Spice Of Love (Phoneix 2)

Chapter 16

"Emily, let go of me." James bleated as he struggled to get away from his bed mate on the couch.

"The Hell I will," Emily said. James was upside down, lying on the couch, and Emily was sitting on top of him.

"You know, you are heavy. I will die because of your weight." James yelled, grunting.

This only made her furious.

"Did you just call me fat?" Emily was appalled. She put more pressure on him.

"Heavy and fat are two different things. You are not size zero, so it is natural for you to have some weight." James tried to state the obvious facts, but this only made her punch her arm in his torso.

"Dammit, Emily." James groaned. "Peace out, please."

"Only if you tell me what this alumni is all about." Emily negotiated.

"Fine. Now get off of me." James subtly pushed her away to get a breathing room.

Once Emily stood up, the two of them sat on the couch. Emily smiled smugly as James exhaled a great breath of relief.

"Spill, James," Emily demanded.

"There is this stupid school reunion which I got invited to. And my parents are way too happy about it, as this might make me come home." James stated.

"And it's bad because?" Emily inquired.

"Who said anything about it being a bad thing?" James retorted.

"Then why the hell did you run away from me with the letter as soon as you saw me?" Emily was baffled.

"Because without even consulting me, my meddling sister replied to RSVP with 'yes' to the plus one, which is you," James explained.

"Oh, so they know about me." It was more of a question.

"Of course, they do. We are living together, Emily. And it was just a matter of time before they discovered about us. And for your information, Justin was the one who told them about us. He just loves to annoy me." James sighs and shakes his head.

"So, are we going to your reunion?" Emily asked him excitedly.

"Of course not. It's a school reunion. Waste of time." James tried to dismiss it, but Emily was not ready to.

"What? Why? It will be fun. Or are you embarrassed to show me off?" Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Embarrassed? They will be like, where the hell did I even find a girl like you beside me?"

His comment made her cheeks red.

"Then what is the problem?" She asked him, trying to cover her shyness.

"First, we will have to stay with my family, and they don't know about our pretence, so it may get awkward. Second, even though I would like you to meet them, you should not feel compelled to do so. Third, I am not that fond of my school memories. I was not much of an extrovert, so I had limited friends, and I doubt if they are even going to come."

"James, we can tell your family the trust. And who cares if you had limited friends? Don't you want to show those people what you have achieved?"

James was silent for a minute before responding to her.

"No."

"James, what is the real issue?" Emily asked him.

"Em, reunions are stupid. Why do you want to go?" He asked her.

"I am curious as to how you were as a kid." She told him she was poking her tongue out, making him laugh.

"I can tell you anytime you want. You just need to ask."

As James pointed out, he has always been an open book to her, and he is not planning to change that.

"It won't be the same." She replied.

"Em..." He let out a sigh.

"James, why do you not want to go?" She asked him once more, hoping that he would tell her the real true reason this time.

"Because I have been a victim of a bully, okay? Nothing major but teasing here and there. So I am not interested in going back to that place." He told her. He really didn't like that phase of his life when things and emotions were not in his control.

"You are kidding, right?" Emily looked at him as if he was joking because she couldn't believe his words.

"Nope."

"You don't seem to be a victim. You have more of a bully vibe."

"Excuse me?" James took offense to that. He narrowed his eyes at her, demanding for an explanation.

"Look at you! Amazing brown hair, your looks, you have the most beautiful green color eyes. You really have nice eyelashes too. Why the hell do you males have such good long curly lashes? And let us not forget your body. Where the hell does that food even go?" Emily commented while poking his stomach.

James' eyes were wide, and he was flushed.

"Good metabolism." He said uncomfortably.

"What?" Emily said when James was staring at her.

"You just complimented me and basically told me I am an attractive guy," James said, which then made Emily realized her choice of words.

"Like you didn't know that before." She tried to cover it up.

"Well, coming from you makes it different." He stated it honestly.

She did, however, attempt to deviate from the subject. "Come on, James. Don't go to the reunion if you don't want to, but at least meet your family. If you feel like it, then you can visit your school. Who knows, you might even enjoy it." She poked him with her finger.

"Why are you so insistent on us going?" James gave her a puzzled look.

"Um, Henry wants to have another get-to-together. Jake, Katie, and Max are all out of town, and I don't want to attend. Your reunion is a perfect escapade." Emily informed him.

"So I am a pawn." He stated.

"Yup." She simply said. "But, after listening to you, I believe this will be an excellent excuse for you to spend time with your family."

"Fine, we will go, but there's no guarantee of a reunion."

Emily exclaimed, "Deal," and kissed his cheeks in return.

James, on the other hand, was concerned. More than the reunion, his family was the source of his concern.

They may not have been aware of their charade, but they were well aware of his feelings for his pretend girlfriend, who was not so fake, to begin with.