Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Chapter 29: Insecurities

"We're gonna be sooo late!"

"No, we won't."

"Yes, we will. How can you even say that?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Akira, we have two whole days to take part in the preparations." Ethan took his hands off of the clutch for an instant to take my hand and give it a light squeeze. "Don't worry, you'll be able to take part in everything that's been planned."

"Okay!" I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Okay, maybe I am being a bit paranoid, but I still can't believe that my sister is getting married!

It's not that I'm the last one to get the news, but my semester finals ended the day before yesterday and all flights were reserved for that day as well as yesterday, so we had no other options but to catch the early morning flight today and then travel the rest of the journey via Ethan's car, so it's already 4.09 in the afternoon and we had just crossed over to Imphal.

"We're here." Ethan pulled up the driveway to my house after about 10 minutes of driving. Mom and dad were already waiting at the doorway.

"Akira! Baby!" Mom was the first to jump down the stairs and pull me into a bear hug and squeeze the living daylight out of me. "Oh, I missed you so much my little baby!"

"Mooom!" I pulled away from her with much difficulty, a frown on my face. "I just turned 20 and I'm in my second year at Uni! How can you call me a little baby?"

"Oh shush! You'll always be my little girl, no matter what you or your father tell me." She wrapped an arm around my waist and led me up the stairs, where my father seemed to be having a serious conversation with Ethan. And right before we reached them, dad pretended to find something that Ethan said, extremely funny, and slapped him on the back twice...hard.

Ouch! From Ethan's wince and the forced smile on his face, I'm pretty sure those slaps were anything but friendly.

"Ethan, dear!" Mom left my side to pull Ethan into a hug and took the opportunity to rub his back and glare at my father at the same time, who gave her the most innocent of looks that a 62 year old man could give his wife.

We stepped inside once all the greetings were over, and instantly, I was hit by a well of nostalgia. Life was great with Ethan at Brunswick, but this will always remain the place that I spent my entire life in. Grew up, had catfights with Eva, made friends and fell in love with Ethan Whitmore. But most of all, started my career as an Erotic Romance writer.

"By the way, how's Brunswick?" Dad's words cut through my flashbacks. "And how's your PhD coming along? I heard you got another job as a teacher."

"Yes." Ethan traded nervously, probably wondering what trap he's getting into this time. "As a part time lecturer in the Science division of the University of Brunswick."

"OH! That's great! Akira's working too, I heard. As a junior editor in a local newspaper? I'm glad you're both doing what your heart desires!" Mom stated enthusiastically.

"And how's living together treating you?"

I whipped around to face the stairs where my sister stood in a light peach dress, hair cut in neat layers to her mid back.

"Eva!" This time it was me running to hug and squeeze the life out of her. "Oh my God! It's been ages!"

"Ouch!" She whined in my ear but her grip on me was equally tight. "No need to thin me out anymore, I've already lost 5 pounds trying to fit into my wedding dress."

"Another pound won't hurt."

*

*

"Hey."

Startled, I looked at Eva who was now standing by the counter beside me. "What?"

"What's with staring at Ethan with that weird look in your eyes?" She asked.

We'd all just finished dinner and cleaning up. Luke, Eva's long time boyfriend and fiancé had been invited to dinner because he won't be able to see the bride after tonight, until the wedding of course. But rather than being all cuddly meddly with Eva, he just stole my blondie!

"Nothing really. Its just that...we're Luke and him always this tight or did they suddenly become best buddies?" I asked her, never taking my eyes off of the duo.

"Who knows? They're grown men, pretty close in their age group. Why?" She popped a piece of grape into her mouth from the basket in front of her.

"I've hardly got a chance to talk to him since we got here. He's always being ushered away by dad or mom and now Luke." I pointed to the men on the living room couch.

"Oh relax Sissy! They must be talking about football or cricket or some other manly stuff." She shrugged.

"Or..." I finally turned to face her. "They can be discussing which strip club to visit tomorrow night."

"Oh!" Now she looked serious. "You're right, tomorrow's the bachelorette."

"See?"

To which my dear sister just burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Come on, Aki! You and Ethan have been living together for nearly two years now, have been dating since a year before that. You seriously think they'll go to a strip club to get a lap dance?" She asked me incredulously.

"Like you said, he is a man and closer to your age group than mine-"

"Who left his career and uprooted from this town completely just so he could be with you." Eva cut me off. "Akira, there's nothing wrong with being insecure. We're women, we need our men to remind us at least once a day that they still love us and they aren't going anywhere. But don't let that insecurity poison your relationships. Because guys might not show it but, once in a while, they require the same assurance from us too." She took hold of my shoulders and shook me lightly. "Do you understand now, Ms. OG?"

I frowned but nodded my head. The insecurities I had about being of different age groups, although diminished, still won't go out of my mind. I'll probably have them all my life, but Eva was right. I couldn't let it poison my relationship with him.

So, I let it go...for the time being.

*

*

"She's getting suspicious." Luke warned me.

"And you know that just by looking at them?" I asked him, my eyes following Akira as she went up the stairs to her old room.

"Nope. Eva warned me beforehand. You need to be stealthy and quick if you're doing this." He said.

"Don't worry," I smirked. "Everything is going according to plan."

*

*

"OH MY GOD, Akira! You look absolutely gorgeous!"

As expected, mom was the first to gush over when it came to me and dresses. It's not that I'm completely against them, I like showing off my sexy legs to the world once in a while, especially when it gets Ethan narrow eyed and glued to my side, but at the same time, I do not want to worry about the wind blowing off my skirt in every possible direction.

"You sure? The blue doesn't look awkward with my hair?" The bridesmaids dress was a light sky blue at the top and then the fabric became a shade darker after about 5 inches and by the time it reached the bottom, it turned a dark blue colour.

My dress was knew length and strapless with a fitting waist and flared out skirt. The fabric at my bodice extended in a fashion so that it crisscrossed over my chest and could be tied behind my neck. The colours did bring out my blue eyes but I kept worrying that it won't match my scarlet hair, which I let grow and now reached my mid back in light waves. Mom had been especially thrilled about it.

"It looks great Aki! Paired with silver heels and danglers it'll be a showstopper." Mom gushed.

"Hey! No stealing my spotlight." Eva warned as she came out of her stall after trying on a couple dresses that she liked. Her wedding dress was already packed and waiting at the counter.

"No one's stealing your day honey. But you have to remember, I have two daughters, one of them just came home after nearly two years. I'm allowed to spoil her once in a while." Mom told Eva. "Now, what else do you have to buy? Let's wrap everything up, there's no more time left."

"Oh, nothing much. Just a few pairs of lingerie." A cunningly evil smirk was directed my way.

Oh shut! "MOM!"

A few people turned in our direction but I didn't care. I have to get outta here.

"Yes dear?" Mom asked, surprised at my yell.

"I'll go change first. I really want to get some coffee. Do you guys want any?" Mom frowned at the question while Eva tried to hide her snort with a cough.

"No, honey. We'll wait here while you get your coffee. Do you need anything else?" She asked.

"No." I went inside the changing room and spoke to her from the other side of the curtains while I changed. "In fact, you don't have to wait for me. Why don't you guys go ahead and head home after you're done? I'll roam about for a bit, visit a couple places."

"Alright."

Running out of the store with my life in my hands, I finally released the breath I'd been holding after making sure that the coast was clear. After looking around for a place to go, I decided to get that cup of coffee after all. There was a shop just a couple minutes walk away that I frequented in my school days.

Why did Ethan have to be whisked away in the groom's side? It would've been so much better if he were here right now. He'd texted me about half an hour ago with a picture of him in his tux. The groomsmen had a sky blue shirt paired with the tux to match the bridesmaids. As usual, he looked smashingly hot.

But, just like the bride, I won't be able to see my man till tomorrow morning. I known we live together and should spend a lot of time alone, but that's the code word, should. We don't really get to spend that much time together. Between my bachelor's, his PhD, my job and his teaching, we hardly get enough we time. Not to mention the editing of my story that got selected in the top five of the inter-state competition.

"A hazelnut latte, one cube sugar and whipped cream." I ordered. There weren't any old staff left at the counter but the memories were still fresh in my mind. This is the same place that I came to hang out on the weekends with-

"Aki!"

"Nick?" I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't day dreaming. Nope. He's still standing right in front of me. Only more muscular and....did his hair colour get lighter? Because now it looked more dark blonde than brown. "Wow!...um....hi! What are you doing here? I mean, I thought you moved away to Alberta."

"I have," he gave me that same old dimpled smile that the grew up watching. God, I'd missed him. "I'm here to attend your sisters wedding."

I frowned. "I didn't know that you were invited." Why didn't my mom and Eva tell m-Oh! They didn't know the whole truth about my fallout with Nick. They probably wanted to surprise me.

"They probably wanted to surprise you." Nick mimicked my thought. "And I wanted to mug up my apology speech before I met up with you tomorrow."

I was already shaking my head even before he stopped talking. "Nick, there's no need for you to do that, really. I told you I'd forgiven you and I have." I shrugged, taking my latte from the counter and paying the bill when it was served. "Maybe not right away, but I have."

"I'm glad. I can't tell you how sorry I am for doing those horrible things to you. I know now that I was...obsessed with the idea of keeping you in my life when everything else was falling apart. I should have just talked to you but I didn't. And when Ethan came into your life, I was afraid that you'd leave me too, just like everyone else." I already knew all of this, but it felt good to hear his point of view. I'm glad we cleared things up, finally.

"Thanks Nick." I pulled him in for a hug. "I'm glad we're past all this. Now we can go back to being friends. I missed not having you in my life."

"I missed you too." He hugged me back and it was only then that I realized he was holding two coffee cups instead of one. I was about to ask him about it but I was cut off by a unfamiliar female voice calling out his name.

I pulled away from him and we both looked at the doorway of the café to find a petite woman with short black hair and ocean blue eyes staring at Nick. She looked to be about our age.

"Care! Come on over." Nick called her over. I looked at Nick for an introduction but he just smile wickedly, purposely stretching the suspense.

When the girl finally joined us, Nick handed her a cup and started speaking. "Care, this is Akira Sanders, my childhood best friend," he looked at me for assurance and continued on when I have him a smile and a nod of approval. "And Aki, this is Caroline Turner, my girlfriend."

A huge smile spread on my face instantly. "Oh my Gosh! I'm so happy for you Nick! Oops, sorry, I'm being so rude! Hi Caroline! It's really nice to meet you." I have her a side hug. She still looked a bit awkward but I'm sure it was because she found me hugging her boyfriend. Their relationship must be newly formed.

As if that applies to the person who's been dating her boyfriend for nearly 3 years, right? My conscience snorted at the aftermath of that thought.

But none of that mattered for now. Nick was happy and he was moving on. And our disastrous past aside, Nick had always been sincere when he'd said he planned to date someone with whom he saw a future.

"Nick, I really should be heading home now. It's past lunch time and Eva's friends will be arriving this afternoon for the party. We'll catch up tomorrow." I told him after looking at my wristwatch.

"See you then. And prey that I survive tomorrow without a black eye." Nick joked, but I did find an undertone of fear. Guess we'll both find out about Ethan's reaction tomorrow.

I gave Nick a final hug and went out of the café.