The first day of the camp kicked off and it was just as Emily expected. There were a couple of students just like her, more than half of them having the same uninteresting expression on her face. They all obviously didn’t want to be at the camp, their grades being the only reason they found themselves there. For the first day, they had to move from location to location, planting seeds at every spot as their little way of helping the planet. They were split into groups, Emily paired with a bunch of girls she had never met before. She had never been one to have that much female friends right since she was a kid. She bonded more easily with the guys in her class, Tyler being more than enough example as they had been friends since forever. Now, without him around, she felt bored and lonely. With no one to talk to but herself, she carried on with her duties for the day, literally counting down till the moment she could return to school, get her grades up and go back to her normal life
Two entire days had gone by and it was finally the last day of the camp. And three days since Giovanni and Emily last texted each other. Her phone buzzed again, a light sigh escaping her lips. She could already tell who it was. It was Tyler, the only person that had been texting her ever since she got to camp. Tyler: You’re leaving today, right? Tyler: Do you want me to come pick you up? She smiled at his thoughtfulness, immediately remembering how Giovanni asked August to drive her on her first day. Emily: No, you don’t have to. Emily: We’re just going to take the bus together anyways. Emily: so there’s no point to it. Emily: I’ll just see you tomorrow later when I get home. “Who are you texting?” Emily immediately recognized the voice behind her as Jane’s. They had spent the past few days together and overtime, she had gotten used to hearing her voice at the most random moments. “Is it your boyfriend?” She asked, walking up to Emily with her luggage behind her. “You seem
Emily’s eyes widened as she stared at the message on her phone. She read it over and over and it still made absolutely no sense to her. Her sister? Stacy texting her out of the blue? Her stomach churned at the mere thought. She had not heard from her in weeks and though she had barely bothered about it all, the thought of Stacy in danger made her unsettled inside. They weren’t close and had never been close. But she knew her sister well enough to know she wasn’t one to make jokes like that. Yes, she could be spontaneous and do crazy things no one imagined like her running away on the day of her wedding and going into hiding but suddenly texting her sister she barely spoke to help her? It was completely unlike her and worrisome. Worrisome enough to get Emily lose her composure for a while. Immediately, she tried dialing the number responsible for the text, all her calls getting forwarded in response. She called over and over, the results the same, Emily beginning to get paranoid an
Without even a second thought, Giovanni slammed his laptop shut and rose to his feet, ready to make the decision that was going to change the course of his entire evening. He couldn’t ignore Emily. The fear and worry in her voice. It was one he had absolutely never heard before yet sounded so desperate and scary in a way. Three days had passed since he last spoke to her, purposely giving her time to work on school related stuffs at the camp. Though he wasn’t sure when she was going to return home, all he was expecting was a text from her announcing her arrival not a call like that. “Giovanni?” August walked into his offic, staring at him in confusion as he packed his things and prepared to leave for the day. “Are you getting off work already?” “Yes,” he barely spared him a glance as he replied. “I have somewhere to be.” “What? Where?” August’s confusion was still very evident. “All of a sudden? What’s going on? It’s unlike you to leave work before closing hours.” “Miss Stark,”
With Emily by his side, Giovanni led the way into his mansion, walking all the way to his guest room he literally never used. He never had a reason to since he never had people over. However, his personal private maid always took it upon herself to clean it alongside the dozens of room he never used, having it clean and cozy enough to receive an impromptu guest. “Make yourself comfortable,” he said as he opened the door to the guest room and gestured to her to get in. “You’re shivering. I’ll get some clothes for you.” She nodded appreciatively, watching him walk out of the on his quest to get her new clothes. Her heart warmed at his kindness as she looked around the room the moment he was gone. It was a exquisite yet cozy room and Emily couldn’t ignore the sense of safety and comfort she felt from it. It was a stark contrast to the chaos and fear she had experienced earlier.She sighed and took off his jacket, carefully draping it on the couch in the room. Wrapping her arms around
Giovanni’s day started at the usual time, exactly 6am. But what was unusual was him making breakfast at past 7am with no intention to head out yet. Breakfast for two at that.Glancing at the wall clock as he walked into the dining to set the table, he noticed it was almost 7:30am. Normally, it was time for him to head out for the day but instead he was home wondering if it was too early or the perfect time to head over to the guest room to wake Emily up. He clicked his tongue as he sat on one of the empty chairs at the dining. It was probably still early. Yesterday had been eventful so he figured she probably was still going to be sleeping in- she needed the extra rest. He folded his arms and remained in his seat until it was exactly 8am. Then he got up, finished setting the table then made his way to the guest room to gently place a knock on the door. No response. He knocked again, still getting no response in return. A hint of worry flickered in his eyes as he knocked again, th
Emily woke up, the realization of two things immediately hitting her. One, she was feeling way better than she felt hours ago. And two, hours after hours had indeed passed. She sat up, feeling a wet towel immediately slip from her head. Picking it up from the floor, she wondered how it got there, her confusion immediately doubling as she saw her phone right next to her when she could clearly remember leaving it to charge before going to bed. With a light groan, she checked the time. It was past 6pm already, her hands immediately covering her mouth as she realized she had been asleep for over 8 hours. “Wow,” she breathed out as she got up, completely pulling the layers of blankets away from her. “Just how tired was I to sleep for that long?” Her mind instantly travelled towards Giovanni and she cursed under her breath. Seeing her sleep for that long, he must have thought she was a heavy sleeper when that was actually far from being the case. She did oversleep once in a while but
Emily was done with classes for the day and as she strolled through the bustling hallways, contemplating on heading to the cafeteria before heading home, she bumped into Tyler. “Emily!” A frown immediately appeared on her face as she spotted him, followed by her crossing her arms. He looked at her, an apologetic expression on his face as he rushed towards her. “Hi.” “Hi,” her tone was plain, doing a good job at showing how mad she was at him. “It’s you.” “When did you get back?” He asked. “I know you’re mad at me, Emily but I promise I wasn’t with my phone. I was busy with work I didn’t see the phone calls until the following day. And I wanted to come over to your place to check up on you but I got caught him with family stuffs again. How are you? Why were you calling? Did something happen?” Her anger subsided at the mention of his family. Though not as complicated as hers, he also had a problematic family. “It’s nothing serious,” she replied, deciding to not bother him about w
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