Chapter Twenty
Let me just say that I love my grandparents to death, but there is nothing more annoying then hearing about your childhood over and over again. And what made everything far worse, was the cheek pinching from my grandpa and the boob grabbing from my grandma.
"I can't believe it." my grandmother said grabbing my boob for the 6th time in the past 3 hours. "You're growing up." she said in disbelief.
"Leave the girls breasts alone! You're acting like she's gonna be little forever." my grandpa yelled as my grandmother turned red with anger.
"Don't you talk to me that way! I'm not bothering her, am I sweetie?"
"No grandma." I laughed.
"Your grandfather's just acting like that because he's a Scrooge." she said sitting in her chair and beginning to knit.
"Yeah I've been married to you for 40 years, who wouldn't?" he replied causing me to spit out the sip of juice I had drunken.
"No you're a Scrooge because your little Twinkie down there won't get up anymore. Don't blame me." she argued back as I began to laugh.
"Hey, hey stop you two." my mom said breaking their argument up.
"Well, how long are you in town for?" my grandpa asked looking between my mother and I.
"Good. Mommy's got a place downtown and I'm staying with Noah."
"How is Noah? I haven't seen him in a few months."
"He's good, grandpa. Well, we should get going."
"So soon?" my grandmother asked looking at me sadly.
"Yeah we have someone to meet at the airport." I said getting up and hugging my grandparents goodbye.
"Well, promise you'll come back."
"We will grandma. Love you guys." I said as my mom said her goodbyes and we left for the airport.
LAX was crowded like it normally was. I don't know how Sean found me with this many people here everyday.
"There she is! Wait here Jasmine!" my mom said rushing out of the car as I was driving around the front for the 9th time. I parked my car despite the horns blaring from cars behind me and watched my mother drag the girl to the car.
"You could've gotten hurt!" I said as my mother opened the back door and helped the girl in.
"Oh hush. Jasmine, you remember Nadine. Nadine, you should remember Jasmine." my mother said closing her car door. At first I couldn't believe the words that had just escaped her lips. I imagined it was a bad dream that I was in, but as soon as I looked back, I realized it wasn't.
"Ugh, yeah I remember her." I said harshly.
"Nice to see you again too, Jas." she smirked as my mother looked confused.
"Uh huh, you two are not gonna be enemies anymore. We're all starting a new life here."
"Cassandra, I personally don't have a problem with Jasmine. If it weren't for her attitude, we'd be the best of friends." she said in her most innocent voice as I exited the airport.
"Oh please, spare me." I said as my mother slapped me on the thigh.
"Listen, I'm not going to tolerate that from neither of you. You, Jasmine are my daughter and Nadine is my goddaughter. You two will get along."
"Look mom, not to be disrespectful because I understand 100% what you're trying to do here, but me and her will never be friends. I'll help you two out, but there will never be anything between us." I said as my mon sighed.
"Some people just don't grow up."
"Oh no, I've grown. If there's a problem though, I can pull over and let you walk. I bet you'd like that." I said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I didn't think so." I said driving. I dropped them off at my mom's place but not before her giving me instructions...
No. 1: You will be nice to Nadine, no matter what. You will smile.
No. 2: You will help Nadine find a job.
No. 3: You will introduce Nadine to everyone so that she has friends.
No. 4: You will take Nadine anywhere she needs to go.
And it goes on. I felt like I was Nadine's slave. I hated this girl with a passion. I was angry with my mother for moving her out here. She was one of the few from home that I could care less about, and now she was here. In my world.
I hadn't seen her ever since she ran away from my father, he was her pimp too, but she was still the same. Beautiful girl with a small delicate frame and big green eyes. Her brown hair still long and wavy. I assumed she and I were the same age, then again I didn't care. Her attitude was still stuck up and bitchy. I hated her for all the trouble and pain she caused me. Like how she would snitch on me to my father, or steal my clients making him more angry. I had wished back then that she would disappear and when she finally did, boy was I happy! But now she was back, like dandruff, annoying and hard to get rid of.
I drove myself home. There was nothing else to do. But when I pulled up, the driveway was empty, meaning no one was home. I made my way inside.
"Hello?" I called out but got no response. I made my way upstairs to my room and put on a pair of shorts and a tank. I pulled out my phone and sent Sammie a text.
'Wanna go out for drinks?'
She wrote back almost immediately.
'Hell yeah. You read my mind. Meet you at my place at 9.'
It was only 7 so I had more than enough time to get ready. I walked over to my closet and laid out an outfit. A pair of jeans, a black leotard that had a deep v cut down to my navel with a sheer fabric over it, and a pair of black pumps. I went and took a shower, did my hair and makeup and got dressed. Me answering my ringing phone was the worst move I could've made that night.
"Hey mom."
"What are you doing?"
"Getting ready to go out for drinks with Sammie. Why what's up?"
"Oh that's perfect. Nadine is coming along with you."
"No! No, no, no! Come on mom!"
"Don't yell at me. She's going. She'll be ready in 30 minutes." she hung up in my ear. I left to get Sammie.
"So, I'm bringing along a girl I grew up with, is that cool?" I asked Sammie, who applied her second coat of lipgloss.
"Sure. Um, I invited Dustin along. Will's coming too. He wants us to meet them at Will's place."
"Fine. So you and Dustin huh?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
"I mean he's a nice guy. Plus he's so cute. And he's not an ass like his brother."
"Will is not an ass."
"Of course not to you. But to everyone else, he's a gorgeous asshole." she said as I pushed her playfully.
"So, he told me he loved me." I kind of blurted out.
"No way!" she yelled as we arrived at my moms building. I called her and let get know to send the thing downstairs. "This is so great, now you're definitely in there! You've got him wrapped around your finger."
"I can't go through with the plan, Sammie."
"What do you mean you can't?" she asked as Nadine approached the car.
"Don't just stand there, get in." I said as she rolled her eyes and climbed in the back. "Sammie this is Thing. Thing this is Sammie." I said as Sammie slapped my arm.
"Don't pay her any mind, her ass of a boyfriend is rubbing off on her. I'm Sammie."
"I'm Nadine. And I didn't know Jasmine had a boyfriend."
"Yeah. His name's Will. I'm sure you'll meet him in a few. He's just like her though so I'm not really sure if you want to." Sammie joked as I faked a laugh. "Oh Jas, lighten up. The night is young and so are we. I'm definitely gonna get wasted!"
"In that case, maybe you're right." Nadine said. "So Jas, who is he?"
"Shut up and sit back." I ordered as she slyly smiled and rolled her eyes.
"But back to our previous conversation, what do you mean you can't go through with it? Just a week or so ago, everything was fine. Don't tell me your falling for this guy." Sammie spat out so quickly. She barely took a breath.
"He said he loved me."
"Not to butt in, but how long have you two been dating?" Nadine asked doing exactly what she said she wasn't going to do, butt in.
I sighed and decided to stop being a bitch to her. For tonight anyway. I simply answered "A month."
"Wow, you know it doesn't amaze me how simple minded you can be. You certainly haven't changed. You're a fool if you fall for that."
"How so? He's a great guy. So what, it's been a month, I know how much he meant it." I became immediately defensive. "And you haven't even met him yet to know anything about him, so shut up."
"She's right Jas. She has a point. You and I both know him to be a player. Do you really think he'd change so fast? Especially when he's in the middle of a divorce?" Sammie added in. I was becoming very pissed off with both of them and was fighting the urge to drive full speed, open up their car doors and shove them out.
"Wait he's married?" Nadine chimed in. Her voice full of amusement. "He's probably still fucking her!" she laughed.
"Nadine shut the fuck up before I leave you on the side of the road!" I screamed as her laughter gradually came to an end.
"Look, I know we don't get along whatsoever and that either one of us could die and the other would give two shits, but I'm in a helpful and caring mood as j began this journey to change my life. I feel like I'm obligated to be your shoulder to lean on along with Sammie's. And being the new woman I am, I'm trying to give you some very helpful advice love."
"And what's that?" I asked parking the car and turning to face her.
"Let him go. He's using you."
"We're here!" I yelled getting out of the car and storming towards Will's building.
I banged on Will's door as he swung it open immediately.
"Hey babe. What's with the banging?"
"Ugh, you'll see." I said storming in past him and sitting on the couch adjacent to Dustin.
"Uh oh. Something's got your panties in a bunch." Dustin said as I heard the familiar girly voices approaching.
"How dare you just leave us!" Sammie yelled slamming close the door. I just sat there, ignoring her little rant. "Don't be so fucking irrational!"
"Me being irrational?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, you were being irrational!" Nadine's irritating voice yelled out.
"Whatever. I'm through with you two tonight!" I screamed getting up and going into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.
"Well ladies, let's not get into any chick fights tonight." Dustin said as Sammie smiled and giggled. Ugh. She killed me sometimes.
"Oh before I forget, this is Jasmine's friend from home Nadine. Nadine this is Dustin." she introduced as Dustin smiled and gave them both a hug.
"Nice to meet you."
"Can we go please?" I asked as everyone looked at me.
"Yeah. Will come on bro!" Dustin yelled as Will emerged from the back.
"I'm ready." he said standing next to me. He was smiling up until he looked at Dustin, who was standing between the two ladies.
"You okay?" I asked as he swallowed and nodded.
"You sure Boss man? Looks like you saw a ghost." Sammie joked as he grabbed my hand and pulled me along outside. I could sense the tension in him. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I didn't bother questioning him about it because I was done arguing for the night. I just wanted to enjoy myself. I looked around at everyone's face to see if there was anything I would be able to pick up on. Sammie kept stealing glances at Dustin, Dustin just played with the sleeves to his shirt, Will looked at the buttons zoning off about something, and Nadine just had a content look on her face as she smiled to herself. Nothing. That's exactly what I discovered. Absolutely nothing.
When we finally arrived at the club, after a silent cab ride, everyone's mood seemed to lighten up after a drink. Good, I just wanted one night I could relax and let loose. One night for me to be stress free.
"Come on girl! I'm sorry! Dance with me?" Sammie asked pulling me along with her towards the dance floor. I smiled and followed.
After about 3 songs, I looked around for Will and spotted him still over by the bar, but this time it looked like he was arguing with Nadine.
"I'll be right back!" I yelled over the booming music. I separated from her and made my way towards the two.
A/N: Finally I made it to Chapter Twenty! Yaaay! And 4,000 and something reads! When I started writing this story, I never imagine that many! Thanks again! Vote/comment/fan!