I Hate You!

A/N: I wish to make a statement about the last chapter in which I left something in the prologue which did not apply to this version of the story. The final paragraphs about how Eve meets Julian for the first time. I'm sorry that it made the posting, but it was not intended.

I wish to personally thank J.F. for allowing me to base most of Julian on him. Without him this story would have stayed in the shoe box. I dedicate this to him.

Chapter Two: A Family Like That.

I'm staring at the ceiling, it is two a.m. and there's a certain girl in my thoughts that is awakening a member of my body. Need I add more? Probably not, unless I would want to make myself even hotter by vividly tasting the fantasy that was brewing inside this head of mine. It had been one whole week since I had helped Eve and her mother become the owners of my old dining room set. I smiled a little to myself, allowing my thoughts to leave the gutter and wander on how bizzare her family was. I grew up in a very strict household with more rules than a military academy. We had my father; the general and we had my mother; the queen. Father had his set of rules that mostly dealt with chivalry, manliness, world views, politics, and of course his theory of the power of telecommunication. Mother was more focused on manners, tactics of hypocrisy (which was not the name she used for it. Go figure.), how to charm the crowd, and many other little talents that would make me the most attractice bachelor in all of Canada. Every sentence should end with sir or madam and everytime you left a room you were to excuse yourself. I was taught how to fend for myself because servants in my household did not mean I was excused for not learning how to boil an egg. And, servants in my household were referred to as helpers or assistants and were treated with equal respect. Father believed that in order to be respected you had to respect. Sure, my family did get a little carried away when it came to what kind of people I should be friends with, but for the most part they were really humane.

Mother was the most strict one of all. Ironic since she did not originate from money, like my father did. She said I had to keep my circle of friends within our society and that anyone below my financial status was only worth of charity. That meant that I participated in a lot of charity events since that is what the rich are supposed to do; help the poor from our thrown but give the aid with our gloves on. I never was too fond of that way of thinking. I liked to go out there and get to know these people I was helping, so most of my charity was truly done in the shadows, under an alias and out of my mother's eyes. I once went on a tour to India where I volunteered as a food distributor for the population in the most remote locations of the country. It was just an old truck, a thousands mosquitos, and myself. I was down there for one month, my parents believing I was somewhere else on vacation. Since I did my college work via the internet because of my love for travel, they did not question me further. I think in the end, father might have figured out the truth but he thought much like me and did not fuss over it. He was also not ashamed of getting down and dirty with the less fortunate. When I entered college in Canada (because for the first year, I did go on campus) I met a girl whom I fell in love with. Her name was Veronica and at that time just the mention of her made me get goosebumps all over. Now at the mention of her my skin crawls and I get angry with the world again. She lied to me on various levels and to make that long story short; she only wanted me for the money.

Still I loved her until one night she went too far. The woman caused me to have an automobile accident that was almost fatal had it not been for a miracle of God. When she turned dangerous my father offered her the one thing she wanted in exchange for my peace; money. I think he did a little more than that because I never saw her again. Perhaps he made sure she wouldn't come back for more checks once she spent the first one on shoes. I lost my faith in love. Can you blame me? It seems like every person who befriended me had an ulterior motive and it always led back to the money in my bank account. That's when I decided I did not want to live in Canada anymore. That's when I started touring the world, completing my education on-line. I've been to many countries, but by far my favorite was Japan. I had lived there as a child when my father got stationed there for some years and when I went back on my twentieth birthday the country still captivated me. Then I decided to settle somewhere quiet and by my research Carson City was as quiet as they came. I moved in the month of August so I have been living here for almost four months. The longest I have stayed anywhere in the past couple of years. By the time I was done with the recap of my life, the clock read four a.m. and I thought it was time to try and get some sleep.

I only managed this for three hours when the shrill ringing of my house phone awoke me from my pleasant slumber. Cursing I extended out my arm and took hold of the offending instrument and grunted a not so nice hello into the speaker. The high pitch voice of my mother rang me fully awake.

"Julian Ferdinand."

"Yes, mother?" I yawned.

"Do you know that it had been three whole months since you wrote, called, e-mailed or showed ANY sign of life?" she accused with the most pained voice ever.

I cringed, "Mother, I assure you that I-"

"Julian Ferdinand!"

Now I knew she was really upset. She spoke my name twice and that was never a good sign. I sighed tiredly and closed my eyes again.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Yes, mother. I am terribly sorry for not being in communication with you."

"I am not convinced and most certainly not pleased." she paused, "How are you and that girl you were dating?"

I cringed again. My parents were afraid that the incident with Veronica had scarred me in some sort of irreversable way and they were always meddling in my love life. In order to save myself the lecture of the importance of a committed relationship that could lead to marriage, I had lied and wrote her I had found myself a nice girl to be with. That was some weeks after moving to Carson and I had totally forgotten about my lie. Sure I had dated several women, but none of them meant anything serious to me at all.

"She is alright." I obviously held up the lie.

I could almost see her arch her brow, "Then you won't have an inconvenience of bringing her home for the holidays."

I gasped into my pillow, "No way."

"Why not?" she asked, "If you have been with this girl for almost four months she must be someone important."

This wasn't happening to me. And since when did I agree to be home for the holidays? "Mother, when exactly did we discuss this vacation of mine?"

"We didn't." she stated coolly, "I decided this for you."

Before I could spit words in protest she added with a serious tone, "Besides, your father has been feeling somewhat ill lately and I think it's only fair that his only son comes to see him after almost two years of absence."

"It's going on one year mother, not two."

She scoffed, "One, two. Not much of a difference. I want to meet this girl, Julian. And I want to meet her soon. Is that understood?"

There is no human being alive that could win an argument against my mother, so I yielded, "Very well."

"Good. I knew you would see it my way." she said with a smile in her voice.

"When am I due in Canada?"

"December 12th. It is all arranged, the tickets should be arriving soon. For two of course."

"I will call you when I get them and make sure everything is in order, mother."

"That is my boy." she said proudly, "I will speak with you then. Good-bye, darling."

"Bye mother."

Now I was in deep trouble. My lie had gotten out of hand and they were expecting me to bring home this 'important person' which did not exist in my life. And frankly, I highly doubted she ever would. So I was a pessimist, can you blame me? It was hard to manage sleep now that I had this problem to deal with. I got out of bed, took a shower, and dressed in nothing special before heading outside. I wanted to walk and it was still pretty early in the morning. I liked walking around the tennis court area and around those buildings there because I had made some friends in that area. They had come to my party and they were really cool people. Upon passing the tennis court my curious eyes strayed to Eve's window and what I saw puzzled me but I decided to walk on as if I had seen nothing. The girl was talking to herself. Literally going at it in front of the window. I tried to believe that she was using her earpiece, but the manner indicated otherwise. I cross the court to make it to the other side and I could still see her figure by the window, her arms waving about her wildly. I smirked, she was probably still talking to herself, although from this distance it was impossible to see. Oh, did I mention I had gotten a part-time job at the college she attented as a Yoga instructor? When I learned that they were hiring I applied to distract myself and meet some women. So I would see Eve when the classes took place since she was one of the first sign-ups (but it had been our first week). I would tease her in class since she was helpless and I admitted it was a lame strategy to get her to like me. However, once in front of her the jerk within me would take over.

She was no angel either. She acted like a total bitch towards me. For every tease she'd have a comeback which meant that it had turned into a battle of pride. Sometimes she'd win, much to my regret and sometimes I'd win. I could feel the daggers she wanted to stab me with when I won and closed the argument with a smirk. That made her fume. It was a nice showdown and I had to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed going at it with her. She was very smart, something not a lot of good looking women had in their favor. I glanced once more at the crazy girl and an idea came into mind, but first I would need to test my theory. If my theory was correct then I would soon be able to not have to worry about what I had to bring home for the holidays.

The day progressed quickly and it was already two in the afternoon, the time I began to instruct the second group of women in Yoga. Eve walked in with her leotard and I had to admit, I was almost drooling; again. The girl had a nice body and seeing her flex to all those Yoga positions with such grace did things to me. Things that I wanted so much to play out on her. There were some girl's still missing so I took this chance to walk over to her. She didn't even look at me, a sign that the last time I had one our little challenge.

"Still mad at me princess?" That had become my pet name for her, which I knew she hated.

She growled softly, "I hate you. So damned much."

"And soon you'll be saying that you love me."

She chuckled, "You got an odd way to win a girl over." she slapped her hand against my chest, pushing me back, "Don't talk so close to me."

"Why?" I smirked, getting closer, "Do I make you nervous?"

She laughed, "You make me sick. That's why."

"Liar." I teased, "I can see the way you look at me when I'm helping other girl's with their position. You get so," I leaned closer, "jealous."

Now she was fumed, again, "I'm making sure a pervert like you isn't molesting the women."

"I think they like my hands on them."

"I think they are all fat cows." she pouted like a five year old in a fit.

"You're jealous, admit it."

"Jealous of your hands on cow's ass?" she grinned, "Not likely."

I pulled her towards my body by snaking my arms around her tiny waist, "You are so unflexible." I commented, trying to force her into a Yoga position, "That's not good."

By this time the whole class was there and staring, "Flexibility is important, ladies." I said loud enough for them all to hear, "A rusty woman will never make a lasting, enjoyable marriage."

I let her go and went to the front of the class, setting up my mat. Eve glared at me and I knew that this time I might have taken it too far. Many girls were giggling and whispering comments amongst themselves and Eve all the while tried to keep a dignified face. But I was far from done in messing with her. That afternoon, I used her to show new techniques which made my comment about her inflexibility all the more convincing. It wasn't that she could not flex, but these were hard exercises that took time to master, but none of them knew and in the end she was the foolish looking one.
When I was making my way to my car in the busy parking lot of the college, I saw Eve standing besides it, typing something on her cell phone. I made my way over, unlocking my car by remote.

"What are you doing here?"

"You're taking me home."

"Why should I?" I arched my brow.

"Because I said so." she said, placing her hand on her hips.

"I don't have to follow your orders." I said, opening my door, "Besides, you'll ruin my reputation if I let you ride with me?"

"The facade that you're single?"

I smirked, "The history of my dating only pretty girls."

She laughed, "I'll be ruining my reputation too."

"By?"

"Riding with a cheap immitation of what a REAL MAN should be..." she said, "You look gay with that pale hair."

I glared at her, "Get the fuck in."

She smiled, "Thank you."

Once we were both inside I locked the doors, "You'll regret having said that."

Before she could speak I pulled out of the drive and headed out onto the street with amazing speed. I turned my head towards her as I sped past the stop sign, "Buckle up babe. We're going to take a little detour."

"Not fucking cool, Julian." she hissed, "Stop the car."

"Hell no." I laughed, "You wanted fire, you'll see fire."

I sped down West College Parkway to take the back road with almost no traffic or cops checking for speeding morons like myself. We'd soon bump into highway 50 and I'd take this stubborn mule to Lake Tahoe where I would make her eat her words. I turned on my satellite radio and tuned in to my favorite Rock channel.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" she asked after a while.

"Heaven." I teased.

She sighed, "You can get in trouble for this."

"Are you a minor?"

She shook her head. "Are you forced to be here?"

She glared at me, "Yes. I am."

I smirked, "And who will believe that when they see my hot looks?"

"God, you don't know the meaning of the word: humble, do you?"

"I wish you could get to know the real me."

"And who is that?" she asked sarcastically, "Some stuck up brat?"

I turned the radio down, "I'm a jerk, I admit it... but it's not who I truly am."

She sighed again, "I don't care."

"Why?" I asked, sincerely baffled, "Why do you dislike me so much?"

Eve looked at me and I could read hurt in her honey brown eyes, "Because I lost the faith in the existence of good men."

I couldn't blame her. I lost the faith in the existence of good women years ago. But her pain seemed fresh, while mine was just a scar. A scar that reminded me of that woman who betrayed me in every sense of the word. I wasn't sure what to say or do with her confession when I had no words of encouragement to offer her. None at all. I was in the same situation. We passed the sign welcoming us to Lake Tahoe.

"Call your mom." I suggested, "You're not coming home tonight."

To be continued.

No edits made since: Jan. 31st, 2006.