Dinner date (Jeremy/Julia cut to Jade)

[Jere Warner]

Jeremy was tearing through his closet like a madman. 'Now I know how women feel, I have nothing to wear tonight!' He was nervous about meeting Jade's folks, even though it seemed like he passed the test with the siblings, who could be worse than parents.

He ran his hands through his hair, still trying to decide. He found a deep forest green button down shirt and a blue and white small checkered button down shirt as well. At least he had it narrowed down to two. It was decision time.

"JULIA!!!" he bellowed through the house. If anything it would get her away from the computer for a few minutes and hopefully she'd have a few pep words for him as well.

He slipped into a a plain white teeshirt as he mulled over the shirt catastrophe. He finished getting ready with the usual rituals of brushing teeth, deodorant, checking his hair.

This dinner date was feeling more like a job interview bit by bit. Even applying as a face character for Disney wasn't this nerve wracking, which seemed a long time ago.

He sat on the edge of his bed, nibbled on his fingernails as he waited for little sis to show up.

[Julia Warner]

Brethilwen91: oh em gee are you for real?!

Caranlas_redleaf: yeah. I had no idea. I feel dumb

Brethilwen91: that sucks. he should have told you.

Caranlas_redleaf: I know. =/

Caranlas_redleaf: Oop sorry g2g cyu!


Julia winced as the sound of her brother's voice tore through the house, quickly ending her chat with a virtual friend she had never met and probably never would.

"COMING!!" She hollered back, spinning around and shooting out of the chair and into the hall. What did he WANT?! She had already agreed to go with him, she wasn't going to get so wrapped up in her virtual reality that she would forget what time it was. After all, it had been at least a week since the last time that had happened, she was getting better!

She knocked perfunctorily on the door before letting herself in, figuring (correctly) that if he wanted her so badly he was probably decent.

"What?!" She demanded, flopping onto the bed beside him. "You aren't having second thoughts, are you? You can't, you have to go. We said we would. No backing out." She patted him on the back, "Don't worry, they'll love you."

And she sincerely believed that. Sure, he was her brother, but she couldn't imagine that someone wouldn't love him. He was, after all, only annoying to her. To everyone else he was fun-loving and charming. She especially thought that Jade's parents ought to like Jere, as he was a good kid. He wasn't going to get up to anything like drugs or booze or wild orgies, and so, as long as The Edwards didn't mind their son dating guys (and she gathered from Jade and Alex's conversation they didn't), then they ought to approve of her twin.

[Jade Edwards RCO]

Jade stood in the dinning room of the house, the one they used the most anyway, "Jade this boy is coming to dinner with his sister, and your telling me your dumping him to go back to Mike Spruill." his mother yelled at him yeah she was angry at him as stupid ideas went this one was right up there, his mother the one person who just maybe would hear him out. "The drug addict, your dumping captain sensible, for someone who needs a fix to get through the day." his mother continued boy was he glad that he didn't have his father doing this.

"Mother your going to make me go deaf in the other ear if you keep shouting like that." Jade said to her she looked at him.

"Jade why?" she demanded.

"I don't know." Jade said to her.

"I spoke to your father about this, when you came home and told me, I don't care how you work it Jay you will not go back to Mike Spruill." she said to him cupping his face.

"Is that an ultimatum?" Jade asked her.

"Honey, do you even know how you feel about Mike?" his mother asked Jade closed his eyes and a slight shake of the head. "What about Jeremy?" she asked.

"I like Jere a lot." Jade said to her. "But my kissing Mike Spruill is not going to go away." Jade said to her.

"No its not but you have the choice between being happy with mister safe or taking a risk with someone who has hurt you, you may not talk to us all that much but Alexander does. We know what kind of damage he has done, and his reputation, usually we let you make your own mistakes, Jay that isn't happening here." his mother said to him.

"Mom you can't just interfere in my life when you want to." Jade said to her.

"Jade, you and your brother and sister get what you want when you want, when you said you wanted matching cars for your birthday, you got matching cars... when you said you wanted to spend the summer last year in Sydney with you and Alex and a couple of company minders but without us, you got it... now your going to do what your father and I want you to do." his mother said to him Jade glared at her for a moment before sighing. "You know we are right..." she said realizing he wasn't listening she tapped her foot on the floor he looked up. "You know we are right, you may not like it, but you know we are." she said to him.

"Mom I just wanted to give him a second chance." Jade said to her.

"Second chance?" she asked.

Jade flustered by what she knew about his personal life lost his words, 'Fine fifth of sixth.' Jade signed to her she chuckled he hated when he lost his words or got so annoyed about something that he found it almost impossible to communicate with some one using his voice it was a weakness that he did not let people see.

"Does having Mike back mean that much to you?" she asked.

"I don't know okay, I don't know." Jade roared at her angrily.

"I need to go get ready, and try and find some way to tell the guy I have been on exactly one date with, that I kissed another guy at lunch." Jade said to her.

"Why tell him?" his mother asked.

"You really need me to answer that?" Jade asked her she chuckled. "If I don't then Mike will." Jade said walking to the door.

"It will work out for the best." his mother said he turned and gave her a withering look.

"Yeah, sadly I can't throw the family fortune at this one." Jade said to her.

[Jere Warner]

"Blue plaid? No, too Dorothy Gale. Green? No, to businessy! AAARRGGGHHH!!!" Jere didn't hear Julia enter until she sat on the bed next to him. He sighed, "Seconds, thirds, fourths ecetera ecetera. Maybe I'm just paranoid I just have the odd feeling something bad will happen tonight. I mean nothing horrible but just foreboding dark force to dampen the night."

Julia's words were comforting to him, maybe the pat on the back did it too. It seemed like a motherly thing to him. "I suppose I'm just making a mountain out of a mole hill here." He smiled a slanted smile. "You know the right thing to say. If I didn't have you as my conscience I'd have called and backed out and just gorged on double stuff Oreos." A rather light moment felt right.

"I was going to ask for a second opinion on the shirt but since you think they'll love me, I'll wear the Dorothy Gale one." He slipped the shirt on over the tshirt (in case of pit stains) then a couple sprtizes of Onyx by Azzaro Pour Homme and he was ready. "Well, I'm ready if you are Jules."

[Julia Warner]

"Oreos? You were thinking of skipping dinner for oreos?" Julia raised an eyebrow at Jeremy. "What are you tryin' to say here, my cookies aren't good enough for you?"

He seemed really worried, though she couldn't seem why. After all, he and Jade were comfortable enough kissing in the hallway, so meeting what sounded to be supportive parents couldn't be a bad thing. "Relax, it's not like you're gonna ask their permission to marry him or anything." She didn't think he would appreciate it if she tacked on that they just wanted to make sure he wouldn't be a neglectful, bad boyfriend; he wouldn't be, of course, he'd be great, but that might be a little too much pressure. "You aren't gonna ask to marry him, right?" She teased, hoping to lighten his mood.

She hopped off the bed, twirling once. "Yep. All ready." She agreed; she had left the peasant skirt on, but had taken off the jeans in case the Edwards were the sort of people to disapprove of pants worn with skirts or dresses. She wanted them to think that she and Jeremy were nice and respectable, if not from quite as wealthy a family. Okay, a lot less wealthy. She was under the impression they were veritable billionaires.

"Let's go, and don't you dare worry. You like him, he likes you, that's the way this is supposed to go."

How many people at Silver alone would have killed to have their crush reciprocate? She wasn't sure she would be able to count them. And she was included in those numbers; she might be unable to get a guy, so she was not going to let Jeremy ruin his chances with Jade by standing him up tonight just because he was a little intimidated by the prospect of meeting overprotective parents.

[Jere Warner]

"Your cookies are great Jules but Oreos are a comfort food for me." Jeremy reassured her. "Besides, I usually just eat the middle and save the cookie part for later, and I wouldn't want to eat any frosting off the cookies you made then put it back."

"I'm just worried that I won't make a good impression or else they already have it in mind that no one will lay a finger on their son." He smirked and rolled his eyes. "Of course not, well not until after high school anyway." He honestly hadn't thought that far ahead, the main thing was wanting to be spending time with someone he cared for.

"Let's move 'em up and headed 'em on out!"
---------------------------------------
The drive over to Jade's was a tad nerve wracking but Jeremy held it together during the trip. "You won't believe the size of their house, just like what you see in the movies!"

He pulled into their driveway. "Well kiddo this is it! The Emerald City." He shut the car off and took a couple deep breaths. "Ok lets do this!" He went around and got the door for his sister before heading to the front door.

[Jade Edwards RCO]

Jade sighed as he heard the door bell go knowing that his sister or mother would answer the door before he got there but headed that way anyway, his dress wear for the evening matching his mood, black everything...

Jade stepped into the entrance room, the door still not open his mother standing near by, "Remember what I said." his mother said to him, he gave her a sharp nod and a weary smile before opening the door for their two guests. "Dinner is in an hour... so you may want to show your friend and boyfriend the house." she added before disappearing in to the adults living room.

"Hi Julia." Jade said before kissing Jeremy lightly on the lips. "As you heard we have an hour to dinner, and my parents are currently quite mad, so they won't want to be disturbed until that time." Jade said to them. "Oh I wouldn't worry about them taking it out on you, Alex ran out of the house screaming a little while ago to go to this party with his best friend, SJ is here, so you won't be the only girl at dinner tonight." Jade said as they stepped into the hall itself and he shut the door behind them. "So okay we have an hour, so we can go up to the den, which is pretty much where we go to have fun in this place, wireless internet, snooker table, and god knows what else, or I can give you the short tour... no swimming pool as yet so no swimming." Jade added.

[Julia Warner]

Julia gaped up at the Edward's house as they pulled into the driveway. The Warners had never wanted for money, but she couldn't imagine having enough of the stuff to afford such a palatial home. She had known that they were wealthy, but this was beyond even her wildest imaginings.

She followed Jeremy to the front door, nodding as their host acknowledged her presence, and shifting uneasily at Jade's offer, glancing over to Jeremy for any signal. Jade's parents were upset at him?? That did not bode well for their dinner. Maybe she had been entirely wrong, and they didn't think that her twin was good enough for their precious son. She couldn't fathom how Jeremy could possibly not be good enough, but then...no, she was being silly. Their anger was undoubtedly due to some other factor, and that it happened to occur at the same time they were invited over to dinner was a mere unhappy coincidence.

An hour. She wished it was earlier than that, an hour gave Jere too much time to agonize over the actual event; it would have been better, in her mind, just to get the whole parent meeting thing over with. She didn't have a choice in the matter, however, and she was not about to voice that opinion.

"Either one sounds good to me," She commented, non-committal. It was Jere's date, so he ought to be the one to make the decision. Unless he decided to freak out about it due to nerves, in which case she would be forced to choose for him. She would wait to see how he handled this, though, before stepping in.

[Jere Warner]

Jeremy treasured Jade's kiss as well as thinking he looked damn hot in black, if it were the boys alone a lot could happen in an hour but to hear his folks were mad about something sort of off set any thoughts currently.

"I'm glad to hear its nothing too serious and that I'm an innocent party, like always."

He pouted slightly, "Aww no pool, looks like your safe from getting dunked tonight Jules!" The humor was covering the nerves he was hiding inside. So far Jade was different than the first guy he was with, how could ever forget Mike Spruill? The kid was like an octopus! Hands everywhere, it was enough that it had scared Jeremy back into closet but that was years ago, no chance the past could come back.

"I'm open for whatever as well, the idea of a tour works for me, I've never been in a place like this." He cringed. "God, did I just sound like some star-struck kid, kick me now!" He groaned.

Jeremy wasn't a fool. He knew the tour would keep his mind occupied until dinner. And with Julia along there wasn't a chance he could sneak off with Jade somewhere and playing "show and tell".

[Jade Edwards RCO]

Jade led the way up the staircase and away from the main point of contention for him, it was only when they were on the first floor landing that his shoulders eased from the tention that he was feeling because of his parents.

"Their issue isn't with you guys so I wouldn't worry about what my parents might or might not say at the dinner table, we are Irish and polite not Scottish and brash." Jade said as he pushed open the door to the den. "The den, pretty much the only place that my parents don't come, its just the kids and the cleaners that come in this place." Jade said.

The room looked like it wouldn't have looked out of place in most peoples living rooms, it was comfortable and spacious with toys that most teenagers would kill for.

"I kind of need to speak to Jeremy a minute alone, so if you could wait in there, we won't be long I promise." Jade said awkwardly he was terrified of what he needed to say and knew that dinner was probably going to be a non starter but he couldn't sit through dinner with these people and lie through hiss teeth. "Nothing bad honest, just a chat." Jade said to the girl...

When they were alone in the corridor he walked to just out of hearing range of someone listening at the door, "I've been struggling since lunch to figure somethings out, I had a conversation with my ex.... boyfriend at lunch... my parents are angry because I had that conversation with a guy like Mike Spruill... he knows how to play on my heart strings and I let things happen, that I should not have done, which is why my parents are angry with me... I just can't sit through dinner with you to spoil it at the end... I made a mistake at lunch by kissing him and thinking he was what I wanted, and I know I risk losing you but I would rather you find out from me than, here from him..." Jade said running his hand through his hair disparingly.