Mia
I was nervous, biting my lips as I stood before the mirror. I shouldn’t have agreed to the party. I shouldn’t have let them persuade me. Well, technically, they didn’t persuade me. I was the one who had fallen for the hopeful expressions on their faces.
I was beginning to regret accepting to go to the party. What was I thinking? I should have said no to them, without bothering about anything else. I was getting nice and I wondered if I should be worried about that.
I didn’t want to be nice to the boys but knowing that they had helped twice within two days that they came back from their mission was making that impossible.
They had saved my life when the crazy sorceress was trying to kill me and also driven me to school when they didn’t have to.
I didn’t want to say it was from the goodness of their hearts that they had done it but I was grateful for their good deeds regardless.
Their appearance had done a lot for me, helped me in so many ways that I wouldn’t have experienced if it was the driver who had brought me here.
At that moment, I didn’t know that or I wouldn’t have scowled all through the ride here. At first it had been annoying but later on, I had gotten used to it, making best of the situation for my own good.
There was a day that I was carrying a heavy box of files and one of the female employees offered to help me with it. Normally, they wouldn’t have bothered. I had expressed my gratitude that day but it wasn’t until it was starting to look like a norm that I felt concerned about what was going on.
I didn’t think people were that nice especially when they hadn’t been doing it before and suddenly changed. These were people who had known me for the past few months and always minded their business.
Suddenly, they became nice to me. I would be a fool to not wonder what had happened to them. Was there something in the water that we were all drinking but it didn’t affect me?
I had been surprised when Michelle, who had never spoken to me since we all got employed six months ago, greeted me. She greeted me warmly as if I was her long-lost friend that she was happy to be reunited with. I had been confused and wondered what happened to her all through the day.
I had almost run away when her two friends saw me the next day and smiled at me. I was nervous at their sudden change in character and didn’t think I could be any more surprised until they beckoned to me to join them at their table for lunch that day.
I had felt weird and told Sasha that. She was the one who told me that they were being nice to me because they hoped to use me to get closer to my brothers. I snorted at that. If only they knew better, they wouldn’t have stressed themselves trying to suck up to me.
And oh, they were great suckers.
It wasn’t even high school so I didn’t understand why they were behaving as that. I had always thought that they were silly for running a girl clique at their age. Even though they had attended the same high school and college, they didn’t have to be stuck up in the past of when they were still the popular girls and most liked clique in school.
I shook my head at the thought of them. Some people really needed to grow up from the past and let it go.
I scowled and zoomed back to the present, focusing on my reflection when I realized that I was also affected by the words I had just thought of.
I was like a pot calling the kettle black. I had also refused to grow up, not letting go of the past and punishing the triplets for their past deeds despite how hard they were trying to show me that they had changed.
I was stuck in the past that I was letting it blindfold me to see the reality of the present. I was just like the girls that I was judging. The thought didn’t feel comfortable to me and I snapped out of them, focusing on the wardrobe problems that I had at the moment.
I was nervous about going out with the boys again and it was impairing my ability to make decisions about what to wear.
I glanced at the five different gowns that I had spread out on my bed and frowned, stroking my chin as I wondered what I was to wear.
I believed that the biggest dilemma of a girl was what to wear out of the many pretty clothes that she had.
Sasha sat on her bed, leaning back with her hands behind her. She chuckled as she stared at me. “Are you ever going to dress up at all?”
I threw up my hands in exasperation and let out a sigh as I stared at her. “I don’t know.”
A knock sounded on the door and Sasha moved to the door. She came back two seconds later, her eyes twinkling as she walked back to her bed.
“Your brother is here.”
What! I gasped, rushing to check the time on my phone while Sasha mocked me. I still had time. He wasn’t meant to be here yet.
I groaned as I realized that he was on time and I was the one who was late, wasting time on what I ought to wear. I was glad that I had done my hair and make-up. I just had to get dressed, if only I could make up my mind on what to wear.
“I will go with the red gown.” I finally decided, talking to myself.
“Good.” Sasha said. “It suits you better.”
“You could have talked.”
She snorted. “You didn’t ask me. You were only watching and wondering what you want to wear, all to yourself.”
I snorted at her. “You bad girl, you could have saved me a lot of troubles if you have spoken up.”
She chuckled. “You silly girl. You should have picked just one dress from the wardrobe instead of five and confusing yourself.”
“Because I didn’t know what to wear.”
She chuckled. “If you insist. Dress up on time and don’t keep the fine gentleman waiting.”
Fine gentleman? “Not you too, Sasha.” I groaned.
She chuckled. “What?” She shrugged. “Your brothers are cute. It would be a crime to not appreciate what is as good as that.”
I rushed into my gown so I could get out of the room fast. I didn’t want to listen to my roommate gushing about how sweet my brothers were.
She laughed and kept on talking and tormenting me, knowing why I was hurrying up.
I opened the door and stopped outside at the sight of Jack at the entrance. I would have preferred it was John as I felt more comfortable with him.
“You look good.” He said, his eyes moving over my body.
“Thanks.” I said, moving forward. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Don’t worry. It’s worth it.” He said with a wink directed at me.
I ignored him. “Where are the others? Waiting in the car?”
He shook his head. “No. They are already at the party and waiting for us there. I was saddled with the responsibility of taking you there. We figured there is no point in the three of us coming over and causing attention that you wouldn’t like.”
I stopped in my tracks, my heart banging in my chest as he spoke. I didn’t think that I could cope with being alone in the car with Jack. I couldn’t deal with his flirtatious manner. It was going to cringe me out.
Funnily enough, he didn’t say anything all through the ride, much more flirt with me. The brothers were happy to see me, smiling and walking over to where I was to welcome me as soon as they saw me.
The party though was as boring as the other one was and I forgot soon my promise to not go near alcohol again.
I was bored and that was my fault. The triplets had offered to stay with me and bring their friends over so I could have some fun at the party but I had declined and told them to excuse me and have their own fun on their own.
I was determined to find my own fun on my own without waiting for them but as the time passed by, I couldn’t find anything funny at the party.
I was done. I decided to get away from the party. I looked around for the triplets and smiled when I saw where they were.
I stood up from the stool I was seated on and almost tumbled to the floor. Wow! My eyes were spinning before me and I let out a curse in the form of a groan, hating myself for drinking too much.
I didn’t know that the brothers had their eyes on me as Jack was by my side, holding me up by the waist before I could blink. I didn’t even know how he had moved so fast but I was grateful that he had held me and didn’t let me make a fool of myself. They must really be serious about changing for the better and protecting me.
I could see all they were doing to show me that they had changed but I insisted on not forgiving them. I really had a hard heart. I was stuck up in the past and even for myself, I was starting to realize that it wasn’t a pretty thing to do.
I shied away from him, suddenly realizing the arms of the person that I was. “I’m fine.”
He snorted, holding me closer. “You are kidding. How can I let go of you when you are drunk like this?”
“I am not drunk.” I protested but my words were slurred.
He snorted and pulled me close to him, guiding me out of the party. “Let’s get you home, sister.”
He took out his phone and dialed his brothers, informing them that I was drunk and he had taken me home.
I was nervous of Jack taking me home and regretted being drunk. I was afraid of Jack taking advantage of me, after all, that was his specialty. He didn’t seem like someone who could resist teasing a woman. I had learnt from horrible experiences with him.
Surprisingly, he didn’t make any attempt to flirt with me or even touch me till he got me into the house and into my bedroom.
I was looking at him, unable to take my eyes off him and wondered if he was the same Jack that I knew. He was being extremely nice to me and I found it hard to get over the surprise.