Color drained from Emily’s face as she stared at the person in front of her. Giovanni. Giovanni was in front of her. He was at her front door. Though it had been only a couple of days since she last saw him, she could swear it felt like it had been forever. He didn’t really look different making her wonder if he had been doing great the entire time. He had been doing great? How could he be fine? After ditching her putting her through all of that? Her emotions quickly shifted into anger as she continued to stare at him, remembering the moment he left her on the isle. The tears she shed in response and how he didn’t even care for a split second. Quickly pulling herself together, she composed herself and eyed him from head to toe. Then she folded her arms and finally spoke up. “What are you doing here?” “I wanted to talk to you,” he blurted out. “Can I talk to you?” “You’re pretty much doing that already.” “Miss Stark-” “Can you stop calling me that?” Emily interrupted h
August received text messages every single day. From work related messages, new schedules and reservations confirmed through texts, random messages from his few friends and acquaintances- 90% of the times his phone vibrated in his pocket, it was to signal a text. So it wasn’t strange when he picked up his phone to check what text message he had received. But much to his great surprise, it was a text from no one but Tyler, asking them to meet up. Giddy was an understatement for how he felt, his whole body suddenly at alert. Why did he suddenly want to see him and talk to him? The possibilities were literally endless and he allowed his mind roam freely, taking even the wildest guesses. In a rush, he ran to his room from his living room and immediately began to ransack his closet in search of what to wear. Since it was just a random meeting, he couldn’t show up looking overdressed. But at the same time, he couldn’t show up looking underdressed. “Casual? Formal? Sporty?” He could s
“Holy shit.” August’s phone almost slipped out of his hands as he read the message Tyler had sent him. He was on his way. He was on his way to his house! He might have been prepared for him about half an hour ago but things had changed. Time had gone by and now, the thought of him showing up was making him nervous all over again. “Why today?!” He looked around the house with the hope of not catching even the slightest trace of Giovanni. He wasn’t about to invite Tyler to his house and have Giovanni and his characteristics ruin things for him. Sniffing the air, he wondered if giovanni’s cologne was lingering around. It was better safe than sorry though as he quickly rushed to the bathroom to grab his air freshener, leaving the living room with a fresh scent of flowers and petals. Next, he got to tidying all over again. Dusted the sofas and cushions, rearranged the throw pillows and straightened the vases and ornaments around at a perfect angle. And by the time he was done, pl
For some reason, Tyler felt his heart sink as he read the the name flashing on August’s phone screen.Babe? His babe was calling him? He had a babe? He had a boyfriend all these while?He shook his head, trying to remind himself he had no reason to feel funny about it. Whether he was dating someone or not was none of his business so he had no reason to be worked up about it.It was absolutely none of his business.“What did you say?” August finally walked back into the living room, a glass of water in his hand. “I heard you call my name.”“Yeah,” Tyler mumbled, stretching his arm to hand the phone over to him. “You had a call.”“Who is it?” August dropped the glass on the table to take his phone from Tyler. “Was it work?” “Didn’t seem like it,” Tyler looked away from him as he handed the phone over to him. “It’s your partner.” “My partner?” “Your babe,” Tyler had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. “Your boyfriend, I guess.” “What?” August exclaimed, quickly collecting the phone
Faster than lightening, Tyler flew to his feet, pulling away from the kiss even before it could happen. “Crap.” He bit his tongue and then his lip and just wished he could vanish into thin air right at that moment. But he couldn’t, August in front of him reminding him of what would have happened if not for the sound of the doorbell ringing. What was he thinking? What happened to not getting involved with guys? And out of all the guys he could get involved with, what happened to staying away from August? As much as he wanted to put all the blame on Emily, he knew he was just as responsible. What was he expecting when he came over to his house? And then sat so close to him on the sofa? As if that was not enough, he allowed him whisper words into his ears. And then shut his eyes in anticipation of what? A pat on the head? Deep down, he knew he wanted it too and denying it for as long as he could wasn’t going to change anything. “Tyler,” August quickly joined him on his feet, a bit
It was another day of Giovanni skipping work and he was spending it at home, staring at his laptop as he browsed the web.He had been on it for hours, navigating different sites as he looked for the answer to one singular question he had- ways to impress a lady and get her to forgive you.90% of the sites he visited suggested the same thing, getting her tons of gifts. He could do that but instead, needed something else in addition to the gifts. And that little addition was exactly what he was yet to find out.With a sigh, he decided to at least act on the information he had already and that was to get her gifts to show his sincerity. As quickly as he could, he got freshened up and stepped out of the house, his card and car keys in his hand. His destination was a mall close to her school. That way he could get all the things he wanted and then, go straight to her school to have them delivered to her in person. He got to the mall in no time and immediately hit the female category, his
Emily and Tyler were sitting next to each other, the two of them trying hard to not fall asleep as a result of how boring the professor in front of them was being. They couldn’t count the amount of times they individually yawned, bored to death. It wasn’t just them though as more than half of the class was visibly drowsy and couldn’t wait till the classes was over. “I’m really going to sleep of, Tyler,” Emily groaned. “Is this woman teaching or reciting sleeping spells of some sort.” “Tell me about it,” Tyler sighed. “I should have just stayed at home instead.” “Right, speaking of home,” her eyes opened as a thought struck her. “Where did you go that day?” “That day?” “The day Giovanni came over,” she replied. “You came over to my place and after comforting me, you left. Where did you go?” “Oh, that,” he hesitated for a while before answering her. A whole lot of things happened that day so he had to be careful to not spill the wrong one. “I met up with August. And Giovanni too.”
Finally at home, Emily stared at the pile of gifts in front of her, contemplating what to do with them. She could toss them all in the garbage but it would mean two things- one, she had accepted them from him and two, she was wasting so much money. It didn’t make any sense to her. What she wanted was him tending a proper apology to her not trying to bribe her with so many gifts. She was just going to have to return them to him. It was a two way thing. Either she wrapped them all up had them delivered to his house or she packed them all with her and delivered it herself. A sigh escaped her lips as she decided to gently go through the bags to at least take a peek of the things he got her. Gently opened the packages, she could spot bags, clothes and even shoes. And suddenly inside the bouquet of flower, she caught sight of a card. She immediately picked it out of the flowers and stared at it for a while before opening. It was cream colored with red ribbons hanging around it loosely t
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