Only three chapters left. 😳 please comment!
JxA
That night, Jai, Luke, Frankie and the twins were enjoying their dinner of trout around the campfire while Meredith looked at her plate in disgust. The only fish she ever ate were those that were filleted and this freshly caught slimy fished roasted on an open fire made her sick. She wrapped the provided blanket around her body tighter and clung to her phone.
"This'll hold us for a while." Jai said putting a few more sticks of wood into the bonfire.
"You sure you don't want some trout, Mom? Is that okay, by the way, if we start calling you Mom?" Emmi asked sweetly looking expectantly at Meredith who was busy rubbing insect repellent on her arms.
Frankie almost choked on his fish when he heard that.
"I think your mother would prefer if you called me Meredith and no thank you, I do not eat trout... for the thousandth time. I'll wait until breakfast. What are we having?" she asked with fake enthusiasm.
"Trout..." Jai, Emmi, Avia, Frankie and Luke answered much to the chagrin of Meredith.
"C'mon, its part of the experience." Frankie cajoled and Meredith beamed at him sarcastically as she slapped her leg.
"And what's the other part? Being eaten to death by mosquitoes?" she snapped, "God, you'd actually think they like this stuff!"
"What's that you're using?" Jai asked and put down his plate, "Let me see that." Meredith handed the bottle over to him and he sniffed it before putting some of it on his hand.
"Well you're sure to attract every mosquito on the mountain with this stuff. Its sugar and water." Jai explained with a playful smile as Emmi and Avia shared sly grins. Meredith glared at them and the twins hurriedly ate their trout and pretended that nothing happened.
"That's it! I'm taking one large sleeping pill and going to bed," she announced picking up two sticks before she stood up, as she went to the tent, she started whacking the sticks together and the sound reverberated in the silent night. Jai looked around with a raised eyebrow at her queer behavior. Luke pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't believe this was the woman his brother was marrying.
"Meredith... what're you doing?" he asked.
"I don't want the mountain lions to..." she stopped and turned around just as the twins and guys snorted, "There are no mountain lions up here, are there?" she asked standing to her full height, which didn't really say much, after realizing the joke's on her. Jai tried to hide his amusement as he shook his head smiling.
"No," he mouthed and Meredith put the sticks together in one hand and threw them to the side. Then she approached Jai who was now looking at her worriedly but she planted a luscious kiss on his lips leaving him quite breathless. The twins rolled their eyes and tried not to gag. Frankie heatedly glared at the woman stealing his sisters love while Luke dropped his plate, disgusted, with a mumble of not being hungry anymore.
"Goodnight." Meredith said smugly and sauntered into the tent. After she left, Jai gave a warning look at his daughters who looked back at him innocently.
"Guys, I'm telling you, lay off. This isn't her thing, okay? I'm not marrying her because she's Annie Oakley," he said sternly.
"Who's Annie Oakley?" Avia asked confused.
"Just cool it." Jai said and went back to his trout.
Later that evening, the moon shone brightly over the lake and no sounds where heard except for the distant hooting of the owls and the slight whisper of the wind as it rustles in the quiet. If you listen much harder, you'll hear a zipper softly being pulled down to reveal two girls both identical looking with impish grins on their beautiful faces. Emmi flinched as she unzipped the tent, not wanting to create any noise that would tip any animals or her father off. She looked around to see if the coast was clear and stepped out of their tent. She turned to her sister and signaled to her that the coast was indeed, clear. "C'mon, c'mon!" She whispered as she watched her twin carefully step out of the tent.
"Okay!" Avia whispered back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she followed her sister.
Tiptoeing softly, they reached the tent of their father and his fiancé and just as softly, pulled down the zipper of their tent. The twins looked at the sleeping figure of Meredith Blake. She was stretched out in her air mattress and slept like the dead. They had no trouble of waking her up.
"I hope that one large sleeping pill worked." Avia whispered as she stared at the prone figure, then giggled when Emmi did.
"You take that side." Emmi instructed and Avia nodded as they both held one end of the air mattress. Meredith snored heavily but gave no sign that she knew she was being carried off.
"Oh gosh, she's heavy!" Avia exclaimed in a whisper and thankfully, it didn't tip off either Jai or the still slumbering Meredith.
"She's also like, snoring!" Emmi whispered back making her twin giggle and hip bump her slightly. Suddenly, the blonde moved and for awhile, the twins were frozen on the spot, dropping her down softly and jumping back, sending worried glances to each other.
"Jaidy?" Meredith mumbled incoherently and kicked her leg in the air, then went right back to sleep. Avia looked at her sister, beaming as they both laughed quietly.
The two dragged the air mattress out and onto the edge of the lake where they pushed her off. They watched as the water took her away and Emmi waved to her with a small grin. "Sweet dreams, Mommy dearest." She said mischievously as Meredith drifted away into the night and her sister giggled beside her. Avia put an arm around her sister's shoulder and held her close as they giggled at their latest trick.
JxA
The morning was as peaceful as the evening and Meredith came to terms of being wide awake when she felt a soft pecking on her neck. She smiled thinking it was Jai giving her a good morning kiss.
"Mmm, that feels nice," she murmured.
She smiled and enjoyed the sensation for a moment before realizing that it wasn't a pair of lips that were attacking her neck. It felt more like a pencil stabbing her to death and she hurriedly opened her eyes to see a bird resting on her chest pecking away at her neck.
She started to scream a very shrill scream as she frantically waved her hands in front of her and the terrified bird flew off. Meredith sat up and looked around at her surroundings then realized in horror that she was on water in the middle of the lake and this made her screams more high-pitched than ever. Her mouth started to form words as the one person who could save her entered her mind.
"JAAAAIIIIDDDDYYYYYYYY!!!"
The birds in the trees all took off in flight and if the animals could talk, they'd swear that it was heard for many miles around. Even the mountain lions had a say in it. Avia's eyes popped open at the loud scream outside their tent and sat up immediately. She brushed her hair out of her face and peeked out of the unzipped part of the tent, seeing Meredith trying to balance herself on the air mattress and beamed. She looked to her side and saw her sister laying flat on her stomach, her hair covering some of her face, with her Cuppy practically molded into her side. Avia shook her awake so she wouldn't miss anything.
Emmi woke up, muttered an unrecognizable grumble-noise and slammed her head back on the pillow.
Avia rolled her eyes, shaking her again. "Emmi! Meredith woke up! She's screaming on her bed right now!"
Now that got Emmi's attention. She bolted up and hurriedly crawled over to the tents zipped door and unzipped the window, motioning her sister to join her as she watched Meredith scream her head off. "Get over here, this is pure gold!" Emmi laughed, placing a hand over her mouth to stifle it.
Avia laughed along with her sister as she made herself comfortable next to her twin.
Jai was sleeping peacefully until he heard that shrill scream that was his name. He groaned and sat up then his mind registered that Meredith wasn't beside him and that she may be in trouble. He hurriedly looked out of his tent only to see his fiancé standing over her air mattress and attempting to balance herself and thrashing wildly when all of a sudden, she fell backwards into the water with a loud splash.
"Oh man..." he muttered.
Glancing at his daughter's tent, he saw their amused faces before they noticed him and turned grave. At that moment, he could see Ariana; her scheming ways, her clever ruses and her wicked sense of humor. Meredith stormed over to him, dripping wet and angry. She kicked a coffee pot out of the way as Jai got out of the tent to face her.
Luke and Frankie were also watching in amusement from their own tent, not bothering to hide their laughter.
"What's going on?" Jai asked and Meredith's eyes popped madly.
"Here's what's going on... buddy! The day we get married is the day I ship those brats off to Switzerland. Get the picture? It's me or them. Take your pick," she snarled into his face. The moment she said those words, Jai had an instant epiphany as he glanced at his daughters: Ariana was better. Looking into Meredith's cold and angry eyes, it made his heart ache for Ariana's warm and loving ones - and he realized that he wanted to be with her, now more than ever.
"Them," he answered the fuming Meredith.
Avia's jaw dropped, stunned their plan actually worked. Well, half their plan. They had managed to get rid of Cruella, but still had not managed to get their parents back together. She looked at Emmi, who was smiling smugly. She tore her gaze off her twin and looked back to her father and now ex-fiancé.
"Excuse me?" Meredith snapped, not believing this at all.
"T-H-E-M - them," he leaned in with a smirk, "Get the picture?" he asked. Meredith, in her sheer frustration and anger only managed another shrill scream as she stomped her foot in aggravation and felt her face tense up and lock into another horrid look as the twins laughed and high-fived, much like their uncles in the next tent over.
JxA
Ariana was reading her favorite magazine when she heard a jeep beeping in the distance. Realizing it must be Jai, she hurriedly went out and sure enough, there was the jeep, her daughters, Luke and Frankie, and no Meredith.
"Hey, you're back so soon?" she called out, "Did you have fun?"
"Well, I wouldn't go right to...fun." Emmi answered her as she started to get her bag.
"You wouldn't?" Ariana asked curiously as she watched them unload the jeep.
"We've been punished to the end of the century." Avia answered.
"Starting now... Go." Jai said much to the shock of Ariana and she watched as a snickering Frankie and Luke walked up the steps and entered the house.
"Where's Meredith?" she asked although she had a feeling that she knew.
"We played a couple of harmless tricks on her and she kinda freaked out a little." Emmi explained nonchalantly as she came up the steps and stood by her mother who ran her fingers through her hair, making her smile up at her.
"A little?" Jai blurted and held up a ring at Ariana's face, "She threw this at my head. At least it's smaller than a hairdryer."
Ariana smirked, "Boy, your head does catch a lot of things. Especially with scorned women," she quipped and Jai gave her a sarcastic laugh.
"Oh Jai, this is all my fault, if I hadn't suggested that she go..." Ariana started, blushing.
"Or tricked. Tricked would be more like it. Like mother like daughters," he said with a smile, raising his eyebrows as he looked at his twins.
"I really am sorry." Ariana said with an innocent look and a pretty smile.
"We are too, Dad." Avia added and her sister nodded.
"Yeah, really." Emmi said sincerely.
"Up to your room...now." Jai said sternly and looked pointedly at his daughters who glumly went inside the house.
Ariana quickly patted both their rears on their way inside but then turned back to Jai at the sound of his voice.
"I gotta remember to thank them one day," he said when they were out of earshot. Ariana gave him a curious look then a smile.
"So where's Miley? I'm starving." Jai said and cockily leaned on the railing.
"Well, she and my brother went off for a picnic around noon... yesterday." Ariana explained imitating his position on the railing.
"And I thought she wasn't your help?" she asked.
"She isn't - you know I can't cook." Jai said with that cute boyish grin that made his eyes twinkle, "But what do you say? I'll whip us up something to eat." Even though they weren't together anymore, Jai couldn't help but think about how gorgeous she looked in the sunlight. How the sun reflected off her chestnut hair and how her brown eyes twinkled with excitement.
"I thought you said you can't cook?" Ariana asked pointedly with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, but I can do simple meals. Like pasta... and pasta... and uh..."
"Hmm... pasta sounds good."
"Pasta it is!"
Ariana giggled as she followed Jai into the kitchen.