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"That's the one," Mara nodded in awe as Joy stepped out of the dressing room in a beautiful skin hugging white dress. "You look so beautiful,"
"Aw! Joy!" Amber squealed loudly "It's perfect!"
Joy looked at herself in the mirror and smiled "Will Fabian like it?"
"Who cares?" Amber scoffed "You look beautiful, some guys don't get beauty-"
"He'll love it, because of the person in the dress," Mara said comfortingly, Joy smiled, placing with the sides of the dress. Amber rolled her eyes, but helped Joy pick out a veil.
Line Break
"Woah…" Mara whispered as she walked into her apartment, the windows were covered, covered in pictures of the guys she'd dated, complicated lines and mini biographies social networking sites
Jerome looked up from the paper he was writing on "Yeah…" he said sheepishly "My dad didn't take me to a lot of ball games,"
Mara nodded, looking up at it in awe "Um…on the list by the way, have you had any luck with Mick Campbell?"
Jerome shook his head, sliding his hands into his jean pocket "Sorry, someone as rich and successful as him, really likes his privacy," he tapped her on the head with his pencil "Still pretty impressed that you were actually with him, what happened?"
Mara shrugged, wandering into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. "We were…uh…we were both too young, and we messed up, he was my first boyfriend," Jerome nodded thoughtfully "I knew he'd be successful," she added. And Mick was, he was a professional footballer, and a pretty good one too. Earning millions and millions every year, and well known everywhere. She frowned "Um…where's my kettle?"
"I broke it," Jerome said simply "If you used the twitter account I made you, you'd already know that."
Line Break
"You owe me £19," Mara sighed, walking into her apartment with a new kettle
"I ordered Indian," Jerome nodded, she sat the table to dig in to the food he had prepared. He was lying on her bed, laptop on his stomach. Mara was suddenly glad she was a very tidy person, otherwise having someone moving around your home as if it were their own would be very embarrassing. "I found Eddie,"
"Oh?" Mara asked, interested "How is he?"
"Looks okay…" Jerome said, frowning at the computer "Yeah, I've got his number and everything,"
Line Break
"Mara!" Eddie exclaimed, engulfing the small girl in a hug "Oh, it's been ages, right?" Mara nodded, sitting down opposite him in the small café.
"How've you been?"
"Good, good. I've met someone," he said excitedly, Mara's heart should have dropped, but in all honesty, she was happy for him.
"What's she like?" she asked, interestedly
"Her name's Patricia…she's…" he chuckled at the thought of her "She's…quite a…never met anyone like her before, how about you? Meet anyone you like?"
"20 of them," she sighed "But I only like them for a few moments,"
"Don't worry, Mara," he said comfortingly "You'll find someone perfect for you,"
Line Break
"Cross Eddie off the list," Mara called as she trudged up the stairs, smiling as she saw Jerome waiting by the banister
"Seeing someone?"
"You knew?" Mara cried, walking up the next flight. He chuckled
"I looked him up on facebook after you left, sorry," he laughed. Mara rolled her eyes, reaching her landing and standing opposite him
"Any luck on Mick Campbell?"
"No, sorry," he sighed. Mara watched him for a moment, before sighing herself
"No, I'm sorry. I'm being pretty ungrateful, and you're doing a good job…I'm just…a little stressed I guess," she rubbed her neck, and he smiled kindly.
"It's fine," he smiled "I mean, you wanna get married, I don't know any girl who doesn't,"
She smiled, pulling him in for a hug. He froze for a moment, before hugging her back. Mara frowned, when she felt his hands wrap around her waist and she rolled her eyes pulling away "You can't hang out with a girl as just friends, can you?" she teased.
"I can," Jerome defended himself "It's just not as fun that way."
Line Break
"I've bought lasagne for tea," Mara called as she walked into her house, she placed them on the side and jumped, seeing Joy sat on the sofa, as far away from Jerome, who was lounging on the other side, no shirt, no trousers, only his laptop on his knees. Mara sighed "Jerome, please tell me you're not naked," Jerome lifted the laptop, to reveal white boxers, and Mara seemed relieved "Hey, Joy, what's up?"
Joy frowned "Um, Mara, aren't you going to kick this stranger out of your house?"
Mara laughed "No Joy, um this is my neighbour, Jerome. Jerome, this is Joy, a good friend of mine," Jerome nodded at her, and Joy just turned away in disgust.
"And he's allowed to stroll through your house half naked whenever he likes?"
"It's a little more complicated than that," Mara sighed. Joy frowned, standing up and wiping her skirt, as if Mara's sofa wasn't clean.
"You've changed, Mara." She said simply, Jerome looked up with a frown, but said nothing. "We've all been talking about it, Me, Amber, your cousin Tara,"
"What do you mean?" Mara asked curiously
"You're…you're not yourself." Joy managed "You've been…acting different. You sleep in, you laugh at things that…that a teenager would laugh at…you haven't been out searching for a job, and you haven't had a steady relationship for month-"
"Hey!" Jerome cut her off, standing up "Everyone's entitled to a vacation,"
"And now this guy? This half naked guy is just wandered your apartment and you're not even dating him? Mara what's going on with you? You're acting-"
"Like herself." Jerome stood up for her, as Mara seemed too frozen to say anything. "She's being herself. As her friend surely you should be happy for her?"
"If this is the real you then Mara, I'm not sure it's the person I want as my bridesmaid. Still come to the wedding, Fabian wants you there." Joy clutched her purse tightly, and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her, leaving a residing silence. Mara watched her, completely shell shocked. Had she been acting differently? Maybe, maybe she was slightly less uptight than usual, and she hadn't been looking for a job, but only because she was so hell bent on finding someone to be with from her list of 20.
"Don't listen to her, Mara. She doesn't know anything,"
Mara turned to look at him, and realised, the old Mara would never let a man walk about half naked in her apartment, let someone break her kettle and not care, let him use a photo he took when she was asleep to sign her up to social networking sites. "Can you…not use my apartment tonight, Jerome? I'd like to be alone."
"Sure," Jerome said, after a moments pause, he picked up his laptop, his eyes glittering a brilliant, but more importantly sincere blue "And…if it makes any difference, I prefer this Mara Jaffray to the one that first moved in here,"
Line Break
Mara woke up, and saw that Jerome wasn't in her apartment and she…she felt slightly lonely. She stood, standing in front of the impressive display of her 20 on the window. She picked up a hair band, trying to tame her hair without the use of a brush, and sat down on her laptop, wondering what she could type the blog dedicated to Jerome about. Something he would appreciate…she sighed, nothing coming to mind. And opened her door to go over to Jerome's apartment, only to find him standing right outside, key in his hand.
"I was about to come in," he said obviously. Mara smiled "Feeling better?"
"Yeah," she sighed, stretching "I've organised this job interview soon, another accounting firm,"
"No," Jerome whined "Do something you like, journalism, not accounting," Mara shrugged and Jerome sighed, handing her a slip of paper "I found Tristan, he's working in parliament and I think the two of you might hit it off, he's not married or anything, don't worry," he chuckled. Mara laughed "I've texted him, pretending to be you," he chucked her mobile back and Mara didn't even want to know how he had that. "He wants to meet you this evening for a ball,"
"A ball?" Mara exclaimed as Jerome rummaged through her fridge like a bear "Like…like a Cinderella ball?" Jerome raised his eyebrows thoughtfully
"What? Girls like that sort of rubbish?" he seemed mildly surprised. Which was ironic, as it seemed he knew every trick in the book.
"Every girl wants to be treated like a princess," she scolded, slapping his arm "I'm gonna go get changed!" she jumped up excitedly, kissing Jerome's cheek and dashing to the bathroom. Jerome stood frozen for a moment, lifting a hand slowly to touch the spot she had kissed, and he cleared his throat, snapping out of it.
Line Break
"Woah…" Jerome whispered, as Mara stepped out of the bathroom in a dark blue, slightly glittering dress. Her hair was up in a bun, a few curls loose around her face. "You look…beautiful," he whispered in awe, standing up, feeling a little insecure about how he was dressed. Or undressed, in ¾ length jean shorts and no shirt.
Mara rolled her eyes "Every girl is beautiful to you Jerome," she laughed, picking up her purse "But thank you," she opened the door, ready to leave
"I'll call about halfway, so you can leave if it's a train wreck," he laughed. Mara couldn't help but smile
"I appreciate it!"
Line Break
"Mara!" Tristan exclaimed, hugging her gently. Mara blushed, he was more good looking that she remembered, black hair, small freckles dotted over his nose, and beautiful green eyes. "It's been so long, I'm so glad you've contacted me,"
"I missed you," she smiled, he took her hand, leading her into the main hall, where everyone was dancing to classical music. "Oh wow…it's amazing,"
"And we'll dance the whole night," Tristan promised, kissing her hand "But first let's go around and say hi to people, okay?"
"Sure," Mara agreed easily.
Line Break
Jerome laughed at Spongebob, popping another crisp into his mouth, as he lounged on Mara's sofa. When he checked the time, he picked up his phone, just pressing 1, as she was his first speed dial. "Hey, how's it going?" he asked, mouth half full
"Actually really well!" Mara cried in joy "He seems to really like me, and he's so polite! I've met so many people Jerome! And he can dance!"
"Really?" Jerome frowned, unsure what the feeling was stirring in the pit of his stomach "So…no evacuation plan? I bought the Spongebob movie?"
"Thanks Jerome, but I'm gonna stay a bit longer, alright?"
"Okay…" Jerome said quietly, listening to her hang up. He sighed, looking around, wondering whether he should go down and meet a girl, but deciding against it.
Line Break
"This went so well," Tristan exclaimed, straightening his hair, "Mara, we could go all the way!"
Mara smiled, frowning "What do you mean?"
"Marry me," he said quickly "I have my eye on being Prime minister, and it would look great to have someone like you by my side," Mara arched an eyebrow
"We…we…this is our first date and you're proposing?"
"Well yeah," he shrugged "We both know I'm gay, I need you to be my beard, I mean…I have some pretty outrageous idea for when I'm prime minister, they might not be accepted if the world knows I'm gay,"
Mara smiled, shaking her head sadly "Sorry Tristan, I…I would feel uncomfortable in that scenario. Just tell the world, they'll accept you," she said softly, walking into the bathroom, she dialled Jerome's number, and he answered on the first ring "Cross Tristan off the list," she sighed sadly, hanging up.
Line Break
Mara sighed, walking up the steps at about 10:30, to see Jerome waiting for her. "He's gay," she sighed. Jerome halted, trying not to laugh. She fake glared at him "It's fine, laugh away," But he didn't.
"No, no don't worry, Mara, come on," he took her hand when she reached the landing, and dragged her into her apartment, sitting her down at the kitchen table.
"Jerome, I'm not in the mood," she grumbled "I'm too depressed to play hang man with you,"
"No," Jerome rolled his eyes, "Look," he handed her bits of paper, she scanned them quickly
"These are my blogs." She stated, Jerome rolled his eyes
"I know that genius, but look underneath them," she did, and gasped. Jerome had drawn pictures, brilliant pictures, representations of all of her little ramblings. And they all went with it perfectly, adding to the humour
"Jerome…" she whispered under her breath "It's…thank you…I had no idea you could draw…"
"You sounded depressed on the phone," Jerome explained "Come on, Jaffray, we'll get the next one," Mara sighed, leaning her head on her hands doubtfully "Come on, let's get cosy on the sofa and watch our yellow friend,"
"Get cosy?" Mara arched an eye brow. Jerome ran a hand through his hair
"At an appropriate distance from each other,"
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