Authors: Marianna Roberg
"They didn't tell me anything, Emily. I'm just the makeup artist. But I can tell you that Keith and Diane are getting married. I've seen the dress and I'm planning Maria's makeup."
“You’re evil. Almost as evil as me.”
Jaina glanced up to see Colin leaning over the edge of the balcony, staring down at them. She gave him a little wave, then they headed back into the house.
Jaina opened the door to the downstairs bathroom. "Check out the tub."
"And the huge window the neighbors can see into. Is Colin an exhibitionist or something?"
Chuckling, Jaina shook her head.
Emily followed her out of the bathroom. Colin came down the stairs then, holding the kitten.
"Hello, Emily."
“Ooh, kitty!" She grabbed the kitten and immediately snuggled it. "This is now mine!"
Jaina rolled her eyes. She stood on her toes and kissed Colin. "My saviour."
"No!" Emily exclaimed. "No saving of any kind! No one shall escape my evil.”
Then she said, “I want cookies."
Jaina blinked. "Well,
that
was a subject change."
Emily grinned. "I know."
"From the nature of evil to chocolate."
"Sometimes, I would think they're synonymous," Colin put in, wrapping an arm around Jaina's waist.
"Chocolate is good, why you calling it evil?"
"Probably a
Devil's Advocate
reference," Jaina said. "You wanna see the upstairs?"
Colin shook his head. "No, I was thinking of the way it affects you in the mornings. It's like the One Ring and Gollum. You
have
to have it."
"Me?" Emily said, mystified.
Jaina headed up the stairs. "No, he means me. He doesn't seen
you
in the morning. Careful, there's no handrail. Plus, big nasty glass panel."
Emily pushed past Colin into their bedroom. Of the
rug, she asked, "Was that a cow? If it was, it was a tiny cow. Do you support the slaughter of baby cows?”
"No, that's not a cow," Colin said weakly, and bolted into his office.
"I scare him," Emily said, looking positively delighted
.
♥♥♥
After they dropped Emily back off that night, Colin ventured, "Your sister scares me."
Jaina smiled fondly and replied, "She has that effect on a lot of people."
"And your family hasn't sent her to a shrink?"
She laughed, sensing that he was joking. "She scared the shrink."
Colin grinned. "So you didn't find a non-scared shrink?"
"Figured it wasn't worth it." Getting serious, she said, "Emily's Emily."
"So what's this movie you were telling her about?"
"Like I'm gonna tell my sister we're just going back home to, well, e
ntertain ourselves. She said we're like bunnies."
Colin offered, "I think it's more like guinea pigs."
"What's the difference?" Jaina asked.
"Never mind. Want to rent a movie anyway?"
“Yeah, maybe. Colin. About my appointment today? We need to talk.”
♥♥♥
On the weekend, after a tense week of avoiding Jack, Jaina decided to have a game night, and invited Angela and Emily over. Emily's choice was
Star Wars
Monopoly.
"Here," Emily said, handing Leia to Jaina, and Luke to Colin.
Jaina looked at the figurines. "That's
so
wrong."
Colin snickered. "Em, give me Han."
Emily rolled her eyes and made a big production of handing over the pewter Han Solo. "Fine. Here you go."
Colin waggled his eyebrows at Jaina. "But, you know what they say. Twincest is best."
"That's disgusting," she laughed.
They exchanged a few more bantering remarks as the board was set up. Angela eyed them with curious amusement for a minute or two before she commented, "You guys are just like Nora and Alex."
Jaina shrugged as she rolled the dice. Eleven. "Yeah, I guess. But as far as I know, Nora and Alex aren't having sex. Yet."
There was a long moment of silence. Angela looked at Jaina. Looked at Colin. "But... No offense, Colin, but... aren't you gay?"
Colin grimaced and ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end. "I'm
not
gay! Why does everyone think that? Is it because I don't really date? Or do I act fruity and not know it? What is it about me that makes people think I'M GAY?!"
Completely unhelpfully, Jaina offered, "Maybe it's the haircut."
Angela, having recovered from her shock, put in, "Oh, yeah. Definitely. It's the hair."
Emily, currently taking over Dagobah, said, "It's all the rumors on the 'net. They have you dating the young dude from that
Hercules
movie."
"You keep saying dude," Colin said. "What is dude? What does it mean?"
Em shrugged. "Dude is dude. Jaya, help."
Jaina nodded. "Dude is dude."
The game continued.
"Dang it!" Jaina burst out, realizing she’d landed on one of Emily’s landmine-properties.
"Ha! Gotcha, Leia-wannabe." Emily grinned.
This was old territory. "I am NOT a Leia Wannabe!"
Emily listed, "Leia wannabe bellydance costume. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Short."
Angela was entertained greatly by this. "Jaina's got green eyes."
"You're ruining my argument, shut up." Emily stuck her tongue out at Ange, who laughed. "Anyway. Brown hair, short. Check and check."
Jaina paid her dues and passed the dice to Colin. "I have no choice in my height. And I have to practice on myself."
"You're just saying that," her sister retorted.
"You practice what on yourself?" Colin wanted to know.
"Shut up!" she laughed. "The Leia hair."
Angela turned to Colin. "Are they always like this?"
He shrugged and took up the dice. "I don't know. I've only known the stranger one a week."
"Hey. I have issues being the stranger one," Emily said. "I am not a Leia wannabe. Therefore, I am less strange."
"For the last time, I'm not a Leia wannabe. I have
way
better hair!"
"Doesn't matter. Bellydance costume says it all."
Colin was confused on that point. "The costume looks nothing like Leia's."
"Bikini top? Gold on it? Big slits up the side?"
"Yeah..."
"Leia wannabe. Plus she'd wear it without underwear."
Jaina interjected, "But mine's a short skirt, not an ankle-length one. And
I
wear underwear."
Colin said, "That one time you didn-"
"Quiet!" Jaina hissed, blushing.
Angela shook her head with a laugh. "This is a little too much information for me. Here I thought you were gay, and you've seen my boobs!"
"We were
acting
!" Colin said defensively. "I didn't look at them!"
"You meant you weren't at all attracted to me?" Angela smirked.
"No, I, uh, I mean..." He stammered and made himself stop talking.
Jaina finally took pity on Colin and said, "Let's get back to the game, shall we?"
They did. It was a long game.
"Dude, you owe me money," Emily said, realizing that Colin was on Bespin.
Colin frowned. "When did you buy that?"
"You were in the bathroom."
Ange shook her head. "We're all losing to an eighteen-year-old."
"I tried to warn you," Jaina said.
Emily grinned. "I always win. The Force is with me."
"She's got Jedi mind trick powers," her sister said.
"Plus, you guys suck. I'm surprised you've got money in the bank. No strategy. No finesse."
Wryly, Colin murmured. "No sadism?"
"I might as well play with Christian... Which one is sadism again?" Emily collected her rent from her sister's boyfriend.
Colin lifted a dark brow. "Are you saying that you'd have a better challenge if you played with a five-year-old, rather than with me?"
Emily glanced at her sister. "Catches on quick, doesn't he?"
Jaina rolled her eyes. "Okay, enough with the bashing of my boyfriend, Satan."
"Hey, only Gerry can call me Satan."
Chapter Thirty-Two
Emily went with them to the set on Monday. Jaina figured that if she ran into Jack, it'd be nice to have Emily there to possibly drive her ex insane.
The chairs in the makeup trailer were the kind that spun around, so Emily entertained herself with that for a while, before she started in with "I'm bored."
Jaina, who was applying make-up to Colin's face, said, "I have to do this. Once everyone's made up, I can show you around, but this comes first."
"Can I wander by myself?"
Her sister shrugged. Emily had a visitor pass, and if there was an off-limits area, she'd be told so. "Stay close. And don't break anything."
"What if I do break something?" Emily inquired gleefully.
"Then you'll be in big trouble."
Emily went to the door, but didn't leave. "I don't know where I'm going."
Jaina finished powdering Colin's face. "Colin, would you take her to meet Jacob and Marlene?"
"Who are they?" Em asked.
"Jacob plays Walter Noble," Colin said. "And Marlene is Lydia."
"Oh! Okay. I'll meet them. I'm easy." She paused, and added, "But not cheap."
Colin opened his mouth, but Jaina cut him off. "Don't. Even. Think. About. It."
He closed his mouth. "Are we still on for 'Doctor' later?"
Jaina blushed. Emily clapped her hands over her ears. "I don't need to hear it! I don't need that image in my head.
"
♥♥♥
Colin informed Jaina that his parents had called his cell while they were at lunch, and they wanted to meet for dinner that night, as he'd informed them he was seeing someone. They wanted to meet "Jay". Jaina got that deer-in-headlights look and immediately started to panic about meeting his family.
"We don't have to go," he said. "Not if you don't want to."
"No, no, I need to meet them."
Jaina spent the rest of the day pondering what to wear. Then she started worrying that they wouldn't like her.
Back at the house, she ran around frantically, trying on outfits and immediately rejecting them. Colin watched with patient amusement.
"Okay," Jaina said from the bathroom. "I think I picked something."
She stepped out and brushed at her hair.
"You look a little nervous." Colin slid an arm around Jaina's waist.
"That's like saying the Dark Lord of Mordor was 'a little evil'," she replied.
"Hey, that's a good one." Colin dropped a kiss on Jaina's shoulder. "You look amazing. So much that if Mum and Dad weren't due in twenty minutes, I'd take you back to bed."
"Back? We haven't got there yet."
"Technicalities."
Jaina pulled out of his arms. "How do I look, I mean, really?"
She spun in a circle. "Passable?"
"More than passable," Colin replied, eyeing the black blouse with split, flowing sleeves and the black skirt with a pink lining that fell just below her knees.
"You are gorgeous," he continued. "But I have to warn you, since my parents think I'm gay and I'm effectively 'coming out of the closet' or, well, going back in, really... Please don't be offended if they think at first that you're a beard."
Jaina laughed, a high trill that made him grin. "I'll keep that in mind."
He looked at her for several moments, blue eyes unreadable. She returned the look for a while, then walked over, reached up, and removed his tie.
"Uh. Jay, I just said a minute ago that I don't think we have the time for-"
"You look strangled," she said. She finished by undoing the top button on his shirt, which was a vibrant blue that brought out the color of his dark blue eyes. The hem of his shirt was tucked into black slacks.
"You look good enough to eat," she said huskily. "After your parents leave, I'm ravishing you."
“
You'll
ravish
me
?"
"Yep."
"I can hardly wait."
Jaina grinned impishly. "But if you let your parents think I'm a beard, you'll die without getting any."