MEANWHILE, IN BRYAN'S HOUSE
Bryan's phone rang. He looked at the caller ID—it was his father. He didn't answer the call because he and his dad were not on good terms due to some family issues. The phone rang again, and this time, he decided to answer with annoyance.
"What do you want, man?" he asked his father.
"We're having a family reunion, and I'd like you to come," his father replied, hope in his voice.
"Who cares about what you like?" Bryan retorted.
"I know I want you to come,son, but you need to watch your tone when you talk to me," his father warned.
"Whatever," Bryan said as he ended the call.
---
VERONICA
"So, what about your mom and dad?" Jennifer asked, as we tried to catch up on old times.
"My mom left for work this morning as usual, but my dad went on a business trip," I replied, frowning.
"Is everything okay?" she asked, clearly concerned.
"Honestly, I don't know. I just have this feeling that my mom and dad aren't as close as they used to be. I think they're going to get a divorce. I'm scared," I said, surprised that I had finally shared the thoughts that had been weighing on me for so long. It felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders.
"Why do you think so?" she asked.
"I don't know. They seem really distant these days. But my mom will never tell me what's going on, and my dad is always out on business trips. Whenever they're both around, they're so distant. It's tiring and annoying to watch," I replied, feeling the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes.
I noticed Jennifer was speechless. I didn't blame her—of course, she wouldn't know what to say. I was sure she wasn't expecting that.
"It's okay, Vee. They're going to be okay," she said, drawing closer to me.
We embraced in a hug.
"Let's talk about something else," she said, trying to lighten the mood. I secretly thanked her for that and quickly masked my face with a fake smile.
"Let's go to my room, then," I said, as we both stood up and walked to my room.
When we got inside, we sat down on my bed. I asked her why she was in Washington, and she told me that she and her family had just moved there on Thursday. She hadn't been able to come over sooner because they had been trying to get the house in order.
"I can't believe you're staying here for good," I said with a wide smile.
"We have to see each other every time," I added excitedly.
"I'm also happy. I've missed you so much," she said, her own wide smile on her face.
"I actually have lots of things to tell you," I said, smiling.
"So, what is it? You got a boyfriend?" she asked.
"No, but just listen to what I have to say," I said, blushing.
I told her about Hunter, and when I finished my story, she was all smiles.
"Why are you smiling?" I asked her.
"Well, the guy sounds hot, and I can say you're so lucky. Just look at the way guys are trying to get your attention. Who would have thought?" she said, which made me burst out laughing.
"Let's step out for a while, I need a change of scenery" I said, and the two of us left my house. "We're going to have many girls' nights," I said excitedly as we got to the front porch of my house.
Actually, Jennifer is African American and has all the curves in the right places, but I'm a bit taller than her. Trust me when I say she's stunning, and that explains Sam's loss of words when she came over.
I plan on drilling him with questions about his reaction later.
As we left the house, we stopped at the All Times supermarket, bought a bucket of chocolate ice cream, potato chips, and other snacks.
"So, this Bryan guy, do you normally talk to him?" Jennifer suddenly asked.
"No, I've only spoken to him once at the party," I said, explaining what led to our conversation at the party.
"Is he handsome?" she asked again, giggling.
"Very," I replied, my cheeks heating up with a shy smile.
"Wow, I guess the two cousins are handsome. But who's more handsome?" she asked.
"They're both really handsome, but I don't know who's more handsome," I said. I've never really compared them.
We returned to my house, and when I checked the time, it was already 7:30 pm.
Time flies really fast.
I told Jennifer the time, then she said she had to go but would come tomorrow and stay longer.
"Okay, the ice cream has to wait then," I said as we hugged each other. After exchanging goodbyes, she left.
I went upstairs after putting the ice cream in the freezer and the other things in the kitchen.
I decided to dial Sam's number after taking my bath.
"Hey, handsome, how are you?" I asked.
"I'm good," he said, and I could hear the grin in his voice.
"What are you doing?" I asked him as I slipped into my Mickey Mouse pajamas.
"Just going through Instagram," he replied.
"Oh," I said.
"Yeah, soooo who's that girl that came to your house earlier?" he asked.
"I thought you'd never ask," I said, smiling.
"Why did you say that?" he asked, sounding like he didn't understand what I meant.
"You clearly turned into a fool when you opened the door for her," I said, laughing as I settled down on the bed.
"Please, stop it, I was just surprised and anybody would have reacted the way I did.I can't believe you never told me about her though ," he said in a low tone.
"I guess a chance to talk about her never came until now" I replied.
"So, just tell me, who is she?"
"I remember introducing her to you as my friend," I replied.
"That's not what I'm asking," he said.
"What are you asking, then?" I asked trying to hide my giggle.
"I just want to know more about her," he said.
"You can just ask her," I replied.
"I'm not sure. I'm nervous as hell around her," he said.
"Okay, on one condition," I said, smiling, not even sure of what he wanted to know.
"What's the condition?" he asked clearly intrigued.
"I don't know yet. It depends on what you want to know," I said, feeling like a blackmailer—obviously a hot one.
"But I'm your best friend," he said laughing.
"Ofcourse,you are but that has nothing to do with this." I replied mirroring his sulking tone.
"So, first of all, does she have a boyfriend?" he asked.
"Catching feelings already, are we?" I laughed.
"Vee,just answer me," he said, and I could tell he was already frustrated.
"I'm not sure, but I'll help you find out," I said.
"Okay, goodnight then, and thank you," he replied.
"Goodnight," I said, ending the call. I covered myself with the duvet and drifted off to a peaceful sleep, but Bryan's face flashed through my mind.
"I seem to think of strange things when I'm left alone with my thoughts," I muttered as I slept.
**
I woke up on Monday morning with a lazy groan.
"Liam, what the hell?" I asked as I opened my eyes to see him standing beside my bed, holding the alarm clock to my ear.
"Well, you gotta wake up, princess," he said, grinning.
"I don't have all day, and I need to take you to school."
"Okay, just give me a few minutes," I said, getting out of bed with a wide yawn.
"I hope someone hasn't forgotten that she's a lady," he said, pointing at my mouth, which was wide open.
"I'm in my room, so I can do whatever I want to do," I said, heading to the bathroom.
"You gotta go unless you want to see my naked behind," I shouted from the bathroom.
"Gross!" Liam muttered before leaving my room.
After taking my bath, I went back to my room, put my hair in a loose bun (since I didn't have the energy to comb it), and didn't even bother washing it but I did that yesterday so it's still clean.
I quickly put on my underwear, a short blue jean skirt that sat above my knees, knee-high black boots, and a black crop top with a jean jacket. I didn't do my makeup as usual, but I managed to apply some face powder, mascara, and lip gloss before Liam shouted my name from downstairs.
"One second!" I shouted as I ran out of my room.
Well, I didn't have breakfast as usual. Great!
"Honey, are you off to school?" my mom asked from the kitchen.
"Yes, mom," I shouted as I went outside and saw Liam already waiting in the car.
"You had to take your time," he said with an eye roll as I got into the car.
"I barely took my time," I replied with a frown before entering the car and he drove off.
While we were in the car, Liam called my attention and told me he wouldn't be able to take me to school tomorrow or for the next week because something came up at work, and he really needed to attend to it so the next few days will be hectic for him.
"Okay," I said, already thinking about telling Sam about it so I could get a ride with him to school.
"So, do you have anyone who can take you to school?" he asked me.
"I guess I'll just have to ask Sam," I said.
I could see the worry on Liam's face, and I could tell he wanted to ask if Sam would be able to do it for two weeks.
"He won't be able to say no,so don't worry," I said with a smirk.
I wanted to ask him if something is wrong at work but knowing Liam, he wouldn't want to bother me and he will just say everything is fine.
---
When I got to school, I waved Liam goodbye and headed to the locker room.
I quickly took my books and went to class. After checking the time, I realized I still had thirty minutes before class would begin.
As I walked into the class, I noticed only a few people were inside. I walked to my seat, dropped my bag, and pulled out my phone.
As I logged into my Instagram, I saw that the likes and comments on the last picture I posted had increased a lot. I think this is the most likes and comments I've ever gotten since I started posting on Instagram.
When I checked the comments, I noticed it was after Harry commented "pretty" on my post that people started commenting. He must be really popular.
I decided to check his profile, and when I saw his followers, my jaw almost dropped. I quickly looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to me—thankfully, no one was.
"Jeez, is he that popular?" I asked myself.
Three hundred thousand followers! I barely had any—just under one thousand. But now I have more than three thousand followers. Wow!
I quickly checked his posts. He's truly hot, but I wasn't expecting his followers to be that many. I was more surprised when I noticed he followed me, which caused some people I didn't know to start following me.
No wonder my phone had been blowing up with notifications that I didn't bother checking since yesterday.
Before I could go further, I felt someone sit next to me. I turned, and it was Sam, as expected.
"Hey," I said, turning to face him.
"You looked lost in your phone," he said.
"Oh, it was just..." I started to say before Mr. James, our literature teacher, entered the room.
I didn't see Hunter and Bryan in school today, and it's not like I was checking, but it's hard to miss them when they're in school. You must surely see one of them.
It didn't bother me, though, because today wasn't the first time they've decided to be absent.
When it was time for lunch, Sam and I went to the canteen. I ordered my usual—burgers and fries—but this time I added an apple drink. Sam ordered the same thing, but with soda.
Actually, burgers and fries are one of the few edible things you can cope with in the school canteen.
After lunch, we had three more classes before school ended.
Sam asked me about Jennifer, and I told him I'd ask her when I got home. I also told him that his price for this favor would be him picking me up from home to school and also taking me home after school.
"Jeez, Vee, what about Liam?" he asked.
"He said he's going to be busy because he has something to take care of," I replied.
"But two weeks? That's a lot," he said, raising his voice.
"I guess you want to ask her about her relationship status yourself then," I said, laughing and hoping he'd tell me to ask her instead.
"No, just ask her," he said.
"I will, but keep in mind that I won't help you ask her anything else. You have to ask her yourself."
"But why? that's not fair, I will be driving you to and from school for three weeks." he asked, following me to the school parking lot.
"It's not like you are losing anything in the process,your house is just few blocks away from mine and you need to man up and let her know you like her, because you clearly do," I said, continuing to walk.
"Well, I'm not a man yet," he said, grinning.
"I guess Jennifer will love to hear that," I replied with an evil smile.
"Don't even dare," he said.
"Dare to do what?" I asked innocently.
"Don't you dare tell her I said that," he pleaded.
"Fine, I won't. And don't even dare annoy me unless you want me to spill," I said as Liam's car drove into the school parking lot.
"Bye. I'll see you at your house later," he said, and we waved goodbye.
"Perfect!" I screamed inside my mind as I quickly got into Liam's car before he drove off.