Chapter 2
I sighed, combing the coarse bristles of my hairbrush through my hair. Today my older sister Gwyneth and her boyfriend Xavier were coming to visit.
She was always the golden child, mommy's perfect little angel.
What frustrated me most about my sister's visits wasn't anything she did, it was how my mother reacted. Everything had to be perfect when her little princess stopped by for a visit every once a year, nothing out of place.
My mother also felt the need to always subtly mention all the accomplishments Gwyneth already had by the time she was my age. Even when I was ten years old, Gwyneth had apparently won the town Science Fair two years in a row by the time she was ten. Also, the first hour into Gwyneth's visits was filled with my mother gushing over how stunning Gwyneth was. I was never told I was beautiful by my mother.
"Jade, Gwyneth is here!" My mother squealed from downstairs. The excitement was completely evident in her voice. I sighed, placing my hairbrush down on my vanity and stood to my feet, brushing my hands over my simple white lace dress paired with white buckle shoes my father insisted on purchasing for me.
I made my way down the staircase, gripping the railing as I descended.
"Jade." Gwyneth smiled, walking towards me with her arms opened wide to embrace me. I was pulled into her fragile embrace. My sister was as elegant as my mother, being a professional ballerina required such a quality. Gwyneth followed in both my mother and grandmother's footsteps in her career of grace. Unfortunately, I had not acquired my mother's gene for elegance but instead inherited my father's gene for clumsiness. That still never ceased my mother's efforts to dress me in a tutu and place me in every ballet class offered within a two hour's distance of my home.
After Gwyneth pulled herself from our embrace, Xavier approached me and pulled me into his strong embrace which differed drastically from that of my sister's.
"Jade darling," his British accent heavy, "it's so lovely to see you again."
"Hello Xavier." I smiled, breathing in the familiar scent of his cologne.
He and my sister had been dating since I was nine years old, my sister being eighteen and Xavier being twenty five. He and I had become very close considering how often he was over to visit my sister. I hadn't seen him since I was twelve years old, he hadn't been able to attend the visits with my sister for the past four years. So that lead me to wonder, why was he here today?
"Well come along everyone, Scott has prepared lunch for us." My mother said cheerfully. She hadn't been that happy since Gwyneth's visit last year. Gwyneth intertwined her fingers with Xavier's, leading him to the dining room with me trailing behind the happy couple.
Twenty minutes into the meal there hadn't been a moment of silence between my parent's questions on how Gwyneth and Xavier had been in the past year and their responses. Finally, a moment of silence sliced through the air in which Gwyneth intertwined her fingers with Xavier's once again and smiled widely.
"We have some news." She blushed, looking quickly at her grinning boyfriend before turning her gaze back to my parents. She had their undivided attention.
She held up her left hand with tears of joy leaking from her eyes. I didn't understand what was going on as my mother squealed like a schoolgirl, jumping out her chair and pulling Gwyneth into a hug.
I then noticed the ring on her finger. It was a gold band with diamonds all across it and a giant diamond in the center. My eyes widened, knowing the significance of the ring. She was engaged, Xavier had proposed to her. I stayed silent, knowing that if I spoke my mother would finally acknowledge my presence and somehow mention that I hadn't even had my first boyfriend yet.
After lunch was over and everyone had moved into the living room to speak of wedding arrangements for the event that was to occur four months later, apparently Gwyneth and Xavier had sent out invitations to everyone except my parents because they wanted to tell them in person and planned everything, I found myself sitting alone outside on the old swing-set in the backyard that was sat on a hill in the backyard. I faced the house, looking at the excitement playing out in the living room.
I heard someone clear their throat on my left. I turned to see Xavier smiling, leaning against the pole of the swing-set and pulling a cigarette from a pack and tucking it between his lips. "You don't mind, do you?" He asked.
I shook my head no and he lit it with his silver lighter.
"So, you are marrying Gwyneth." I stated, still staring at my sister and mother talking excitedly, not even realizing I wasn't there. He tapped the end of his cigarette, causing ash to fall from the other side and onto the ground before sitting down next to me on the other swing.
"What's the matter love?" He asked causing me to turn my gaze to meet his concerned eyes.
I sighed, turning back to stare through the window. "My mother adores Gwyneth. She awaits her visits like a child awaits Christmas. Gwyneth, the golden girl, the genius, the talented one, the stunning one, the graceful one. My mother barely even acknowledges my presence yet she thinks of nothing else when Gwyneth is with her. I just want to know why, why am I not good enough for even my mother to love?" I hadn't realized I was crying until Xavier reached over to wipe a tear with his thumb.
"That isn't true Jade. You are kind, you are intelligent, you are elegant. You're not beautiful, you're absolutely breath-takingly gorgeous. You are lovely, extraordinary. You are loved by many. You're mother is one person, with her own feelings, but there is the rest of the world and their feelings. In the grand scheme of things, one person's opinion of you won't matter." He said solemnly.
I wiped a tear from my eye quickly as he extinguished his cigarette and got up to discard it. "Thank you, Xavier." I said before he walked away. He turned around to face me, bending over to press a kiss to my forehead, "No trouble, love."
It was a simple friendly act, or so it seemed.
[a/n] This is really a filler chapter because in order for future chapters to make sense this chapter needed to be included :) ~Kat
