if I'm ready for her answer.

"I mean- I know damn well I'm not going to have the time for any sort of relationship." Ouch. "But I went and pursued you anyway. I couldn't help it. So I kinda fucked myself with that." Instant butterflies. Nice save. "And then there's publicity... I'm not "out", or whatever, and I don't even know what I'd come out as. When I told you this was my first time navigating something like this, I meant it." There's anxiety laced in her voice and it made me feel for her. All her worries were completely valid and although this was hard for both of us, the situation is vastly different for her than it was for me.