I stood stock still as I processed the word like it was something foreign to my ears. Why would Jade think I had a boyfriend? The last time I had one was... well... I didn't even want to think about that last time. It was a memory I'd rather keep buried.
Come to think of it, Jade had thought I was pregnant a few weeks ago. Plus, I didn't exactly scream lesbian and we weren't at an exclusive bar; so I guess I couldn't blame her.
"Two sex in the showers for the beautiful ladies and a bottle of champagne courtesy of the gentleman right over there." The server says then motions to the sky box that Jade had pointed to earlier.
"Hmm?" I hear Jade hum curiously before walking to the glass wall and turning towards the direction the server had pointed out.
From what I could see, the man wasn't overly tall but he was muscular, his chest and shoulders bulged against his pink button-up shirt. His eyes were cast in our direction but he had a calm look in his eyes. I turn to ask Jade if she knew him but her eyes were wide and panicked, like she had come face to face with the devil himself.
"Jade?" I ask, quickly making my way to her side, "are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." Her eyes remain locked on the man but she doesn't answer, and I could see her jaw clenching tightly.
"Jade?" This time I call her name a little louder and that seems to do the trick. She tears her eyes away from the man to look at me, fear was clear as day behind her eyes. "What's going on? Are you okay?"
An intense protectiveness immediately digs itself into my mind and I immediately assume that it was something that could harm her.
"Can—can he see us? from there, can he see us?" Jade asks as casually as she could but I could tell it took a lot of effort by the way her throat and jaw seemed to constrict.
The server shakes his head the points to the laser lights just outside the glass wall, "The lights outside and the darkness in here obscures the view from anyone outside."
Jade sighs like the weight of the world was just removed from her shoulders and I could immediately tell that whatever haze the alcohol had left in her system was quickly burned by her sudden reaction; the same way it had done in mine.
"Okay, send him our regards and please tell him there is more than just the two of us in this box." She says before walking over and handing him money that was three times what the drinks cost.
The server's eyes widen then he nods, "Will do. Enjoy your night, ladies." He says before dismissing himself.
I watch silent as Jade plops down on the seat then takes a rather long sip from her drink, "is... everything alright?" I ask cautiously as I place myself beside her.
From behind her drink, she sends me an apologetic expression before answering. "Yeah. I was just— nevermind."
Sensing that she didn't want to talk about it, I nod and smile genuinely at her, "Okay." I smile before raising my glass to her, "How about we take a drink? To wrong assumptions and creepy men sending us drinks?"
Jade successfully suppressed her giggling for a few seconds, but ended up bursting into a warm chuckle. The sound was contagious, like the warmth traveled from her own lips, through the air and into my own heart; making me echo the sound she had made.
"To assumptions and creeps!" She smile before clinking her glass against mine.
My gaze flits to my drink as I use the straw to mix it together before taking out and then taking a sip. I didn't even notice that she was looking at me until I looked at her over the lip of the glass, she had on an amused smile that made me quirk an eyebrow, "you're supposed to take a drink after we clink." I say teasingly.
"Right. Right." Jade muses before taking a sip from the glass and I take another sip of mine, failing to notice the straw in her hand. When we finish, we both put our glasses down on the table and as she takes something from her purse, I subtly and desperately try to swallow the nerves and lump in my throat.
I wanted to say something. Anything, at this point but my voice was lost somewhere between seeing her in the bathroom and grinding against her.
My voice was just gone.
Several seconds passed and neither of us talked, like the effect of the alcohol we had both taken before we had entered the room had completely disappeared from our systems.
It didn't matter to me though.
Being alone with Jade in a small room was much more intoxicating than any alcohol I had ever had. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face and my eyes stayed with hers in a fierce staring battle.
Jade would always lose though, she would look at me and her eyes screamed with words she didn't say.
Unsure.
Nervous.
Excited.
Confused.
Each emotion flashing behind those beautiful eyes.
"You lied." She mutters after a moment before nibbling on her bottom lips.
My head tilts in honest confusion, "about what?"
Jade takes a drink first before answering, "About you, not being able to dance. Because that was..." she pauses and in that single second, several words flashed through my mind; Sexy? Weird? Hot? Awkward?
"Wow." was the word Jade had blurted out followed by a soft chuckle.
"Wow?"
"Yeah. You were... wow."
I laugh then, light and airy as I smiled at her. "Wow, huh?"
Jade doesn't answer but instead laughs with me. "It's true!"
"That wasn't dancing, that was like fully clothed sex."
At that, a bright pink blush blossoms behind Jade's cheeks and I could swear I could feel myself melt as she looked up at me through those long lashes.
"I have to admit, I didn't expect you to be so... embarrassed by what I said."
She rolls her eyes playfully before answering, "I didn't expect you to make dancing so sexual."
"Hey, you're the one who dance assaulted me."
Jade scoffs, "You said you didn't know how to dance. I was trying to teach you."
"I can grind and roll and sway but that's about it. It's as sexual as you want it to be."
"There you go again making it sexual." She chuckles lightly.
"Dancing is like sex." I defend. "At least, that's how I look at it."
"How is that exactly like sex?"
Spurred on, I stand from my seat and pull her with me. The action simple but the contact making my heart thump intensely in my chest.
"Dancing is all about body language, right?" I ask before taking a few steps away from her but keeping our hands together.
"Right...?"
"There's foreplay..." I muse before moving closer to her, my eyes locked on hers. "The two of you meeting, shyly sidling up next to each other in the dance floor; small touches, breaths brushing along each other's skin..."
I hear her breath hitch in her throat as I moved to press our bodies together by placing my hands on her waist and pulling her to me, "then you begin to move a little more. Getting braver as your partner responds..." with that, I drape her arms over my shoulder and lean in so our faces were mere inches apart. "and then when you can't take the tension... when all you want to do is take her..."
"Althea?"
Like being doused in cold water, Jade and I jumped apart, our faces flush and our eyes dilated.
"Maybe she's in the bathroom?"
"No, I already checked."
"Do you think she went home?"
I run a hand through my hair before making my way to the door, "I'm— I'm here." I call as I open the door to peek outside, catching Lauren and Megan just before they could make their way down the stairs. "I was just..." I pause to look inside; Jade shakes her head and I take it as her way of telling me she didn't want me to tell anyone what I was actually doing, "... checking out the sky box. I got distracted by the view." I finish with my eyes on hers.
Jade's shoulders slump in relief then she smiles tightly, waves goodbye and gestures me out of the door. I nod before closing the door behind me.
"I've been in there, nothing special." Lauren mused as she hooks her arm around mine, leading me back downstairs.
I shrug and look back just in time to see Jade slip out of the room and disappearing into the crowd of people walking along the small hallway.
My feet itched to follow her and my mind craved to be in her space but I fought the urges as hard as I could, swallowing it down and making it at home where I could never take it out. "I disagree." I say before smiling at Lauren.
After my run-in with Jade, I spent the rest of the night actively talking, drinking and dancing with Lauren trying to find that same spark but there was nothing. She was beautiful and nice; definitely ticked all the boxes for anything you could want from a woman but the fire I felt with Jade made my connection with Lauren pale in comparison.
Like a burning match against a raging inferno.
There was no competition.
I had not seen Jade since she left the sky box and part of me was saddened while another was relieved. How could I have gotten so... so bold? It was unlike me to be so aggressive especially with someone that's so close to one of my kids.
I thought of all the consequences but couldn't bring myself to care.
It was worth it.
A few more hours pass before I turned to Lauren and told her that I wanted to go home. Thankfully, she seemed to get the message and nodded before letting me out of the booth; following me outside to my car.
"I hope you had a good time." Lauren smiles semi-drunkenly.
"Thank you for inviting me and introducing me to your friends." I nod the drop my gaze to my purse as my fingers fumble around to get my keys.
"Are you sure you can drive? You can come spend the night with me, I live in The Viceroy."
The Viceroy was a luxury condominium that was located just a few blocks from the club. It was one of those high end, richest-of-the-rich, type homes where the lowest monthly rent in the smallest room was easily worth two months of my salary.
"Thank you, but I'll be fine. I'll text you when I get home so you don't worry." I say with a genuine smile.
Lauren nods and I could tell she had taken the hint and backed off, "Alright. Be careful."
"I will. You too." I answer before tossing my purse to the passenger seat and then plopping down on the driver seat. I tug the door close but it doesn't budge and I look up to see Lauren holding it open.
"What's wrong? Are you—" Lauren suddenly leans in a presses her lips to mine for a few seconds before pulling back and throwing me a wink, "I had to do that. At least, once." She says before turning back around towards the camp.
My hands drift to my lips, touching the upper then the lower lip as I try to process what exactly just happened.
First I got dance attacked by Jade, then I got kiss attacked by Lauren. I should be thrilled by latter more than the other; but why was it that when I got home, all I could wonder was how a dance felt so much more intimate than the kiss?
That night, I dreamt about fire; I dreamt that I stood in the middle of a large room, a large fire burning in front of me. I wasn't afraid though. In fact, I wanted to reach out and touch it. The flames moved like a wisps, flying through the air before surrounding me; but every time I try to touch the tongues of flame, the fire would move away and whenever I pull back it would move towards me like we were locked in some dance.
Let me touch you. I called out to it.
The small balls of flame move away from around me then hovers in front of me before taking a more human shape. Red and orange licked at the skin being exposed until I see Jade standing before me in the same outfit I had first seen her in.
She was looking at me with that smile I had quickly become accustomed to, Jade? Jade are you okay?
The woman opens her mouth to speak when a shrill ringing pierces through the air, Jade covers her ears then runs at full speed away from be before exploding in a shower of burning yellow sparks.
Shit.
I groan when my eyes open and I find myself in my room before feeling around the bed for my phone, grumbling as I slide the alarm app closed.
You would think that I'd get a nice day off to rest and relax, especially on a sunday but as my father always says, the flowers won't stay beautiful if they are neglected.
So at seven in the morning on a lazy sunday, I had to get up, shower and head for the store.
"Sit down. Please? I'll get to that part after I finish trimming these orchids." I say with a huff to the old man as he coughed violently into his handkerchief.
He clears his throat then nods, sitting down in his seat before picking up a copy of Tuesdays with Morrie and turning to whatever page he had been reading before I got here. "How was your date?" He asks nonchalantly, avoiding my narrowed gaze.
"What date?"
"Nothing. Nothing."
I drop the shears on the table and cross my arms in front of my chest, "Batchi told you, didn't she?"
He stays quiet for only a few seconds before huffing in defeat, "She's excited for you, blurted it out when she called this morning looking for you."
"Of course she did." I muse, shaking my head before picking up the shears and continuing my work.
A few seconds of silence later, he clears his throat deeply, "So... How was your date?"
Expecting it, I keep my attention on the flowers as I answer him, "It wasn't a date, Pa."
"That's not what Batchi said."
"Batchi has been desperate to get me back on the dating scene, she's more desperate than I am."
The corner of his lips turned down while his lips puckered out in an agreeing expression, "Good point." He says before returning to his book.
It takes almost an hour for me to make a full round of all the orchids in the shop partly because of attending to customers and caring for my sick father at the same time, but also partly because for the first time in a really long time, I stopped to literally smell the flowers.
Growing up around them, I've become acclimated to their appeal. Yes I knew how to see their beauty, if they're healthy, how profitable they are and how to keep them alive but today I took special care of them. I didn't know why.
Snip.
Snip.
Sniff.
Again and again on almost, if not all, the orchids I had trimmed.
"Are you sure it wasn't a date? You seem different. You seem happier." Pa asks as soon as I finish with the last of the flowers. I roll my eyes at him as I place the shears and water bottle on his table.
"Do you want a sandwich?"
"Yes please."
The shop kitchen or what was more like a large pantry was basic and, as expected, filled with flowers. On the table, the counter, on top of the small refrigerator. There were flowers everywhere.
Moving out of habit, I take bread from the overhead drawer then peanut butter and mayonnaise from the counter. "Do you still want me to cut the crust off?"
"Yeah."
I go to work constructing our favorite peanut-butter-and-mayonnaise sandwich then cut the crusts off before handing it to the old man. One for him, two for me. We dig in and talk of random nothingness just like we always did before I left home and got busy with... earning money.
He tells me about how our workers and my friends at the province would sometimes call him just to check up on me and tell me that they missed me. I answer and tell him how happy Batchi's clients would be with the flowers or how my class wanted to see the flower fields.
It was his way of reminding me where I had come from.
It was my way of assuring him that I would never forget.
"Danny was a creep! He followed me everywhere!" I laugh when he offers to give me the phone number of the boy that had a huge crush on me back when I was young and didn't know any better.
"He was being nice!" My dad chuckled, "How was he supposed to know that you'd end up dating his sister instead?"
My head shakes lightly again just as my phone rings from inside my purse.
"Do. Not. Give him. My number!" I say in a harsh whisper, much to his delight , before fishing my phone from my bag. Batchi's face lights up my screen along and I quickly swipe to answer, "Hello?"
"AUNTIE THEA!"I pull the phone away too late and Marinelle's voice explodes into my ear.
"Marinelle Serena Luna!" I hear Abby say over the ringing in my ear, "give me the phone, right now."
"Who's that?" My dad whispers curiously.
"Abby and Batchi, Pa."
A smile stretches his lips, "tell them Papi says hi and that he misses Marinelle."
"I will." I answer while rubbing my ear to ease the pain.
"Hello? Althea?"
"I'm here. What's up?"
"Hold on." She says then the line goes silent for a few seconds.
Just before I could ask what's going on, Batchi's voice breaks the silence. "Hello? Dude?"
"Batchi, what's up?"
"I need to ask you for a favor."
My right eyebrow shoots up at that. It wasn't like Batchi to need any sort of favor so this definitely got my attention. I hopped up on the stool and leaned forward unto my elbows as I answered, "What kind of favor?"
"Tell her. She'll understand." Abby's voice drift from somewhere in the background.
"Tell me what?"
There's another pause before Batchi returns, "Abby, Marinelle and I are on our way to the beach."
"Are you trying to make me jealous? Because you know I hate the beach."
She chuckles, "No, remember what I told you last night? That I got Pearl as a client?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Well... She called and requested to see the farm."
"The flower farm? Our farm?"
"Yes. She said something about wanting to see the flowers before choosing the ones for her wedding." Even through the barrier of the phone, I could sense the irritation in her voice and I knew Batchi was rolling her eyes.
This is what she had to deal with. Some clients want underwater weddings, others want to check every aspect of their wedding and in this situation, see the farm where the flowers would be coming from. Normally, Batchi would be the one accommodating her client's requests but with Abby here and her departure nearing, I knew she couldn't pass up a chance to spend time together.
"Fine. But not with Pa, I'll take her there and tour her around the farm. You three can come visit him when you get back, he misses Marinelle."
"Awesome. I have you scheduled with her for Friday. I already gave her your number so she should text you before that."
An indignant scoff passes my lips, "So you just knew I'd agree."
"Yes. Because you love me and you love Abby and Marinelle."
Damn it. She got me there.
"Whatever." I sing-song into the line.
There's a three second pause before all three members of the Luna family answers, "We love you!"
'I hate you. So much.'
'Right and the pope ain't catholic.'
'She's two hours late.'
'Did you call her?'
'No. I'm upset with her. I'm going home.'
'Wait!! I'll call her. 10 minutes.'
'Fine.'
After sending the reply, I placed the phone in the middle of the table and stared at it. I had been sitting in the coffee shop, where this Pearl and I were supposed to meet, for a good two and a half hours now with no signs of the woman.
No text messages.
No calls.
No nothing.
I had contemplated ditching but didn't want to put Batchi's contract under any sort of trouble so I stayed; downing two mugs of coffee and a macadamia cookie before I got fed up and messaged her.
The phone rings and I quickly pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi!" and unfamiliar female voice says, "is this Althea?"
"Yes. Pearl?"
"That's me. I'm so sorry. I had just gotten out of surgery and I won't be able to make it..." At that, I groan internally and lay my head on the table out of frustration.
Two hours for nothing.
"... But I sent my sister-in-law in my place. She texted and said she was already in the area. Are you still at the coffee shop?"
I pick my head up and looked around for anyone that seemed to be looking for someone too. "Yeah, I'm still here."
"Okay. Hold on."
Pearl disappears for a few seconds and I take that time to organize my things while smoothing down my hair, trying to make myself look presentable.
"Hello, Althea?"
"Yup?"
"She says she's standing just outside the door."
From my seat, the door was directly behind me so I turn and scour the area outside the glass door for this mystery sister-in-law. My eyes land on the only woman standing by the door and my throat dries up instantly.
This can't be real.
No, it has to be some kind of joke.
The woman at the door was...
"Her name is Jade, you can call out and get her attention." Pearl says but I had already stood from my seat and made my way outside. Jade was on the phone too, her eyes scanning the crowd inside for the florist, for me.
"Pearl, are you sure she's here?"
"Jade?"
My voice must have caught her attention although I wasn't sure how because it sounded so small and unsure. Her eyes widen at the site of me and I could clearly see her swallowing thickly as she drops her hand and phone to her chest.
"A-are you Pearl's sister-in-law?"
"You're the florist?"