Chapter Two - Whisking Her Away

Skylar drove towards Eva’s apartment. She remembered Eva had opted out of prom and she could easily spend the night at her place. After a few minutes, she rang the doorbell and Eva opened the door excitedly, as if she was expecting someone else. 

“Who were you expecting? Alexander?” she teased her friend.

“He was here a few minutes ago. I thought he came back for the pizza he ordered for me. You can have some if you want.” 

Skylar’s mouth watered at the mention of pizza. She realized how hungry she was. 

“Wow! Just what I needed. Why don’t you join me?” The two friends sat down to munch the food while discussing the fateful prom night. 

“Why didn’t you attend it? Did your date ditch you?” asked Skylar, but Eva shook her head. 

“Alexander hurt me. I lost the wish to go out.” 

“Oh, don’t take him so seriously. He’s just jealous of your date,” said Skylar with a chuckle. 

“He has no reason to be!” 

With the Van Every family living nearby, she spent most of her days in their house before Alyssa moved out. Although Alexander was six years older, she knew him and his best friend, Ashton very well. Orphaned at thirteen, Ashton lived at the Van Every house ever since Alexander’s dad adopted him. 

The two friends caught up, but Skylar didn’t tell her anything about the situation she was in. She wanted to deal with it her own way. 

The next day, Skylar didn’t return home, preferring to spend it with her friend Hayley at her house. The whole day she lazed around waiting for the wedding fever to die down and things to normalize. If she could successfully avoid Caleb for a few days, he would leave for his new job without a confrontation. That would be the best possible solution for now. She had no wish to bow down to their wishes, and Caleb would never understand her viewpoint. It would strain their relationship even more. 

Caleb called her a few times, but she preferred to ignore his call. 

“How long will you avoid him, Skye? Talk to him,” said Hayley, but Skylar was adamant. 

 “No, Sebastian has eloped with his girlfriend. I’m free now to marry whomever I want. Why are they dumping Christian on me instead? I’m not obligated to marry him.” 

“Reason it out with Christian instead. Convince him. Tell him he’d make the worst mistake of his life if he married you.”

“You’re right. If anyone can help me, it would be Christian, but I declined him last night. He had asked me out on a date.” 

 “Why did you? You’ve lost your only chance, girl.” They sat down to watch a movie, but Hayley’s words played in Skylar’s head. How would she convince Christian that it was a bad idea to marry her? Her eyes brightened up as an idea hit her. Maybe Granny could help her meet Christian. 

She picked up her phone and walked out to the balcony to call Granny. 

“Hello, granny! How are you now?” she asked, feeling a little guilty for neglecting her lately. 

“I’m better, but they insisted I stay here with them tonight. Where are you, Skye? Caleb and Lillian are leaving tomorrow morning. Won’t you meet them once before they leave?”

“I’m at Hayley’s house, granny. I won’t go to the St. James' house to meet them.” Her granny sighed, knowing how difficult she could be sometimes. 

“No one will force you to get married tonight if you come here. At least meet your brother before he leaves. He has done a lot for you for the last twelve years.” 

 “Ask him to meet me at Barbecuez, beside our house in twenty minutes. Oh, ask him to get the house keys with him, please.” Her granny sighed and disconnected the call while Skylar went to change out of her pajamas. 

“Where are you off to? Don’t tell me you’re wearing that to a date with Christian?” said Hayley, eyeing her white top and figure-hugging jeans with disgust.

“No way. Caleb is coming over to meet me before he leaves tomorrow. He’ll get the keys. I can go home at last.”

She drove over to the popular fast-food joint and waited for Caleb. What was taking him so long? It was twenty-four minutes already! She hated waiting for people and Caleb knew that! Ordering a refreshing drink to cool her down, she sipped and waited, ready to blast Caleb.

“Hey, sorry! I’m five minutes late! Don’t get mad!” Skylar froze, knowing whose voice it was. It wasn’t her brother’s! She slowly looked up at the most hateful man in the universe, the one she wanted to avoid like the plague. Christian St. James! She should have been happy to see him here, but she wasn’t. Although she wanted to meet him to convince him to stay away from her, all her enthusiasm left her at the sight of him. 

“What are you doing here? I thought I asked Caleb to meet me.” Skylar scowled at the man, expressing her hatred towards him, but he seemed unaffected by her attitude. Pulling out a chair, he sat right in front of her. 

“I asked you out on a date last night if you remember!” Skylar scowled fiercely, biting back the retort as the server arrived for their order. After she left with their orders, Skylar glared at Christian, annoyed by the knowing smirk on his face. 

“This isn’t a date. You know I would never date or marry you. It’s useless to pursue me. You’re wasting your time, Christian.” Christian looked bored out of his mind, waiting patiently for her to finish. 

“You can’t opt out. Our families have started planning already.” Skylar fumed with anger, wanting to erase the smirk from his face. 

“How can they when I’ve not agreed to this‌? I’m not Caleb that I’ll readily marry just anyone they tie me to.” 

“I’m not just anyone and you’ll readily marry me. That’s my promise to you.” Skylar scowled at the arrogant man, clearly dumbfounded by his determination.

“Why are you so adamant about marrying me? Why can’t you marry someone you love? Oh, I know! You’re so hateful that no woman in her right senses would marry you!” she gave out a forced chuckle just to rile him up. 

“Wrong! Women lose their senses when around me,” Skylar scoffed and emptied her drink in one gulp. She didn’t know where the conversation was heading. When it was so difficult to hold a normal, civilized conversation with the man, how would she tolerate him after marriage?

“Then marry those women. I’m not one of them.” Christian smiled instead of reacting, and her blood boiled even more. She couldn’t connect this calm, composed man to the notorious devil her parents described him as. Was he putting up an act? Would he show his true colors after marriage? No, she couldn’t bring this upon herself. 

“Don’t you tire of harping on the same thing?” He smiled at the server who brought them their order. Somehow, Skylar glared at their interaction, feeling a little spark of jealousy in her heart. Her reaction to the man she hated, baffled her. 

“Thank you,” said Christian, but the server leaned towards him, pushing a paper napkin towards him before she left with a wink. He held out the paper napkin with the woman’s phone number scribbled on it. Skylar scoffed, although a surge of jealousy coursed down her body. 

“That doesn’t prove your popularity with women. Anyway, I have a better idea. Why don’t you marry the woman who just now gave you her number?” 

She concentrated on the food in front of her, very annoyed with everything and everyone. 

“I don’t want to.” He helped himself to the food while she waited for him to elaborate. 

“What do you want, then? Why are so keen to marry me?” 

“You have to go out on a date with me to get your answers.” Skylar wanted to punch his arrogant face out of frustration. 

“I won’t.” She finished her food, eager to leave, but where would she go? She had expected her brother with the house keys instead of this detestable man. 

“Your wish!” he continued to eat, unperturbed by her reaction. “Do you want to order anything else? A slice of blueberry cheesecake, maybe? It’s still your favorite, isn’t it?” Skylar gaped at the man, wondering how he knew about her favorite dessert when she knew nothing about him! 

“How do you know it’s my favorite?” 

“Go out with me and I’ll tell you.” Skylar groaned, although deep down she felt a tinge of curiosity disturbing her. Should she agree to go out on one date with him? What harm could it bring to her already dismal life?

“I’ll see about that. Shall we leave?” She fished out some money, but Christian already paid and got up to leave. Before Skylar could march away towards her car, Christian grabbed her hand in a tight grip, steering her towards his car. 

“What the hell, Christian! Where are you taking me? Leave my hand this minute.”

“No, you’re coming home with me. Don’t make me carry you there. I will if you don’t cooperate!”