Merry Mix-Up (Holiday Hearts)

13. Jade

13

JADE

D ecember 14th

I limped into Naomi's house with the large garment bag containing her dress, and she was squealing so loudly I wanted to cover my ears. I should have known she would. I should have worn ear plugs, but I hoped she'd heard about my mishap on the hill and might ask about my ankle. But true to his word, Newt hadn’t said a thing, and there was no way I could tell Amber about it, though I did tell her I had a slip and fall. How would I explain being on a sledding hill with Newt that early in the morning?

"Oh, my God, Mav! Open it! Open it!" Naomi was too excited and I was so over this twin swap.

"Hold on a sec," I told her, struggling to hang it on the open door to her bedroom. I was tired, and more than just my ankle hurt. My body was stiff from so much physical exercise. I'd spent a few hours at Mom and Dad's and then I had Dad take me home and did nothing but work on the dress until well past midnight. I told Newt I was still with Mom and Dad and reneged on the promised dinner and movie. I had to finish the dress, but he wanted to help me study.

If he knew I was sewing and not putting my nose in the books, it would blow Amber's cover and Naomi would be heartbroken. Not to mention Newt and how he'd react to knowing I'd been faking being someone I wasn't. But my hard work and sneaking around had paid off. I had an almost-finished product Naomi would love and I could be proud of.

I unzipped the gown bag to reveal my creation and slowly slid it away until all that was left were the satin and ribbons. The strapless gown looked like it came straight off the set of the most Christmassy movie ever filmed, red and white and silver, with a sweetheart neckline and a drop waist. If I were going to marry someone at Christmas, this would be the dress I would want.

Naomi seemed to agree. She gasped and covered her mouth, then started tearing up. "Oh, God, Mav. It's perfect. I love it! Where is Jade? She needs to be here to make sure it fits right."

I already knew she'd say that, and Amber and I had a plan for this if something went stupid again the way it had on dress-shopping day. I changed her contact info to mine and she knew I might call her to pretend to be me.

"She told me it is your measurements exactly, but I know how to pin things for her." It felt bad lying through my teeth, but I was able to assuage my guilt by seeing how much Naomi loved the dress.

She held out the fabric of the skirt and admired it, then took it off the hanger and turned around. "Well, get her on the phone and tell her to get over here. I'll go put it on." I opened my mouth to protest, but she marched off and I sulked. Dealing with drama queens wasn't my thing, but I had no choice now. Clearly, this was why Amber wasn't my best friend and why I hadn't chosen Naomi as a close friend, either. They were perfect for each other.

While Naomi was out of the room, I called my twin and waited for her to pick up the phone. I had to keep reminding myself what day it was and that I only had six days left until Amber was supposed to be back in town. We updated each other on what was happening, but it didn't lessen the stress. Now I had to keep up with wedding party gossip and how Naomi was upset that she'd chosen Jill to be in the wedding. All the details were tedious and I found myself forgetting some at times, which only annoyed Amber more.

"How’s it going?" Amber asked when she picked up.

"Horrible. She wants you here, or me here, however you look at it." I had a scowl on my face and I wished Amber could see it.

"Does it fit, though? You did a good job, right?"

Oh, my God, Amber was the perfect person for the job of maid of honor. She was just as obnoxious as Naomi, and I knew she'd have made sure every detail of everything was worked out perfectly for her best friend.

"It's fine. Okay? I'm just making this look good so she knows you're—or I'm—not coming." Keeping things straight was getting frustrating.

"Okay, well make her happy. Oh, and I heard you hurt your ankle." Amber's words made my blood cool, but it was the tone with which she said it that alarmed me. I tensed and wondered how she'd heard anything, or from whom. It wasn't me, and it definitely wasn’t Newt, so that only left my parents.

"Yeah, I told you. Slip and fall…"

"Uh, down the hill at the lodge with Newt?" she grumbled. "I told you he was off limits, Jade. What if someone had seen you two out?"

"No one saw us," I hissed and glanced at the closed bedroom door. Naomi was still putting the dress on and I was glad. "It was eight o'clock in the morning and there wasn’t even anyone there." I felt guilty even defending myself. I was toying with her reputation and it wasn’t even on purpose. I really liked Newt a lot, and I wished he knew I was me. But I was pretending and I knew any second, this whole thing could backfire for everyone involved. "Why can't you just come and?—"

"Is that Jade?" Naomi squeaked. "Jade, get your ass over here!"

I felt the blood drain from my cheeks. My bickering match with Amber was over for now, but she had only just started. I knew the call later tonight would only be more of her telling me what a horrible position I was putting her in.

"Just tell her I'm too busy screwing your life over to show up." The snarky comment upset me, but I had it coming.

"Fine," I grunted, and I ended the call and locked my phone to deal with Naomi. She looked beautiful in the dress even without hair and makeup. I knew I'd outdone myself on the tailored fit, too. She would only need a few alterations, if any at all.

"Is she coming?" Naomi asked, and I could already hear the annoying tone she got when she was going to say something negative about me, thinking I was Amber. It was disappointing, to say the least.

"Uh, no. She's too busy screwing up my life right now…" The words stung as I said them because I knew it was something Amber would really say about me, and it was true, too. I was screwing with her life. Openly dating Newt had always been off the cards, so I had been stupid for risking being seen with him in public like that yesterday.

"My God, she has to be the biggest pain all the time. Doesn't she understand how important this day is to me?" Naomi's whiny tone took over now, and it was easier to deal with than the rude, snarky tone but still annoying. "I only get one dream wedding."

I took her by the shoulders and forcibly pushed her into the bedroom to stand in front of her full-length mirror where I could focus her on her beautiful dress instead of the momentary discouragement of "Jade" not showing up. I did realize how important this day was to her, and while I should have just taken my lumps for wrecking Mom's car and gotten it over with, at this point, we were in too deep.

Naomi might have been annoying, but Amber was my sister. I had to keep up the ruse and make sure her friendship didn't suffer. Besides, I was too nice and my heart was too kind to sabotage the twin swap just because my sister was a tool at times.

"Who needs her? Look how gorgeous you are." And with that the squealing commenced again, and I just had to play pretend a bit longer. Then I could go home and hide and try to think up a way to avoid Newt for the next few days so I didn't piss Amber off any more.

He was just so damn tempting…