STEVE

Sometimes some events change the perspective you have of where you are in life, or what you want from it. One decision. One moment. That's all that is needed.

For Alec it had always been his decision to leave his family, friends and gather the courage to go to Thailand to start Wanderlust from scratch.

But now...

The realisation that maybe he had feelings for Jade, the same Jade who he had grown up with and who was his best friend, completely unnerved him. Feelings that were more than just friendship.

He had never thought of falling for Jade. Never had it occurred to him that maybe the love he had for her was not strictly the innocent feelings one had for their best friends.

Jason's mom had to be wrong.

He had brought Emma to meet his family. He was dating her.

Emma, who wanted to get married, thought Alec.

He was not ready to take the plunge, even though marriage had never scared him. He had seen his mom and dad have a lovely married life, for whatever few years they had together before the accident. And now Steve and Julia seemed to be happily married themselves.

But the thought that he would have to make a decision about whether or not he should propose to Emma, so early in his life, had never occurred to him.

It was not like he was in love with Jade. Love had never been something Alec believed was possible for him. Yes, people fell in love and found the Mr or Miss 'Right' of their life. But he had always thought that he would never be that kind of person.

Alec had a firm belief that when the right time came he would find a girl he really cared for. And maybe he would make the big commitment and get married.

But that commitment was a big decision and he didn't want to take it

"My life's a mess!" He sighed and let his head drop into his open palms.

He was sitting on the front porch of his house while all the others were inside chatting over glasses of wine.

He could hear the voices even from the place where he was sitting.

For some reason he had the sudden urge to go talk to Jade and tell her everything.

But what would he say to her? That he was thinking about her when he should have been thinking about the biggest decision he would ever have to make in his life.

And what if she had been lying about that doctor and they still were dating. Alec didn't want to end up making a fool of himself, when Jade just thought of him as a friend.

And then of course there was the matter of Emma. She didn't want him to meet Jade. She was already thoroughly pissed off at him and Alec didn't want to make it worse.

He didn't know what to do.

.......................

Steve excused himself from the living room and went in search of his brother- in- law.

Alec had been missing ever since he had walked into the house with Julia after coming back from Jason's house.

And though he loved his wife and mother- in- law, being the only guy in the room with three women was a role he didn't really like to play.

Especially since one of the said women was the uptight Emma.

He still wondered how the free natured and fun loving Alec had fallen for a girl like her.

He didn't have anything against her but she couldn't be anything like , a girl who would be good for Alec.

He walked onto the porch and saw Alec sitting on it with his head in his hand.

"What are you doing here?" He asked walking up to where Alec was sitting.

Alec picked up his head at the sound of Steve's words.

He found his brother- in- law standing right next to him with his usual cocky smile.

"Nothing." He shrugged and turned back.

He heard Steve take a seat next to him on the edge of the porch.

"Are you thinking of the fight from this morning?" Steve asked with a concerned look.

What harm would it cause if he told Steve everything?, Alec wondered.

He needed to tell someone about everything in his life. Before he went completely crazy from all the stress.

"You want to know what's wrong? So listen... Emma catches me in a suspicious pose with Jade and picks up a fight with me. I cover everything up the best as I can so that she's happy, but the truth is that in that moment the only thing I wanted to do was kiss her. I mean Jade. And then she says that she wants to get married. Now I mean Emma. Emma wants me to propose to her. And I don't have a clue what to do! So I come up with the plan that maybe talking to Jason will make my decision easier. But guess what? He made it worse. Now I don't know what to do!" Alec exhaled loudly once he finished speaking and then looked at Steve with an expectant expression.

"Okay..... That's a lot of problems. What do you want me to say to that?" Steve said atlast.

There was a glint of amusement in his blue eyes as he looked at Alec.

"Give me a solution! Why do you thing I told you all this?" Alec exclaimed.

Steve somehow managed to control the hysteric laughter that was bubbling within him.

How had Alec managed to get himself in such a fix?, he wondered.

He made his face into a grim mask and said, "I have no right to make a decision for you. But I think that you should talk to Jade."

"Oh really? Like that didn't strike me!" Alec said sarcastically, "And what about Emma?"

"Let me first get over the shock. She really told you that she wants to get married?"

"No she told me that she wants me to propose."

On hearing this, Steve could no longer hold his laughter and he burst out.

Alec patiently waited for Steve to compose himself and then glared at him.

Steve sobered up as soon as he saw the disgusted look Alec was giving him, "Look that's your decision to make. And I'm nobody to say anything in it. But first talk to Jade."

Alec exhaled loudly, "But that's the problem. Emma will blow her top if she knows I've gone to meet Jade."

"I've got an idea! I'll tell Julia to convince Emma to go shopping tomorrow. So while they are gone you can go speak to Jade."

"You would do that?" Alec asked, surprised and weirdly touched.

"Of course. Though it will be harder for Julia."

"Thanks!"

"You don't need to thank me Alec." Steve smiled.

He got up to go back into the house when Alec suddenly called out to him.

"Steve?"

"Yeah?" He turned back and looked at Alec again. The troubled look in his face made Steve feel bad himself.

"How did you decide that it was the right time to propose to Julia?"

"You're her brother I can't possibly tell you that without receiving a bad trashing in return."

Alec smirked at that, "I won't do anything. I promise. Tell me."

"Okay." Steve shoved his hands into his pockets, looked his brother- in- law straight in his eyes and said simply, "I tossed a coin."

For a second the words didn't register in Alec's head. He kept looking at Steve waiting for him to start laughing. But Steve just kept looking straight back at him with a smirk on his face.

"You're kidding, right?" He asked at last.

"No. Those were the days when I was working in London. And Julia was still in Chicago. We were trying out the long distance thing."

"So you tossed a coin? It's my sister you're talking about not a stupid game of cricket." Alec said enraged, and forgetting his promise.

At that moment he really felt like fisting his hand and teaching Steve a lesson.

Steve smirked, "Cricket... I never really understood that game." When Alec glared at him, he continued, "Okay... Look.... I was drunk."

"That's no excuse."

"Of course it's not. I didn't even mean it as an excuse. Let me tell the whole story."

He waited for Alec to give his consent. Once Alec nodded his head reluctantly he started speaking.

"I was drunk and confused much like you are now. I decided to toss the coin. Just so I got an easy answer. If it was heads I would propose to Julia the next day and if tails, I would wait for a few months. I had the ring and everything. It was heads and I took a flight the next day to Chicago and proposed to her."

Alec looked up once Steve was done with his story, "Does Julia know about this?"

"Yes. I told her as soon as she said yes."

"And what was her reaction?"

Steve chuckled remembering the events if that day, "That's her story to tell."

"Okay."

Convinced that there was no chance that Alec's protective brother side would wake up at night and come to strangle him. Or do a Jade, as they had started referring to the punch on his nose.

"You coming?" Steve asked from the door.

"Yeah... Give me a second." Then Alec thought for a second, "Actually, do you have a coin?"

Steve laughed at that, "Alec there's one difference between your situation and mine. I was sure that I wanted to marry Julia. I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. But you.... Decide whether it's going to be Emma or Jade... Or anyone else."

"Can I toss between Emma and Jade?" Alec asked only half- joking.

"Now you're making me want to punch you."

"Just kidding! Just kidding!" Said Alec holding up his hands in mock surrender.

Steve smiled, the poor guy was thoroughly confused and he didn't know what to do about it.

"I'll be inside. Come in when you're ready." Steve opened the door and was half inside when he turned around and said, "One more thing Alec, if it's not Emma then tell her. She deserves to know."

Saying this Steve walked into the house and went back to the living room where the three ladies were still talking.

"I should know myself before I tell anyone!" Alec whispered and dropped his head again in his palms, just like he had been sitting before Steve came out.

Tomorrow he would talk to Jade and hopefully he would get some clue as to whether Jade had any- any at all- feelings for him.

Let everything go smoothly!

....................

Happy Reading!!!!XX