Lydia Martin x Jordan Parrish Art & Fics

As much as she knew she’d regret it in the morning, Lydia didn’t plan on going to sleep. She was too busy trying to figure out how to keep Kyle at bay this week. If he decided he couldn’t handle seeing her with Jordan, he could ruin the entire scheme. Would he really do that to her? Lydia had no idea what the answer to that question was. She had to be prepared for anything though, right?

Two hours later, she still had no answers to her questions. All she had were imaginary scenarios of all the ways Kyle could possibly screw her over, whether intentionally or accidentally. She began to hear Jordan shifting in his sleep, and she shook the temporary distraction out of her mind. It didn’t take long before his breathing became more rapid and more audible.

“No…” He mumbled, still unconscious. “Please…”

Lydia sat up and glanced at him, contemplating what to do. She was almost positive she shouldn’t try to wake him.

“No, please!” Even in his unconscious state, he sounded frantic. “Don’t… do… this.”

She couldn’t just sit there and listen to this. Her mind was made. She had to wake him. Whatever he was dreaming of certainly wasn’t sweet. He’d do the same for her if the roles were reversed.

“Here goes nothing.” She quickly climbed out of bed, sighing as she hurried to him.

“Mas-“

“Jordan?” She kept her distance. “Jordan, wake up.”

“You…” Jordan’s face scrunched up as he began to shift again. “You can’t…”

“Jordan!” Lydia began to gently shake him out of his nightmare.

Nothing.

“Come on, wake up!” She shook him more aggressively this time.

He shifted, turning his body to the side facing away from Lydia.

“Parrish!”

At the sound of his last name, his eyes began to flutter. Lydia took notice and shook him again.

In one swift moment Jordan’s eyes shot open and attempting to sit up, he accidentally hit his head against the wood of Lydia’s bedframe.

“Ouch,” he groaned. Then he noticed the feeling of a hand on his arm. He rolled onto his back, facing Lydia for the first time.

Neither of them knew what to say. Lydia wanted to ask him if he was alright. It just seemed like such a stupid question to ask, having witnessed it with her own eyes. He most definitely was not alright, and she knew there was nothing she could say that would possibly make it better.

“Lydia?” He rested his hand on his forehead, where it collided with Lydia’s bed. “Are you okay?”

“Me?” Lydia shook her head. “I was just wondering the same about you.”

“I…” As realization hit him, he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “Sorry, Lydia.”

“Yeah.” She sighed as she pulled her hand from his arm. “Come on.”

“What?” He glanced at the alarm clock above his head. 12:25 am. “Where?”

“Does it really matter? Get dressed.” Lydia started to walk off, but hesitated. “And, Jordan? You don’t have to apologize for having a nightmare.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t know what to respond. He simply shook his head and pressed his lips into a tense forced smile. He didn’t think Lydia would know the difference, but she did. It was an expression she was all too familiar with, having used it so many times herself.

Jordan threw a random t-shirt on from his luggage, slipped on his shoes, and followed Lydia out of the mansion. They hopped into Jordan’s car. It was a much shorter ride than what Jordan was expecting. Less than ten minutes had passed before Lydia stopped driving. As they got out of the car, he looked around, expecting to see at least a building. Instead, they stood in front of a small park.

“Uh, Lydia?” He closed the door, glancing to the opposite side of the car where he thought Lydia would be standing. She wasn’t.

“Right here.” Lydia grabbed his right hand, pulling him forward. “This way.”

For five minutes, she guided him out of the park, making several turns along the way. When they finally stopped walking, Lydia let go of his hand. Jordan took in the change of scenery. He stood before a large lake illustrated with the reflections of the rainbow of lighting coming from the buildings on the opposite side of the water. Blue, purple, white, orange, pink, green.

“This is…” He smiled at the cityscape. Beautiful. Perfect. So unexpectedly simple.

“I know,” Lydia admired the view. “Life as the daughter of the ever so perfect Richard David Martin hasn’t always been all puppies and sunshine.” She paused as Jordan’s eyes drifted to her. “I found this place one night when I just needed to get away from everything. The business parties, the fake smiles, and the fancy meals meant to impress other rich snobs. None of it was ever for me. Sure, it was fun at first, but I grew out of it. Seventeen-year-old me wanted a break from it all, took a long walk, and stumbled across this lake.”

Lydia paced forward, sitting on a large boulder. Jordan followed her lead.

“Jordan, it seemed like you were reliving something. In your dream.” She glanced over at him. “You don’t have to tell me, Jordan. I know you don’t want to talk about it, so I promise I won’t ask you. I like to come out here to clear my mind.”

“I sure could use a place like this.” Jordan gazed out at the colorful water. “A safe place to call my own.”

“Well, I’ll share it with you.” Lydia nodded slowly. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?” He was half intrigued, half cautious.

“If it becomes too much, just let me in. I stand by my word. But if you need someone to just be there, or to watch the lake with, I want you to know you can count on me.

“Okay,” he nodded. “If it becomes too much for me to handle, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Siblings?” Lydia asked, changing the subject.

“You know I’m right, don’t you?”

“Two brothers and one sister.” She continued to ignore his question. Yes, she knew he was right. That wasn’t the part she didn’t like. The thing she hated was that she knew she hurt her best friend, and no matter how unintentional that was there was nothing she could do to fix it. That would always be a roadblock in their friendship. Nothing would apparently ever change the way Kyle felt about her, and she didn’t know how to deal with the knowledge of that.

“Cayden and Sydney are older. Mikey is younger.”

"Fine,” Jordan sighed, realizing he wouldn’t win this. “You have one younger brother. Tyler.”

“Nice start,” she nodded. “Keep going.”

“Uh…” He was so sure that was the only sibling Lydia had. What could he possibly have missed? Jordan stared blankly at the walls, as if they’d whisper the correct answers to him somehow.

When she noticed his confusion, Lydia offered Jordan a soft smile.

“Don’t make it complicated. Just remember two things.” Lydia stood to her feet, and made her way to her suitcases. Her back facing Jordan as she slipped on the jewelry she hadn’t had the chance to put on before his arrival. She slid a silver bracelet onto her wrist.

“Tyler’s marrying Anna, for one. So make sure you don’t fall in love with her charm.” She smiled, imagining that Jordan’s response was to shyly run his hand through his brown hair. Lydia held the necklace her mother bought her for her last birthday.

“And the second?” Jordan, suddenly behind Lydia, took the necklace from her grasp and held it around her neck as he clasped the ends together.

“Simple.” Lydia turned to face Jordan. They were closer than she expected. He held her shocked gaze. “Tyler is Dad’s favorite. But I’m Mom’s.” Jordan took that piece of information in, committing it to memory. He thought for sure she was exaggerating about her father. I mean, he was her dad, after all. Her dad had to love her just as much as he loved her brother, right?

“We should go,” Lydia finally broke eye contact and walked around Jordan to slip her phone into her purse. Jordan grabbed Lydia’s luggage, and they headed outside. While Lydia locked up and got into the passenger’s seat, Jordan strategically fit the luggage into his car. He got in beside Lydia, started the car, and his once interrupted playlist resumed playing through the speakers. Martin Manor was two hours away. It’d be getting dark by the time they arrived. Quite frankly, Lydia didn’t expect for this charade to work, but she had to try.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Darling, it’s nice to finally see you again.” Richard loosely wrapped an arm around his daughter. His face didn’t hold much expression. It was stale, at best. “This must be Jordan. Boyfriend, I presume?”

“Yes, Dad.” Lydia gave her best smile to the man at her side. Their fingers were laced together.

“It’s great to meet you, sir.” Jordan beamed. Lydia was impressed. It almost seemed like he meant the words escaping his mouth. Jordan extended his free hand, waiting for Lydia’s father to shake it. “I’m glad to be here.”

Richard looked Jordan up and down, as if to mentally scrutinize the guy. He ignored Jordan’s hand, and turned his back to them. Lydia and Jordan shared a look which expressed their annoyance with her father’s lack of interest.

“Have you met Tyler?” Richard gestured proudly to a tall male with blond hair who was descending the staircase. It was the first time Richard decided to smile since acknowledging their arrival.

Slowly, Jordan was starting to realize why Lydia didn’t seem to like talking about her father. Richard was so cold and distant toward Lydia, yet Tyler seemed to be the light of his life. It just didn’t make any sense. In the short time he’d spent getting to know Lydia, even he could see how amazing she was. The question burned in his mind. Why couldn’t Richard see it?

“Is that really Lydia?” His deep voice echoed through the room just as Tyler hit the last step and quickly paced toward the small group still standing by the door. “Come here, sis.”

Tyler wrapped Lydia up in his warm embrace. Letting her go, he noticed Jordan standing beside Lydia.

“Hey,” He grinned, relieved that for once he didn’t have to look down at someone he meets. “Tyler Martin, pleasure.”

“Jordan. Jordan Parrish.” He extended his hand once more, sensing that at least this Martin man was more inviting than the previous.

Tyler chuckled, pulling Jordan into a hug as well.

“Oh—I…” Jordan awkwardly pat Tyler on the back, as he wouldn’t be getting out of the embrace on his own time. His only option was to just let it happen.

“Sorry,” Lydia giggled. “I probably should’ve mentioned Tyler’s an extreme hugger.”

“Oh yeah,” Tyler agreed, letting Jordan go. “Expect plenty of those while you’re here.”

“Sure thing,” Jordan nodded. A hint of amusement on his face. “I’ll keep that in mind.” One thing was for sure. He wouldn’t be getting too bored here.

“Anyway,” Richard interrupted. “When you’re all finished here, the ladies are waiting to meet your guest. I’ll be in the study.”

With that, Richard disappeared seemingly into thin air.

“Come on, Jordan.” Tyler clapped his hand against Jordan’s back. “My special girl’s waiting. Mom too.”

Tyler pulled Jordan along. Jordan looked back at Lydia, as if begging her to come along quickly. She nodded, a smile painted on her face. It was the exact opposite of Jordan’s panicked face. Tyler had already seemed to adopt Jordan as his brother without knowing a thing about him. Honestly, it didn’t matter to Tyler so long as Lydia was genuinely happy. And she certainly seemed to be happy. The trio began walking down the hall just as the doorbell rang.

“You know what?” Lydia paused. “You two go ahead. I’ll catch up in a minute.”

Lydia turned back and threw the door open to reveal Kyle standing there with a bouquet of flowers in his hand and such a wide grin playing on his lips.

“K-Kyle?” Lydia’s smile fell. “What are you doing here?”

“As it turns out,” Kyle glanced inside for prying eyes and ears. “I was able to re-prioritize and here I am. Sorry I’m late.”

His arms engulfed Lydia and he kissed her cheek, just as he usually did when greeting her. The shock still hadn’t worn off yet. She barely even noticed when he slipped past her and navigated his way through the house. He still remembered every room since the last time he was there.

“Wait!” Lydia whisper-shouted, forgetting to close the door as she chased after him. “Kyle!”

“Yeah?” Kyle stopped in his tracks as his eyes found Richard’s home office. It seemed bigger than it was a couple years prior. There were so many more bookshelves being used this time around. Richard stood with his back to the glass door as he attempted to hit a golf ball into the small hole in front of his desk.

“You can’t just show up here!” Lydia finally caught up to him. “What were you thinking?”

“You asked for my help, so here I am.”

“Yeah well, you’re a week too late for this.”

“Lydia,” he smirked. “Relax, it’ll be fine.”

“Kyle I really don’t want to be a bitch about this. You need to leave.”

Kyle remained persistent and ignored her pleas.

“Now, Kyle. I’ll call you later.”

He continued walking until he reached a group of familiar faces.

“Sorry I’m late, everybody!”

Four smiling faces turned to the entry. Three of which Kyle recognized, one he didn’t.

“Oh, hi! I don’t believe I’ve had a chance to meet you.” Kyle grinned in Jordan’s direction.

“Kyle, this is Jordan.” Lydia took Jordan’s hand back into hers. “My boyfriend.”

Kyle’s entire face dropped, blatant jealousy written all over it. His mind was racing. He couldn’t believe Lydia had already replaced him. Lydia felt partially guilty that he had to find out this way about Jordan. Then, she remembered she tried to warn Kyle but he was the one who wouldn’t listen. He was the one ignoring every word that escaped Lydia’s lips. And he was the one who would have to leave because Lydia wasn’t going to make Jordan go just because Kyle changed his mind a little too late. No matter what issues this would later cause, Lydia Martin refused to let Kyle have his way. She was done walking on eggshells around him. Maybe he’d get hurt in the process, maybe not. The one thing she knew for certain was that she did the right thing by picking Jordan instead of her overly emotionally invested friend.

Kyle stormed out, not caring about the facial expressions soon to follow his reaction.

“You should go after him,” Jordan whispered into Lydia’s ear.

Lydia didn’t respond. They both knew the answer to that. Tommy and Lydia never planned on having a serious relationship. They were just having fun until they got tired of being together. As of two weeks prior, Lydia was tired of Tommy.

“I’m sorry, Lydia. I tried to change his mind, but he won’t budge.” Natalie glanced down at her hands for a couple of seconds before sitting next to her daughter. 

“Your dad wants you to set the date of your wedding. But seeing as how you don’t have a boyfriend and are therefore nowhere close to being engaged, I think his next idea is going to be an arranged marriage.”

“Mom…” The shock still hadn’t settled. Lydia’s mind was racing. The few times she imagined herself getting married, she never imagined an arranged marriage. If she was going to sacrifice her life as she knew it, she wanted it to be out of love, not duty.

“Oh, sweetie. I know this is hard.” Natalie gently rested her hand atop her daughter’s. “But you’re 25 years old now. It’s time to think about settling down like you promised. You know your father. He doesn’t want to be your financial crutch for the rest of his life.”

“I refuse to marry some guy I don’t know!”

“I know. Find a loophole, sweetheart. Or make a new deal.”

With that, Natalie hugged Lydia and let herself out. Lydia knew her father well enough to know that he wouldn’t agree to a new deal. She had to find a way out of her predicament. There was no way she would pass up her trust fund. Her only option was to trick her father into thinking she was in a serious relationship. Surely they didn’t actually have to go through with the wedding. It would be easy to get out of it. Lydia finally breathed. It was a solid plan, but she still needed someone to agree to play along with her. Luckily, she knew just the guy she should ask.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Kyle! Sorry I’m late.” Lydia’s hair swayed as she took her seat in the booth he’d reserved for them at their favorite pizzeria. She was only five minutes late, but Lydia was always the type of person who valued punctuality. She sipped her strawberry soda already on the table.

“It’s alright.” Kyle grinned. “What’s up? Your message sounded urgent.”

“It is!” Lydia paused, considering the typical definition of ‘urgent’ and realized this might not qualify. “Kind of. It’s my dad.”

“Ah, now I see.” Kyle buried his head in his hands. Lydia’s relationship with her father was rather strained. They had never quite seen eye to eye. “What did he do now?”

“I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend!” She forced the words out before she could even think about alternative methods to asking this favor.

“What?” He crossed his arms tightly. His smile was fading. “Why?”

“My inheritance. Long story.”

“Lydia…” Kyle didn’t know what to say, but he knew he couldn’t help her. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Kyle?”

“You know how I feel about you!” Kyle whisper-shouted, careful not to be too loud in the middle of the restaurant. He cleared his throat, quickly glancing around at the tables surrounding theirs. “I can’t do it. I’ve finally accepted that we’re never going to be anything more than friends. But now you want me to pretend that’s not the case? I won’t.”

Without another word, Kyle got up and left. Lydia didn’t try to stop him, though she wanted to. She would have apologized, promised not to ask another favor like this one again. The reality of it, however, was that she knew it wouldn’t do any good. He wouldn’t believe Lydia meant it. She never realized his feelings for her could run so deep. The one thing she regretted was letting it get so far out of control. She felt horrible, especially having forgotten about his crush on her in the first place.

“Excuse me?” An unfamiliar voice called from next to her. Lydia looked up at him. He wore a blue t-shirt, black jeans, and a black leather jacket. His green eyes fixed onto Lydia’s. “May I?” His hand gestured to the seat Kyle had just been sitting in.

“Uh, sure.” Lydia nodded, uncertain of what to expect. “Go for it.”

“Thanks.” The man smiled as he sat right across from Lydia. “I’m Jordan. Jordan Parrish.”

“Lydia.” She paused. She was suspicious of him, but he seemed harmless enough. What could possibly go wrong? “Martin.”

“Listen, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your conversation.”

He stopped talking as Lydia’s usual server placed a large pizza on their table. Half cheese, half pepperoni. Lydia never had to place her order anymore. She and Kyle always got the same thing whenever they visited Donatello’s.

“Thanks Maria,” Lydia beamed.

“Yeah,” Maria nodded, looking between Lydia and Jordan with an eyebrow raised. She was positive she saw a spark between the two. “Enjoy.”

She winked before slipping away. Jordan didn’t seem to notice, but Lydia did.

“Please, continue.” Lydia prompted, attempting not to laugh at Maria’s assumption.

“Okay um…” Jordan hesitated. Suddenly it felt like a terrible idea. He was regretting ever having decided to go through with approaching Lydia. “I think um… I think I can help you out. Pretend to be your boyfriend. Whatever you wanted your friend to do, I’m your guy.”

“What do you want, Jordan?” Lydia narrowed her eyes. “A cut of the money, perhaps?”

“What? No.” He absentmindedly began brushing his hand along the length of his arm.

“You don’t know me. I don’t know you either, but I’m pretty sure you’re not doing this solely out of the goodness of your heart.” Lydia examined his perfect face, crossing her arms. “What’s in it for you?”

“Honestly?” Jordan waited for Lydia’s nod. “I just got out of a relationship that ended badly. It’s been a few weeks and I could use a change of pace. If helping you out of a jam can also help me out of mine, why not give it a shot?”

“So we help each other? A mutually beneficial arrangement.” Lydia bit her lip. This seemed like one of those things they would warn you about in the movies, but Lydia had never turned her back on a crazy adventure. She wasn’t about to start now. “Okay. If we’re going to do this, we’ll need to have our stories straight.”

Lydia pulled a cheese slice from the pie and waited for Jordan to do the same. He chose pepperoni. They ate in silence. For the first time all night, Lydia finally felt like her scheme was under control. All she needed was a fake boyfriend, right? Nothing could possibly go wrong.

“Tomorrow.” Lydia expected him to know what she was referring to. He didn’t. “Tomorrow I prep you.”

She could only hope that nothing would go wrong, because next week would have to be the best performance of their lives if Lydia would have any chance at keeping her inheritance.

“Oh, and Jordan?” She hesitated. “Promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Just…” She bit down on her bottom lip. Lydia knew it would sound kind of silly, but she needed his assurance that this scheme wouldn’t get out of control. “Swear to me right now that you won’t fall in love with me.”

He was confused, but nodded in agreement anyway.

“Promise me.”