25. The Girlfriend & The Fiancée
Michelle was more than ecstatic about Krislynn meeting LaCienega, and even more than that, Chase seeing LaCienega for the first time after everything that happened. She had barely been able to sleep the evening before, her stomach overwhelmed by giddy butterflies like a girl the night before her first date.
She had counted down the seconds to the time they were supposed to meet at the beach today only to be disappointed with the tardiness of the main characters. Growling, she texted Chase for what possibly was the hundredth time knowing very well that he would never text her back even if he got the message. That was just one of the many horrible traits of Chase Evans that she had learned to put up with over the years.
“God, just where are they?” She hissed casting Seth a gaze before staring out into the buzzing beach crowd. It was just past noon and already the sandy beach was covered by a blanket of people making Michelle feel like time was uncontrollably slipping out of her hands. “Pete isn’t returning my messages either.”
Seth wrinkled his eyebrows and watched LaCienega rub sunscreen on Jace’s ever so pale and pasty backside. He really couldn’t see why they were a couple though he highly doubted he was the first one to think that. “Why are you so eager for Chase to show up?” He asked. “Just give him time. You know he’s not a morning person. He probably only got up an hour ago.”
“How could I not be eager?” She retorted with a quick flip of her silky, black hair. “Aren’t you excited to see the drama unfold?”
Seth quickly glanced over at LaCienega and Jace, and after making sure they weren’t listening in, he edged closer to his fiancée and turned up the volume of his portable iPod stereo before speaking. “You don’t have something planned do you?” He asked as the music pumped from the speakers overpowering their gentle whispers. “You already played Cupid at the gala and they ended up sleeping together. Please don’t tell me you’ve got more gimmicks up your sleeve.”
Michelle cupped his cheek in her hand and smiled playfully at him. “No plans,” she said. “Yet.”
“Yet?”
She nodded enthusiastically before moving on to explain. “Today is totally a field day,” she said. “I’m going to sit back and watch how Chase reacts to LaCienega and vice versa. Then I’m going to calculate whether Chase and Krislynn’s relationship have progressed enough so that–”
“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Seth sighed restlessly as he ran his fingers through his messy blonde hair. “Shouldn’t you just let their relationship play out by itself? I mean, from experience, you know that messing with other people’s relationship never works out.”
Michelle laughed loudly as a pompous look took over her face. “I have no experiences like that whatsoever,” she said proudly. “And as far as I’m concerned, you don’t either because I need your help in this.”
Seth only rolled his eyes. “Any other crap I’d jump right in,” he said, “but we should really lay off and let Chase handle his own affairs. I mean, I’m sure he knows what’s the best for himself don’t you think?”
“But that’s the thing,” she snapped. “He doesn’t ! And I know they totally belong together. Why else would such a random occurrence happen? It’s like one of those romantic comedies and I’m positive it’s meant to be. I’ve never been so sure of something in my life besides that one time.”
Groaning in slight deliria, Seth raised an eyebrow. “And when was that?” He asked.
She looked up at him through the edges of her eyelashes as the corner of her lips turned upwards in a shy smile. “When you proposed to me,” she murmured, “and I said yes.”
Of course, it was impossible for Seth to deny her after hearing something like that coming out of the mouth of his fiancée. “Oh goddamn it,” he cursed, which made Michelle squeal in joy that he had submitted himself as one of her many pawns.
“So then, what am I supposed to do?” He asked.
“Nothing at the moment,” she said. “We’re on standby until I see how L and C handle themselves, but you know, if Chase shows signs of straying off the path, guide him a little. And also, find out how he feels about seeing LaCienega for the first time and then report everything back to me. That’s your mission thus far. You got that?”
“Yes ma’am!” He barked, putting his hand up in salute.
Pete took that perfect moment to text Michelle back and she jumped up in excitement as she read out his message. “He says he’s with Krislynn and Chase and they’ll at the Alligator Snack Shop right now. Want to go pick them up?”
Seth nodded and hollered over at Jace who seemed to be explaining something to LaCienega, though by the look on her face, she didn’t seem to understand what he was talking about at all. “Hey J-man! We’re just heading over to get Chase and Pete. Be back in a bit, okay?”
Michelle cringed at the obvious T-shirt tan Jace had somehow managed to get and walked on ahead without Seth. “You know who he reminds me of?” She asked when Seth finally caught up to her. “Ross from Friends.”
Seth laughed and then waved when he saw Chase, Krislynn and Pete standing in front of the concession stand a moment after. “Sorry we’re so late,” Krislynn apologized when Michelle dashed up to her and pulled her into a hug.
“No worries,” Seth chuckled. “But what took you guys so long anyways?”
Pete combed his fingers through his hair – not that he had much since he was known for his short buzz cuts for as long as Seth’s known him. “Chase’s fault,” he muttered right away. “He was driving at 35km/h to prove a stupid point that I probably shouldn’t have brought up in the first place.”
Chase coughed as if to signal the end of the discussion and nodded towards the busy crowds. “Where’s Jace?” He asked, but it was clear, not only to himself, but to everyone else who he was really looking for.
They started their way towards the spot Michelle had picked out earlier, but even before they reached it, Chase easily picked out LaCienega from the swarms of surrounding people. She was tall for a girl, and in the bright red bikini she was wearing over her supermodel-like body, a hard figure to miss.
Even Krislynn figured out who LaCienega was before she reached the spot. She was tossing a volleyball around with Jace and even in the midst of stumbling to hit a low throw, looked gorgeous doing so.
Immediately Krislynn bit her lip in jealousy as she felt the intimidation of being a lot less beautiful than LaCienega. Though whether she was jealous mainly because Chase couldn’t keep his eyes off of her or if it was because of an entirely different reason remained a complete mystery – even to herself.
“Want me to introduce you?” Michelle beamed and without waiting for a reaction, grabbed her hand and led her to where LaCienega and Jace were. “Hey LaCienega, this is Krislynn, Chase’s new girlfriend. And Krislynn, you know who LaCienega is, right?”
Krislynn nodded hesitantly and smiled at the tall, golden skinned goddess before her. She didn’t even need to compare herself – face, skin, hair, eyes, bust, hips, butt, legs – she had nothing on LaCienega. No wonder even a player like Chase was so enticed by a girl like her. LaCienega was like the cream of the crop even within famous actresses and runway models.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said dejectedly and watched curiously as LaCienega gave her a once over.
Jace waltzed over with the volleyball under one arm at that moment and smiled affectionately at her when he walked up. “Hi Krislynn,” he said, and immediately the dark clouds around Krislynn parted and the angels came out to sing. It was like his voice separated the rest of the world from her and no longer did she care about LaCienega’s watchful eyes or Chase in the background for the matter of fact.
Her lips curled into a smile and a deep blush spread across her cheeks like an infectious virus. “Hi Jace,” she breathed, hardly able to speak.
It might have been the odd reaction Krislynn gave him, but suddenly, Jace too blushed, and lowered his eyes shyly. “Hi Krislynn,” he whispered.
“Hi Jace.”
“Hi Kris–”
“Okay!!!” Michelle interrupted and roughly nudged Krislynn on the side to bring her out of her shameless trance. “Moving on! Do you guys want to play a little two on two?” She asked, nodding towards the net set up in the short distance.
“Yeah, that could be fun,” Jace said nervously, slowly realizing what had awkwardly happened.
Krislynn nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” she exclaimed, but before her words led her any further, she stumbled on the mistake of looking into LaCienega’s eyes. Once composed and inquisitive, the curiosity had left her amber freckled eyes and was now replaced with what could only be defined as hatred and utter resentment.
“I don’t mind,” she said softly and then wrapped her arms around Jace’s waist in the most possessive manner possible. “Actually, I would like that.” Jace smiled down at her abrupt affection before leading her over to the other side of the net. Almost to spite her, LaCienega turned around to glare at Krislynn once more before snuggling closer to Jace.
“I don’t think she likes me very much,” she murmured once the couple were out of listening range.
“Well, I wouldn’t like you very much either if you pulled that with Seth,” Michelle admitted.
“Pulled what?”
Michelle turned to her and frowned. “That little moment you had with Jace right there,” she hissed. “What the hell was that all about missy? You’re Chase’s girlfriend, remember?”
Krislynn sighed and turned around to search for Chase. He was sitting in the short distance with Seth and Pete, and though his eyes were focused in their direction, she was absolutely positive that it was LaCienega that he was looking at and not her.
For a split second, her heart felt heavy, but then as quickly as the brief feeling came, it left and she felt normal again. “Whatever,” she muttered. “It’s not like I’m actually his real girlfriend.”
“Don’t say that,” Michelle growled. “It’s only a matter of time. Trust me.” And before Krislynn could retaliate by telling her she was wrong, Michelle continued. “Anyways, LaCienega doesn’t seem like the type to just let things slide with a glare so if you’re smart, you’d keep your eyes on the ball.”
After that small advice, the girls got in their position and the game began. Krislynn knew Michelle was right about LaCienega wanting revenge, but it didn’t occur to her just how right Michelle had been. Almost as soon as the ball came into play, LaCienega spiked it and slammed the ball against the side of Krislynn’s head.
“Oh my God, are you okay?” Jace asked, his jaw widened in shock.
“I’m fine,” Krislynn half sobbed as she gingerly rubbed the side of her head. “Thank you.”
Two minutes later, LaCienega sent another vicious ball in Krislynn’s direction and although this one didn’t aim towards a vital part like her head, it smacked her hard against the side of her thigh leaving a large red circle on her skin just below her shorts. “Owww....” She screamed and when she saw Jace and Michelle looking at her with concern, forced a smile. “I’m fine. I’m totally fine.”
It was rather apparent that LaCienega was out for Krislynn’s head and everyone, including the nearby strangers who were vaguely following the game had noticed – everyone except Jace.
For every ball that LaCienega caught, she would fling it over to Krislynn in the most gruesome way and even when Michelle’s side of the court was wide open, she would send the ball at her prey. Krislynn was at a complete lost, and it was inevitable to say the least, when the ball hit her square in the face a few moments after.
Michelle ran over to her after the ball hit her and she tumbled down to sit on the sand. “Are you okay sweetie?” She asked before kneeling down and lowering the volume of her voice. “I told you to watch out for the ball.”
“That’s totally impossible,” she snapped. “She’s completely demonic and she’s out to get me. She didn’t just hit me once or twice Michelle. She hit me three times and I don’t think she’s quite satisfied with that number yet.”
The girls both looked over at LaCienega and sure enough, she regarded the both of them back with a faint smile on her lips – a sign that she was obviously enjoying herself.
Jace quickly started making his way over to check on Krislynn, but Michelle intercepted and waved him back to his side of the net. “She’s fine,” she hollered. “We’re just going to have a two minute strategy meeting.”
“I don’t even know why she’s so mad,” Krislynn continued, her voice in a quiet hiss, and the more she talked about it, the angrier she got. What in the world did she do to deserve this pain? Even if LaCienega was angry that she blushed at Jace, the first hit to the head should have sufficed for revenge!
“You know what, that’s it!” She said to Michelle with brand new determination. “Do you know what this means?”
Michelle laughed weakly. “I think I have an idea,” she mumbled.
Nose flaring, Krislynn snatched the ball off the ground and got into position. “That’s right,” she growled as she bit down on her lower lip and sent a glare right back at LaCienega. “Bitch is going to get what she came for!”