by Ashley Blake
I had never seen Jonathan truly angry until that very minute. His eyes filled with fire as he looked off into the distance and I could see that his face was filled with rage. He turned to me and tried to control his anger as he spoke.
“I promise you Skylar, nothing ever happened between me and Barbi. I know you have a paper to work on but can you give me 30 more minutes so that I can clear this up?”
I could tell that he was sincere and I also wanted to find out how he intended to clear this up.
“Yes, I can do that.”
Relief swept over his face and he put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. “Thank you.”
Jonathan quickly whipped out his cell phone, dialed a number and I was not shocked to hear who he was calling.
“Barbi? Can you meet me at the park near the silver statue in 10 minutes?” His voice was firm and left no room for her to say no. He ended the call and turned to me.
“I’m going to put an end to this, I want you to know that you can trust me.”
“Jonathan, she’s just going to lie to you to try to cover her tracks.”
He held my hand as his eyes searched mine.
“I am going to be very direct with her, she won’t have any room to lie. I really don’t like that she is making up lies about me. I won’t stand for that. It’s important that you know that you can trust me Sky. I would never hurt you.”
I was beginning to believe that I might have made a mistake about him and the whole Barbi thing, and to be honest I was happy that she was going to meet him at the park. She had no idea I was there so she would totally be put on the spot, which I couldn’t wait to see.
We walked over to the statue and sat on the bench to wait for her. As soon as we sat down I saw her long blonde extensions flying in the wind and it couldn’t have been more than six minutes that had passed since he called. She must have rushed over here when he called her. Desperate much?
Her pace slowed to a near crawl when her eyes locked with mine and I couldn’t help but sneer at her, just a little. She made her way over to us and had a nervous look of caution written all over her face.
“Hi Jonathan.” She managed a feeble smile and looked over at me. “Hi Skylar.”
I didn’t say one word to her.
“Barbara, have a seat.” Jonathan’s voice was firm and cold.
She sat on the end of the bench so that Jonathan was sitting between us.
“I am going to ask you these questions one time and I expect to hear the truth.” His voice was cold as steel and fire danced in his eyes.
She shifted in her seat and looked thoroughly uncomfortable as she responded to him. “Okay.”
“Were you naked in my bed when Sky came down there last night?”
Her eyes frantically searched the ground before she raised them to meet his, a look of guilt clearly written all over her face.
“Kind of, but I can explain that.” She looked scared as she muttered her answer.
I could see that Jonathan was clenching his jaw and he adjusted his coat before he asked the next question.
“Did you imply that we were having sex?”
She looked extremely uncomfortable and she should have been. I had never heard Jonathan’s voice sound so ominous and it was enough to make anyone squirm.
“Yes, but…”
He cut her off as fire flashed across his eyes.
“Barbara, tell Skylar the truth right now!” His voiced boomed across the park and several people turned to look at us to watch what was going on.
Barbi turned to look at me and she looked like a lost little girl, terrified to death. Her sad eyes searched mine as they were welling up with tears. I probably should have felt sorry for her but I didn’t. I had no room in my life for girls like her.
She took a deep breath before she spoke. “Sky, nothing happened with Jonathan and me and nothing ever has. I’m sorry I made you think something was going on with us.”
Relief swept over me as I realized what this meant; Jonathan had not lied to me. He was the awesome guy I thought he was all along and I wanted to fling my arms around him and give him a huge hug.
“Barbara, I have been nothing but kind to you since you came into our family, welcoming you when many other people have dismissed you. For you to scheme and lie to try to ruin what I have with Skylar is unforgiveable. I think it is best that you get your own flight home for Thanksgiving and don’t expect me to pick you up from the airport. I will still be civil of course, because technically you are family, but any sort of friendship we had is over. You are on your own. Are we clear?” His eyes nearly bore a hole into her as he waited for her answer.
She was full on crying now and starting to make a spectacle of herself.
“I’m sorry Jonathan, I really am! I promise nothing like this will ever happen again! Your friendship means so much to me, please don’t cut me off like this, I don’t have anyone to turn to! I’m all alone!” Her sobs racked her body as she buried her head in her hands.
Now I felt sorry for her as I realized that she was a desperately lonely person who was only looking for attention. It all kind of made sense as I thought back to the sad look on her face when I asked her where her parents were for Parent’s Weekend. Jonathan told me that her mom kind of dumped her whenever she met a new husband and it turns out that Ethan was husband number five.
I don’t know what came over me but I felt bad for the girl, and I knew that I would have to try to convince Jonathan to reconsider cutting her off cold turkey. Maybe he could just keep her at arm’s length and not let her get too close again, but completely cut her off? That wasn’t the answer. I looked at Jonathan and I’m sure that he could see the concern written all over my face. I never wanted anyone to feel that they were all alone in the world, not even Barbi who was just a lonely girl deep down inside, it was too heartbreaking for me.
Clearly I was going to be the bigger person here and extend the olive branch. I seriously doubted that she would have done that for me if the roles were reversed but I didn’t care, she was seriously hurting and it ran much deeper than a crush on my boyfriend. My boyfriend. I think that was the first time I actually thought of him that way.
I thought back to the scene with Bethany and Seth and wondered why I didn’t feel sorry for those two, and I realized that they both knew better. They came from loving families and had tons of friends; they just wanted to screw each other behind my back. I quickly tossed them out of my mind, annoyed that I even took the time to think about them.
I looked over at Barbi who had now pulled her knees up, her arms wrapped around them and her head buried between them as she gently rocked back and forth. I glanced over at Jonathan and motioned for him to step away with me. He got up quietly and we stood a few feet away and lowered our voices to a whisper.
“Jonathan she is really hurting, I don’t think you should just cut her off like that. Maybe just don’t let her get too close but let her know that she’s not completely alone. She probably needs to talk to someone professionally so maybe you can suggest that to her at some point.”
He looked at me with amazement as a smile slowly spread across his face. “You are incredible. After what she tried to do to us, you are concerned about her. That is so selfless of you Sky; I knew I loved you for a reason.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Okay, I’ll let her know that she’s not alone, but I’ll also be clear about boundaries so we don’t have another misunderstanding like this.”
We went back over to Barbi and Jonathan’s voice was gentle this time. “Barbs.”
She raised her bloodshot eyes to him and cautiously looked at both of us.
“I may have been too hard on you, I don’t want you to think that you’re all alone because you’re not. But things have to change. No more lies, no more trying to make people think that something is going on between us, and most importantly, no more snide cattiness toward Skylar. She is my girlfriend and she is not going anywhere. If you need somet
hing I want you to always call first, no more dropping by unannounced. I’m serious Barbs. Are we clear on all of this?”
Her eyes were filled with gratitude and she frantically nodded her head. “Thank you Jonathan.” She looked over at me. “Sky, I’m really sorry about everything. He didn’t know that I was in his bed. I stopped by his room to vent about my mom because she told me she might not be around for Thanksgiving after all if Ethan could get out of having to work over the holiday. We chatted for a while but I still needed to talk, so when Jonathan left his room he thought I was leaving and I climbed in his bed for the attention. I wasn’t really naked, I had on a tube top and jeans. I guess the reason I’ve been nasty toward you is that I could see how much Jonathan cares about you and I knew that meant there wouldn’t be room for me anymore. It’s not that I like him like that, it’s just that he’s been so nice to me since my mom married into the family and I’ve never had any kind of family, so I didn’t want to lose that relationship. I thought if I made you think something was going on with us, you would dump him and I wouldn’t lose the only family I’ve ever had. I’m really sorry for everything.”
You could have knocked me over with a feather. Never in a million years would I have expected an apology like that. I looked at her and smiled.
“Apology accepted.”
Don’t get me wrong, I still didn’t trust the girl but I was willing to give her a second chance. Jonathan stood looking at her and I could tell that he was trying to figure out if she was being sincere. I could also tell that he was over the drama.
“I’m really glad we got this cleared up Barbi, will you be okay going back by yourself?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Jonathan, again, I’m sorry about everything and thanks for giving me another chance, it means a lot.”
“No problem. I’m going to take a walk with Sky so we’ll see you around, ok?”
“Okay, see you guys later.”
She slowly walked back to campus and Jonathan casually grabbed my hand and we strolled through the park.
“I’m relieved that is over and I’m happy the truth came out.” His voice was calm and he seemed more relaxed.
“About that. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
“No, you don’t have to apologize to me. I had no idea that when you walked into my room she appeared to be naked in my bed. No wonder you were so upset! I’m sorry you even had to deal with that Sky and I’m happy that we’re okay again. We are okay, right?” His eyes were cautiously optimistic.
A huge smile spread across my face as my eyes searched his. “Yes, we’re perfect.”
He stopped in the middle of the walking path and turned to face me, smoothing my windblown hair out of my eyes, his eyes very serious.
“Good, because I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost you. I love you Sky.”
I wanted to melt right there as the butterflies started to flutter. “I love you too.”
He leaned down to me and his lips gently touched mine, lingering for a couple of seconds. When he pulled back a bit to look at me I could see a look of concern in his eyes and I could tell that he had something on his mind.
“Do you still want to come home with me for Thanksgiving?” He looked nervous as he waited for my answer.
I didn’t even hesitate and I smiled at him. “Of course I do, I’m looking forward to it.”
He looked relieved and a huge smile covered his face. “I was hoping you would say that. I’ll let you know more details later this week.”
“Okay, I can’t wait. Oh, what time is it?” I had gotten so lost in us that I completely forgot about all of the work I had to do on my paper.
“It’s almost 4:30, sorry I’ve kept you so long, I know you have a paper to get to, are you ready to go back?”
“Yeah, I need to finish this thing tonight. Jonathan, thanks for today, I feel much better.”
“Me too.”
Chapter Two
Jonathan and I fell back into our usual routine of studying together and me
sleeping in his room. I was with him so much that a lot of my clothes and other things were in his room because it was just easier to get ready in the mornings.
Thanksgiving was fast approaching and we were leaving for the Hamptons the Wednesday before. He told me that his family always went to their Hampton’s house because they hosted so many people, and the New York townhouse didn’t have enough bedrooms for everyone. I tried to convince Jonathan to let Barbi fly with us but he insisted that she get her own flight, he still was very upset by what she did and was not as quick to forgive as I was.
The morning we were leaving I became extremely nervous as it began to sink in that I was going to meet his whole family that day. Since his parents were so nice I was really hoping that everyone else would be too but I had no idea what to expect. What kinds of questions were they going to ask me? Would I be able to relate to them on any level? We had never traveled anywhere fancy or eaten at expensive restaurants so if they started talking about things like that it was going to be magnified how different I was from them.
Katie was still packing her bags when Jonathan came to help me with mine.
“Knock, knock. Are you ready?”
I looked up to see him standing in our doorway and it really was incredible how flippin’ gorgeous he was. He instantly made me feel better and all of my insecurities subsided for a bit knowing that I would have him by my side. I smiled at him and slung my purse over my shoulder.
“Ready.”
I turned to Katie and gave her a big hug. “Have a great Thanksgiving.”
“You too, I’ll see you next week. Have a good Thanksgiving Jonathan.”
“You too Katie.”
He grabbed my suitcase and I was just about to follow him when Katie grabbed my arm and pulled me back so that she could whisper in my ear. “I want every single detail when you get back!”
I smiled at her, gave her a quick wink and mouthed, ‘definitely’.
The ride to the airport was not very long and I noticed that we were driving to a different part of the airport that I did not recognize.
“Which airline are we flying because I don’t think American and United are out here. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”
He smiled at me and chuckled. “We’re taking my family’s jet.”
My mouth fell open and I was completely shocked. “Your family has their own plane?”
“Yeah, it’ll just be us and the flight attendant.”
“Wow, okay.” His world of wealth was so foreign to me. Private plane? Really? My insecurities reared their ugly head again as I thought about how I just did not fit in with this world. I must have looked worried because he turned to me with a look of concern.
“Is something wrong?”
"Jonathan, I don't know about this, this really isn't my world and I'm just not used to being around people who have so much money. I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb.”
The car pulled up to the tarmac and we sat there for a few minutes before we got out.
“Skylar, listen to me, the stuff that my family has does not make us who we are. Even though we have more material things than the average person, we are hard working, down to earth people. Please don’t let the nice things intimidate you. No one in my family will care how much money you have, all they care about is that you like me for who I am and not what I have. You’ll see, they’re all really nice, fun people and they’re going to love you as much as I do, okay?”
I had to admit that I felt a little bit better after hearing him say that. We got out of the car, the driver took care of our bags and we boarded the plane. Once I walked onto the plane I was literally blown away because I had never seen anything like it. You see private planes on TV and in movies but I don’t think you can ever really be prepared for what it’s actually going to be like once you are inside of one. It was so gorgeous inside; it looked like a high end condo! It actually had bedrooms, full bathrooms, a conferenc
e room and more. It was so crazy to me that I was actually on that plane. This cannot really be my life right now.
We took our seats and shortly after that we took off. Jonathan kind of briefed me on what the schedule was going to be and whom I would be meeting. They were hosting family and friends this year so they were expecting around 20 people. Apparently his family liked to schedule just about everything, even down time, so at least I knew what I would be doing every day.
The flight was really short, about an hour, and we touched down before I knew it. A car was waiting to pick us up and as we drove into Southampton I was completely in awe of the beautiful mansions I saw. We rounded a corner and began to pull up to a section called the estate section and we went through gates to get in there and then we drove up to an enormous mansion set behind another set of gates. This can’t be their house. It looked like something you’d see on one of those celebrity home shows. The gates opened for us and we made the long drive up to the house. I was nervous and didn’t want to get out of the car but Jonathan was able to coax me out.
