Love Me Or Hate Me

Love Me Or Hate Me [Epilogue - J]

“Babe, can you pass me the remote?”

Looking over at my wife, Ariel, I smiled and handed her the TV remote. She would have normally gotten it herself, but being six months pregnant made that kind of difficult for her. Plus, I didn't mind. It was in fact, true, that I was a twenty-four year old guy, but a lot had changed in the past six years, and it made me a better person—or so I liked to believe.

Ariel and I had been engaged in a playful conversation for quite a few minutes before someone rang the doorbell and was let in by my father. There was a lot of cheering and hello's, and when I walked over to the doorway to see who it was, my stomach filled with butterflies. Even after six years, she still had the same effect on me. “It's nice to see you, Isabel.” My father said when everyone had settled down a bit. “And who's the lucky guy that's with you?”

I looked to her left and saw a tall guy with brown hair, blue eyes and a kind of olive tone to his skin. He looked nice with her, but I couldn't help but fight the urge of punching him in the face for taking what was mine to begin with. “I'm Adam, and I've been dating Isabel here for about two years now. Plus, I'm kind of stuck with her considering. . .”

This was when Isabel's mom took it upon herself to walk into the room. “Considering what?”

Both Adam and Isabel looked at each other with loving looks on their faces, making me sick to my stomach, and announced something that nearly broke me. “I'm pregnant with twins, Mom.”

It felt as if someone had punched me right in the stomach, and while everyone else cheered and smiled, I walked back into the living room and sat down next to Ariel. She was so wrapped up in the news though that she didn't even notice. “Your step sister is pregnant? That's amazing! Maybe the babies can play with—”

“—I'd actually rather that our babies weren't around hers.”

I didn't mean to say it with such disgust, but I couldn't lie that I was angry. Ariel was an amazing girl, there was no denying that, but she wasn't Isabel. Is had been the first girl to see through my shell and want me for me and I had been so wrapped up in my high school ego that I lost her. Then this Adam guy stepped in and claimed what was supposed to be mine. The babies in her womb were supposed to be mine. Though, now if I said that aloud, it would pretty weird since she's legally my stepsister. . .

After Isabel left all those years ago, our parents still wanted to merge the companies, so after much deliberation, they decided that they were going to get married instead. Had they simply decided that from the start, a lot of what happened could have been avoided, but I guess everything happens for a reason, right?

Ariel was just about to question my tone when Isabel walked into the room, revealing a small baby bump and a red dress that accented all of her features. It took everything in me not to stare at her like I wanted to take her and make her mine right then and there, but again, Ariel didn't notice because she was so wrapped up in meeting Isabel, that she didn't care. “Hi, you must be Ariel. My mom has told me so much about you.” Isabel smiled, but somewhere in the back of her eyes, I could see a little bit of anger and jealousy. So maybe I wasn't the only one who wasn't over everything that happened those few years ago?

“Good things I hope.” Ariel laughed, breaking my thoughts. “I didn't even know James had a stepsister. I had only recently found out about it when your mother said that you were coming tonight.”

Isabel simply shrugged and rubber her belly in a way that made it look like she was trying to hide some pain. “Well, I didn't really want to travel—you know, being six months pregnant and all. But I've been gone for almost six years, so I figured I might as well come spend the holiday season with my family.”

They talked for a bit more after that, and every now and then, I would find Isabel looking at me through her peripheral vision, both confusing me and making me smile a little. Once the girls finished their conversation though, Ariel excused herself to the bathroom and Isabel looked straight at me and smiled a small smile. “I see you took my warning. . .” Still smiling, she sat down and leaned her head back. “It's good to see you after so long. You seem happy with her.”

I shrugged, not wanting to make it obvious that I was still angry that it wasn't my baby inside her, but that Adam guys instead. “The years have been nice to you. I didn't see you as the type to give up your virginity and get pregnant. . .” She looked at me with a confused look on her face. “But hey, you're twenty-five, you can do whatever the hell you want.”

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Adam walked into the living room and smiled lovingly at Isabel. “Babe, do you want something to drink?”

“No thank you, sweetie.” She smiled at him, but then quickly looked down at her stomach and shook her head. “Actually, can you bring me some hot chocolate? I want to try and calm the babies down like we did at that class a few weeks ago.”

“Do you want sugar in it?”

“Make it super sweet, babe.”

He nodded, almost walking out of the room before turning to me and smiling. “Sorry, I didn't notice you there. I'm Adam, Isabel's fiancee, and you're her brother, James, right?” I simply nodded, not really wanting to converse with him, but not wanting to be entirely rude either. “Well, it's nice to meet you. Isabel told me a lot about you and I must say, you look like you live up to your reputation.”

This caused me to raise a brow, but before I could question him, he turned on his heal and walked in the direction of the kitchen. This was when I took it upon myself to question Isabel instead. “What reputation is it that I'm living up to?” She didn't say anything, she simply continued to rub her stomach in hopes that I was going to leave her alone; something we both knew I wasn't going to do. “Is, tell me. Since it's about me I think I have a right to know—”

“—I told him that you were a heart throb back in high school and that you had every girl pretty much begging to make you theirs. And that I felt honored when our parents got married and I was lucky enough to call you my brother.” That wasn't entirely true, and we both knew it, but I didn't call her out on it. I would let her tell that Adam guy whatever she wanted because it didn't effect me.

But in the end, it really did.

A few minutes of silence passed before Ariel showed her face again and smiled when she saw me and Isabel talking. 'I guess she just thinks that we're catching up. . .' “Babe,” I called out to her, making Isabel frown a little bit, “do you want me to get you something to eat? I know these crackers are a nice gesture, but—”

“—it's fine, sweetie. I just want to sit next to you.” She smiled and walked over, making Isabel stand up and give her a supposed to be sweet smile, but it looked almost forced. “Oh, you didn't have to move, Is. I'm sure there's plenty of room for all six of us.”

She had been referring to the babies, and by the look on Isabel's face, I knew that that probably wasn't the best idea. “It's fine, I'm just going to find Adam. It was nice meeting you though.” And then without so much as a goodbye to me, she sauntered off in the direction of the kitchen with a small frown on her face. Ariel assumed that it was baby pains, and I just let her think that; not wanting to start any problems between the two girls.

Dinner eventually rolled around and the seating chart was kind of obvious. Elaine and my father, Isabel and Adam, and then Ariel and I. Everyone was engaged in some kind of conversation, but every time I looked at Isabel, I saw her looking at Adam with love in her eyes; something that I knew made me jealous.

'She could have been mine. . . I should have made her mine when I had the chance, but no. I messed up an amazing thing.' I should have been happy that Isabel had been happy with someone; I mean, I was happy with Ariel, so why couldn't she be happy with Adam? No matter how many times I said that to myself though, I knew that I would always regret what I did. It was a could've, should've, would've moment, and it made me upset to know one thing.

I didn't.