Jess was amazed at the fact Nick was kissing her in such a public place. She was embarrassed but she wasn't about to stop him, definitely not.
"Well. This is interesting." And Jess practically jumped away from Nick as she recognised the sophisticated formal voice from her past.
"Russell." She almost whimpered, embarrassed now that he had been the one to see Nick and Jess together. After the date with Nick, she'd hoped he'd stay away.
"So you two did get together then, that's nice. Got to say though, after your behaviour at the restaurant I'm surprised to see it happening this soon." He hooked his hand around the waist of some young blonde chesty women, probably about 22 or something. Jess instantly disliked her and the way she was looking at Nick.
"Hi, I'm Lola." She held out her hand for Nick to kiss but Nick turned it gently and shook it. Jess forced herself not to smile and glance at him for the first time since they'd been discovered kissing. Nick looked a little flustered and Jess felt like someone had just punched her in the face. Nick had a little sideways smile at Lola, and he was definitely looking at her short dress. Although his face quickly turned back to normal Jess felt she wanting to leave already. Why had she even begun to think for a minute that Nick might be interested in anything more than a casual one night stand? Clearly he had no intention of being her date today; he wanted to check out all the younger models.
"So, Lola. Are you a friend of CeCe's?" Jess said through her teeth.
"Oh yeah, I'm a model." She said it in the way a 10 year old girl might say when she was pretending to be a model, and she giggled slightly at the end.
"We should go inside, shouldn't we?" suggested Nick and Russell agreed with him. As they were walking to the entrance, Nick tried to place his hand on her arm but she snapped away like it was made of fire. He gave her a confused look and Jess rolled her eyes and refused to look at him. She knew she was being stupid; she had no claim on Nick. He was not her boyfriend and they were not in any type of relationship, but he'd asked her here on a date and dam it, she felt jealous. If a man offers to take a woman to a wedding, it's common curtsy to at least act like they are on a date. When they entered the hall, most people were already seated. Shivrang was at the front, talking quietly to another blonde woman to the side of his family. He looked angry, and Jess would assume she was a member of his family if it were not for her almost translucent skin. She looked gentle, but the fierce expression on her face would suggest otherwise. It looked as though she had been crying.
Suddenly, Shivrang stormed off into a side room that looked as though it should be for CeCe, who Jess couldn't see. The woman sat down to the side of the hall as Jess and Nick took their seats on the second row. The first row was reserved for family. Nick turned to Jess.
"What's wrong? Is it Russell?" Nick placed his hand on hers but again, she pulled away.
"No, it's not Russell."
"Then what is it?"
"Lolas pretty isn't she?" She avoided the question.
"If you like that kind of thing." Nick sounded casual.
"Which clearly you do. I know I have no right, who you look at in that way is fine by me, but…"
"You thought I was checking her out?" Nick seemed amused.
"I know you were." Jess saw her dad walking into the room and he took a seat nearer the back. Jess waved him over but he shook his head.
"Jess, look at the side of Lola's dress. Really, turn around and look at it. On her hip. Near her…behind." Jess reluctantly turned around and scanned the room for Lola. She was chatting to her other model friend near the row. As she slowly turned to talk to someone else, Jess saw a flash of bright red through her green dress. It was a rip, and her underwear could be seen through it. She turned back to Nick and he was laughing.
"I was trying not to laugh at it Jess, but it caught my eye. Sorry if it came across at me being flirty or attracted to her. I can ensure you, the only woman in this room who's beautiful is you."
Jess bit down on her bottom lip. She wanted to feel happy about the compliment but she felt really stupid right now.
"Nick…"
And with that, Shivrang walked up to the microphone and called.
"Umm. Hello? Everybody, I'm very sorry to inform you, but the wedding has been cancelled." Everybody gasped and talked between themselves. "The reception is still on, but we won't be getting married today." At the end of the sentence, the blonde woman she'd seen earlier ran up to Shivrang and they kissed. Jess was speechless.