Once I get out of the shower the next morning, my phone is lit up from messages on the family chat group. Mostly my mother asking where I was and then my brothers filling her in on Isobel, and then her replies of "Finally, someone who's worthy and beautiful, this could be good!" I quickly brush pass all of her passive aggressive paragraphs of my past... ah, flings. Including one university professor.
Focusing my energy elsewhere instead of our usual fighting, I grab my last outfit of jeans and a casual purple shirt - a flirty but fun statement. I was in the middle of combing my thick hair when banging coming from my door starts. I open it to find Jake. "Family meeting." Without waiting for a pause, he pushed through, followed by Mother dearest and George. George being the immediate next in line to own the Restoration company.
Rolling my eyes, I casually make my way to the bed and kick all of last night's activities under the bed, cursing at the fact I'll now have to clean it later. "And why my room?"
My mother, while not tall, is dangerously intimidating. She has a purple dress, with a light golden belt, and sharp heels that click in time to my eye twitch at every damned meeting. "Since you can't make good decisions yourself, your father decided it would be best for the benefit of Lifeline if you could woo the Quartz family. Think about it. Precious pieces of art, nicely guarded-" she turns to face me. "It would put a guarantee on the Business. Guaranteed safety."
I stop myself from having a sigh. Being around people was always tiring but being around Isobel, especially when she has a personality more bubbly than a McDonald's sprite just wants to make me want a cool cup of water instead. No, don't go there brain. Don't do it. Not in front of the Fam. I cross my arms, "Fine. Makes logical sense." Which, my ego aside, actually does. "Plan?"
"You're going to introduce yourself, show at her place, and place so much devotion on her, they won't want to lose you. Starting with a call. The first step is always to introduce yourself to her family first, and then Isobel. Let them know you, while wanting to learn more about their security." Mom smiles warmly at me while I'm trying not to gag. George looks at me expectedly.
"We know you haven't had a good track record with women," my mom looks away, "but we'll be right there with you. At the end of the night, make sure you want to invite her somewhere. Something that catches her interest."
So love bombing. This isn't going to make me an asshole at all."Simple enough."
"Let THEM know you care for her. Hold her hand, linger hugs, make sure to glance her way every now and then." Mom injects.
God I wished they'd stop. As perfect of a plan it falls to help me with my own plan, I'm really going to have to act this out.
"We'll give you a month."
"Wait a month? She isn't gonna fall in love that quickly! Even if I do all those things, that isn't enough time to build a partnership for those papers!"
"Well next month, they'll want to meet us. So a month of you wooing, another month of us basically doing the same and by the third month, we'll have this in the bag." George points to the floor as he finishes talking.
