TRICIA's POV
My first day at work in Exor Philippines was so busy and I didn't realized it was already four o'clock. My thoughts were separated from work when I received a call from Sky. But it took me a while to answer it as I held the phone and pondered if I should pick it or not. In the end, I answered it.
"Hey." I greeted.
"Don't you 'hey' us, Rebecca Patricia Armstrong! Where the hell have you been? Why did you just vanish off the face of the Earth, huh? How could you do that to us? I thought we were friends!" I squirm as I hear Lyssa's familiar and loud voice.
"Oh. Hi, Ly. How have you been? It's great to hear your voice again."
"You can't pull yourself out of this, Tricia. Get yourself over here so we can catch up!." Said another voice and I recognized it from Georgina.
I gulped. Georgina in that tone, is never a good person to talk to. She's difficult to handle in that mood and everyone knows it.
"Ummm... who is we?"
And I got a rush of blood as I heard all of my friends' voices in the background. I got goosebumps. God, I missed them so much too, no matter how much I think they're a handful; they're the best buddies I can ever ask for, especially back in our college days.
"We're in Mistral Rooftop Bar here in Makati. Be here as soon as you can, ok?" I heard Cassey's familiar voice and I let out a sigh.
"Alright guys... I know you've been waiting for this. I'll be there." I surrendered and then I heard them all squeal in excitement.
"You owe us a lot, Rebecca." Sky finally said, and I smiled even if I knew she couldn't see it.
We hang up after few more banters and when I check my watch and it's too early to leave but I checked my schedule and saw that I'm almost done for the day, so I gathered my things and left my office. I told Aries, my assistant who eventually became my best friend that I'm leaving and to just call me if anything urgent happened.
I was on my way to the location of my friends which really is just ten minutes away from the company if the traffic is not too bad. Then as soon as I reached and got up to the said rooftop, they saw me before I saw them. Their table is in the further side, near the railing where you can see the beautiful skyline of Makati.
"Tricia!" I first heard and the rest followed.
I smiled as I watched them ran like kids and hugged me really really tight like my bones almost broke.
"Guys... guysss. I-I... I c-can't breath." I said while being crushed inside the arms of Georgina, Cassey, Tee and Lyssa.
"See what you've gotten yourself into, Rebecca? That's worth 6yrs of missing you." Sky said as she stood up from her seat, waiting for other to let me go.
"Yeah! Do you know how much we missed you and fucking your face? OMG! You really grown up into a fine woman! Ugh!" Lyssa said and everyone hummed in agreement.
Lyssa, just like Sky, is one of the studious type in our group. She and Sky were always together when going to the library and I followed them when it's a few days before the exam day.
And one more time, everyone circled around me and gave me a warm hug.
"Come on, guys! Let the girl breath. Do y'all plan on killing her or what?" Sky said, mostly in complain because everyone left her in the table.
"Alright. Let's get off of Tricia before the best friend queue #0 gets jealous." Said Georgina and everyone laughed as they took their seats again.
"Oh God, where have you been all these time Trish? Have you forgotten about us that you never planned on showing up?" Cassey said, pouting at me.
"If it's not because of your accidental encounter with Sky, Tee would never do something for us to meet you."
"Because I don't even know where she is exactly from time to time... she's in different places. Here and there." Tee said defensively and they all narrowed their eyes at me and I just grinned.
"Give Tee a break, guys. She really don't know where I am most of the time. We only met once so it's kind of fair. Anyway, I'm here now and I'm so happy to see you again. I'm not going anywhere now. I mean, I still have to fly here and there but I'm not gonna disappear from all of you."
"As you should." Lyssa said with threatening look and I went to hug her again so she'll get me off her hook.
Then I took the empty seat between Cassey and Georgina.
We're six in the group. But aside from Sky, I'm closest to Tee in our group because we've known each other since high school. And the others consider our friendship as strange because she is the most playful and the most easygoing in our circle while I'm not exactly that. I'm not that playful but I can be. Whenever Tee decides to go out or play a prank on a person, most of the time, I become her partner in crime. She may be like that but in emergencies, she's really dependable and helpful to the end.
Our circle became really close when we started out as an organization in our university then right before we graduated, we disbanded it. Only we, hung out after the org got disbanded.
"So, how is life, guys? What's up with your lives?" I asked.
Then we all started talking about what has already happened in our lives over the past six years. And I can't be more regretful that I wasn't in any of those events. They all stayed together. They may be in different companies, places and cities at some time but they all still met. Especially now that one of us is getting married. I found out that Cassey and Georgina got together four years back and I'm not gonna lie, I was surprised. I didn't think that they would be together because they weren't really close back in college. Then there's Lyssa, who apparently got herself a boyfriend and I guess it's safe to say that she's the only straight one in our group. Then I found out that Georgina is taking her doctorate degree which is a surprise because back in college, she wasn't into studying at all. Cassey, on the other hand, was working as a research assistant in Scotland but went back here for Sky's wedding.
They have all changed but still are close. Somehow, I'm a little jealous but I have no right to be. I chose to stay away.
"So, do you already have a girlfriend, Trish? Or boyfriend? Whatever?" Georgina asked out of nowhere and they all turned their eyes on me. Then my eyes landed at Sky who is looking intently at me. I looked away.
"Ummm... no."
"Wait. Wait... Don't tell us you're already married." Lyssa said, looking at the diamond ring on my finger but in my defense, it's from Mom and Dad. They gifted it to me few years back.
I laughed.
"Of course...not." I answered truthfully and noticed that they were all at the edge of their seats as I answered. "God, you guys. You don't have to be so concerned about my love life."
"No... no.. they're not. They're just really curious if the great Rebbeca Patricia Army already has already someone pinning her down." -Tee said with a smirk and I looked at her in disbelief.
"Pinned down? Well... All the girls I've been with had already pinned me down. But, we just really don't last. Pinning down, for me, is a term for players like you Tee."
They laughed and nodded because they all agreed that what I just said about our friend is nothing but the truth.
"So, did you get someone in the past years?"
I glance at Sky again. She took a sip at her drink then looked back at me. I smiled weakly and hesitated a little though I don't know why.
"I did."
"Aaand?" Cassey asked curiously.
"Her name is Margarette. We met in my last year of master's degree in London. We went out on a few dates then I realized I liked her. I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes. We had wonderful moments but after a year, we broke up."
"Why? Come on. Don't leave us hanging. You know that we want to hear all about it." Cassey insisted. And I smiled bitterly at the recollection of that memory.
"Well, she cheated on me."
And they were all shocked and silent. It was a surprise for them and most especially for me back then. I was and I am a good, if not a great, girlfriend. I always put my person first before anything else and I thought, she would be my best reason to forget Sky and move on to a new life. But I caught her in bed with a different woman in MY apartment in London, I was infuriated. Margarette tried to explain and she called me several, several times but I ignored her. I erased her from my life and we haven't talked ever since.
"Wow. I didn't know that, dude." Tee said in a shock and everyone looked at me apologetically.
"I didn't tell you because there was nothing else I could do about it. She cheated, we broke up. It was over." I simply explained.
"So, what else do you guys want to know?" I asked just to change the subject.
"Well, you should have told us so we could beat the hell out of the woman and bully her for the rest of her life." Sky said in a tough tone which didn't fail to make me laugh.
"Yeah Babe... because would have been the mature thing to do." I sarcastically said.
"Who cares about maturity?" She fired back and I can see a little fury in her eyes. It's funny how that, coming from her. It was really unexpected because was always the mature one in our group. I laughed again at her and the others followed and laughed as well.
"Anyway, that's done. I've moved on."
"So, any other girls apart from that Margarette bitchy girl?" Lyssa inquired and I simply shook my head.
"Nope. I was traumatized after that relationship." I joked and they get it. We all ended up laughing at my misfortune.
"Well, if only that Margarette knew who she wasted, no one had the guts to cheat on you when we were in college." -Tee
"Yeah. Anyone who goes out with you feels like they're in heaven and was blessed by God almighty." Georgina added.
"Well, I do my best to give them just that." I said and they all gagged. I laughed so hard at that.
"It's really funny to see that you all have the same expressions and reactions to things that I say, do you all know that?" I said, amused.
"I was kidding guys. I'm just a natural good girlfriend material."
This time, they purposefully didn't give me any response and I just smiled then drank my juice. We didn't order alcohol because it was still quite early.
"Although, I was always curious about something, Trish. Did you like Sky in our university days?" Lyssa insensitively asked and suddenly Sky and I coughed on our drinks. I can see embarrassment on her face and I can literally feel cheeks burning. I glance at Tee, who has her palm on her face and I secretly glared at Lyssa who just shrugged at me. Now, I can see all their eyes bulge in curiosity.
Damn you, Lyssa!
I look at Sky again who can't look at me in the eyes. Then I see her engagement ring flashing at me again, as if it is slapping me with the hard reality. Before anything else, I steadied my breathing to calm myself down and think if I should admit it now or not? It's been 6years after all.
"Come on, tell us the truth, Armstrong." Georgina smirked as she teased me. I'm sure that She knows how I feel about Sky.
I took a deep breath again and exhaled as I watched them all held their breath.
"Ummm... No. I didn't."
And just like that, they all dropped from their seats... figuratively, of course. For split second, I thought I saw disappointment and pain in Sky's eyes but it vanished as soon as I look at her again.