Fool Me Once (3 page)

“Eva, its not a question as to whether he would be upset if you were here or not, but I’m sure he likes to see you now and then. You can always go to the mall tomorrow night.” Then changing the subject, she looked at Eva with her all knowing eyes, eyes only a mother could have.” What about you, are you going to the formal with Ben?” Eva hadn’t told her mother she wasn’t seeing the jerk anymore, but somehow her mother was sensing something amiss.

“Huh no, not with Ben mum. I’m not seeing him anymore.” Her mother just nodded at the statement, as if totally unsurprised by the news.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Eva liked the fact that her mother never pried in her private life but always made sure she knew she was there is she needed.

“No mum, it’s alright.” She started and walked towards the living room when she suddenly stopped and asked:

“Mum, what type of friend is Josh bringing; a girl or one of his boring friends? Because if it’s one of those, don’t expect me to stick around after dinner. It would, like, totally suck.” She said, flipping her hair in her best imitation of Shelley Harrison.

“Eva, for a smart girl you can be quite a pain sometimes. There are days when I wonder whether you forget to grow up and others when I think you matured too fast.”

She smiled at her mother.

“Sorry mum, I just had to do it. I was trying to be the bimbo Ben wanted. Like totally!”

Eva and her mother erupted in her laughter.” I can’t believe I went out with him for three months!” She shook her head in wonder.

“Anyhow mum, I’ll be here for dinner, but I cannot guarantee I will stay afterBens. You know how boring Josh can be with is computer talk, if his friend is the same way, I’m afraid I may fall asleep standing up. How charming would I be snoring and drooling though yet another argument as to what was the best programming language is.” Eva yawned as if to illustrate her point.” Boring!”

Suddenly, she had a feeling that they were no longer the only ones in the kitchen, as if to confirm it; she heard deep laughter coming from right behind her. She looked at her mother who winked at her. She slowly turned around and found herself staring at a broad chest. Her gaze traveled up to meet laughing green eyes. WOW. He was tall, he was dark, and oh god, he was handsome. His eyes were the most wonderful she had ever seen. Intense, they were drawing her in, she found herself unable to look away. She swallowed hard. The broad shoulders, his full lips stretched in a grin and his height, she was by no means short, yet he towered over her 5’7”, all of it added to his mysterious appeal. She felt as if she was going to burst in flame, felt the need to be close to him, to have him against her. Oh my…

“Hi Eva. Mum could you tell her to please close her mouth and stop drooling over my friend?” He added as he bent to kiss his mother rosy cheek. “We decided to come a little early, hope it’s not a problem.” He knew full well it wasn’t. “Oh, this is Jake, we have classes together at the university.”

Eva glared at her brother, hesitating between killing her darling brother slowly and painfully or disappearing into a hole and never resurface. ARGH! Why did brothers always think it a necessity to embarrass their little sisters?

Jake smiled and nodded to everyone.

“So, you are Eva. Josh did mention you at one of our LAN fest.” He winked at her, and tried pulling up his pants to his armpit. She felt her cheeks flush a deep red, well deeper then it already was.

“I’m huh…I’m very sorry about that, I mean I never meant to say you were boring…what I meant to say was…that… well…” Before she could force her brain to function again and put her thoughts together, Josh started laughing.

“Ah! It seems you have struck Eva almost speechless, I never thought I’d see the day.”

He slapped his friend on the shoulder and proceeded to ask his mother all about dinner. Jack once again winked at her, and she smiled back. Maybe that evening wasn’t going to be a bust after all. And it wasn’t, nor were the weekends that followed. For the following two months, she got to know Jake well, or so she had thought. He could always make her laugh and listened to her opinions as if they really mattered. He didn’t seem to care that she was a jean wearing kind of girl. He had this way of looking at her that made her feel beautiful. She didn’t even really mind Josh’s annoying comments anymore, as long as Jake would smile and wink at her as if they were sharing a secret joke, she didn’t feel quite so silly. She could endure the slight humiliation her brother caused her, although she did keep track and one day was going to make him pay for them. Jake had this way to include her in their conversation, making sure they never got too involved in their programming discussions. Never did he seem annoyed by her presence, and he would always be in a cheerful mood, although sometimes she thought she saw some emotions darken his usually laughing eyes, but she never dared ask, if he wanted to talk about them he would, and she hoped one day he would trust and confide in her.

Her plans of revenge almost lay forgotten at the back of her mind, still, subconsciously she knew that the thought of asking Jake to the dance was due in part because she wanted to show Ben she was a desirable woman; even to a college man. She remembered talking about it with her best friend Alex. What she was going to wear, and how she would be accompanied by Josh, a man who would easily eclipse all the others at the dance. As time passed however, such thoughts slowly drifted towards the darkest recesses of her mind, lying there forgotten. She remembered the exact moment when she realized Ben was not worth the trouble; he wasn’t even worth revenge. It had been a sunny afternoon, her brother, Jake and herself had been sitting in the living room arguing politics when Josh decided to go get drinks, leaving his sister and his best friend continue their friendly argument. She remembered how she tried to have him admit he was wrong
by bending his left hand back
, thus getting close to him. When laughingly she raised her face to him to tell him to give up, she found his face to be mere inches from hers. He no longer had a smile on his face; he was looking at her intensely. It shook her, she hadn’t known how to read that look, but she knew she never had wanted him to stop; it had made her breath catch in her throat. Their eyes had locked, their argument forgotten. Suddenly she knew with certainty he would bridge the couple of inches separating them and kiss her, and she had also known she had wanted that kiss desperately. Unfortunately, it had been the moment her brother chose to reappear. They had sprung quickly apart at the sound of his footsteps, and looked away from each other. She would never forget the sad little smile he had given her; never forget that it was the moment she realized she had fallen in love with him.

She knew then that she couldn’t give a damn if Ben was dating Shelley and Madonna, and that in fact she had never really cared. Nor did she care about what he thought of her. She had met the men she was meant to be with; all she had to do was to convince him she was the one for him as well. Her hopes grew every time he smiled at her, every time she saw a quick flash of the longing she felt for him reflected in his eyes. And the day when, clammy handed, stomach knotted in three, she went to ask him to the dance, her initial reason for the invite lay completely forgotten, all she could think about was that she would be able to spend some time alone with him. To her complete joy, he had accepted, although his comment that “he couldn’t let his friend’s little sister go alone to a dance” made her grind her teeth; she would have to make sure he saw her as a woman as opposed to someone’s little sister.

“Hello?”

“Hey girl, so you ready for the big date?” Alex asked from the other end?

Eva smiled thinking of Jake, hoping he would finally notice she wasn’t just Josh’s sister.

“Yes, I hope Jake realize we are made for each other…”

Alex voice came back on the line a little confused.

“Jake? But I thought it was Ben you wanted to get back at.”

Eva groaned inwardly as she suddenly recalled her revenge plan. She also cursed her omission to tell Alex all about her change of heart, and of her new feelings for Jake. For some reason she hadn’t told her best friend her true feelings. So now, Alex was not likely to understand why she would forgo revenge, which they so carefully planned. Still she had to make Alex understand and make her promise to forget all about it.

“Hmmm Alex, I don’t think its such a good idea after all, I don’t care enough about Ben to go through the trouble. I mean we should just enjoy ourselves and forget all about our plan.

“What? Are you insane? Revenge is a must Eva. You will see, after you will feel a lot better and plus, can you imagine Shelley’s face when you are going to walk in with Jake on your arm, and have Ben beg you to take him back? It will be priceless believe me. You can’t, not do this.” Alex sounded so certain it was the thing to do. Eva thought, “What’s the harm in it?” Jake was still going with her; he didn’t have to find out that she had originally had other reasons to ask him. Lost in her thoughts and self-justification, she didn’t notice Jake approach her door.

“Alright Alex, since you think it’s a good idea, I will use Jake to make Ben realize he was a complete fool. But you do understand I don’t want him back. I am way over him; he doesn’t even deserve a second of my thoughts. I just want him to see I am not as bad as he described me, that he was an idiot. Won’t he have a shock when he sees how different I look tonight, when he sees the handsome college man accompanying me?” You know I don’t care about Ben right? That I probably never did. On the other hand I…” she let the sentence trail off, once again finding herself unable to voice her true feelings. But in her head she added, “Tonight I will tell Jake how I feel.” Then again to her friend “ Alex, tonight will be special, I will love to see Ben’s reaction, but I wont care either way. You understand, don’t you?”

Eva hadn’t seen Jake retreat from the hallway, his jaw clenched, his eyes hard. He had left as soon as he heard she was going to use him, unwilling to hear all the sordid details. It was almost a blessing she hadn’t seen his smile freeze and his eyes harden. Had not seen that his small misunderstanding would change her and her life forever.

Before starting down the stairs, she checked her appearance one last time, and smiled convinced that Jake would finally see her as the young woman she was. She descended the stairs slowly; more nervous then she had ever been before. What if he laughed? What if she tripped and ended up with her dress around her shoulders? What ifs filled her head? She almost went running back to her room but forced herself to walk down the remaining steps. She realized she couldn’t hide her feelings from him forever. Plus the odds of him feeling the same way were good, weren’t they? Eva had thought of the age difference, there was 6 years between them, but she thought herself mature and believed love had no age. So there were no reasons why he couldn’t see her as girlfriend material, was there?

She finally reached the last step and saw him sitting on the couch in the living room. He looked breathtaking; in fact he took her breath away, he was so handsome. His broad shoulders were straining under the well-cut tuxedo. His black hair was still damp from the shower he had taken earlier. He was smiling at something her brother had said when he saw her. She could have sworn he became another person; she could almost feel the chill of his eyes and suddenly felt cold and exposed; it lasted only a fraction of a second, she must have imagined it. Smiling broadly, she extended her hand:

“Well, shall we go?”

She thought he appeared somewhat uncomfortable but it was crazy, it must have been because she was so nervous, she made up stuff. She brushed the idea aside; she had to get a grip. Jake was always at ease, no matter what.

“Sure, I guess” he answered as he got up.

He sounded somewhat less then anxious to get going. He walked to the door, ignoring her outstretched hand. She swallowed hard and laughed nervously.

“Wait up Jake, you wouldn’t want to leave your date behind now, would you?”

The question of course was asked as a joke, but she was hoping his attitude would change and he would realize how much he wanted to be with her/His answer wasn’t what she was looking for; he just shrugged, slowed down and allowed her to reach the door ahead of him. Once in the car, he reached over to do up her seat belt, in the process slightly brushing against her breast. She gasped and directed a wide-eyed look in his direction. She heard his quick intake of breath but his face remained unreadable, so she remained quiet. The ride there was awkward to say the least. Every attempt at conversation Eva tried was answered by noncommittal groans. Jake just stared ahead and gripped the wheel tightly.