The scorching sun shone on my face, forcing me to come out of my dream. I don't recall the dream precisely, but I had a feeling it was a good one as I found myself smile out of nowhere. I woke up with my eyes half closed, still numb. The sleepniess still forcing my eyes to close and forcing me to go back to sleep, but I knew going back to sleep wasn't a choice.
I turned my head around to take a look at the clock to my right, beside the clock was a picture of me, smiling brightly, both placed on top of the side table beside my bed. The clock read 12:47 p.m.
I got off my bed sluggishly and entered the washroom, brushed my teeth and took a quick shower. I got out and changed into a beautiful summer dress and let my hair down to air dry it. I got out of my bedroom and entered the living room.
I was in a really good mood today. Everything seemed so beautiful everything was giving off a good vibe. But I knew exactly why I was feeling so positive today. Today would be the day Max would be coming back from Australia. Max; my boyfriend, my lover, whose beautiful face I have not seen for over weeks. He went to Australia with his family to enjoy the summer vacation and it has been a month and a half since I have met him or seen his charming face. We did talk on phone but only briefly. He is coming back today and our schools will be starting in less than two weeks, which means I would get to see him everyday. The thought of being back beside him, of holding his big hands again made me smile.
With a big goofy smile on my face, I grabbed my mobile to see three unread messages and nine missed calls from Jess and two unread messages and five missed calls from Maria. Wow, looks like some people have been missing me.
I opened Jess' massages first.
Jess:
1. Hey Ally, Max wasnt in Sweden! Long story, CALL ME!
2. Ally, you there?
3. Reply me moron!!!
Maria:
1. Did you read Jess' message? I don't have a good feeling about this.
2. Waiting for your reply!
I immediately called Jessica
"Ally! Where the hell were you? Why weren't you answering your stupid phone?!" She picked up and started to yell frantically. "I'm sorry but what happened? Did Max really come back early?" I asked, not quite understanding why she was so mad because I was delighted to find out that he's back early.
"First off, you know how I hate it when people don't pick my calls. If you weren't my best friend, you would be hearing some badass swear words right now!" Jess said and I could still detect the anger in her tone.
"Jess! What were you saying about Max?!" I reminded her and heard her sigh loudly.
"Jess?" I asked again when she didn't utter a word. I started to get a bad vibe.
"Okay, so you know my brother, John, right? He usually goes to this stupid game center with his friends and yesterday he came home and asked me if Max was back early and I asked him why was he asking that." She stopped for a breath and continued.
"-and John told me that he saw Max with a girl in the shopping mall that day." She finished, leaving me absolutely clueless.
"So? What's the big deal? He may have arrived early and maybe he wanted to give me a surprise. Plus, that girl can also be his friend. Come on Jess, you don't always have to make a big issue out of everything." I rolled my eyes, later realizing that there was no point of doing that because I was on phone.
"Yeah, I'm not exactly finished. Here's the main part." Her voice changed. She sounded worried now.
"What is it?"
"I don't really know if I can tell you."
"Is it about me?"
"Yeah."
"Then go on."
"John told me that Max was not only hanging out with that girl, he was also . . . " She stopped and it was starting to get on my nerves, especially now because my curiosity was rising.
"Just say it!"
"He was kissing her."
"What?" I yelled. "Are you serious? Are you sure John isn't lying?" Is this some kind of a prank? Because if it is, then I swear I'm going to kick their asses so hard, they'll never even lie to me, ever again!
"Ally, I'm serious and I am sure John isn't lying." Jess said softly.
After ending the conversation with Jess, I called Maria and asked for her opinion and she said that it may have been true since Max wasn't talking to me as much as he used to. I was shocked, shocked at what I was hearing. It's not that I don't trust Max, I do but I trust my besties just as much and I know they would never lie to me unless it's April Fool, oh who am I kidding? They won't even make a joke like this on April Fool Day.
__________________________________________
They say that anxiety causes more anxiety. But in case, it caused a new group in Whatsapp titled "Man Down", set up by Jess who was never a big fan of Max. Oh also, next to the title were an emoji of a man and next to him was an emoji of a gun.
I bit away my nails in nervousness as Jess and Maria plotted a plan on Whatsapp to confirm John's observation. I was obviously forced to play the main lead in their drama. The plan was to make Max come to McDonald's and catch me flirting with another guy. They were planning to make Max think that I was in a relationship with someone else while he was gone.
Basically, my best friends wanted my boyfriend to think of me as a tramp. They thought that this would make him mad and he might tell me the truth about him and his trip to Australia and why he's back early and why is he putting his tounge into someone else's mouth when he is officially and unofficialy allowed to put it only in mine.
I was totally against this because I was sure it is just a big misunderstanding. Maybe John had seen someone else and thought it was Max. There can be many other alternate explanations. I simply wanted to call Max and ask him what was going on but Jess and Maria told me that he might lie, which is possible. But to be honest, there was a part of me that had kept saying that this is possible. After all, it has not been the same since we started dating. We had a few arguments, few misunderstandings. We were not always on the best terms but that didn't mean that we were over. What couple doesn't argue? That's just natural.
Jess and Maria had called our friend, Joe, to help out. They told him everything that he had to do and made some other calls to make sure Max would be there when the 'play' starts. I was feeling nervous. He loves me, I know that much and I don't want to lose Max and that too because of a huge misunderstanding.
I left home and met Jess and Maria infront of the shopping mall. We entered the mall and went to the floor where the McDonald's was located at. Maria called Joe and asked him where he was and hung up the phone later with a worried look.
"Joe is stuck in the traffic, he says he can't make it!" She said, glancing back and forth at both of us.
Jess shrieked "Oh my God! What are we gonna do now?! Max will be here in any minute!"
"Guys, c'mon do we really have to do this?" I complained.
"Yes!" Maria eyed me menacingly. "Now shut up."
Maria handed me a bluetooth and made me wear it. I gave her a look which said 'too professional?' to which Maria replied by ignoring me. We silently waited for Joe, hoping that he'll arrive in just a minute or two. When he didn't, we crossed our fingers and hoped that Max doesn't arrive before Joe.
It seemed like it wasn't our lucky day. Maria shouted "Oh no, Max is here!" We all turned to look where Maria's alarmed eyes were looking at. I looked past Maria and there he was.
He was wearing a red shirt with blue jeans, his masculine hands his pockets. I felt a heavy weight being lift off of my chest when I gazed at him. The feeling of finally seeing him was amazing, it was soothing. It's like waiting for something to happen and when it finally did, my life felt suddenly complete somehow.
Jess grabbed my arm and pulled me into the McDonald's, making me land back into reality, and into the ordering line. She dragged me to a boy who was waiting in line.
Jess looked at the boy and urgently said
"Hey, Austin! Can you do one thing for me please?"
The boy stared back at her in utter confusion. "Uhm - yeah sure." I looked up at him quietly and recognized him immediately. He is the talkative guy. In Biology lessons, my teacher would always have to stop his lecture and wait for this guy and his friend Cal to stop talking. The both best friends always seem to have something funny to talk about and I've always wondered what it was. There were times when my Biology teacher would stare at them long and hard and I would turn around simply to look at them and he and I would share a second of eye contact and this was all I knew about him.
Jess sighed in relief. "Oh thank God. Look I don't have any time to explain but you have to pretend to be Ally's boyfriend for just three minutes, please?"
I saw his eyebrows furrow in confusion and shock. The poor guy was about to say something when Jess interrupted him.
"OK thanks!"
Jess gave Austin a bluetooth and he wore it hesitantly then Jess and Maria ran away from us and hid themselves behind a pillar, leaving me with this guy who I don't really know except the fact that he studies Biology with me and that I have never ever talked to him before and our first meeting was extremely awkward. Austin looked at me in confusion.
"I am sorry but they will explain it all to you later." I told him, feeling extremely embarrassed.
I heard Maria's voice coming from my bluetooth and Austin could also hear her since he reached for the bluetooth to adjust it.
"Max is coming! Now you guys act like a couple." We heard her whisper but we did nothing. We both were standing there, inches apart, looking awkwardly at each other.
"Come on guys! Max is entering the McDonald's! Talk you two!" Maria shouted this time, urgency in her voice.
I turned my head and looked at Austin and pretended that I was chatting with him. I pretended as if Austin told me a joke and I put my hand in front of my mouth as laughed loudly. This is extremely awkward.
"Very good. Guys Max is looking straight at you now . . . Austin, put your arm around Ally's waist." Jess whispered.
Austin looked at me, obviously uncomfortable to where all of this was going.
"Come on Austin, please. Just put your arm around her. What are you waiting for?!" Jess begged as if she could see the awakwardness between us.
"You know what? This is stupid-" I started to say when Austin placed his arm around my waist. "Ally, shut the fuck up!" Jess violently whispered to me. I prevented myself from flinching, wondering how awful Max would be feeling right now.
"Good, now both of you keep on talking, he is looking straight at you guys." Maria said.
We kept on pretending to talk and we reached the counter. Austin ordered the Big Mac and I ordered an Apple Pie. As we waited for our food to arrive, we heard Jess' voice saying "Guys, he's gone." At that very instant, I stepped away from him immediately. Jess and Maria came out of the pillar and to us. Our food arrived and I felt my phone vibrate under my fingers. I opened it and saw a message from Max.
Man you're an incredible actress. I never thought that you'd be a player, a sexy one, like me! We date other people when there's already someone else in our lives. Haha. Don't you worry about me though. I'm not angry at you at all. In fact, you made my life easier. I have been wanting to tell you this last month, I was never in Australia and I have a girlfriend now. I don't even bother telling you her name. BTW, thanks for all those money, and I have never loved you, it was just to get some attention. I already have that so there's no need of you now. We're not together anymore so HAVE FUN WITHOUT ME BABE. ;)