The Kidnapped Heiress

Chapter Eleven

“So, Aria, are you bringing Jake to the wedding?” Monica asked.

She hesitated, “Why would I?”

Monica and Eloise shared confused looks before the latter said, “Well, you’ve been seeing him for a while now.”

“We aren’t serious,” Aria shrugged.

She should have expected that question. Since her last trip to America, she had been going out almost every night. Aria met Jake on one of those nights, and he became a near-constant figure whenever she went out. Brie, Monica or Eloise were always with her, and all she had from him was a phone number, but he usually appeared once they had a few drinks.

Aria never seriously dated anyone, in Paris at least. No doubt Monica and Eloise took this as a sign she was finally serious about someone. Only Brie knew the real reason Aria accepted his advances. It seemed there was a lot more she needed to explain.

“…Actually, the guy I like is in New York,” Aria sighed after a long moment.

Monica and Eloise shared a blank look. They were aware of Aria’s frequent trips to the States to see her extended family. She always brought back interesting stories and gifts, but they had never asked for any greater depth than that. Now, they wracked their brains trying to recall on time Aria mentioned a love interest. The only boys they remembered her mentioning aside from her brothers were the sons of their family friends. Was her mystery man one of them?

“So, who is he?” Eloise asked.

“His name is Theo,” Aria admitted. “Our families have been friends for a long time.”

“So, it’s like an arranged match?” Monica guessed.

“No. Nothing like that. We just always really liked each other. We hung out when we were kids, and it got more serious when we got older.”

“How serious?” Monica asked.

Aria hesitated, her face warming.

“Oh wow!” Eloise gasped. “So, you two…”

Aria grew redder, and it seemed they didn’t need an answer. She cleared her throat, saying, “Anyway, after—everything—he said it was a mistake, and he couldn’t handle a long-distance relationship anymore.”

“Fils de pute!” Monica cursed.[1]

“Enculé!” Eloise muttered.[2]

“And this was after you planned to move to America to be closer to him, right?” Brie prompted.

Aria nodded, “Yeah, I had a job lined up, or at least an audition, and I was going to ask my tante to help me find a place of my own.”

“So, you weren’t going to move in with him?”

“Well, no, not right away,” Aria stammered. “Our parents would definitely have said we were moving too fast.”

Monica and Eloise snickered at the thought. They met Aria’s parents on more than one occasion, and they agreed her father would have thrown a fit if she had moved in with this Theo character. However, since they had broken up, it seemed she had dodged a bullet. So, why then was she hesitating to bring Jake to the wedding?

“So, what about Jake?” Monica asked. “I mean, you are seeing him, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but only to make Theo jealous.”

“I don’t understand. Isn’t he in America?”

“Yes, but he reads the headlines,” Brie said, “she wanted him to see her with another man to make him jealous enough to chase after her.”

“Oh, how romantic!” Monica squealed.

“I don’t know,” Eloise frowned. “I mean, has it worked?”

“No,” Aria admitted. “He probably hasn’t been looking for me at all. At least, he hasn’t called or tried to contact me.”

“And what about Jake? I mean, you’re basically using him,” Eloise added.

“I am, but it was his idea,” Aria shrugged.

“His idea?” Monica asked.

“Yeah, he was flirting with me one night and I basically told him the whole story with Theo. So, he suggested that what would make him really jealous was to be seen with someone else.”

“So, this was Jakes’ idea?” Eloise asked, glancing at Brie for confirmation.

Brie sighed, “They sort of came up with it together.”

“And you were okay with this plan?” Monica asked.

“Of course not. I’ve been telling Aria she should go back to New York and force him to face her. It’s easy for him to put her in the back of his mind when there is an ocean between them, but not if they were in the same city. He’d have to pay attention then.”

“I can’t do that,” Aria insisted.

“Why not?” Monica and Eloise asked in unison.

“I just—I can’t be there and see him with someone else,” Aria said as the hopeless feeling reared itself again. She sounded like a broken record. “It’s too painful.”

Her friends gave her sympathetic looks. Of them, only Brie was in a serious relationship, so the others really didn’t have a way to compare to Aria’s predicament. They knew she could be unpredictable and impulsive depending on the occasion. Deciding to move to New York was in line with her usual behavior. It was something else to see her so distraught.

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think Brie is right,” Monica said after a moment, “assuming you still want to be with Theo.”

Aria hung her head. Why did it have to be this way? Could she even show her face after how it all ended?

“They’re right,” Eloise agreed. “You have to get right up in his face so he can’t ignore you.”

“But…” Aria sighed. “I just don’t think I can act so confident when I see him with someone else.”

“You say that now, but I think once you are there, you’ll find the confidence you think you’re missing,” Monica said.

“I agree,” Eloise nodded. “If there is one thing I know, it’s that Aria always rises to the challenge.”

“It’s like I said,” Brie added, “running away isn’t solving your issue. You have to face it.”

“That’s right,” Monica said, “put on your big girl panties and get it done.”

Aria let their words slowly sink in. They did have a point, and maybe it would get easier if she just faced what she was running from. Nothing stirred her to action quite like competition after all. It would hurt to see Theo again after he rejected her, and she would hate to see him out with someone else, but once she got used to it, she could learn to ignore it.

Fake it until you make it, as they say.

Eloise hesitated, “So, what about Jake?”

“What about him?” Aria asked, confused.

“I mean, what are you going to do when you tell him it’s over?”

Aria shrugged, “It shouldn’t be a problem. He knew it was all to make Theo jealous.”

“Are you sure?” Monica asked.

Aria gave them both a perplexed look.

“I know it started off as a way to make Theo jealous, but Jake was probably hoping you’d eventually forget about your ex and start liking him instead,” Monica said.

“You think so?” Aria asked, “but we’ve never—I mean, we only meet up in the club, dance and I go home. He’s never even tried to kiss me.”

“I’m just saying men only think about one thing. The more time and effort they put into a woman makes them expect more.”

“Jake isn’t like that,” Aria shook her head. “He told me he had a messy break-up with his last girlfriend, so he wasn’t looking for anything serious. He’ll understand.”

“If you say so,” Monica shrugged, only half convinced. If there was one thing she understood about men, it was their huge egos. No man liked to be considered second best.