Georgia
"This is exciting. I can't believe it took you so long to decide to do this. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all, you're here now. That's all that matters." Michael squealed in excitement.
Drew tapped my shoulder smiling, "you sure you wanna do this?"
"Drew, I will forbid you from joining in this process if you don't keep your questions to yourself." Michael warned.
Drew smirked.
"Play nice you two." I scolded. I looked at Drew. "I want to do this, Drew. This has nothing to do with Michael's nagging."
"Say what you want, you're finally getting a makeover. I'm too happy to care." Michael rolled his eyes.
I smiled at him through the mirror in front of me.
"Drew?" I raised a brow, also watching him through the mirror.
"You know I think you're beautiful just the way you are, but whatever you choose to do, I'll be supportive of it."
"Thank you." I blushed.
We'd been friends for almost eighteen years now and till date he still didn't know that once upon a time, I had a school girl crush on him. Okay. Maybe once upon a time isn't very accurate. But my crush on Drew was nothing serious. It couldn't be.
Sometimes I feel like he knows about it and is probably just pretending not to know so he wouldn't hurt my feelings. Either ways, being friends was better. We've been inseparable since I was four and they were five, and letting childish feelings destroy our bond was out of the question. Besides, I'd always thought of it as fleeting, and I like to believe that at one point in our life, I saw him only as a friend.
But fuck Puberty for messing with my mind...
I remembered my crush on Drew only in times like these when I was feeling my lowest. He was always there to comfort me. I guess that's why I could never completely stop liking him.
"How much longer do we have to wait?" I stood on my feet, walking back to the guys.
"Alfred is on his way. This is what happens when you don't have an appointment. Learn. For the future." Michael reprimanded sweetly.
"Ahh..." I groaned. "I'm already so tired."
"Beauty is tiring. This is a process you'll just have to go through."
"Bullshit." Drew snickered. Michael shot daggers through his eyes at him.
"Maybe I should rethink this whole makeover thing."
"No!" Michael yelled. He placed his hand on my shoulder and moved me to my spot on the seat in front of the mirror. "You just sit down here, I'll give Alfred a... oh... my... God."
"What?"
I followed his eyes to the man he was staring at.
"Who's that?" I questioned.
"Did you meet him at a bar or something?" Drew teased.
"Shut up." He looked at me. "That's the guy from yesterday."
"What guy?" Drew said before I could ask.
"The one from the church?" Michael nodded for me to follow along. "You know, blue suit... handsome... black hair..."
"Ahh..." I gasped. "That's him?"
I pointed.
"Yup. I told you he was gorgeous."
"Can someone catch me up? What are you two talking about?"
"You should go over and demand an explanation. Or better still, yell at him for being an ass."
"What?" Drew and I both said.
"You said you wanted to stop being timid, here's your chance. Go over there and let him have it."
"But..."
"No buts. Do it. No makeover will make you less timid. You have to want to not be timid."
"You're right."
I rose to my feet.
"What is happening here?" Drew yelled.
"None of your business. You were too busy enjoying your beach house with your wife, this doesn't concern you."
"Michael , I swear to God if you don't fill me in right this..."
I didn't hear the rest of their fight. I was already halfway across the room. The closer I got to the blue suit guy from yesterday, the more afraid I became. I had to talk myself into continuing on my stride with every step I took. I halted at his back. I was about to turn around and leave when I heard his conversation over the phone.
"Tell her I'm unavailable..." He paused. "No, I broke up with her. It's not my fault she is inlove with me."
"Look Skylar, give her some money and send her away. Just deal with her."
"Whatever you want to do is fine. If you wanna have her, that's also fine by me. I'm sure it's fine by her too. Just get her off my back. Thank you. Bye."
My blood began to boil with rage. Courage replaced my fear and I stomped to his front, blocking his path.
He looked at me like I was insane or something. Like I was underneath him.
"Remember me?" I frowned.
If I wasn't weak and I could actually throw a punch without busting my wrist, I would have done so when he tried to walk around me, pretending like I didn't exist.
"You are such an asshole." I screamed. That got his attention. "I can't believe I ever thought you were a nice person. I guess you were just acting, you... jerk. Thanks a lot for nothing. I hope you know karma's a bitch and it's coming for you. Your heart is as black as coal. I hope you fall down this lift."
With my heart beating louder and heavier than ever, I took one look at his face and walked out of his sight.
Stunned.
I'd stunned him and myself.
When I was far enough from him, I picked up the pace, running towards Michael and Drew. I stopped in front of them, catching my breath.
"That was amazing. I can't believe you did that?"
"I know right." Michael and I screamed together.
"I got to admit, it was nice seeing you like that. Good job kiddo." Drew tapped my shoulder.
Kiddo! How much longer does he plan to call me that?
We didn't have time to celebrate more because the next thing we knew, security arrived to drag us out of the mall.
It would have been so embarrassing if they hadn't recognized Drew. Because of him, we were escorted out. And then banned from ever going back in.
Michael cursed in all the languages he knew. He was so pissed. And it showed in his driving.
"Michael, don't kill us, please..."
"I can't believe he owns the stupid mall. And so what if he owns it, what right did he have to throw us out? We are customers. Doesn't he know that the customer is always right? So he got shouted at a little, big whoop..." He continued to rant, his feet pressing harder on the accelerator.
"Michael, I'm too young to die. Please don't kill me, I haven't even had sex yet."
"What?" They both yelled.
Michael brought the car to a stop immediately. He parked by the side.
"What do you mean you haven't had sex yet?" Michael gave me one of those his 'you better not lie to me' look.
Me and my big mouth. I couldn't have just kept quiet or said something else.
I fiddled with my fingers. "I... we... Tommy and I..."
"Didn't have sex?" Drew laughed. He sounded too happy to hear that.
"Stop laughing. There's nothing funny about this." Michael said to Drew, "Why did you say you had then?" He looked at me.
"Well... you kept pressuring me. I wasn't ready yet."
"So what have you guys been doing all this time? I mean two years is a long time for a man like Tommy to be in a relationship and not have sex."
He looked at me expectantly.
"What? You really want me to answer that?" I squeezed.
"Yes..."
"Well, we did a lot of foreplay and... uhm... oral."
"I did not need to know that." Drew said.
"You're married, you already know that." Michael retorted.
"I'm sorry I lied to you, Michael."
"It's okay. Doesn't matter anymore, does it?"
"You think that's why he left me?"
I didn't want to cry, but I was a crybaby. Simple situations like this one made me tear up.
"He's a fool to leave a girl like you."
Something about the way Drew said it comforted me and made my heart skip. Was my crush on him back? I shouldn't be thinking of him in that light. If not for any reason, for the mere fact that he was married. Happily to his high school sweetheart.
"Yeah. He's a fool. You're great, Gia. You know that right?"
I nodded.
"The tables turned really fast in there, huh?" I choked on a laughter. Drew and Michael bursted out laughing.
"I guess it pays to be best friends with an Olympic medalist."
"Current Olympic gold medalist in swimming." Drew boasted, a wide grin on his face.
"But like seriously, he owns the fucking place?" I laughed even harder. "How did you not know that?"
"We should Google him."
Michael brought out his phone and tapped on it. A few seconds later, he gasped. I looked at his phone.
"Oh my God." I said with wide eyes.