Note: Please please PLEASE forgive the long wait for an update! Thanks for being patient!! After my week long vacation things kinda got stressful and whatnot...but this week I was able to get back into the groove of writing....and this was what I came up with.
PS. Sorry if it's crappy.
OUT
It was 6:30am the next morning and already Christine was awake. She only slept for a few hours, but the revelations about Tom kept her waking up every half hour. Since she couldn’t go back to sleep, she decided to get out of bed and head to the backyard to watch the sunrise.
She sat in the same porch swing as she did yesterday afternoon with her knees pulled up against the armrest of the swing and wrapped a warm blanket around her from the chilly air. There she saw the sun slowly rising from the distance, the sky brightening blue, and heard the echo of a rooster’s call.
It was tranquil, it was calm; she wished she could have slept here instead if she remembered that the view could ease her mind. It was too late to sleep in now.
Christine realized that this was much better than what she has to face today. She wanted to stay out here all day with no interruptions, no boy bands, no work, nothing. Maybe tomorrow she can have her own mental health day.
“Ah, I knew it was you.” But then there was Nathan.
He stood before her in a solid white shirt and gray sweatpants. His hair was fluffy and uncombed, his green eyes tired, but he had that cheerful smug on his face. A smile on Christine’s face appeared when she noticed he was holding two mugs of freshly brewed tea—the way he made them. Despite that she wished to be alone, she could never deny tea…with a side of Nathan.
“You’re up early,” Christine started to say while she carefully held the mug Nathan handed to her.
“Well, last night’s outing made me miss our late night chats,” he replied smoothly, “After you declined I almost wanted to stay in with you.”
Christine nearly choked on her first sip of tea. She was immediately flattered. “Aww, Nath…”
But soon she noticed the change of expression on his face; the look of disappointment, sadness. “I’m not a big fan of group outings myself…and last night reminded me why.”
“Wha…what happened?” Christine sat up and crossed her legs comfortably facing Nathan, with the blanket now covering both their laps.
He let out an exasperated sigh, staring into his tea mug. “The lads considered it a joke, but I didn’t. They decided to treat the new girls to Pinkberry…the same Pinkberry where I had my first date with Lyla.”
“Really?” She raised her eyebrows, lifted the mug to her lips, and took another sip.
“What’s worse—she’s working there now.”
Christine sprayed the tea that was in her mouth away from Nathan and onto the grass. “Oh, my God.”
“Right?! And Jay, the damn fool he is, thought it’d be brilliant to strike up a conversation with her, which led her to restrain from spilling profanity!”
“Jay?...Fuck.” Christine uttered. She was familiar with the fact that Jay was a prankster, but she didn’t realize he could be a crude one…
“It was difficult to have a chat with Faye.” Nathan continued. “I didn’t know what to do so I walked; I left. But then Lyla followed…
Christine gripped on the handle of the mug tightly, her attention fully on Nathan’s encounter. It was evident he didn’t have a nice night either.
“I asked her why she became a housemaid if it wasn’t because of me. I knew that if she said it was she’d be lying…but you know what she said?”
She was anticipating the worse. She didn’t want to ask. She stared at him sadly with a frown and shook her head.
“It was because of Tom. She moved in because of Tom.” Nathan huffed. “Not me…Tom. Can you believe her? Well, I can. Everyone loves Tom. Maybe you fancy him, too.”
“Nathan.” Christine replied promptly, placing her mug on the grass, then her hand on his. It chilled her to hear him say that assumption, because that was something she wanted to discuss with him, too. “Don’t beat yourself up about this; he’s not even into her…actually, I don’t know who he’s into.”
His head hung low, feeling quite vulnerable. But Christine continued to try and move him past this. “It’s been almost a week since…and I know you’re probably still recovering as I am, but don’t you see how better off we are without her? This week has been decent at least. We’re starting to move on, and we have full support of everyone in this house…”
“…You’re right, you’re right…yeah.” Nathan answered softly. He cleared his throat, sat up straight and drank more of his tea. Christine watched him intently, hoping he got her message to move on. His lips twitched into a little smile when his eyes fell on her hand on his. He squeezed her hand softly. “I needed this, Chris. I’m really, really glad I was able to get this off my chest, to you. The others wouldn’t understand.”
Christine was glad to have such a special bond with Nathan. He had been there for her since the beginning, and now she was returning the favor. “…I don’t think you’d understand my current dilemma either.”
He furrowed his brows and looked at her curiously. “…I take it you didn’t exactly sleep in last night.”
She chuckled and paused for a brief moment before she continued. “I hung out with Tom on the roof.”
Nathan’s eyes widened, releasing his hand from her grip. His hands moved to his mouth. “You—Tom…wait…”
“Before you assume anything, nothing happened.” Christine added on a side note. “But…I think you may have been right about everyone liking Tom because…I might be one of them.”
Nathan was too stunned to speak. He continuously stuttered every word that came out from his mouth. “B-But…but wha…” He chuckled at himself and gave a pause to think of what to say. “What about Jay? Haven’t you lot been shagging?”
Christine laughed. “No! Oh, God I don’t think we’re at that stage yet!” She then thought aloud, “…I feel like I haven’t seen him in a while…”
“Heh, well that’s strange…we all live in this big mansion and you haven’t exactly…”
“We both lead busy schedules, okay?” She sighed.
“Well that’s true,” He chuckled. “…But if I’m honest, Chris, I think you should have a chat with him about where you lot are. Don’t mention about your possible feelings for Tom, because…I know Jay, he’s a bit sensitive when it comes to Tom. Hell, so am I.”
“Aw, I like you.” Christine placed her arm around him as a side hug. “In fact, you’re better than Tom. You don’t have that mysterious vibe about you…you’re very humbling and down to Earth…and a bit childlike, but easy to talk to.”
Color rose from his cheeks. “…Stop it.”
“See, I was right!” She grinned as she tossed the blanket over him and stood up from the swing to stretch. “I’m sure there’s someone out there that can put up with you and your career. Someone who’s patient. Who knows…she might be right under your nose.”
She bent down to pick up her mug from the grass. Nathan chuckled softly, “…You don’t say.”
“I’m just saying…could be anyone you know.” She shrugged. “…Alright, thanks for the tea talk, Nathie. I’m gonna go wake up Jay now.”
“Be careful there, love. Jay doesn’t like to function before 11 in the morning…but I’m sure he’ll make an exception for you.”
A few minutes later, Christine was up on the second floor, the same time Siva was exiting his room in a gray sleeveless shirt and black athletic shorts.
“Good morning, Christine! Had a good sleep?” Siva asked cheerfully.
“Fantastic.” She replied with a hint of sarcasm that Siva didn’t really catch. “I just had tea with Lil’ Nath outside. Told me about the trouble you guys caused.”
He frowned. “I personally felt horrible about it. Jay and Max shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t stop ‘em.”
“Well then, guess I can add a little intervention for the Jaybird to our chat we’re about to have.” She smiled sweetly before turning to walk further down the hall to Jay’s room.
“R-Right now?” Siva quickly walked before her, suddenly looking a little antsy. Christine squint her eyes at him in suspicion.
“Yes…” She knitted her brows and walked around him towards Jay’s room.
“He hates waking up early—”
“Yeah, I know, Nath told me.”
“Christine!” Nathan’s faint shout was heard downstairs. Christine watched Siva stiffen. She wasn’t sure why Siva was acting this way, or why Nathan was calling for her. She continued to make her way to Jay.
“Chris, wait!” Siva called as he quickly snapped back to his senses.
But she already opened the door and slowly went inside the dark room, whispering. “Jay?”
Christine realized she had never really been in Jay’s room. It was as tidy as Siva’s room, that’s for sure, with a few articles of clothing lying around. She looked at Jay’s bed, where she saw him sleeping peacefully on the right side of the bed. His mouth was partially open as he snored lightly. She giggled quietly while she watched him.
She moved further to his side of the bed and saw where his hands were, both over the covers on top of his stomach. She reached to touch, until slowly and clearly she realized why Siva and Nathan were trying to stop her from going inside his room.
There was someone else in bed with him.
Anger rose inside her. She could see the mysterious girl by the morning light streaming through the partially opened blinds; it was another random girl she didn’t seem to know. It was becoming typical for her to catch Jay like this, which worried her.
She walked around the bed and decided to pull up the blinds, letting the sunrise wake the people in bed. Jay was definitely going to get an intervention.
Christine watched them stir in bed, covering their faces from the sunlight. She stood there with her arms folded, her eyes boring into Jay. Before Jay could even comment, he quickly realized that she was in the room.
“Shit, Chris, I can expl—”
She immediately headed towards the door.
“Great, you go do that,” said the random girl, “Let me sleep in for a bit.”
Christine stormed out of Jay’s room and walked down the hall, where Siva and Nathan stood still, right near Tom’s room.
“Chris, Chris, wait. Don’t—” Jay emerged from his room in only boxer shorts. As much as this gave Christine many thoughts, there was definitely some she couldn’t bother dealing with right now.
“I thought you wanted this!” Christine spun around to face Jay. “I thought you cared about me, Jay.”
“I do! I sure as hell do.” Jay replied.
“Then why are you sleeping with other girls? Was she the only one you slept with since I first caught you?”
“I-” Jay bit his tongue. His eyes fell behind her towards Nathan and Siva. Christine turned to them; they looked away. She rolled her eyes.
“What the bloody hell is going on?” Max came stumbling out of his room. He quickly noticed Jay and Christine across the hall, and quietly walked over to Siva and Nathan.
Christine sighed and turned back to Jay. “Jay, this isn’t fair. We hardly ever spent time with each other this week. I mean, in time we could have done…” She didn’t know where she was going with this, or why she was thinking a bit ahead. She stopped herself before she made a fool out of herself.
“It’s a habit I can’t control…” He explained with a light chuckle. “I’m just not very good at this…”
She was surprised how careless he was of the situation; it wasn’t the Jay she thought she knew. She shook her head. “Neither am I, but do you see me sleeping around behind your back? No! I wanted time with you, but you always leave for drinks! What, is beer more important than me?”
“Oh!” Jay scoffed with his voice rising. “Don’t act like you’re the victim here, Chris! It’s not like we’re a couple. I can do what I want.”
“Jay…shit, what has gotten into you?” The voice of Tom came from behind Christine. Christine’s face softened the moment she heard him, and bit her bottom lip.
But Jay ignored Tom and continued, “You think I’m doing worse? At least I don’t fucking give lap dances on idiots for money!”
Small, audible gasps were heard behind Christine. She could hear Max and Siva utter in low voices, “What?!” and “Is he serious?” She didn’t look back, but she kept he eyes on Jay.
“Oh, mate you didn’t…” Nathan said aloud.
Christine felt as if Jay had stabbed her in the heart and cut off her breathing. She wasn’t sure how he found out. She was in complete disbelief. “…Excuse me?”
Jay covered his mouth with his hands after noticing the hurt look on her face. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said that. I—”
“Who told you—Nathan?”
“What, n-no! It was Tom! He told me…about Zoe…”
Christine narrowed her eyes at Tom when she turned back; he had lowered his head, with the index finger and thumb of his hand against his forehead. She glared. “You said you didn’t believe her.”
“I don’t.” Tom looked up at her, seemingly exasperated that Jay called him out. “But you can’t blame me for asking for advice.”
“I know I can’t, but you told Jay! You told the guy I want to have a potential relationship with; the guy that makes me feel safe in this big house!” She let her voice rise against him. “Did it ever occur to you that I’ve been trying to work out for days how to explain to him and to you about that? Hmm? Out of all the people in this house, you chose him. And the both of you got the wrong idea.”
Christine began to walk away from Jay and Tom, towards the other three who were near the staircase. It took them a while to realize what was happening.
“Chris, come on, where are you going?” Jay took her by the wrist. She dodged his hand just as he touched her. She turned around again, now somewhat sandwiched between Jay and Tom on one end, and Siva, Max, and Nathan on the other.
“Don’t touch me.” She told Jay shakily. “You can talk to me when you finally figure out your priorities.”
She looked at Tom in disappointment, but said no word to him. She then turned to the three confused young men behind her and walked around them to finally make it to the stairs.
She wanted out. She couldn’t be in the same room with the band, let alone be in the same house. She went straight to the basement to her room and plopped an empty duffel bag on her bed and began stuffing all her laundry inside.
“Chris, what are you doing?” Erin came into the room. Christine noticed she was already dressed in her usual work attire.
“I’m calling in sick today. Can’t work.” She sniffled. It was when she touched her face she realized she was crying.
Erin came closer and placed a hand on her shoulder. She gasped lightly. “Girl, you’re shaking like you’re having an anxiety attack. What happened?”
Christine gritted her teeth. “It’s a long story…I’ll explain later. I just need to get out of here, okay?”
“Yeah, I understand…I’ll go and tell Sandy for you, if that’s okay? She has your paycheck, too. Just wait for a few minutes.”
Christine nodded and continued to pack her things. A few minutes later, she heard a knock on the doorframe. She zipped up her duffel bag and turned to see Sandy with an envelope in hand.
Christine immediately felt guilty the moment Sandy came into the room. She was worried if she was going to get fired for leaving so soon. “I know you said not to let my personal feelings interfere with work, but I have to get out of here, Sandy…”
“I know,” Sandy nodded. “I heard your voices while in the kitchen.”
Christine frowned. “…I just can’t handle them right now.”
Sandy then handed her check and smiled softly. “You need your space. I’ll sort them out. Just let me know if you need more time.”
Christine let Sandy in an embrace; she couldn’t believe how calm and understandable Sandy was being to her. It almost made her want to cry more. “Thank you.”
Ten minutes later after Christine had stopped crying and relaxed herself, she grabbed her things and climbed up to the kitchen. She hoped neither of the boys were there waiting for her, but as expected, there was one. Or two: Nathan and Max.
Both were stunned to see her with her bags. “You’re leaving?”
She didn’t respond. She just went straight to the garage.
“Wait, but what about the gig tonight? Are you coming with us?” Max eagerly asked.
Christine opened the trunk of her car and dumped her bags inside. As she closed the trunk she sighed, “Might have to take a rain check, Max.”
She finally went in the car and started the engine. Nathan tapped on the window with his fist; she rolled it down knowing that he had another question that she didn’t know the answer to. “You’re not leaving leaving…are you?"
He looked at her expectantly, trying to read her face, but she looked back at him with sad eyes. It was a thought she had yet to think about. She couldn’t disappoint him any further with her answers, because otherwise she’d start crying again.
“I’m sorry…” Christine began to back out from the garage and avoided the looks on Max and Nathan’s faces. She didn’t mean to be vague, but at this point, she knew all she had to do was get out of there, away from the band, from the house—everything.
As she drove out of the driveway and into the streets, she let out a huge sigh of relief. Being out of the mansion meant she was going to see her family again, her rock. She let the breeze through the open window mess her hair as she drove and smiled at the thought of it. She was so glad that she took an early leave from work, because now she couldn’t wait for her boy band-free weekend to start.