TRICIA's POV
"The others miss you too. The other day, when the girls and I are going through stuff for my wedding, they told me they wished you would be there. And well, I hope so too but at that time we didn't know where you were. How on earth did you manage to pull that off? Hiding..."
I smiled proudly and shrugged.
"Well~"
"You even work for a famous company with a high position yet you weren't in the news nor in magazines. You really aren't working for Exor, are you?" She narrowed her eyes at me as if she's daring me and I laughed at her little gesture.
"Of course I work for Exor. I'm just not part of the advertising or publicity department. I work at my desk and I prefer people not putting my face in magazines or in any news of some sort. It's only a plus that you guys weren't able to find me anywhere at all."
"And Tee wouldn't tell us anything. I really wonder what kind of bribe did you give her to shut up? We both know she isn't that loyal." She said in a quite annoyed tone and I laughed again at her little remarks with our friend Tee. Well, Tee is a player so that's why Sky said that.
But of course, Tee knows that I wasn't able to forget Sky nor was I able to move on from how I felt about her if I hadn't distanced myself from them. Although the rest of the group could guess that I did like my best friend back in college but they didn't know how deep it was for me. They even teased us before but I was always able to evade those remarks.
"Tee is just lazy to explain to you guys. After all, I can be everywhere. I work at my desk, yes. But I travel around the world to meet clients and business partners with my bosses so it's difficult to tell where I would be. Like, few months back I was in Greece, then in Australia and France. It was only two weeks when I came back to UK and now I'm here. So that's really the reason why I'm hard to find. But we're still connected through social media so it's not really that bad. Besides, Tee and I only meet once in 6 years." I told her.
"Well, yeah. But social media is nothing compared to physical attendance, Armstrong. And I hope that we were included in that once in 6 years meeting of yours and Tee." She said with so much attitude and even rolled her eyes on me.
I smiled apologetically. Then, fortunately, we were interrupted by a girl who suddenly stood before us. She seems uncomfortable. She keeps glancing back. And I noticed that she's with her friends. I also noticed that they were still in their uniforms. They're college students. The girl keeps looking back and forth from me to Sky and I looked at my best friend who looked at me too.
"Sorry Miss. What can I do for you?" I asked her politely.
The girl took a deep breath and I glance again at Sky who took a sip of her coffee.
"Ummm... I know this sounds strange but can I kiss you in the cheeks?" She said shyly and I was stunned for a moment and that also made Sky coughed at her coffee. We did not expect that.
"I-I'm sorry. W-What?"
In my peripheral view, I can see Sky stifling a laugh and I notice that the girl's cheeks were getting redder and redder by the moment while her friends were intently watching the moment. The girl took another deep breath one more time before speaking.
"My friends and I are playing truth or dare and they dared me to kiss you but I don't want to be invasive so I asked. I'm sorry but can I fulfill my dare? I know you have a girlfriend but it's only for the dare, I swear." She said so quickly that she sounds muffling and turned to Sky.
"I promise. It's only for the dare Miss, please don't get jealous or get upset.".
Sky chuckled instead of laughed. For some reason, her stifled laughs disappeared and I saw a tinge of redness in her cheeks. Or was it my imagination?
"I'm sorry. We're not a couple." She said and I felt like my heart is crushed inside my chest. Am I hurt? What for? It's the truth though.
"Yeah. We're not. She's engaged." I said in a little bit offensive tone and the girl even get reddened.
"Oh. I'm sorry. It's just... You looked, ummm, you guys good together. The way you smile to each other, the way you laugh and look at each other, I thought you were a couple. I'm really sorry. Uhmm, it you wouldn't let me do my dare, it's okay."
Then the girl started to turn away from us but Sky reached for the girl's wrist. The girl turned back and I looked at her in confusion.
"Wait... Come on, Armstrong. Help her. It's only for a dare. Give the girl some mercy, will you? Don't be so mean."
I looked at her in surprise and my jaw dropped in disbelief.
"What?"
"It's just a cheek kiss." She looked at me again with those eyes.
Damn you,Sky. You really know how to control me. And damn me for still being under her control.
"Alright. Whenever you're ready kid." I said and in just a flash, the girl lean into me and I felt a peck of kiss in my cheeks. I suddenly felt my cheeks burning, not because of the girl but because of a certain memory that flashed in my mind. I got deja vu.
"Thank you, Miss!" The girl beamed at me before turning to looked at Sky again.
"Thank you, Miss. You're an angel. Because of you, my friends won't mock me for not succeeding." She grinned and ran back towards her friends.
This time, Sky let out her suppressed laugh and I just looked at her in disbelief, shaking my head.
"That was priceless. You should have seen the look on your face when she first asked you about the kiss. Epic."
"Thanks for pushing it." I simply said then we looked at each other for a moment and for some reason, we both shared a heartily laugh. I wonder if she's remembering what I remembered.
We fell into silence and I know that we're both thinking about the same thing.
"Truth or dare, huh? That's nostalgic." She started, breaking our silence and I looked at her and she has that smile on her face that tells me she is remembering it too.
"We met through Truth or dare."
"Did we? I'm so sorry, I couldn't remember it. The only thing I remember when we first met was you kissing my cheek." I said playful but trying to keep a straight face. Then she reached out and slapped my arm across the table.
"You are such a jerk, Rebecca!"
I laughed.
It's true though. We did meet that way. Just like how the girl was dared to kiss me. Sky was dared by Cassey and Lyssa. At the time, we didn't know each other yet. I remembered, I was in the hallway with some girls and boys circled around me, pushing and giving me different stuff at the same time, I just won the election for student council President that time. Then she came along; Skylar. All confident and defiant looking. I remembered glancing at her and thought she was weird. I was busy refusing all the stuff those students were giving me when she stood and looked at me as if she's judging me from head to toe. Scrutinizing me under her gaze as if I'm nothing but a normal student. Far from everyone who's treating me as if I'm God's gift to earth.
Then she pushed through the circle of students and stood in front of me. Before I knew what was happening, she held my face and kissed my cheek. And my world stopped, those who around me did too. They were too shocked at what just happened because some girl got to kiss me first than them. At first, I was stunned and then annoyed. I didn't like people touching me nor kissing me all of a sudden. But later, I realized that I was also amused. Then I found myself watching her as she walked back to Cassey and Lyssa who was laughing and giggling at her. I couldn't understand her expression at the time though. I couldn't read her. And little did I know that that was the start of our friendship.
I looked at Sky across the table and she had a slight blush on her cheeks. I suddenly find it funny so I didn't hold my laughter.
"Stop laughing, Rebecca! Seriously. It's not funny. It was a dare and you know it. How dare you say that the kiss was the only thing you remember. You were such a jerk, do you know that? And may I remind you that the days after that, you kept going near me, pestering me, brushing past me whenever we cross paths. Do you know how much those flirty and busty girls and boys pushed me around because of you?" She complained.
Okay, I didn't know that at first. But when I did, I angrily told those people to back off.
"I know. I didn't know they were doing those to you. That's why when I knew, I shut them off, right?" I told her.
"Yeah. That was how I thought you weren't that bad after all. Except, a few days after that, you resumed what you were doing." She said with a bit of annoyance as she reminisced those days and I laughed again in admittance that I did those to piss her off because honestly, I wanted to get her attention.
"But, I stopped right?"
"Yeah, you did after a long time."
I stopped when I saw her at the park, cryingc but it wasn't because of me. She was crying because her grandmother passed away at that day and she wasn't by her side when she died in the hospital. She was at school and couldn't leave because we have an exam.
"After the day at the park, I thought that you really weren't bad. You even treated me to dinner when I stopped crying. And you said all those nice stuff that made me feel better. And after dinner, you even drive me to the hospital."
"I was never the bad guy, Babe. I don't know why but I just love pissing you back then. Maybe because you're too cute when even you're pissed with all your eyebrows colliding with each other." I said as I watch a smile crept into her lips as she looked into my eyes.
My heart suddenly couldn't stop pounding on my chest. I think, remembering all those memories really isn't good because I feel like I'm about to hyperventilate. Those were the memories I wanted to forget. But I couldn't because they were just too good.
"What can I say? I'm a charmer." She chuckled, finding it funny to compliment herself before she smile widely, flashing her bunny teeth and her gummy smile.
Oh God, she's just so beautiful.
It's just not fair that after all these years, she still has this effect on me. Why has she still not changed after all these time? She's still Sky. She's still the girl who teases the crap out of me whenever she feels like it, she's still the only person who knows how to push my buttons. She's still the one who is witty when she wants to be, the one that I really want to protect even if I know that she doesn't need protection anymore, she's still the one who manages to make my heart beat miles per hour. Sky is still the one whom I fell in love with. She is and will always be. The only difference is that, she was just a girl and now, she's a full grown woman... and engaged.
I sipped my coffee which, I noticed, is already cold. Hers is probably the same as I notice her frown when she sipped from her cup. I checked the time and my eyes went wide. It's already nine o'clock in the evening? Which means, we've been here for six hours. Ironic, huh? Six years, six hours.
"We should probably head home. I didn't realized we've been here for six hours. Nico might be worried about you."
Sky checked the time too and I smiled as her eyes widened too.
"Oh my God! Did we really spent six hours talking??? I didn't think it would already be this late." She even looked outside the café and noticed that the sky is already dark.
"See? This is what happens when someone doesn't show up for a long time."
"I know and I'm so sorry. Let's go. I'll walk you to your car." I offered.
She's about to protest but I took her hand and walked out of the café as I left money for our bill.
We walked down the street and I didn't notice that I was still holding her hand but when I did, I immediately let go. But my heart suddenly I missed her warmth right after I released it.