recap bc this writer decided to go on a five month vacay: Theo and Cora accidentally get married. They go over back to Peyton's (Lana's sister) to get some answers, Theo and Peyton have a weird conversation in the middle of the night that Cora overhears. They meet with the guy who married them, Cupid aka Alex Sherwood. Theo storms out. Back to the present, Noel, the antagonist of the story, is gay and likes Theo, so he threatens to tell Theo about why Cora and Ben (Cora's ex-boyfriend) broke up, because apparently it's a very, very interesting reason.
***
Noel was an idiot. Yeah, I said it. Noel was a piece of shit.
I calmed myself down enough to gather in my cool and keep it, because we all knew that I was two seconds away from just ripping his throat out from his body and eating it with my bare hands. Okay, sorry, that was gross. But that’s how I felt.
I squinted my eyes into deep slips as I faced his stare straight on, no emotions attached in my eyes, even though all I wanted to do was cry. In a flash, I was up in his face.
“You think that Theo doesn’t already know?” I snarled. Mentally, I patted myself on the back, because I’d say that was a pretty good bluff. Theo didn’t know jack shit. And I intended to keep it that way.
Noel flinched, and I caught it, a smirk about to form on my lips, but I didn’t want to slip. I also didn’t want the ring to accidentally slip either. He cleared his throat and resumed his position. “Well, well, Cora wants to play now. Prove it.”
Damn, his comeback game was too strong.
“Bring it,” I retorted.
***
The ring felt heavy on my finger. For some reason, I never noticed it was missing before. Noel had the “decency” to boast about how he came about to having my ring. Apparently I am an idiot and have the memory of a two year old. Leaving it on the bathroom sink in the girls’ bathroom, one of Noel’s side bitches found it and gave it to him.
First of all, I should just be punished personally for forgetting it, but secondly, the fact that Noel has freshmen girls doing his dirty work is pretty sad too.
So technically this whole thing was indirectly my fault.
I was mowing down the front rug in my house as I paced, impatiently waiting for Theo to show up. My head almost fell off my body when the doorbell rang. I swear I was going to die from an early onset of a heart attack from all the drama I seem to attract.
Taking my sweet time to walk towards the door, I prayed to the heavens that I would keep my cool and wouldn’t just burst into chaos right in front of Theo. Opening the door, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional toll his appearance would make on me. I may or may not have stood there for a full five minutes, dumbstruck at how...incredible he looked, standing there on my doorstep.
He was dressed in a plain black suit fitted against him, a solid black dress shirt with the first few buttons loosened, and his hair looking like it lost the battle with hair gel. Theo looked good enough to eat.
Speechless was an understatement. When I didn’t say anything, my bitch face still on from thinking about Noel, Theo seemed to notice. He slipped his hands out of his pocket and warily stretched them out to me.
“What’s wrong? Should I have worn a tie? Dammit, I knew it. I can go back and put one on. I just thought it wasn’t really my style, you know,” he rushed. He was very, very adorable when he was nervous and the fact that it was me making him nervous was the cherry on top.
Snapping out of it, I forced a big smile on my face. It was genuine though. “No,” I breathed. “You look incredible.”
He sighed in relief, dropping his hands down. “Oh my god, I’m losing it.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, you and me both,” I muttered.
He cleared his throat and stuffed his hands back into his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. Thank goodness that no one could read my mind, because it was dirtier than the gutters right now. My thoughts would make a nun blush. “Let’s start over,” he laughed.
He began walking away from me and out the door, closing it on his way. Two seconds later, there was a sharp rap on the door and I smiled.
Opening the door, I was just as, if not, more floored by how Theo looked. “Hello,” I murmured.
“Hello,” he repeated. Grinning, he stepped back into the house as I moved to let him do so, our arms brushing slightly, sending tingles. I closed the door back. “May I say you look extra spicy tonight, Cora.”
Blushing, I rolled my eyes and took a hand to brush off the nonexistent dust off the shoulder of his suit jacket. Despite my nervousness and Noel beating my ass about my past, I couldn’t help but to feel alright around Theo. He made me feel safe and a way no one has before. He felt like home.
“I didn’t know a punk rock kid could clean up so nicely,” I played along. “Not half bad, Theo.”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s go do some matchmaking,” I said.
***
The Carmel Room was the fanciest restaurant I’ve ever been to. There was a valet service and people who escorted you to the entrance and waiters handing you champagne as you wait to be seated. It was awesome. And it was even more awesome since I wasn’t paying. Free food is the best kind of food.
Theo kept near me as we hovered in the crowded waiting area of the restaurant, a hand always on my back. We were waiting for Nina to show up with her mystery boyfriend. James texted us saying that he and Lana were already sitting in their reserved table and that our table was ready whenever we were. Lana texted me separately saying that she was having a foodgasm in her mouth, which made my mouth water. They were supposed to only be past appetizers before we sat down, so it looked like they were there not coincidentally before us.
There was one sip left of my bubbly before a sleek silver car pulled up to the valet service. A dainty heeled foot popped out of the passenger side of the car before a massive mane of blonde curls followed. No doubt everyone turned to look as Nina Peters stepped out of the car. Heck, I was staring.
“She makes quite the entrance,” Theo commented.
She waited as her boyfriend stepped out of the car with her. I just wanted to point out that we were watching them get out of a car like it was an Oscar worthy movie. Just saying. He shut the door and buttoned his suit jacket as he rounded the car to stand next to her. All the guys groaned as she looped her arm into his and they walked towards us.
As they closer, so did Nina’s boyfriend’s face.
First it was Theo whose hand tensed against my back, then it was me as I gasped, my face morphing into complete and utter shock. Together, the two of us stared at Nina’s boyfriend like he was an angel that dropped out of the sky.
It took us a moment to realize that they were finally standing in front of us, smiling.
When our eyes registered back to normal, we saw that her boyfriend held the same shocked expression, but his was more of a fearful shock than our genuine shock.
“Hi Theo, Hi Cora,” Nina said, her smile warm and inviting.
“Hi Nina,” I managed to choke out as I gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek. Theo did the same.
She turned over to the tall blue eyed blonde haired hipster kind of looking guy next to her. “Guys, this is my boyfriend, Alex. Alex Sherwood.”
We introduced ourselves like we didn’t know each other.
“Um, I forgot something in the car,” I announced randomly to them. “Sorry, I really need it. Theo, can you come with me?” I asked, batting my eyelashes.
“Yeah, of course. We’ll be right back,” Theo said. I was happy we were on the same page.
We half ran half walked towards the valet service and asked if they could escort us to the car instead. One thing good about fancy places is that they always oblige to your requests. When we got to the car, we completely ignored the valet as Theo immediately flipped out his cellphone, speed dialing James.
“Hello? Where are you guys?” James voice rang out through the speakerphone.
“WE HAVE A HUMONGOUS PROBLEM,” I started off.
There was apparent and appropriate groaning on the other end of the line.
“Why am I not surprised?” James responded. “What is it?”
“Nina’s boyfriend is Alex Sherwood,” I said. “I repeat, Nina’ boyfriend is Alex Sherwood.”
“Is that name supposed to me mean something to me?”
Theo grabbed the phone back from me. “It’s fucking cupid, dumbass. The guy who married Cora and I.” In a different tone, one that sounded more than urgent, as if James really, really knew who Alex was, Theo emphasized his name to James. “Alex Sherwood. Remember?”
“Oh shit.”
“Yeah, oh shit,” I said, ignoring the feeling in my stomach that there was more to this Alex guy than just him being cupid.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Did you guys pretend to not know each other?” James asked.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t easy since the three of us looked like we were meeting the queen of England for the first time,” Theo said. “I’m sure Nina noticed something. Hell, he might even be telling her how he knows us.”
James snorted. “Please. That’s the last thing he wants to do.”
“You’re right,” Theo replied.
“What do you guys mean?” I asked, thoroughly confused at this point.
“It’s okay. We’re still going through with the plan. We got this far, you guys are not bailing on me now,” James demanded, completely ignoring my question. “Now, walk your little butts back to them and come sit next to us, because Lana is in the process of eating not only her appetizers but mine.”
We hung up and gave the valet guy a small smile before going into the car to pretend to get something. As we approached Nina and Alex, they looked as if they were in a middle of a tiny argument. It didn’t surprise me since Nina did say their relationship was fake. They stopped when we came to a halt next to them.
“Forgot my lipstick,” I giggled, waving my tube of lipstick in the air. “Always gotta keep these puppies moist just in case, if yah know what I mean.” My wink was exaggerated and definitely awkward, but it got the message across. Theo let out a curt, nervous laugh.
“Are you guys ready for a magical dinner?” Theo asked.
We all nodded. He extended the crook of his elbow for me, which I graciously took before heading up to the lobby of the restaurant. The hostess smiled and asked us to follow her to our reserved table. For some reason, I was super sweaty about the whole situation. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to act when we saw Lana and James just casually sitting there waiting for us.
Should’ve done the rehearsal for this.
Theo and I led the way for Nina and Alex through the fancy restaurant, which was packed to the max tonight. We saw all sorts of people dressed to the nines enjoying their food. I immediately spotted the fire engine red fabric of Lana’s dress approaching us quickly, and if my eyes were not mistaken, I could definitely see Lana and James going at a mini argument. Typical.
Two more steps and we would be in front of them.
And we have arrived.
“Okay, here’s your table. If you have any questions, your server will be Tucker. Enjoy your meal,” the hostess politely introduced. She stood there for half a second, waiting for us to sit down, which none of us were doing.
Theo was the first to react. “James? Lana? Fancy seeing you guys here.”
If you could see “awkward,” it would be right now.
My turn. “Oh my gosh. Are you guys on a date?” I tried to sound genuinely surprised.
Obviously Theo and I were masters at nonchalance as you can tell.
James face scowled so fast before flashing to his usual charming face, signaling that my question was a wrong question to ask. Well, sorry for not taking improv acting classes at our high school. Lana looked like she wanted to just burst into laughter and reveal our whole plan at any second. Her face was turning redder than her dress.
She managed to compose herself to answer. “Yeah, you know. Who knew James was such a romantic? Not me, that’s for sure. He’s like the last person I think of when I think romance...” She halted, a bump in her sentence, and I assumed James kicked her from underneath the table. She grimaced a smile. “But he is! He’s so sweet. I mean, yeah, this might look weird, but trust me, it’s not.”
Lana made a huge show of it, thrusting her hand across the table to hold James’. He looked as if he wanted to swat her hand like it was a pesky mosquito, but he kept his cool. Props to him.
Nina finally broke her silence. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think that you guys planned this.” She sounded lethally furious in her undertone.
“This is the last thing on my mind to plan, trust me,” Theo quipped. “It’s Cora and I’s six months anniversary and I assure you that the combination of James and Lana is not how I planned to spend it, but now that there here, why not.”
“Yeah, but I guess they just couldn’t keep away from us,” I chimed in.
Lana cheekily said, “Wow, aren’t our friends great!”
Nina looked unassured, but she nodded as if she figured something out in her mind. “Well, this is my amazing boyfriend, Alex Sherwood. Alex these are my friends also, Lana and James.”
Oh, ho, ho. Looks like the game was on.
“Uh, excuse me, would you be able to combine these two tables?” Theo asked a server.
***
I mean, you could say the dinner was awkward, but that would be the understatement of the century. In the midst of the tension that was swirling around the three couples, I can honestly say that I was distracted enough by three things to not really care about the situation. One, the food was honest to God, so good I wish I could take a lifetime supply of leftovers home. Two, my phone buzzed so often from Noel’s incessant threats that my chair was about to become an electric shock chair and buzz me to death. Three, Theo’s little cute and random touching did not help my fluttering heart.
So besides my best friend failing at trying to get the girl of his dreams through this terrible idea, I was half enjoying the night.
“So Alex,” Lana said. I stiffened at her directed referral. “What do you do?”
He cleared his throat. “Uh, I just graduated from college. I’m just trying to find a job.”
Lana wiggled her eyebrows. “Older guys, huh, Nina? I see you, girl.”
Nina was not phased or amused in anyway as she rolled her eyes.
“What college?” I piped in.
“Davenport.”
Lana let out a surprised noise. “Really? That’s where my sister graduated from too! This year, actually. Do you know her? Peyton Johnson.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Uh, yeah, I do actually. She used to go out with my roommate.”
“Miguel,” they said at the same time.
“Wow, what a small world,” Theo said, staring straight at Alex with an unreadable look.
“Yeah, very small indeed,” he muttered, stabbing a piece of meat on his plate.
“Were you and Peyton close?” James interjected.
Alex looked uncomfortable as he squirmed in his chair. “I saw her a lot, because of Miguel, but we weren’t going to Starbucks every Saturday, just because.”
Nina looked bored, understandably, of course. She looked as if she couldn’t give two fucks about what was going on, so I had to change that. “So how’d you and Alex meet?” I asked politely.
“Oh, at this party that my parents were hosting. You know, Alex’s dad is the CEO of Sherwood Suites,” Nina began gushing. You can definitely see her trying to hand it to James, but I couldn’t really blame her. Anyone with two eyes could tell that this was a set up. “Yeah, he just came right up to me and asked me to dance! He is such a gentleman, and that’s a first.” She stared directly at James.
It really bugged me that two people who are so meant to be together, Nina and James that is, aren’t seizing the opportunity to do so. Instead, they play games with each other. I guess I couldn’t really say anything since I was currently aiding in one of the twisted games that they were playing with each other, but still, how scary is it to think that you know who is the one for you, yet you guys never take the chance?
James and Nina had a mini stare down as we sat there with noodles hanging from our mouths waiting to see who would crack first. Neither did, because Tucker came just in the nick of time to refill our waters. On a sidenote, I would just like to point out how the water literally tasted like a waterfall, crisp and clean.
“How are we all doing?” Tucker asked as he filled our glasses, completely oblivious to the drama that was happening at our table.
“Just peachy,” Lana commented sassily, taking a sip of her filled water glass.
“Great! If you guys need anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask,” he said before disappearing back into the depths of the restaurant.
“What a nice guy,” Lana turned to us and said. I could tell she was a hundred and ten percent over with this dinner.
***
Us girls were taking a pee break, the ones where we went to the bathroom in a pack and didn’t really do anything that is relevant to the bathroom. Basically, we went to the bathroom to gossip and reapply lipgloss. Lana suggested it in the middle of our dessert, for some unholy reason. I was not ready to give up my full committed relationship to the heavenly cheesecake I was having a moment with. It only ever occurred to me that Lana would have stabbed the stiletto of her heel into my eye and probably enlist Nina’s heel into my other eye if I rejected her when she decided to murder my unfinished cheesecake with her fork.
So here we were standing in front of this pristine mirror, which by the way, I don’t know if they enhanced it with like magnification powers, because I could definitely see all my facial flaws very clearly. Anyways, the bathroom was nicer than my whole house combined. There was marble flooring and marble counters and marble sinks and probably marble toilets. If I had to guess, they took the time to embroider the towels with gold thread they laid out for us to wipe our hands. I mean, there was a freaking couch in the bathroom. When there’s a couch in the same vicinity of toilets, you that place is fancy.
Nina was concentrating on making sure her red lipstick didn’t go out of line. We were waiting any second now for her to unload on us. “James is going to get some tonight,” she announced.
I almost fell into the toilet when I heard that.
Lana choked. “What?”
Nina smacked her lips as she capped her tube of lipstick before popping it back into her purse. She smiled, her teeth glistening against her red lips. “Yeah, you guys heard me. James, ugh, he’s so sweet. I can’t believe he did all this to impress me.”
Lana and I gave each other secret looks as we tried to figure out what she was on about.
Clearing my throat, I crossed my arms, deciding to just get straight to the point. “Are you messing with us?”
Nina shook her head and laughed. “No. I’m serious. I think that James is a fucking asshole sometimes, but he’s my asshole. He’s my favorite asshole.”
Lana nudged me at my side and giggled. “I think she means she’s his favorite asshole.” She winked and laughed.
Nina groaned, but the glow on her face didn’t fade as she collapsed onto the couch. “But thank you guys for doing this. You guys are really great friends to him. And Cora, I can’t believe you faked so well with Theo just for me and James. If I didn’t know that you guys were all pretending for the sake of your best friend’s love life, I would definitely think you and Theo got a lil something, something going on.”
My mouth was set into a thin line of sarcasm as I said, “Yeah, it was a toughie.”
Lana took a seat next to Nina and gently grabbed her hand to hold it. “Listen Nina, Cora and I, we are so, so, so happy that you and James are like a thing. I mean, you must have some pretty tough balls to even be attracted to him, but that’s besides the point.”
I decided to sit on the other side of Nina as I understood where Lana was going with this. “And Nina, you must know that James is like our brother.”
Lana nodded before continuing. “We just want to make sure that you’re not going to hurt him, because we know what you said about him earlier, how you can’t be a real relationship with him, because of your dad.”
To be honest, if two girls suddenly decided to give me an intervention in the middle of a bathroom, I would’ve straight flushed them down the toilet and walk out of there, but Nina was a warrior princess who didn’t take bullshit. She nodded.
“That’s very nice of you guys to do. But you guys need to not worry. I am going out there right now to break up with Alex, who by the way is just eye candy.”
We all laughed and gave each other a three way hug. I mean, for being related to a complete psychopath, Nina was a cool gal. I could definitely envision us going shopping or something like that.
“Do you guys want to watch me make a boy cry?” Nina joked as she got up, smoothing down her dress.
“Hell yes,” Lana answered. “That is what I live for.”
“Me too,” I said. “But I actually have to go pee first, so I’ll meet you guys out at the table.”
***
The soap in the bathroom smelled so nice, I wish I could smuggle some out to use at home. After I dried my hands, I did another quick makeup check before I went out the door. As it swung open, I saw Theo and Alex standing in the hallway between the bathrooms, engrossed in a deep argument.
“Are you fucking insane?” I heard Theo say. “I knew there was something familiar about you when I saw you at the church.”
“This isn’t a one sided problem, last time I recalled,” Alex retorted with just as much fire. “You are fucking crazy. Oh, and let me guess. Peyton was the one who drove us to the church. You’re the one who got us into this marriage and mess. I can report you to the police,” Theo argued.
Police? What the hell was going on here?
“Oh yeah? And rat out Peyton? You know you couldn’t do that.”
“What you’re doing to Peyton is wrong, having her wrapped around your finger and at your beck and call. Why don’t you just drop it? James and I will step in. Don’t think that we haven’t been keeping tabs on you since that night.”
“Oh? That’s why you got so drunk that you came into the church and got married? Listen buddy, I am a Sherwood. I got connections, and you have nothing on me.”
“I’m not scared of you.”
“Oh yeah? What if I let the whole world know that you fucked a prostitute?”
I suddenly found my voice, even though it was small and curious. “Theo?”
The two of them turned towards my voice, but only one of them looked surprised to see me standing there. I guess both Theo and I were full of secrets.
author's note, did yah miss me?:
I AM SO SORRY GUYS PLEASE FORGIVE MEEEEE.
Okay, ahaha, now that we got that out of the way. I want to announce the winner of my giveaway, @HoranDaWorldMe (private message me so I can get details to send you the prize!)
Not much else to say, but hope you guys liked the chapter. I still have bad writer's block, but hopefully your comments will encourage me, so don't forget to talk to me below! I LOVE LOVE reading your guys' thoughts <3
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