WARNING- This chapter contains some adult themes that may be unsuitable to some readers.
My mind was rushing with memories of last night.
"Hey, wanna dance?" the guy grabbed my wrist and pulled me onto the dance floor.
"H-huh? I don't really... dance..." I said nervously.
" 'Ey, it's fine, just follow my lead. Guys are the lead and the girl's just follow. Come on," he smiled.
Maybe it'll be okay...
At first it was a swift twirl around the room, but then it came to a slow dance and his hands were wandering elsewhere in the dimlight.
His fingers slid on my bare back into the slit of my dress.
I yanked my arm away from him and the song ended.
"I'm done. We finished a song. You said just one dance. It's over now so let go!"
"We're just having fun. The night just started. If you're done then let's get a breather," he smiled and grabbed my wrist again and pulled me outside into the night.
Memories of middleschool came flashing back to haunt me. My body's mind was numb, but my heart was thundering, hoping a part of me would listen.
"Shh.. Julia.." his voice echoed in my ears, his touch stained my skin, and every breath I took felt nonexistant.
Somewhere in the depths of my sanity warned me to get out of there.
"No I- I have to go!" I yelled out.
He slammed me against the wall and started lifting my skirt up. I could feel his cold hands freeze my skin, reminding me of that guy's heartless voice, whispering my name infront of Helian. His face grew closer to mine as he stared into my soul.
Tears screamed at me, demanding me to let them fall, but I couldn't. I didn't want to. Not in front of this wack.
"Sorry, but she promised to dance with me next. Gotta respect a lady's choice, " Jayden said as he walked away with my hand in his.
We hurried back into the ballroom and his hands slid onto my waist.
It was a ticklish warmth that ran up my spine.
"Jayden!" I couldn't help my voice. I was still scared from the touch of the opposite sex.
"Shhh..." he whispered into my ear. Time stopped for me. He shushed me just as that guy did, but his voice was gentle. His eyes were serious, but warm. The dark violet eyes, they weren't as dark as they seemed. They let in a starry gleam of light. It was as though I was watching the night sky in his eyes.
Maybe it was the chandeliers or maybe the candlelights lit around us... but...
" Just dance with me until they leave. The party is almost over," he whispered.
...staring into his eyes calmed me down.
"Woooh! Go Jayden, go!" I heard his mom yell out as she walked onto the stage. There was a slow introduction of a piano and violin. It was Mom and Dad! Then an angel sang Zeth's melody from Regias.
"I didn't know your mom was a fan of Regias," I gasped.
"She's the one who coproduced Regias," he said.
"What... No way.." I gasped.
He hummed to the melody and I quietly listened to the serenade.
"Thanks... you saved me back there," I mumbled.
I could see Alice waving for my attention.
He smiled and replied," No problem, just make sure to remember to pay me back in full."
I knew what he was gonna say so I broke him off and left to Alice. I could hear his little devil laugh in my head as I walked away.
"Lia? Have you seen Mommy and Daddy?" she asked.
I picked up a cool glass with chopped strawberries," They were on the stage earlier. Didn't you see them?"
"Uh huh, but they disappeared to somewhere," she sighed.
I remembered Jayden helped us find Mom upstairs...
We were hiding behind the corner where Mom and her friend was.
"About the engagement. We love our daughter just as you love your son. Jayden's a really good kid, always has been. We trust him, so it'd be an honor for our families to join," Dad said.
"It'd even be a blessing when we become family!" Mom giggled and winked," We told them that they were free to their thoughts and decisions," she sniffled and said, "She.. She's been struggling since she found out... Leah says she's finally accepted it, though. And Sarah, she won't say it, but she's also been contemplating," Mom said.
Wait... Could Mom be talking about us being married off to Jayden? And Sarah, Marie, AND Leah are thinking about it?!!!
Mom continued," It was like yesterday when they were still learning to walk, holding onto me with their tiny little hands to sit up right," she sighed," They just want everyone to be happy. Marie says she's overjoyed about the opportunity for them to meet. Neither of them want to tell her their thoughts, but deep inside they know they'll eventually leave the nest, too."
What. No way can they meet. No way...
Why should they? They don't have to do something they're not obligated to.
Woah.. I'm a little dizzy.
I can't see, my mask is in the way.
I'll just sit here.
Well.. If I think about it... Jayden isn't such a bad person... We just met on the wrong foot. And he saved me earlier.. from that guy. That guy almost kissed me. If Jayden wasn't there, I'd go insane.
He's really scary and mean... but he's nice and cool.. and he likes Regia. And I'm kinda glad my first was with him instead of that douchebag. What do I do...
I could hear the sounds of panting and shoes clapping onto newly polished wood in the halls. It's Jayden.
"There you are!" he called out.
My heart was thumping in my chest and my mind was circling through the memories.
I remembered the embarrassing words leaving my lips and the last thing they touched.
I whispered in his ear," I'm glad it was you."
And the last things I could hear before I dazed into darkness were the clipping and clapping of people rushing upstairs.
Fast forward.
I remembered demanding him to lay in bed and my final thoughts before knocking out.
"It's so wierd. You're a guy, yet I'm not so scared when I'm with you. And everytime I look into your eyes, I feel like their pulling me in for more than I can handle."
Now we're back to the present.
"Let's stay together," I heard myself whisper out loud.
I could still feel the sensation of his lips on mine.
I sat up and yelled, but my anger slowly grew weak because I was aware of my sins,"You! You took advantage of..."
He jumped off the bed and stuck his arms to defend himself from my pillow," Wait, hold on, you were the one who took advantage of me! Twice! Remember?"
"Aughhhhh don't make me remember!" I grumbled. Last night's final kiss felt more passionate than the ones before. I remembered it lead us into eachother's arms. I picked up the lamp next to me and threatened him to answer. "Hey! You! W-WHAT D-did w-w-w-WE D-DO?!!!" Confused and nervous he yelled," Do WHATTT?!!" You could see his face gushing red as he realized what I meant. He tried to pull out his courage as he answered nervously," N-No! Geez! It was all you, you perverted little...." his voice grew quieter," You're the one who kept k-kis-" I screamed and threw a pillow at his face and ran to the door.
I slightly got my hand to grasp the knob but he held me from behind," Hey, you started it. Are you saying you regret it? I asked you last night, but you were half sober. I think."
I remembered seeing him laying on the sofa, crying in his sleep.
"No.. don't leave me alone anymore.." I heard him say.
I could still hear myself from last night.
"Where'd you go?"
His hands were cold...
"Now stay."
But it wasn't uncomfortable being with him.
"Jayden?" I wanted to make him to feel better.
"Do you.. regret it?" he asked me.
"Nope. 'Cause now you'll be there to save me and I'll be there so you won't be alone," I said holding his hand.
"So tell me then, do you regret it?" he asked me once more, waking me up to reality.
Gahhhh! So embarrassinggg.... So that's how I am when I'm drunk????
"Julia?" Jayden asked confused, waiting for my answer as my hand slightly turned the knob. It opened and I could hear footsteps up the stairs and the voices of our mothers.
"Yeah, can't you believe our dreams are coming true?" I could hear our moms squealing at the sight of me being in Jayden's arms," Oh look! It's the lovebirds!"
"I-it's not what it looks like!" we said as we both grew red as tomatoes.
"Come on downstairs, Honey! I wanna show you two, pictures and videos of when you guys were little!" Jayden's Mom called out to us," Hurry hurry! Let's watch little Julia's confession! Gotta rewind it back a bit."
Confession?
"E-everyone's here!" I said, shocked that everyone was sitting together in the giant living room with plates of pancakes, sausages and eggs with a side of hashbrowns and a glass of orange juice. Marie's husband, Eurek was flipping pancakes and Dad was finishing up the sausages and taking out breakfast mini blueberry muffins.
"Morning Lia!" the triplets said as they squeezed the life out of me. "M-morning kiddos."
"Ah! It's Jacy!" Layla said.
"Jacy?" I said confused.
Julian walked up to Jayden and lightly fist bumped his shoulder.
"Yo Jacy, we gotta talk. From bros to bros, will you promise to protect Lia?" Julian asked seriously.
What're you saying Julian?!!!!!
They looked like a lion and a puppy in a staring war contest.
"I promise," Jayden replied with his own seriousness.
What is going on?!!!!
Helius also walked up to Jayden and looked at him from head to toe. "I give you my approval. You seem the intelligent type who wouldn't cause Lia trouble. I'm counting on you. Although I love my sister, she's as clumsy and stupid as she is."
"Hey!" I yelled at Helius as he giggled and ran to Mom.
"Hmm... I can't believe you had the guts orange brain," Helian said as Leah joined her, smiling spitefully at Jayden.
"Yeah, the wimp finally grew wings," Leah said.
"Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment," Jayden replied with the same evil smile.
Sarah placed her hands on their heads and pushed them apart, knocking Leah and Hellian into eachother in the process, " Hey, hey, kids, knock it off and have fun. It's a joyous day to be celebrating, not asking for a war rage fight."
"Ah, pfttt... sorry," Sarah giggled.
"Sorry my ASS!" Marie held Hellian back.
"We were wondering where you two wandered off to last night," Sarah said.
"Yeah, you two disappeared into the night until we followed the commotion upstairs and found you guys all lovey dovey," Marie said. Helian sighed and pulled herslf from Marie's arms.
"Yeah, the twerp thought he was some kind of knight in shining armor trying to save Lia from that ugly @%$& stupid motherf******"
"Language Helian, language," Sarah said.
"Language!" Alice chimed in with her hands on her waist and her puppy tears.
"Hmph.. I'm sorry Alice," Hellian patted Alice's head.
"You guys saw that?" Jayden said.
"Saw? We heard everything. You weren't the only one on the dance floor dude. 'Just dance with me' you said. Pftt it was like watching a kid pretending to be cool. Oh wait you are a kid, that doesn't help," Hellian began to laugh louder.
"Yeah, thanks for being there for Julia. If you weren't there Hellian would've killed him," Ashton said holding out a hand.
"No problem. Just wanted to make sure nothing happened to her," Jayden smiled and returned the gesture. The room felt a little chilly as they continued to grip eachother's hands.
"Oh look! This was the first time Jayden met Leah. He thought Leah was a stranger trying to steal Julia away," Jayden's Mom awed," Here it is!"
"When she showed us this morning, we ended up rewatching it all with her atleast 20 times until now. I mean it's pretty cool when we see other videos of when you guys were little but rewatching that part was a little too much," Layla whispered to me.
"His hair... it's blonde..?" I said confused.
"Ah, yes, Jayden had more of a blonde head, but as he grew older, it started to get more red," Jayden's mom said.
"Jacy will you marry me?" I saw little me on my knees covered in snow, displaying a little rock in my palms.
" Yes, Lia, I'll marry you. I'll protect you from the bad guys and we'll be together forever," little Jayden said.
"It might sound cute from a little kid, but watching me say it makes me cringe," Jayden said.
"I don't- I don't remember any of this..." I said out loud.
"Eh..." Jayden looked at me blankly," really? Not even a bit?"
I shook my head.
"All this time, I thought you probably still thought about it and that's why you said what you said yesterday," Jayden mumbled into silence, his face flushing red.
Shocked I asked," You remember all of this?!"
He didn't speak, just continued to stare at me, deepening into a sharp peachy red.
"Julia, Jayden must love you a lot! He accepted your proposal twice! Well, you two are already engaged so it probably didn't matter. But! This event did reconnect your love!" Mom said excitedly.
" Engaged?" I asked.
"Yup!"
" What do you mean? Since when?" I asked.
"Since last night! Now you're officially lawfully wedded. You and Jayden already signed the papers and everything when you were little. All we needed was Jayden's mark and that's it!" Jayden's Mom jumped excitedly.
"So that's why you needed my stamp," Jayden covered his face.
" You didn't read it before you stamped???" I asked.
"I did... all it said was to promise to take responsibility..." he sighed.
"Same thing. Now you young adults enjoy the rest of your school life together in your beautiful home. Me and your mother are heading back to the summer villa," Jayden's dad said.
"What? When're you coming back?" he asked.
"What do you mean, Jay? You're the man of this house now. Me and your mother will probably pop our heads in to check on you guys once in awhile but that's about it."
"Wait! What do you think of this Mr. and Mrs. Remion?" he asked Mom and Dad.
"Yeah! This was like a promise from a long time ago! Shouldn't we renew the documents and rethink about our decisions??? Plus I was drunk so does that even count???" I said.
"What are you talking about, you already made your decision. When you make a decision, you go through with it until the very end," Hellian said, showing me the recordings of little me and last night's "me" in magazines, channels, and newspapers of evidence.
"Yes! I am Jayden Sunrise's fiance! I look forward to the future we will have together!" I saw a beautiful lady smiling elegantly to the camera, wearing the same clothes as me, without a mask, and with the same eyes as me, say this as she slumped into Jayden's arms. "Who the heck was that???!!! Me?!!! W-we're in the news??!!" I yelled out in dizziness as Sarah caught me. "I swear, the only bad thing you inherited from your Dad is his clumsy silliness," Mom sighed.
" I trust you Jayden. You've always been there for Julia. And even though it's been so long since you've seen each other, I still trust you'll take care of her. For your sake especially," Mom said putting her head on Dad's shoulder. Jayden gulped down his fears.
Dad looked like he was a knight ready to slay his enemy.
He was holding in his anger, " Jayden, if Kayla trusts you then I'll trust you. Last night proved that you're worthy. It takes a lot for a man to accept a proposal from their partner-" Mom stepped on Dad's toe.
Dad winced," So please take care of her."
"You're not worried about us one bit?" Jayden asked.
"Oh no, I'm worried in having my little girl shacking up with another male that could be faking it-" Dad winced from another of Mom's toe smashing. He paused in thought then sighed," I don't really have the right to say... She isn't my daughter by blood, but she'll always be a daughter in my heart. So if she wants to marry someone, then I'll let her decide."
"I see.." he smiled.
"W-why are you so happy?!" I yelled at him.
He was puzzled at my question then his face returned to the one before," Because they trust me that I'll make you happy."
I couldn't say anything back to that. How could I? He looked as though he was truly happy.
All I could do was obediently nod and say my goodbyes.
"Lia! We'll visit soon!" Alice sniffled. "We should come over and sleep over often!" Julian screamed.
"Not too often, we should let the lovebirds be lovebirds, too alright Julian? Layla? Helius?" Mom said.
"Yes, Mom," they gulped.
"So yeah, we're still in highschool so how's that gonna work?" I asked.
"You're moving in from today, Lia. You're not a kid anymore. We already brought your things upstairs. Plus you're a senior this year. Both of you are going to head to college. Hopefully you'll want to go to the same university, but other than that, you're officially married. We'll have to think of a wedding date. Well, see you soon Lia, we love you. Be nice to Jayden! Oh, who am I kidding, you guys play more 'nicely' like this morning okay? I mean maybe a little less than that," Mom said as they waved goodbyes. "Bye Lia! Daddy loves you and misses you!" Dad said as Mom pulled him away.
"Honey, I expect you to behave and respect Kayla's and Henry's decisions. They probably haven't shown much of it, but they truly respect you being the one for Julia," she kissed Jayden's forehead and talked to me. "And you dear, although you don't remember much of the past. I hope you'll come to love Jayden just as much as he loves you," she also kissed my forehead.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked curiously.
"Oh my, Jayden you haven't told her?" Jayden's mom giggled.
Jayden spoke up and flustered, "Wait Mom I'll-"
"He's been in love with you since you were toddlers. He never dated or looked at other girls besides you. He always asked about you whenever Kayla called and he would always try to come back here to visit you, but either you guys couldn't meet up or he had other businesses to attend to in the end. So when you told me you forgot about Jayden, I felt a little sorry for him," she said and returned smiling," But no worries, deep inside I know you loved him too and perhaps you'll finally come to love him once more."
"Can I ask you something?" I asked her.
"What is it dear?" she said concerned.
"This might come off as rude but... Do you really think I'll be able to make him happy? And why me? Why are you okay with me marrying him? Is it because I'm your bestfriend's daughter?" I asked.
"Oh honey, of course you will. You may not see it, but his tail is wagging," she looked at Jayden, making me turn my head towards him.
He was smiling, looking our way, but when he caught our glances, he looked away nervously.
"Honey," she sighed," to be very honest with you, Jayden was engaged to someone else because of my husband's carelessness," she said sweetly, but her face said something else," Her mother and I never got along to begin with. And it didn't help that her daughter was basically a carbon copy of her. And honestly, I've been rooting for the both of you ever since you showed up in the backyard covered in flower petals like a little angel. So don't worry about anything, love. It's true I favor you since you're Kayla's baby, but I didn't know who you were for the past weeks you came to visit. Back then, we were having a hard time, so when you came, it was like a little light warmed up the house. Well, we have to be going now, sweet heart. Can't wait to see you again soon."
And so they left us in a house too big for two NEWLY married college freshman.