Viv sauntered casually inside our apartment, as if she owned the place. She was dressed in her most expensive clothing, a gray pea coat I bought her last year, designer jeans and real UGG boots. Arina wore a casual windbreaker, sweats and sneakers. As much as I don’t like either of them, I liked Choi more at that moment.
Choi approached me nervously. “Who is that?” she asked quietly.
“I have no idea,” I replied, wishing it wasn’t a lie. She smiled, who knows frickin why. Choi sat awkwardly beside Viv who was sprawled on the couch, desperately trying to show off her not-so-long legs.
Bailey raised his eyebrows at me, shooting questions through his eyes but I only ignored him. With a sigh, Bailey politely greeted the two of them, gave them drinks and crap before excusing himself. Before leaving, he shot me one more confused look. I shrugged in response.
Viv opened her mouth, preparing to say something probably obnoxious as usual. Choi quickly cut her off, but I assumed she didn’t realize.
“Um… I changed my story… a bit.” She mumbled, handing me the packet of papers. “Could you read it… and tell me what you think?”
“Sure,” I said slowly.
Before I could even look at it, Viv began to whine loudly. “Tye, honey, who is this girl?”
“And who are you?” I asked her back. She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip. Choi fidgeted nervously, uncomfortable with the awkward situation. Viv quickly changed the subject.
“When are you coming home, Tye? Everyone misses you soo much!”
I ignored her skimming to the end of Choi’s manuscript.
“Oh hey, want to tell me who you are?” Vivian asked Choi loudly.
“I’m, um, Arina Choi.”
“Oh, I’m Vivian, Tye’s girlfriend.” She smiled and batted her eyelashes. Choi glanced at me, and fidgeted some more. I looked up to glare at Viv.
“What the hell?” I snapped. Viv cowered back slightly, but her smile stayed.
“We’ve been dating for how long now? A year? Two years?” Viv looked up at the ceiling as if mentally counting. I rolled my eyes. “And see my coat? Isn’t it the cutest?”
“Um sure…” Choi muttered. She kept looking at me panic-stricken.
“Tye bought it for me,” Vivian chirped sweetly. She pulled up a face of mock-horror. “Omigod, are you jealous?!” she exclaimed. Choi shook her head repeatedly.
“N-no,” she said quickly.
“Well, that’s good, it’d be sooo annoying for little fan girls to go around wanting to claw my eyes out,” Viv continued. Arina slouched down in the little space she had. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. Viv shot her a look that seemed both surprised and annoyed.
God, kill me now. I gently placed down Choi’s work, which was probably still crappy but I had to be nice to it. I stood up and grabbed Viv’s arm. She squealed with idiotic delight.
“Are you taking me somewhere? It’s been so long since we’ve gone on a date!”
“Look, Vivian, it’s over between us, okay? It’s been over- so get the hell out of here.” I told her calmly. Viv’s shocked expression was priceless. Ever since we were kids, I’d never once called her Vivian. I could only hope she got the message.
Choi giggled slightly which won her a petrifying glare from Viv.
With a little more pestering, Viv grudgingly left. As she stepped out, one foot still inside our apartment, she looked back dramatically. “I’ll be seeing you around… Ken,” she winked and with a giggle, officially left. Ken’s eyebrows shot up with surprise and he looked at me with alarm. I burst out laughing.
Damn, that girl was so messed up.
After settling down I once again picked up Choi’s writing. Everyone went back to their own things as they realized the tiny mishap was over.
Skimming the building, I was amused by how much the story had changed- the whole plot really. It was still well over two hundred pages- no joke but I couldn’t see one resemblance this was to the previous novel I had read so long ago. I stopped flipping through the pages a couple away from the ending and finally began to seriously read the book.
I found him standing on the ledge, far from the crowd bustling with exciting air after an extreme concert. The ocean air and gentle sound of crashing waves was soothing to me, and I found it reasonable why Tye enjoyed that particular spot.
Tye was surprisingly quiet after the loud concert he’d just preformed at. I took a step quietly toward him, not wanting to bother Tye. I only intended to tell Tye that Raito was looking for him but he cut me off.
“So, Arina,” Tye began slowly. I was still surprised when he called me by my first name. I wasn’t stupid. I knew he’d only called me my last name until recently. “We’re friends now?” he asked cautiously. I shrugged nonchalantly. I kind of wished we were more that “just friends” but I wasn’t picky. As long as I could be close to him- this guy who seemed so amazingly out of reach.
“Sure, I guess,” I replied what I hoped was simply.
He leaned against the long metal railing that separated people from the rocks and sand, which were being sulpted by harsh waves.
I stood there, just watching him as Tye stared at the sun which was beginning to set. His soft hair blew in the wind, but never getting into dreadful knots like mine would have. I looked over the bar, as he stared at the sky, I would stare at the earth, which locked us to the ground. I imagined his thoughts were probably flying throughout the air, following the wind and reaching incredible heights. I imagined that if anyone could really fly, Tye could have.
“Why did you fall in love with me?” Tye asked, breaking the mystical silence which had just recently been draped over us. In my confusion, I looked at his face, trying to meet his eyes and receive an explanation for this sudden question. He wouldn’t look at me, just staring at the endless hazy red sky and blazingly bright sun. I could feel the remaining rays licking at the earth before it would disappear out of our sights.
“What?” I responded stupidly after a long while. Tye laughed quietly, looking down at the bar, his hands covering his face.
“You really are stupid,” he said my thoughts aloud bluntly. I sighed, disappointed in myself.
“Well, how do you know that I love you?” I countered, desperate to hide the coat of deep red creeping up my face. Tye only gave me a mysterious smile in response. We received another moment of serene silence, neither of us answering a single question. I didn’t mind, and I supposed this famous rock star didn’t either.
Tye buried his face into his arms which were propped onto the metal railing. I could still see the trace of his sarcastic smile as he began to talk, “You never knew what I was like. And when you first met me, I called you a bitch and acted like a piece of shit,” Tye looked up glancing briefly at me. “Yet you still followed me. More oddly than any other fan.” Realization and disappoint crept up his face.
“Oh, you weren’t in it for me were you?” he breathed. “You were for the money, or the name or something right?” his voice had turned cold and accusing.
“And you’ve almost succeeded. You stuck around for us to get closer- but because I’m the stubborn bastard I am we’ve never even kissed.” He went on and on and on. I took a sharp intake of breath.
I wanted to deny it all, it wasn’t true anyway, but no words came out from my lips. He wouldn’t look at me, but my eyes pleaded at his back to just understand. At long last he turned to look at me, his expression was unreadable, a cold, pitying smile on his face. I bit my lower lip nervously.
“That’s not true Tye,” I told him quickly, choking on my own words. He blew out a long, heavy sigh. His perfectly beautiful face seemed to have crumpled disappointment
“Yeah, whatever- I don’t really care,” He muttered, turning back to stare at the sun, which was now practically out of view.
I touched his shoulder gently, careful not to provoke him. He didn’t glare at me, he didn’t smile. Tye held no emotion. He just looked back at me blankly. “Maybe I kept following you, because I really loved you?” I whispered quietly with a sad smile.
For a second, his eyes widened with surprise. Just as quickly, he changed back to a blank slate. Tye shrugged off my hand.
“I like you Arina, but only as a friend,” he told me honestly. Another thing I loved about Tye was his sheer honesty. Sure he lied at times, but he always said just what he thought.
“That’s okay, I know that,” I replied quickly, my voice only slightly above a whisper now. Slowly, Tye took my hand in his.
He held up our hands, which were linked together tightly just for a short moment. I could both tell we were staring at our hands, wondering if it looked right, felt right. In the silence, I could just feel the conversation he meant to have.
I loved the sensation of holding Tye Huynh’s hand. I loved Tye. Not just as a singer, not just for the fame- I loved him, but it just didn’t feel right. He too, seemed to be thinking this as he gently let go of my hand. He let out another long sigh. I mimicked this and sighed as well. Tye glanced at me with one of his genuine smiles that I loved and rarely got to see.
“Is it okay if we stay like this? Just friends?”
“Friends with benefits?” I joked. Tye frowned at me. I nudged his side. “I get what you mean- just friends.” Tye nodded as the serious mood fell over us again.
I knew whatever I said in response, though it didn’t seem important, would be the decision of our relationship. I knew what I was going to say- and I didn’t really mind.
“Sure. I can live with that.”
I looked up at Choi, who was still anxiously staring at me, like a puppy awaiting approval of using the bathroom.
“Shit Choi, you’re a hella good writer,”
I still thought of Choi like crap but I liked this story more than the other. I handed her the manuscript back. She bowed her head down, thanking me. Damn, she’s weird.
The buff dude who had escorted Choi cracked open the door. His tough expression was replaced with panic.
“What’s up?” I called out to him. Ken shot me a look saying “That’s not how you talk to bodyguards” I ignored him.
“The car… broke down,” he muttered in a low voice. “Ms. Choi might need to… bus back.” He looked incredibly nervous and ashamed. Choi broke out in sweat
“But I didn’t bring any money!” She exclaimed. Hell, this girl is so smart, walking around with no money. The guy opened his mouth to say a solution.
“She can stay here,” Nico said slowly. Everyone, except Ken, shot Nico surprised looks. What the hell was this guy thinking? I opened up my mouth to protest but was quickly cut off by Ken (surprised?).
“Yeah, we have an extra room, right?” Ken added. Flustered, Griffin and Ace just nodded like mechanical bobble heads. The bodyguard shrugged with obvious relief. He slipped out and gently closed the door.
As soon as I heard that click, silence fell over the six of us. Arina wouldn’t stop looking at me, whether because I was the lead singer and she was expected something out of me or what, I had no idea. I glanced at the other guys, raking their faces for an explanation. Nico continuously glanced toward Ken, who only smiled like the Cheshire cat. He wouldn’t look at me directly though, just smiling and looking around the room as though for his first time.
“Ken…”
“Tye, I’d like my twenty dollars now,”
..................................................................................................................................
Yay! <3 Upload day! Did you enjoy? I know that people were expecting something like a catfight between Arina and Viv but I couldn't fit it in. It'll happen later... Promise!
I'm not really happy with this chapter. I had to cram stuff in, but I wasn't sure how it would happen. What'll happen now in the story? I know what should happen- I just don't know how it would. AUGHHHH D: