Convincing her

"I hope you're hungry," Lucas said as he looked at Jen who was looking out her window. Jen turned her head to look at him drive but did not say anything.

"What are you thinking about?" Lucas asked curiously when he saw that she was maintaining her silence. 

"The party last night" Jen answered honestly. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucas asked. He did see that there was a point during the night where she was a bit off, and he was a bit too preoccupied after the party to ask her about it.

Now that she had reminded him, he thought that they should talk about what happened. It would be easy to ignore it but Lucas had pretty much made up his mind on being with Jen in the future so she was going to be attending similar events and he wouldn't be able to watch her get uncomfortable as she was at the party last night.

"I remember when the company had gone bankrupt and I attended an event similar to yesterday's. I actually got an invite to the event so I didn't think too much about it." Jen started saying as she looked at the road in front of them.

"Before then, whenever I arrived at any event I would be swarmed by people from the moment I passed through the entrance. I hadn't been able to pinpoint what was wrong when I arrived but after a few minutes I realised that I was being ignored and even when I tried greeting some familiar people that I would see often in the circles I was completely snubbed." Jen said with a smile. Lucas did not interrupt her and just silently listened to her.

"I had gone by myself since I had my own invitation even though at the time Tyler had insisted that we go together. When he arrived and walked around with me that was when people glanced in my direction, and even when I was greeted it was because I was standing next to Tyler. If you noticed he doesn't have the friendliest face" Jen said with a small laugh.

"People greeted me because they were afraid that if they didn't they would offend him. But it all looked so fake and it got even worse once my father was arrested. Thinking about it now, I don't know why I continued going to those events. I was trying to cling on to high society even though I had been kicked out and the only reason I still got invited to those events was because Tyler was my boyfriend" Jen said.

"I eventually stopped going, I had to accept reality. It was a cruel awakening for me but I had to wake up as life was just too different from how it used to be. So being at the party last night took me back then when people would surround me and do their best to fawn on me when my family was still relevant. I even saw familiar faces in the crowd but they did not seem to recognise me. Do I look that different?" Jen asked Lucas.

"You get prettier every day. It's understandable" Lucas answered smoothly stunning Jen before she laughed. The mood had been a bit heavy but his one sentence completely lightened the atmosphere.

"There are very few people that are genuine in our circle. If someone can't garner any benefits from being friends with you they won't even bother. It was the reason why his brothers did not use the Lewis name to get benefits. At least James had kept his last name, unlike Jason who had completely changed his. If he didn't he would have shot to fame immediately but it would have been too inconvenient everyone would have felt pressured except for James." Lucas said and took the exit that led to his parent's house. 

"You don't have to worry about those people anymore. You have me now" Lucas said and turned to look at her with a smile his dimples showing making Jen's heart get even warmer.

Lucas stopped the car in front of the entrance and went to open Jen's door. She had gotten used to such treatment to the point that she was now expecting him to do it. After she gathered her things and made to get out of the car she realised that Lucas was blocking her exit.

"What is it?" Jen asked in a low voice. She was hoping he wouldn't ask for a kiss in front of all the staff. She did not think she would be able to live that down at all.

"What are you thinking?" Lucas asked as he had noticed that her expression had become strange.

"What do you want to do?" Jen asked as she looked at him sceptically.

"I just want to give you a hug. I thought you needed one" Lucas said referring to how she had just opened up to him. Jen bit her lip guiltily and got out of the car and into his arms.

Lucas pulled her into his chest and enveloped her with his arms. Jen felt warm, both physically and her heart as well. The two were getting comfortable but the people who saw them were not very comfortable.

"Tsk tsk, haven't you had enough of her already? It's my turn now" Hellen said from behind Lucas startling Jen into pushing him away.

She laughed when she saw the wronged expression on her son's face but went forward to give Jen a motherly hug. Jen hugged Hellen tightly and even though Hellen was shorter than she was she could still feel her warmth.

"I've wanted to see you all this time, let's go inside," Hellen said forgetting about Lucas.

"Mom, am I still your son?" Lucas asked and hugged his mother from behind since she had turned her back on him in every sense of the word.

"Stop being silly" Hellen said with a laugh as she patted his arm. She was forced to slow down as Lucas was really big and anyone who saw the scene they would think that he was bullying his mother.

Jen looked at the two and missed how it used to be with her own mother. She smiled and walked with them since Hellen had been holding on to her hand.

"Your brother came before you two. Why is he so difficult to talk to?" Hellen complained. It wouldn't take a genius to know that she was talking about James.

"You know his personality is like father's," Lucas said while chuckling.

"I think he might be worse" Hellen insisted while rolling her eyes. She was still complaining about James even after they got to the living room where James was seated. When James saw Lucas he smiled for the first time since he arrived making Hellen shake her head in disappointment and goosebumps break out on Lucas' skin.

Jen knew that James adored his youngest brother but even she thought that this was a bit too much. Did he have to make it so obvious that Lucas was his favourite family member? Jen thought to herself and smiled when she saw that Lucas looked like he wanted to go back outside.