I didn't think this chapter was so early but it's exciting.
Year Two: An Abundance of Exes
Wakanda's Palace - 17:55 PM
Iqadi smiles her way through a women's conference. She's the princess and one of the hosts so she has to have a flawless presentation despite not feeling the best. She forces herself to eat some appetizers to keep herself on her feet but she isn't that fond of anything. She could've sworn she liked them while planning this menu. Maybe it's the nervousness of being here and forcing a smile the whole night putting her on edge.
Lucky for her, her mother and mother-in-law can handle the floor and they understand why she has to leave. She'd rather excuse herself demurely before passing out or puking and making a fool of herself.
So she went up to her room, feeling more awake now that she's alone and away from everyone. Iqadi walks over to her vanity, ditching her heels. As she starts to take off her earrings, she stops when she catches her reflection.
Iqadi straightens her posture, changing angles to try and get a different view of herself since something doesn't feel right. Once she's looking at her side profile, she stops.
-o-
Hudson Residence - 18:56 PM
After his appointment, Xavier went to his residence's parking lot. He had a strong feeling that Angela went home since he saw that his mother signed off on her accommodation. Nice to know that worked in case he needs to use it. He has a feeling it was Emily's idea so, of course, it's long-winded and involves crossing state lines but worked. When he sees his car missing from his spot, it confirms that she left.
Xavier feels even worse now. His sister left without telling him and she was so desperate to leave that she drove herself. He pities anyone who was on the road with her and hopes they're okay.
He heads back to his dorm and sees Ashton lying on his bed, groaning in pain that sounds like he just got beat up. Xavier can't get through today. Everyone he cares about is getting themselves into some sort of trouble. He can't be everywhere at once.
"What happened to you?" Xavier asks.
"A girl I met at the bar happened," Ashton responds.
"Should I ask?"
Ashton quickly sits up. "Dude, she was this silver-haired Communications chick with a hot accent. We hooked up and it hurt to walk back here."
Xavier says nothing. Forget what he said about being everywhere because he wouldn't want to be there. Ever.
"So what's up with you?" Ashton asks. "Find Angela?"
"Angela just left," Xavier explains. "She took the car. She isn't answering her phone, James disappeared as well, and Merida and Daniel are getting high in his dorm."
Ashton thought he had it rough (in a sense, he did). He isn't sure which part of that sentence to latch onto since none of it made sense. "Go home. You're only two hours away. Nobody will know or even care that you left."
"Two hours by car and that's if there's good traffic which there never is. Is good traffic even a thing? I could get there faster by running."
Ashton rolls his eyes as he takes his keys out of his pocket and tosses them to Xavier. "Don't leave me an empty tank."
Xavier holds the keys doubtfully. "Are you sure?"
"I gave you my keys."
"I owe you."
"You owe me a full tank."
Xavier nods as he walks out. Once he reaches the parking lot, he looks through the cars to find Ashton, unlocking and locking it repeatedly so he could spot it when it lights up. When it catches Xavier's eye, he stops walking once he sees two geese standing on the roof. He should've snatched Merida's or Daniel's keys since they don't seem like they'll be going anywhere in their stoned state, not like they should let alone operate a motorized vehicle. For once, Xavier wishes James and his cars were around.
"Oh, come on!" Xavier yells at the geese.
The geese squawk at him. It's their car now.
-o-
Darwin Library - 18:57 PM
James walks into the library and sees the one person he wants to help him with his new mission. He looks around and spots Keith in one of the private study sections. James walks over and sits in the vacant one next to him. James glances over and sees Keith typing a paper for a class he's in. Whoops. That report will be late. He waits for Keith to notice him but that doesn't happen until James taps his shoulder.
When Keith looks over and his face shifts to being annoyed, James smiles.
"Hi, Keith," James greets.
"What?" Keith asks annoyed, removing his headphones.
"Help me out with something."
"Why?"
"I need someone who won't know what questions to ask and who won't kill me."
"Fine."
Keith nearly puts his headphones back on to go back to typing his paper due at midnight but notices that James is still sitting there as if he was waiting. Oh no.
"You meant now?" Keith asks although he knows the answer is yes.
-o-
Atlantic City International Airport - 19:58 PM
Keith should've started asking more questions the moment James made him drive a separate car. Also, how and why does this boy have multiple cars on campus? First, he gets away with being allowed to continue in Sci-Tech without his express Ph.D. and now he gets multiple cars? No fair. He doesn't even have one! But Keith can get over that. He should've asked more questions when James told him to follow his car to the airport. Keith wonders why he's even here but forgets to ask when he parks next to James because he got distracted by the stupid sign he was holding in his hands.
Keith follows James through the airport and they stop at a waiting bay. He's about to ask something until James makes him hold the sign up. Keith looks at the sign, ignoring the graph on the back. It's one of those signs people hold to get the attention of the one they're waiting for. For some reason, James's sign says Exes Anonymous in dark pink block letters. As if Keith's night couldn't get any worse and more confusing, now he has to hold this stupid sign. At least he's in a Jersey airport so this isn't the weirdest sight.
"Why am I holding this?" Keith finally asks.
"Because I have to keep a lookout for them when they arrive. You don't know who to find."
"Who are you picking up?" Keith reads the sign again. "What's an Exes Anonymous?"
"A couple of old friends."
"You mean exes."
"Same thing, not really."
Keith processes that information and tries to piece it together. "So you broke up with your girlfriend and invited a group of your exes to town."
"Now you get it."
Keith waits for James to realize how stupid that idea sounds but it goes right over his head like an airplane taking off. James checks the time the flight he's waiting for arrives and Keith can't believe people like James exist. He fits in with all his strange friends. The even weirder part, all the exes he invited said yes. It must be the same energy that got him into second year without a Ph.D., multiple cars on campus, and him saying yes to every stupid thing James asks.
"Do your friends know you're doing this?" Keith asks.
"Nope," James responds. "They barely know them. I didn't go to the same school as them until the Academy."
"Why?
"My parents had connections to a private school in the Upper East Side."
Keith nods. Rich white boy in private school in wealthy New York. Makes sense. "So, why invite the exes?"
"There's something about exes. The whole idea of it seems weird. You fall for someone and then fall out of it, becoming strangers."
Before Keith could question that, he's surprised at how much that makes sense. He still doesn't understand why the exes were invited to come here and, at this point, he'll never know. He looks at James and he's suddenly waving someone down. Keith looks in the general direction of James's waves and sees a girl grin as she takes off her sunglasses and rolls her carry-on over to him. Her dark curls match her tanned skin and bounce with every step. Once she gets closer Keith doesn't understand how big round eyes can match a sharp jawline. It goes with her dark jeans and navy track windbreaker.
"That's Dawn," James introduces to Keith. "She was my first girlfriend. We dated for a week in kindergarten. We both liked colouring and the giraffes in the gluten-free animal crackers. Dawn, this is Keith, friend from the Academy."
"I was also his first kiss," Dawn says.
James looks at her. "Wait, really?"
Dawn isn't surprised and rolls her eyes as she hugs him with one arm wrapping over the shoulders and his arm goes around her waist. It's almost an automatic movement as if they were reconnecting after a few days apart and not years. Was Angela ever threatened by not going to the same school as James when he seems to be this close to his exes? Dawn looks over at Keith and starts laughing. Keith's eyes almost pop out of his head as he lifts the sign higher to cover his face. It's like high school all over again: the popular rich boy and their hot girlfriend are laughing at him.
"Oh my god, that wasn't at you," Dawn says once she's standing beside him. She smells like cinnamon sugar. "Sorry, I was just laughing at this stupid sign. James, what the hell?"
"I had to get your attention," James argues.
"I spotted your stupid face from the plane."
James smiles. "One of Jersey's most impressive sights."
"Honey, you still have your kindergarten baby face."
Keith keeps quiet, trying not to laugh as James frowns because he's unable to defend himself. He holds the sign up, rotating it so the other exes could spot it. He hopes that the other exes that show up so he could experience James's past and listen in on the roasts. It can only get better from here.
"Daniel, nice to see you."
James turns around and sees another girl but this one is light-skinned with straight strawberry blonde hair in a low ponytail. Her hazel eyes have flecks of green as she blinks at him. Was he supposed to say something? She was talking to Daniel who wasn't here. Keith doesn't understand how she looks scarier than Dawn but it's likely the ripped jeans and pointy boots. Dawn's dressed like an athlete taking a break between laps. This new girl looks like a bitchy basic, well, bitch.
"I'm not Daniel," Keith says. It feels like a compliment but he isn't sure if it's meant to be one.
James stands between them. "Really, Yvette? He doesn't even look like Daniel."
Yvette grins at him with a menacing look in her eyes. "Really, James? He's thin, white, adorable, and has glasses with lenses thick enough to hold beverages. He's like Daniel's replacement for you."
James gasps. "How dare you! Daniel is my roommate. I would never replace him."
"Or your cologne, apparently."
James's jaw drops open, especially when Yvette and Dawn high-five. James looks like he's been betrayed since his poor cologne has been brutally attacked by two out of the five exes. Keith has no opinion on James's cologne because he has better things to think about like when the next ex is arriving to take her shots and that a pretty girl called him adorable like Daniel. This is the best day of his life.
"Seriously, though, change your cologne," Yvette says.
"No," James argues. "Angela has never complained."
"Probably because she has - or had - other things to complain about first."
Dawn puts up a hand. "I know I got a few."
"Not now, ladies," James says. He looks over and spots someone so he raises his hand. "Alix!"
Keith notices Yvette and Dawn look at each other confused. Keith assumes they went to James's school so this new ex, Alix, didn't. Interesting. He looks over and the first things he sees are her bushy platinum blonde hair and thin-wired glasses. She walks like a model on the runway, even dressed as one with a long muted silver jacket and bright red boots. She somehow makes electrocuted fashionable and Keith and the other two exes don't get it. They exchange confused glances.
"Ladies, Keith," James says as Alix stands next to him, "this is Alix. She's the goddaughter of a fashion designer my mom knows."
"I'm only here because Janet wanted me to check up on you," Alix says. "She probably meant by phone call but you asked me to fly down right after I hung up so I had to act on that coincidence."
"Still a momma's boy, huh?" Dawn questions rhetorically with a laugh. "Some things never change."
"You knew me in kindergarten!" James exclaims. "Everyone was a momma's boy!"
"I wasn't," Keith says.
Dawn smiles at Keith for a second. "I like him." She looks back at James. "You worship your mom."
"Can you blame me?" James asks.
"No," Alix says, "Janet van Dyne is a queen."
"Thank you."
"How she gave birth to you is still up to debate."
James narrows his eyes. He thought he escaped that one. "I was a C-section baby."
Yvette snorts a laugh. "That explains your mommy issues."
"They're not issues!"
Keith laughs along with the exes. This rhetoric keeps getting better and better the more exes show up. That hope alone prompts him to hold the sign up higher. He really wants the last two exes to arrive. Keith looks around as James talks to the other girls. He isn't sure who he's looking for but his main targets are pretty girls that look the same age as them and can pass off as social media influencers. It doesn't help that a lot of them give the sign a double-take because this it's incredibly stupid. If he was just another traveller in the airport, he would give this sign another look.
"And here comes Melissa," James says, stepping ahead to greet another ex. "She said she's coming because it's a pit-stop before she goes back home for her break week, but she misses me."
Keith doesn't believe in fairytales since he thinks happy endings are bullshit, but if there was a human form of a mermaid, it would be her. She has this dark wavy hair that just falls from her head so majestically. Her natural expression is a soft smile and she's wearing a sweatshirt with a whale on it. James gives her a quick hug and they catch up for a bit before Melissa looks at Keith.
"Hey, cutie, what do you study?" Melissa asks as she sides up next to Keith. She looks up at him with a perky smile.
Keith isn't sure how to react. His brain pauses and his heart starts racing. He's never done this before. "Uh, science?"
Melissa nods understandingly, putting a hand on his arm. "I see you're unsure."
"Unsure?"
"Undeclared?"
"Uh -?"
"I study science too. Marine biology at the University of Miami."
Keith clears his throat. He can do this. "So, uh, whales. Am I right?"
James looks, holding back a laugh as he gives Keith a thumbs-up. Dawn, Yvette, and Alix copy.
"Wait," Yvette mutters, "Melissa came from Florida to Jersey…"
"And then she's going back to New York," Alix reasons.
Dawn does a sign of the cross and the others, including James, nod their heads. The fact that Melissa was still alive is commendable.
"So," Melissa says, facing them and folding her hands together. "Who else is coming? Is it that girl who was obsessed with you?"
James shudders. "God, no. I never went out with her."
"Wait," Dawn mutters. A lightbulb goes off and she smiles in a way that almost turns into a maniacal laugh. "Oh, James, you're begging to be slaughtered."
Yvette catches on and nudges Dawn. "Now I remember who else was in the group chat."
Glancing at her phone, Melissa laughs in a way that, as fitting, sounds like a baby dolphin. She must've looked at the group chat to see who else was there. "Aha! I can't wait to see her! I didn't think she'd come."
"Who?" Keith asks.
"Janice Lee," Dawn says, showing Keith some photos of when James and Janice were together. They look like babies but James still somehow looks the same that it's weird. "James's girlfriend from eighth grade to almost sophomore year high school. They were almost the Britney Braun and Xavier Rogers of Prep."
"What?" Keith asks.
The girls gasp, looking at Keith.
"You don't know about Britney Braun and Xavier Rogers?" Dawn questions.
"He isn't from town!" James yells. "He knows Xavier, though."
"Xavier and Britney were the it couple," Dawn says, showing Keith photos of Xavier and Britney. The other exes and even James agree. "Star football captain and cheerleader. They were so, so, so in love. He would take a bullet for that psychopath."
Keith narrows his eyes. Of course, Xavier has that going for him. But dating a psychopath? Maybe she's just throwing that term. Not whom he pictured Prince Charming Xavier Rogers with, but he can see two big reasons why he would date her. Now he's wondering why their relationship ended and what happened to that hot blonde psychopath, but he's more interested in James's final ex arriving because the other exes seem excited and James looks like he's regretting everything from breaking up with Angela to this very moment.
"Britney Braun was basically Sabrina the Teenage Witch," James says to Keith with a wink. "'96, of course."
"But back to Janice," Yvette says. "She has been doing so much better since James. She's dated way better guys -"
"Get to your point, Yvette," James says through gritted teeth.
Yvette smiles for getting on his nerves. "She's studying cosmetology in San Francisco."
"And there she is!" Melissa exclaims, pointing excitedly.
All their heads turn and Keith lowers the sign to get a better look and because it's not needed since she already sees them. Keith is a little shocked since she doesn't look as intimidating as the other girls and James made her out to be. She's small, thin, and Vietnamese (which Dawn told him). She looks like a small doll with her symmetrical face and her straight black hair done without a single strand out of place. Keith can understand the appeal since, well, she's a cute girl. All these exes are very different but all drop-dead gorgeous.
"Janice!" James exclaims with forced excitement. "I didn't think you would come."
"You dumped me for the same reason, dipshit," Janice responds without missing a beat.
James nods, pulling back. Keith tries so hard not to laugh but just lets it out when the other exes do. Janice looks at them, smiling with her lips before looking at James shrivel.
James clears his throat. " … now that we're all here, let's move on out."
"Would now be a weird time to point this out?" Alix starts. "James, you and I never truly dated."
"Nether did we," Melissa adds. "We had a few study dates."
"We went on half a date," Yvette points out.
"And yet, you three showed up," Janice says.
"Can you blame them?" Dawn questions rhetorically. "Free vacation."
"You dated him for a week in kindergarten."
"I'm still the first kiss, first girlfriend, and first to arrive today."
Janice nods. "Touché."
Keith thought they would kill each other or at least get in a hair-pulling type of brawl because they're the only girls who could actually say they were James's girlfriend. But all these girls seem friendly around each other which, makes sense considering most of them went to the same school.
"I regret this already," James mutters, taking the sign back from Keith and rolling it up.
"So, ladies, what did James do wrong?" Keith asks. He's asking for the stories and the insults. It'll be the cherry on top of this perfect sundae.
"You're so funny, Keith," James mocks.
Alix laughs a little as she walks beside Keith. "He fucked up with Angela Rogers, the best girl to happen to him, because he's an insecure yet cocky momma's boy, that's what he did. We're here to set him straight, right ladies?"
"Right!" The other four exes chant.
James stops for a moment, probably to say a quick prayer or call him mom. This was the worst idea ever but it's too late (and too expensive) to cancel.
"Allow me to help you with your bags," Keith offers to the exes.
I don't know if I've said this yet but I miss Britney and Xavier.
Just a hint, silver-haired communications chick with a hot accent is important later. *coughs* 24 chapters *coughs*
Alright, so the exes are in town! I specifically picked the exes who I thought would be important (like the girlfriends) and the ones that have been mentioned in past stories so I could list their counterparts. (The only one without counterparts would be Melissa and Dawn but that's because they're in a flashback in chapters 32 and 58, respectively, of this story.)
Emily's Counterparts:
Janice - (mentioned) Chapters 10, 13: Stark & Pym / Remedies For Broken Hearts
Yvette - (mentioned) Chapters 66-67: Break the Ice Parts One-Two
Alix - Chapter 80: Mom and Dad Chaperoning
Britney's Counterparts:
Janice - Chapters 75, 80, 95: (Britney Braun) Breaking Curfew / Short Skirts / Sugar Coating Hearts
(Janice was in a lot of Britney's chapters but I only mentioned the chapters involving her relationship with James).