Ch 129 The Best Yenta deserves Jimmy Choo shoes

“Wes, are you listening to me?”

“Janet, come quick!” He grabbed her arm and pointed down to the ground “You see that? You did it! You got them together. You are the best yenta ever! Anything you want, Baby, it’s yours…even a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes.”

“Jimmy who? What are you…” She gasped. She suddenly spotted Wes’ father with her aunt and they were kissing…like right in the middle of the crowd of teenagers! “But I didn’t…”

“Sure you did! You just don’t know your own strength, cuz you’re that good. Oh, Janet, this is awesome! My dad’s in love! Come on, let’s go see them!”

“Wes, what are crazy?” she said, trying to hold him back, but in vain. Wes tugged her all the way down the bleachers, pushing passed people getting back to their seats. “Wes, listen to me. One kiss does not make you in love.”

He stopped abruptly and turned to look at her. “Are you kidding me? I was in love with you after one kiss, Janet, one tiny, little, spur-of-the-moment kiss you gave me after I fixed your computer. Do you remember that? Cuz I’ll never forget it.”

She blinked stupidly at him. “Uh…just barely, but I didn’t know you then,” she said.

Wes smiled. “And I liked you before you ever talked to me. So… just come on!”

“But, Wes, if we tell them we saw them kissing, it’ll just embarrass them. We should leave them alone.”

“Janet, Tristan’s asleep in my father’s arms and your aunt is gonna want us to take her home now. I don’t want to leave yet. Do you? She’ll want to leave now and that would be bad, very bad, for my dad. I want my dad to take her home and…”

Janet crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “You think your dad’s gonna get lucky tonight?”

“I…no… I…uh…”

“You do!” she said. “Wes, I don’t think Aunt May would just jump into bed after one kiss. Would your dad do that?”

“Uh…I dunno…doesn’t everybody?”

“In Hollywood maybe, but…” Janet said, making a face. “Do you think that happens in real life too? That people just…fall into bed without getting to know each other?”

Wes shrugged. “I kinda think they do. It’s called hooking up. It’s the latest greatest. No names, just down and dirty and…but that’s not love, is it? I want my dad to…you know… find the right girl, like my mom, and love her for keeps.”

Janet made a funny face then stared at Donny and her aunt May Lyn. Janet simply could not imagine they would just bump uglies and so soon, but then, just because she never would do it, didn’t mean others wouldn’t. They sure looked happy, she thought, holding hands, smiling and talking and sneaking kisses even with little Tristan between them. 

“So…what do you want to do? Offer to take Tristan home for them so they can get their freak on?”

Wes burst out laughing. “Not exactly. I just thought they could go home and spend time alone together, not necessarily doing it!” he said quickly. “Just like you said, to get to know each other. Just offering them the chance. I’ll tell my dad I’ll take you and Cindy and Stevie home if he takes your aunt home. That way he won’t have to worry about Cindy.”

“You’re the one that’s being the yenta right now, you know,” Janet said with a smirk, and she allowed him to tug her along.

*****

“Omigosh, Stevie, look! That’s your aunt May Lyn with my dad!” Cindy said, grabbing his arm, her eyes as wide as they would go. “They’re kissing! Right out in the open!”

“Holy moly!” Stevie said, gaping at the unbelievable sight. “I thought it was weird when we caught them dancing with no music last night. Knew they were lying!”

Cindy hugged Stevie’s arm while jumping with joy. “Do you know what this means? They’re in love and they might get married and I’ll get a new mom and then…wow, I’ll be your cousin…I think…or something.”

“Cousin?” Stevie shrieked. “Oh, hell no!”

“Oh, it’s not as bad as you think,” she said. “We’ll be kissing cousins.”

Stevie made a weird face. “That doesn’t sound any better!”

Cindy giggled. “It just means we’ll be related, but not really, sort of just through marriage.”

“Oh…okay,” he said, still slightly wary. “Just as long as you can still be my girlfriend, I guess it’s okay.”

“It is. Come on! Wes is gonna get them to go home together, I bet,” she said, pulling him along.

“Uh, what do we gotta do with it?”

“We can tell my dad we’ll go home with Janet and Wes and then he can take your aunt and Tristan home and then they can be alone together and…. Don’t you know anything about match making?”

“Uh…no, should I?”

“Well, if you did maybe your parents would be back together by now. Now, come on!” she said bossily.

“Hi, Daddy, Hi, Ms. London,” Cindy said smiling at Wes who looked just as pleased as she was. “Wes, don’t you think Dad should take Ms. London home now. Look, poor little Tristan’s sleeping and everything. You’ll take me and Stevie home, won’t you, Wes, so Dad can take them home?”

Wes smiled and put an arm around his little sister. “I was just telling Dad the same thing. You can stay with us and we’ll go watch the rest of the game together. See you at home, Dad. We won’t be late. I promise.”

“See you home, Aunt May,” Janet said. “Bye, Mr. Sebastian. You’ll be coming to the gala, won’t you?”

“Yes, of course I will,” Donny replied, smiling at May Lyn, as he rubbed Tristan’s back. “As a matter of fact, May Lyn’s agreed to come with me. Seems she had a falling out with her previous date. Lucky me.”

“That’s awesome!” Cindy said and she actually hugged May Lyn around the middle. “It was the dress. Daddy liked you in the dress. Told you, you looked awesome in it!”

May Lyn laughed and hugged her back. “You are the sweetest thing, Cindy, but I need to get another dress, one that actually fits.”

“We can all go together,” Cindy said, excitedly. “Daddy’s supposed to take me shopping for my dress and new shoes.”

“Well, if Daddy says it’s okay,” May Lyn said. “I’ll tag along. I still don’t have a car, after all.”

“I think that makes tomorrow a dress, shoes and car shopping day,” Donny said.

“Yay!” Cindy said, jumping on her toes.

“Okay, you kids can stay, but I want you to stay together,” Donny said sternly. “No running off with Stevie or any other friends, Cindy. You hear me? Wes, I’ll skin you alive if anything happens to your sister which ought not to. Got me?”

“Yes, Dad, I know. We’ll be good. Good night, Ms. London. Try your best to get my dad to chill, okay?” Wes said.

May Lyn laughed. “I’ll try.”

The kids all watched the new couple with the sleepy kid walk out into the parking lot, to the car and leave the school grounds. They kept watching until they could no longer see their taillights. Then Wes and Cindy high-fived each other, and hugged, Wes spinning Cindy right off her feet, and both laughing like mad.

“Dad’s got a new girlfriend!” they both shouted.

“They can be so weird sometimes,” Stevie whispered to Janet. “Think I would get all excited if Dad got a new girlfriend?” 

“No, but you’d be twice as happy if we got Mom and Dad back together, so you just shut up,” Janet said.

“You said you were gonna do something about that and you never did,” Stevie said angrily. “You were just fooling me and getting my hopes up for nothing. They’re gonna get a divorce for sure now.”

“Wait until after tomorrow night and see if you can still say that.”

Stevie gaped at her. “Why? Do you know something?”

“Just get the feeling Mom’s ready to see things differently and she will once I talk to her about what really happened. I’m making sure of it at the gala or die trying.”

“What…are you planning something?” Stevie asked.

Janet smiled. “You’ll see tomorrow, Stevie. I ain’t giving up on them just yet, and don’t you either. You watch. Mom and Dad will be together by tomorrow night and you and me, we’ll be dancing around like them.” 

Stevie grinned, grabbed his sister, hugging her tightly and spinning her around. 

What the hey, may as well celebrate early, right?

******

Janet, for all her bravado and nonchalance, now that the gala was just a couple of hours away, was a mass of jitters and simply couldn’t sit still. She had been fine all throughout the sound check and final rehearsal, laughing and joking with Luke. She even made up with Alana, although Janet was still annoyed that she insisted Wes not be there until the second set. 

Janet also had a great time talking with the guys in the orchestra which would be playing between their sets. She saw Alana talking to the saxophonist and the violin guy and was stunned that she could get them to agree to accompany them in a few of their songs. Janet was especially jazzed that they would play with them on the one song she hoped would bring her parents back together. Janet had told Alana how very important it was to her that it be absolutely perfect, and Alana did her magic. 

Janet was forever impressed with that girl! So, how could she ever stay mad at her?

But now, there was Janet in her room pacing back and forth, waiting and she was going batty. Already in the gorgeous bright blue gown Joanne had designed especially for the gala, Janet now regretted getting dressed so soon. She didn’t want to sit for fear of crinkling the dress, but there was nothing left to do but wait to be picked up. Her mother and aunt had taken up some of the time by fussing over her hair and makeup. You’d think they were getting her set for her wedding!

 She felt a bit like Cinderella, only she didn’t have a fairy Godmother to thank for all of this…not really anyway. She looked lovely as can be, that was true, but she was pretty sure if she didn’t do something constructive and soon she might just puke from mounting nerves!

“I can’t stand it anymore,” she mumbled to herself, throwing open her bedroom door and leaving her stifling room. Out in the hall she met her sister and she didn’t look happy.

“Hi, Jazzy,” Janet said, bracing for the worst.

Jasmine looked her up and down and mustn’t have been able to find anything to criticize because she said, “You look nice…like Cinderella going to the ball… only she wouldn’t leave her twin sister behind.”

“Cinderella didn’t have a twin. She had two evil step-sisters,” Janet said, needlessly. She knew Jasmine knew the story as well as she did.

“Yes, Cinderella got the better of them, too,” Jasmine snidely commented.

Stung by this, Janet felt the need to defend herself. “You know I wanted you to be there. I asked Mom, I begged her to let you go, but she wouldn’t listen to me,” Janet said. “You ticked her off, Jazzy, royally. I’m sorry, but you did this to yourself. You can’t blame anybody but you. You should have known better than to pull a stunt like that. What did you hope to gain from it?”

“To show up Mom as the hypocrite that she is!” Jasmine snapped.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re the smart one. Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Janet said.

Jasmine smiled, but it was not pretty. It only made her look mean. “She lied about being in New York all that time.”

“What? Of course she was in New York.”

“Yeah, but she went to Boston first for the weekend and guess with who?”

“Boston? You don’t mean…that’s crazy,” Janet said, but somewhere in her gut she knew it was a possibility. She recalled too well her mother flirting shamelessly with Wes’ father and the way he looked at her was none too innocent. “She… she would have said if…”

“Sure, cuz most mothers tell their kids when they’re going off to spend a romantic weekend having sex with another man while she’s still married to their father.”

“Wh…why do you think…”

“I don’t think. I know. I saw a stack of brochures in her pocketbook, those touristy things she always brings home and keeps when we go anywhere, and they were all for fun tourist attractions in Boston. And wasn’t it a coincidence that Mr. Sebastian’s college reunion just so happened to be the same time Mom was going to New York? Not!”

“So… you think…”

“Yeah, our mother and your boyfriend’s dad had a sex filled weekend. Mom with someone she has no intention of marrying. How is that any different than what I did?”

Janet frowned. “Wait…you never planned on marrying Troy?”

Jasmine rolled her eyes. “That’s hardly the point, Janet.”

“It is to Troy.”

“Forget Troy! The point is Mom’s a hypocrite. She plays the victim and calls Dad a cheating whatever when she’s no better.”

Janet looked down at the floor, forcing herself to breath steady and stay calm. “Just because she went with him…if she did… it doesn’t mean… they…”

“Oh, grow up, Janet! How long do you plan on living in never-never-land? Adults don’t go away together to go to museums and gift shops and do nothing more than chat. They got down, dirty and busy, I guaranty it.”

Janet bit down on her bottom lip until she realized she would mess up her lipstick.  “I already jumped to conclusions once with Dad and I was totally wrong, so I’m not doing it with Mom, too.”

“Fine. Don’t believe it,” Jasmine snapped. “But I know Mom was getting payback for what Dad did, which is fine, she’s allowed, but her getting all self-righteous on me ain’t gonna fly, not now that I know what she did. Dad’s gonna have a cow when I tell him.”

“Jazzy, you can’t! You know how Dad is.”

“Watch me!” Jasmine said turning back to her room.

“Think for a minute, Jazzy!” Janet said, following her in. “You do this and they’ll never get back together. Is that what you want? You know they are both miserable without the other and so are we. Don’t make things any worse. Please!”

“Then tell Mom I’ll tell Dad if I don’t get to go to the gala. Otherwise I’m telling and they can both live un-happily ever after.”

“Black mail, Jazzy, really? You would be that selfish?”

“Remind me why I’m supposed to listen to Miss Goody-two-shoes?” Jasmine said. Throwing herself down on her bed, she picked up an emery board and filed her nails as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

Furious now, Janet lifted her skirt, and raised her leg straight out in front of her sister right under her nose, almost as a ballerina would. “If the shoe fits,” she snapped.

Jasmine gaped and bolted out of bed. “Those are my shoes!”

“Excuse me? I don’t think so!” Janet shouted.

“Those are Jimmy Choos, the one’s I’ve wanted forever,” Jasmine said, staring at them as if they were made of gold, which for the price tag, they should be. “I can’t believe Mom bought those for you when she knows how much I wanted them, and you don’t even care.”

“She didn’t. Wes bought them for me.”

“Wes?” Jasmine said incredulous, that mean looking smile slowly emerging again. “Well, well. And what are you giving him for them?”

“Giving him? Nothing. They were a present because…”

“Come off it. No guy spends over eight hundred dollars on a girl and doesn’t expect something special in return.”

“Eight hund… no way!” Janet shouted, shocked to her Jimmy Choo encased toes.

“Way,” Jasmine said, giving her sister an appraising look. “And those are one of the cheaper ones. Some are in the thousands.”

“Cripes,” Janet muttered. “You’d think they’d be more comfortable for that much money. I’ll probably break my neck in them, too.”

“Yeah, but the question is this. What will it be for sweet, innocent little Janet?”

“Whaddaya mean?”

“A kiss and a cuddle won’t do for Jimmy Choos, you know. Not even a Monica Lowinski would be enough payback, but is my naïve sister ready for a tumble in the sheets?”

Janet gaped wide eyed and horrified at her twin. She didn’t know exactly what a Monica Lowinski was, but she could safely say it wasn’t in her skill set, as sexually inexperienced as she was. What she did know without a doubt was that paying eight hundred dollars just for shoes was insane! But she knew Jasmine took shoes as seriously as Luke took music, perhaps more so. Therefore, Jasmine knew what she was talking about, at least in regards to the shoes. Janet hoped, however, that her sister was wrong about Wes.

Janet lowered her skirt and covered her shoes. She no longer wanted to look at them. She didn’t even want to wear them. She had half a mind to stuff them back in the box they came in and hope Wes could still get his money back. 

Janet nervously smoothed her skirt down, forcibly putting aside thoughts of Jimmy Choos, Monica Lowinskis and anything else. Then she stared at her sister.

“Jazzy, don’t tell Dad until I talk to Mom, okay?”

Jasmine looked at the clock on her night stand and said, “Tick tock. If I’m going to the gala I need time to get ready or time for a chat with Dad.”

“Then get ready,” Janet said and she flounced out of the room and swished her way down the hall.  

She didn’t have much time.

  ©2013 Glory Lennon All Rights Reserved