Chapter 5

“Well, well, well who’s Katie?” said Nico while grinning. Here we go again with the teasing this is the reason why I don’t talk to Nico about girls.

“No one,” I said while trying to avoid Nico’s curious eyes. I tried and tried to avoid his gaze but d*mn his persistence to get answers from me.

“I have known you for a long time, Lucas, I know every time you lie and try to avoid my questions,” said Nico while trying to hide his laughter.

“Well every time you ask questions, your questions are the types of questions I don’t want to answer and I want to keep it to myself” I whispered.

“Well too bad I’m your friend and you know that I never stop until I get some answers,” said Nico and ate the cupcake.

I sighed and gave up. “Katie is a girl I met at the beach,”

“And?” said Nico while not taking off his annoying smile.

“Well she’s a painter and she’s staying now in the orphanage for a vacation,” I added.

“You’re boring me, Lucas,” Nico yawned. “I want to know if she’s pretty, hot, or cute,” said Nico while waving his eyebrows up and down. I laughed with what Nico said, classic Nico.

“Well a combination of the three,” I said while imagining Katie, I shrugged and move my head to hide my expression to Nico. When I look at Nico, I saw an amused expression.

“Is this a miracle? Lucas the famous photographer finds a girl not just pretty, hot, or cute but a combination of the three,” said Nico with amusement in his eyes.

“A miracle? It’s not the first time I said a girl was pretty, I think?” I said and tried to remember if I complimented a girl before.

“Hello? You never complimented a girl as far as I can remember. You always said that you’re not interested,” said Nico while trying to convince me. I tried again to remember but no one come to mind.

“Okay, I admit no one comes to mind” Nico laughed in success.

“See? I told you, I know you,” said Nico while still laughing.

“So? When can I meet this so-called Katie?”

“Come with me to the beach later, we’ll meet them there,” I said and took a cupcake from the box. The design is simple but pretty, I took a bite and it’s delicious.

“Them?” asked Nico.

“Well Katie has a good friend called Victoria”

“Victoria? Is she hot or something?” Nico asked while smirking. This Cassanova friend of mine.

“Well I don’t know but you’ll see her later”

“Lucas! Nico! Lunch is ready to come to the table and eat” shouted Aunt Jeana. We stopped talking and look at each other.

“Race you to the table? The loser will get a punishment!” Nico said fastly and ran to the dining table. I immediately ran after him. I don’t want to do any punishments.

Katie’s POV

“Hey, Victoria are you going with me to the beach?” I asked while looking at Victoria who is busy on her laptop.

“Yes! Of course” said Victoria excitedly that shocked me. What’s with her? Why is she so excited about going to the beach? I stared at her for a long time to get some answers but she avoided my stare and continued to tap her laptop.

“Victoria,” I said with a demanding tone. She pouted and looked at me with puppy eyes.

“You’re not getting away with your puppy eyes,” I said with a firm tone. “You’re acting suspiciously since this morning” She’s always checking her phone and looks at the time.

“But-”

“No buts,” I said firmly that making Victoria sigh in defeat.

“I’m meeting with Lucas’ friend at the beach later,” she said with a nervous smile on her lips.

“Lucas’ friend? Do you know this guy?” I asked.

“Well….” She said, looking at me and laughing nervously.

“So you don’t know him but you’re excited to meet him later?” I said with disbelief.

“It’s not allowed? What if he’s a hottie and my soulmate?” Victoria said with twinkling in her eyes. Oh boy, here we go again with the soulmate.

“What if he’s ugly or a weirdo?”

“Nah I heard from Lucas that he’s a model,” said Victoria while moving her head.

“When did you two get so close?” I looked at Victoria but she avoided my eyes---- again.

“Well, that part is a secret bye! I have to do something” said Victoria and hurriedly left my room.

I just shrugged my shoulders and started to pack the things I’m going to bring later to the beach. I looked at my room and noticed that it was messy. I started tidying up my room when suddenly my ringtone beep. I stopped, get my phone, and looked at it. It was a message from an unknown number. I opened the message and it just said hi with a smiley emoji. Who could this be? I ignored it and continued to tidy up my room. A couple of minutes later as I’m about to finish Victoria entered my room.

“Hello? Katie? Are we going to the beach or not?” said Victoria who is ready to go to the beach or a date? She’s all glammed up while carrying her things.

“Remind me where we’re going?” I said sarcastically while looking at her up and down.

“We’re going to the beach duh!” Victoria said and flipped her hair.

“It seems to me, your get-up is for a date not to chill at the beach,” I said while trying not to laugh.

“Is it too much?” she said while looking at her outfit and looking at herself in the mirror.

“Well for paint on the beach? Then my answer would be yes,” I said and looked at her again. Victoria pouted and looked at herself again in the mirror. I picked up my things and noticed that the sunset is going to show for a couple of minutes.

“We don’t have much time so that get up of yours is gonna be okay. We should hurry up because I don’t wanna miss the sunset,”

“Wait! But I want to change first!” complained Victoria as I dragged her out of my room because she was glued to the mirror fixing herself.

-----------------

“My hair is a mess,” said Victoria while still busy fixing her hair. Were walking for a few minutes now and we're already near the beach.

“Can you walk any faster?” I said sarcastically to Victoria but she just rolled her eyes at me and I just laughed at her attitude.

“If you gave me a few minutes to fix myself then I would walk faster,” she said while pouting and rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah and we will miss the sunset” I replied sarcastically. Before we got close I could already see a familiar figure of a person holding a camera, it’s Lucas. My face instantly flash red when I remembered what happened last night. Lucas noticed us and went closer to us.

“Hi Katie, Victoria are you two here to paint?” he asked while flashing his smile. I nodded shyly and tried to hide my face.

“Hey, are you okay?” Lucas said and tried to touch my forehead. I instantly stopped his hand from touching me.

“What are you doing?” I said with a startled face.

“I’m just checking if you have a fever since your face is red,” he said while looking at me innocently. “Are you thirsty? I have water, here” Lucas offered me his water bottle from his bag.

“Thanks” I whispered and accepted the water. A scoff got our attention, it’s Victoria.

“Are you finished flirting there? Where’s your friend Lucas” we look at Victoria who just finished placing her things on the sand.

“He should be here somewhere,” said Lucas and looked around the beach. “Here he is,” he said and waved at a tall man who is walking towards us. “Nico!” shouted Lucas.

I looked at Victoria’s reaction, her smile slowly turned into a frown, and slowly raised her eyebrow. She dropped her paintbrush as the man named Nico stand in front of us.

“Nico where have you been?” asked Lucas.

“Just greeted some girls” Nico replied with a smirk.

“You!” shouted Victoria while pointing at Nico. Okay? What’s going on?

I looked at the two of them and looked at Lucas to get some answers, but Lucas is clueless like I am.

“Wait you two knew each other?” I asked and looked at Victoria.

“Unfortunately yes,” said Victoria disappointedly and looked at me.

“What a small world,” said Nico with a smirk while looking at Victoria.

‘Wait, I can’t catch up” Lucas interrupted. “You two met before? Where?”

“I met Ms. Pervert at a party three months ago,” said Nico while not taking his eyes off at Victoria. Wait did hear it right? Ms. Pervert? Okay, what happened between these two? I stared at Victoria begging for details later.

“Oh? So I’m the pervert now? Who’s the moron who made out with a girl in an occupied room, Mr. Pervert-who-wore-a-tiger-print boxer?” asked Victoria sarcastically.

“Were you jealous about that Ms. Candella? Or should I say, my fiancée?”