AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He winks. "I could text you a pic instead."
Gosh!
I dash down another hallway as fast as my bunny slippers can manage, yet again leaving his chuckles in my wake. Huffing and puffing, I take the back roads to my bedroom. In minutes—or maybe hours, not that time is of any concept in my frantic reality—I'm slamming my door closed, then sliding down its wooden frame.
Indescribable sounds spew from my pants pocket, before I remember Mei, who's still on the line. I retrieve my phone and put her on speaker, letting her gibberish ring free across my dim room, lit only by the light trickling in through the windows.
"Did I hear him say you were going back to his bedroom?!" There's no mistaking the joy in her tone.
"N-no..." I gather my breath. "You heard wrong."
"No, I certainly did not!" She laughs, literally woo-ing into the microphone, obviously drawing conclusions about my long-lost virginity.
"I'm being serious—"
"Is it that guy you went on a date with? Oh my god, I can't believe you invited him over to your place—what a twenty-first century move..." She blabbers on, bypassing each of my protests. "No, wait. It sounded like you left him, not the other way around—so you must be at his place. Holy shit, you did the walk of shame after doing the dirty deed, before the sun even rose?! God, Juliana, I didn't know I created a heartbreaker! Did you..."
I rub my palms into my eyelids, vaguely answering her questions as they dart out one after the other. Each of which breathes life into more and more lies, seemingly feeding the rift in my mind between protecting this arrangement and being a good friend, until I'm adrift, lost in my own sea of guilt, and confronted with the truth.
Mei wouldn't jeopardize this arrangement.
Sure, she may freak out and go all big sister mode on Hayden, threatening him with a long list of social repercussions if things were to turn sour, but beneath it all... she would listen with open ears and hear out my reasons for signing the contract. Which only leaves one explanation for all my lies.
I'm embarrassed. Afraid of her judgment that may never come. And what a weak reasoning that is, because this deal with Hayden? It's temporary. But my friendship with Mei might span over a lifetime and, frankly, every lie crossing my lips right now is undermining its weight, regardless of my peculiar circumstances.
Because a true friend shouldn't suffer at the helm of your shame.
"Mei..." I whisper, a hush even ghosts couldn't hear.
"... well, it was your first time, so surely not everything went perfectly, but sheesh, from the outside, he sure looks like he knows what he's doing down there—"
"Mei."
She quiets abruptly. For several heartbeats, there's an aching silence between the phone lines, before worry slithers through her tone. "Yeah?" she says, so soft it grips at my emotions, as if I'm moments from confessing secrets to my own mother.
Picking at the sides of my nails, I take a considerable breath, suddenly glad I'm not looking her in the eye for this. "I need to tell you something." And I do, tell her. Every uncomfortable little detail. Down to the last drop.
FOURTEEN
HAYDEN
I'm a little kid playing dress up at the kiddy table. Who's been instructed to sit still, not touch anything, and keep his lips zipped, or there will be consequences. At least... that's how I'm interpreting my new internship, if it's worthy of such a label.
Let me rewind.
Today, on a Saturday—ahem, I'll say that one more time. On. A. Sat-ur-day, my brother called me at seven-thirty in the morning to meet him at work. I mean, who does he think he is, demanding my presence like I'm some maid at such an hour? It was positively cruel. Inhumane. And I'm still debating whether I should file a complaint with H.R., only so they know that these gorgeous eyes don't open until at least eleven a.m.
Anyways, after that, I was in a near-blinded state, with limited motor coordination without my precious beauty sleep, under-eye bags and all, yet I still somehow managed to get dressed and drive to Kingston Entertainment. Myself. Yeah, that's correct. The asshole didn't even have the decency to send a driver, which obviously justified my ten-minute tardiness.
Or so I thought.
The second I stepped into the lobby at the base of the skyscraper, my older brother, Elias, was right there, tapping his foot impatiently and more than happy to chew my ass out in front of each and every corporate drone who strutted by us. On a fucking Saturday.
Apparently, according to all high-and-mighty, I was thirty minutes late, not ten. To which I replied "tomato tomahto"—no, really, those were my exact words, which were not tolerated well, might I add, and quickly propelled him into his second quarrel with me.
My outfit...
I know, I know—thank you.
