by Tara Wimble
It was the smell of the apartment, the warmth, that had Jake stepping into the kitchen with Jacque to find his sister. He was lucky she’d put down the spoon when she had when he picked her up off her feet causing her to squeal so loud that her sister, Sandrine came rushing through.
“Jake! I thought you’d stabbed her or something.”
“We’ll see.” He winked at Jacque. “Depends on how good the food is.”
When Sandrine disappears he’d looked between them with a softer, yet understanding look. “So this is cosy-”
Bella hadn’t given him a chance before she’d kicked his side. “Go and make sure they find the table. I’ll be right out.”
Jake quickly ushered himself out and Jacque had been left wondering if Bella had actually worked up the courage to tell someone before they’d arrived.
Since then they’d managed to serve two out of three courses of food and make their way through the sides and drinks they’d set out. It was different than her previous thanksgiving experiences, with Bella’s mom giving her curious looks when she’d offered to help Bella serve out the food and that moment when she’d pulled out Bella’s chair without thinking about it, but it had all the makings of a good night. If everything stuck according to plan.
“We’re gonna have to go back out there.” Jacque switches off the microwave that has nothing in it. “They’re gonna want dessert.”
“They don’t want the dessert.” Bella groans into her hands. “They want the truth.”
“The truth will be easier to handle if they have their mouths full.”
Face to face Bella summons up the courage to go back out there. “Whatever happens, it’ll be okay.”
Jacque slaps her shoulder in what she hopes is a reassuring gesture. “And if not, you’re not living with them anymore.”
Bella deflates. “Thanks Jacque.”
Jacque had insisted on pumpkin pie being the main dessert so that’s what Bella brings out when they return to the table. Her sisters, Liza and Sandrine seemed content to keep the previous conversation about what they were going to do in Toronto tomorrow going, while Jake finished eating the remaining stuffing they’d left on the side.
Her mother, however, had a different idea. Jacque watched from the sidelines as she dished out dessert as Bella faced off against her mom’s relentless pursuit of the truth.
“So it sure was nice of Jacque to help you out and get you settled here,” Bella almost chokes on her food at her mom’s less than subtle drop of the previous conversation. “-that is to say, you moved up here so suddenly.”
Bella swallows. “Well, you know what they say in Canada.”
Jacque pauses because she’d very much like to know what they say in Canada according to Bella Ansar. Jake twitches with a smile on his face directed at Jacque because they both know that Canada has nothing to do with what’s going to come out of Bella’s mouth next.
“You’re...welcome.” Bella fizzles out with such a lack of grace that Jacque almost takes her pie back.
Instead she subtly kicks Bella under the table because they’ve only got dessert to finish and then a polite amount of time after that before she wants Bella’s family to leave while she collapses at the end of this long day. She plans to watch a film and fall into a deep sleep where none of this crazy is actually happening to her. Bella is delaying that plan.
“So I bet you’re wondering why we invited you up here-”
“Other than to celebrate thanksgiving-” Jacque wants to show support but she keeps having to return dishes otherwise Bella will never get around to starting this conversation.
“Or why I moved up...here.” Bella stalls. She stalls like her life depends on it and she just feels her mom’s eyes burning through her. Oh god, who thought this was going to be a good idea. “Y’see the thing is, the funny thing is-”
Her brother is waiting on her and her sisters are disguising their curiosity by avoiding her gaze every few seconds and, man, she can’t do this. Who said she could do this.
“I really love Canada.” Bella half squeaks out and in the kitchen Jacque groans and lets her forehead hit the fridge. “Like, it’s such a beautiful country and the weather-”
It’s getting pathetic. “Bella!” She shouts.
Jacque’s voice sends a shock through her and it takes five seconds for her to go from her mom’s golden child to ‘oh Christ what just happened’.
“Jacque and I are getting married.”
Jake knocks a glass off the table.
Bella shrugs her hands up with a wince to her smile. “Surprise?”
In the kitchen, Jacque crouches down for a second and holds her head in her hands. She should have taken point on this.
When Bella’s sudden announcement sinks in and the pins have dropped, the bubble popping on Bella’s coming out party begins with her mom advancing the tirade. It’s definitely not malicious or hurtful but full or phrases like ‘I don’t understand’, ‘you never told us’, ‘why did you come so far up here’ and Jacque’s personal favorite ‘and she’s Canadian?’.
She stays out of the way until she can’t avoid going out there to ‘support’ her fiancé. The moment she places her hands on Bella’s shoulders, taking a little of the tension away, she feels the full force of Mama Ansar’s parenting.
Not all of it is easy. Especially not when Bella’s twin sister fixes her with a gaze so close to a glare that she wonders if this is personally offending her or something. Jake, to her thanks, sits there with a small smile, like he’d seen this coming. And whenever things get too much for either of them, he deflects the conversation, let’s things simmer in another direction.
Jacque does exactly as she promised and charms. They improv their way through their first meeting with enough pause for effect and secret smiles. Bella sells it and Jacque can see the belief coming to the faces of her family. The rest of the evening, between comments and her mom shaking her head, is filled with useless fluff about Jacque’s life and her roots and soccer.
By the end of it all, Bella’s mom still doesn’t quite understand but she’s not unreasonable about it either. Jacque feels Bella’s shoulders fall in relief when her mom admits that despite everything, they did a good job here, and she thinks that’s it when they make a move to leave.
That is until Bella’s mom wedges herself in the doorway before they can close the door on the evening. “We’ll talk more in a week. And you will both-” She points between them. “-be ready to explain yourselves a little more.”
Jacque can admit she’s a little terrified at the thought, especially when she continues to mutter down the hallway about how much of a ‘shotgun wedding’ this all seems to be.
But then it’s all over.
When they leave and the dishes are cleared away, they fall together on the couch. It’s old but the comfort is still there and somehow Bella ends up slumped against Jacque’s side with her eyes threatening to close.
“I thought they’d never leave.”
“I thought they’d never shut up.” Jacque chuckles. The warm sound reverberates through Bella’s body bringing an unexpected smile to her face. Jacque notices it with confusion. “You’re smiling? After that onslaught? I thought your mom was gonna take out one of my knees.”
Bella snorts in laughter. “No, no- she might. But-” It’s too much for her to hold onto though and the laughter bursts in unrestrained amusement. “We’re cuddling. We spent- we spent all night trying to fake our way through being polite and subtle and now we’re cuddling.”
Jacque shakes her head with a badly disguised smile as Bella dissolves into nonsensical laughter. It’s unprompted and tired but Bella’s face is free from the stress that she wore all day. “You’re a ridiculous person.”
“You’re comfortable.”
Jacque ponders the statement. “I think that’s all the maple syrup.”
“What? Is that packing under your curves?” Bella feels around Jacque’s body as she tries to squirm away but
she’s persistent and they’ve both reached that punch drunk part of the day.
Jacque can barely speak through her laughter. “Urgh, the minute your family leaves and you go back to being a horndog? Down, girl!”
“What was that?” Bella grins. “I can’t hear you over all of this sexual tension. Jeeze, Jacque. You should have told me sooner!”
Bella’s hand slips up the side of Jacque’s shirt and there’s a fleeting moment when Jacque thinks it might have gone too far, until she hits that spot-
“No! Oh no-”
Bella’s eyes gleam. “You’re ticklish-”
“Stop.” Jacque pins her hand on her side. “We are not pre-teens on the Disney Channel and you are not going to tick-”
Apparently that’s not a good enough deterrent for Bella.
Jacque struggles to contain Bella’s hands as they both shriek at the war Bella is trying to start with some success. She catches the place by her ribs again and Jacque’s grip loosens.
Five minutes later Jacque is a bundled mess on the floor and staring up at Bella, who’s fist pumping towards the ceiling in victory, like she’s just won a race and not softly touched her fiancé into submission.
“This is definitely not what I thought engaged life would be like.” Jacque groans.
“You thought you’d be on top?”
“Pretty much.”
“Yeah, well-” Bella sits back on Jacque’s hips. There’s a bounding happiness in her eyes that Jacque wants to steal away. “-you’ve never been engaged to me before.”
“I knew I should have read the disclaimer.” Jacque smirks and tries to buck Bella off of her. “Do you think I can still do a return?”
“Asshole.” And Bella drops down and tickles Jacque again because now she knows that’s her weak spot and it’s fun to see her usually controlled friend let loose and have some fun.
“We’re adults!” Jacque yells out as she tries to scrunch up and protect her ticklish zones, finally, she can’t take anymore. “Fine, fine. I surrender. Stand down.”
“Lesson number one.” Bella stops her hands at once, leans back, and smiles down at her. “I always win.”
“Lesson number two.” Jacque’s managed to dig her heels hard enough into the wooden floors to get leverage. Bella’s girlish scream is cut off the minute her back hits the floor. “I’ve definitely done this more than you.”
Bella makes an embarrassing noise and covers her face with her hand before choking out, with amusement. “Oh wow, you uh, talk to my mom with that mouth of yours?”
Jacque rolls off of her at once. “Well, that killed it.”
Bella shuffles onto her stomach, beaming cheekily. “Aw, baby come back.”
“Lesson number three.” Jacque stands and shakes off the stiffness. “If someone is on top of you, don’t mention your mother.”
She leaves Bella lying on her stomach on the floor watching the way her hips move and wondering exactly when they reached this point.
*
It’s at their hastily planned ‘engagement party’ that Bella meets her former national teammates for the first time. A few of them are absent, more than a few, but Jacque’s heart immediately settles when Sadie turns up with a bottle of wine and a quick punch to her shoulder to declare her the ‘luckiest asshole’ in Canada. She’s not sure what to make of that just yet.
But it’s Sadie and if she thought that it wasn’t only going to get worse throughout the night than she’d been in the wrong friendship all of these years. There’s a certain level of making the rounds she has to do on Bella’s arm, this is a party to celebrate their engagement and their future together after all, but mostly Sadie steals her away to bro it up while Bella works the crowd.
“Tell the truth.” Sadie pauses to take a swig from the bottle of scotch they stole from her liquor cabinet, wincing at the burn. “She’s a freak, right? She has to be.”
“Sadie, wow.” Jacque steals the bottle to take a gulp and she immediately regrets it when it doesn’t immediately slide down her throat. Still though, the alcohol distracts her from the thoughts that she shouldn’t be having that Sadie has been unknowingly trying to plant in her head all night. “That’s my fiancé you’re talking about.”
Sadie chuckles and gives her a rough shoulder bump that knocks her to the side. “I knew it. I fucking knew it. Way to go, Jacque.” She grabs the bottle back and tips it towards her. “Cheers to you and the best sex you’ll have for the rest of your life.”
Sadie’s voice gets a little too loud on that last announcement and Bella turns her head towards them. There’s no hiding though, as Sadie throws an arm around Jacque’s shoulder and raises the bottle to her.
“Why did I invite you again?” Jacque wonders jokingly.
“It’s not a party unless I’m here, everyone knows that.” She holds her arms out like some sort of deity but loses her balance in the process, stumbling a bit. “You’ll be thankful I’m here when I kick everyone out for you later so you can christen everywhere with your future wife.”
“Okay, let’s change the subject-” Jacque takes back the bottle and keeps it just out of reach when a lifeline passes. “Robyn! Hey! Join us-”
Thankfully Robyn knows how to take a hint and Jacque only feels marginally bad when she ditches the both of them to blend into the walls of her own place. She finds a place right next to Carla and it’s comforting how Carla doesn’t ask her one question about her sex life.
Or actually any questions at all.
“I just want you to know I appreciate you, Carla.” Jacque voices.
Carla laughs. “I’m not taking Sadie home for you.”
Someone has apparently brought party poppers and a flurry of bangs starts from different corners. Carla pauses. “Or Imogen.”
In the small madness that surrounds them from their place against the wall, Jacque just watches her friends for a while. There’s not a frown in sight and that keeps her content. She searches for Bella in the crowd, checking she’s not been cornered by Sadie, to find her quietly talking with Niav.
She’s genuinely happy that Bella seems to be fitting in so well.
Carla sees her softened face. “Congratulations by the way.”
Jacque blinks, almost surprised at the sincerity but saves face. “Thanks.”
It’s then that Carla seems to have had enough of standing back and watching their partners talk. She pushes off the wall and makes a move to steal Niav away. “Keep her honest, okay?”
“You’re giving me engagement advice?” Jacque teases. “Where’s the rock, Carla?”
Carla smirks as she does every time someone asks her that. “Close to the heart. Enjoy your party.”
Things begin to wind down when Ginny starts shooting party poppers at Sadie, who has long since been passed out on the couch, and Kara decides that it would be hilarious to draw on Sadie’s face. And since she’s trying to host a semi-classy engagement party and not initiate Bella into a frat she starts to usher people out of the apartment.
It takes a little longer than usual because she has to make sure everyone has a sober ride home but once it’s done she collapses onto the couch, brushing off some confetti to do so.
“They’re fantastic.” Bella sneaks up on her and she has to try not to jump to preserve some dignity. “A bit crazy but definitely entertaining.”
“Hey, future teammates you’re insulting there.” Jacque jokes.
Bella smiles, all teeth and scrunched up eyes. “Yeah, future teammates. I like the sound of that.”
Jacque senses an opportunity for flattery. “Do you like it more or less than your future wife?”
Bella pokes her side but leaves her hand there. She sways. “Ego.”
Jacque catches her hand because Bella is stumbling a bit now, refusing to take off her heels until everyone had left. “Party’s over. You can take those off now.”
Bella tilts her head. “The shoes or the dress?”
Jacque mentally splutters. “Don’t be
cute.”
“You’re right.” Bella sighs and slips off her heels. “I’m not nearly drunk enough to strip for you.”
Jacque swallows every thought back with the force of a freight train. “Oh.” She can’t even summon a witty comment about the falling standards of engagement parties and hopes that Bella doesn’t notice her sudden silence.
Luckily Bella gets distracted, forgets about threatened strip teases, and disappears into the back of the apartment, with her fingers trying to catch the back of her dress on her way to her room.
Jacque takes about three seconds of stock to realize that she’s got to leave. She decides to go out because all of their friends have gone home and Bella in that fucking tight black dress was too damn much for her to handle.
Bella isn’t wearing it when she comes back a few minutes later. She’s quickly changed with a shout about the dishes and the mess, but it’s practically burnt the image in the back of her skull.
She’s not really an expert but she’s lived here long enough and knows how to read the signs being thrown at her. So telling Bella she’s slipping out for a bit, leaving her to the TV knowing that she’ll come back and Bella will either be asleep or still tidying, isn’t hard.
Jacque knows there’s no chance of her bringing anyone home tonight but she’s charming and funny enough to be invited to her new friend’s house after lingering at a bar for a good hour.
The woman is blonde and shorter than her and incredibly fit and if Jacque closes her eyes then she can almost pretend that she’s not doing exactly what she knows she is.
It’s only after when she’s unwinding herself from white sheets that she finds herself groaning over the thoughts passing through her head. Her partner takes it as a cue for another round, and as she’s pinned beneath Jacque’s body, Jacque doesn’t have the heart to stop even as she sees someone else in her place.
When she’s leaving the next morning; actually leaving this time despite her loosely buttoned shirt and disheveled appearance, Jacque feels a faint sense of guilt that worsens the further she gets from the door.
