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"I have a dare for you, Emilia."
Our group and I are currently sitting in the food court, waiting for our food to be served. And since Bruce likes to cause trouble wherever he goes, he decided that we should play truth and dare. Typical Bruce.
"For me?" Em perks up at his statement, raising an eyebrow at him. She sits up straight in her chair, bending a little forward to pay more attention to what Bruce is about to make her do. "I'm game. What do I have to do?"
I prop my elbows on the table, resting my chin on the back of my interlocked hands, interested in what's about to happen.
"Oh god, don't start again." Erica groans, rolling her eyes. "You have a habit of doing that every time we are here."
"I know right. And then he runs away when things get rough." Trish scoffs, flipping her hair dramatically. "Such a scaredy cat."
"Fuck off, Trisha." Bruce retorts, flicking his fingers at her in a flee away motion. "Stop whining and complaining." He then focuses his attention on Em who's waiting for him to speak up about the aforementioned dare. "So Emilia, you have to kiss the waitress that serves us our food."
Ashton whistles, patting Bruce on the back like he's a proud father. "Good job, that would be a sight to watch."
"Not the first time she has done that so, let's see how this one goes." Tanner rubs his hands together, grinning.
"That's actually a very nice thing to do you know. The girl who took our order has been staring at you from the past five minutes." Kiara states, her eyes shining with mirth. "And, she's looking at you right now." Her eyes travel to my behind, and on accordance, we all follow her line of vision to see the girl, probably our age, looking at us, now wide eyes, crimson colour coating her cheeks. She gives us a shy look before, taking her eyes off our table and scurrying away towards the kitchen, disappearing through the doors.
"She is cute." Em comments, smirking forming on her lips. "This should be fun."
"Yeah, she is." I agree, grinning.
"Sweetheart, you look really excited. Wanna do the dare yourself?" Ridge whispers in my ear, scooting his chair close to mine, brushing my ear with his lips softly.
I crane my neck to look at him, making sure the eye contact remains intact. "Why would I think about kissing her when I have you?"
He pulls his bottom lip between his teeth, teasing it. And me. His tongue sweeps out to moisten his lips before he speaks up. "You're making this really really difficult for me."
"What?"
"Yeah, it's very difficult for me too, you know." Neil butts in before Ridge can utter another word. "I heard everything and now I feel like throwing up. Actually, you know, I just threw up in my mouth." He scrunches his nose up, lips pressing in a frown.
Involuntarily, heat creeps up my neck. He heard everything. Gosh, how embarrassing. I pat my cheeks to calm myself down before collecting my emotions. "Jealous."
"Try the word nauseated." He rolls his eyes.
Ridge chuckles, patting Neil on the head twice. "Don't worry brother, I'll get you bucket if you feel like throwing up again."
"Hey guys. Here's your order." A feminine voice interrupts our banter, making our heads snap in the direction of our food being placed on the table. My eyes roam around the table, smell wafting on my nose, awakening all the senses.
Ah food! How much I love you.
But then I remember. The dare. I look up to see the same girl from before, standing at the edge of the table, playing with the drawstrings of her apron, which seems like a nervous trait by the way, biting her lip. She opens her mouth, then closes it. Her eyes dart around the table before stopping on Em, whose smiling at her mischievously.
Before the girl can say anything, Em questions her. "Hey beautiful, what's your name?"
The girl blinks up at Em, her emerald eyes widening in response. However, she recovers quickly, muttering, "Kelsey. It's Kelsey Schulte."
"Cute name for a cute girl. I'm Emilia Jenner."
"Nice to meet you. Uh, do you need anything?" She fumbles with the notepad kept on the table, her leg twisting side to side in anticipation.
Em gets up from her chair, standing right in front of her. "Yeah, a kiss would be fine." She comments. "Would you mind if I kiss you?"
Kelsey's cheeks flush. "No, that's fine."
Em bends forward, kissing Kelsey on the cheeks softly. Kelsey gasps, taking a step back, her eyes wide as saucers. She brings her hand up to her cheeks, her fingers grazing the spot where Em's lips just touched.
Holy Moly.
Kelsey doesn't say anything, staying silent for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what just happened. Her lips curl up in a shy smile before runs away, mumbling a quiet 'Enjoy your meal'.
Eric claps loudly. "Gold. This was gold."
"Why thank you." Em bows down graciously, a smug smile on her face. She then gets back on her chair and dives into her fries like nothing happened.
I look at Bruce to see his jaw hanging, eyes strained on Em who's busy munching on her food. "What happened Bruce? You look like you've seen a ghost." I snicker.
He recovers, closing his mouth. Shaking his head, he mumbles, "I said a kiss. You just touched her. That's not fair."
Em snaps her head up. "I wasn't going to french kiss her in front of an audience." She mutters, mouth filled with food. "I'll save that for later."
"Wait, you'll talk to her after this?" Tanner asks, sipping on his Dr. Pepper.
"Of course. She's cute." Em smiles, nodding.
"Oh god, when will I settle down?! Everyone around me is either married, committed or doesn't reply." Bruce groans, looking up, eyes closed. "Where's my Kelsey?" A second later, he corrects himself.
"No wait, Kelsey is with Emilia. I want someone else. Someone who's into boys."
I smirk, calling for Trish. "He's asking for you."
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After we left the mall, we decided to call it a night. Em decided to stay for a while, since she wanted to talk to Kelsey. She told us that Kelsey had a car and she would drop her home so we could leave without her. So now, here we are, Tanner and I heading towards home. Since Ridge and I took his car, it was convenient for him to get back on his own.
My eyes take in the night life through the window of Tanner's car as we zoom past it. Different cafeterias, boutiques and shops are lined up on my side. My eyes catch a sign glowing in the night called Workouts.
Immediately, I ask Tanner to stop. He looks at me, turning the ignition off after swerving the car towards the footpath. "What?"
"I see a gym. I was thinking about joining one. You wanna talk to them about a membership?" I reply, asking him too. Back in Washington, Tanner, Em and I used to hit the local gym regularly whenever we had the time.
He shrugs his shoulder, agreeing. "Sure, let's go." He removes his seatbelt, and I mirror his movements, doing the same. Stepping out the car, I take a minute to myself, letting the breeze hit my face, my hair swaying with the passing waves.
He walks across the hood, standing by my side. "This gym doesn't look shady or shabby. But let's see what's going inside. Come on."
Together, we walk towards the entrance, through the glass door. We glide towards the lobby, where a desk is situated, behind the desk is a guy, probably the one to supply information and handle the registrations.
I let Tanner do the talking while I observe my surroundings. The lobby looks sleek, high class even. The walls are painted cream, with portraits of different fighters, boxers, wrestlers and sports persons hanging on the wall. The place looks good enough. On the left is another glass door that leads to a pathway, lined up with decorative plants. I guess the gym area is through that said pathway.
"Lydia?" Tanner calls my name to get my attention. I hum in response, looking at him.
He pulls me to the side, meaning a private conversation is required. "I think it's fine. I've booked us a schedule of two hours a day. You fine with that?"
"Yeah." I affirm with a nod. "Hook me up for boxing lessons though."
"I did that already." He tells me, grinning at the fact that he got that right.
"Cool." We get back to the guy, finalizing everything and filling out the necessary information, including Em's because she'll have our heads if we leave her out of this. After we are done with the formalities, we bid him farewell, confirming that we'll be back tomorrow.
As we are walking out of the building, I bump in to someone. As a reflex action, I start apologizing. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry. That was by mis--" But my words get consumed in my mouth once I see the face of the person I bumped into. "Shay."
Great. Just great.
"It's you. Then I'm not sorry at all." I mutters, annoyance seeping through my veins. I don't know why but her presence had a negative impact on me whenever I come across her.
"I'm not who you think I am." She mumbles, her lips pressing in a thin line. She adjusts the duffel bag hanging from her shoulders, pushing it further up before it slides down completely.
"Then who are you? The not so evil twin sister?" I retort, sarcasm clear in my voice. From my side, Tanner snickers, but thankfully recovers, covering his mistake with a cough.
She hesitates, before answering. "Actually yes."
I look at her dumbfounded. "What?!"
"I'm Faye. Shay's twin sister." She introduces herself, giving me a brief smile. "I'm the less evil, more sweet sister."
"Oh." That's the only thing I can muster up while I digest the newly found information. Now I feel bad for being rude to her for no reason. It's always been a habit on mine. A bad habit. Letting my emotions control my mouth.
"I'm so sorry for being rude to you. I mistook you for someone else." I apologize, giving her a half-smile. "I'm not always a bitch. I take a break sometimes."
"She's lying." Tanner interrupts, making Faye laugh.
"It's fine. I get that a lot so I'm used to it." She waves it away as if it's nothing. "Plus, even I don't like my sister so much so I understand your reaction. She can be a little unbearable at times."
I chuckle at her statement. "You're cool Faye."
"I get that a lot too."
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I throw myself on my bed, taking a deep breath. Today has been a hectic day. Rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand, I remove my shoes and throw them to the side and put my feet on the bed, flattening my palms against my thighs to release the tension. Whis hops on the bed with me, nuzzling against my feet, closing his eyes.
"So, how was your talk with Kelsey?" I ask Em, who's lying on the bed alongside Tanner, who's scrolling through his phone.
Em sits up straight, beaming at the mention of Kelsey. "She's really sweet, you know. We talked for a few minutes and it was so much fun. I told her about the dare but she didn't mind because I came to talk to her after that. She thought I was genuine."
Tanner throws his phone on the bed and puts his head on Em's lap getting comfortable. For old time's sake. I do the same, pushing Tanner's head to the side and put my head on Em's lap. She adjusts herself before getting comfortable.
This feels good.
Tanner looks at me, then at Em who's smiling like a love sick teenager. "Look at that smile. She's already whipped."
"Maybe I am." She replies, grinning. "We exchanged numbers and then I asked her out on a date. We are going out on Friday. How awesome is that?!"
"Very awesome." I reply, mirroring her smile, happy to know that Em's finally into someone after all the struggles she faced due to the fact she's bisexual. No support from her mother, or any family member. Hushed whispers of people lurking in the hallways of high school teasing her about being into girls, calling it a phase. Or calling her an attention whore. It was hell.
And for that, she deserves to be happy. She deserves every ounce of happiness coming her way.
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Hey guys! Hope you liked the chapter!
Do you think Kelsey will play a major role in the story? Do you want her to be an important part of the book?
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Till then,
Stay Happy!