Chapter 4- The "New" Paul

So tell me this irony, I can't be the one

Say I'm done, I'm out, I'm running with a gun.

To guide me back home,

To guide me back home.

I'll take you down with me

Ink Lasts Longer- Don't Mind Me This Time

Suze's POV

"So, what do you think?" Gina practically yelled as she stepped out from her bedroom door. There wasn't much of an audience. Just me and Jesse. Lindsay took off, probably stalking Alex until he met us at the restaurant.

"Is that…" I said, unable to finish my sentence. Gina crossed her arms to strike a pose. The dress was turquoise with metal buttons enveloping it. The dress itself wasn't short, but with Gina's incredibly long legs, it looked stunning. And…were my eyes deceiving me? Black, peep-toe Jimmy Choo's?! "No!" I cried.

"Yes!" Gina squealed. "I'm guilty! Jack bought them for me! Isn't he fabulous?" she asked me, jumping up and down.

"The dress…" I mumbled, awestruck. "Is that Nanette Lepore?" Gina nodded her head aggressively. I heard Jesse mutter something that sounded an awful lot like "women". But…wow. Nanette Lepore didn't come cheap. On average, her dresses were three hundred and fifty a pop. Not to mention Jimmy Choo's (Gina's pair looked around six hundred). "How rich is Jack exactly?" I asked rhetorically and examined the rest of Gina's look.

Her hair was piled on her head—a look that I swore I saw in Cosmo last month—and she was holding a black clutch. I hesitantly walked over to her and touched it. "Ohmygawd," my words slurred. "Is this—" I said before I got cut-off by an ecstatic Gina.

"Yes! Fendi! Jack got it for me, too!" she cried. Well…damn. Where was he when I was living in New York? But of course I would never leave Jesse. He was mine. "Wait, wait, wait," Gina said as she examined my ensemble. "Carmen Mark Valvo? Dang, girl! Why didn't you get me one?" she joked.

"Well, don't worry. I'm sure Jack will get one for you for your one-month anniversary, I'm sure," I teased as I nudged her shoulder. "Well, come on. If we're late for our reservations, we'll be stuck eating at McDonald's."

"Yeah, yeah," Gina said. "Jean-Georges is supposed to be fabulous." The said-restaurant apparently was one of the hottest places to eat in New York. Also one of the most expensive since it was running at eighty-five bucks a plate. But it was cool because Jack was paying. I didn't feel the least bit guilty, either. His father owned some high-class law firm that had several offices around the globe. In other words, he was a millionaire. So, no. I was not guilty.

Jesse was strangely quiet through the whole taxi ride. I would have thought that he would have been fascinated by the city lights. Instead, he sat in stony silence all the way to Jean-Georges, his glare intensifying with every increase on the cab fare. He only spoke once through the whole thirty-minute ride. He said something about the world being abducted by "Paul clones" and he spoke the rest in Spanish.

***

Jean-Georges was fabulous. Its crème colored theme with matching furniture was beautiful. It was also beautiful because we got a window seat that overlooked the greater part of New York. So, there we were, me, Jesse, and Gina, sitting at that amazing table, in that amazing restaurant, waiting for Gina's amazing boyfriend and her amazing brother to come while I was sitting with my amazing boyfriend who was not so amazed with the fact that Alex was coming.

About five minutes later, I saw someone who was tall and blonde with piercing gray eyes talk to our server. He smiled at her and gave her something. Seconds later, he started heading towards our table. He had prominent cheekbones, pale, and had nice, full lips. He wore a black suit—probably expensive—with a green tie. For some reason, I could never convince Jesse to wear a tie. He gave me some excuse of it being to "constricting". When Gina saw him coming, she squealed and jumped out of her seat to meet him. The man greeted her in a tight hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Suze, oh my God, Suze, this is Jack. Jack, this is the extraordinary Susannah Simon that I was telling you about.

"How do you do?" I asked shyly as I looked quickly up at Gina, who was beaming.

"Ah, so you're Suze. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said as he picked up my hand and kissed it. Jesse instantly put his hand around my shoulder and his hand on my own, in a cute possessive way.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Jack, this is Jesse, Suze's boyfriend," Gina added.

"Oh, hello there," Jack said with a smile. "Jack Kaiser. Sorry I'm late. I got held up in a meeting with my father's company."

"Oh, don't worry about it," I insisted. I laid my head on Jesse's shoulder and took a sip of the Coke that I had ordered.

"Hey, Jackie, where's Alex?" Gina asked while sliding over in her seat so Jack could sit down.

"Oh, he's coming. He was just making a quick call. Again, I'm sorry we were late. My father's associates could keep anyone waiting for anything," Jack said with a smile. Did that mean Alex worked for Jack's father, too? Well, I guess it made sense since they were good friends.

"Ohmygawd, Alex!" I heard Gina suddenly screech. This made me jump up a little, almost spilling my Coke in the process. Thankfully, Jesse held the glass and rubbed soothing circles on my forearm. I dared to look a little to my right, and immediately regretted it. Alex was walking this way. And for some reason, I couldn't look away.

His brown, curly hair wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. His blue eyes seemed to be staring only at me, and they vaguely reminded me of Paul's. Except for the hidden lust and evil, of course. He wore an outfit similar to Jack's, but he wore a blue tie to bring out his eyes. He had a tan, one that I could never even accomplish, and I lived in California. He was hott.

And frankly, that scared me. So what did I do? I took a big swig of my Coke and settled down in my seat for a long night. With a very tense Jesse by my side. Oh, well. He was guard dog for the next couple of weeks.

"Hey, everyone. Sorry we're late," A raspy voice said from behind me. Now, when I say raspy, it's more like send-shivers-down-my-spine raspy. Which it precisely did. "Hey, Gina, introduce me, will ya?"

"Oh, sorry. Suze, Jesse, this is Alex. Alex, this is Suze and Jesse. Well, of course you know Suze, right? Anyway, sit, sit," Gina said with a tad too much enthusiasm.

"Boyfriend, huh?" Alex said as he moved to sit beside Jack. Suddenly, Lindsay appeared, looking murderous at me. "Well, nice to meet you James."

"It's Jesse," Jesse said icily. "My name is not James, it's Jesse." Almost instantly, Lindsay started screaming. Loud enough to break any glass cup. Jesse and I winced in unison as we looked down at our empty bread plates.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Lindsay wailed as I casually scratched my ear. "HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO LIKE YOU! WHY CAN'T HE SEE ME? CAN'T HE FEEL ANYTHING?" And then she disappeared. But I had a nagging feeling that she would be back.

"So, Jesse, what do you do for a living?" Jack asked as he put his arm around Gina.

"I'm studying to be a doctor," Jesse replied icily. I nudged his knee. He could at least be polite.

"Really? Where are you studying at?" Alex asked, suddenly interested.

"Stanford just gave me a scholarship," Jesse said angrily. I nudged him harder this time. He looked at me briefly with fire in his eyes. I tried to signal to him to calm down, but he turned away before I could.

"Hello, my name is Monica and I will be your server today," a pretty blonde girl said. Her hair was long and her skin pale. She wore a smile on her face like she actually cared what we ordered. But the name Monica pulled on my memory from somewhere.

"Ohmigawd! MONICA! It's Gina! Suze, you remember Monica, right? From our old high school? Well, you transferred and so did Monica, but yeah!" Gina says excitedly.

That was right. Monica was basically the top socialite of the school. She knew everyone, got along with everyone, and basically dated everyone.

"Oh, hey!" Monica says as she notices me and Gina. "I didn't even recognize you guys. "How have you been?" she asks with a tad too much enthusiasm.

"Good enough," I reply as she takes everyone's orders.

A/N: So, what did you guys think? I do have to warn you though: I do write more and update faster if I get reviews, so please review! Trust me, the plot thickens MORE!

-Daisy