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Beautiful With You Part Thirty |
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Chapter 30
Jade reluctantly agreed to be David’s girlfriend again. She didn’t want to get Norman into anymore trouble and this was going to be a temporary thing until she could get some help. Once she agreed to get back together, he became his normal self. He was nothing but sweet to her as soon as she said she’d take him back. She never let her guard down though. The transition from being insane to super sweet was just too quick and it made her feel uneasy. But she was just going to do whatever he said until she could get away from him.
“You wanna get some pizza?” David asked. Jade was too angry and sick to want anything to eat but she nodded anyway just to keep him happy. David obviously didn’t trust her though because after finding his pictures, he never left her alone even for a second. Even though Jade had the TV on full blast, he never left the room to order their pizza. And his eyes stayed on her all the time. It was another hour of watching TV together in silence before there was a knock at his door. Jade jumped at the chance to answer the door and get away from David even if it was just for a second.
“Jade, sit down I’ll get it,” David said, standing up with her. Jade continued to the door anyway and dug around in her purse for money.
“I can answer the door David don’t worry about it,” Jade scoffed under her breath as she opened the door and saw Allen on the other side and she started laughing, “I swear, you must be following me.”
Allen started laughing with her for a second but then his laughter faded, “No, I just knew this was David’s address so I decided I’d deliver this so I could say hi. What are you doing here?”
“Well um, I kind of took David back,” Jade’s response had truly shocked Allen and he yanked her out into the hall and shut the door so David wouldn’t hear his outburst.
“What are you thinking Jade?!” he snapped, “I told you that you shouldn’t go back to him! Why did you completely ignore what I said?!”
“Because first of all he’s insane and secondly, I’m trying to protect someone,” Jade said. She lowered her voice and leaned in closer to Allen, “You were right. He did have pictures of me. And he has pictures of me and…someone I was with at the time. Someone I wasn’t supposed to be with. If I rejected him, those pictures would be all over the place right now. He’s been stalking me for months so he could do this to me.”
“Are you sure you even know what you’re doing?” Allen asked, “David has become a really dangerous guy Jade.”
“I can handle this,” Jade said, handing him his money, “I should go back inside before David flips out.”
Allen handed her the pizza box and patted her shoulder, “Alright. Be careful Jade. I mean it. There’s something not right with him.”
“I’ll be careful,” Jade went back inside and set the box down on the counter. David was already standing in the kitchen with paper plates in his hands, “Was that Allen?”
“Yeah,” Jade said, opening the box, “He says hi.”
David watched her while she served him his dinner and then served herself. She didn’t want to even eat this pizza but she didn’t want him to be suspicious. She was sure he’d already heard the conversation but wasn’t saying anything. They sat down together on his couch and Jade forced herself to eat her dinner while David asked her what she wanted to watch on TV.
About a week went by before Maya was able to visit Charlie. She’d been working and going to school all week long and was just too busy and too tired to see Charlie again. And Charlie was equally busy and couldn’t find the time to see her. But when Monday came back around, Maya was finally able to see Charlie. One of her afternoon classes had been cancelled and she had plenty of time to hang out with Charlie. She was still having trouble figuring out where everything was on campus but she was slowly learning the layout. She conveniently found Charlie walking towards his class but he wasn’t alone. He was walking with Richard. Maya groaned as she approached the two of them, “Charlie!”
“Hi Maya!” he shouted. Maya ran over to him and they hugged and Charlie turned her around so they would face Richard. Even when they stopped hugging, Charlie kept his arm around her waist, “Richard, this is the girl I was telling you about. She goes to the university you used to teach at.”
“Oh we know each other Charlie,” Richard chuckled, “It’s really good to see you again Miss Strong.”
“You too Professor Gray,” Charlie seemed completely oblivious to the tension building up between Maya and Richard. He let go of Maya and pointed to his classroom.
“I need to get something from my room. You two catch up,” Charlie said. Before he left he quickly kissed Maya on the cheek, “And when I get back we should go to lunch. The food court here has really good stuff!”
“I can’t wait,” Maya said with a smile. Charlie ran off into his classroom and as soon as he was out of sight, Richard’s smile fell, “Are you serious? Him?”
“You’re just jealous!” Maya hissed.
“Maya, he can’t even drink coffee without hurting himself!” Richard said.
“He’s a Biology professor,” Maya said, “He has to be extra careful with the s**t he works with. The way I figure it, he’s probably very, very good with his hands.”
Richard glared at her and narrowed his eyes, “Fine. I can play this game Maya. And believe me, I can play this game much better than you can.”
“I’m so scared,” Maya whimpered, clapping her hands together and pretending to shiver, “You’ve got me shaking in my shoes.”
“You’re such an a**,” Richard grumbled, seeing Charlie running back towards them. When Maya turned and saw Charlie coming, she started smiling and she acted like she was being playful and she smacked Richard hard on his arm, “You’re so funny Professor Gray. It was nice catching up with you.”
Richard cringed at the pain Maya was actually causing him when she was smacking him. He smiled through it and did the same to her, “It was really great catching up with you too!”
They both smiled at Charlie while they rubbed their sore arms. Charlie laughed, wrapping his arm around Maya’s shoulder, “I’m glad you two got to reunite. See you later Richard!”
Richard waved as he walked away. Charlie led Maya across campus to get some lunch, “You two seem real friendly. He must’ve been a good professor huh?”
Maya chuckled and rested her head on Charlie’s shoulder, “You could say that.”
Benjamin called Audrey maybe a week later to tell her that the winner would be revealed on Valentine’s Day, which would be a Friday evening. Audrey was even more nervous than ever because it was only a few days away. She’d already told Maya and Jade and they promised they’d be there in the front row when Audrey won. When she told her parents, they were even more excited than she had been. Maya and Jade went with her to get a nice outfit for Friday.
“I’m so excited for you!” Maya said while the three of them searched the racks, “A chance to spend the summer in London? You’re so lucky.”
“I might not win though,” Audrey said. Jade held up a dress with short sleeves and a really pretty floral design and put it against Audrey’s body.
“I’d honestly be surprised if you lost,” Jade said, showing Maya the dress, “What do you think?”
Maya nodded and Jade tossed the dress over Audrey’s shoulder. Audrey pulled the dress off her shoulder and hung it over her arm, “You think it’ll be good enough to win?”
“Of course we do,” Maya said, “We’re not stupid. We know what good art looks like.”
After Maya and Jade built up Audrey’s confidence, she felt a little better about Friday. Tom even said a few nice things of his own and she felt even better about it. And even if she lost she’d be ok with that too. She could just try again in the fall. But the closer it got to Friday, the more the nervousness returned and by the time Friday actually came, she was jumpy and she couldn’t sit down for very long.
“Audrey relax!” Jade said, forcing Audrey to sit down on one of the five chairs that were set up on a little stage in the gallery. Once Audrey had seen her art displayed with the other four contestants, she’d lost it and wasn’t able to stand still. Maya stepped in and came up behind Audrey, pressing down on Audrey’s shoulders, “You’re gonna be just fine Audrey. Jade and I are gonna be in the front row cheering you on.”
Audrey took a few deep breaths and nodded. Maya and Jade both gave her a big hug and got off the stage to sit down in their seats with Audrey’s parents. Audrey wasn’t alone for very long. Tom sat down with her for a second, “Are you feeling ok?”
“I’m a little nervous,” Audrey’s eyes focused on the five pieces of art that were displayed in front of the stage, “Everyone looks really talented. I don’t know if I’m actually gonna win this.”
“Audrey look at me not at the art,” Tom grabbed Audrey’s chin and forced her to look at him, “I’ve seen what you can do. You’re gonna win this. Do you believe me?”
“No. But thank you anyway,” Tom frowned but Audrey kissed him on the cheek and it brought his smile back. He kissed her back and sat down next to Maya and Jade. Maya didn’t give it a second though but Jade didn’t know about the two of them. Audrey couldn’t help but giggle when she saw Jade lean over to look at Tom and then back up at Audrey and then whisper something in Maya’s ear. After a few minutes, Benjamin stepped up on stage and everyone went silent. He stepped onto the podium, “I’m glad everyone could make it tonight!”
Benjamin started rambling on and Audrey started tapping her foot. The guy sitting next to her leaned over, “You nervous?”
“Yeah a little,” Audrey said, “I almost wish I hadn’t made it to the top five.”
“I’ve been on the top five at least two different times,” he said, “It really sucks watching someone else win.”
“I bet,” Audrey mumbled. By then Benjamin had moved on to talking about the contestants, “We had to make the tough decision of choosing five of the best artists. It was tough because there were so many talented people that entered. But unfortunately, only one person can win and go to London for the summer.”
Audrey looked over at Jade and Maya and they both gave her thumbs up. Audrey sighed and sat up straight in her seat. Benjamin held up an envelope and smiled, “In this envelope is the name of the winner.” Benjamin slowly opened it and pulled out the card, “And the winner is…”
HA! Cliffhanger. Sucka!
So, I'm sad to say, I really trapped myself with Jade. I dug myself into this little hole with Jade's story and now I wish I could change it but I can't because then I would have no idea what else to do with her. So damn. LOL
 Rockstar_Angel17 · Tue Sep 17, 2013 @ 07:22am · 0 Comments |
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