(I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter. I was having a hard time with it and I don't feel like it's my best but I hope you enjoy it!)
Stephanie stared at the movie playing on the tv but she wasn't really paying attention anymore. After dinner was over Shane had suggested that they all sit down and watch a movie. Feeling pretty uncomfortable with the silence since meeting Charlotte, Stephanie had agreed to watch a movie. But through the first half of the movie Stephanie started to become annoyed because it seemed every five seconds Charlotte was giggling over something Shane had whispered in her ear. Now she knew how Shane had felt the night he was trying to watch a movie but her and Paul kept making noise. So at this point she really had no idea what the movie was about or what was going on.
"Shane can I talk to you?" Stephanie asked turning her head to look at him.
"Yeah go ahead" Shane replied turning his attention from Charlotte to her.
"I meant in private" Stephanie said getting up from the couch and headed to the door of the apartment without giving him a chance to respond. She had tried to bite her tongue and just try to be okay with what was going on but she couldn't do it anymore. The more she sat there and thought about Shane and Charlotte, the more she wondered if Shane had done this on purpose. She didn't understand how Shane told Paul he was okay with them dating now if he was going to go and date Paul's ex.
"Why did you come out here?" Shane asked coming out of the apartment and shutting the door behind them.
"Because I didn't want anyone to be able to overhear" like Charlotte but she didn't want to say that to him.
"Okay you're acting weird"
"I wonder why" Stephanie snapped before walking a little down the hallway from the apartment door. "So are you doing this on purpose?"
"Doing what?" Shane asked with a confused look.
"Dating Charlotte. I thought you were okay with me and Paul dating"
"I am"
"Oh really?" Stephanie asked arching her eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"Yes. Me wanting to date Charlotte has nothing to do with you and Paul at all. Not everything is about you Stephanie" Shane replied rolling his eyes at her.
"I didn't say everything was about me"
"I had started to develop feelings for Charlotte before her and Paul started dating. At the time she was more interested in him so I let it go and settled for being her friend. We started talking again here lately and I realized I still have feelings for her"
"Seriously? It's been a couple of years since you stopped talking or seeing each other and you still have feelings for her?"
"You still have feelings for Paul and you two didn't talk or see each for five years" Shane pointed out. She couldn't help but feel annoyed that he was right but part of her was still skeptical that Shane wasn't doing this because of her and Paul. "Now if you will excuse me I want to get back to Charlotte."
Stephanie just stood there watching him as he walked back up to the apartment and went inside. She honestly didn't know if she really wanted to go back or not. Charlotte was already annoying her with the giggling and besides that she just felt uncomfortable being around her. If she was honest part of her felt insecure about herself after seeing the girl Paul used to date and she didn't feel like she measured up. She wasn't used to feeling this way at all usually she was confident.
"Hey" she heard Paul say and she looked up to see him coming out of the apartment. She had been lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't heard the apartment door open.
"Hey" Stephanie replied with a small smile as he made his way down to her.
"Were you thinking about rejoining us?" Paul asked as she shrugged and uncrossed her arms letting them fall to her side. He seemed to be unaffected about Shane and Charlotte being together. She had noticed that when Shane was introducing her and Charlotte that Paul had been surprised but after that it was like nothing had even happened. Was she the only one that was uncomfortable with it?
"Did you know about them?"
"I had no idea"
"And you don't care?"
"The only thing I care about is the woman standing in front of me" Paul replied gently grabbing her arm and pulling her against him. Then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Do you care they are together?"
"It's a little uncomfortable" Stephanie admitted "but it's because I don't think he's okay with us being together like he says he is."
"Because he is dating Charlotte?" Paul asked and Stephanie nodded her head before laying against his chest. "Well that is pretty messed up if that is why he is with her but he should probably know that I don't care"
"Don't tell him I said anything. I already asked him if that was the reason and he denied it but I'm still not so sure" it wasn't the only reason she was uncomfortable with them being together but she didn't want to voice her insecurities to Paul.
"I won't say anything to him. So do you want to go back in there and finish the movie?"
"I wasn't really watching it anyway because they were being annoying. I have no idea what is going on" Stephanie replied as they broke away from each other and he slid his hand into hers before they started walking back to the door of the apartment.
"Then we'll put a new movie on. It wasn't like they were really watching it anyway either and I'll tell them to shut up" Paul said before opening the door and stepping back into the apartment. Once they were inside they headed back to the couch and Paul grabbed the remote from Shane before sitting down.
"Hey- "
"You weren't watching it anyway" Paul said flipping through the channels to look for something new to watch.
"Neither were you. You two were outside doing God knows what" Shane replied pointing his finger at them.
"We weren't doing anything. That will happen later in my room" Paul smirked and Stephanie watched as Shane made a face and pretended to gag. "You know it almost happened once right here on this couch, okay maybe twice."
"That's disgusting and way too much information that I did not need to know" Shane replied getting up from the couch and held out his hand to Charlotte. "You want to go my room?"
"Sure" Charlotte replied getting up and taking his hand.
"We're buying a new couch" Shane said as him and Charlotte walked to his room. Stephanie giggled even though she was a little embarrassed and laid her head down on Paul's shoulder as he laughed.
"Nothing actually got to happen on it" Paul replied still laughing but Shane didn't say anything and after a couple of seconds they heard his door shut. Paul then handed her the remote to the tv. "Well we got rid of them. So you can put on anything you want for us to watch."
After flipping through the channels on the tv she finally found something to watch and then she leaned up against Paul. He wrapped his arm around her and she got lost in the movie trying to forget about her bad day. She still didn't know what to make of Shane and Charlotte being together but if he was doing it to cause trouble she was going to be pissed. But right now she wasn't going to worry about it because hopefully everything would work itself out. All she wanted to do right now was be with Paul she just hoped tomorrow would be better because she couldn't take another bad day.
The next morning Stephanie woke up feeling hungry so she headed downstairs to grab some breakfast and see if her mom was home. After spending time with Paul last night she headed home because he had to be up for work and she had wanted to check on Linda. When she had got home though nobody had been there so she had just decided to call it a night and go to bed. It was unlike Linda to be gone at the time of the night she was and she was becoming a little more worried about her. But there really wasn't much she could do if Linda refused to talk to her about it. Maybe she could try to get Linda to actually talk to her today though, if she was home.
Walking into the kitchen she immediately spotted Linda sitting and drinking a cup of what she assumed was coffee and reading something in the newspaper.
"Good morning" Stephanie greeted her as she went to grab a bowl and pour herself some cereal.
"Good morning" Linda replied with a smile. "How was your night?"
"It was good" Stephanie replied not wanting to go into detail because she didn't want to tell Linda she had met Shane's new girlfriend. She just didn't want to get into that topic right now. "Where were you last night?"
"Tamara and I went out for some drinks. I didn't realize how late we stayed out until I got home so I didn't mean to worry you"
"It's fine. So are you going to be out with Tamara again today?" Stephanie asked grabbing a bowl and a box of cereal.
"No actually I have a meeting with your father soon" Linda replied surprising Stephanie. He was just here yesterday and in a rush to leave while Linda had been acting weird yesterday. Now they suddenly are meeting up with each other which was confusing Stephanie. She didn't really have a chance to ask or say anything about though because someone had rung the doorbell. "I'll get that. You just sit down and eat."
Stephanie grabbed her bowl of cereal and sat down to eat. It wasn't long before her mother made her way back to the kitchen with Allie following behind her.
"Good morning. Do you have any plans today?" Allie asked taking a seat beside of her.
"No but I'm not sure if Paul will want to do anything tonight after gets off from work" Stephanie replied taking a bite of her cereal.
"Well today is Friday and by some miracle I actually got today off. I also got paid so I thought I would do something productive and go shopping. Do you want to come with me?"
"Of course. Just let me finish eating breakfast first"
"I thought maybe we could stop and I could look at some wedding dresses too" Allie said and Stephanie nodded her head.
"Well you girls have fun. I have to get to that meeting but I'm sure I'll see you girls later today. Don't shop too hard" Linda said with a laugh.
"Oh never" Allie replied with a laugh of her own as Linda headed out of the kitchen. Stephanie waited a couple of minutes just eating her cereal and making sure her mother wasn't going to come back for any reason. She didn't really want her to overhear the conversation she was about to have with Allie.
"So I met Shane's girlfriend last night" Stephanie said after finishing her bite of food.
"He has a girlfriend? You don't seem to thrilled about it"
"That's because it's Paul's ex Charlotte" Stephanie replied looking over to Allie who had a surprised look on her face. She had told Allie about Charlotte back when she had found about why Shane didn't want her and Paul to date. It looked like Allie was about as surprised as she was too last night.
"You have got to be kidding. Is this because you and Paul started dating because I'm confused" Allie said shaking her head.
"I asked him that last night and he denied it but I don't know if I believe him. He said he had feelings for Charlotte before her and Paul started dating but he settled for being her friend. Apparently he started talking to her again for a while now and realized he still had feelings for her"
"And Paul doesn't care that he is dating her?"
"He said he didn't but I'm uncomfortable with it. After seeing her I don't feel so confident about myself anymore. I mean you should see her she looks like a freaking model and next to her I probably look like some kind of troll" Stephanie replied feeling better that she could get this off her chest to someone. "I'm kind of afraid that with her being back around Paul might realize how much better he could do or maybe would want to be with her again, I don't know."
"Steph that's ridiculous. You do not look like a troll, you are a very beautiful woman and Paul is stupid if he thinks he could do better than you. Paul and her broke up for a reason so I don't think he's going to go trying to get back with her"
"You have to say that because you're my best friend" Stephanie said shaking her head.
"I know that telling you this doesn't make you feel it but I'm telling the truth Steph. I understand the way you feel though but you know what we are going to try and change that" Allie replied with a smile.
"If you say so, let's get going. Maybe shopping will make me feel better."
A little while later Stephanie was looking at wedding dresses with Allie and she had found some that had looked absolutely beautiful in her opinion. Allie on the other hand hadn't found any that she liked so far. Stephanie looked over at her friend after hearing her scoff and giggled at the look on her face. She had been doing this ever so often, when she really didn't like the dress she would scoff and others she would sigh at. Stephanie could tell she was getting discouraged about finding the right dress but she couldn't help but giggle at her with the faces she would make.
"Do I really have to wear a dress? I mean can't I just wear jeans or something?" Allie asked scrunching her nose up. "I was so excited about this until I got in here and now I realized how much exactly I hate dresses and some of these are just awful."
"It's your wedding day. You can wear whatever you want but I thought maybe you would want to wear a wedding dress" Stephanie replied with a shrug.
"I think I'm just going to go commando. How do you feel about a naked wedding?" Allie joked with a laugh and Stephanie just smiled and shook her head.
"I don't think Daniel would like that or your families" Stephanie replied as Allie sighed and continued looking at the dresses. "It's not like you have to pick something right now anyway."
With looking at these wedding dresses Stephanie couldn't help but picture what kind of dress she would like and where it would be. The flowers, decorations and the cake. It was something she had thought of but that would be way down the line for her. She wanted to be realistic about her future with Paul but she couldn't help to have hope they would still be together and maybe this would be her one day getting married to him.
"What are you thinking about?" Allie asked breaking her from her thoughts.
"Nothing" Stephanie smiled shyly.
"Sure what is that smile about then?" Allie asked and Stephanie shook her head not wanting to tell her because she knew Allie would tease her. Luckily she was saved from answering when she felt her phone vibrate so she got it out of her pocket and checked it. She smiled at seeing it was a text from Paul.
Good afternoon beautiful
Good afternoon handsome, working hard? She texted back and it wasn't long before he responded.
Not really. I'm busy missing my beautiful girlfriend. Stephanie couldn't help the huge smile that broke across her face. They had been dating but this was the first time he had called her his girlfriend.
You can see me later tonight :)
How about I see you for lunch here in a couple of minutes?
Allie is with me. Do you mind if she tags along?
Not at all as long as I can see you ;)
"Paul wants to have lunch with me. Do you want to go? If not that's fine. We'll just continue looking at dresses" Stephanie said looking over in Allie's direction.
"Yes let's go because these dresses are starting to depress me" Allie replied walking over in Stephanie's direction as Stephanie texted Paul back to let him know where to meet them. After she was done Allie grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the store as Stephanie laughed.
Once they reached the restaurant they were meeting Paul at they went inside and found a table to sit at. After waiting a few minutes Stephanie kept turning around to look at the door waiting for Paul to walk through.
"Steph he'll be here soon" Allie said with a laugh. "You're starting to scare people that are coming in."
"Haha funny" Stephanie replied sticking her tongue out at her.
"There he is" Allie said nodding her head in his direction and Stephanie turned around to see him heading towards them. He smiled at her as they locked eyes.
"Hey" Paul greeted her once he reached the table and leaned down to kiss her before sitting down beside of her. "Hey Allie."
"Hey Paul. It's about time you got here because Stephanie was starting to freak people out as they entered the restaurant"
"Aww were you excited to see me?" Paul asked as Stephanie blushed.
"I just wanted to make sure you could see us if you came in" Stephanie replied before shooting Allie a dirty look and Allie chuckled as she opened her menu. "How has your day been?"
"Pretty boring up until now. How was yours?" Paul asked putting his arm on the back of her chair.
"It was pretty fun. Allie and I were out shopping"
"Are you feeling better today?" Paul asked and Stephanie nodded her head. "Good."
"So Paul I was talking to Steph yesterday about maybe you two going on a double date with me and my fiancé soon. I'm pretty sure she didn't ask you so do you think you would be interested?" Stephanie knew she had forgot to ask him yesterday but to be fair she had been shocked by Shane bringing Charlotte to the apartment.
"I would be up for it if that is what Stephanie wants to do"
"Good then I'll Steph know when Daniel and I are off on the same day and we'll figure out something to do. I'll be right back though" Allie said getting up from her chair and walking off to the restrooms. Once Allie was gone Paul turned his attention to Stephanie and leaned over and captured her mouth with his. Stephanie let a small moan escape as she felt his tongue slide against hers and after a few seconds she felt disappointment as the kiss ended. She knew there wasn't anything else they could do though considering they were in a public place.
"I was thinking that maybe tonight I could just come over to your place. When I left this morning Charlotte was still there and I know her and Shane were annoying you last night. If I come to your place nobody will annoy us"
"My parents might be there, or at least my mom will be"
"Your parents usually leave us alone though" Paul replied with a chuckle. It was true though at least with her mom, she always wondered off and let them be. She had never been around her dad with Paul though but she wasn't even really for certain he was going to be there just because Linda had met up with him this morning.
"My house it is then" Stephanie said giving him a quick kiss on the lips as Allie sat back down at the table with them. At least she wouldn't have to be around Charlotte tonight because she didn't want to feel insecure again. After talking with Allie that morning and Allie helped her pick out some new outfits to help boost her confidence, she was feeling a little more confident.
Not long after Allie had sat back down with them the waitress came over and took their orders. They sat and chatted happily until their food arrived and then they sat in silence as they ate. As soon as they finished eating though they paid their bill and left because Paul had to get back to work considering his lunch break was almost over.
"I'll see you later tonight" Paul said as they walked hand in hand out of the restaurant with Allie following behind them.
"Yeah" Stephanie replied and nodded her head before he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. "I guess I'm going to go do some more shopping with Allie."
"Have fun because I know I won't be" Paul replied with a chuckle and let go of her hand "I'll see you later though. Bye baby."
"Bye" Stephanie said as she stood there and watched him walk away.
"Stephanie and Paul sitting in a tree- "
"Are we back in elementary school or something?" Stephanie asked with a laugh turning around to face Allie and soon as she did she spotted Vince not too far away from her and Allie coming out of some building. She was going to walk the distance to him to say hello when she noticed some redhead that looked like maybe she was in her mid-thirties come out behind him. Stephanie stayed rooted to the spot she was in and watched them talk and laugh about something before Vince pulled her against him and kissed her.
At this point Stephanie could feel her blood boil and it took everything in her not to go over and slap the woman or her father. No wonder her mother had been crying and Stephanie knew something was going on and now she knew exactly what it was. There was no more of her mother hiding the truth from her. Stephanie stood there for what seemed like forever feeling tears sting her eyes from the anger until her father turned in her direction and his face seemed to go pale. She shook her head in disgust and turned around walking in the opposite direction of her father. She didn't want anything to do with him and she wasn't about to stand there and listen to him try to lie to her.
