Re: Serendipity 3

[Guest]

"Why would I text Ashton, if we're sitting at the same table together?" Ashlee said, brushing that off and texted Luke back. Yeah you missed it just watch over here once in awhile subtly and you'll probably catch her. With that last message Ashlee stuck her phone into her purse so people wouldn't question her.

"No one, aren't you busy?" She asked Evelyn a bit rudely, before going back to eating her pie.

Antonio wasn't sure what was going on so he just ate his pie blissfully ignorant.

Jacob was just relieved that Evelyn's attention was elsewhere besides him, as he glanced down at his watch wondering just how much longer they would be there for.

[Tiger-Lily]

This reminded Evelyn of her target. She wasn't quite through with him yet and wouldn't be until he snapped.

She had to give props to Jake for holding it in, though. Had that been her, she'd probably have thrown a few punches by now.

"You're right," she said to Ashlee, ignoring her tone, and Evelyn turned back to her dessert.

"Hm, what would be your dream twenty-first birthday like?" Ashton asked in general. He was looking at James so Seth figured he'd let teh birthday boy go first.

Evelyn glanced up at James, curious and then shifted her attention to the quiet Spaniard. Jake wasn't looking at her, so she put the spoon back in ehr dessert and slowly slid it toward him so Ashlee wouldn't catch on.

Evelyn sat forward in her seat and reached under the table, resting a light hand on Jake's knee, fingers stroking his jeans leg. "Here, you can have the rest of mine," she said, tone perfectly platonically friendly, even as she slowly slid her hand up and down his thigh out of sight of everyone.

Luke had been watching Evelyn but really couldn't see anything beyond her being friendly to Jake - which was odd because angry Evelyn was never friendly. Luke frowned but didn't see anything wrong with this picture, so he turned back to the conversation.

[Guest]

"Well Vegas was in the cards, but give how well that went. I would say party bus full of alcohol and a few strippers and going out around town all night." James said putting his fork down, and smirking.

"That's what I'm talkin bout!" Antonio hifived James.

Lola giggled, listening to the boys talk about their grand twenty-first birthday plans.

"I..." Jacob could feel his defense breaking, he was trying so hard to keep his restraint but he could feel himself getting to the point where he wanted to snap at her. But he couldn't not yet, no. Not ever! He knew that Evelyn could tell she was getting to him, but she wanted a bigger reaction. Then what he was already giving her. And no matter how much she was just driving him crazy Jacob refused to give her that pleasure.

"No." Jake swallowed sliding the dessert back to Evelyn. "I don't want it."

[Tiger-Lily]

Most people had finished their desserts by now.

Seth mused to himself. "Heyyy, you know what? I'm not sure about my twenty-first, but I do know that my parents are planning to let me take out the yacht on Saturday if I want to. So how about this? Instead of clubbing, we get a whole bunch of people and some alcohol, and go party on water instead of land?" He looked over at Jake, grinning. "You in, bro?"

Ashton leaned over to Lola and muttered, "Is it me or does Jake looked like he needs to puke?"

Evelyn had left her hand on Jake's leg, slowly, sensually continuing stroking it. She looked up at him, smiling, eyes twinkling impishly. "I think that sounds like fun, don't you think?"

[Guest]

Lola glanced over at Jake, and she noticed that he did look incredibly uneasy. Was he okay? She wasn't sure if he was sick or just uncomfortable having to sit next to Evelyn. "He does, but I dunno if its cause of Evelyn or if he actually looks sick." She muttered back to Ashton.

Jacob couldn't take it anymore, it had been building up for too long inside of him during this whole dinner and he just snapped. "Quit it!" He yelled at Evelyn, moving his leg away from her standing up.

Everyone's eyes fell on Jacob and Evelyn now.

"What do you want me to say? You won? You made me squirm. You enjoyed it? FINE! You win! Congratulations, your little a plan worked okay? I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry what I said about you earlier today! I was angry! I wasn't even gonna come tonight, but Ashton convinced me. Of course I was stupid thinking if I just ignored you, you wouldn't try to retaliate. Just leave me alone you got what you want! You won!" Jacob yelled, then realized almost everyone's eyes in the restaurant were on their party and he sighed running a hand through his hair.

Jacob pulled out his wallet, pulling out money leaving it on the table for his meal. "I'm sorry James, happy birthday alright dude? I'm gonna go." He said quietly, putting his jacket on and turning to leave. "See you guys later." He muttered.

[Tiger-Lily]

Ashton closed his eyes, heaving a breaht. He had no idea what the hell Jake was talking about, honestly. Evelyn had just seemed friendly, but he seemed seriously upset.

Luke shot James a startled glance. After Ashlee's text, though, he kind of understood what Evelyn had been doing.

Seth, however, looked completely baffled. "What's going on?" he muttered to Ashlee.

Evelyn looked up at Jake, hands folded in her lap and a perfectly nonchalant look on her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but by all means, feel free to accuse me some more," she said simply.

"They need a fucking time-out, BOTH of them," Ashton muttered to his brother.

[Guest]

Antonio nodded slowly, watching to see what would happen next.

Jake stopped for a moment, opening his mouth to say something but just sighed instead. Deciding to leave with whatever little dignity he had left. He walked past their waiter and the host stand out the door.

Ashlee didn't bother to lower her voice she was really annoyed of how Evelyn had been acting the whole evening. "Jake and Evelyn got into a huge fight earlier today in front of the library mean things were said, and she's been making him uncomfortable the entire night."

[Tiger-Lily]

"Gee, Ashlee, way to side with me," Evelyn said, a tone of cold anger in her voice. "I haven't done anything, and if you forgot, we were celebrating James' birthday, not bitching about me."

"True that," Seth said somewhat tersely, wondering if he should get up and go after Jake. Did Jake have his car?

[Guest]

"Ev its one thing to do something to get back at Jake like egg his car or something, but to screw with his feelings, and make tonight all about your damned revenge on him instead of James was incredibly selfish of you." Ashlee said angrily to her. Ashlee needed to get up, because even though Evelyn was her best friend tonight she was acting incredibly stupid. So she excused herself to go outside and get some air.

James wasn't exactly sure what to say, he had no clue that Evelyn and Jacob had even fought today. Or any of that was even going on! He sat there kind of stunned, and awkwardly. Some birthday, then again his birthdays were never that good anyway. Something always went wrong so for this to happen wouldn't be one of the worst things.

Lola sighed, and was just too disgusted with Evelyn to look at her. She got up and pulled out her wallet leaving her share on the table as well. "I'm gonna go see if Jake is okay, I'm sorry again James. Happy birthday." She said quietly. Lola pulled on her jacket and as she walked by Evelyn she gave her a death glare and walked out of the restaurant.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn snorted, amused. Funny of Ashlee to say that of all people.

Luke, though, wasn't glaring at Evelyn. He was shooting Ashlee an incredibly annoyed look.

"Funny, Ash," he said, as Ashlee got up to leave. "When Ev was probably the only one who didn't think you were trashy, you just turned on her."

Ashton cringed. Evelyn's head shot up, eyes widening. She bit her lip but didn't say anything in argument to Luke.

"Okay, party's over," Ashton commented. He got to his feet. "I have to give Jake a ride back."

But then he realized Seth had already shot out of his seat and was out the door. Ashton sighed.

***

"Jake! Hold up!" Seth called, catching up to him and grabbing his arm to yank him to a stop. "You're not walking to Greenwich! My car's across the street."

[Guest]

Ashlee stopped dead in her tracks, she looked back at Luke.... trashy? Lucas thought she was trashy? Ashlee felt tears streaming into her eyes, and let them fall down her cheeks. She looked to Evelyn and realized she didn't say anything which probably meant she thought the exact same thing.

So is that what those two did in Seattle after they left? Talk about how trashy she had gotten? "You think I'm trashy?" She said in a low voice. "I guess you think its true too since you're silent huh Ev? I guess us trashy gals gotta stick together." Ashlee lowered her head and said nothing more to Luke she was so incredibly hurt right now all she wanted to do was go home. She hitched her purse over her shoulder and walked out of the restaurant after the twins.

"Luke..." James said shocked. He couldn't believe he had just insulted Ashlee like that.

***

Jacob had stopped walking when Seth grabbed his arm. Jake turned to face him silently. Lola had a chance to catch up."Jake!" She yelled stopping and standing next to Seth. "Are you okay?"

"Can we just go back?" He said not wanting to discuss anything about today anymore.

[Tiger-Lily]

Seth bit his lip and glanced at Lola. "Car's a two-seater. Do you have a ride?"

***

"Sorry to bring it up on your birthday," Luke muttered to James. "But I didn't think it was fair that Ev got called out in front of everyone by someone she was covering for. Do you even know how many people agree with me? Too many to mention, so I won't bring it up again."

Evelyn was resting her head in her hands. This was spiraling horribly out of control. Why couldn't Ashlee have just shut up and let her and Jake deal with it since it was none of her business? Now Luke had finally been provoked and it explained his attitude toward Ashlee lately.

Funny thing was, Ashton hadn't said anything where he'd usually have defended her.

"I gave Lola a ride," he said to James, forcing a smile. "I gotta go see if she's okay. Coming, Tones?" He pulled on his jacket. "Happy birthday, dude.. It was pretty good up until ten minutes ago."

Luke got to his feet. "I'll see you at home," he said to James, and walked out before the twins could. He figured he should leave before he said anything else.

[Guest]

"The twins brought me, I'll hitch a ride back with them. Jake call me when you get back?" Lola asked of him.

Jacob nodded, and she gave him a hug before she turned back to wait outside of the restaurant so she could go home.

Ashlee had been standing outside trying to hail a cab, because she did not want to ride back at all with any of them.

***

"Yeah coming, happy birthday bro. " Antonio said quietly getting up.

James got up, not really feeling like doing much else except going home. His party mood was pretty much shot. He picked up the gifts from everyone, as he watched the twins leave. At this point the only people from their party left inside were James and Evelyn.

"Was whatever you did tonight worth hurting your best friend? I mean how long did you know about how Luke felt this way about Ashlee? Cause I'll tell you one thing he didn't tell me. Listen I've had a lot of shitty birthdays my whole life, so tonight is just another one to add to it. I'll be fine don't worry about having ruined my night. Nothing tops how my dad died literally hours after my fifteenth birthday was over." James told Evelyn as he stood over her. "Come on, I don't want you going home alone, so you can ride back with me." James told her.

[Tiger-Lily]

Seth led the way across the street to the GTR and unlocked it. He and Jake got in and Seht started the engine.

"Can you tell me what just happened?" he asked, completely confused. "I feel like people are skipping steps here."

***

Ashton met Lola outside the restaurant, not spotting Ashlee. "Hey, where's Jake?"

***

Evelyn dropped her hands and looked up at James. She bit her lip hard and then said, "Don't blame me for whatever happened with Ashlee. She butted in on my fight with Jake when it was none of her business. I've been,"

Evelyn straightened and got out of her seat as she continued, yanking on both her coats, "I've been defending her actions to Alexis and Rose and Luke all of last semester, okay? I hated that I couldn't find excuses for her sleeping aorund or getting trashed and making out with Ashton because, yeah, it was trashy, but I never called her out on it. And most definitely not in public like she just did."

Evelyn buttoned up her jacket, sidestepping James. "Jake and I had a problem, but it was our problem. And if she would just get her self-righteousness out of her head, she'd realize she's putting up double-standards."

"Miss, is there a problem?" The maitr'd was suddenly standing there behind her.

Evelyn turned and pointed to the bills on their table. Ashton and Luke had both tossed down their money before leaving. Ashton had dropped a few more bills in front of Lola and Tony's plates

"No, everyone paid individually. Here," she yanked a fifty out of her wallet and thrust it at him. "That's for me and the birthday boy. He'd like a bag to carry his gifts in."

The maitr'd looked startled as he nodded, and the waiter nearby started collecting the bills to add them up.

Turning to James, Evelyn said neutrally, "I'm good on my own, thanks." She flashed him a faint smile as a waitress came over with a large plastic bag for him to dump his gifts in.

[Guest]

"I don't wanna talk about it." Jake mumbled.

***
"He hitched a ride home with Seth." Lola informed him. Lola felt a headache coming on. "I just wanna leave tonight was...ugh."

***

James sighed putting his gifts into a bag and said. "I mean isn't it kind of a double standard what you and Luke are doing to her? I mean okay don't get trashed as often, but I sleep around and make out with girls all the time. I mean it makes me pretty trashy too, doesn't it?" James asked Evelyn.

[Tiger-Lily]

"Fair enough," Seth said," pulling the car out of the parking spot and turning toward Greenwich.

Just a few yards away, Ashton, Lola and Antonio got into Ashton's car and headed back.

[[Seth and Jake, Ashton, Antonio and Lola, to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]]

***

"Why is it a double standard for me? I'm not doing anything I consider trashy," Evelyn said, hitching her bag up over her shoulder. "And I refuse to answer your question since this topic was never meant to be brought up tonight. Or ever." She turned and stood up on her tiptoes, kissing his cheek before she turned around and headed for the door. "Night, James."

[Guest]

"Its not a double standard for you. I'm just saying it is for her, I mean I do the same exact thing as Ashlee and I don't see you or Luke calling me trashy. I know Ash, I know she's a nice girl, just like you Ev. And somewhere along the way something happened that made you guys act the way you were. For me it was my shitty up bringing. For you it was to get back at Jake for saying mean crap to you. I don't know what Ashlee's reason was, but neither of you should have called each other like that."James said to Evelyn as he followed behind her leaving the restaurant.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn turned around once she exited the restaurant. "I didn't call her out," she said frostily. "I'm sick of being blamed for shit i didn't do. Like flirting with you."

[Guest]

"Okay I'm sorry that was my mistake. I meant for Luke calling her out. You're right you didn't do anything, and I know you didn't flirt with me." James said to Evelyn as they stood outside.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn rubbed her hands over her face, exhaling as they walked to the nearest spot to hail a cab. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I wasn't trying to ruin your birthday. In fact, Jake told me himself, he wasn't coming. It kind of threw me off when I saw him there. But forget about that." She looked up at James. "You shouldn't end your birthday on this note!"

[Guest]

James shrugged, "Really Ev its no big deal. I honestly had no clue whether Jake would show or not since our relationship was rocky to say the least. Besides like I've said I've had crappier birthdays, this really isn't too big a deal."

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn frowned at this and bit her lip. After a moment, she looked up, tucking her hands into her coat pockets, a slight grin on her lips. "You wanna go bowling?"

[Guest]

"Bowling? Just the two of us?" James asked, usually whenever people went bowling they were with more than just two people. "I don't think we have enough people for that."

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn snorted. "You can play with two people. Don't worry, I've been bowling for years but since it's your birthday, I'll try not to cream you." She took a step closer to him, rising on her tiptoes and speaking into his ear. "But if you want to run, you're welcome to say so, pretty boy."

[Guest]

James raised an eyebrow at Evelyn and smiled. "Okay fine we'll go bowling. But just so you know, you're going down."

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