Chapter 28: Miscommunication
Recap:
Just as we were about to begin eating, Jude said, “I have something
important to say” I looked at Wade nervously and licked my lips, my
heart was thudding so loudly I was sure they could hear it. Was he
going to call off our engagement now? Was he going to call off the
wedding? I felt close to tears and felt like a fool for even
thinking that Jude had been jealous. It seemed like whenever I took
a step forward at the end of the day I ended up two steps back.
Wade’s P.O.V
I looked at Jude and rolled my eyes. I stopped myself from banging
my head on the table. When was this idiot going to understand that
Stephanie was bad news? When was he going to get around his stupid
head that she had come back to him not because she loved him. Most
importantly it was high time he kept his stupid male ego aside and
he realized that he was and had always been Stephanie’s back up
plan. I made a mental note to call Sean and update him on this
latest development. He had named this whole agenda of getting
Natasha and Jude together ‘covert ops bringing douche Jude to his
senses’ yeah it was too big to even make an acronym out of it so I
had just given up and refused to call it that when Sean asked me to.
I stared at Stephanie and gave her the evil eye; I wanted her to
know that I could see through her act. I smirked in satisfaction as
she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Then I turned to look at
Jude who looked away immediately. He had definitely been jealous
when he had seen Natasha and I goofing around. Of course he didn’t
know that I was goofing around. I turned to look at Natasha who was
licking her lips nervously. I felt really bad for her, the moment
she became happy Jude burst her bubble. Well more specifically
Stephanie burst her bubble. I had become incredibly fond of Natasha
in the short time that I knew her; she was just the kind of person
you instantly became friends with. She was perfect for Jude. She
complemented him perfectly; all of us could see that except for
Jude.
“So” I looked up to see Jude was finally speaking, “Natasha I have
something to tell you. I didn’t realize you’d be here too Wade but
anyway, Natasha I still have feelings for Stephanie.”
“Oh k” Natasha looked so confused it was hilarious! Its like she was
torn, she didn’t know whether she was supposed to pretend to be mad
or not react at all because we didn’t know yet whether Stephanie
knew the truth or not.
“Its ok Nats. She knows”
“Oh alright”
Stephanie smiled and said, “We were just discussing how do we take
things forward from here”
“What do you mean?” I asked her coldly.
She smiled that sickeningly sweet and fake smile of hers again and
said, “Well obviously I wouldn’t be comfortable with Natasha staying
here with Jude, all alone”
“Seriously?” I asked, now I was furious “you’re the one to talk? Its
Jude’s decision and not yours!”
Jude looked like a deer that had been caught in headlights. “What?
Yeah, Stephanie and I spoke about it-”
“And?” Natasha cut him off before I could. I had to agree with Sean
Jude was being a douche. “Well I realized that she is right, I mean
I was uncomfortable with her staying with Nick”
“So” spoke up Stephanie whom I shall name THE BITCH from now on, I
was getting really pissed. “We decided you could stay at your place
and Jude stays here and you can come over when his family is here
and pretend all is good”
If I was the kind of guy who hit girls, Stephanie would be knocked
out cold by now. I hated her guts. Who the hell was she to come
waltzing in and disrupt everyone else’s lives, as long as she was
happy. “Ok” I began really annoyed right now, “Who died and made you
the queen of all humans? Who the hell said that you can just come in
here and tell everybody what to do?”
Natasha placed a hand on my knee and whispered, “Wade its ok”
“No! Its not ok Tasha. She cannot order people around. She walks in
right here pretending that everything is alright, that she didn’t
break my brother’s heart three years ago, what’s the guarantee that
she won’t do it ever again? Huh Stephanie? What’s the proof?” I got
up and my chair fell over.
“Wade calm down man!” said Jude.
“Do not ask me to calm down. Jude I was there when she broke your
heart and left you alone to mend it by yourself. I know what she did
to you then and I know what she will do now.”
“Oh really?” asked Stephanie, good lord she even had fake tears in
her eyes; I will kill this woman, so help me Lord! “I know what I
did was a mistake Wade. I am truly sorry for what I did. It was
rash, impulsive and the biggest mistake of my life. But I have
changed I swear, I would never do that ever again, yo-you have to
believe me! Jude I-”
“Shh its ok babe” Jude got up and hugged her. I looked away in
disgust, he was actually consoling her. While Natasha just stared at
the scene numbly.
“Ok er Natasha and I spent the better part of the day cooking this
food. I am hungry and I want to eat. So just complete what you
started so we can all eat”
“Ok well I guess we will do what Stephanie just said”
“Ok” said Natasha.
“Cool” I said, “but when your parents come here to give you a
surprise and find Stephanie here with you, don’t tell me”
“Oh but Stephanie won’t be staying with me”
Both Natasha and I raised our eyebrows and he rolled his eyes and
said, “Really! We have decided to take this nice and slow”
“Ok then when your mom calls you and asks to pass the phone to
Natasha and you run out of excuses, I ain’t helping you”
Both Jude and Natasha looked at each other, I saw Jude’s face soften
and I was sure he almost changed his mind when the bitch spoke up
again and said, “So we’ll call them before they call us.”
Ok did I say I hate Stephanie? I hate her!
“Whatever” I said ignoring Stephanie, “your call” I said looking at
Jude.
I started eating, the food was delicious. If I ever got married I
would want my wife to be like Natasha. That girl was perfect!
Natasha ate in silence; she had barely uttered a word tonight. Just
moments ago she had been so happy and all chirpy while cooking. I
had to call Sean tonight; we needed to step up on our game.
“This is delicious!” said Jude
Silence.
“The mushrooms are cooked perfectly and the garlic bread is
delicious”
Silence, I was really enjoying watching Jude squirm, he was trying
to get Natasha to talk. He looked at me pleadingly but I ignored
him.
“Natasha” I said, “the chicken curry is absolutely delicious”
“Thanks” she said smiling at me. I smirked at Jude who was sulking
now. He had completely given up. Natasha finished eating quickly and
got up and left the kitchen. I sat and took a second helping. So did
Jude, Stephanie finished but stayed there. I ignored both of them
and ate leisurely. Natasha came back with a backpack.
“Wade will you drop me home?”
I glared at Jude and said, “Sure”
“Ok cool when you’re done we’ll leave”
“Oh I almost forgot the dessert” she said with false cheerfulness.
Jude and I got up and started clearing the table while Natasha
served the dessert and Stephanie, well lets say she was sitting and
surveying everything like she was the queen. When Jude was near me I
coughed ‘Douche!’
“I heard that” whispered Jude.
“Good you were meant to hear it”
Jude glared at me and was about to say something when Natasha cut
in, “Wade here’s your dessert and Jude I have kept yours on the
table.”
Neither Jude nor I moved. We continued our glaring match, when
finally Natasha stepped in between us and smiled at me, “Wade come
on! I wanna go home” she pouted. I smiled and gave in. I quickly ate
the delicious chocolate mousse and asked, “Ready?”
“Yep” she got up and picked her bag.
“Is that all you had?” asked Stephanie, in what she thought was a
kind tone when really it was condescending.
“No but the rest of the stuff Jude has bought for me so I will keep
it here”
“Oh alright”
Then Natasha wore the jacket that I had bought her and Jude spoke
up, “When did you get that”
“Oh this? Wade bought it for me”
“Oh, I thought we had decided I would buy you one?”
“No actually we had decided no such thing”
“Besides” I said, “I insisted on buying her one”
“Well let’s leave Wade”
“Yep” I said picking my jacket.
“Call me when you reach?” Jude said.
“Yeah” said Natasha and walked out without looking back even once. I
got my car out and she got in without saying a word.
“Are you alright?”
“Is it weird that I feel discarded? Unwanted?”
I sighed and pulled over. “Natasha you are beautiful, smart,
intelligent, you have a sense of humor and you are an excellent
cook. Who would not want you?”
“Jude”
“Oh he’s just being a douche, he’ll come around eventually”
“What if he doesn’t? What if it’s too late?”
“It won’t be” I said with more confidence than I actually felt. She
smiled and said, “Can you drop me off to Joey’s, I really don’t want
to be alone right now”
“Sure, but don’t you want to call her and check first?”
“Yeah sure” I started the car as she dialed her friend’s number.
“Hello?”
I listened to the monologue with amusement.
“Oh God! I am sorry how I was supposed to know that you were busy!
Well why did you answer? Argh no nothing urgent I will call you
later”
I looked at her and said, “Well?”
“er she was busy”
“Doing what?”
“I’d rather not say”
I started laughing and said, “Why did she answer, I pity the poor
guy!”
“Oh shut up” said Natasha burying her face in her hands in
embarrassment.
“Ok so I was thinking you could bunk at my place”
She looked at me incredulously, “Er Wade we don’t have to keep
pretenses, Jude isn’t here”
“Well he may be your pretend husband but I am your true friend. So
we are going to my place. Oh yippee we will have so much fun. Lets
see a movie and then some good old gossip and”
“Oh and swapping ghost stories”
I looked at her in alarm, “gh-ghost stories?”
“Oh my God! You’re scared too!” she started laughing.
“Hey! Not funny. Jude and I saw The Exorcist when we were wee kids.
We were scared for months!”
She started laughing harder, “O yeah we are so gonna swap ghost
stories”
I smiled and said, “Alright if that makes you happy”
We reached home soon enough. The weather was chilly. I tidied up the
spare bed room so that Natasha could sleep in there. She kept her
bag in the room and changed. By the time I had changed and come out
she was going through my DVD collection. She kept shaking her heads
at all the movies, and finally picked one. Speed, my all time
favorite. “The rest have too much blood and gore for me.” She said.
We watched the movie in comfortable silence and as the end credits
rolled I yawned and glanced at Natasha. She got up and went and sat
in one of the bean bag chairs in my balcony. I followed her after
switching off the TV.
“What are you thinking about?”
“What my life has become, you know sometimes I wonder if my parents
ever thought that their daughter would be in a situation like this?”
“Well I don’t know about that Tasha but I know that they would be
really proud of you”
She laughed bitterly and said, “Proud of what? Proud of the fact
that the only way I am earning money is by being someone’s pretend
wife?”
Uh oh she’s really moody and emotional right now. All my male
instincts were telling me to run away, soon the crying would start,
no sooner had I thought that I saw tears roll down her cheeks. I was
really bad with this, I looked at her helplessly as she vented out
her feelings.
“Natasha they would be proud because of the person you have become.
You are strong and you do what it takes to keep your loved ones
happy”
She smiled tearfully and said, “You think?”
“I know” I got up and hugged her. I sat down next to her with one
arm around her shoulder and she leaned in and put her head on my
shoulder. “Thank you Wade, you are a good friend”
“You’re most welcome”
“So about those ghost stories..”
“Natasha!” I groaned but she just laughed and started, “Well have
you heard the urban legend of a Japanese woman who face was
disfigured by her husband?”
I jumped as there was a breeze and said “No”
“Well they say that her husband caught her cheating on him and
slashed her face with a sword and disfigured it”
“oh kay” I really didn’t want to hear the rest but it seemed to
distract Natasha so I went along with it. “He then told her now no
one will find you beautiful. Legend has it that she roams the
streets of Japan till date and wears a mask”
I looked at her disbelievingly, “No listen, in Japan a lot of people
wear surgical masks when they have the flu, so then she stops
strangers randomly and will ask ‘Am I beautiful?’ If you say yes she
will kill you for lying, if you say no she will kill you in rage.
They say that the perfect answer to give is average because then it
will confuse her and give you time to escape”
“Wow I sure am glad that I don’t live in Japan, but I wish Stephanie
did”
Natasha stared at me for the longest time and then busted out
laughing. “oh God Wade, you are so funny!”
“I know right?”
“Yeah now you go next!”
“Er I don’t think so I am pretty sure I am going to have nightmares
about women with disfigured faces”
Natasha giggled and said, Oh you are so funny Wade! Are you sleepy
yet?”
“Nope”
“Me neither. There are so many stars tonight! Just like yesterday!
Lets just stay here”
“Yeah its cold though let me get some blankets”
I got the blankets and we lay on them and covered ourselves with a
quilt. We lay there in silence staring at the sky when suddenly
Natasha started singing,
“Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting
stars I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish
right now.”
I glanced at her and realized she had been crying silently.
“Don’t worry Tasha he will come around”
“Yeah one can always hope right?”
“Right”
We lay there staring at the sky and I didn’t even know when we fell
asleep over there. I was woken up in the morning by a very harassed
Sean.
“OH MY GOD!!”
Both Natasha and I woke up with a start and looked around. Natasha
glanced at me and sat up blushing. Sometime during the night her
head had landed on my shoulder and my arm around her waist. However
I didn’t feel anything wrong. We were good friends and none of us
had dirt on our mind.
“On days like these you make me regret giving you a key to my
apartment”
“Oh no no no. No mister you do not get to say that. I got to Jude’s
and I saw him and Stephanie on his couch, I come here and I see you
and Natasha in each other’s arms! What is the world coming to? Is it
apocalypse?”
Yep that’s why we all love Sean, forever the dramatist, I sighed and
got up.
“You saw Jude and Stephanie on the couch together?” asked Natasha. I
winced, she could’ve done without knowing that.
“Yes and”
She didn’t let him complete, “were they you know?”
“No they weren’t thank goodness for that!”
“Sean buddy Stephanie and Jude are back together and Stephanie knows
about their arrangement”
“Uhuh I already figured that out Mr. obvious”
“Dude stop with the yelling early in the morning” I said.
“Don’t call me dude”
“Ok. Hold on let me brush my teeth, lets all have breakfast
together.”
“Sounds good to me”
Natasha was silent, she went to the washroom and I pounced on Sean.
“What did you have to mention Jude and Stephanie sleeping on the
couch together in front of Natasha for?”
Sean stared at me and said, “Damn! I didn’t realize. You guys
startled me! What were you guys in one blanket for?”
“Dude we were star gazing, we didn’t realize when we fell asleep”
“Oh star gazing” he said sarcastically, “why on earth why were you
star gazing like a love struck couple?”
“Long story” I quickly brought him up to date on the situation and
told him about the whole fiasco.
He smacked his palm to his forehead and said, “this just keeps
getting worse” Just then Natasha came out and asked us “So what are
you guys going to have for breakfast?”
“I’ll have French toast and a glass of juice” said Sean, Natasha
nodded. “What about you Wade?”
“um I will just have a cup of coffee but I will make breakfast while
you catch up with Sean, what are you going to eat?”
“I am not very hungry, I’ll pass”
“Nonsense” said Sean, “you will eat. Just make French toast for both
of us Wade”
“sure sir” I muttered and started cooking.
Jude’s P.O.V:
The scene from the evening kept playing in my head. Wade licking
chocolate off Natasha’s fingers. The way they jumped apart when I
came in. He even bought her a damn jacket! I was going to buy her
one. Then I realized what am I doing? She seemed happy with Wade. I
was annoyed with Stephanie for putting me in a spot. I hated telling
Natasha to leave but it wouldn’t have been fair, after all I wasn’t
happy with the idea that she would have been living with Nick. I
hated myself for making Natasha feel dejected but if she liked Wade
then I guess it was ok right? I glanced at Stephanie thinking yeah
it was ok. Natasha liked Wade so I guess I was giving them a fair
chance to work something out. Stephanie and I had fallen asleep on
the couch and were awakened by Sean entering and yelling,
“Surprise!” but he stopped short when he saw Stephanie.
“Jesus Jude!”
“Hi Sean” said Stephanie waking up and leaning into me.
“I wasn’t talking to you” said Sean rudely.
“Sean let me exp-”
“Er no I think I’ll pass but you know what Jude you are an idiot”
and he walked off.
I looked at Stephanie who looked at e and smiled, “Don’t worry we
will win them over”
We? Did she just say we? I didn’t have to win them over she did and
she had better start quick. I needed my cousins with me on this. I
still had to go ahead with my crazy scheme and I would need their
support.
I had just gotten out of the shower when I got a call from Sean.
“Jude we are all at Wade’s place drop in for lunch”
“Sure. Who is all?”
“Nats, Wade and I”
“Wait a minute what is Natasha doing there?”
“Oh well” gushed Sean and lowered his voice, “she stayed over here”
“WHAT?”
“Ow! What did you yell for?”
“Sorry but how did she end up at Wade’s?”
“Dunno. All I know that they looked really cute all snuggled up in a
blanket on his balcony when I came here this morning. They
apparently fell asleep while star gazing! Isn’t that cute?”
Silence
“Jude?”
“Yeah its cute” I whispered.
“Come drop in for lunch and just for your information, Stephanie
isn’t invited”
“Yeah I’ll meet you guys there”
I hung up and stared at my phone for a minute. I got up and went to
my closet I searched for my clothes I began pulling them out then
stopped as I thought Natasha will kill you and then I realized with
a pang that she wasn’t here. I glanced at her clothes that were
folded neatly and kept one the other side. I touched them and
sighed, she was gone one day and I missed her already. Fair chance
said a voice in my head; I am giving Wade and Natasha a fair chance.A/N: So you see people there is a bit of miscommunication, Jude thinks Natasha and Wade may have something going on :D Ok there is a lot of drama coming up I am excited and i hope you are too! I have no idea why there are so many annoying spaces between the lines when i haven't inserted them :s I hope you enjoy it and trust me the fun is about to start!!! So what do you guys think? why has Stephanie come back to Jude? Please leave your comments I love reading them. please vote it means a lot :) As usual lend your support to me and spread the word. I love u guys <3
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Rent A Wife!!!
RomanceNatasha is struggling to make ends meet. While she is pondering over her issues she meets Jude. Jude has an interesting proposition for her. He wants her to marry him in exchange he would take care of all her issues.