A/N: Photo: Cameron Diaz as Veronica
Chapter 16
Angelo's P.O.V
"You did what?" I asked surprised when Veronica told me what she did to Derek Munn- the guy who tried to hit on me during my first day at University.
"Well, your mum told me that you came home but you didn't even come to see me." She huffed. "Then she told me about your eyes and about the Derek guy who assaulted you. I couldn't contain myself so I flew here as soon as possible to teach the whore a lesson." she said, looking proud for what she did.
We were at the Starbucks. I decided to meet her at the shop after class. We haven't seen each other for more than a couple of months and we sure have a lot to catch up.
Veronica disguised herself using wig and heavy makeup. I myself didn't actually recognise her if she didn't call me out.
Veronica Buenaventura: a well-known personality in the world and mostly Australia and one of my best mates. I met her 4 years ago when I came in Australia. She was the only daughter of my dad's business partner who owned the biggest vineyard in the world. At such young age, Veronica has been successful in her dream of becoming top female model. Indeed, she has a body and looks like a goddess and every man who would see her would definitely bow at their feet.
I was home-schooled until I finished my year twelve and Veronica was the only kid at my age around the house. She was living at the manner while her father was away in business. Since she was the only kid around my age and the only kid allowed socialising with me, we became best of mates.
"So you know about my eyes?" I asked, trying to hide the guilt of not telling her. I was thankful though that my mum didn't tell her about Daniel.
"Oh come on Angie..." she waved off. She gives me a pet name 'Angie' whenever she feels too lazy to say my whole name. And I do HATE it.
"I hate it when you call me that...." I furrowed my eyebrow. "It's sounds so girly". I complained.
"You know you like it." She smirked. "As I was saying, I've been living in your manner for almost 5 years. Of course I've seen your dad's eye change every time he gets upsets or something." She stirred her coffee with a teaspoon.
"Sorry for not giving you a visit. It was just..." I didn't continue with what I was saying as I don't want to remind myself about the problem in my family.
"Your dad isn't that bad, actually. Just give him a chance." She said.
"I don't wanna talk about it Nica, please." I threw her a pleading look and took a sip at my hot chocolate.
"Fine. So what's with you and Daniel?" she said out of nowhere.
I choked out with my hot chocolate and burnt my tongue in the process. Veronica tried to pat my back and I almost eat a whole pack of serviettes to soothe my tongue.
After the chocking and pain subsided, I arched my back forward and started to pretend that I was doing something, completely ignoring Veronica's question.
"Hey, how are you and your fiancé by the way?" I diverted the topic.
"Hmmm... well, I think he would do as my soul mate. I mean, we both love the business and he's pretty handsome. He'll do." She said matter of fact.
I looked up at her and frowned. "Arranged marriage is never a soul mate." I huffed.
"Okay then genius, what is soul mate for you?" she took a sip on her coffee.
"Well, uhmmm..." I thought for a second. "It's like a best friend but more. It's the one person in the world who knows you better than anyone else; that someone who makes you a better person. No, they actually don't make you a better person; you do that by yourself because they inspire you. A soul mate is someone you carry with you forever. It's one person who knew you, accepted you and believe in you before anyone else did or when no one else would. And no matter what happens, you'll always love them and no one could ever change that." I smiled. She was awe struck as her mouth was hanging open. Before she could said a word, I added; "That was from Dawson's Creek."
"Ohh... I haven't seen that show." she answered. "I couldn't believe you memorised it."
"That's what you get when your life is complicated." I sighed.
She wiped her lips with a napkin. "Is that definition applied to someone else at the moment?"
"What?...No." I answered. "No one at all."
"Are you sure?" she teased, quirking her left eyebrow.
" Yup. 100% sure." I said.
She eyed me for a second and she leaned back comfortably on her chair. "Boys...Boys...Clueless as always." She sang.
"What do you mean?" I asked really confused.
"You'll see what I mean." She answered.
I rolled my eyes and we finished our drinks and went shopping.
***********
Thursday night, I invited Veronica to come with me to No Limits to meet Daniel, Dianne and Alex.
Veronica was pretty keen and feisty to meet and mingle with the group right after I told her the plan for that night.
I picked her up at her condo and drove our way to the bar. She was dressed in formal which is a bit ironic to me for a supermodel; she was wearing a black long wig that hid her blonde wavy hair, and a heavy make-up opposite to what she wear as supermodel. I asked her about the heavy makeup to which she just shrugged off and answered "Oh ...just to scare pervert guys. They don't wanna mess with Maleficent do they?"
Daniel's group agreed to meet at the bar around 5:00 pm because no one could manage to stay late due to heavy workload of university.
When I parked our car, I saw Max at door putting the "CLOSE" sign. I walked towards him, Veronica trailing behind me and approached the guy. "Why are we closing?"
Max turned to face me with an interesting glare. "Dianne was talking about a supermodel coming today and she wanted to make it exclusive." He said cheerfully. "So.... Where is she?"
"Where is who?" I asked dumb founded.
"The super model" he huffed dramatically. "Dianne said she was coming with you."
Veronica was sniggering behind me while listening to my manager's dramatic scene.
"That would be me mister..." she took off her wig and revealed her wavy blonde hair. However, she looked like blonde Maleficent with her heavy makeup on. She must have seen Max's confused face and so she explained about the entire disguised thing. Max wasn't convinced at first, but he led us inside of the bar where Daniel, Alex and Dianne were merrily chatting on a table.
Veronica went straight to the toilet to fix her make-up and to remove all the disguise materials hanging on her. She did really look like Maleficent minus the crow.
Daniel's glare landed on me and he smiled widely. I tried to smile back while my heart started to pound heavily in my chest. The other two noticed me right after Daniel stood up and walked over to me.
"Hi Anj.. Glad you could make it." He greeted enthusiastically.
"Anj?" I asked, raising my right eyebrow in question.
Daniel blushed and looked around but me. "Short for Angelo?" he answered, sounding awkward.
Just as when I was about to answer, Veronica came running to us while scattering at her shoulder bag. "Hey Angie, I couldn't find my...." she didn't had the chance to finish her sentence when she hear me growled and Daniel was sniggering. She looked up and flashed her supermodel smile to Daniel. "Ohh... Hi Daniel. Nice to see you again."
"It's nice to see you too, Veronica." Daniel said while gazing at me with a slight smirked.
"What's up with the smirk?" the nosy Veronica said.
"Oh...It's just you called Angelo 'Angie'"
"That's my nick-name for him" she said, completely unaware of what's happening.
Just then, we heard a woman screaming her lungs out towards our direction. I saw Dianne running and almost tripping herself out towards us, Alex trailing behind him with an expression of someone seeing a birthday cake for his birthday.
"Oh my gosh.. It is really you.." Dianne said while touching Veronica's arm and face. Veronica was used to it and so she wasn't bothered by Dianne's action. Alex was standing behind Dianne, his mouth was hanging open.
Veronica introduced herself to Dianne, and I swear I could almost saw a light bulb clicking on the top of their head. As if they were the missing partners in crime. Alex wasn't saying anything and his mouth was hanging open. Actually, Daniel had to close it for him after a while of uncomfortable view from his best friend.
Dianne invited us to the table and so we went. We seated at the table in the middle; Veronica seating beside me, opposite to me was Daniel, next to him was Dianne- who was facing Veronica, and on the corner was Alex next to Dianne.
The bar was isolated and only clinging of wine glass and a soft sound of music could only be heard.
The two girls talked a lot about fashion, their favourite colour, their hair style, One Direction, Zac Efron, Kim Kardashians' scandal and how Lady Gaga sucks at dressing. The funny thing was Alex was interestingly listening to the two girls' conversation and as if the three of them forgot that we were there.
Daniel and I were sitting just sitting quietly. I could feel that he's stealing glances at me as I did to him. I felt like he wants to tell something to me but couldn't decide whether to go for it or not. I for the record didn't try to budge in his business.
After a minutes of exchanging fashion advice and making fun of celebrities, the three people in our left side must have ran out of topic and so they decided to make us their subject.
"So are you two just going to stare at each other for the whole time?" Dianne asked.
Daniel brushed the back of his head awkwardly while looking down at the floor. "I...uhh.. We're talking about something." He lied.
"Care to share that something to us?" Veronica said in a teasing voice tone, she was wiggling her right eyebrow.
"Something eh? Something like?" Alex said, after a couple of hours of silence.
"Uh....Something about.... Uhh..."I stuttered, thinking of anything to reasoned out.
"Names." Daniel offered.
"Yes.. Names... We're talking about names." I agreed.
"Ohh....You're talking about baby names right away?" Veronica smirked.
"Isn't it too fast with you two?" Dianne added. Alex was trying to contain his laugh.
Both Daniel and I turned red like a tomato from embarrassment.
"What baby name?... It doesn't mean like that..." I blurted.
"We were talking about Anj's nicknames." Daniel said.
"Who's Anj?" Alex interjected.
"Angelo?" Daniel answered; his tone was more of a question.
Veronica gasped and furrowed her eyebrow. Dianne squealed in unknown reason of delight, and Alex grinned as big as Mount Everest.
Veronica leaned closer to me; I could almost smell her minty breath. "You dork. You're telling me you hate me calling you 'Angie' while this blonde handsome guy here just called you 'Anj' and you seemed to liked it?" she huffed.
I was leaning back to avoid her scary face and her awkward radiation. "I...I didn't..." I didn't what? I didn't like it? I couldn't say that because somehow, I like it. I love it. And the fact that Daniel gave that pet name, I love it a lot.
"Well?" she was back to her seating position.
"All I'm saying was Angie was a bit girly for me. But I didn't say I hate it." I reasoned out.
"Whatever Angelo." she frowned. "I can smell something in fishy here..." she added.
"Spoiler alert my friend..." Dianne jumped in. "It's gonna be a wonderful love story, to the point that Kurt and Blake would be soon forgotten."
"OMG....You're watching Glee?" Veronica squealed.
"OMG... Yes!" Dianne mimicked Veronica's enthusiasm.
"And as far as I love Kurt and Blake, I say you might be right. I got a feeling that soon, we're gonna see the best love story in the face of the planet." Veronica agreed.
Veronica and Dianne held each other's hand and cocked their heads towards our direction with an evil smirked. Alex was shaking his head, though I'm not sure if he understood the girls or in sympathy towards our confusion.
Daniel looked as clueless as I was while our two girl friends were staring at us evilly like a hungry hyenas.
Veronica was trouble and crazy added by Dianne with same craziness as my best mate, it sure was a total eclipse of madness in the house.