“I made a playlist of our favorite indie songs! Should I send it you?” Under normal circumstances, overheard conversations like that would never bother Emily. She was not the type to poke her nose into things like that especially since she generally wasn’t a fan of indie songs. But the moment she heard the keyword indie, she found herself immediately at alert, her mind immediately taking her back to her last date with Giovanni. Indie songs. Those were apparently the genre he listened to but for some reason unknown to her, he had stopped for a while. A reason she was able to quickly figure out herself. It must have been work. She had seen how much of a workaholic he could be so that must have been the reason. He allowed himself get caught up with so much work he was unable to get new music and in the process, fell out with the latest indie songs. But that was finally going to change. Excitedly, she rose to her feet and rushed towards the bunch of girls having the conversation s
Emily woke up to the loud sound of her alarm ringing, couple with the sun peeping through the open curtains hung around her windows. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she struggled to get up, her phone by her side ringing loudly making the entire process much easier. With a groaned, she turned off her alarm and checked the time, her eyes immediately widening in horror. It was past 8am already. Meaning she was undoubtedly going to be late for her morning class. “Shit,” she jumped out of her bed, pulling the sheets she barely used throughout the night away from her. Realizing she was still dressed in her outfit from the previous day and didn’t even cover herself the entire night, she stopped for a second to try to recollect what had happened, her memory quickly rushing back. “Right, the text.” Hurriedly, she reached her phone and swiped it unlock. Immediately, she hit the message icon and much to her disappointment, still had no new messages from Giovanni. But even more disappointingly, h
Giovanni listened to Emily hang up the call, a wave of guilt immediately washing towards him. He sighed and tossed his phone away, returning his undivided attention to the laptop in front of him. He couldn’t remain as focused as he wanted to be though, Emily suddenly interrupting his thoughts over and over again. With a groan, he reached for his phone again and opened the message he had read from her hours ago. He stared the link for an unusual amount of time contemplating clicking on it and finally listening to the playlist. Almost immediately, he shook his head to himself and dropped his phone again. It was all her fault for putting herself in such a position. He had only talked about the music he once used to listen to so why did she have to go as far as creating a playlist for him? Suddenly able to neither work nor clink on the link in front of him, he folded his arms and remained silent for a while. Until he heard the door to his office open, August walking in. “It’s past w
Giovanni was never one to wake up late. His average day started as 6am with him hitting the gym first before anything else. Then he returned home to drink a cup of coffee, watch the news, check his schedule for the day and ensure even a single minute didn’t go into waste and when he was finally done, get freshened up and leave the house by 7:30am. That morning was no different but alongside the news he watched at 7am, he found himself glancing at his phone, wondering if just maybe, Emily had dropped a message for him. He knew it was comical to expect her to send him a message especially after he was so cold in telling her to keep her distance but for some reason, he couldn’t help but dare to dream. Realizing receiving a text from her was going to be nothing but an illusion, he gave up and continued his activities for the morning- focusing on his news and then getting freshened up to leave the house and head to work. At exactly, 8:15 am, he got to work. He was surprisingly fifteen
“Sorry I’m late,” August suddenly rushed in, standing in between the two men who had now gotten into an impromptu staring contest. “Giovanni, oh, you found her.” “I did,” Giovanni nodded, his eyes refusing to leave Tyler who was also staring at him. “And I would be taking her home.” “No you would not,” Tyler repeated his words. “She’s with me. We came to this party together.” “Oh, did you two?” Giovanni arched an eyebrow at him. “Did I see you around her? Or was she dancing with you? You left her alone and you’re still confident enough to say she’s with you.” “I only left her alone for a while to-“ “Save the explaination for someone who is actually interested in listening,” Giovanni cut him off. “And that someone isn’t me. So move and back to my partying.” “Let her go,” Tyler said through gritted teeth. “You don’t deserve to even touch her so let her go.” “I don’t think you have the right to tell me what to do or what not to do,” Giovanni replied. “And in case you’ve forgotten
“And its all because of youuuuu!” For the millionth time that night, Giovanni cursed under his breath.Like it wasn’t enough hard work to not only drag Emily out of the party and get her in his car, she refused to keep her mouth shut the entire time. From the most random lyric to the most unreasonable words, her mouth had no filter as she kept on ranting on, making Giovanni wish he had just left her with her best friend that was so enthusiastic to take her home. At least, that way he wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of the night wondering what to do with a drunk girl that just wouldn’t keep her mouth shut. Her couldn’t take her to parents place for a very obvious reason. They were going to try to demand what happened, why she got drunk and a dozen other questions in that- questions he had absolutely no answer for. He also couldn’t take her to his place for his own personal reasons. His house was off limits to everybody but him. And that included August. Despite being his only fr
Emily woke up to a terrible headache, serving as a dreadful reminder of how she had spent the previous night. Her memory came flooding back. From how Tyler had noticed how down she look to him inviting her to a party. How she had thoughtlessly said yes and went to the party, not hesitating to drink every drink offered to her by every Dick, Tom and Harry. And how her head slowly began to ache. And how she then knew she was getting drunk. And instead of stopping the Alcohol consumption like a normal person, only proceeded to get even more drunk. She could remember herself roaming around the party barely sane. And the next thing that happened was her bumping into a man. A familiar man. Giovanni. “Oh My God!” She literally yelled as she jumped up from the bed. Her eyes widened in horror as her memory got clearer, the urge to suddenly disappear into thin air growing. “No, no no,” she could have screamed. “Please no. There’s no way in hell I did all of that and-“*flashback* “Miss S
Breakfast was quiet for a while, with both Giovanni and Emily doing nothing but chewing and swallowing.There was obvious tension in the air. Tension Emily in particular was choosing to ignore. After all, what could she say when she had gone from never wanting to speak to him again to waking up in his shirt in a hotel room?Occasionally, she spared him glances, taking note of how focused he was. Compared to her, he seemed unbothered. Almost like the whole situation wasn't strange to him."Miss Stark," y spoke up after what seemed like ages. He was finally done with his breakfast, dropping his cutlery to signify that. "About yesterday-""I'm not always like that," she quickly interrupted him to say. "I promise I'm not always like that. I don't get drunk easily and become a-""If you say so, l'll believe you then.""What?" she said. "That didn't sound very convincing. And by the way, how did you find out where I was? was with Tyler so why did you even have to show up?"Trying to ignore
Several months later… “And that’s a wrap for today.” August raised his head over his macbook to take a glance at Giovanni, genuinely amused as those words escaped his lips. Months ago, he was the boss that didn’t care about things like a stated closing hour. He worked till whenever he pleased and only left the office when it was beginning to feel too late to be in the office. But now, he was a completely different person- he never spent a minute past 4pm working. “Alright sir.” “Yes, sir.” “Thank you for today, sir.” The sounds of papers shuffling filled the air, followed by the scraping of chairs as staffs rose to their feet, hitting the floor with their heels as they rushed out of the meeting room. In no time, the room was left empty to no one but August and Giovanni, preparing to do the same. Except Giovanni was more nervous than August could ever be. “You leaving work by exactly 4pm would never cease to amaze me,” August had to comment. “I guess love really does change
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Giovanni watched August loosen his tie as he nodded, seeming convinced on the decision he was about to take. After what seemed like an eternity, they were both done with work for the day and naturally, were supposed to head home. But August had decided he wanted to visit a bar and of course, drag Giovanni with him. A sigh escaped Giovanni’s lips as he watched his best friend finally free himself from the clutches of his tie, dancing a little as he shoved the little piece of clothing down his pocket. Though he wasn’t sure what exactly he was expecting when he called Tyler several hours, he was sure that wasn’t it. “Yes,” August nodded, flinging his arm across Giovanni’s shoulders, earning a shudder from him. “I’m just going to drink a little then head home.” “A little?” it was hard to believe he wasn’t drunk already the way his words drawled. “August, you intended to drink just a little yesterday?” “That was yesterday,” he waved his fingers in
August woke up with a headache, serving as a dreadful reminder of how the previous night went. Dozens of bottles of wine, hundreds of honesty laced words. And of all the audience to have accompanying his foolishness, it just had to be Giovanni. “Fuck,” he groaned, reaching for his phone. He could remember Giovanni driving him home after he drank himself to stupor but that was all. He couldn’t remember anything else- like how he had gotten into his bed or how he had gotten his phone next to him. “Shit, what’s the time?” He swiped his phone unlock to check the time but literally immediately, his eyes caught something else. It was his call log. And sitting prettily at the top was a missed call from Tyler. It was more than enough to cure his hangover, his eyes immediately widening. A missed call from Tyler? How did that happen? When did that happen? Why did that happen? For the hundredth time, he let out a groan, realizing he still had no memory of what happened the previous night
“You think you have a crush on August?” Tyler took in a deep breath, sitting up as the words finally escaped from the clutches of his throat. After weeks and weeks of denial, he had finally decided to come clean to himself. And finally, his best friend too. “Yes,” he nodded, his heart racing in his chest. “I think I have a crush on him.” Emily’s expression was unreadable for a while, wavering between shock and confusion. She always knew there was something fishy going on between him and August. She knew there was more to their relationship than he was admitting but couldn’t frankly figure out Tyler having a crush on him. “Are you surprised?” Tyler swallowed as he asked. “Disappointed? Dis-” “No, no,” Emily quickly interrupted him. “It’s nothing like that. Shocked? Yes, I am, a little. But disappointed? I’m not ‘dis’ anything.” “Oh,” he broke into an awkward chuckle, his chest feeling a lot lighter. “Well, yeah. I know you’re probably wondering how it all happened but I guess,
Emily feet remained glued to the ground, shock flooding her veins. Not just shock though- she had a couple of other emotions running through her. Anger, deceit, betrayal- to a name a few. Her sister was fine? Stacy was fine all along? She was just hiding from her and making a total fool out of her with the consent of both her parents? All along, her disappearance was just an act put in place by her and her parents because she didn’t want to get married to Giovanni? She didn’t want to believe her ears but with every second that passed, the brutal truth was slapped onto her face all over again. It was slowly making sense and finally, the anger in her grew and overpowered every other emotion she felt. Without hesitating for even a second, she balled her fist and immediately pushed the door to her parents’ room open, revealing herself to them. “Alright dear. We’ll call you some other time to- Oh my God, Emily.” Her face grew cold as she stared at them, watching her mum immediately
Their ride to Giovanni’s had only lasted a couple of minutes when his phone vibrated by his side, signifying a text message. Busy with driving, he immediately asked Emily to check what it was on his behalf, the duo immediately realizing August needed Giovanni’s presence for something urgent. Needless to guess, something work related. “I could cancel,” Giovanni suggested, noticing the disappointed look on Emily’s face. “Tell him I’m busy or something. I don’t have to-” “No,” she shook her head, refusing his offer. “You don’t have to.” “But-” “It’s probably important,” she flashed him a weak smile. “And come on, you’ve been away from work for a while so it’s probably really urgent. You should go. I’ll be fine.” “Alright then,” he nodded in return. “But I’ll drive you home first. Do not even try to object to that. I’m driving you home.” Already disappointed at their time together getting cut short abruptly, Emily had no intention of wasting the few moments they could spend togethe
Giovanni: I'm outside.A text from Giovanni had never given Emily that much joy. And without wasting a single second, she grabbed her bag and dashed out of the classroom, heading to the parking lot to meet the man responsible for her bundle of joy.Her temporary goodbye to Tyler was quick. And thanks to her all sense of reasoning being overshadowed by her happiness, she couldn't notice how absentminded Tyler was as he mumbled out a reply.But that didn't matter. Not at the moment.In a flash, she found herself at the parking lot, her head shot up as her eyes roamed around excitedly. In barely a minute of searching, she found him waving at her and eagerly rushed towards him."Hi.""Hi."Awkwardness threatened to settle between them, Emily quickly fighting back by breaking into a light chuckle. Followed by a blush creeping towards her cheeks as he remembered everything that transpired between them twenty-four hours ago."Hev.""So how was your test?" Giovanni asked. "Did it go well?""
With head hung low, Tyler managed to drag himself back to class. Darn that test he needed to write. Scrap his grade that needed to be saved- all he just wanted to do was head back home and get busy with anything that was going to prevent him from thinking. But he had no choice, hence had to be in class whether he wanted to or not. “Tyler!” The second he stepped into class again, he heard Emily call out his name. “Here.” He looked around him and realizing the professor was still yet to arrive, he walked towards her with a sluggish nod and returned to his previous seat. “Who did you head out to meet?” She asked immediately without wasting a single second. “Who was it? What was so urgent?” “Nothing,” he looked away. “It was nothing.” “You went to meet someone,” she insisted. “Who was it?” “I didn’t meet anyone.” “Was it a girl? Ah, is it a girl? Is there a girl you’re hitting on?” “No, it’s wasn’t a girl!” “I thought you said you didn’t meet anyone,” a full smirk appeared on
Tyler got on his toes and as quietly as he could, he picked up his clothes from floor and threw them on. August was still asleep and he couldn’t be more glad for that. It was the perfect opportunity for him to sneak out of the house without waking him up and in the process, starting unnecessary drama. Just like he did the previous night, he had a lot of emotions running through his veins. Confusion, nervousness, anxiety- the list could go on. But at least, one thing he was glad he wasn’t feeling was regret. Regret for sleeping with August. He spared his sleepy self a quick glanced and sighed, immediately getting the last bits of his things. All ready to leave, he walked out of the room and in no time, was successfully out of the house. “Crap.” He had classes in the morning and a test in the afternoon. He didn’t feel particularly great about himself though, making him contemplate ditching both of them. But he immediately remembered he couldn’t. It was a major test and unless he wa