Love Hate Game

Chapter 1

"Perfect! All done." I smiled, putting my camera down to look at my creation.

"Thank fuck, I'm starving." The voice of one of my best friends, Myra exclaimed.

She wasted no time in picking up the plate which contained my latest creation, a mac'n'cheese chicken burger. As a food blogger, I loved coming up with new ideas and it helped that I had a bunch of people who were willing to be my testers.

"Honestly Zoe, this is amazing. Even better than an organsm." Myra moaned.

"Thanks? I think?" I laughed, taking a seat at the table.

I opened my laptop to my new draft post, skimming through to see if I could see any spelling mistakes for the 18th time.

"This is why we share an apartment, I know I'll come home to good food." Myra winked.

"Glad to know it's my cooking skills that you wanted and not the fact that I'm the only one who was ready to move out when you were." I winked back.

Myra laughed and pulled out her phone, "Let's see what the other bitches are up to."

She popped up her phone and called our group chat, while I declined the call, it didn't take long for the familiar faces to pop up on the phone.

"Zoe Yang! Is Myra eating one of your creations? Where was my invite?" Brisa pouted at the camera.

"Your loss, it's fucking delicious." Myra rubbed it in.

"Children please, no fighting. I deal with this during work hours, and don't wanna do it outside of work too." Valeria rolled her eyes.

"Guys, I met the cutest kitten at work today!" Skyla made her presence known.

"I swear you said that yesterday." I teased.

Skyla, the blonde bombshell of our group, rolled her eyes. At 24, she recently became a vet and her obsession with animals was cured. She was never allowed animals at home but now she saw all types of animals at work everyday, that was heaven to her.

Next to her was Brisa or Ris as we called her. The two of them shared an apartment. Brisa was the tech guru of our little group. She had the loudest personality out of all of us and was a downright stunner, even though she wouldn't admit it. Her long dark brown curly hair was such a statement. Of course, it helped that she was mixed race. Best of both worlds, she said. Brisa being a tech guru, decided to channel that and go into social media. She was a kickass social media manager and it suited her so well. At 24, she was doing pretty well for herself but never boasted about that.

Valeria laughed, "Skyla not saying she's met the cutest animal would be weird."

The most settled person in our group was Miss Valeria Lopez. At 24, she had her dream job teaching and was in a committed relationship with her boyfriend Owen. Since she was approaching 25, she had it in her head that Owen would be proposing soon. Her brown hair was tied up in that teacher hairstyle with her glasses on her head.

"Did you take a picture this time Skyla? Send it on the group chat!" Myra said over the bite of her food.

Myra Kholi, my roommate. She was the youngest of our group, only just turning 24 but she was a force to be reckoned with. Out of all of us, she is dead set against marriage. Especially, as her parents want her to get an arranged marriage as that is typical in Indian culture. She flat out refused and moved out as soon as she could. Myra was definitely the smartest of us, holding a degree in accountancy and working her ass off for a shitty company. Her long black hair was such a statement, as she refused to cut it. Only getting trims as and when needed.

"Don't give Myra any ideas, we aren't getting a pet. That would not be good for business." I warned Myra and Skyla.

My blog was my livelihood. I loved creating new recipes and posting it. I also loved rewiring restaurants, and had developed a good fan base to do so. Safe to say, my parents were not as happy with my career choice as I thought. They said my income was unstable and I needed to get a "real job", which is why I moved out asap. I pushed my brown hair out of my face, loving the soft texture since I just had caramel highlights put in.

"Friday, Brett's?" Brisa asked, excited.

"Duh."

"Of course."

"Yess."

"I'm down."

Our replies overlapped each other. It was tradition for us to go to Brett's every friday. Brett's was a bar in Ward Grove and we'd been going since we turned 21. It was something we loved to do and it made sure we always saw each other even if we were busy during the week.

"I have so much to catch you guys up on! I had my annual family dinner yesterday." Skyla griminced.

"Family drama talks, calls for shots. Better to be wasted." Brisa said.

"You want an excuse for us to get wasted, Ris." Myra laughed.

"That's because you all never get drunk with me." Brisa pouted.

"Yes, because we have lives and can't be nursing a hangover on saturdays. We only get 2 days off, at least you can work from home." Valeria shook her head with a smile.

"Guys, when did we get so old? Remember in college it was all about the parties and not work, but the tables have turned." I sighed.

"That's because in real life, we have to pay bills and don't have scholarships or parents to help us." Skyla rolled her eyes.

"Anddd on that note, I have to go. Need to mark some assessments before going to bed. See you girls on friday!" Val waved goodbye.

"See ya."

After Myra hung up and scoffed the rest of her burger, we sat on the sofa with a glass of wine in our hands.

"What do you think Sky wanted to talk about?" I asked.

"Probably her shitty parents or something they made her do." Myra rolled her eyes.

"I thought the same thing but she looked happy? Maybe it's good news?" I questioned.

Myra turned to me, "Well, that would be a first and a welcome one too. Let's see if you're right."

I sipped my wine and wondered what the hell did Skyla want to talk about and why did I have a bad feeling?