Work is work. Meetings had keeping me out of the office and to say I am beat was understatement. I am dead on my feet. I dive into the couch as soon as I’m home. Judging by the feel the apartement gives, Morwenna is still out. Which is happening more recently. Hm.
My phone suddenly rings on the coffee table alerting a FaceTime.“Hey, there, cuz.” Michael’s face fills the screen."Hi, you. Give me a sec.” I prop a cushion beneath my head.“You busy?”“Nope.” I pop the p. “Just got home from work.”“Okay, I won’t be long then. Just want to say happy birthday to my best cousin in the world,” he says. “And to remind you that there’ll be a package waiting for you this weekend.” Michael chuckles and winks.I roll my eyes. “You know I will hunt your ass down to wherever you are now if this package isn’t what I am hoping, right, Mike?” I try to pull my meanest face to threaten him. But, everyone knows there’ll be nothing that scare the Mighty Michael.“You’re funny,” he mocks.“That was my mean face, you jerk,” I quip back.Laughter filters through the speaker. “You don’t have one mean bone in your body, Bry. That one treat was all mine,” he retorts.I roll my eyes again. “Yeah, I know. What I don’t know is why are you so mean to me, your best cousin, when your job is fixing broken bodies around the world?” I reply mischievously.This is how we are. He’d be mean to me, intentionally, and I’d pouted when I was 5, or screamed at him when I was 9, or kicked his shin when I was 12, or ignored him when I was 15. When I am a 24 year old grown up woman? I give back as good as I got.“Gah, I miss you, Bry. I miss home. I think I’m gonna try to visit before my next assignment. Just don’t tell mom yet, I want to align my duck first.”I notice the bag under his eyes but make no comment about it. I know he is happy with his work, but it’s starting to take its toll on him. “That’s great, Mike. I really hope you can make it. You know we miss you too. The change of scenery will do you good, I’m sure.”“Yeah, yeah. I’m the doctor, remember? Say hi from me to Uncle Seb and Aunt Rose, yeah? And tell Ad to pick his goddamn phone the one time I call.”I snicker.“Okay. Love you, cuz. Happy birthday.”Waving my hand at the screen, I say, “Love you too. Bye.”And then the line is dead.Checking Mike off the list who had congratulated me on my birthday, I wonder where the hell is my brother?****Stewart’s still have some crowd when I come. It’s ten in the evening, the last meeting was taking more time than I thought, forcing me to skip lunch and dinner. And now I’m desperate for Stewart’s greasy goodness.Despite the tiredness seeping in my bones, I’m so ecstatic the project is nearly over.Tris waves and leads me to an available booth in the corner. “Whatcha need, sugar?” She pours a tall glass of water. “You want that weird thing you called coffee? You look like you need a pitcher of it.” She arches a brow.“Thanks, T. But, I want your magic greasy burger and fries. I’m super hungry. And, while you’re at it, can I get Tony’s super duper special chocolate milkshake too?” I puppy dog blink, blink, blink at her.She shakes her head. “You and your chocolate. And your food. And your body. Where the heck was all those go anyway? And to think the world’s fair,” Tris grumbles while writing my order.I laugh. “Because your food has magic here, T, am I right? And I’m sure if you look close enough you’ll find them hiding somewhere.”“Find what?”The question is said with such a growl that makes T rolls her eyes. I clench my teeth and force myself not to react to his sudden presence. Linc is walking, no, sauntering this way.I feel my anger simmering, down, low in my belly."Your girl here.” Tris points at me with her thumb.“Not his girl,” I grumble through my teeth.She don’t acknowledge my response and continues, “is ordering a ton of grease and sugar and I was just asking her where all those demons go. You know I have to struggle with the greens everyday if I want to keep my cholesterol on normal level.”Lincoln pays no mind to her explanation and ignore her. “What are you doing here?” he asks me, clearly annoyed.Tris shakes her head at his tone. “That’s not the way to talk to a lady, young man. I’ll watch my mouth if I were you.” And then off she go, leaving me alone with this giant of a man who somehow looks more annoyed than before.As if I'm not.“Why are you here this late, little Jackson?” he repeats, enunciating the nickname he gave me since I was teenager.I hate that name.I once liked that, but now I don't.Lincoln standing there by the table, his six foot something looming over. Like a wet blanket, he unsettles me. “I’m here to eat,” I reply curtly, or try to.He harrumphed, takes a seat across from me, crosses his arms, and then, silence. My anger is climbing up to the next level.What is he doing?It's extremely challenging to be civil right now. I close my eyes and exhale deeply. “Look, Linc," I say as I divert my attention to other things than him. "I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this kind of treatment from you, but I just want to eat in peace.”He just grunts.Then, more silence.Eyeing the counter, I pray for Tris to bring my food soon so this awkwardness and oddity will end.But, just my luck. I didn’t expect him to sit there watching me while I ate, trying my best to enjoy my food.More anger.I ended up requesting a box to take the food home.I curse him internally. There goes my food orgasm.Tris comes with the box, helps me, and sends a warning glare at Lincoln’s way. He, of course, ignores her. “This is your bill, girl.” She hands me the receipt.Before I could reach it, Lincoln grabs the paper. He pulls a fifty out of his wallet and gives them back to Tris. “Come on. I’ll drive you home.”I stare at him, unbelieving of what’s just happened. He don’t give me a chance to process before he grabs my forearm and walks, his long legs and wide steps forcing me to trail behind him like a sad puppy.Did he just manhandle me?I don’t care about the fact that his grip doesn’t hurt. His touch is unsurprisingly soft and warm, but rude is rude.I cannot believe he manhandled me!You Neanderthal prick!I tear my arm away from his grip when we’re in the parking lot, ready to rip him a new one. Hurt or not, he didn’t get to do whatever he wanted, not with me.Not anymore.“What are the hell do you think you're doing?” I yell, finally releasing my boiling anger and confusion on this man.He have the audacity to exhale like I bother him. “I’m taking you home. You shouldn’t be Lyfting this late at night.”Oh, really? Fucking really? “So you just decided to manhadle me to your car. Yeah, right. What is wrong with you?”“Nothing’s wrong with helping your best friend’s little sister get back to her apartment safely.” He unlocks his car, opens the passenger door, and gestures for me to get in.The nerve of this giant asshole.I cross my arms across my chest, staring daggers at him, and stand my ground. He looks back at me as steady. We do this staring contest, neither want to be the bigger person and let go.He cocks his brow in the way that I ....That’s when I know I lose this childish battle.Fuck, Bry, don't. Do not go there.I finally huff like a bull and stomp my feet as I charge to the passenger door. I dodge away from his obstructing body. I will never ever let myself get close, let alone touch him, anymore. Once is enough, more than enough.Do I not know I just acted like a petulant child? I do.Does it look like I care? No, it doesn’t.Just as the door close, I look up and see his upper lip tugs at its side. Lincoln bites his bottom lip to restrain it from spreading even more.The sight stuns me.Was it a fucking smile I see?****It’s Saturday, after all, and I’m running on my favorite track at Central Park, my shoes hits the concrete in a steady thump, thump, thump, in sync with the beating of my heart. The sunrays is peeking through between the trees, another early birds are busy with their pick of activities. They're warming up, riding their bicycles, even those yoga enthusiasts are already making pretzel pose with their bodies.My smartwatch beeps, telling me I’ve done my five miles for today so I begin to slow my pace and head back towards my car. Fumbling with my earphone, I don’t see where I’m going and crash with something, or someone. It lands me on my ass and send my phone to its meeting with the path.“Ouch!” A small bad word escapes my lips through gritted teeth and I hope to heaven whoever near can’t hear it. Assuming from the pain on my right lady bum, I’ll leave this park with a bruise in the size of Texas. Great.“God, I’m sorry. You okay?”My brain needs a little more time to process those word
Landon was just asking Jamie if she wanted to go out with him when Mo comes barelling from the front door with few paper bags in her hands. I sit and hit pause. Shane West and Mandy Moore froze.“Guess who’s back from a shopping trip with her future mother in-law?” she exclaims. She drops those bags on the floor and plops down the other side of the couch. Dreamy sigh leaves her pink-tinted lips.I know with one thousand percent of certainty that this was not her first time doing shopping with Tom’s mother. But she always come home like this anyway; sated and happy.“How’s your day?” she asks. Looking at me, my state of dressing, and the stilled scene on the screen, she chastises, “Don’t tell me you’ve been vegging out on this couch all day.” An even scowl replaces her smiley face.I feign hurt, clasping my hands over my chest. “How cruel of you to think about me like that!”She rolls her eyes at my antic. A flower-printed cushion comes flying my way. I catch it before it make contact w
I stand in front of the tall mirror in my room. In a black halter top, dark-washed high-waisted skinny jeans, and my peep-toe black suede booties, face painted with natural look--because I don’t want to give a wrong vibe, I feel excited. I can’t remember when was the last time I dressed up for a date. Or hanging out with a guy, in this case. Whatever.I grab my cobalt suede fringe jacket before heading out. Closing the door, I find Mo and Tom curls up on the sofa watching a movie. “Someone’s ready to kill tonight,” Tom whistles.“You look good,” Mo says on approval. “I like this waves. And the outfits.” She eyes me from top to bottom and nods.“I like it too,” I replay, grinning. “I hope it’s not too much.”“Nah, girl, you’re perfect.” She untangles herself from Tom and stands to smooch my temple. “I feel like a proud momma sending her daughter to her first prom.” She fake wipes her eyes.Tom shakes his head at her antic. “Darling, let the girl be.” He pulls her down. “You’ll be fine,
Unsurprisingly, nothing can steady the butterflies in my belly and the heady feeling that kiss left me with until this morning. I have to admit that after getting on my bed, I couldn’t stop reliving that kiss over and over again, even my dream. Hence my good mood though I didn’t sleep that long.Or, that well. Wink! His kiss, oh my God, his kiss was soooo good I can still taste it on my lips. How Nate stirred my feelings with only his tongue. I cannot imagine what will happen to me if we ever go further than that. I will be doomed, of that I’m sure. But, it will be a good way to go, right? To die in the arms of your loved ones. To die in pleasure. To die in love. Ah, in love. I can’t wait to– “Bug, wake up! I brought your joe and cupcakes!” Yummy! There's coffee! And ... Wait, what? Isn’t that Adrian’s voice? He is in my apartment? Why is he in my apartment? What did he just say? Joe? Cupcakes? Wait, wait, wait. Cupcakes. Cupcakes! “Coming!” I shout from behind my bedroom doo
My confusion and anger comes to the surface again right after I finish one more cupcake and my caramel macchiato. Don’t laugh. It’s like my body knows what I need so it urged me to feed on some energy before prosecuting what my heart want. Probably twenty minutes behind Adrian’s departure, I put the remaining cupcakes in the fridge and head straight to shower. I have one mission and I want to get my hand on it as fast as I can. I cannot wait to tell Lincoln what’s on my mind. I cannot wait to tell him to shove his unneeded judgement to where the sun don’t shine. An hour later—God, I hate driving in this city—I charge into Stewart’s, having no care about the closed sign on the door. I know he is here. He must be. There’s no other place Lincoln will be but here.The brightly lit room welcomes me. But the broody butthole behind the bar? Not so much. Lincoln stares me down like he doesn’t have any idea what I am doing here. Well, maybe he doesn’t, but it is just because he didn’t kno
I drive home in a daze, my mind keeps replaying Lincoln’s sad eyes. And each time, the feeling in my stomach worsen. Now after everything was out, I begin to think that maybe I over-reacted. Maybe Lincoln was just looking out for me. Maybe he thought of me as his little sister he should protect. Maybe Adrian was right. Oh, God ....But, no! He doesn't deserve my guilt. After ... after that, he doesn't deserve anything from me.Damn it! Why do I have this conflicting feelings?I bang my head to the headrest, hoping the hurt will distract me from this gnawing feeling I feel within. I couldn’t find any satisfaction I thought I would feel. When everything is said and done, what was left is–A vibrating sound interrupts my train of thoughts. I glance at the lit up screen before turn left and lead my car to the assigned parking lot. I unlock my phone.Nate : wanna hangout tonight?Joy instantly kicks the worry out of my head and fulfills the space inside the car. My heart begins to race in
I wonder how many times a heart can break until it could not be repair again.I got my first hit today. It was when the only girl I ever loved told me I didn’t have any say in her business. She told me to stay away from her life. She told me to stay away from her. Believe me I tried. I really did. Beside, at that time, I didn’t want to have an intimate meeting with Adrian’s right hook. He has a mean one, even back then. But, this wasn’t a problem anymore. Nothing get past my best friend. He was—and still is—observant to a fault. I still remember the day when he outed me. I chuckles to the thought. Fuck, did I really think I could hide something this big from him? That night freshmen year in college, we were at a beach. Although we were new, we always got invited to any upperclassmen parties because of his and my dad’s names. Adrian was making the best out of it. Me? Nah. I was busy pining a certain brunette back at home. “The fuck, Bro?” drawls Adrian. He is pissed drunk. “Yeah,
“And then he was grabing my hair. And ... and ... he cupped my face. He kissed my jaw, my ear, my neck. I lose my grip in reality because of his touch. Oh ... my ... God.” I suddenly sit up. “We kissed in the middle of Gonner's crowded dance floor. I can’t believe I did that!"My Korean face mask plops down on my lap like a used wet tissue because of my sudden movement. I pick it up and resume my position beside Mo, mindlessly putting the mask back on my face again. It’s okay, five minutes rule apply to face mask too.I continue my story. “But that kiss, that kiss, Mo ... hands down. It was the. Best. Kiss. I’ve. Ever. Had. In. My. Life! It’s like he took some classes for mastering the artrt of kissing somewhere. Or maybe he was just had a lot, I mean, practice. But, I don’t care. I was the one he was kissing last night. I hope I will be the one in the future too,” I describe everything that happened last night until I am out of breath and out off my mind thinking about Nate’s lips on