Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or anything remotely attached to this show, only the basis of this story.


CHAPTER TWO
OH, DIGNITY.


"He's what?!"

April flicks off the tap as Lexie exclaims her shock down the phone, head tilted to the side to dig the mobile in against her cheek.

"Engaged. He's engaged, Lex, and the bride is my freaking client!" She grits her teeth as she mutters back the confirmation, eyeing the washroom carefully.

She'd managed to briefly escape from under Stephanie's controlling hands. There's only so many times the redhead can have someone claw at her shoulder with a fake laugh.

The women's bathroom seemed like the perfect place to call her best friend in the hopes of some sage advice.

"You need to tell her." The brunette nods down on her end, browsing through her latest shopping catalogue and clicking her tongue. "You're not the bad guy here, April. He's a dick."

April sighs, turning away from the sink to pull down on the paper towel dispenser. She drags down on the last piece but finds a whole clump of towels falling into her hands and onto the ground.

"Well, that unraveled quickly."

"What?"

"Nothing." She quickly kneels down to pick up the stack of towels as she replies with a deep breath, "Is it bad that I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt?"

She can feel Lexie roll her eyes down the line by the way she talks, tone unamused, "Yes. And you better not let him win."

April groans, shoving the towels deep into an overflowing trashcan as an elderly woman enters the bathroom. She kicks down on the papers to force them into the bin, sending the woman a sheepish grin. "Hi."

"Who are you talking to?"

"Nobody. I'm talking to nobody." She breathes out again, leans her back against the fancy sink countertop, fingers anxiously plucking at the shiny brass taps. "Lex."

"Burn him at the stake, April! It's not hard."

"I can't. I liked him and this is… He was nice. And good. And he's getting married… Ugh!" She closes her eyes, wraps her fist around the cold water tap, tugs at its end tightly.

Before she knows what she's done, the fresh cold piece of brass is in her hand and she finds herself flooded with water in her face, forcing her backwards, across the room and against one of the cubicle doors.

The elder woman steps out of her stall then, hands gripping at the frame as April stands up, short heels sliding against the flooding room.

"Okay. Out, come on, out!" She ushers the woman towards the exit, hand on her elbow to guide her towards the door. "Sorry." She mutters as she drags the door open and they step out of the bathroom, guilty look spread over the redhead's face.

The woman rushes away from the wedding planner then, just as April returns to Stephanie, thankful that the bride's back was turned towards the scene.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" The dark haired woman shrieks as she takes in April's drenched attire. Her false nails poke at her shoulders, as though the soaked fabric of her dress wasn't real.

Jackson's eyes widen as he takes her in, curious as to what the heck happened in the bathroom.

The redhead licks her lips with a click of the tongue, ruined iPhone waving around in her hand. She nods once, twice, before looking up and sharing an embarrassed look with Stephanie.

"Some old lady broke the tap." April fakes a sniffle from the cold water, "You know how old people are… Clumsy." She trails off with a shake of the head, nostrils flaring as she spots the woman out of the corner of her eye, talking to a Hall employee and pointing at her from down the hall.

Her hazel eyes bulging out of her head when they start walking towards her.

April pushes her hands against Stephanie's shoulder-blades gently, ushering her out towards the exit of the building. Jackson follows the pair with a frown, quiet as he had been since taking in her position.

"I think we should go check out some cakes now, huh?" April fakes a giggle, brows raised in feigned amusement, "Yeah? I booked some places."

Stephanie stops walking when they get outside the building and she shrugs off April's hands politely. "We're not going anywhere." She swallows, shares a look with her fiancé. "You're in no state to go tasting food. You could catch a cold!"

April shrugs casually, in an awkwardly innocent way, Jackson notes.

"You're not firing me, are you?"

"No! Lord, no! But just…go home, get changed. Gosh, I mean you look like a drowned squirrel."

"Thanks."

"Come on, Jackson will take you home so you can change." The darker woman nudges his side, sending him a look, "Won't you?"

"I, uh-" He'd been awfully quiet since they're arrival, since spotting the redhead.

A guilty conscience would obviously lead to a loss of words, April noted.

"It's fine. He doesn't need to do that." She internally shudders at the thought of being left alone in a car with him. "I can drive myself." She states.

Liar. Cheater. Pig. Asshole. Idiot.

Her tone is harsh, just as she means it to be. But Stephanie doesn't seem to pick up on the obvious tension between her groom and their wedding planner.

She glances between the pair disbelievingly, "You don't have a car." She lifts a brow, "Come on. Don't be foolish. He'll take you home and then you can both come meet me at the bakery, okay?"

"Sure."

Of course he'd agree. April rolls her eyes with a false smile, arms folded over her chest as she pulls up the strap of her soaking wet handbag.

"It's Little Izzie's, right?"

"Yeah." The redhead speaks softly with a nod, avoiding Jackson's gaze at all costs as he leads her towards his car.

Stephanie smiles, waving around her keys as she approaches her own car. "See you there."

When she's out of eyesight, the green eyed man finally clears his throat.

"Don't talk to me."

"I didn't say anything." He replies back dryly.

April snorts, "But you were going to."

"Yeah." He sighs, twirling his keys around as they stop in front of his car. "I was going to apologize."

"Well, you can shove your apology up your butt, okay?" She snarls, roughly pulls open the back door of his car when it unlocks.

"Why are you getting in the back?"

"Because you're in the front!"


After an awkward car ride where only her address was mumbled through gritted teeth and the sound of her hand banging against her phone screen was heard, they'd made it to her apartment.

"You can stay in the car."

"I planned to." He taps his fingers against the steering wheel as the car shuts off.

April shifts out from the backseat and shares the briefest of looks with him in the rearview mirror. "Don't look at me."

"I was checking my mirror."

"And I was in it."

He tosses his head back against the headrest then, as she slams the door to his SUV and stalks off down her building pathway.

He's an idiot, a liar, a cheater. And he doesn't like it.

But she's her, and Stephanie is Stephanie, and the pull to one is stronger than the pull to the other.

Peeking through the passenger window, he watches intently as April rummages through her purse, digging and searching from something.

She pulls out a half-soaked planner and whines aloud, tossing it down on the concrete floor outside. "No, no, no!"

The woman drops down onto the front step then, legs kicked out in front of her and drenched coat clinging to her frame.

"Give me your bag."

She glances up at the sound of Jackson's voice, in front of her with a hand held out.

"What, are you gonna rob me of that, too, now? Like my dignity wasn't enough?"

He grimaces, takes the purse from her hands when she passes it to him and he quickly pulls out her keys, leaning back her smallest sat frame to unlock the front door.

The door pushes open and she stands steadily against the frame, snatching her bag back from his hands. And then the planner he hands her.

"I am sorry, you know?"

"Sorry doesn't make it okay."

She steps inside the building then, leaving the door open behind her, which he takes as an invitation to follow her.

"I know." He mumbles, watching her lead the way up the first flight of stairs. She stops at the top, rams another key through another lock.

She pads into her apartment at a fast pace, only just watches him enter past her front door before she heads off to change, peel the sticky outfit from her body.

Her apartment is perfectly clean, he notes, admiring the small touches of femininity and tranquility. Her house is kind of a home. And there's only her living here.

She reemerges after a couple minutes, makeup fixed, hair pulled up into a swaying ponytail and a pale blue dress contrasting with her cream pumps.

April doesn't speak for a moment, just eyes him carefully from across the living room. She darts her tongue out to dampen her lips, feeling goosebumps cover her skin as he takes a step closer. And she takes a step backwards to avoid him.

"Did you know?"

She sounds pained, hurt. And he can't blame her. He was a douche.

"That I was getting married? Yeah." Jackson frowns, brows knitting as he lowers his gaze to the floor, though his walk betrays him as he steps towards her again.

She nods, lips pursed and fingertips patting the towel-dried planner in her hands, covering her lap and damp against her touch. "And you didn't think to tell me?" She doesn't let him answer before shaking her head, disbelieving laugh to her words, "Gosh, I'm such an idiot. Why did I let you do it?!"

Because you didn't know. Because I didn't want to tell you. Because there was a pull. Because you don't know everything, not even now.

"Because you were you, and I was me." Jackson admits, voice low and husky and hands sliding in his jeans' pockets. "And we were good. Very good. And at the risk of sounding like a complete asshole, I kinda like you." He blinks once, twice, three time with a gulp. "And you might like me, too."

"Whether or not I liked you doesn't matter."

"Liked? Past tense?" He steps closer, damns himself for even having the nerve. "You don't like me anymore?"

I do. Because there's a pull. And because I'm me and you're you.

She fights a smile, a blush at his intense stare. "I like you, but I also kind of hate you."

"Well, I don't like that you hate me."

"Well, that's your own fault." She stands by her gut feeling, unable to let herself fall deeper into this with him.

Jackson nods, nipping at his bottom lip with sharp teeth, "I deserve that."

"You deserve a heck of a lot more than that." She states, eyes daring. "I'd smack the living crap out of you but I'm pretty sure your fiancée wouldn't like that. You know, your fiancée? That woman you're marrying in a few weeks who seems to adore you? Do you remember her?"

"I know who she is, thanks."

"Do you even love her or are you just-"

"That's none of your business." He squints with a nod.

April huffs, "It became my business when you slept with me, and charmed me, and then turned out to be getting married. It's my business, because I'm the girl that has to plan your freaking wedding and watch you walk down the aisle knowing that you cheated on your wife before she was your wife."

She swallows a breath, dangerously walks closer towards him.

"That's my business. Okay? I now have to pretend that I don't know you, and I have to act like I don't know how you kiss. I'm that girl. And your business? Your business is to tell her the truth so I don't have to suffer. Do that, if you're really sorry."

"I can't." He tells her quietly, eyes flickering up from the ground to meet her own.

"Do you love her?" She shifts her head to the side, determined not to crack.

"I don't know."

"Look, I'm not going to step in your way if you want to marry her, alright? That's not my place. I'm just the idiot who kinda wanted you for a moment and now has to pay the price. But I'm not sure you love her. Because I don't see how people in love could ever do what you did."

"You haven't met you." He reasons back, flicks a nerve.

"Don't blame this on me. Don't even-" She cuts herself off short when he places his hands on her upper arms, warm fingers wrapped around her skin, "Can you call it off?" Her voice breaks at his touch, letting her head drop and her lips curve into a fragile smile.

"I have to marry her."

"Then do it." She shrugs off his hands and walks towards her front door, "Just don't say you want me, too."

"What if I like you more than I could ever love her?"

"Then I guess you're gonna be just as screwed up as I am."


"I like this one."

Stephanie points a finger out at a lilac-iced cake, triple-tiered with white flower petal designs.

"It's nice, yeah." April smiles loosely, hazel eyes almost glossed over, "Are we, uh, going for purple as our colour scheme then? Lilac and lavender are a popular choices, for sure."

The dark-haired woman purses her lips, flicks over a look at her clearly bored groom-to-be.

"What do you think? For colours?"

"I don't really…know." He shifts from one foot to the other, shoulders dropping in a shrug, "This isn't exactly my forté."

"True." Stephanie confirms with a slight giggle, "I guess April will have to fill your shoes, then. She has exquisite taste."

The redhead shares a look with Jackson, "I'm not so sure about that."

He sighs, pulls his hands out of his pockets and scratches the back of his neck for a second. "Well, you know, if April has such a great taste then how about we let her do everything?"

April picks up his intended tease, pun. And she can't help but loosen a smirk, betraying her senses.

Is she playing hard to get again? Isn't that dangerous?

"I don't really think we should let her take care of everything, Jackson." Stephanie rolls her eyes, glances over at the redhead, "I mean you don't wanna be doing all his jobs, do you?"

"I, uh-" She pauses, bites back a grin at the hidden innuendo, avoids Jackson's own smirk. "No. Not really."

Jackson raises a brow, steps towards the two women, one at either side of his body, "Isn't that the job, what you do best?"

"It's not my job to service you."

"But it's your job to give us everything we want, right? And if we want you, and I want you to do stuff for me, then-"

"I'm not your bitch."

"I don't think your anybody's bitch." He replies with a nod, smirk gracing his lips, fiancée forgotten about. "I think you are your own free woman. That's admirable."

"And yet you want me all to yourself?"

Surprisingly, Stephanie only watches the exchange with curious eyes, no concern showing on her face whatsoever.

And April takes a mental note, later written, of the lack of romantic chemistry between the newlyweds to be.

They don't kiss. They don't hug. They don't touch. They don't share lovey dovey looks like ninety percent of all her couples do. There's no longing, no love.

Something isn't right here.

And then the game changes.

And April is one hundred percent back to playing hard to get.

Do you love her?

What if I like you more than I could ever love her?

"Is it so bad to want you…to do your job?" He clears up with a nervous cough and a look to his intended.

The brunette frowns, "So…purple?"


"Do they flirt?"

"Nope." April curls her legs up beneath her on the couch as Lexie pours them both another glass of wine.

"Does she call him by pet names? From what you tell me, she sounds like the type."

The wedding planner denies it, shaking her head as he reaches over for the glass. "Nothing. And I am…confused."

"That still doesn't make it right." Lexie sits down on her cushion on the floor, picking up a cookie from the tray and shoving it past her lips. "He still shouldn't have led you on."

"I know." April sighs with an almost mute reply, "I know that. But it's hard to hate him."

"Because you forgive people too easily."

"Because I'm a decent person?"

"Because you're desperate for love even though you deny it. And that's fine. We all are, deep down. And he says he likes you. It makes sense."

After taking a giant sip of her wine, April leans her head back against the sofa cushion.

"Just ask him."

"I did. I asked him if he loved her and he said he didn't know. Lexie, I like him."

Lexie smiles half-heartedly, "Do you know how anti-feminist it'd be to try and steal him away from another woman?"

"But what if he doesn't love her?"

"Then he needs to quit it. And you shouldn't have to be the promised goods at the end of that. He needs to grow a pair."

"Oh, he has a pair."

The brunette tosses her a pillow as April gasps, a hand flying over her mouth at her own admission.

Placing her glass down, Lexie holds up both hands together and slowly begins to draw them apart, with a smirk and an envious look on her face as April finally stops her after a few seconds. "Shit! No wonder you want him!"

"Why is he getting married? Why am I an idiot?" She tosses herself back against the couch, whine of childish annoyance escaping past her lips.

"Look, and I'm not suggesting you do it, but… I mean, he clearly isn't into his marriage so you could actually be doing him a favour… But, say you were to try and steal him away, would it even work? Would he leave whatever he's got going with her for you?"

"It couldn't hurt to try, right?" She lifts a brow, peeking one eye open over at her friend down on the floor. "Should I steal the groom?"

"If you were anybody else, I'd lock you away and never let you see him again. But you're you, and you can handle yourself, and if you feel like something right and you have a fighting chance… Then… Yeah."

Lexie nods as she talks, raising her glass up with a devilish grin.

"Fucking steal the groom."

Or humiliate yourself trying.


NOTE: The response to this story has been great and I'm glad so many people seem to be enjoying it, here and elsewhere. It really means a lot that you guys read/review it. This is a shorter update but sets up more of the storyline. Thanks for reading, and I hope you keep enjoying what I do. :)


I imagine some lovely guest reviewers will have some harsh words to say about this because it doesn't feature rape, or unicorns or rainbows, or women portrayed as submissive creatures to their men, and well, it's by me. You hate me for no reason whatsoever, rude Guest reviewer who combines my name with Annie's for no reason whatsoever other than that you're severely deranged, so please read something else by someone other than myself. Excuse me for actually being able to write something good, of substance, in-character. Leaving anonymous hate is laughable. Have fun.