NOT SORRY
8
Mom : You missed our monthly family check-up.
Mom : It’s the third time, and you rudely left for the previous one.
Mom : We’re getting worried about you.
Prudence : Was Jack invited to this monthly Check-up?
Mom : Come on, honey. Don’t be like that.
Prudence : If it’s a family check-up, Jack should have been invited.
Mom : You know I’m trying.
Mom : Your father is not ready.
Prudence : Jack’s my family.
Prudence : I don’t care what dad has to say.
Prudence : We’re a package deal.
Mom : Prue, you’ve got to meet me halfway here.
Mom : Your dad is getting upset with your behavior. And so am I.
Prudence : I’m not sorry.
Mom : I’m expecting you to join our family call next month.
Prudence : I won’t.
PRUDENCE
“That dress looks absolutely Gorgeous. You should wear it all the time.”
I cock a brow at him. “Yeah, right. Like I’m going to go work or run or grocery shopping in it.”
“Well I know it wouldn’t be practical but you should. It shows that hourglass figure of yours. I’ve heard straight men love that,” he says, gesturing to my body with his hand.
I roll my eyes. “You mean my too wide hips and ass for my too tiny waist?”
He grunts in frustration. “Stop saying ‘too’ something. Why’d you think I spent a whole year in university pushing horny students away from you? You’re hot. I mean, objectively.”
“What do you mean, pushing people away from me?” I demand with a frown.
“Not people, Sunshine. I said horny students. And as I’m as terrifying as a litter of kittens, Nate actually did the ‘scaring away’ for me.”
“What?” I almost yell.
The memory of Nate’s voice echoes in my head again. Is she really worth the trouble?
Could I have been spending my student years hooking up with hot guys instead of sadly alone? And worse, he asked Nate to push people away from me?
“Well yeah. Nate kept his ears open and when jerks were talking about you, he made sure they stopped.”
What the hell?
“And you guys thought it was okay, because?”
Jack’s eyes widen, obviously oblivious to why I am upset. “Well… I didn’t want you to get hurt, that’s all… I’m sorry?”
“Oh my god, I can’t believe you.” I shake my head, gritting my teeth and walking towards the door to leave Jack’s room. I hear the wheels of his chair going full speed behind me. “You know that all of this makes the reason you fought with Nate even stupider, right?” I snap.
“Yeah, I know. But trust me, you wouldn’t have wanted to get in my mind at that time, it was messed up. And it made sense in my head when…”
“No it didn’t!” I screech and halt, forcing him to a stop. “Nate scared guys away from me for you . There was absolutely no way he was trying to sleep with me behind your stubborn ass!”
“Look, I’m sorry! I was just trying to protect you, because most of those guys on campus were just looking to sleep around.”
“It makes so much sense now!” I start laughing hysterically. “Why guys kept standing me up and were avoiding me like the fucking plague for the whole year.”
“Well, at least it took one more year for stupid Jason Jerkwood to break your heart, which he probably would have done sooner if it weren’t for Nate and me.”
I clench my fists at my sides. It’s not what happened, and he knows it.
“It’s none of—”
“What did Jerkwood do?” Nate’s low voice asks from a few feet behind me.
I whirl around with a deadly stare and meet his eyes. Not only his, but also Evie’s and Ikram’s wide embarrassed ones.
Of course he’s here. Nate has the fucking audacity to stand in the middle of the living room, arms crossed over his chest casually with narrowed eyes. Like, how and why is he even here? Does every fucking person in this town have the key to this stupid house?
I take two sure steps in his direction, pointing my finger at him. He, at least, has the presence of mind to look a little startled.
“Don’t you dare try to even talk to me right now,” I say, stabbing his—way too hard and too broad—chest with my pointer finger.
The muscle in his jaw twitches but he doesn’t move an inch. Although, I do notice the way his arms tense against his chest and his nostrils flare, like my mere proximity repulses him and he has to fight the urge to push me away.
God, knowing what he did now? We were never really friends—especially after I heard him dissuading a friend of his to date me. But I got over that, and we stayed cordial. Right now, 19 year old me wants to scratch his stupid azur eyes out.
“I don’t care which of you played what part in my lack of dating life back then, but you both deserve a knee in the fucking balls,” I say, grinding my teeth. “Stupid, brainless Alpha-holes,” I mutter, walking away towards Evie and Ikram, who are both looking everywhere except towards us.
“We’re really sorry, Sunshine!” Jack says as I open the front door.
And I’m pretty sure I hear Nate mumbling “No, we’re not,” just as Evie closes the door behind us.
I can’t believe this. How fucking dare they? I was perfectly able to take care of myself, I never needed them to do that for me. And what if it ended badly with Jason? It had nothing to do with him “breaking my heart”. We ended things after a year and a half because he was annoyed that I was spending my weekends outside of campus with Jack, and was jealous of every person in my life. I was sad, yes, but after a couple of days I was more than happy to be rid of that assface.
“Alright, let’s get those drinks, shall we?” Evie says cheerfully, opening the passenger’s door of her car for me to get in.
“Yeah… I need to drink and vent.”
“Well you’re in luck,” she says as I sit on the passenger side, “we’re really good at both those things.”
“Especially with the venting,” Ikram snorts from the backseat.
Evie takes her seat behind the wheel and winks at me as she starts the car. And then, we’re off to wherever that cocktail place is. Yeah. Cocktails sound nice right now.
The Tipsy Turtle looks like a really modern and fancy tiki bar on a private beach. They give us our green bracelets and we pick a spot on the deck outside. There are lots of little sofas and comfy chairs surrounding round coffee tables. Light strings decorate the pergolas and candles illuminate all the tables.
So cozy, I feel relaxed already.
“Let’s start with a round of Margaritas, if that’s okay with everyone?” Evie says, sitting graciously on the little couch.
“Fine by me,” Ikram answers, falling carelessly next to her with a long exhale. “But I vote for Mojitos for the next round.”
“What do you think, Prudence?”
“Uhm… Yes, that sounds good. Any alcohol will do to be fair.”
I sit on the armchair facing them, letting the smooth lights and wave sounds soothe my nerves.
I haven’t been going out with strangers in a long while, and the whole situation is making me a little nervous. Evie places our cocktails order to a passing waitress, and asks for a large plate of tapas for us to snack on.
“So, what was all… that about?” Evie asks me, grinning playfully.
“All… what?”
“Well, with the guys? You were arguing with Jack and Nate.”
“Like you didn’t hear.” I roll my eyes.
“Oh, we did,” Ikram snorts. “But we might need a little context.”
I sigh. “Jack basically told me that he and Nate used to scare guys away from me in my first year of university. Which is, I think, totally out of line.”
“Oh, yeah. It is.” Evie nods. “But why?”
“I don’t know,” I breathe out. “Something about guys being horny jerks and ‘protecting me’ from them,” I quote with my fingers.
Evie rolls her eyes with a grunt. “Fucking men, incapable of minding their own businesses.”
The waitress set our cocktails and food on the table and cast us an approving glance.
“Well, I think it was kinda sweet of them,” Ikram shrugs. “I wish I had someone to look out for me back when I was younger…”
Evie snorts and takes a sip of her drink through the straw. I inspect mine with a confused frown. Wait, are these straw long raw pasta with a hole in the middle? Like long, straight… Macaronis?
Clever.
“Your judgment of this particular situation is biased,” Evie tells Ikram with narrowed eyes. “Firstly, your ex was a total horseshit. Secondly, you have a crush on Jack and that tints your view of—”
“Wait, what?” I interrupt, straightening up on my seat.
“Evie!” Ikram groans with a frown.
“What? It’s not like you’re being discreet.” She rolls her eyes and sip her drink again. “You always volunteer to bring him everywhere, you stare at him with puppy eyes all the time… I’d be surprised if Jack hasn’t noticed yet.”
Well, if he has , he didn’t tell me !
“Wait, isn’t that…”
“Completely against the rules?” Evie cuts me off. “Yeah.”
“Is that true?” I turn to Ikram, whose face is getting redder by the second. “You really have a crush on my brother?”
“It’s nothing,” he mumbles, avoiding my eyes.
“It’s not!” I screech excitedly. “Because you’re totally his type and if you’re serious about him, I’m definitely vouching for you.”
He turns his face abruptly towards me, and the surprise on his face is probably due to the obvious excitement on mine.
“Wait, you’re serious?” His eyes widen slightly. “You’re actually serious?”
“Oh god, I hope they don’t choose Samantha to replace you.” Evie grits out.
“Why would they replace him?”
“He can’t work for your brother if they get involved. It’s unethical.”
“I’m not getting ahead of myself here,” Ikram says quickly. “With his condition, he might not even want to get involved. But if Prudence says I’m his type, and if she can somehow talk with him about… Well, dating me? Yeah, I’m out. I’ll push for Lina or Zoe to take my place though.”
He grins at me and I feel my heart warming up a little. It’s the first time I see him actually smile. And maybe it’s my fault for being so cold and mistrustful of them in the first place, but I missed this feeling. Making friends. And Ikram seems like a good guy. If Jack is indeed willing to date, I’m sure they would have a great time—however long it lasts—together.
“You guys have been taking care of him for a week now. And I’m sorry about how I acted. I truly am,” I admit sadly. “But he’s my brother, and it’s taking me time to adjust to… Well, to all this. And thank you. For what you do.”
Evie leans forward and takes my hand in hers, squeezing with a kind smile.
“Well, hopefully, I won’t be doing this for much longer,” Ikram winks. “But if everything goes well, trust me to hang around and loom over Evie and whoever takes my place to make sure they take care of him as best they can.”
A little knot forms in my stomach when I see the hopeful smile on Ikram’s face. I clear my throat, searching for the right words.
“Ikram, I don’t want you to get your hopes up too much… Even if Jack and you end up dating, he’s…”
I freeze, the words unable to pass my lips. I see his throat bob and he leans closer too, his elbows digging in his thighs.
“I know. Trust me, I know. But I do believe that, it’s not because he won’t live a long life that he shouldn’t fill the rest of it with love and good times.”
I nod with a tight throat. “Yeah, I agree. It’s just that… Well the last person he dated dumped him about seven years ago when his condition got worse. And I really don’t want him to go through that again, because it was hard for him… Losing someone because the sex became a bit more difficult, it’s not fair.”
He stares at me for a moment, maybe turning around what I said. But his eyes are calm, kind, and confident.
“That person did not care enough,” he states calmly. “And I’m not going to promise undying love and marriage or whatever. In a perfect world, we’d go on a couple of dates and maybe we’d work out. Maybe we’d work out so well that we’d get married and grow old and get 2.5 kids and live in the suburbs. But It’s not a perfect world, so we take what we can. And if I can only have two months or two years with Jack, that would have to be good enough. Because I really like your brother. Because I see the loneliness, one that you can’t fill because he just misses the love and care of a partner. And I really want to be that partner for him.”
I feel the tear falling on my knee before I even realize it’s out of my eye. I don’t know Ikram very well yet—I don’t know him at all actually—but I feel the sincerity behind his words. How even if he knows it’s going to last a short time, he still wants it. To be a part of it all.
“Alright, enough sad talk,” Evie says, tapping the corners of her hazel eyes with a small napkin, “you guys are going to ruin my make-up.”
I chuckle, sniffing ungraciously. Ikram gives me one last small smile before sipping his own drink, leaning back against the back of the couch.
Evie lifts her glass towards me. “I believe we have something to pre-celebrate? Tell us about that interview you have tomorrow!”
I blush a little. “Oh, it’s no big deal,” I answer with a shrug, but welcoming the change of topic. “I used to work as a freelance forensic sketch artist. And I was good and I enjoyed it, so since I’m clearly being fired as a caretaker,” I cast them a playful narrowed eyes glance, “I thought it would be good to do something I like to occupy my empty days and earn money doing it.”
“I’m going to ignore the little sting and focus on telling you that, by the way, I love your drawings.” Evie says, picking a tapas from the large plate.
“Oh, so they are all from you?”
“Yeah. I like to invent stories about the people I spot, and name the sketches with weird names.”
I think about the women pushing the stroller with the kids running around in the park that I didn’t even properly name yet.
“Oh, I loved the one of the girls doing yoga and judging the person eating a snack on the side. What was it called again?” Ikram asks, turning to Evie.
“Oh, Hypothetical Hypocrites! Yes. I loved it too.”
“You remember the name?” I ask, cocking a brow in surprise.
“Of course, I thought it was hilarious. I laughed for the whole afternoon just thinking about it.”
“What’s sad about it, is that it’s true,” Ikram sighs, shaking his head but looking at her fondly. “She laughs for the barest things, it’s not even funny anymore.”
“Oh come on, you have to admit that the sketch and the title were amazing.”
“I never said it wasn’t.” He rolls his eyes at her, folding his arm over his chest after setting his now empty glass on the table.
They start bickering with one another and my eyes catch a familiar figure standing at the bar. My heart stutters.
Totally different clothes and vibe in a button down shirt and suit trousers in contrast to the old leather jacket and ripped jeans from the bar. But it’s him.
Hot Grumpy Guy.
A smile stretches on my lips. Does he live here? Is it some kind of sign from the universe telling me that I’m definitely not a one night stand kind of girl and that what happened with Hot Grumpy Guy could become something… More? After all, Jack wants to settle here. Maybe I could give it a try. We did have fun during our single night together. The sex was not… Incredible, but it’s something we could work on, right?
I straighten in my chair, hoping to get his attention, and our eyes meet. His eyes widen and lips part in shock. Good he recognizes me, I won’t make a fool of myself, then.
I give him a small wave but freeze when a gorgeous red headed woman approaches him and nestles against his side, his arm coming around her shoulders in what looks to be an automatic response.
My smile falls.
He is wearing a fucking red wristband.