Now listen.. was I a little drunk ?, yes, was I stoned ?, yes.. did I feel like the hottest queer person on earth at the moment ?, yes. But hey, the four vodka shots I took with Austin, all the smoking we did, and the haircut he gave me were all working perfectly. Did I mention Austin knew exactly what to do and when to do it ?. No ?, okay now you know.
The whole point was to be cool, and okay with everything because, Hayley was right, we were grown ups now and who gave a shit that she lied to me, broke up with me for no reason, and immediately fucked a friend of mine. All of that didn't matter at all, after all, it was all a thing in the past, am I right ?. Ofcourse I am.
I pack my jeep right in front of the gym and pocket my keys, taking a quick look at myself in the front view mirror, ensuring my short pony tail is still as high as it should be and hopefully not as high as I was. Austin had added a bit more colour to my hair and it was now a shiny dark blue, shaved in the back leaving just a bit of hair and the front part which was a bit overgrown was now held up.
"Holy fuck, you're hot you know that ?" I speak to myself adjusting the little mirror and the memory of Sparks saying I'm beautiful this morning hits me. It's weird how it gets me to smile still and look away from the mirror afraid that she could be lying and I didn't want to find out.
Suddenly someone taps my car window and I quickly turn almost breaking my neck in the process, Ow !. But right after turning and my eyes meet with the blue ones staring right at me with curiosity. I wish that I had broken my neck in the process and died. Instead though, I release a breath and roll down the window, plastering what my face could manage to be a friendly smile at the moment.
"What a coincidence, it's like we arrived at the same time" Hayley speaks sounding excited about that and I nod slowly just eyeing her the smile still on my face. See, I could think of words at the moment but it was kind of a problem letting them out. I was still a little startled, frozen, stoned and a little tipsy. I think this was a bad idea, all of this was a bad idea.
"Hey there" I smirk. It was all a bad idea but it wasn't about that at the moment, it was about me facing my problems and looking as unaffected as possible and trying to get an investment for my gym. That was all that mattered now.
"Umm, hi ?" she says tilting her head a little and eyeing me, her beautiful eyes sparkling with curiosity. Yes Hayley, here I am...unaffected, a few years down the line, but still.. unaffected. I push the car door open and she moves back a bit as I step out, almost tripping on my own feet but managing just fine and closing the door behind me.
"Are you okay ?" she speaks again, concern clear in her smooth, low voice and I eye her slowly from the bottom taking in her slim legs in tight blue jeans, a white V-neck t-shirt that exposed a little to much and then up to her face. I am not going to lie, if there was someone that could give you a show even with the tiniest things, it was Hayley. I watch in awe, as she slowly darts her tongue out and licks her lower lip, bringing it between her teeth and smiling slightly.... Why ?, because she knew I was watching. And I could have sworn that all of this was happening in slow motion. Or I was just high maybe ?.
Luckily my eyes, land on hers and I quickly snap back to reality "Ofcourse I am, I feel okay, amazing actually, do I look not okay ?" I move back a bit stretching my arms for her and she looks me up and down and shakes her head.
"No.. you look amazing" she laughs and it somehow sends chills up my spine and I feel slightly angry. Angry because she was completely okay and I was letting little things like her laughter remind me of things they shouldn't. Things I had and she took away.
"I know" I nod, still trying to keep the smile on my face "Should we start this thing now ?" I ask pointing towards the gym and she nods and walks ahead of me and I know, I know its wrong, but out of habit, my eyes quickly access her back side, immediately landing on her fit ass and how the jeans-.. focus Nine, shit. Fuck. This was already a bad start, maybe getting high wasn't a good idea. This is Austin's fault. We walk in the gym and to my office but not before noticing the weird look Chris gives me before following behind.
"Need anything ?" he asks and I shake my head.
"Maybe her, I dont know" I shrug pointing at Hayley and Chris follows us to the office and listens as Hayley asks for just water before he leaves.
I walk to the other side of the desk and sit, somehow feeling like a big boy, because, I never thought I would be here when I was teenager. In an office I called mine, sitting on a chair that was my 'big boy' chair, though it wasn't the same as Nik's, and that was next to my 'big boy' desk. I thought that I'd probably be dead or in prison by now. I was kind of.. proud of myself ?. My life wasn't the best at the moment, but I worked for it, the right way too. I deserved it and I wouldn't loose it.
"Ofcourse you'd own a gym" I'm snapped back to reality when another voice speaks and I look at Hayley as she sits across from me, smiling her little pretty girl smile.
"Hmm ?" I raise my eyebrows.
"I mean.. this, looks like you.. it's like the one thing you'd do perfectly.. I wouldn't picture you doing anything else" she says sounding like she knows me so well and it somehow slightly pisses me off. She didn't know me now, she used to know me but I've changed a lot. I'm not even sure she knew me that well back then.
"Well, I'm studying psychology now too so.." I say leaning back in my chair eyeing her. Wanting her to look at me and see the change that was clear, I didn't want her to act like she knew or knows me at all. Because who she knew, she broke.
"Also seems like what you'd do" she shrugs not breaking eye contact with me and I scoff.
"Well you don't know me so stop acting like you do" I raise my eyebrows struggling to get the point across that she was really pissing me off. Before she can speak though, Chris walks in and apologizes placing a water bottle on the table before excusing himself and exiting.
"That's fair" Hayley finally says after escorting Chris out with her haunting eyes.
"You think ?" I scoff, my eyes widening as I smile at her and she does this weird thing where she nods her head and brings her lips together in a straight line just eyeing me making me frown before she clears her throat.
"So let's get down to business" she says. And I was pretty poor at reading people but right there was an attempt to pull me away from the other topic, lucky for her I didn't give much of a shit about the other topic. "So... I noticed that the right question was asked to the wrong person" she says sitting straight and using her index finger to tap the desk.
"Huh ?".
"You asked me what I have to offer.. I'm the one investing here, so what have you got, Cainine ?" she looks up at me, her eyebrows furrowed, clearly her serious face on and I sit up straight. It would be soo much better if Austin were here.
"A lot actually.. you have to know that this is the only gym around this area, which leads to most people coming here.. those that don't have their home gym that is" I explain "Yeah, so I do earn a lot monthly, but have recently gotten ideas that aren't really possible without an investor, and I also need good advertising, and kind of a large sum of money in a short time" I say and she nods frowning.
"So you're not looking for a long term partnership ?" she asks leaning back in her chair.
"Matters on how things will go" I shrug and she nods again.
"You've never had an investor why start looking now to expand your business ?" she asks.
"Personal reasons" I tell her squinting a little. What kind of question was that ?.
"That's not an answer" she shakes her head and I sigh.
"I just told you I need a large sum of cash in a short time".
"Why ?, are you in trouble or something ?" she asks and at this point she's just being a nosy bitch. Investor my flat ass.
"I don't think that's any of your business" I eye her slightly tilting my head and she shakes her head.
"I think it is" she says and I rub my eyes, getting a bit irritated. The weed wasn't working anymore.
"How ?" I ask.
"If my business is getting involved in yours, I need to know whether it'll be safe and secure" she says seeming proud of her response and I roll my eyes.
"No, I'm not" I answer my jaw clenched.. "What company do you work for anyways ?" I ask leaning back on my chair eyeing her.
"It's a company that deals with making machines, not necessarily, gym equipment's, but they're also involved.. so there is some type of connection" Hayley explains as her well made index finger with really long acrylic nail, traces the cap of the bottle of water "And see apart from getting a profit from the investment, we want to be able to also advertise some of our equipment and try them out.." she says and I nod. This happened to be so convenient I couldn't believe it.
"Okay" I nod. I have to admit I was slightly curious on how she ended up working for such a company, she was more of a 'fashion designer' and 'model' kind of girl back then. I guess we both have changed.
"I hear your gym has been running steadily for about four years, so I believe we can trust it and you" she says looking from the water bottle to me.
"Sure, as long as we can do the same with your company" I say, I wasn't going to mention her and trust in the same sentence though, we all knew she didn't give a shit about trust.
Fuck Nine, it's not about that now. Head in the fucking game, this might actually work well.
"Ofcourse" she nods "I'll bring the contracts tomorrow for you to sign ?" she questions and I nod really shocked it was that easy. Well damn.
"That was easier than I thought" I mumble and she smiles.
"How many ?" she asks suddenly and I frown.
"How many what ?" I ask a bit puzzled by her weird question.
"How many joints did you have to smoke, and bottles of beer did you down to be able to stay this calm for this long ?" she asks tilting her head, a knowing smile still on her face.
"What the fuck are you talking about ?" I ask raising my hands in defence, acting shocked and completely innocent. I wanted her to think I managed all on my own, I wanted her to think I didn't give a shit that she did that all those years back.
"Calm down Allison" she chuckles "How do you think I survive this world ?" she asks and I just eye her "Now don't you fucking lie to me, do you have some on you now ?" she asks, pointing me.
"What ? Weed ?" I ask, still eyeing her, eyes wide and she nods eagerly.
And that's how we ended up in my car Hayley sited on the passenger seat, legs stretched out and on the dashboard, her head thrown back, puffing out smoke, her wavy blonde hair, dangling at the back.
"Holy fuck, I missed this" she groans and I nod just watching her, as she speaks to me normally as if we're best friends "I don't remember the last time I just sat back and let this solve my problems" she goes on.
"Mmh" I mumble and she looks up at me and stretches it out to me placing it between the tips of her thumb and index finger.
"You want ?" she asks and I quickly snatch it from her hand. I think I needed to be more stoned to comprehend what was happening.
"Well of course, it's mine you idiot" I tell her and place it between my lips, closing my eyes as I feel the puff I had just taken relax me and I am able to lay back on my sit and release some tension.
I hear Hayley move in her sit a little and I open my eyes to find her turning the radio on, Nico and the Niners by twenty one pilots flowing through the speakers. She smiles looking at me.
"Wow.. Perfect" she coos snatching the joint from me before sitting back in her old position singing some of the lyrics out loud as she puffs out a lot of smoke through her mouth and nose. This brought out many memories so many and though it angered me that here she was comfortably sited in my car as if nothing had happened, it still got me to smile. We would do this back in high school almost all the time, meditate to twenty on pilots and medicate to weed, do 'some other things' to green day and kings of Leon. But that was long ago.
"Still like getting high to their songs I see" I comment and she opens one of her eyes peaking at me.
"What can I say, old habits die hard" she says and I couldn't agree more. I inhale deeply and roll down the windows to let some of the smoke out then look back at her. How the fuck was this really happening ?. It all seemed like one of those dreams or imaginations I'd have after I ran away from home. It was fucked up.
"So, how do you work in a company that deals with machines ?" I ask a bit curious on how that ended up happening and trying to keep up conversation, not allowing myself to think and get angry over the past. She passes the blunt to me without looking at me.
"My dad owns it, I'm just helping with the work" she says and I almost chock on the smoke.
"I'm sorry, d'you say dad ?" I ask, because last I checked, she didn't know where her dad was.
"Yeah, my step-dad.. My mother got married a few years back to this guy.. Probably because he's fucking loaded" she explains and I nod, looking over at her for any change in facial expression or anything. Nope, nothing. So I guess she was okay with that.
'"Nice" I give her back the joint, waving some of the smoke away from my face with my hand "So how'd you find out my gym needed an investor ?" I ask a bit curious whether it was from Austin's ad, and whether she knew I owned the place, before coming here.
"I have my sources" she says still not looking at me and I frown.
"What sources ?,the freaking internet ?" I scoff.
"Not really, just a source" she shrugs sitting up finally and looking at me. What other source could there be ?, she was acting so weird.
"Okay then" I shrug not wanting to seem nosy and all interested in her shit. She tilts her head slightly and stares right at me making me frown, what was she doing ?. "What ?" I ask, wondering what that weird look was for.
"Nothing" she shakes her head and looks outside the window on her side. See.. Weird.
Just then I hear my phone slightly, vibrating indicating I had just received a message. I throw the remaining blunt out the car and pull my phone out of my pocket.
~Hey, see now I regret not being there..~ I read the message and smile to myself knowing it's Sparks and quickly reply.
~You already miss me ?~ I question.
~Ofcourse not, you idiot, because I want to see that stupid haircut you've been making a big fuss about.. You left me what ?, 10 messages about it~. I read the message and chuckle a little picturing her saying those words exactly, with her cute voice.
"The English girl got you smiling like that ?" I look up when I hear Hayley speaking and I find her looking at me curiosity clear in her face. I wonder why the hell it matters to her.
"Her name's Flame" I say typing back a reply quickly.
~I've got a fuck girl haircut, but only for you, so that only you would want to fuck with me~ I press send, read it again then text a second time.
~I'm so high, don't judge my texts.. Please~.
"Nice name.. Not really common" Hayley comments and I nod smiling.
"The whole of her is just.... unique" I tell her and my phone vibrates again indicating there was another message.
~I wasn't going to judge, cammon.. do you know me at all Forbes ?~. I could read the sarcasm in the text and it made me chuckle again.
"I guess it's time for me to head back... Meet here tomorrow ?" Hayley asks and I look up at her from my phone and nod.
"Yeah, okay", weed really worked on me today didn't it ?.
I watch her open the car door and walk out slamming it behind her and giving me a small smile that was so plain and obviously fake before she waves and walks off, leaving me with a few questions about her weird ass behaviours. But maybe that was just who she was now, we had already established that we were both changed people now. So maybe she just stared at people like she had a lot to say to them at times. I shrug, who cares anyway ?, I dont want to care or to be involved in her shit. No sir.
**
I am sick and weak at the moment so I apologize if the chapter is a bit weak, but I am so tired and feel like absolute shit rightnow. I have a terrible cold and cramps and it's like a taste of hell. Just make my day, leave a comment and press the star goddamit, the next chapter might just pop up depending on how I feel tomorrow.
** What they said^..