Chloe spotted him the minute she entered Dotcom. There he was sitting so
smug and secure at one of the booths. How dare he order her here? Did he
think that he had any control over her? If so, he was seriously mistaken,
because no one controlled Chloe Lane.
Roughly throwing her purse on the booth's table, Chloe sent him a look that fully expressed her annoyance at having been summoned to meet him without so much as an explanation.
Raising his hands in the air in mock surrender, Brady said, "I give up - just don't go get any sharp objects."
Taking a seat across from Brady, Chloe skipped the pleasantries and demanded, "What do you want, Brady?"
Brady acted surprised by Chloe's attitude, but he had actually been expecting it. He knew exactly what he was getting into when he had called Chloe and left a message on her machine to meet him immediately because he didn't have all day to wait on her.
"Seriously, Brady, what gives you the right to call my home and demand that I come see you? Well?"
Pushing his milkshake in Chloe's direction, Brady muttered, "Here, have some of this, maybe it will cool you off."
Chloe, pushing the milkshake back across the table, stated, "I am NOT drinking after you."
This time, Brady was genuinely surprised by Chloe. Giving a slight grin, he sarcastically asked, "What? Do you not want to get my cooties?"
"For all I know, you could have a cold or something and be trying to purposely give it to me."
Losing his smile, Brady replied indignantly, "That's right, Chloe. I called you down here just so I could trick you into getting sick. Gee, I can't believe you uncovered my secret plot."
"Fine, what did you want?"
"I was just bored and wanted to see if you were up to catching a movie over at Salem Place."
"Oh," mumbled Chloe in slight defeat.
Mimicking her Brady dramatically said, "OH!"
Grabbing her purse off the table, Chloe attempted to use it to playfully hit Brady. However, he was too quick for her and caught it in mid-air.
"Did THE Chloe Lane just try to assault me? I don't know, I may have to call that idiot Roman and report you." Just as Chloe and Brady began laughing, Philip came in the door. Motioning toward his uncle, Brady grumbled, "Oh, great, it's the green eyed monster himself."
Philip stalked across the popular hangout, his infamous temper worsening with each long stride. As he locked eyes with Brady, he knew that the end wasn't far away. He also knew that he wasn't giving Chloe up without a brutal fight.
Moving as far from Brady as she possibly could while still sitting across from him at the booth, Chloe said, "Oh, hi, Philip!"
Not breaking eye contact with his nephew, Philip demanded, "What are you doing here with him? You keep promising me that you'll stay away from him, yet I keep finding the two of you together behind my back."
"First of all, this is not something I'm doing behind your back. Look around you, Philip. There are people everywhere. I'm not hiding!"
"You know what I'm talking about!"
Interrupting the battling duo, Brady began, "Listen, Philip, why don't we all . . ."
"Shut-up!" yelled Philip and Chloe in unison as they continued to quarrel.
"You know, why don't you two spend the rest of the day here arguing? I'm gone." With that, Brady left Philip and Chloe at the booth and headed to the door. When he reached it, he looked back to see the young couple were already making up despite the fact that Chloe still appeared less than pleased with her boyfriend's behavior.
To himself, Brady quietly regretted, "I'm sorry, but I made a promise to keep the two of you apart and I always keep my promises. I just hope, Chloe, that you can forgive me when this is all over. I wish I'd never even made that promise to my grandfather."
Despite what he told himself, Brady knew that Chloe was the one person besides Belle that he could never truly manipulate. And, though he continued to deny to himself his growing feelings for Chloe, Brady was subconsciously acting on them. That's why he felt he had to go to see his grandfather and see if just maybe he could get out of the promise he had made.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After finishing her shower, Mimi trudged back down the stairs and found Shawn and Belle camped out in her living room just waiting to hear her humiliating story. Mimi was struck with a sudden feeling of sadness when she came to the conclusion that just like it was Shawn and Belle now, it would always be Shawn and Belle. The chances of Mimi ever making Shawn fall for her were slim if they existed at all.
As soon as Mimi had taken her seat, Belle softly asked, "Do you want to tell us what happened?"
"Not really," muttered Mimi unhappily. However, when she looked up and saw her friends' expectant gazes, she added, "But, I will."
Gathering her strength, Mimi began her story, "Well, the whole stupid mess started when I went to Salem Place to eat a little ice cream and do some window shopping."
"I suppose you're talking about the ice cream that was on your face," interjected Shawn.
Groaning, Mimi asked, "You mean he didn't wipe it all off? I can't believe I walked all the way home not only wet but with ice cream on my face!"
Belle's glare only made Shawn feel worse about bringing up the ice cream. In an attempt to cheer Mimi up and get some answers, Shawn said, "Really, it was just a tiny spot. I hardly noticed. But, I am kinda curious - who exactly is 'he'?"
"HE is the guy that I totally humiliated myself in front of today! It was SO bad, you guys. Honestly you wouldn't believe how bad it was for me!"
"Meems, can you tell us what exactly 'it' is?"
"It, Belle, is me being stupid and running into this totally hot guy and not only dumping my ice cream all over him, but knocking both of us into the fountain at the center of Salem Place."
Belle placed her hand over her mouth as she restrained from gasping at Mimi's bad luck. Shawn, on the other hand, was also restraining himself - from laughing. It wasn't so much that he enjoyed seeing Mimi completely embarrassed, because he really didn't. It was just that if it had happened to anyone but his friend, all three of them would be laughing about it.
Her voice low, Mimi continued, "It gets worse. Someone we all know was there and saw the whole thing, which means by this time tomorrow everyone in Salem will know. That's right, Jason Masters saw it all and got a real good laugh from it."
Still using a soft, reassuring voice, Belle asked, "What about the guy you knocked into? Was he really mean about it?"
"That's the very worst part. He wasn't mean at all. Not only was he totally hot with his blonde hair and gorgeous green eyes, but he was super sweet. He acted like it was nothing big and was something that happened to him everyday." Jumping to her feet so she could pace her living room, Mimi continued her rant, "I swear I hate him so much!"
Confused Shawn asked, "The guy you ran into?"
"No! Jason! You should have seen him, Shawn. Oh, he thought the entire thing was just so funny. I mean it wasn't bad enough that he skipped my birthday party to hang out with my brother, but he had to get half of the people shopping to stop and laugh at me! I should have known that what happened at the pier meant absolutely nothing! Why am I so stupid?"
"Mimi, your not stupid," Belle said as she gave her friend a hug and wondered, like Shawn, what exactly it was that happened on the pier.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Jeremy walked in the front door, he was immediately met with Jack's incessant laughter. Jeremy had been hoping that no one would be home when he got back from Salem Place, but with the luck he had been having, he should have known better.
"Ah, my dear boy, what have you done to yourself?"
"Nothing, Uncle Jack, I just had a little accident while exploring Salem Place."
"Little? From the looks of you, it must have been one heck of an accident," laughed Jack heartily as he watched Jennifer's nephew blush just slightly under his teasing.
"What's so fun-. . ." Jennifer paused mid-sentence as she entered the room and saw for herself what exactly was so funny.
Giving Jack one of the dirty looks she had become so good at giving him, Jennifer questioned, "Jack, what did you do to my nephew?"
"Me? I did not do a single thing to young Jeremy. No, this little mess was all his, I assure you."
Turning her gaze from her ex-husband to her nephew, Jennifer softened her tone and asked, "Is that true?"
"Yes, it's true. Jack has absolutely nothing to do with this."
Clearing his throat to get Jennifer's attention, Jack smugly asked, "Don't you owe a certain someone an apology?"
"Forget it, Jack."
Jeremy decided it would be best to let Jack and Jennifer deal with their problems without him and headed upstairs to shower. "Listen, this ice cream is getting pretty sticky, so I'm gonna head upstairs to take a shower."
Jennifer leaned over to give her nephew a kiss on the cheek, but thought twice about it when she got a good look at all the ice cream that was still covering his neck and face. Deciding to just keep a safe distance, Jennifer said, "Okay, sweetie. I'll be waiting for you down here so we can decide what we want to have delivered for dinner later tonight."
"All right, Aunt Jen. I'll try to hurry."
Once he was safely in the shower, Jeremy let his mind roam back to the girl who had plowed into him. There was just something about her that fascinated Jeremy. She had been so darn cute. But, Jeremy had never really been one to base his opinion of a person solely on their physical appearance. It was something else. There was just something that he had immediately adored about her.
Using the soft wash cloth to wash his face, Jeremy wondered who she was, what her story was. Jeremy had never really been the type to wonder about other people's personal lives, but the young woman who had accidently attacked him had truly caught his interest. She had appeared so jumpy and nervous. In fact, Jeremy thought her rambling apologies were rather sweet and enduring.
Of course, Jeremy was far too sensible to believe in silly things such as love at first sight. However, that didn't mean he wasn't enchanted by her on some inner level.
Turning off the water, Jeremy grabbed a towel and wondered just what was wrong with him. It wasn't as if he was in grade school and had a crush on the girl sitting in front of him. Those days were long gone. Jeremy just kept telling himself that he would never be so irresponsible as to get carried away by a single, chance meeting.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Brady entered the Kiriakis mansion without bothering to knock. He had a mission, so why be delayed by something as inconsequential as a doorbell? Meeting Henderson in the front hall, Brady asked if his grandfather was home. Brady was informed that Victor was actually out of town on business and would not be back until late that evening.
For a brief moment, Brady considered just leaving the mansion and going ahead with his scheme to destroy Philip and Chloe. Then, he reconsidered when he began to really think about the situation. He was Brady Victor Black. No one controlled him, not even his own powerful grandfather. The more he thought about, the more disgusted he was becoming with his grandfather and himself.
It seemed to Brady that Victor was the only person gaining anything from the manipulations carried out by Brady. Philip was obviously going to get his heart broken. Then again, Brady found it highly unlikely that Philip and Chloe would last much longer even without his grandfather's schemes. As for Chloe, Victor wanted her destroyed. In Victor's eyes, Chloe would never come close enough to being good enough for his son.
Sometimes, Brady almost felt like laughing at Victor's hypocrisy. What was perfectly fine for Victor to do was a terrible crime if committed by Philip. As for Brady, Victor expected him to follow orders like the dutiful grandson. Yet, what was it that Brady was going to receive in return? It certainly wasn't control of his grandfather's company, because it had been made painfully clear that Philip would be the next leader of Titan.
Brady was beginning to wonder if he wasn't as much a pawn in Victor's game as Philip. Brady knew his grandfather loved him, but he also knew that he was using him. And, Brady refused to be manipulated.
Making his way upstairs, Brady slipped unnoticed into his grandfather's study. He decided that he would just leave a note on his desk saying that he didn't think that Philip and Chloe needed any help breaking up because they would do it all on their own and that Victor should call him so they could discuss it. Maybe then Victor would let Brady out of the promise he made to help him.
Reaching his grandfather's desk, Brady was surprised to see that there was not so much as a stack of post-it notes on the man's desk. How can a man that ran a company as successful and financially prosperous as Titan not have a little stack of post-it notes?
Brady reluctantly opted to just grab a piece of paper from one of Victor's desk drawers He knew how his grandfather felt about people going through his personal business papers, but Brady couldn't see the harm considering how involved he was in Victor's schemes. Besides, what could Victor possibly want to hide from his own grandson?
Raffling through the desk for a notepad, Brady froze when he saw a folder hidden in the bottom of the drawer with just the corner showing. Of course, it was on that corner that Brady's name was written. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Brady reached down to the bottom of the drawer and pulled out the folder, careful to not disturb any of the other papers.
Flipping through the stack of papers the folder contained, Brady skimmed through them quickly, just checking to see if it was anything directly affected him. He had almost determined that the folder contained nothing of any significant importance when a few slips of paper in the back slipped from his grasp and floated gently to the floor.
Brady gave an exasperated groan as he bent down to retrieve the papers. As he straightened back up, he found himself frozen in place. Brady read through the papers, his mouth agape at what he saw. It appeared that his grandfather was using him more than he could have ever imagined. With each line he read, Brady's anger dramatically increased.
However, as the anger passed, the scowl upon Brady's handsome face was replaced with a mischievous smile. Walking across the room, Brady approached the copy machine in the corner. He then made copies of each of the papers that he felt would be useful to him. Brady then returned the folder with all the original copies to its place in the drawer and picked up a photo of Philip and Victor that sat atop the desk. His smile widening, Brady remarked, "Oh, Gramps, you should know better than to think that I would be as naive as Philip. I won't allow anyone to take advantage of me. And, unfortunately for you, turnabout is fair play. Prepare to lose, Grandpa Vic."
Roughly throwing her purse on the booth's table, Chloe sent him a look that fully expressed her annoyance at having been summoned to meet him without so much as an explanation.
Raising his hands in the air in mock surrender, Brady said, "I give up - just don't go get any sharp objects."
Taking a seat across from Brady, Chloe skipped the pleasantries and demanded, "What do you want, Brady?"
Brady acted surprised by Chloe's attitude, but he had actually been expecting it. He knew exactly what he was getting into when he had called Chloe and left a message on her machine to meet him immediately because he didn't have all day to wait on her.
"Seriously, Brady, what gives you the right to call my home and demand that I come see you? Well?"
Pushing his milkshake in Chloe's direction, Brady muttered, "Here, have some of this, maybe it will cool you off."
Chloe, pushing the milkshake back across the table, stated, "I am NOT drinking after you."
This time, Brady was genuinely surprised by Chloe. Giving a slight grin, he sarcastically asked, "What? Do you not want to get my cooties?"
"For all I know, you could have a cold or something and be trying to purposely give it to me."
Losing his smile, Brady replied indignantly, "That's right, Chloe. I called you down here just so I could trick you into getting sick. Gee, I can't believe you uncovered my secret plot."
"Fine, what did you want?"
"I was just bored and wanted to see if you were up to catching a movie over at Salem Place."
"Oh," mumbled Chloe in slight defeat.
Mimicking her Brady dramatically said, "OH!"
Grabbing her purse off the table, Chloe attempted to use it to playfully hit Brady. However, he was too quick for her and caught it in mid-air.
"Did THE Chloe Lane just try to assault me? I don't know, I may have to call that idiot Roman and report you." Just as Chloe and Brady began laughing, Philip came in the door. Motioning toward his uncle, Brady grumbled, "Oh, great, it's the green eyed monster himself."
Philip stalked across the popular hangout, his infamous temper worsening with each long stride. As he locked eyes with Brady, he knew that the end wasn't far away. He also knew that he wasn't giving Chloe up without a brutal fight.
Moving as far from Brady as she possibly could while still sitting across from him at the booth, Chloe said, "Oh, hi, Philip!"
Not breaking eye contact with his nephew, Philip demanded, "What are you doing here with him? You keep promising me that you'll stay away from him, yet I keep finding the two of you together behind my back."
"First of all, this is not something I'm doing behind your back. Look around you, Philip. There are people everywhere. I'm not hiding!"
"You know what I'm talking about!"
Interrupting the battling duo, Brady began, "Listen, Philip, why don't we all . . ."
"Shut-up!" yelled Philip and Chloe in unison as they continued to quarrel.
"You know, why don't you two spend the rest of the day here arguing? I'm gone." With that, Brady left Philip and Chloe at the booth and headed to the door. When he reached it, he looked back to see the young couple were already making up despite the fact that Chloe still appeared less than pleased with her boyfriend's behavior.
To himself, Brady quietly regretted, "I'm sorry, but I made a promise to keep the two of you apart and I always keep my promises. I just hope, Chloe, that you can forgive me when this is all over. I wish I'd never even made that promise to my grandfather."
Despite what he told himself, Brady knew that Chloe was the one person besides Belle that he could never truly manipulate. And, though he continued to deny to himself his growing feelings for Chloe, Brady was subconsciously acting on them. That's why he felt he had to go to see his grandfather and see if just maybe he could get out of the promise he had made.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After finishing her shower, Mimi trudged back down the stairs and found Shawn and Belle camped out in her living room just waiting to hear her humiliating story. Mimi was struck with a sudden feeling of sadness when she came to the conclusion that just like it was Shawn and Belle now, it would always be Shawn and Belle. The chances of Mimi ever making Shawn fall for her were slim if they existed at all.
As soon as Mimi had taken her seat, Belle softly asked, "Do you want to tell us what happened?"
"Not really," muttered Mimi unhappily. However, when she looked up and saw her friends' expectant gazes, she added, "But, I will."
Gathering her strength, Mimi began her story, "Well, the whole stupid mess started when I went to Salem Place to eat a little ice cream and do some window shopping."
"I suppose you're talking about the ice cream that was on your face," interjected Shawn.
Groaning, Mimi asked, "You mean he didn't wipe it all off? I can't believe I walked all the way home not only wet but with ice cream on my face!"
Belle's glare only made Shawn feel worse about bringing up the ice cream. In an attempt to cheer Mimi up and get some answers, Shawn said, "Really, it was just a tiny spot. I hardly noticed. But, I am kinda curious - who exactly is 'he'?"
"HE is the guy that I totally humiliated myself in front of today! It was SO bad, you guys. Honestly you wouldn't believe how bad it was for me!"
"Meems, can you tell us what exactly 'it' is?"
"It, Belle, is me being stupid and running into this totally hot guy and not only dumping my ice cream all over him, but knocking both of us into the fountain at the center of Salem Place."
Belle placed her hand over her mouth as she restrained from gasping at Mimi's bad luck. Shawn, on the other hand, was also restraining himself - from laughing. It wasn't so much that he enjoyed seeing Mimi completely embarrassed, because he really didn't. It was just that if it had happened to anyone but his friend, all three of them would be laughing about it.
Her voice low, Mimi continued, "It gets worse. Someone we all know was there and saw the whole thing, which means by this time tomorrow everyone in Salem will know. That's right, Jason Masters saw it all and got a real good laugh from it."
Still using a soft, reassuring voice, Belle asked, "What about the guy you knocked into? Was he really mean about it?"
"That's the very worst part. He wasn't mean at all. Not only was he totally hot with his blonde hair and gorgeous green eyes, but he was super sweet. He acted like it was nothing big and was something that happened to him everyday." Jumping to her feet so she could pace her living room, Mimi continued her rant, "I swear I hate him so much!"
Confused Shawn asked, "The guy you ran into?"
"No! Jason! You should have seen him, Shawn. Oh, he thought the entire thing was just so funny. I mean it wasn't bad enough that he skipped my birthday party to hang out with my brother, but he had to get half of the people shopping to stop and laugh at me! I should have known that what happened at the pier meant absolutely nothing! Why am I so stupid?"
"Mimi, your not stupid," Belle said as she gave her friend a hug and wondered, like Shawn, what exactly it was that happened on the pier.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Jeremy walked in the front door, he was immediately met with Jack's incessant laughter. Jeremy had been hoping that no one would be home when he got back from Salem Place, but with the luck he had been having, he should have known better.
"Ah, my dear boy, what have you done to yourself?"
"Nothing, Uncle Jack, I just had a little accident while exploring Salem Place."
"Little? From the looks of you, it must have been one heck of an accident," laughed Jack heartily as he watched Jennifer's nephew blush just slightly under his teasing.
"What's so fun-. . ." Jennifer paused mid-sentence as she entered the room and saw for herself what exactly was so funny.
Giving Jack one of the dirty looks she had become so good at giving him, Jennifer questioned, "Jack, what did you do to my nephew?"
"Me? I did not do a single thing to young Jeremy. No, this little mess was all his, I assure you."
Turning her gaze from her ex-husband to her nephew, Jennifer softened her tone and asked, "Is that true?"
"Yes, it's true. Jack has absolutely nothing to do with this."
Clearing his throat to get Jennifer's attention, Jack smugly asked, "Don't you owe a certain someone an apology?"
"Forget it, Jack."
Jeremy decided it would be best to let Jack and Jennifer deal with their problems without him and headed upstairs to shower. "Listen, this ice cream is getting pretty sticky, so I'm gonna head upstairs to take a shower."
Jennifer leaned over to give her nephew a kiss on the cheek, but thought twice about it when she got a good look at all the ice cream that was still covering his neck and face. Deciding to just keep a safe distance, Jennifer said, "Okay, sweetie. I'll be waiting for you down here so we can decide what we want to have delivered for dinner later tonight."
"All right, Aunt Jen. I'll try to hurry."
Once he was safely in the shower, Jeremy let his mind roam back to the girl who had plowed into him. There was just something about her that fascinated Jeremy. She had been so darn cute. But, Jeremy had never really been one to base his opinion of a person solely on their physical appearance. It was something else. There was just something that he had immediately adored about her.
Using the soft wash cloth to wash his face, Jeremy wondered who she was, what her story was. Jeremy had never really been the type to wonder about other people's personal lives, but the young woman who had accidently attacked him had truly caught his interest. She had appeared so jumpy and nervous. In fact, Jeremy thought her rambling apologies were rather sweet and enduring.
Of course, Jeremy was far too sensible to believe in silly things such as love at first sight. However, that didn't mean he wasn't enchanted by her on some inner level.
Turning off the water, Jeremy grabbed a towel and wondered just what was wrong with him. It wasn't as if he was in grade school and had a crush on the girl sitting in front of him. Those days were long gone. Jeremy just kept telling himself that he would never be so irresponsible as to get carried away by a single, chance meeting.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Brady entered the Kiriakis mansion without bothering to knock. He had a mission, so why be delayed by something as inconsequential as a doorbell? Meeting Henderson in the front hall, Brady asked if his grandfather was home. Brady was informed that Victor was actually out of town on business and would not be back until late that evening.
For a brief moment, Brady considered just leaving the mansion and going ahead with his scheme to destroy Philip and Chloe. Then, he reconsidered when he began to really think about the situation. He was Brady Victor Black. No one controlled him, not even his own powerful grandfather. The more he thought about, the more disgusted he was becoming with his grandfather and himself.
It seemed to Brady that Victor was the only person gaining anything from the manipulations carried out by Brady. Philip was obviously going to get his heart broken. Then again, Brady found it highly unlikely that Philip and Chloe would last much longer even without his grandfather's schemes. As for Chloe, Victor wanted her destroyed. In Victor's eyes, Chloe would never come close enough to being good enough for his son.
Sometimes, Brady almost felt like laughing at Victor's hypocrisy. What was perfectly fine for Victor to do was a terrible crime if committed by Philip. As for Brady, Victor expected him to follow orders like the dutiful grandson. Yet, what was it that Brady was going to receive in return? It certainly wasn't control of his grandfather's company, because it had been made painfully clear that Philip would be the next leader of Titan.
Brady was beginning to wonder if he wasn't as much a pawn in Victor's game as Philip. Brady knew his grandfather loved him, but he also knew that he was using him. And, Brady refused to be manipulated.
Making his way upstairs, Brady slipped unnoticed into his grandfather's study. He decided that he would just leave a note on his desk saying that he didn't think that Philip and Chloe needed any help breaking up because they would do it all on their own and that Victor should call him so they could discuss it. Maybe then Victor would let Brady out of the promise he made to help him.
Reaching his grandfather's desk, Brady was surprised to see that there was not so much as a stack of post-it notes on the man's desk. How can a man that ran a company as successful and financially prosperous as Titan not have a little stack of post-it notes?
Brady reluctantly opted to just grab a piece of paper from one of Victor's desk drawers He knew how his grandfather felt about people going through his personal business papers, but Brady couldn't see the harm considering how involved he was in Victor's schemes. Besides, what could Victor possibly want to hide from his own grandson?
Raffling through the desk for a notepad, Brady froze when he saw a folder hidden in the bottom of the drawer with just the corner showing. Of course, it was on that corner that Brady's name was written. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Brady reached down to the bottom of the drawer and pulled out the folder, careful to not disturb any of the other papers.
Flipping through the stack of papers the folder contained, Brady skimmed through them quickly, just checking to see if it was anything directly affected him. He had almost determined that the folder contained nothing of any significant importance when a few slips of paper in the back slipped from his grasp and floated gently to the floor.
Brady gave an exasperated groan as he bent down to retrieve the papers. As he straightened back up, he found himself frozen in place. Brady read through the papers, his mouth agape at what he saw. It appeared that his grandfather was using him more than he could have ever imagined. With each line he read, Brady's anger dramatically increased.
However, as the anger passed, the scowl upon Brady's handsome face was replaced with a mischievous smile. Walking across the room, Brady approached the copy machine in the corner. He then made copies of each of the papers that he felt would be useful to him. Brady then returned the folder with all the original copies to its place in the drawer and picked up a photo of Philip and Victor that sat atop the desk. His smile widening, Brady remarked, "Oh, Gramps, you should know better than to think that I would be as naive as Philip. I won't allow anyone to take advantage of me. And, unfortunately for you, turnabout is fair play. Prepare to lose, Grandpa Vic."