“Honey, that fish is already dead. Why are you trying to kill it again?” Charlotte Jenson asked me with a worried frown on her face.
We were all seated at the dinner table. It was a day after that stupid prank Ethan pulled on me and my anger still knew no bounds. My blood was still boiling.
I hadn’t realized what exactly I was doing to the fish as I was more busy imagining Ethan as that fish and doing what I wanted to do with him, stab him to death.
Ethan shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the dinner table, right in front of mine. I was pleased with myself to at least get him to feel a little uncomfortable in my presence.
“Sorry,” I said quietly and grimaced down at the fish on my plate. In the process of stabbing it over and over again I had also gouged it’s eye out. I would’ve been very happy if it was Ethan in its place and not that poor fish.
I glared at Ethan again who was now watching my plate with his lips slightly parted and nose scrunched up in disgust. I changed my fork as the fish’s eye was stuck between it.
“Ethan, did you do something to Juliet? Why is she glaring at you like that? Did you two fight?” Mrs. Jenson asked.
I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
“Uh, it’s nothing. We didn’t fight. And I didn’t do anything to her,” he said and cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with me.
“Oh, really?” I muttered but was loud enough to be heard by everyone at the dinner table.
Olivia paid us no attention, probably used to our silly pranks and bickering by now.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Jenson. Everything’s fine,” Ethan tried to reassure her.
The rest of my time at the dinner table was spent in glaring at Ethan, hoping I’d get a superpower somehow which would enable me to bury him alive a thousand feet under with my eyes so that he could never resurface.
Unfortunately, it didn’t happen no matter how much I tried.
***
The next day, I found a young lady waiting in the living room. I was just passing by when I saw her propped on the couch with a phone in her hand, tapping away on it with her perfectly long manicured nails. She was wearing a nice white shirt and high waisted black jeans with black heels. Her long brown wavy hair with blonde highlights were left loose on her back. She had beautiful grey eyes. She looked really pretty and friendly.
I slowly approached her, unsure about who she was.
Sensing my presence, she looked up. The moment she did, her eyes widened and her mouth hung open. I immediately regretted approaching her.
“Um, how may I help you?”
She frowned at me before answering. “I’m waiting for Ethan. He told me he’ll be downstairs in a minute or two. Are you really…,” she hesitated, “… Juliet?”
“Of course I am,” I said hesitantly, flipping my hair back. What if she went and blabbered to the paparazzi about me?
Her eyes widened. “Juliet? As in Juliet Jenson? The lost and found daughter? My best friend?!”
Crap.
“How do you know? Mom said that no one except family knew.” Then it hit me.? She? must? be? family.
She looked hurt but quickly recovered. “Well, I’m kind of family, aren’t I? Our families not only share a professional bond, but a personal one as well. After all, my brother married your sister Rachael.” She said.
Oh.? She? was? Robert? Ainsley’s? sister.
“Do you even remember me, Juliet? I’m your best friend, Heather! How can you forget me?”
Heather.? Ethan’s? date? that? day?
I remembered Ethan mentioning a Heather who he had a date with. What does she even see in him? Doesn’t she see the monster in him? She must be really na? ve to not have caught on to his demonic self.
“I didn’t forget you, Heather. Uh, I was just surprised to see you here.”
There was an awkward silence between us with Heather surveying me from head to toe.
Then she smiled a sugary sweet smile at me. “We need to hang out.”
I cleared my throat. “Of course we do.”
We heard footsteps behind us and we turned at the same time to see Ethan who was busy putting on his watch. “Sorry for keeping you waiting, Heather. I woke up late.” Then he looked up at us.
“It’s not a problem at all. I finally met Juliet.” For some reason there was malice in her voice.
He cleared his throat, suddenly appearing uncomfortable. “So shall we leave?”
“Of course,” Heather replied and turned to me. “Hey Juliet, I hope you don’t mind me seeing Ethan, do you? I know you kind of hated him since forever but I’ll explain everything to you later.”
“Okay,” I said, shrugging because I really didn’t care if she dated Ethan.
“We’ll hang out soon.” She said sternly, her face blank and I was taken aback by her change in tone. It sounded like a warning.
“Y-yeah.” I stuttered which made me facepalm myself internally. The Juliet they knew wouldn’t stutter at all!
She gave me a satisfied smirk before waving goodbye at me.
I bid her goodbye, ignoring Ethan as he walked past me with her. I watched them leave. Just as they were about to disappear from my sight, Heather reached up and whispered something in his ear.
They held hands and he immediately pulled her close before they disappeared.
I rolled my eyes. Poor Heather.
***
“Mom,” I started casually at lunch. “Do you remember Heather?”? That? was? such a? stupid? question, I later realized.
“Of course, dear. She’s a lovely girl, apart from being your best friend.”
“So you told her that I returned?”
“Why wouldn’t I? She’s the only true friend you have. And she’s family so of course she would know.”
“Oh, um… what is our relation with them… you know, professionally?”
“Well, your dad had many business collaborations with Heather’s father. And they were a huge success. We all are really close. Her mother is my best friend. Her father is Alistair’s best friend. But what an odd question to ask. You already know this.”
“Two years did that to me.” I smiled nervously. “Is she like… dating anyone?”
Charlotte scrunched up her eyebrows. “I think so. I’ve seen a couple of news articles about her and Ethan but they might be wrong. They might just be friends, I don’t know. I try to keep out of their personal lives as long as they are… you know, careful and responsible and no one gets hurt because of some sort of agreement between them for some temporary fling for pleasure.”
“Oh my God, are you insinuating they are friends with benefits?” I asked, now having stopped eating.
“I really don’t know, Juliet. At least that’s what I read in one of the articles. It seems like these kind of agreements are common among you young people these days.”
“But not everything that the paparazzi dishes out is true, right?”
“Of course it’s not. But some are. So I just stay out of all of this. But if I sense something, like a toxic relationship which might harm our relations with our family or friends, then I step in. But Ethan and Heather look lovely together and I think they are pretty serious about each other. Her mother would be so happy. She really likes Ethan. She along with all of us were very worried about Heather. She’s your best friend so you know, right? She was a wild and adventurous girl a few years back, much like you. A heartbreaker and a big playgirl in her high school. She never settled for a long term relationship and had various flings. Her mother was afraid she would never settle down for one boy, and the things that the paparazzi were writing about her made it hard for her to believe which were true and which weren’t.”
“So… she changed?”
“Yes, she changed for good. Sadly, you weren’t there to witness it.”
“I bet Ethan changed her or something.”
Charlotte let out a soft chuckle. “No, that girl never gets influenced by anyone. She changed herself when her mother warned her that if she doesn’t stop her scandalous ways, she would marry her off in an arranged marriage. That pretty much did the trick.”
“So, her mother wasn’t actually serious, was she? She just did that to stop her.”
“No, she was serious about marrying her off. Heather rebelled a lot and ran off to somewhere. Later, she was found in their old vacation home. Seeing that her mother was dead serious, she changed her ways and promised her that she would get a boyfriend that she would actually be serious about, and now she’s with Ethan. I think. Knowing about her old ways, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were only friends with benefits.”
I nodded. “She seems like a really innocent, sweet girl now. Nothing like what she was before.”
“Well, that was the old Heather. She convinced us all that this is a new her. Now she attends all family functions, there are no more news of any of her affairs and mostly the articles are just about her and Ethan’s fairytale love story. You missed that one year of complete transformation of Heather.”
“Oh, great. Except that Ethan’s no prince charming.”
“Look, honey. I know you didn’t like him from the very beginning but you guys have grown up. You’re no longer kids. You are mature and responsible adults. So maybe you should give him a chance. He’s not as bad as you make him out to be. He’s a fine man. Very smart, very intelligent and very handsome. He had always been an ideal child and there wasn’t even once any news of him being a playboy. You two might actually be good friends. Just get to know him. I know he might be cold sometimes but you can blame that on his profession. Businessmen are required to be emotionless and professional. That’s what makes a good businessman. Just try and you’ll see just how amazing a person he is.” I could see it in her eyes that she really believed it. I agreed. Maybe he wasn’t all that bad. I knew for a fact that people have different version of a person in their head and often two versions can be quite opposite.
“Do I really have to?” I said sulkily.
“Please, for me?” She asked.
“Okay, whatever,” I said, not really meaning to try and get to know him.
She smiled at me and we continued with our lunch.