The Raving Love (Enemies To Lovers)

by Emma Vikes

  Perhaps, I was more cruel than Julian.

  I was sitting on the toilet and putting lotion on my legs when my phone pinged for a message. Squinting my eyes, I tried to see who had sent me a text and let out a scoff when I saw Julian’s name on the screen. He had been trying to reach me when I left and to be honest, I was surprised that he was. He was on the verge of apologizing for what he had said but we both knew that he had meant every word so his apology was useless.

  But I couldn’t really ignore the message because he kept on messaging me, flooding me with a message typed in capital letters. With a huff of annoyance, I grabbed my phone and read the message in big letters.

  I’M OUTSIDE. COME OUT. OR I’LL CAUSE A RUCKUS.

  There weren’t many reasons for me to trust Julian and just as I was about to ignore the message and continue preparing myself for bed, I could hear muffled screaming from outside followed by the pounding of my front door. Again, my phone pinged with a message, the screen lighting up, Julian’s name flashing.

  I’LL SCREAM ALL NIGHT OUTSIDE UNTIL YOU COME OUT HERE.

  I resisted the urge to throw my phone against the wall in annoyance as I put on some clothes and rushed outside. I could hear Julian screaming my name from within the walls of my house, his voice echoing in the silence until I finally reached the front door and grabbed him by his shirt without hesitation and dragged him in.

  Pushing him against the door the moment I closed it, his eyes were wide with surprise as his back pressed against the door. “You must’ve heard that it turns me on when women get feisty.”

  Letting him go, I turned my back on him and kept a safe distance. “What are you doing here?”

  Heck, how did he even know where I lived? None of the boys knew where I lived and even Bonnie didn’t. I’d only been Julian’s assistant for nearly 48 hours and there wasn’t even a personal data sheet that I had to submit to him because this was merely an agreement that we made for him to sign his band with us.

  There was only person who could tell him where I lived but I doubted that he would.

  “I asked Theo where you lived when you continued to ignore my calls,” Julian said, sounding so casual as he walked further into my home. I pursed my lips and gritted my teeth in annoyance. Theo was going to hear a mouthful about this whole thing tomorrow, “and it’s surprising that your place isn’t too shabby but I’m surprised you live on your own.”

  “Why are you here?”

  Julian turned to look at me, his eyes looked like cloudy daylight and there didn’t seem to be any ounce of sunlight that would sliver through it. It was only then that I noticed that he had something behind his back. “What’s that?”

  He bit his lower lip and then handed me the package without even looking. It was a brown paper bag and Julian refused to look at me as I took it from him and opened it. The smell of freshly-baked cinnamon cookies wafted all around the house as if someone doused my entire home with cinnamon and the smell was so strong it felt like I was punched by it.

  But in a way, it warmed my heart.

  “Amber used to beg me to make you cinnamon cookies because you liked them so much.”

  I looked at him in surprise. “You made those?”

  Julian and Amber dated for a few months until he dumped her but my best friend seemed to be at her happiest whenever he was around so I could never really ruin it for her, no matter how much I was against it. During the time that she was with him, she used to bring me cinnamon cookies on random nights because she knew how much I loved them but she would never tell me where she got them.

  “Cooking and making music aren’t the only things I’m good at,” Julian said quietly and he balanced himself on the balls of his feet and then let out a sigh, “I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, right?”

  “Did you come here to apologize for what you said to me earlier?”

  Julian looked like he was a deer caught by the headlights and he hastily shook his head. “No! I made cookies earlier because Dylan asked me to. And…”

  I raised an eyebrow. “And?”

  “And you left in such a hurry and you weren’t answering any of my calls. You didn’t really leave in such a celebratory mood.”

  Julian’s not a bad person once you actually try and get to know him.

  I pursed my lips and then lifted the brown bag filled with cookies. “This is bait, isn’t it? Although, thank you for it.”

  Julian looked away but I could see that he was trying to fight off the shy smile

  I let out a small sarcastic chuckle but nodded my head as I took a step towards the door and opened it, motioning for him to leave. Julian paused for a moment. “You’re still coming tomorrow, right?”

  Despite the animosity that I had towards him, the warm cinnamon cookies thawed my cold heart, a little. “At 8 AM, sharp.”

  9

  Julian

  Audrey had been my assistant for a week now and we never really got along as much as I thought we would after that hurtful argument that we had on the second day. Audrey continued to remind herself that this was only for a moment and there were orders she refused to do that frustrated me to no end.

  Considering that we didn’t really have a label and a manager- which we’d all unanimously agreed on firing Pete- there wasn’t anything much that I was meant to do. I had photoshoots and auditions and the boys were all either busy running their YouTube channel and getting in an actual job and I was mostly just at home, arguing with Audrey and wondering what the hell I was supposed to do for the day.

  My phone’s incessant ringing woke me up and with a groan, I reached from it from the nightstand and answered the FaceTime, squinting my eyes as I adjusted to see who was calling me. Milo’s face appeared on screen, freshly showered, shaven and ready for work. “Why are you still asleep, Julian?”

  My oldest brother sounded so reprimanding, it reminded me of my father. “Why are you already up?”

  I could hear the kids in the background and could hear cooking as well. Milo switched to the back camera and Violet- his daughter and my only niece- cheered when she saw me. “Uncle Jules! I’m so excited to see you!”

  Sitting up and running a hand through my hair to fix it a little, I gave her a tiny wave as Milo moved forward so I could see his little baby boy, Atlas, sitting on a high chair and attacking his food. I watched as Megan appeared in front of the camera and gave me a little wave. “Good morning, Julian. I told him to call you a little while later but he insisted on calling you at this time to wake you up.”

  Megan affectionately gave Atlas a kiss on the cheek and then disappeared from the camera and I couldn’t help but admire their family and I watched as Milo switched the camera back and placed his phone somewhere it could stand and I watched as he pulled up Megan and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek while Violet giggled and I pretended to gag at the affectionate gesture.

  Four years ago, I didn’t think anyone could snap my brother back into reality because he seemed to be lost in grieving and betrayal after losing his first wife and Violet’s mother, Rebecca, in a tragic car accident along with her lover. But Megan came into his life and was only meant to be Violet’s nanny but somehow and somewhere along the line, the two of them fell in love and now they were this happy family.

  “I just wanted to make sure he made use of his day by preparing everything he needed for Violet’s arrival.” In the background, Violet cheered in delight. Last Christmas, I gave her an open-ticket to LA as a present so I could take her to Disneyland. She was only meant to stay with me from Thursday evening to Monday morning but I knew what Milo meant. He wanted to make sure that the house was kid-friendly and that I would brief my bandmates not to bring any girls or make-out so openly that Violet could walk in on them.

  “Oh, don’t worry. I plan to spend the rest of the day kid-proofing this house,” I said casually as I sank back into bed, “and besides, I have an assistant. She’s going to help me all day.”

  Megan popped into the frame. “She?�
�

  “How come we’ve never heard of this assistant of yours?” Milo asked, raising an eyebrow.

  After the wedding in Irving, I hadn’t really talked to my brothers because the moment I got back to LA, there were auditions lined up and small concerts that we had scheduled. They had no idea that I dropped the contract with Wayland and Ross and they had zero clue about Audrey Finch being my assistant, not that they knew who she even was. Still, I felt like so many things have happened that I didn’t get the chance to call my family and fill them in on what was going on with my life which was actually something I did on a weekly basis.

  I scratched my head and shrugged casually. “It’s only for a month. It’s my condition before I sign us up with their label.”

  Biting my bottom lip, I waited for Milo’s response. “What do you mean sign with their label?”

  I turned to the side and readjusted my phone and sighed. “Pete betrayed us. The contract we had with W&R was only meant to last for five years and we thought we could renew with them but they sat me down and said they only wanted to renew with me or sign me as a solo artist, dropping the rest of the band so I told them to fuck off and ended things with that.”

  Milo pursed his lips and I saw Megan’s hand on his shoulder and I knew it was a gesture meant to ask him to pause before he fired me his questions. “Wayland and Ross asked to sign you as a solo artist but you told them to fuck off which now basically leaves you jobless and you’re meant to pay a house rent that most people can’t even afford.”

  “It’s only for a month, Miles,” I said, trying to lighten up the mood, “and I have savings. You taught me how to. It’s not like I’m low on cash or anything and besides, after the month is over we sign up with Finch Records as long as Audrey sticks to her part of the deal and serves me as an assistant.”

  Milo’s eyebrows rose and his eyes narrowed. “Yet despite the situation you were in, you were still in a position to demand someone offering you a solution to be your assistant for a month before you sign up with their company.”

  “Hey, don’t make it sound like it’s bad because it’s not,” I said, sitting up and furrowing my eyebrows in annoyance. Milo didn’t know Audrey and he had no idea about Amber either. Leo and Everett did so I didn’t have to explain to them as much as I was explaining to Milo, “I have my reasons, Miles.”

  Milo sighed and nodded at me. “I just hope those reasons are valid. But anyway, Violet arrived at 7 PM. Make sure you take her dinner right after and Jules, please, no sweets before bed.”

  I pouted but nodded although I already planned on making brownies for Vi to munch on the moment she got out of the plane and even before bed. I gotta make sure that I was the favourite uncle. “What about you? You’re not staying even for the night?”

  “Connecting flight to San Francisco. I’ll only be able to walk her out of the plane but she’ll have to head out on her own because I have to stay inside.”

  “We’ve been briefing her every five minutes so she doesn’t get lost,” Megan piped up and I could hear Violet groan in the background at how protective her parents were. It was cute though and I loved that Megan and Violet actually had a mother-daughter relationship despite the fact that Megan was only her step-mother.

  “Well then, I guess I better kid-proof the house and brief the boys about Violet’s arrival,” I announced and then waved goodbye at everyone before hitting the shower and changing into comfortable clothes.

  The moment I arrived downstairs, I had the megaphone I had bought a year ago to call everyone downstairs alongside a gong that José randomly bought one time. I began sounding it and talking on the megaphone, asking everyone to see me downstairs until my roommates slash bandmates came out of their respective rooms, all looking like they were about to murder me. I grinned sheepishly at them as they formed a circle around me and I set the gong and megaphone down.

  “Good morning!” I greeted them all brightly and clapped my hands together, earning a groan from my friends, “I know you’re all tired-,”

  “No shit Sherlock.”

  “But my niece will be arriving tonight and I just want to remind you all to be on your best behaviour because we all know how protective Milo is with his daughter and I do not want to scar my niece because you all couldn’t get a hold of yourselves.”

  They all made a face and I clapped my hands together, continuing on. “I guess this could also be our break from song writing and practice sessions. I know we don’t have enough footage to upload on the channel yet but I think this short break will be good for us.”

  There wasn’t much complaint on that part. We’d been pushing ourselves to write more songs and make more music to compensate for the music we lost rights to. I had to cancel most auditions that I was invited to and had Audrey answer most emails regarding that and the other things I was meant to do.

  Now I just needed her to make sure that my schedule was clear for the following days because I wanted to spend much time with my niece as I could. Then again, it wasn’t as if there were a lot of things an unemployed man was meant to do.

  We all heard the front door open and Audrey waltzed in. She was carrying two Starbucks in her hands and then handed one to me without saying much. She looked at the boys with raised eyebrows. “Is there a meeting I wasn’t aware of?”

  Dylan jutted his thumb over at me. “His niece is coming over. I’m sure you have that in your list of things to do for the day.”

  Audrey’s eyebrows furrowed as she pulled out her phone and scanned through the email that I sent her. “Actually, I wasn’t informed.”

  She was looking at me and I shrugged. “I meant for you to just do the groceries and help me make something for Violet before we pick her up from the airport.”

  “And at what time would that be?”

  I smiled cheekily. “She arrives at 7PM.”

  Audrey blinked. “I get off at 6.”

  “Well, you can let me borrow your car and I’ll pick up my niece from the airport.” I said it so casually and calmly that it took Audrey a minute to comprehend what I just said.

  Then, she let out a humourless laugh and pushed past me. “If you think I’d be fine with you borrowing my car for the night to pick up your niece, you’re delusional.”

  “It’s not like I’m going to crash it!”

  She turned to face me, her eyebrows raised and the amusement clear in her eyes. “If there’s anything your brother is meant to be worried about, it’s your driving skills, Julian, not the kind of vehicle you drive.”

  I scoffed and the boys let out an amused chortle. Carlos cleared his throat. “If I were you, I won’t take offense on that, Jules, because she actually does have a point. You’re not exactly the safest driver on the planet.”

  Audrey looked victorious after Carlos’ statement as she called for Julio and my little dog came bounding to her in an instant. They didn’t have the best relationship at first but I think Julio grew on Audrey or it may have been the other way around. She picked him up and cuddled him up close, kissing the top of his head and I felt my eyes soften at the sight.

  Beside me, José cleared his throat. “So umm, Jules, when you said that we were meant to be on our best behaviour while Violet’s here, does that mean we can’t have parties or just you know, invite friends over and hang out?”

  José’s friends outside our circle were a little bit on the wilder side and he liked throwing parties every other week. I didn’t mind because that meant having girls to have one-night stands and rather preferred that since I wasn’t too keen on the dating game. But having an eight-year-old kid in the house meant that we had to alter our lifestyle a bit.

  “Yes, José, it means exactly that.”

  He let out a nervous chuckle and ran a hand through his hair, looking up at me slightly worried. “So umm, I kind of already had an entire party planned for tomorrow night and invited a bunch of people over.”

  I gritted my teeth in annoyance. “I’m sure you could find a differen
t venue.”

  “Jules, I already paid for a bunch of stuff. They’ll be sending it all tomorrow morning. Look, I’m sure Violet would love to stay in a hotel near Disneyland or…or…,” His eyes fell on Audrey who was playing with Julio, throwing his toy and then letting him run back to her so she could throw it again, “or she could stay with Audrey just for one night.”

  Audrey perked up at the mention of her name. “What did you just say?”

  José rushed to her side and then placed a hand on her shoulder. “Aud, Violet’s such a nice kid and I’m sure you’ll fall in love with her the moment you meet her and think of it as having a girl’s night with her-,”

  “Now you want me to babysit Julian’s niece?”

  He looked apologetic. “Just for one night, Aud. Violet’s such a cool kid and I swear to you, it wouldn’t feel like you’re babysitting. It’ll be like a sleepover!”

  I cleared my throat and then José turned to look at me. “Vi’s staying here and you’re going to think of something to move your party. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll be coming with you to the vet and then we can head to the supermarket together.”

  Audrey stood up and eyed me wearily. I think that the whole reason why we’d managed to last a week was that we hadn’t usually in the same room together. I always had Audrey run errands for me and I’d basically holed myself up in my room writing songs for almost the entire week. Besides, the last time we were alone together, it didn’t really end in a good note.

  “Why?”

  “I need to get new sheets for my bed and more pillows for Violet,” I said, sounding nonchalant as I began to head back upstairs for a shower.

  “Oh wait, hold up,” Audrey called out and I stopped in the middle of the stairs to look at her. “Your niece is eight years old but new sheets and more pillows? You’re being a little extra here, Julian.”