A few days later
I opened the door using my key while holding the red velvet cake box in my hand. It was Paola's 24th birthday and it was my job to get the cake.
I think she's pissed at me because Justine and I woke up this morning and walked right past her when she was in the kitchen and drove all the way to work without saying happy birthday.
Of course, I remembered. We've been friends all our lives but I know that she knows that I've been stressed lately so I used that as an excuse to 'forget' her birthday.
I'm guessing she really thought I forgot because when I called her, she answered and said, "Hello, Pao can't come to the phone right now because she's busy praying to God for better friends. If you're a shitty ass friend please hang up, if you're here to answer God's prayers then please leave a message at the tone, beeeeeeep!" and then she actually hung up.
It's safe to say that I'm a great actress.
I placed the keys in my mouth and opened the door, trying really hard to not spill over the cake. Justine and I ordered it a week ago and I didn't want to be blamed for having to be the reason why we have to be stuck inside eating Walmart ice cream again.
The squirrel attacked me. That's all I'll say about that.
The condo was dark, which gave me the impression that nobody was here. I kicked the door closed behind me. I still had my purse and laptop bag in one hand with my cake in the other.
Although It was dark and I saw no one here, I just wanted to make sure, "Hello!" I shout loud when I reach the kitchen counter, dropping the cake on the counter safely and then walking out of the kitchen to the living room couch, dropping my bags on top.
My suspicions were correct because I saw Ryan walking out around the corner to come to see me, his eyes barely open as he rubs them and I'm met with his bare chest until I look down, and I really wish I didn't because I scream loudly to see him as naked as the day he was born.
When he hears me scream he jumps and his eyes are finally wide open when he sees me and he shrieks, literally shrieks higher than me, covers himself with his hands, and runs out of the room. I have a feeling that he unwrapped his little um...gift for Paola as a surprise and then got me instead.
"Oh my God," I speak and then I gasp and grab my throat with both hands. My voice is raspy. My voice is practically gone.
"No. No. No!" I sigh throwing my head back, irritated that my voice sounds like I have a frog in my throat, "I literally have to interview Kylie Jenner tomorrow and my voice sounds like I smoke 3 packs a day!"
I hear footsteps coming towards me and I turn back around to see Ryan wearing a white t-shirt and black sweatpants. Smiling sheepishly as he runs his hands through his newly dyed blonde hair.
"Hey, Bubbles." Ryan's nickname that he had given me a few years ago, falls from his lips as he smiled sheepishly and I purse my lips, crossing my arms to look at him.
"Tell me why." I say at the same time that he says, "I'm sorry!"
"What? You don't know what my voice sounds like by now when I walk through the door?" I ask him in disbelief, "And Ryan you have a home. Why don't you ever stay there?"
"It's not my home. It belongs to your ex boo thing, and it feels weird sleeping there sometimes now that I'm always here." he says causing me to sigh, "And why are you even back this early, you workaholic? It's 12 pm." He places a hand on his hip
I sulk my shoulders a bit, "You're girlfriend is mad at me. I pretended to forget her birthday and she practically called me a shitty friend on the phone today."
Ryan smiles widely, "That's my girl. Always speaking her mind." My upper lip raises a bit as I look at him in shock at his response before shaking my head a bit and side-stepping past him to get to my room so I can grab her present that I hid under my bed. He follows me into the room
"So you came back early, to say you're sorry and give her cake?"
"I came back early because I got through with work early and I wanted to stop hearing that fake voicemail message every time I call her. Even when I text her she sends me a message saying Error: Message Not Received."
He laughs at that and crosses his arms grinning at me, "So do you have it?"
I nod at him as I grab the box out of the plastic bag that hid my actual present. I hold up the black velvet box that Ryan had me hide a week ago when we went ring shopping for the perfect ring that we both felt described Paola.
He came to me a month ago saying that he wanted to propose to Paola and I couldn't be more excited but not surprised because I knew it would happen at some point. We went to Tiffany's and got her a ring that reminded Ryan of Paola's expressive and bold nature. Justine and Cyrus were aware of Ryan's plans and the only person that didn't know was Paola herself.
Since we graduated high school, Paola finally followed her dream and started her first youtube channel. Since then she's accumulated about 400K subscribers and her content consists of beauty, pop-culture commentary, and girl talks. Paola has always radiated big-sister energy to me because although she plays around a lot, there have been times in my life where she's shown me a few things and given me advice whether it was about guys or self-confidence or just anything under the sun.
Its a shame she doesn't have any sisters. Her brother, Brian does come to her every time he has girl problems though.
Her becoming an influencer is the best job that I could have ever seen her having and she says the money is great.
With her being so close to her subscribers, Ryan initially thought of recording the proposal for it to go on her channel although he wasn't sure because he was scared she'd say no.
She wasn't going to say no. Ryan is the only boyfriend she'll probably ever have that will sit and do voice-overs for her makeup routines.
Due to the fact that he and Cyrus had taken over the responsibilities that Jesse left in terms of the gang, Ryan was wary about his face actually being on Paola's channel. He does it as a precaution so that if anything were to happen on any of the jobs they have and he were to end up in Jesse's position, Paola wouldn't end up in some sort of drama or scandal with her now being a public figure.
If I had been dating Jesse publicly nowadays with my career being where it is, that definitely could've been my situation for sure. Probably would lose my job too.
It's to the point that some of her subscribers have found Ryan's voice to be 'sexy' in all his voiceovers and the way his hands look in certain pictures that Paola posts to Instagram on her story, that Ryan has become almost like Corpse Husband. They all wanna see his face. Paola has to explain that he's camera shy.
It definitely frustrates Paola that she can't share who Ryan is and what he means to her and he has been thinking about becoming more present in her life in terms of social media since her job is to document her life. Now that he wants to be a permanent part of it, he might be ready to take her up on the offer she made a long time ago about them being a couple's channel.
I hold out the ring box to him and say," Here you go, kind sir. You do her any wrong and I will personally send a hit out on you." I say and he huffs out a genuine laugh before smothering flashes in his eyes like he just remembers something.
"Speaking of putting hits out on people. I have to talk to you about Jesse. He--" I cut him off while pressing my hands to my ears saying, "La la la." over and again to avoid hearing him talk about my ex.
He huffs and rolls his eyes, "I just don't want you to be surprised when--"
"Ryan." I cut him off, "Isn't he supposed to be getting out a few months from now? Why is he even a topic of discussion? I'm not talking about him right now. I was just in a good mood."
He looks at me in silence for a long while before nodding saying, "You're right. What was I thinking." he sighs and purses his lips shaking his head.
"What is something wrong? Is he okay?" I ask with genuine concern
He nods his head and says, "He's more than okay. Great, actually." he says releasing a sigh.
"Good. I'm glad." I nod firmly before taking out the present I had for Paola that I put in the bag with Ryan's ring, walking hurriedly out of the room, going to the living room to start setting up the condo for Paola's party.
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[A/N] Wonder what he wanted to tell her about Jesse...
Not completely edited