Day Nine: I Wouldn't Do That, If I Were You

Characters/Pairings: Danika/Jake; Jake/Rose

Rating: T

Content warnings: infidelity; swearing; slut shaming; mild violence

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

Danika hummed to herself as she flitted around their small apartment, trying to make everything look as perfect as possible. She straightened each of the decorative pillows on their couch and smiled, thinking of how much Jake teased her for her decor choices. She pulled on one of the tassels of the pillows, filled with thoughts of Jake.

Oh, Jake, she thought wistfully, I can't wait until we're back in each other's arms.

It was the big night, after all. A night of a fairytale wedding, held in an old art deco building with gilded chandeliers and a ballroom that looked straight out of a movie, especially now that the flowers had been put up. Danika should know. She'd planned every detail several times in her head and now it was here, for real.

Danika checked the time. The car would be here soon.

Danka went to her bed, once again making sure that everything was perfectly placed. It didn't really matter, after all. She and Jake were going to be spending the night at the hotel before heading off on their honeymoon. They would want it to be nice when they came back as Mr. and Mrs., Danika reasoned, although at least one of the mothers would be in before they returned. Two weeks was an awfully long tie to leave her plants alone, after all.

Danika gathered up the last-minute things that she would need for getting ready and floated out to the car. She knew that she should be worried about a million things – was the grooms party behaving, were all of the bridesmaids there yet, was her wedding gown as pristine as the last time she'd seen it? All normal things for a bride to worry about the day of her wedding but none of crossed Danika's mind.

All Danika was thinking was that by the end of the night, she was going to be Mrs. Jake Long and that thought made her as giddy now as it had when they were sixteen.

Danika met her mother at the door and was ushered into another room, filled with her best friends and family and champagne. It filled Danika with gleeful tears, feeling the love in the room for her and Jake. She instinctively went to text about how his getting ready was going and stopped short. She and Jake had been living together since they got engaged two years ago but Danika had still wanted to do things slightly traditionally. At seven yesterday night, Jake had kissed her goodbye and gone to Spud's. They agreed not to text throughout the day but that didn't mean Danika didn't miss him.

"Feel co-dependent?" her younger sister, Tyra, asked.

"Shut up," Danika said but there was no real threat. She was in the hands of her hairdresser and his curling iron. She wasn't going anywhere.

"I haven't heard from Jake today," her mother said, "but Jonathan did text me when they did their final walk of the venue this morning."

When her hair was done and her make-up was perfect, Danika stood him her chair and gave a little stretch, finishing the glass of champagne that it was in her hand.

"I think I need to go for a little walk and stretch my legs."

"Are you sure?" her mother asked.

"Yes. I need a minute."

"Okay but be careful. We don't know if Jake's here or not."

"Yes, Mom," Danika droned. She slid her feet in her sneakers and walked out of the room.

Jake and the grooms party had a room near the ballroom and so Danika avoided going downstairs. Instead, she headed up a floor, thinking that she would try to see if there was a good view on any of the floors above or if she could even get to them. She fiddled with the end of one of her curls as she walked, feeling like giving a little twirl. She hadn't needed to get out of the room because of cold feet or anything – she had seen what Tyra was thinking. She was feeling too much and she felt like she'd been going to explode if she didn't have a chance to work off any of the energy. She was going to marry Jake! They were finally getting married!

Danika opened the stairwell door for the top floor but only got it open a crack when she heard Jake's voice. She paused, wondering if she should go back down or if she should announce her presence and steal a kiss.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Then, Danika fully froze because that was a woman's voice. A woman who was certainly not Trixie and who had no business being with Danika's fiancé on the day of their wedding. Danika wanted to storm out in a fury, demanding answers, but she stayed where she was, because this didn't have to be a bad thing. She should trust Jake. She'd always trusted Jake. This could be something for Danika and then she would have ruined it and put an immediate blight on their wedding for nothing.

"What, kiss you?" Jake replied, his voice husky and Danika's stomach dropped. "Rose, I kiss you all the time."

"Not on your wedding day. Jake, this is all so wrong. We know it's all so wrong."

"I spent last night in your bed," Jake replied. "You can't feel that bad about it."

"I've felt bad about it the whole time and it's just because I love you and I'm selfish that it's gotten this far and this bad but I can't be with you if you get married."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is you really won't leave her if you're married and we have no future and if you love me as much as you say you do then we shouldn't have made it to your wedding day."

"Of course, I love you as much as I say I do."

Danika heard the sound of a kiss and that was when she'd had more than enough. She threw open the door with a fury, not caring about the bang that it made because they deserved to know that she was there. Danika stepped into the hallway and they were right there, so close that there was no question as to what had been happening.

"Danika!" Jake said. "We're not supposed to see each other!"

Like that mattered now?!

Danika didn't look at him, instead looking at this other woman. Rose. Danika hated to admit it but she was gorgeous. She had long blonde hair all the way down her back, big blue eyes, and even though she was wearing baggy sweatpants and no makeup, Danika felt a flash of self-consciousness and insecurity. Then, she reminded herself that this woman was a stupid whore and Danika didn't have a single fucking thing to feel bad about.

"Who are you?"

"Um." Rose's eyes flickered to Jake and Danika nearly exploded when Jake looked back at Rose rather than looking at Danika.

"Look at me!" Danika snapped. "Who the fuck are you?"

"My name's Rose. I'm a … friend … of Jake's. I wanted to congratulate him in person."

"Oh, is that what we call homewrecking bitches now, Jake, our friends? Too bad she never came over for dinner."

"You're not mad at her, you're mad at me," Jake said. "Let Rose leave and you and I can talk."

"She knew about me! I'm furious with both of you!"

Danika launched herself at Rose, getting one loud slap in before Rose grabbed her wrist with surprising strength and shoved Danika away.

"You get one because I deserve it," Rose said, "and now I'm going to say this and I'm going to leave. You're right. I knew about you. I knew everything about you. I know you don't understand and I don't think you ever will or even should because this was all wrong. We were selfish. It's been going on for eighteen months. I've been to your apartment. I've slept in your bed. He's been to my apartment and slept in my bed. It wasn't just sex for either of us. We're in love with each other but he's in love with you too. Any other questions you'll have to get answered by him."

Rose looked away from Danika, over her shoulder to Jake. "Goodbye."

Jake didn't answer but he didn't have to. Danika could see the grief and love and heartbreak and adoration as he watched Rose walk away. Jake had never looked at her with that much emotion about anything. It rubbed Danika the wrong way to think it because Jake looked at her like he loved her and he knew it but there had never been that much to the way he looked at her. A fierce possessiveness overtook Danika because Jake was supposed to be hers. They were about to get married. Their family and friends were all downstairs and this was not how things were supposed to happen. They were happy together! They were going to grow old together!

When the door to the stairwell closed, Danika asked, "Is true? A year and a half?"

"It's true."

"She was in our home? In our bed?"

Jake couldn't look at her as he answered, "Yes."

"And you love her?"

"Yes."

"More than me?"

Jake hesitated and that was all the answer Danika needed. She slid to the ground even though it felt like the entire world was gone underneath of her. Everything that she thought was true wasn't. For nearly their entire engagement, Danika had been sharing Jake with another woman and she hadn't even suspected it.

"How could you?"

They'd been high school sweethearts. The couple that was supposed to make it, no matter what. They were getting married. Today!

"I'm sorry."

"That's not good enough."

"There is no way to make anything I say good enough. There are things in the world that you don't understand and because of that, there are no reasons that I can give you that will make any of this make sense."

"You were cheating on me." Danika looked up at Jake, blankly realizing that she hadn't cried yet. She should be sobbing and screaming and furious. Instead, she was just sitting here, her knees like Jello, thinking of her wedding dress downstairs. "That doesn't make sense. If you weren't happy, you should have left. You shouldn't have let me plan a wedding and invite everyone here to … what? Were you really going to marry me today, Jake?"

"I intended to. I really think I did."

He intended to? He thought?

Danika's mind whirred. Fuck, she wanted to hit him. She wanted to beat the shit out of Rose. She wanted to be violent which was someone that she wasn't and she resented Jake for making her this person on her wedding day. What should have been the happiest day of their lives. And, now, she knew about Rose. Jake should have made this decision long before Danika had to find out and he hadn't made the decision because he was a coward. Well, screw him.

"Then prove it." Danika stood up. "Prove you were really going to pick me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, get your ass downstairs and marry me like we planned."

Danika studied Jake's expression, looking for a hint of relief that she still wanted him, some form of joy that they were going to get married, any of the love for her that she was so used to seeing on his face.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because I love you and because I heard her. She won't come back if you're married. This way, you're mine forever."

Danika turned her back on Jake, heading back downstairs to the bridal suite. She put on her dress, went down to the ceremony area, and, on her father's arm, she stepped out amongst her friends and family, wearing her most brilliant smile. At the end of the aisle was Jake, who looked like he was fighting tears and misery and all Danika could think was: Good.

Jake deserved misery but she was going to get her happiness.