JC just stared at me. For the first time in the three years I have known him, he is actually speechless. A part of me wants to laugh at the deer in headlights look on his face, but his answer is way too important for me to annoy him by dissolving into a fit of giggles.
“Let me get this straight,” JC finally finds his voice, “For the past year and a half, you’re led your family to believe that I’m your boyfriend?”
“Well, not really. You and I hangout a lot and they just assumed that we were together.” I defended.
He shook his head as he laughed, “An assumption you never bothered to correct.”
I rolled my eyes with a sigh, “Look, they already lecture me about everything. And when I say everything, I’m talking about my occupation and my wardrobe and the fact that I moved out here instead of staying in New York and th-.”
“Okay, Riley. I get it. You have a nagging family,” he interjected.
“It was just one less thing for them to gripe about. How was I supposed to know that Daniel was going to propose to his girlfriend?” I reasoned, “I didn’t even know they were thinking about marriage.”
JC shot me a look of disbelief, “Maybe I can understand you not knowing when he was actually going to pop the question, but Riley, you should have at least known that he wanted to marry her.”
I snorted and tried not to hear my high society Mother's voice in my head scolding me for being unladylike, “Not everyone Not everyone likes their siblings. In fact, I think that’s normal. You’re the weird one in this equation.”
“Says the woman who let her family believe that she’s been dating someone for almost two years when she’s never so much as kissed the guy in question.” JC quipped as he leaned over the table towards me.
“Touché, my friend, touché.” I replied.
A smirk found its way to his face before he replied, “I thought so.”
I can’t help, but smile. Somehow, no matter how bad the situation, he always manages to put me in a better mood. I reached across the table and took his hand in mine, “Jace, I need you to do this. It’s a free two week vacation in Hawaii. All you have to do is pretend to be madly in love with me. Really, it shouldn’t be that hard.”
“Oh, you think so?” He asked while trying to suppress his grin.
I released his hand, “Don’t be a jerk, Joshua Scott.”
“Wow. We’re busting out government names now?” JC laughed, “If I do this, what’s in it for me?”
“Seriously?” I questioned. “Did you miss the whole ‘two weeks free in Hawaii’ part of my explanation earlier? Do I need to throw in that the wedding is in July? That’s what’s in it for you.”
He shrugged and I knew instantly I wasn’t about to like his answer, “Not good enough.”
“Seriously?” I huffed.
“Riley girl, I think you should work on expanding that vocabulary of yours.” He joked.
I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever he was going to ask for, “Name your price, Chasez.”
“Halloween.” JC answered quickly.
The urge to roll my eyes is strong because I know exactly what he was asking of me. I decide to play dumb instead, “Sweetheart, my dad might be a very important man and the Gallagher name might mean a lot, but I doubt I can get you a holiday.”
“Brat. I don’t want Halloween per se.” He pulled his straw out of his drink and started chewing on the end, “I want to pick your costume for Halloween.”
“Only you would be thinking of Halloween in the middle of February.” I said with a glare, “And I am not going to play the Jinx to your James Bond. You’ve been trying for three years. Let it go.”
“It’s a solid costume!”
I shook my head in disgust, “I am not traipsing around LA in an orange bikini because you think it’s a ‘solid’ costume. Plus, I am nowhere near Halle Berry’s level of beauty. I’m not about to embarrass myself like that.”
“What do you think will be more embarrassing: dressing up as Jinx or having to explain to your family why your boyfriend hasn’t joined you in Hawaii for your brother’s wedding? Even if you tell them that I’m just a bad boyfriend, they’re going to give you hell about it. If you tell them that we broke up, they’re going to spend the whole time pitying you. Let’s not even get into what’s going to happen if you actual tell them the truth. I mea-“
“Okay, Jace. I get it.” I take a deep breath before continuing, “You know, I good best friend wouldn’t be blackmailing me like this.”
“You’re right,” he agreed, “but a great best friend would. I’m blackmailing you because I know our friendship is strong enough to survive anything. It gives the friendship character.”
“I hate you.” I replied before sticking my tongue out at him.
“Mature, Riley girl, real mature.”
I run my hand through my hair before responding to him, “Chasez, you better be the best damn boyfriend in the world on this trip.”
He has the audacity to look offended and, not for the first time, I’m silently berating myself for putting myself into this situation, “Of course, I’ll be great. By the time we’re done, your family will love me.”
I simply shake my head instead of replying to his statement. He may think that he gained a victory by getting me to agree to dress up as Jinx, but that’s a small price to pay for his presence at my brother’s wedding. He really has no idea what kind of craziness he's getting himself into.
I stared out the window, but I wasn’t really taking anything in. Not for the first time, I wondered if I should have just skipped the wedding. I know my mother would have given me hell for it, but at least then she’d have a valid reason to be disappointed in me. I glanced over at JC to find him staring at me.
“See something you like?”
He laughed before responding, “I’m just not used to you being so quiet.”
“Over the next two weeks, you’re going to see a side of me that only my family can bring about.” I leaned my head back against the seat and sighed, “They’re the only people who can turn me into a complete neurotic mess.”
“You haven’t seen them in almost four years. Maybe they’ll be so happy to see you and so happy that your brother is getting married that it'll be different from how your visits normally are. Maybe you’ll actually enjoy spending time with them,” he suggested.
I shook my head in disagreement, but decided not to verbally refute his statement. Normal families might be able to put aside their differences for joyous occasions, but my family has never been normal. I pressed the button beside my seat that let down the partition separating us from the driver my father had sent to the Honolulu International Airport to pick us up.
I leaned forward to talk to the driver, “How long before we reach the resort?”
“We should be there in about ten minutes, Miss Gallagher.”
“Thank you.” I put the partition back up and leaned back in my seat, “How about a last minute pop quiz?”
JC groaned, “We’ve been over this already. I know everything you could ever possibly want me to know about your family.”
“Then you should ace this, right?” I replied with a smile, “Molly and Holly.”
He glared at me before answering, “They’re your older twin sisters and they run a PR firm.”
“How many years separate us?”
He rolled his eyes before replying, “Five years.”
I nodded my head, “Good. What about Daniel?”
“He’s the eldest son and he’s two years older than you. He’s marrying the oh-so-perfect, Nicole Hewitt,” he answered as he held up air quotes around the phrase ‘oh-so-perfect’.
I frowned at him as I smacked him in the arm, “Don’t be an ass.”
He rubbed the spot I’d hit even though I knew, for a fact, that I hadn’t actually hurt him, “What? That’s how you described her.”
“I said it because it's true.” I defended, “You said it mockingly. You be nice when it comes to Nicole.”
“You do realize that you shouldn’t like your future sister-in-law more than you like your own brother, don’t you?” He questioned with a laugh.
I chose to ignore his comment because I knew I couldn’t contest his question. Nicole was more accepting of me than Daniel and, because of that, I really did favor her more than I did my own brother, “What’s his occupation?”
“He runs several successful nightclubs throughout New York.” JC replied before asking, “Do you think we could go visit one of those? I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about Rumors and I know it’s incredibly hard to get into. Maybe you could ta-“
“Focus!” I exclaimed as I cut him off, “And don’t you dare ask him yourself. I don’t need my family thinking you’re some party boy.”
“Last time I checked, I wasn’t exactly hitting the clubs in LA by myself, honey.”
I wanted to do nothing more than smack the smug look off of his face, but, once again, there was truth to his statement and I had no comeback, “JC, I’m serious. Please don’t ask Daniel about getting you into one of his clubs. Next time you go to New York, I’ll make sure he lets you and, whoever you have with you, in but these next two weeks are not the time nor the place to talk about that sort of thing.”
His face softened and he grabbed my hand. He gave it a quick squeeze before letting go, “What’s your next question?”
“Tell me about Michael.” I requested.
“He’s the younger brother that you adore and the only member of your family that you actually enjoy spending more than five minutes with. He’s following in your father’s footsteps and hopes to one day hold the same position as him.”
“Which is?” I probed.
JC was back to rolling his eyes, “President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.”
“Okay. That takes care of Michael and Dad.” I could feel a knot forming in my stomach as I began to ask him to fill me in on the only person in my family we hadn’t talked about, “Last, but certainly not least, tell me about the lovely Matriarch of the family.”
“Your mother used to be a model until your father swept her off her feet. She’s a housewife and highly involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors.”
“I think you’ve got it.” I nodded before leaning back against the seat with my eyes closed, “What if they don’t believe us, Jace? I know that Michael and I don’t always get along, but I really do want him a really great wedding. He and Nicole deserve that. I don’t want my shortcomings and my mother’s need to point them out to ruin that for them.”
For a few moments, he didn’t say anything and I figured he didn’t know what to say. I felt his hands engulf mine and I opened my eyes to look at him, “Riley, I know you and you know me. We’re comfortable around each other. Your family is going to think that you have found a man who believes the sun rises and sets because you say so, but only if you calm down and act like you believe in it too. I haven’t let you down in the three years you’ve known me and I don’t plan on starting now.”
“How do you do that?” I asked.
“Do what?”
“Manage to make me feel better about everything.” I answered.
“Well, that’s easy to answer.” JC let go of my hands and slung his arm around the back of my seat, “It’s because I’m oh-so-perfect.”
I started laughing at his answer and didn’t realize that the car had stopped moving until the driver’s voice came over the intercom, “We’ve arrived at the Kahala Resort, Miss Gallagher.”
JC kissed me on the cheek before whispering in my ear, “Just remember what I said. Everything will be okay.”
I struggled to give him a smile as the driver opened my door. I pulled my sunglasses off my head and slid them over my eyes. I exited the vehicle and JC got out after me. I turned towards the front of the resort to see my mom and dad waiting just inside the glass doors. I grabbed JC’s hand and tried to give him a convincing smile, “Let’s do this.”
