Holy crappers, book two already and EVERYTHING. o.O I honestly .. just .. I never knew I'd be able to get through book one.

Thank you to all my lovely fans and readers, your votes, comments, and loyalty have a positive affect on me and I can't express it enough in words, so I'll just put it in my story.

Enjoy!

MAJOR EDITS AND CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE.

--

"Oh, hello!" A woman with long hair and brown eyes like Jackson's greeted me, beaming and sticking her hand out. "You must be Faye."

I shot Jackson a burning glare, silently telling him I was not happy with him in the slightest. I then forced on a smile and looked at the woman who was apparently his mother and took her hand, shaking it. "Yes I am. And you are .. ?"

"Brianna," she told me kindly, then let go of my hand and put her arms around me. I was caught by surprise when she pulled me to her chest and hugged me tight. "Oh, it's so nice to finally meet you! John and I just couldn't wait to meet the young woman who would be my baby boy's future wife!"

"Mom," Jackson groaned from behind me, sounding annoyed and embarrassed. "First of all, I'm not your baby boy. Second of all, I think you're going to make Faye pass out. Stop hugging her in a death grip, please?"

I wheezed in agreement, my face flushed, and she let me go. "Oh my, I'm sorry!" she laughed lightly, pulling back and patting down some of my messed blonde hair with a sheepish grin. "I hope I didn't cause too much damage."

While blinking and trying to catch up to Jackson's mother and all of this craziness happening at once I chuckled. "It's .. ah, it's fine. Um, may I have a word with Jackson please?" I added sweetly, adding smile for extra sweetness.

"Of course, darling," Brianna cooed, nodding her head. "I hate to sound rude, but would it be to much if John and I came in and sat down? It's a tad chilly outside, and we don't want to catch a cold. We're getting old, which makes it easier to get sick you know!"

I tried not to look irritated at this woman's constant rambling that I didn't want to listen to and smiled again. "Of course, sorry." I stepped aside, watching them walk through the door before shutting it and gesturing for them to take a seat on one of the chairs by the stairs.

As they sat down, I pulled Jackson to the side and crossed my arms, leaning on my hip and tapping my left foot with gritted teeth. "You have a lot of explaining to do," I hissed.

Jackson's hands flew up in an attempt to pacify me and defend himself, his eyes glancing from his parents a bit away from us and then back to me. "Okay, you're going to have to believe me when I say I did not know they were coming so early," he told me, wincing. "They told me that they would be coming two weeks from yesterday."

I sighed and leaned against the wall, rubbing my face and crossing on leg over another. The tips of my toes pushed lightly against the back of the heel on my other foot, and they were a bit cold. I felt goosebumps on my arms and I rubbed the skin instead of my face now.

"So what do we do?" I demanded, pursing my lips. "We can't just kick them out, but I don't really think I'm prepared for this yet. Shit, I don't know a thing about your parents and all of a sudden they appear on my doorstep." I rested my head on the wall. "That's just freaking great. That can be a laugh in a newspaper."

"Faye." Jackson's voice was calm, trying to sound reassuring and it did work somewhat to calm my banging heart. I flicked my eyes over to him and searched his face, finding a nervous glint in his brown eyes. "Please don't be upset over this. I know it's so sudden and weird, but I promise that they're good people. If you want I can tell them to come back later, I'm sure they've gotten a hotel.."

I considered his words and looked down at my feet, feeling slightly guilty that what Jackson said is a little of what I wanted. To me, meeting these people meant I needed a little time to be prepared to meet them. This caught me completely by surprise, and I hadn't even had the thought of meeting his parents yet. 

I could just go the easy way and tell Jackson that it would be best if they did in fact leave for now, or I could suck my pride and cowardly instinct up and actually try to get to know these people. It's not like they were here to kill me for goodness sake, and plus I might help my social skills in facing this discomfort.

"No, don't send them away," I finally answered, straightening up and shaking my head at him. "I want to talk to them."

Jackson looked a little surprised by my response, which only made me more determined at this point.

"Are you sure?" Jackson asked me, his hand curling around mine gently. It felt warm against my oddly cold ones and I felt my cheeks grow warm. "Faye, you don't have to do this if you're not comfortable-"

"I want to, Jackson," I insisted, pulling my hand from his and looking at him with a frown. "I already know I don't have to do it. But I'm not doing it because I have to."

His hands went to his hair, his fingers running through the sandy brown locks that I found incredibly soft to touch. I bit my lip and snapped my eyes to his face, which was confused and scrunched with confusion. "Something's telling me you're trying to prove some sort of point.."

"I'm not really trying to prove a point." That wasn't exactly a lie; I was trying to grow out of my discomfort of whatever this was. I couldn't describe it the way I wanted to without it sounding insane so I kept it at that.

Jackson gave me a highly skeptical look but simply said, "Alright, if you say so."

I shuffled my feet before taking a deep breath and lifting my chin, then walked as confidently as I could over to the two sitting very patiently. They looked at me when I approached and Brianna waved, smiling. "Hey again!"

"Hi." I stuck my hands in the back pockets of my jeans and cleared my throat. "Sorry about my welcoming being .. not so welcoming, I suppose. I was just surprised to see you here." I chuckled.

The man who looked strikingly like Jackson chuckled and waved his hand in dismissal at my apology, John is what Brianna called him. "Don't fret over it, sweetie. We think we were a bit too .. well, thoughtless. After all, we're very much strangers right now."

"It's okay." I let my smile increase a tad, so not to look like a constipated monkey in front of my future husband's parents. "And, anyways, we had to meet sometime right?"

They laughed lightly, nodding in agreement with my words. I let out a soft breath, relief rushing through me at how smooth this was going so far.

"Are your parents home?" Brianna suddenly asked me, looking around curiously. Then she cleared her throat awkwardly. "Of course, it's lovely talking to you. But Tom and Carol told John and I they needed to speak with us."

I cocked my head and turned on my heel to call for my parents, realizing that's why they must be here so early. So, this was my parents fault. "Mom! Dad!" I yelled, the sound echoing through our large house. "We have company!"

Lucy, who had been so silent that I forgot she was there, coughed in amusement. I turned to her with a raised eyebrow and saw her giving me a look. "You alright?" I asked dryly.

"Must be a cold," Lucy replied innocently, patting her chest with a smirk. "It's a bit cold in here, isn't it? Almost like the tension is so-"

"Don't you have innocent bystanders to torment?" I shot back, narrowing my eyes at my best friend.

She flipped her long black hair and crossed her arms, her pale face grimaced. "I'm not sure whether that was meant to be an insult or a true aspect of my life," she huffed, regarding me. "And for your information, you happen to be the innocent bystander. So ha."

I groaned and glanced at Jackson's parents, who were watching us back and forth like a tennis match. "Never mind, Luce."

"Thought so."

I forced myself to keep from retorting, or else Lucy and I would be at our pointless bickering all day and instead awkwardly waited for my parents to hurry their butts out here so it wouldn't be awkward any longer.

"You know you could have just come to our offices and gotten us," Mom announced as she and Dad appeared from one of the hallways, making me look up from my very interesting toes. 

I gestured to our two guests who stood up when they saw my parents join us. "I couldn't exactly leave them with Lucy, that'd be a nightmare," I defended.

"Hey!" Lucy protested from behind me.

I ignored her and watched my parents walk over to Jackson's parents, greeting them. My parents were the two leaders of my Hover, a group of Dragon Riders that's basically like a werewolf pack, and they were usually very busy and were highly powerful. Jackson's parents were just as powerful, but witches and warlocks.

The two races have not gotten along for as long as they existed; Mom and Dad had told me that the companies they own, plus the ones my parents own, are very big competitors. I don't know why marriage is needed to seal the bond, but then again in this world marriage means a lot. It may also have to do with the fact that there's a lot of rage between the races, so combining companies through marriage would supposedly help settle the feud. 

Unless, of course, there was a deeper and more darker reason as to why the marriage is needed. Originally, my older brother Kevin was going to marry Jackson's older sister. But Kevin fell in love with his wife, Ronda, and had an adorable daughter, Zoey. He wasn't going to go through with the marriage, and so my parents and Jackson's parents had to talk through what they would do then. It turned out they had a son around my age or so, and thus it was a done deal. I was arranged to marry Jackson.

At first, I was angry. I wanted to hate my parents, and the world they brought me into, but I couldn't hate them. I instead moved my hate to Jackson, since he was the one I was being forced to marry. But that didn't last long either, because I ended up crushing on him when I went searching for my (still) missing sister. And my relationship with Ken, who was cousin's with Lucy (both of them were Slayers in training, a dragon and a dragon rider's mortal enemy), sort of fell into the gutter. 

I hadn't meant to hurt Ken, but things were said by both of us and we wouldn't end up together in the end and I was starting to get feelings for Jackson. So instead of trying to make a relationship that wouldn't happen try to work, I just .. I ended it. 

"Faye?" I jumped from my thoughts, whipping around and looking at the one who scared the hell out of me and seeing it was Jackson. "Whoa there. You seemed distant for a second, everything alright?"

I nodded and patted my chest calmly, blowing hair from my face and smiling a tad weakly. "Yup, I was just thinking."

"Must have been some really hard thinking, then, because you were out of it," he replied, blinking.

I nodded in reply and slumped my shoulders, turning my eyes to look at the two sets of parents who seemed deep in discussion.

"So we have some big big news!" Brianna chirped, hopping over to us happily and bringing us to the conversation. "We think you'll be extremely pleased as we are to hear this!"

Oh I doubted that. Mom sent me a sympathetic look before rubbing her hands together and smiling. I squinted at the adults and felt Jackson take my hand, attempting to keep me calm in case the news wasn't so pleasing.

"Well?" Jackson asked suspiciously, eyes moving from person to person in an expectant way.

"We," Brianna said, flattening her palms together and putting them narrowly in front of her face, "have changed the wedding date!"

My teeth clamped down on my tongue to keep me from having a nervous breakdown. Maybe they decided to move it so it would be longer instead of just a few months like originally stated, but if that were the case I do not think Brianna would be jumping up and down like this. 

"Oh?" I managed out, my voice like nails on a chalkboard, scratchy. "How .. wonderful .. "

Brianna beamed and glanced at John, who was smiling in approval and clapped his hand against Jackson's shoulder. "It is, isn't it?" he said cheerfully. "We've all decided instead of eight months, the wedding will now be two months from this day!"

My eye twitched, and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach like a bowling ball being dropped on wood. "Two months," I breathed back, listening to my own voice. It sounded unhappy. Good.

Brianna's smile dropped a tiny bit, but not fully as she cocked her head, as if confused with my reaction. "Aren't you happy, dear? Now we can start planning faster, and get your dress sooner," she added, as if all these 'good' things would cheer me up. It didn't.

I clenched my jaw, but gave the best smile I could in this situation. "Of course, that would be lovely," I ground out, stepping back from the group and Jackson. "If you'll excuse me, I need a glass of water. My throat's dried up." I turned sharply and hurried off towards the kitchen, needing to get away.

I heard feet behind me, but didn't look back to see whether it was Lucy, Jackson, or both. I didn't care right now, all I needed was to get away from Brianna, John, and my parents. I arrived at the kitchen and angrily found myself pouring a glass of water.

"The bride to be doesn't look very .. excited," Lucy stated bluntly as she and Jackson entered two seconds later, Jackson seeming cautious and nervous, while Lucy was just as blunt and stubborn as usual.

"I'm not the excited type," I retorted, chugging the water in a matter of five seconds. I was a bit surprised when the glass didn't break as I nearly smashed it on the counter and crossed my arms. "All of this is bullshit. Just when I was trying to get used to getting married in eight months, now I have to try to accept getting married in two. Like, what the hell?" I threw my hands in the air and huffed. "Ugh!"

Jackson sighed and scratched the back of his neck, a movement in which I would never admit I found sexy and attractive. "I'm so sorry, I honestly had no idea about this. Please don't-"

"I know you didn't know," I told him softly, shaking my head and giving him a mustered smile. "I highly doubt you'd be that stupid to know and keep it from me. Besides, your face looked just as shocked as mine."

He laughed a little, dropping his hand and nodding. "Yeah, that was really uncool what they did. If it helps, I'm not exactly pleased either."

I tilted my head slightly, leaning my elbows on the island counter and asking, "Why not? The whole marriage thing didn't seem to bother you before."

"Yeah, it didn't. But that was when we had time, you know? It meant time for us to get to know each other better, for you to start liking me, for me to take you on dates, and for you to have those eight months to try to accept it all," Jackson admitted, a faint pink color rising on his cheeks. "I .. I actually requested eight months before we met, because eight months was the longest my parents gave me.. I asked for a year, but they denied.."

My heart skipped a beat at his speech and I nearly melted into a puddle right then and there, my jaw dropping slightly. "Y-you .. wanted that for me?" I asked softly. "All of it?"

"Of course. I didn't want to make your life miserable and not have you like me. Even if you didn't want a relationship, I was thinking we'd at least be friends. But we're past friends, I think," he replied, chuckling shyly and making me blush.

Lucy let out a long whistle, her eyes dancing with amusement. "This is so sweet," she said. There was a pause, then she added, "It's making me sick to my stomach."

"Then leave, weirdo," I teased, scowling playfully at her. "You're ruining the moment anyways."

"Oh." She tapped her chin, grinning wickedly. "In that case, I'm staying."

I rolled my eyes at my best friend and then turned back to Jackson, reaching over and lacing my fingers through his. "Wow, you're .. just wow. That's really, really sweet Jackson," I murmured, smiling at him.

He smiled back and I went around the island, our fingers still intertwined, and I sat down next to him. He pressed his lips to mine, and instantly everything faded away.. even Lucy who was in the kitchen with us. 

Jackson and I shared deep, passionate kisses before. Ones that made me feel things Ken couldn't when we were together. This was one of the feelings. An unusual, shy and nervous feeling in my heart, one that was sensitive. This kiss was different because it was slow, and tender, and sweet. The other ones were just as great, but this one had something the others didn't.

But I wasn't sure what that was. Because I didn't know what it was, it made me nervous and shy. Jackson's free hand went to my face, his fingers taking in the structure of my jawline and my nose, and cheeks. They left little spark trails wherever they went, and it made me sigh in content.

"This is sweet and all," a female voice spoke, breaking me from my daze, not to mention breaking the kiss, "but I'm still here and this is getting awkward."

Jackson and I laughed softly, then turned back to one another. We didn't kiss again, instead he rested his forehead against mine and said, "Faye Foreigner, will you do me the honor of going on a date with me?"

A warmth spread through me and a soft breath captured my throat. "I will."

"Gag," Lucy said loudly from behind us.

--

One hour later, Lucy stood gazing at the clothing in my hands with her hands cupped under her chin and her eyes squinted while Quince hunted down more potential clothing around the store. "I like how the white shirt has bare sides, but I don't like the straps. It should be a short sleeved shirt, not a tank top."

I thought over her words and looked at the shirt she had been talking about, noting the fact that she was right. It didn't seem to be a shirt I'd wear to a date with Jackson, or anywhere really. It would be a shirt I probably wore at home on a lazy day. So I put the shirt back and looked at the dress.

"I really like that one, actually," Lucy said, holding her elbow with her other hand and uncupping her chin to point at the dress encouragingly. "It's a dress that you could pass as casual or fancy, and it's not to tight, or showy."

I beamed, pleased that she liked it just as much as I did. The dress was a royal blue color that reached my knees and was made of a fine silk. Okay, fine silk made it sound like we were at some sort of high priced store. The dress was only two hundred dollars, which was not expensive coming from my side of the fence. 

"Shall I try it on, then?" I asked, drawing out the question and waving the dress around suggestively. 

"Yes." Lucy basically shoved me back into the dressing room and shut the door. "Hurry up! Me must see the dress!"

"Okay, okay, calm your ass down," I called back, chuckling and changing into the comfortable dress. I ran my hands down the dress once it was on and turned around and walked out of the changing stall and twirled. "Well? How does it look?"

Quince, who had returned with a couple of items, instantly moved them aside and stood up, tugging at the sleeve gently and grinning. "Wow. I really like this! It looks great on you!"

"Agreed," Lucy said, nodding in approval. "That's the one, Faye. You're getting that one, I hope?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I think this one is the one too."

"Jackson's gonna fall head over heels, don't you worry," Quince said, smiling and looking at the dress with sparkling eyes. "Especially since it's your guys' first date!"

I blushed and bit my lip, looking down at my bare feet and remembering that it truly was our first date. That made me nervous, but giddy and excited all in the same.

All three of us hugged, but then I went back and changed into my clothes and came back out with the dress over my arm. "Let's go pay for this, then," I chirped, skipping past them.

Lucy and Quince walked on either side of me as we went towards the check out, laughing and talking happily. "Faye?" A very familiar, shocked voice gasped from behind me.

I turned and saw .. Oh my God, Manny! A wide grin split my face to the point where I thought it would stick and escaped my two friends to run up to him. His brown hair was shorter, but none the less he looked handsome as usual.

With the dress still in my arms I wrapped my arms around him and jumped onto him, squealing. Manny laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist, returning the hug just as happily. "Oh my God, Manny!" I nearly screamed. "It's so good to see you!"

"Right back at you!" he replied, putting me down and stepping back to look at me. "You look just as beautiful as ever, you know! Wow, I can't believe you're here, I thought you were still in Europe!" 

I felt a wave of guilt hit me when I realized I had forgotten to call Manny and tell him I was back, and I frowned sadly. "I .. um, yeah. I got back a bit ago. I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner, there's just been a hell of a lot on my mind lately."

Manny returned the smile, his being sad as well. "It's okay, I'm not mad. Is everything okay?" he asked me in concern, his hand meeting mine.

I knew it wasn't anything more than a gesture of a concerned friend. Manny was a proud and out gay, who had an extremely amazing boyfriend to look out for him. 

"Yeah, it's just real chaotic right now."

"Hopefully not too chaotic. Can't have my sweet little Faye going insane."

I laughed a little and glanced back to see Lucy and Quince walking up to us. Manny grinned and hugged Lucy, saying sternly, "I'm mad at you, actually. Where have you been? Not answering my calls or texts? Did you start ignoring me?"

Lucy shook her head and pulled away from their hug, looking at him with a shrug of her own. "Things have been outrageous."

"So I see." He regarded us in interest, then turned to Quince. "Who's this?"

Quince rolled her eyes. "I don't know who you are," she tells Manny, "but I'll give you a hug anyways." With that, she walks up to him and gives him a hug.

He laughed, hugging back. "Well, it's very nice to hug you stranger," he said cheerfully, patting her back. "Hugs always welcome. Not kisses, though. I'm a taken man."

Quince snickered and pulled back, smiling. "Oh, darn. You seem like a good catch," she teased. "I'm Quince."

"Manny." he smiled back and they shook hands.

"So the real question is," Lucy drawled, her eyes looking at Manny and a smirk rising on her lips. "Why the hell are you here? This isn't a men's store, you know."

Manny scoffed and stuffed his hands in his pockets, grumbling something then saying to us, "My fourteen year old cousin dragged me into this store. She threatened me," he added with a whine. "She's evil."

All three of us snickered, Lucy saying, "Girls are just awesome that way. We know what we want and how to get it." She winked playfully at us.

"Pretty much," Manny agreed dryly, shaking his head and then tilting his head. "Why are you buying a dress? A date?" He wriggled his eyebrows.

"Yes." A blush formed my cheeks and I shifted on my feet. 

"With Ken?" he then asked slyly, his eyebrows wriggling more.

"No," I said bluntly, scratching my arm as if it had an itch. 

"No?"

"No."

"Care to explain..?"

"It's a long story.. the short version is that Ken and I broke up because of .. personal issues and I met Jackson and we sort of hit it off.."

"When did this happen?"

I shared a glance with the girls and then sighed, swallowing and looking back at Manny. "Well, not to long ago really .. I don't know exactly when .. but it could be considered recently."

He crossed his arms thoughtfully and nodded slowly. "Wow, then. So is this guy nice to you? Is he cute?"

"Yeah," Lucy said playfully, nudging me. "He's very sweet to her."

"Shut up," I muttered.

A girl with blonde hair stomped up to Manny and gripped his arm, tugging him. "Manny why are you standing there? As my cousin it's your job to give me advice on what looks good on me and doesn't! That's why I made you come with me!"

"Ow, little-" Manny grunted and ripped his arm from her grip and rubbing it. "Sylvia, I may be gay but I don't like girl things alright? How many times do I have to tell you that?"

Sylvia glared at him, ignoring Lucy, Quince, and I. She stomped her foot and said, "Do it now! I didn't bring you here just so you could stand around!"

"I said no," he snapped, looking truly annoyed. "Now go look around and for God's sake, find something before I leave you here and go to the food court."

Sylvia frowned deeply and glared at her cousin, then was replaced by a smug expression. "If you don't help me I'll call Aunt Terry and tell on you."

"Are you fricking fourteen or four?" he growled at her, narrowing his eyes. "Because right now you're acting like a baby."

Sylvia pulled out her phone.

"No! Shit, okay fine, I'll help you," Manny relented angrily, glaring at his cousin. "Just don't call my mom." Beaming, Sylvia turned and began to walk off. Manny glanced at us with a dreading expression before saying his goodbyes and going after her.

"What a little bitch," Lucy mused once they were out of earshot. "I like her."

--

I looked at the hairstyle Lucy did up for me and smiled at her. "It's beautiful," I told her, reaching up to touch it.

She smacked my hand away and glared at me through the mirror. "Don't freaking touch it, you hoodlum. I don't want you to ruin it."

I rolled my eyes and stood up from the chair, flattening my dress out. "I wasn't going to ruin it just by touching it once."

"I can't trust that," she said dramatically, waving me off. "Now behave yourself on the date, would you?"

"I'll consider it." I winked and went upstairs where Jackson was waiting for me, handsome as usual.

"You look..amazing," he murmured, taking my waist and pulling me to him.

I giggled as his lips met mine in one of those passionate kisses I was truly starting to love. My arms snaked around his neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. Most unfortunately, he pulled away sooner than I wanted and kissed my head. "Come on, we should get going."

I took his hand in mine and smiled as we began to walk towards the garage. My eyebrow quirked and I said, "So.. where's the date going to be at?"

He opened the door for me and I lifted my dress to step down the stairs and looked at him for his answer, smiling still. "I can't tell you that," he chided, taking my hand after shutting the door behind him. "It's a surprise, after all."

I stuck my lip out in a pout and gave him the best puppy dog eyes I could, batting my eyelashes as well. "Please tell me," I said sweetly, kissing his cheek. 

Jackson chuckled and helped me into one of the cars, then got into the drivers side. "Nope, not gonna work, Butterfly. You're just gonna have to wait and see. For now, enjoy the ride."

I stuck my tongue out at him playfully but did as told. We were driving through the forested areas of the road and away from the city, meaning we weren't going to dinner somewhere fancy. Good.

He drove off the road and onto a dirt path in the forest, making my wonder and curiosity skyrocket like never before. I felt a wide grin pull my lips as he arrived in a clearing, turning the car off but leaving the headlights on.

The headlights caused a splash of light on a picnic set out for the two of us, with fake but just as beautiful candles tied to tree branches above the spot. He dimmed the headlights and we both got out of the car.

"Jackson," I breathed. "This is beautiful. Did you do all of this?"

He turned and gave me a slow, but sweet kiss, then said softly, "For you, I'd carry the weight of the world on my shoulders."

--

Ah yes, the date. I love Jackson and Faye together like oh mah goodness.

I did so much adding to this chapter, and I ended up loving it. WORRRTHH IT.

Until next time!

-Grace xx