AmeliaI woke up feeling woozy, my body ached and my throat felt a bit too dry. It was a little hard to get myself to sit up in bed.I looked around me.That wasn't my room.Oh, right! I was in William's house. I had already forgotten what happened the night before. That explained why I woke up with aches, it could be I was coming down with a cold, courtesy of the rain.I pushed myself out of bed, I had to hold the bedside table to steady myself, I was so dizzy. My hand touched something. I looked. It was my phone, charging... it was already at 100%.Did William plug it in? When did he do that? While I was sleeping?! I didn't even hear a thing! That was exactly how exhausted I was.I carefully made my way to the bathroom, wishing I had remembered to spread my wet clothes.When I looked under the sink, the laundry basket was gone and so were my clothes.That was when I remembered the laundry basket wasn't under the sink when I got back into the room after eating. But now it was back..
RowanMy head ached like hell! I could barely even open my eyes. The hang over was killing me.Last thing I could remember, I shoved one of the strippers aside and the other one punched me. We broke out into a full on fist fight and even Ralph and Hillary joined on.Of course the strippers were fired and we were given complimentary drinks, but Raven angrily walked away and I got pissed. I picked up the bottle of whiskey and chugged it down... I couldn't remember anything after that.I stirred, recognising that I was in my bed. How did I get home? Did Ralph call my driver or take me home himself? Nah, he probably called the driver, he'd never leave a night of fun, not even for me.I was mostly mad at Raven, it was her fault afterall. Was she insane?! Of all people, why did it have to be strippers?! How did she expect me to be okay with that?I stirred in the bed as I tried my hardest to sit up despite the raging headache. I looked down at my hands, my fists had several cuts and bruises
Rowan"Good morning, Mr. Ace." She said, smiling at me. That was unexpected, but who was I to complain? I thought she ditched me but there she was even smiling up at me.Though I was a little worried, she looked kind of pale. How did she get home? Or did she even go home at all since she was still wearing the same outfit? At least she was alive and didn't get herself kidnapped or something."You're late." I told her in a stern voice. Her smile didn't leave her face."Yes, I'm sorry."Hmm, her behaviour was kind of fishy. What's with the smile though? There's no way she wasn't mad at me. If not for anything, at least for making her leave without her precious bag.But since she came with another one, I guessed she had a lot more at home."Well, don't just stand there. Go get my coffee.""Right away." She said and left."It didn't cross your mind to introduce me?" Ralph asked. I had already forgotten he was there. It was a good thing Amelia came in when she did, I would have been screwed
Rowan"How many are they?" Amelia asked Ralph, seeming very interested in his story."I have five older siblings, the first two are twins, the second set are triplets. Then I was born. My younger siblings are triplets too.""Wow!" She gasped. "You guys are many.""Yeah, my parents love each other a lot and just want to keep making copies of themselves. I'm pretty sure they want to have a tenth kid but are too scared to try again because they might end up having quadruplets."Amelia laughed again."How old are your younger siblings?""Seventeen.""Well, they could try again. They had you after the first triplets. It might be a pattern and they could have another solo kid."Ralph chuckled lightly."They just got lucky with me. Besides, I love being the only one without a clone.""Don't call them clones, it makes them sound weird." Amelia replied between laughs. "I wonder what it's like having siblings. Do you all get along?"He nodded. "They can be overbearing at times, but they are all
AmeliaBefore I could finish my breakfast that morning, William dropped a card of pain relief pills along with a glass of water."You're ill?" Trixie asked me looking down at the pills."I'm not. Not really...""But your body aches, right?" William interrupted. "Even if it doesn't, you should take them so you don't come down with a fever."He was very thoughtful. How did he know my body ached?I knew he was right, so I didn't argue and I took the pills."I'll go get dressed so I can drop you off. Put your plates in the dishwasher." He said and left."Does he always sound like he's giving an order?" I asked Trixie.She snickered."Trust me, he means well. In his head, he probably sounds polite.""Well, it's not exactly rude, but..." I trailed off shrugging."Don't worry about that. I'm more surprised that my brother is a totally different person this morning. He's acting like it's not a big deal having you around, but I know for sure that it's huge."She was going on about that again?
AmeliaMy first impression of Ralphael screamed "nice guy with playboy vibes". He was friendly, he didn't give me a dirty look or treat me like I was filthy or something. He acted relaxed around me, as if we've known each other for a while.I knew I was asking a lot of personal questions, but he answered them all like it was no big deal. You can't exactly blame me though, it was hard to come by people who actually liked talking to me. Besides mom, Sonia, and the little chitchat with the waitresses at the diner, I was pretty much a loner.But talking with Ralphael was easy.I had no idea why Rowan seemed pissed about it though. Maybe he was mad I was stealing his friend's attention or something, he just kept giving us nasty looks and was quiet all the time.I didn't mind, I was trying to be different with him, be more patient with him, only because that's what William recommended. Since Ralphael was his friend, I thought it wouldn't hurt to be friends with him too.When we got to the s
Rowan"I'm thirsty. I'm going to go get a drink in your suite." Ralph said, breaking the handshake as he walked away in the direction of my luxury suite."So, she's a bet." I heard Raven say. I had no idea she was standing behind me. "How long have you been there?""Long enough to hear that blondie is your new conquest." She said, crossing her arms. "Does Ralph ever quit?""This is probably the last one."She chuckled softly."You said that last time and the time before that. You guys never quit.""You know that's how we do. I'm only humouring him.""What happened to saying no?""It's a stupid bet, why do I have to make it a big deal?"She shrugged. "I don't actually care about blondie, but I just think it's beneath you wasting a second on girls like her, and she's not even the brightest.""She's not exactly stupid, she's just accident-prone and kind of clumsy."She arched a brow at me."Why are you defending her?'Yeah, why was I defending her?"I'm not. But anyway, you know you can
RowanYeah, my plan was to make Amelia hate me first and then make her fall for me, but just saying a few hurtful words sometimes wasn't enough. I'm no bully, but bullying might be the right way to get the reaction I wanted. The problem was, where would I draw the line? What was too much and what was too little? I didn't want to go overboard and do the unforgivable, but I also wanted to get results faster so I'd have an upperhand and win the bet before Ralph could get even closer to her. Before that, I had to keep them away from each other for as long as I could, while I thought of the next move to make. I might need advice from someone neutral who had a way with women who were hard to please. There was no one like that... Hillary! He wasn't a pro at stuff like that, but at least he knew more than I did. Plus, he did say he was making progress with the barista girl, so he was my only option. Involving anyone else might just complicate the situation.I didn't like that Raven knew abou