Station 53

Unwanted Invitation

This chapter has NOT been edited! 

*** 

Daniel and I just stared at one another, neither of us uttering a word. I scanned Daniel's face to see if there was any sign of him playing around but the look in his eyes told me he was being very serious. 

The little girl inside of me wanted to squeal and jump into his arms happily but I didn't quite understand why I wanted to do something like that in the first place. I mean, my relationship with Daniel at the current moment was more of a contracted friends with benefits type of relationship and I never thought of it being anything more than that. So why was my heart beating so fast at the prospect of it really being something more? 

Daniel opened his mouth to say something but then shut it right afterwards. This continued for a while until the doorbell rang, ending both of our shock-driven states. 

With a quick glance my way, Daniel all but ran to the door in a flash, leaving me and my contradicting thoughts and feelings alone. 

My thoughts all came to a stop and I sobered up quickly after hearing Juliette's voice coming from downstairs. With a groan, I quickly checked to see if I looked presentable in the mirror before forcing myself downstairs. 

Juliette rolled her eyes upon seeing me before she continued her embarrassing attempt at flirting with my husband. Daniel on the other hand awkwardly stood there, trying hard not to make any eye contact with me. 

With a sigh and a slight roll of my eyes, I linked my arm with his before giving our guest a sickly sweet smile. 

"How nice to see you, Juliette," I forced out, "what brings you to our home?" 

Juliette grinned, not at all fazed by me, "My family is holding a 40th year anniversary celebration so I'm handing out invitations," she spoke loud and clear as she handed me an envelope. I looked down at the envelope in my hand with disgust, suddenly felt like I was holding boiling hot lava in my hand. I quickly pushed it into Daniel's hand before turning my attention back to Juliette. 

"Sounds great but we're busy on that day," I didn't even bother to make it sound believable. 

"You didn't even check the date," she said, pressing her lips into a thin line. 

"We're busy every day so the date doesn't matter," I childishly argued. "We're not coming." 

Daniel looked at me with sparkling eyes, possibly thinking my attitude stemmed from jealously, before turning back to Juliette. 

"Thank you for the invitation, Julie," he sweetly said, making my heart constrict for some strange reason. "Although we're very busy these days, we'll see if we can make some room in our schedule to attend," he played along with my lie. 

Juliette smiled up at him while flirtatiously fluttering her eyelashes before she placed a hand tenderly on his shoulder. I suddenly wanted to break her hand off but Daniel ended up removing her hand off of him before I could even try. 

"You're always so kind," she winked at him before gracing my peasant-self with a glance. "I would absolutely love for you to attend," she said as she left her eyes on me mockingly for a few extra seconds as she added: "It would mean a lot to my family." 

"We'll see what we can do," Daniel said. Finally, Juliette accepted that answer and decided to leave. I watched as she tried to embarrassingly flirt a little more before she disappeared through the door. 

I groaned and stomped back to my room the moment the door was closed. 

There was absolutely no way I would go to that party. I would rather die a million times over in the most brutal and painful way possible to human kind than to ever step foot anywhere near those people. I felt tears brim in the corner of my eyes at the thought of coming in contact with them again and unfortunately, Daniel didn't miss it either. 

"There's no reason for us to not attend this party," he told me as he walked further into my room, not saying a word about the tears in my eyes. I was glad he kept it to himself. 

"I refuse to attend," I mumbled. 

"But why?" Daniel asked, not understanding my reaction. "I understand that you're not very fond of Juliette but I don't understand why we shouldn't go. Which by the way, I also don't understand why you dislike Juliette so much. She's my cheating ex-girlfriend so I have reason to be hostile but what has she done to you?" 

How could I possibly explain my complicated relationship with her family while also trying to keep the fact that everything he knows about me is fake? 

"Are you," he hesitantly began, "jealous of her?" 

My eyes shot up to meet his. I really didn't want to lie to him any further so I kept my answer to myself. However, a traitorous tear that fell down my face led him to believe that that was indeed the case. 

Daniel bit down on his bottom lip to keep back a smile which made me narrow my eyes at him in return. 

"I just think it's cute," he explained, no longer being able to contain his smile. "It leads me to believe that maybe you do after all want me to court you."  

"Wow," I sighed, "from one thing to another. You really are an opportunist." 

Daniel laughed and jumped on my bed, no longer seeming to be awkward around me. 

"I really don't want to go though," I told him with a sigh, bringing the topic back before it ended and I was forced to attend the stupid party. 

"Look, I can understand you. The last thing I want to do is be around Juliette but the Pierce family have always been really close and respected business partners. It's like skipping out a sibling's wedding. It's just unacceptable," Daniel tried to explain. 

"Fine," I shrugged. "Then you can go alone." 

Daniel tilted his head to the side upon hearing my childish response.

"You are my wife, you can't sit out." 

"I'm not going," I pouted. 

"I guess I'll have to trick you into going then," he chuckled. I rolled my eyes before hitting him with the closest pillow and then plopping down on my bed. I was about to turn my back to him when a thought suddenly popped into my mind. 

If I'm not his wife then there's no reason for me to attend... 

"I'll accept," I suddenly said as I jumped back up into a sitting position, not caring that there was no context whatsoever to my words 

"Accept what?" Daniel asked, confusion written all over his face. 

"Let's get divorced," I grinned. 

Daniel froze before quickly recovering, a small smile playing on his lips. 

"So you'll let me court you?" he asked, his eyes sparkling. "For real?" 

I ignored the million and one thoughts in my brain telling me why I shouldn't say yes and simply nodded instead. 

"Exactly. I'll let you court me for real." 

With a grin, Daniel stood up and pulled his phone out of his phone. 

"Then let's get divorced!" He all but sang as he called up his lawyer. 

I wonder how many other people in the world are this happy about getting divorced. 

***

This is a short chapter, sorry about that. Regardless, I really hope you enjoyed! 

Let me know what you think!

:)