THE J FACTOR
Dedicated to Nida Zehra and Kavita Rawat. (Yeah! I made all our stupid talks into a story.)
(P.S.- J Factor stands for jealousy factor)It was a very cold day and the streets were almost deserted although it was just six in the evening. Two sixteen year olds were walking down the street. The girl was shivering and the boy had pulled her close to himself. And the boy was laughing.
"Matt! It is not a joke! I am serious and I expect you to be too!"
"Sorry Mimi! Just it is so bizarre!" Matt said.
"So, do you want me to continue or not?" Mimi said.
"Um…..yeah." Matt said trying to hold his laughter in his throat.
"OK so where was I?"
"Some random bald ugly guy knocked on your door and asked you to marry him."
"Yeah! And then the scene shifts and I was actually marrying the guy!"
"Oh! Poor me!" Matt said and he couldn't help ant the laughter stuck in his throat came out and he started laughing uncontrollably.
Mimi glared at him and pulled away from him and began walking ahead of him. Matt realized this and rushed after his girl friend. He knew her well. If he did not resolve it with her right now probably go down on knees and beg her for forgiveness she was not going to talk to him for days. He knew her getting upset at the littlest things.
He began to run after her. She did walk fast! By the time he reached her he was huffing badly. He stopped to catch his breath. "Mimi…..wait."
Mimi was in no mood of fighting with her boy friend when already at home…
Mimi shook her head. She did not want to think about Shiyana at the moment. She turned to face him trying her best to look angry but now when she thought about it the whole business actually did seem funny.
"Sorry Meems but seriously your dream…." Matt swallowed hard to control his laughter. "It was well a little weird don't you think?"
"Why?" Mimi said playing with him though she knew it was weird.
"I mean you would definitely not end up marrying a bald ugly guy whose two front teeth are missing!" Matt was highly amused!
"I could be forced." Mimi said narrowing her eyes. She wanted to see his reaction but he still seemed highly amused!
"Well then I will save you! I won't let anyone else have my girl!" He said and pulled her close to himself and kissed her and she kissed back. After a few minutes they broke apart.
Mimi smiled. "Alright bye Matt I better get going home." Though home was the last place she wanted to go with her there.
"I'll come with you. I have nothing better to do any ways."
"Band practice?"
"Nah! Not today! And anything for you madam." He said bowing to Mimi. Mimi giggled.
"Come on then." Mimi said. Matt being there would make her feel better.
Mimi and Matt walked over to Mimi's house. "Um…Matt there is someone else here too."
"Who?" Matt asked.
"My cousin. She has come to say for the holidays. Her name is Shiyana."
"You don't seem happy about her being here." Matt said staring into space.
"How do you know?" Mimi said.
He turned to her and smiled. "I know your mind better than my own."
Mimi began to randomly play with her hair. Matt noticed that. He simply loved her pink dyed hair. And he also knew that all the boys at school simply died to be noticed by her 90% because of the lovely hair and they were really envious of him. He considered himself a very lucky guy to get her and unlike the others who simply wanted her for the mere sake of popularity he truly loved her and wanted her to be with him forever. He was shaken out of his thought by Mimi's gentle voice calling to him.
"Matt…..Matt…." Mimi was shaking her hand in front of his eyes.
"Uh…Yeah?"
"Where are you lost?"
"Just thinking how lucky I am to have you." He said running his hand through her hair.
"Aw….." She said and kissed him on the cheek.
"So what is the problem?"
"Problem?"
"About this Shiyana."
"Oh! Just a conceited snobbish brat she is. Thinks she is the greatest. Always trying to outdo me in everything and thinks she is better than me in almost…..wait not almost…..in everything and what she did to her hair to imitate or well look better than me." Mimi shuddered thinking of Shiyana's hair.
"What did she do?"
"You'll see." Mimi said as she opened the door of her house and they entered.
In the living room the T.V. was blaring and a fashion channel was playing. There was someone lying on the sofa. Matt curious to have a look at this cousin of Mimi's walked round the sofa to have a good look.
Matt's eyes almost fell out of their sockets on seeing the girl but he controlled himself. How the hell could this girl think of herself as better than Mimi? There was no comparison between the two.
Shiyana was a pasty faced girl. And well she was fat…too fat…obese in fact! She had pimples and freckles all over her face. And Oh God! What the hell had she done to her hair! Her hair was a rusty brown color and on one side of it (he shut his eyes and then opened them again to make sure he was seeing correct.) She had streaks(only on one side!) and not of one color but of many colors- blue, red, green, purple, yellow and pink and pink was the most prominent. She had applied silver star pins all over her hair. Trying to match with Mimi's yellow ones. Matt thought.
Shiyana looked up from the T.V. screen to see the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen staring at her! OMG! And not at that beautiful cousin as people said of hers! He had blonde hair and blue eyes and was a perfect hunk!
Mimi noticed her gaze and turned to look at Matt staring at her and kicked Matt in his ankle. Matt woke up from his shocked state. "Ow…." He stopped mid sentence as he caught Mimi giving him a murderous look. He looked away embarrassed.
"Shiyana this is…." Mimi began but Shiyana was missing from her position on the sofa.
"Where did she go?" Matt said.
"Well where ever she went I definitely do not care." Mimi said. "And now you better give me some answers Matt!"
Matt looked at her nervously. "Yeah…."
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU STARING LIKE THAT AT HER FOR?"
Mimi's loud voice startled Matt. She rarely ever spoke to him like that. That voice was usually reserved for Davis.
"I….I was staring at her?"
'Don't pretend as if you know nothing."
"Oh! Mimi I did it unintentionally."
"You started staring at her unintentionally?"
"No! I mean I was just taken by shock! She looked so weird."
Mimi suddenly laughed. The way Matt said it made her laugh.
"Aw…..Matt you are too cute!"
Matt was about to reply when he was interrupted by a very shrill voice somewhat like a baby's.
"Meemee!"
Matt and Mimi turn around to see Shiyanaand get the shocks of their looked very very very… well see for your selves!
Shiyana had changed out of the pajamas which she had been wearing and had put on a (I'm not joking) dress. The kind someone would wear to a Christmas party not in the evening at your uncle and aunt's house. It was a red colored frilly dress with simply too much lace definitely not suited to a teenager. It made her stomach look horrible fat as it was.
"What the…." Mimi whispered. "Shiyana? What are you trying to do?"
"Don't I look good?"
"Good? My foot. That girl is screaming fashion disaster!" Matt whispered to Mimi. Mimi rolled her eyes.
Shiyana cleared her throat. "So won't you introduce me Mimi?"
"Oh! Yeah! I am sorry." Mimi said not looking the least bit happy. "Matt this is Shiyana my cousin. She will be staying here a while and Shiyana this is Yamato. You can call him Matt. He is my boyfriend."
Shiyana seemed dumbstruck. The word 'boyfriend' definitely gave her a blow. She had had dreams of Matt and her. She looked at her now she had got the "J Factor". She wanted Matt. Why did that cousin of hers get the priority. No, She would snatch away her boyfriend this time. Then she spoke in a very seductive voice.
"Hi, Matt."
Matt recognized that voice at once. 'Seductive voice'. When girls gave him that kind of hi, he knew had to stay away.
"Hi." He said and looked at Mimi helplessly. His eyes clearly said. "SAVE ME FROM HER!"
Mimi understood what he was trying to tell her and she also understood the envy within Shiyana. "Matt let us go to my room. I want to talk to you." She said. And then she added "Alone!"
Shiyana understood that that alone was meant for her. Alright. She was going to teach this Mimi Tachikawa a lesson.
"Oh! God! Mimi your cousin is such a wannabe!" Matt said as soon as they entered Mimi's room.
"I know. And she has her eyes on you. Beware."
"Duh….I would never go out with someone like her and I am not saying it because of the looks. She lacks inner beauty too as I can see."
"Want something to drink?"
"Yes. Please. All this is making me dizzy. Why do girls fall on me?"
"Oh you better not say that since I too fell for you." Mimi said leaning close to him.
"But I too fell for you." He said and kissed her on the lips.
Shiyana was watching all this quietly from the key hole. Her heart burned with jealousy.
"I'll go check what is there." Mimi said and turned around to leave.
"Come back soon!" Matt said.
Mimi winked at him. Shiyana quickly moved out of sight and watched Mimi open the door and leave without Matt. Now was her chance. She entered the room. Matt was sitting on Mimi's pink bed and was gazing out of the window. Oh! He looked so damn gorgeous.
"Maaattt" She said in her sing-song voice.
Matt turned and looked at her with an exasperated expression and made no effort to hide it. Shiyana did not seem to notice. "Hey baby!"
Matt looked at her and blinked. He had just met the girl 10 minutes ago and she was calling him 'baby'! Even Mimi did not call him that! He was seriously getting irritated with her now.
"What do you want?" He said rudely in fact. Let her think what she wanted to. He did not care. She was pestering him. No wonder Mimi had not wanted to come home if this treatment was meted out to her on a daily basis.
"Just I wanted to talk to you."
"What?" He said. He was getting ruder and ruder by every minute but this girl was testing his patience.
"Um…. Why did you run away from there?"
Now Matt seemed highly amused. 'Run Away'! Seriously!
"Mimi told you. We wanted to talk about something important."
"But where did she go then?'
Matt realized she was trying to make small talk. "She has gone to fetch something to drink. And are you going to get to the point Shiyana. I do not like beating round the bush."
"Matt… Come on a date with me!"
"What the hell Shiyana?" Matt said standing up. "I am dating your cousin for God's sake!"
"I know. But leave her for me!"
Matt gazed at her. The girl was losing her senses. What rubbish was she talking? He had gone into a state of shock for the second time that day and that was the reason he did not hear Mimi's footsteps on the stairs but Shiyana totally on the alert heard her approach. She smiled a spiteful smile. Now it was time to play the game.
She made a most pathetic face. She pouted her lips in a most sorrowful manner. She walked over to Matt and grabbed the collar of his shirt. She squeezed her eyes and brought out crocodile tears. "It is because I am not as beautiful as Mimi, isn't it?"
"Um…..No." Matt replied trying his best to get away from her but her grip was too tight.
"Tell me Matt. I am not beautiful, right?" Shiyana said and she got the reply at the correct time.
Matt even though he had been rude to her and wanted her to get lost he did not have the heart to say the truth to her. But his bad luck was only bad. As soon as he said "No….No Shiyana you are very beautiful….gorgeous." Mimi chose it to walk in the room.
Matt did not notice Mimi come in but Shiyana did and carried on with the play. She removed her hand from his collar and placed it on his back and before Matt could protest brought him close to her and reached forward and kissed him.
"Matt! I don't believe this!" Mimi said tears coming to her eyes.
Matt pushed her away from him. "What the hell are you trying to do? You wanna know the truth about your looks." Matt screamed. He had completely lost his temper. He could not believe he had allowed this stupid girl to trick him into all this. "You are the biggest wannabe I ever saw as well as the ugliest silliest and most vain girl I ever met!" He said.
Shiyana was taken aback. She was a spoiled snob and had never been told the plain truth to the face. She stared them and this time real tears came to her eyes.
"Oh! Those fake tears again!" Matt said unkindly. "I don't have time for all this."
He ran out shouting "Mimi"
Mimi was sitting out on the door step. "I do not want to talk to you Yamato Ishida!"
"Mimi. Please!" Matt said.
"GO AWAY!"
"Mimi give me a chance. Just listen to me. Mimi don't you trust me?"
"I used to until a few minutes ago."
Matt sighed. He wanted to strangle Shiyana for this. That girl really was absurd. And now she had got him into such a mess that Mimi did not even want to listen to him. He ws at a loss about what to do now. So he thought it was better to leave. He grabbed his jacket and put it on. Maybe Mimi needed sometime to calm down
"I'll see you later." He said to Mimi.
Mimi did not bother looking at him. He just shook his head and walked off. Maybe tomorrow she would listen to him.
It was very cold and it started snowing as Matt walked off. Now all the tears which he had been holding for so long started to fall. How had he let this happen? It was so sudden he did not realize anything. He absent mindedly wandered to the place where just about half an hour ago he and Mimi had been walking. They had been so happy and laughing oblivious to the fate which awaited them. He kicked a mass of snow angrily. The place was completely deserted now. He started to cry bitterly. He hardly ever cried. It was a very rare sight to see Yamato Ishida cry.
Suddenly a soft hand touched his cheek which wiped away his tears. He looked to see Mimi standing in front of him.
"Mimi…I…"
"Sh. I know everything and I am so sorry I did not listen to you." Mimi said she kissed him and they again began making out just like a little while ago
"So how did you know?" Matt said as they broke apart.
"Shiyana told me." Mimi said.
"Shiyana?"
"You really did knock some sense into her vain head. Nobody had ever told her all those things. It would have been good if somebody had done that but well better late than never. And you have seriously made her see the world beyond herself."
"Oh!"
"Matt I am so sorry for ever doubting you. It was a lesson to me too."
"Well it showed how much you love me." Matt said the mischievous glint coming back to his eyes and a grin forming on his lips.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean." He said and he held Mimi by the waist and pulled her close to himself. "that I liked the J Factor in you for my sake."
"Matt….." Mimi said warningly.
"Alright Alright." Matt said holding his hands up in surrender. "But honestly tell me you were jealous of Shiyana at the moment, weren't you?"
"Kinda."
"Not Kinda Ms. Tachikawa. Fully." Matt said.
"Topic change!" Mimi said.
"Mimi I think we should talk to Shiyana. She did have a blow."
"Yeah! Come on!"
"And well you know what I was wrong. She did possess inner beauty."
"And you helped her discover it." Mimi said as Matt wrapped his hand around her waist and Mimi cuddled close to him.
"And you another thing Mimi."
"Yeah?"
"I found your J Factor… cute!"
Well I thought it was a little lame. I hope it was not cos it was meant for two of my very close friends and it contained mixed ideas from both of them and even the title was courtesy them. Please review and tell me how was it.