Chapter 29 — It’s On
Jude’s POV:
I got ready and made my way to office. Stephanie had already left and we had decided to meet for dinner. I went to office and my time was immediately consumed in meetings, and approving designs. Before I knew it, it was time for me to go to Wade’s for lunch. I hurried up and got into my car and drove to Wade’s apartment. I rang the bell and waited for someone to open the door. Wade opened it and Natasha was hanging onto his back.
“Hey Jude! Come on in, I was just giving Natasha a piggyback ride.”
“You were?” asked Natasha. I looked at them in confusion and Wade forcefully said, “Yes I was, now let's not keep Jude standing there, come on in Jude.” I stepped in and Sean waved at me and turned to watch the television. Great so he was now sulking with me.
“Sean.”
“Yes?” he asked not turning away from the television.
“Dude at least looked at me”
“uh oh” said Wade, “he doesn’t like being called dude” and right then Sean threw a pillow at my face.
“Sean! Not cool” I said running a hand through my hair.
“oh no no no,” said Sean and Wade muttered, “here we go again.”
“You don’t say what’s cool and what’s not cool”
“What do you mean?”
“What the hell was Stephanie doing on your couch?”
“Sean” interrupted Natasha, “let it go. We decided to meet for lunch and that is what we are going to do. We are going to eat ok?”
Sean took a deep breath and nodded. I looked at Natasha and smiled at her gratefully. She looked away and started warming the lunch. Oh great, now she is going to ignore me as well. Perfect.
We sat down to eat and Wade asked, “How is your project shaping up?”
“AS good as I can expect it to be”
“That’s nice”
Natasha and Sean ate in silence.
“Oh come on guys!” I exclaimed unable to take this anymore, “look before Stephanie cheated on me I had been really happy with her.”
Sean snorted and said, “that is not called being happy, it's called being ignorant.”
“Come on guys give her a chance. I really want to make it work this time”
Silence again.
I gave up and finished my lunch quickly while Wade tried to make conversation. I looked at Natasha she had been studiously avoiding my gaze and she looked visibly upset. I wanted to talk to her but not in front of these baboons. We finished our lunch when Natasha got a call, she excused herself and went in the guest room to talk. Wade and Sean stared at me and it was making me uncomfortable.
“I don’t get it guys, I thought you’ll wanted me to be happy”
“We do,” said Sean, “that is why we think Stephanie is bad news”
“But I am happy, so be happy for me”
“You know I have a gut feeling that she is just not nice” said Sean, “call it women’s intuition.”
“Sean!” exclaimed Wade, “you are a man.”
Sean shrugged and said, “I am in touch with my feminine side”
“Well guys why don’t you’ll just give her chance? Spend some time with us ad see for yourself that she has truly changed!”
“Oh please” Sean said disdainfully “I don’t even want to breath the same air that she does”
“Sean, do it for me, please?” I said giving him the best puppy-dog look.
“What if your parents come to know?” asked Wade.
“They won't, I have it all planned out.”
Sean and Wade exchanged a look and said, “Ok we are giving her one chance that is it, she ruins it and that’s that.” I smiled at them and said, “ok! We are going to meet up for dinner tonight, why don’t you guys join us?”
“Ok. What about Natasha?”
“Well of course she has to come too!”
Wade smacked his palm to his forehead and said, “That‘s not what I was talking about, I was going to get her anyway!” I narrowed my eyes at him, “So then what are you going about?”
“You owe other an apology; you literally kicked her out of your house last night.”
“I did not!”
“Yes you did!” said Sean rounding up on me.
“She felt discarded” said Wade.
I caught my head in my hands and said, “Are you serious? I never meant for her to feel this way. I have to talk to her”
“Speaking of which where is she?” asked Sean.
“I’ll go check” I said and knocked on her room door, when I heard no reply I opened the room and found her lying on the bed on her stomach. She was wearing denim shorts and a white knit cardigan, her hair was splayed around her shoulders. I gulped as I saw her well-shaped, long legs. They did seem to go on forever.
“Natasha?”
She got up with a start and grabbed a pillow.
“Oh it’s you” she said and turned her face away again.
“I want to talk to you”
“What do we have to talk about?”
“About last night”
“Jude there isn’t anything to talk about, Stephanie is back in the picture and I am out, I get that. We don’t need to dissect every situation!”
“Well then why are you mad at me?”
“I am not”
“Yes you are, why won’t you look at me?”
“oh go away! Where is your Stephanie anyway?”
I furrowed my brows and looked at her, “Are you jealous?”
“What! Oh that’s right just go ahead and boost your ego. Like it isn’t inflated anyway!”
“Well good because you really shouldn’t be. I employed your services and did not make any promises to you!” This time she looked at me, like really looked at me and her eyes were shining with unshed tears.
“Natasha, I am sor—“
“No you are right, after all you did employ my services” she spat the last word out, “I really think you should leave Jude”
“Nats, ple—”
“Either you leave or I will”
I sighed and felt like an idiot. I wanted to kick myself! I had done it again and now there was no going back. I wanted to go in there and beg her for her forgiveness but right now in the mood she was I was just going to get a kick in my family jewels. I went out to see Wade looking at me in disbelief and Sean wouldn’t look at me at all. Well so much for privacy. I left with a ‘see you tonight.’ As I drove back to office I thought back and decided that I was way out of line with the ‘employed your services’ line but I had been right about not making any promises to her. I prayed for the day to get over soon so that I could see Natasha at night and apologize to her. But true to Einstein’ theory of relativity the time did go slowly when you wanted it go by quickly.
Sean’s POV:
I entered the room and saw Natasha sobbing. I climbed on the bed and hugged her. Wade climbed in on the other side and hugged her too. We sat there in our awkward group while Natasha cried her heart out. Finally she stopped crying when and I said “Natasha Jude is a douche and he is an idiot. HE doesn’t know what is good for him.”
“Yeah” said Natasha sniffing, “but that doesn’t stop him from being with Stephanie does it?”
“Natasha have you heard Affirmation by Savage Garden?”
Both Natasha and Wade stared at me in disbelief. “What does that have to do with our situation man?” Wade asked. I spared them a glance before I started singing, “I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you.” Natasha snorted in a very un-lady-like manner and burst into a fit of giggles. Now Wade and I stared at her in worry, the poor girl had lost her marbles.
“Unless I am mistaken, you just called Stephanie JUNK FOOD” I laughed and so did Wade, “I guess I just did”
“So all we have to is make Jude realize that Stephanie is a bitch and you are everything that he has dreamt of” I said dramatically. “Oh I love playing cupid!”
Wade smacked me in the back of my head and said, “There’s a fat chance of that happening, he seems to be blinded by her!”
“Oh we will make it happen”
“How?” asked Natasha in a small voice.
“Well first we have to make you visually scintillating. Now you are a pretty girl Natasha, gorgeous” I said cautiously, “but look at you right now!”
She looked at herself and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Well you are a mess! Unless it’s a special occasion you don’t dress up! Look at Stephanie! At any given point during the day, she looks like she has just stepped out of a photo shoot from Vogue.” As Natasha opened her mouth to speak, I spoke up again hurriedly, “Not that I am saying that she is pretty or anything, she is ugleh.”
“But-but,” stuttered Natasha, “she is so superficial! I mean is it always about the looks”
“I wish I could say otherwise honey but men are dogs”
“No we aren’t! Sean! Do you keep dissing your own gender all the time?”
“I am a woman stuck in a man’s body” I said sighing dramatically which got Natasha giggling again.
“Look my point is” said Wade, “if you have two dishes kept in front of you, one may not taste so good but looks really lip smacking delicious, the other looks like dog poop but is delicious, what would you pick?”
I smacked Wade and Natasha followed, “you are comparing women to food?”
“Though an excellent way to explain to this food lover” I said smiling. Natasha stuck her tongue out at me; well at least she was happy again. She frowned at Wade and me and said, “But I don’t understand one thing, Jude is your brother and he seems happy with Stephanie, why are you guys helping me out?”
Wade put a hand up before I could answer and said, “Because, a) Stephanie is a bitch, b) we know our brother and you are perfect for him, c) We approve of you” I nodded at everything.
She smiled at us and then surprised us by pulling us into a fierce hug. “Ow Natasha can’t breathe, can’t breathe” I said and she released us. “Ok” so she said excitedly, “how do we do this? How do we make Jude fall in love with me?”
“Like I said we will work on the visuals starting now.”
“First, you need to stop dressing up like such a guy with all your converse and ripped, faded t-shirts! They have to go out. Jude bought you excellent clothes and we need you to wear those” said Wade. Natasha looked at him in surprise, “Don’t get me wrong, I love you the way you are, I honestly do hell if you weren’t fake engaged to Jude I’d ask you to marry me” he said nervously, “but we need to make him fall in love with you first right? Jude goes for girly girls” Natasha grimaced and rolled her eyes.
“Ok so I left all the clothes he bought me at his place”
“Oh goody!” said Sean, “we are going shopping!”
“My treat” said Wade.
“No!” said Natasha firmly, “I will buy this stuff for myself. I have enough money now after all Jude did employ my services."
I winced and said, “yeah our Jude just has a way with words, doesn’t he?” Wade nodded fervently and said, “Ok Natasha we are meeting him and Stephanie for dinner tonight. This is your chance to outshine her. We are going to make you look like a diva”
“Now you’re talking” I said enthusiastically. I called up Jude to ask him where we were to meet him for dinner. After all we didn’t want Natasha to turn over dressed at a regular restaurant. “Hey Jude, so where are we going for dinner?”
“I thought Le Italiano.”
“Ok” and just as I was about to hang up he said, “Sean wait! Natasha is coming too right?”
“Yep”
“Ok see you guys at 8”
I hung up and said, “Well why we were even expecting it to be simple? With Stephanie everything is fancy schmancy.”
“Ok look we need to get started quickly, we barely have 4 hours left” said Wade. I got up and stuck a hand out to Natasha, which she grabbed and I pulled her up. Natasha then held out a hand to Wade, and she pulled him up.
“Lets’ go!”
Natasha’s POV:
After spending 1.5 hours trying to find one outfit to wear for tonight’s dinner I began regretting the whole shopping idea. The three brothers were different but when it came to shopping they were all fussy. They made me check every outfit, the fit, the size, even if I didn’t like it. And if I liked an outfit and knew it would be my size, they still made me try it on! It was exhausting and I silently vowed never to go shopping with them again. Finally all three of us fell in love with a simple little emerald dress. It complemented my eyes perfectly. It was fitting and an off shoulder dress. It stopped just at my knees, I felt conscious and kept pulling at all the time.
“Stop fidgeting!” said Sean. “You look gorgeous, that dress is just perfect for you!” Wade agreed as he stared at me open mouthed and said, “Gorgeous, simply gorgeous”
I blushed and murmured “thanks. Ok we’ll take this.” I turned to the delighted salesgirl. She was really tired of us tossing aside every dress she had come to us with. I paid for it and we stepped out. “Now all we need are the perfect shoes and jewelry to go with your outfit,” said Sean.
“Man” sighed Wade “this is what I really hate about shopping with women; it never stops with one thing. If you buy a dress, then you need shoes and jewelry. If they buy shoes, they realize they won't go with any outfit that they own. And if they buy jewelry, they realize that they don’t own any footwear or clothes that go with it! It just never is one thing!”
“Whoa Wade, let it all out” I said smiling at him. He shuddered and took a deep breath and said, “ok I am done” Sean and I giggled and I asked, “Bad experience?”
“Terrible” replied Wade.
“Well I’ll be quick I promise”
“I know” he said smiling at me. True to my word, I picked out a pair of silver strappy sandals and imitation jewelry. I got a pretty rhodium plated necklace and got tiny earrings to go with it. Then we shopped for everyday clothes and soon it was 6:30.
“WE need to hurry if we have to be on time” I said glancing at my watch.
“nope we are going to be fashionably late: Sean said. We made a last stop at M.A.C and I quickly bought all the makeup I needed and we left for Wade’s place. I rushed into the guest room to get dressed while Sean and Wade went in Wade’s room to dress up.
I took a quick shower, I had picked up my favorite strawberry shampoo and conditioner, I wanted my hair to smell good. I worked the lather trying to infuse the smell of berries in my hair. I got out and wrapped a towel around me, I checked to see whether I had locked the door. I was contemplating what to do with my hair and decided to tie it up. I swept my flicks to the side and tied my hair in a top knot. I was careful to let a few tendrils loose and it looked perfect brushing against my bare shoulders. I zipped my dress up and started working on my makeup. I outlined my eyes with black kohl and applied glittery green eyeliner. I applied a nude colored eyeshadow and nude pink lipstick. I outlined my lips with a sheer coating of gloss and put extra in the middle of my bottom lip for the plump lips effect. I wore my necklace, earrings, and shoes, and I was ready. I looked at myself and frowned, there was something missing. I went out and saw the boys were already ready and were watching TV.
“Guys”
“O-M-G” said Sean.
“Oh wow” said Wade.
“Do I look nice?” I asked uncertainly.
“Nice? I certainly don’t have nice thoughts going around in my head!” said Wade, which earned him a punch in the shoulder by Sean. “How crass! Natasha you make me wanna go straight” I started laughing and said, “Don’t you think there is something missing?” I asked. Both of them looked at me from head to toe which made me feel conscious again. Then Sean frowned and said, “I believe I know what you are talking about. You need a clutch to carry all your makeup and your phone. You can hardly carry a backpack”
“I knew it! I knew it there was something missing.”
“No problem” said Wade, “we can pick it up on the way, but it has to be quick.” I moved forward and hugged both the boys and kissed them on their cheeks. “Thank you so much”
“You’re welcome” they both said and kissed me on my cheeks. I was an only child but if I ever had a choice I would’ve have wanted brothers and I would’ve wanted them to be like Wade and Sean. I grabbed my makeup and the boys stuffed it in their coat pockets. They both looked absolutely gorgeous. We went down and Sean held the door for me as I got into Wade’s car. WE stopped at the mall and before I could get out Sean bolted out saying he would be back quickly. Wade and I both groaned, Sean was going to pick up every bag and clutch in the shop and check for himself if it was good enough. However he surprised us by returning quickly. He bought a beautiful silver clutch that went really well with the dress. I stuffed my phone and makeup in it as Wade drove us to the restaurant. Jude had called Wade at least thrice, asking him where we were, and Wade had said that we would be there soon. He asked Jude to wait for us at the entrance. We got there and Wade gave his car keys to the valet. He stuck out his arm and I took it while Sean took my other arm and the three of us walked together to the restaurant. Jude and Stephanie were waiting for us. Stephanie was wearing a white dress, it was a georgette dress with intricate silver work on it. The neckline scooped so deep that it left nothing to the imagination. It didn’t look that great on her if anything it made her look paler. I looked at Jude and gulped. He was a vision in his formal clothes. He was staring at me intently his eyes a stormy blue, like they would become when he had kissed me. He and Stephanie both stared at me open mouthed and then Stephanie put her hand possessively on Jude’s arm. I stopped short but Wade and Sean pulled me on, Wade squeezed my arm and Sean whispered in my ear, “Don’t let her get to you, flirt merrily with Jude. Remember everything we discussed.” I gave him a slight nod, I smiled as we approached Jude and said, “Hi. Sorry we’re late.”
“It was worth the wait” said Jude without thinking and then blushed furiously while Stephanie looked mad but quickly covered it up. “You look gorgeous Natasha” I raised my eyebrows, ok I was so not expecting this, how could I steal Jude from her if she was being nice to me? But then she spoke up and I didn’t feel bad anymore, “I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Thanks” I murmured and Wade spoke up angrily, “Well we could recognize you anywhere.”
"Yeah” spoke up Sean, “There’s only one woman we know who would dress up that um sleazily”
“Sluttily,” said Wade at the same time Sean said 'sleazily.' I looked at them in shock and Stephanie gasped. She turned around to look at Jude as if to say are you going to allow them to speak to me like that?
“Wade, Sean” said Jude warningly, “let’s just go inside and eat.” He sighed and removed Stephanie’s hand from his arm. She looked at him hurt, he whispered and said, “not in public” and then he turned around and pulled me against him and kept a hand wrapped around my waist as we entered the restaurant. I felt warm all over but that feeling vanished immediately when Stephanie said snidely, “Oh yeah you have to keep up pretenses in public.”
I stiffened and felt Jude tense. We walked in together and Jude pulled out my chair I sat down and almost laughed out loud when Wade and Sean sat down without waiting for Stephanie to sit. We quickly placed our order and then Jude tried to get his brothers to talk to Stephanie.
I was seated between Jude and Wade while Stephanie was seated between Sean and Wade. A lot of time during the dinner Jude and my hands brushed but I didn’t look at him even once. I kept talking to Wade, laughing at his jokes and when he placed an arm around my shoulders I thought I heard Jude almost breaking his jaw from clenching it too tight.
“So Wade” asked Stephanie, “how your work is going on?”
“Fine”
Stephanie looked as if she wanted to ask more but Wade maintained a stone face so she turned to Sean instead, “Sean how is college?”
“Fine”
She ate the rest of her dinner in silence. I was enjoying this way too much and so were Sean and Wade. After my dinner I excused myself to go to the washroom. I wanted to reapply my lipstick. Jude wanted a girly girl and he was going to get one. What I hadn’t expected Stephanie to say, “Wait I’ll go with you.” Behind her back Wade gestured me to trip her while walking and I had to disguise my laughter into a cough. Jude hit Wade’s shoulder and asked him to shut up. Stephanie and I walked in silence. I checked my image in the mirror and was glad to see that I didn’t need to do much except for re applying my lipstick.
I was applying my lipstick when Stephanie who had been observing me creepily all this time spoke up, “I know what you are trying to do.”
“Excuse me?”
“I know you heard me”
“Yeah I did but I don’t understand what you are saying” I retorted staring her down.
“You come from a poor family, you don’t have anything, no assets, no investments, so when Jude came up with this plan, you must have been overjoyed.”
“What?”
“I mean what else did you need? You had a guy who would be taking care of all your expenses, would take you to the best of restaurants and the most exotic holiday destinations right? Then I came along and spoilt all your plans.”
“er this me we are talking about right? But you just seemed to have described yourself perfectly Stephanie” I replied coolly while I was seething inside.
“Why you-” she moved forward but I raised one hand and she stopped, “don’t you dare lay a finger on me. Touch me and lose your arm, I come from a rough background remember?”
She hissed and said, “You have one month, one month to change Jude’s mine about me. I challenge you that I will have him change his mind about you. He will not go ahead with this pretend marriage of yours.”
“Oh, it's on,” I replied and turned away to get out of there. Sean had been right, she tainted the air she breathed. I walked to the table and sat down heavily.
“Is everything alright?” asked Jude.
“Oh yes, its peachy”
“Nats, what's wrong?”
“Nothing” I was pissed at Stephanie but more than her I was pissed at Jude. How could he not see how spiteful and awful human she was? Even now she spoke about Jude and his money and not how nice Jude was. I wished that she had touched me it would have been a pleasure breaking her hand. I took a deep breath and said, “can we leave?”
“Sure” said Wade.
We waited outside for Jude’s and Wade’s cars to come. I shivered, the night had become chilly and I wasn’t carrying a jacket. Wade, Sean and Jude all offered me their jacket at the same time and I smiled. I moved forward to take Wade’s jacket when Jude stepped forward and put his jacket around my shoulders. Stephanie stared daggers at me and I just smiled back sweetly. Wow I didn’t even have to try too hard for that, I didn’t have to try at all! Jude and Stephanie left before us. We got into the car, and I told the boys about my conversation with Stephanie. Sean was angry at her and said, “You are going to win this Nats” I smiled and said, “Wade could you drop me off home after I collect my bag from your apartment?”
“Sure but why don’t you stay over?”
“I just thought of going and checking on my place. It has remained shut for so many days.”
“Ok”
Sean looked at e and said, “Hey I am staying over here for another 2 days so go home today and stay over at Wade’s for two days”
“Ok” I smiled, once we reached Wade’s home I quickly changed into my regular clothes and packed my bag. Sean was coming with us too. Once we parked I got down and Wade insisted on carrying my bags. Once I reached the front door I froze, there in huge red letters was the word SLUT written in spray paint. There was a little white note sticking there, I opened it with shaking hands as Wade muttered obscenities, and it read “I am gonna get you, you bitch”
“Well you sure as hell aren’t staying alone here” said Sean and we all got inside Wade’s car and drove back to his apartment. All he while one thought in my mind who could’ve done this?