fallin' all in you | c.l

Twenty-Three.

"Can we please do something more interesting?" Luca groaned, throwing his cards onto the table. "What are we? A retirement home?"

"What would you rather play instead, Luca?" Alix asked, arching a brow and completely amused by his childish outburst.

Luca leaned forward, his elbows resting against the table, a slow, mischievous grin spreading across his face. "Let's play, never have I ever."

Mila groaned immediately. "What are we? Teenagers?"

Gabriel snorted. "Why are you suggesting a game that you're most likely to lose?"

The rest of the group laughed at his comment, serving as their silent agreement to Gabriel's statement. In all honesty, you really only needed to take one look at him to assume he's had many experiences. His entire aura gave off chaotic, risk-taking energy.

Nonetheless, their lack of faith in him only fueled him to push his agenda further. "If you're all so confident, let's play," he challenged, raising a brow.

"Fine, let's play," Charles conceded with a shrug. His nonchalance was almost infuriating. He leaned back in his chair as if the concept of losing didn't even exist in his world.

Gabriel, Alix, and Mila exchanged knowing glances, feeling confident that Luca would be the one that ended up drinking as punishment. If this was the hill he wanted to die on, who were they to stop him?

They each held a hand up, ready to play.

"Since this was my idea, I'll start. Never have I ever had sex with a man," Luca began, eyes gleaming as he grinned at both Alix and Mila.

"Dude, come on," Mila complained.

Alix rolled her eyes, unimpressed. "That was such a cheap shot."

Nevertheless, they both folded a finger.

Gabriel perked up next. "Never have I ever kissed someone sitting in this room on New Year's," he said, grinning wickedly at Luca.

"Gabriel! I thought you were on my side," Mila pouted, folding down her pointer finger.

The blonde winced before shooting her an apologetic look. "Shit. Sorry, Mila."

Luca let out a dramatically long sigh in response. "Mila and I were supposed to run away to Italy together, but alas—" He turned, throwing a mock glare at Charles—"She's been stolen by a man who drives very fast cars, forced to live out her Monaco WAG era."

Alix was the first to laugh at his dramatics. "To be fair, it's not official until it's Instagram official, though," she pointed out. "Are you guys doing the soft launch or the full-blown couple selfie?"

Gabriel tutted at that. "Come on, Charles is definitely the type to go for the subtle hand-holding-at-sunset shot."

"Guys, guys, guys. You're giving him too much credit," Luca cut in, trying to contain his laughter. "It'll be a blurry picture of Mila with some cryptic caption like 'A good day.'"

The table burst into laughter, and Mila forced herself to join in, even though something about the whole conversation didn't sit right with her.

Mila knew that their jokes were in good faith, and she forced herself to smile and even let out a laugh at their different takes. However, she could feel the way this entire conversation dug deeper at her insecurities, especially given the situation she was currently in with the public backlash on her own character.

Not wanting to ruin the jokes, though, she did her best to push her insecurities back down into her stomach, turning to Charles and raising a playful brow. "Now I'm curious. Which angle will you go for if the time comes?"