Green Eyes, White Lies

Green Eyes, White Lies ~ Ch. 14

"Everything for the wedding is absolutely beautiful," E-li-si smiled at Monica from across the table at the rehearsal dinner.

"Thanks Grandma," Monica responded, "But none of this would have happened if Jenn hadn't made it happen after the wreck. She finalized and picked up everything." She smiled at me and took my hand, "Thank you."

"Anything for you," I smiled giving her hand a little squeeze.

"I helped," Jack volunteered.

"Yes," I laughed, "Yes you did." I took his hand with my free one and gave him a peck on the cheek. Monica's friends looked on in amazement. Ben was back in Los Angeles now and had apparently removed all his belongings from my apartment. My family got it, so did Jack's family, but the Alpha Beta Deltas just couldn't understand why I would dump Ben Marshall. I'm sure I'd get asked about it tonight. The last two and a half weeks with Jack had been amazing. When we weren't running around getting everything ready for the wedding, we were with each other, family or friends. With each other was the best. For the first time I could be completely myself with a guy and not have to worry. Jack knew me, and with everything that came along with it, he still love me and wanted to be with me. He was already looking into jobs near LA. He liked what he did now and I didn't want him to give that up for me, but he swore he could find work like what he did in New Zealand.

"Jenn," Monica softly pulled me back to reality, "The girls want to know when we're going to go."

The baccalaureate party was tonight, the wedding tomorrow. After the accident, I'd changed all our plans from a traditional baccalaureate party to a slumber party. With the medications she was on and how she felt, a night on the town was not what she wanted. "Whenever they're ready," I told her.

"I think they're ready," she giggled as I glanced over at the girls waiting in their coats with duffel bags in hand. I couldn't help but laugh too.

"Tell them to put bags in the back of the minivan out there and I'll be out in a minute." She went to go relay the news and Jack pulled me close to him, "I'm gonna miss you," I whispered.

"I'll miss you too," he grinned as he leaned down and kissed me, "You have the key? Truck and house?"

"Yep," I told him, "Thanks for letting us use the house."

"No problem, I'm gonna have fun with the boys tonight," he pointed over his shoulder at Jerry, David, and their friends. "But not too much fun," he quickly added.

I laughed, "Damn straight," I teased as I looked over at the other boys. David and I were speaking again, but the silent agreement between us was to never talk about that night. I turned back to Jack and leaned up to kiss him. As out lips met I heard Alpha Beta Delta Samantha speak up.

"Isn't it normally the bride and groom who have to be pulled away from each other now?" she teased as she took a hold of my arm.

I rolled my eyes, "See you tomorrow," I promised. As Samantha pulled me out the door I heard him answer "I love you!" I grinned ear to ear. "I love you too!"

After driving the girls back to the house we all changed into our pajamas and gathered on the couches downstairs. "I can't believe you're finally getting married!" squealed Angela. At least I think it was Angela. Samantha had red hair but the other three could be blond clones with similar names: Angela, Angelica, and Angelina. When I first met then I glared at Monica. She goes off to college and three of her four best friends have the same name? But now, though frustrating at times, it could also provide entertainment. Just that evening I'd gotten to watch different people mix them up over and over again at the rehearsal dinner. While it was frustrating to do it yourself, it was hilarious to watch others do it.

The girls sat around and chatted for probably an hour or so. They talked about the wedding, about work, about men. The Alpha Beta Deltas all danced around the topic they really wanted to ask about, hoping someone else, preferably me, would bring it up.

Finally, one of the clones bit the bullet. "So, what was Ben Marshall like?" she asked. Monica's eyes got huge and she stared at her, shocked that she'd ask such a question, but nobody else noticed because instantly all eyes were on me.

I took a deep breath. "Honestly, most of the time he was a nice guy; polite, tactful, confident, caring. He really appears to be the perfect guy," I admitted.

"If he's perfect, why'd you leave him," Someone asked.

"I said he appeared perfect," I commented, "He wasn't. He was selfish, but not obviously, he wanted things his way and he didn't really understand your needs he was just good at acting like he did. And I don't love him."

"I don't mean to sound rude," Samantha began, "But Ben Marshall could date any actress or supermodel he wanted. Why you?"

"Samantha," Monica scolded.

"No, Monica," I calmed her, "It's actually a question I asked myself, a lot. He doesn't like tattoos and I have four, I'm covered in scars, and I'm emotional, hot headed, blunt, and impulsive. I didn't know why he asked me out. And at the time, I felt so lucky to be dating a movie star, I didn't want to ask and screw it up." I paused, "My friend told me last week, that while he really did like me, he asked me out because a costar dared him to. Because I was the scarred, broken, nobody."

They nodded, but from the moment I'd mentioned scars, one of the girls hadn't taken her eyes off my arm. I held it out for her to see, for a better look at the puckered line that ran up my arm and the second that ran across my wrist. "Did you," she started, "try to."

"No," I interrupted. "I've never done anything like that. My arm got run over by a truck when I was in high school." I saw all the girls cringe at the thought of the pain. "They had to set my arm with pins and my wrist is actually not entirely titanium."

"Wow," one of the girls gasped, "How'd your arm get run over?"

Monica froze and I just looked away, "Long story," I barely whispered. "How about I get us some coco and popcorn and we can watch a movie." The girls all nodded and I went into the kitchen were I already had water on the stove. I poured in the mix, stirred it up, then poured it into the mugs I had on a tray. I carried the tray back in and looked around. "Where's," I started but I couldn't grab the name.

"Angela," Monica saved me as I sat the tray down, "Bathroom."

"Oh," I nodded as I went back into the kitchen to put a popcorn bag in the microwave. A few minutes later I poured it into a bowl and grabbed a bag of chips. I walked back into the room to catch the end of their conversation.

"Yeah cramps suck."

"Bites that you started today."

"At least you didn't start tomorrow."

I laughed to myself. Poor kid, luckily I wasn't suppose to start till... I thought about the calendar and then my face went sheet white.

Everyone turned as the popcorn bowl hit the floor. They jumped up and ran to me, all asking what happened at the same time. "I thought," I grasped for something, "I saw a snake, but it was just my eyes playing tricks on me," I lied as I pointed to the cord in the corner. All the girls agreed except Monica, who eyed me with intensity.

She knew I was lying. She'd seen me pick up snakes before and knew it wouldn't freak me out. I looked at her, trying to communicate with my face that it was nothing. She sighed, letting me know she didn't believe me, but she turned toward the kitchen. "I'll make some more popcorn," she offered.

I wanted to tell her, but I didn't want to ruin her wedding by giving her something else to worry about. Anyways, I'd been under alot of stress these past few weeks.

My hand moved naturally to my stomach.

One week late didn't mean I had to be pregnant.

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