Rhian held her breath as she and the others watch the ball roll off, taking a lean on the left then at the center, until hitting all the pins off. She blew a breath of relief, smiling as she heard her friends cheering. She turn to the left, and saw Paul with widen eyes and mouth ajar.
She felt heavy arms on her shoulders and saw Dennis on her peripheral vision. "Now do you believe her?"
Paul frowned, opening and closing his mouth to say something but didn't know the words to counter back. Finally, he slumped his shoulders in defeat and says, "Yeah."
The group howled in laughter at his reaction, resulting to some of the people to look at them in irritation. But just like her friends, Rhian didn't mind it. She took a seat behind her when it's Glaiza's turn to challenge Paul. Confident at his skills, the latter suggested that the loser should treat the winner to any food he/she wants. Glaiza agreed to it and the two readied themselves. Rhian cross her arms and shifted in her seat, excited how the events would turn out.
Paul's gaze locked on the pins before releasing the ball, hitting seven of it. The guys cheered him on, either chest bumping him, or doing style handshakes.
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on. I change my mind. That's not fair! You have experiences in bowling whereas I don't. So you have to lower the standards 'cause there's in no hell I'm gonna win this." Glaiza argued.
Rhian saw the glare Glaiza's giving the guys when they disagree, but Paul shut them up, contemplating on Glaiza's proposition. He gave a thoughtful look before he agreed. "Alright, okay, how about this. Lets forget what I said. If you could strike down 4 or more, I'd treat you in any food you want and forget about me being a winner. But if you don't, well, you have to buy me food. Is that okay?" Paul proposed.
Although hesitant, Glaiza nodded and shifted the bowling ball on her hand. She narrowed her eyes at the pins before giving a hard release of the ball. She held her breath in, watching the rolling ball until it hits exactly four pins.
Rhian smiled as she watch the short-haired girl jumping up and down in victory, her lip stretched into a wide smile. Her gazing was cut short when a phone ring. Her eyebrows raise in surprise as soon as she saw who's calling and immediately answers it.
"Hey mom! Oh my gosh, its been so long! Why haven't you been answering all my calls? I've miss you so much!" Rhian gushed.
Mrs. Ramos chuckled. "Me too sweetie. I'm sorry I haven't picked up my phone for a while because I lost it days ago."
"Oh my God, what happened?! Did you check everything? Maybe its just somewhere in your closet, maybe the car, or, I don't know, under the bed?"
Rhian heard her mother release a breath. "I've checked all of it, but nothing. But its alright though, I've had that phone for... five years? So I guess that's bound to happen. Good thing I've brought with me my other phone, so all is good. Anyway, I didn't call to talk about that. Tell me, how are things there? You guys having fun?"
Rhian responded in agreement and filled her mother in with the things they've been doing for the past few days. She also mentioned about how she had bonded with Glaiza's cool friends and that she had made the right decision to include them into her summer trip.
"Well, that's good. But be honest with me... you haven't burn or destroy anything in that house with all the fun you had, are you?"
Rhian laughs lightly. "No mom, we're not that reckless. Don't worry, everything is still in one piece."
"Okay, okay, good. Just checking." Mrs. Ramos chuckled, before slowly dropping her tone into a serious one. "Soo... uh... how about you and... that Jason guy? I heard that he's also staying in the house. Now before you say anything, I'm not like your father. I do not approve with the whole fix marriage thing. I just want to check up on you and make sure that the guy hasn't force you into doing things you're not comfortable or if he's treating you right."
"He is treating me good, mom. Recently, he bought me huge amount of sweets and calling me sweet names. But..." Rhian sighs. "I don't feel anything for him. No spark, no attraction, nothing. But they still want to push the marriage. And by they, I mean him and his parents. They've visited me and still wanted me to be wed to their son even though I've said that I'm already taken. That Glaiza and I are in a relationship."
"Oh yes, I've been meaning to ask you about that. You didn't tell me that you're in a relationship with her. Much less that you're into girls. How come I didn't know about this? I thought we've established that there's no secrets between us." Her mom says.
Rhian sighs again. "Yes mom, I know. And I'm sorry for that. But you see, there's really nothing going on between Glaiza and I. Its all just fake. We had this deal wherein she'll pretend to be my fake girlfriend in exhange for providing her a job. So its all just an act."
"Hmm, alright... But are you sure that's the best thing to do? I mean is it really gonna work?"
"Honestly, I don't know. It was all in a spur of a moment when it started and, since then, we just kinda wing it, you know? I mean there was a little persuasion in the beginning, but things had work out. Also, Glaiza had been a great help to me, making the situation as comfortable as possible, so there's barely any awkwardness between us."
"That's good. See, if you just told me all these things, I wouldn't be confuse and a little mad at you. You know, even if your relationship with Glaiza was real, or that you were into girls, I would understand. And I'm not going to react violently or like gonna disown you or anything... What I'm trying to say is, you can always count on me no matter what. And that I'm always here for you, okay?"
Rhian's chest warm at this and smiled a little. "Yes mom. Thank you for this. I love you."
After exchanging goodbye's, Rhian hung up. Timingly, the group decided to head out and eat since most of them, especially the ones who played, are feeling hungry. When the group wanted to try something new, Rhian chose a place where it caters the most sought out pastas in town. Like Tito Miguel's cafe, the place was jammed up. Good thing they saw an extended family finishing up and they quickly claim the seats. Being given out the menus, the waiter grab Rhian's attention.
"Hey, Rhian. Long time no see."
The rich girl glance up, noticing a familiar face. "Oh Kevin! Its you. I didn't know you still work here. It is so nice to see you again."
The guy chuckled at Rhian's reaction. "Yes, yes, I'm still here. And its also good to see you visiting here again." Then he gave a dazzling smile, revealing his deep dimples. "You just made my job way more exciting. Thank you for gracing me with your presence."
Rhian smiled. "Still a sweet talker, I see. Hm, you haven't changed."
"So do you. You're still stunningly gorgeous as usual." He says leaning by the chair of Glaiza, who had been annoyed with the guy for the past seconds now. "Anyway, what would be your order?"
"Just the usual. I assume you still know it?" Rhian asks.
"Of course. I wouldn't forget your favorite dish, oh beautiful goddess Rhian." The guy claimed dramatically.
The group chuckled at this, finding the waiter funny. Getting slightly frustrated, Glaiza cleared her throat and says her order, followed by the rest. After taking note of their orders, the guy left, not before giving a wink at Rhian's way. While waiting, the group tease Rhian with the waiter and the girls kept talking how hot and handsome the guy. Except one girl. Rhian notices the short-haired girl had a slight frown on her face.
"Are you... okay Glaiza?" Rhian whispered.
"I'm fine." Glaiza responded, her eyes focus on the place mat she's fidgeting. Hinting a slight cold in her tone, Rhian hesitantly drop their conversation and turn her attention to the others, but not anymore participating in the talk. She wondered why the girl is acting strangely quiet all of a sudden.
Few more minutes later, the food had arrived. Different pastas are served resulting to a mix of aroma in the air. Others who weren't feeling hungry, had order burger and fries. The group dig in to their meals. Rhian is glad that her friends are enjoying their food when most of them complimented on its taste.
"No wonder this place is full. Their spaghetti are bomb!" Chynna commented.
"And not to mention, their burgers are big and flavorful." Added Julie-Anne.
"Their carbonaras are to die for!" Katrina says.
The rich girl gave a mental pat on her back, for making a right decision to take them here. Seconds later, chatters and chuckling are heard as each enter in a conversation with the other. Rhian was busy talking to her cousin from her left when Lovi's eyes went from behind Rhian and tried to contain herself from smiling.
Confused, Rhian turn and catched Glaiza putting a forkful of carbonara on her mouth. "Did you get that from my plate?"
Chewing, Glaiza shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Rhian look at Glaiza's plateful of spaghetti then craned her neck to the short-haired girl's side and saw Paul's plate; a half-eaten burger and a couple of fries. The rich girl frowned before turning back to Glaiza with raised eyebrows. "You really need to lie to my face?"
Getting a piece of fry on Paul's plate, Glaiza answered, "Fine, you got me." Then she stood up and stretch herself across Chynna and opened her mouth. Chynna sighed and spoon-feed her a piece of her chocolate ice cream before she sat back on her seat.
Surprise at this, Rhian shook her head slightly. "Are you always like this? Taking people's food?"
"What? I'm hungry." Came Glaiza's response and was about to get again some of Rhian's carbonara when the rich girl blocked her fork with her own.
"Uh-huh. No, you're not getting any." Rhian says.
"Oh come on." Glaiza whined. "Just a bit. It was really good."
"No." Rhian firmly says to which the short-haired girl huffed and still proceeded to take some. But the rich girl was quick to block her again.
Glaiza look up and saw a challenging look on Rhian's eyes. She smirked and began to attack her plate but Rhian defended it with her fork. Not long, the two had started a somewhat tableware war between them, grabbing any utensils to either attack or defend the other's plate. During this, the two couldn't help but chuckle and smile, and playfully trash talk the other that their friends had stop talking and instead watch the two; some had even cheered and rooted for their chosen player.
When a waiter come up to their table saying that a couple of the customers are complaining about their noise, the laughter died down and Rhian apologized on behalf of her friends. When she turn back, she saw Glaiza already eating her carbonara and gave a cheeky smile to the rich girl. Defeatedly, Rhian decided to let her, shaking her head in amusement.
Finishing up, Glaiza excused herself from the group to go the restroom. Claiming that she'll be paying, the group thanked and praised the rich girl. Seeing as though, everybody is ready to leave, Rhian announce that she'll get the short-haired girl. Standing up and going to the direction of the restroom, Rhian stops and saw Glaiza talking animatedly with a cute waiter. She didn't like how the guy look at her so she immediately approach them and told Glaiza that they're about to leave.
"Oh okay, well, its nice to meet you John. And again, nice music taste. Its not everyday I get to meet an 80's music fan." Glaiza says and was about to turn away when the guy grab her arm which put a frown on Rhian's face.
He grab a napkin and scribbled something and held out to Glaiza."Wait. H-How about you and I hang out some time? Maybe at a cafe or... at the movies? You know, to talk more about music and stuff. I would really like to go out with-"
Rhian cut him off, pushing the napkin back at him. "I'm sorry, but you can't. And she also can't, because she's taken and we need to go and leave." She grab Glaiza's wrist and they walk off towards the group who are now waiting outside.
"Woah, what with that face?" Josh asked, seeing the angry look on the rich girl's face.
"Nothing, let's just go." Rhian says and they all began to walk to her house.
"Uh Rhian? You're hurting my wrist." Glaiza winced. Rhian looked down at her hand and immediately let go of her tight grip on the short-haired girl.
"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Rhian apologized seeing the slight pink forming on the girl's wrist.
Glaiza rub it to soothe the slight pain and asks, "What was that about earlier? You didn't even let me say goodbye to that guy."
"Its just..." Rhian sighs. "He was hitting on you, okay? I saw him checking you out and giving you that lustful look... And, I don't know, it made me mad!... I-I mean if Benjamin's here, he would punch that guy's face too."
Glaiza smiled at Rhian's intention and swing her arms around her shoulders. "Aww, that was sweet of you! Thank you." Then she gave a kiss on her cheek which had immediately brought a blush on Rhian's cheeks. Noticing it, Glaiza laughed out loud and teased her for it. The rich girl playfully push her off and tried to contain the smile forming on her lips.
Approaching the Ramos' residence, Rhian frowned when she saw four different cars parked just outside the gate. She quickly went in and unlocked the main door. She was surprise to see people in their business attires, who's gaze land on her. Jason, who was sitting lazily on the living area, immediately stood up and greeted his bride-to-be.
"What is going on here?" Rhian asks, confusion written on her face.
"These are the people in charge on making our wedding. And they're here to help you make decisions in certain things." Jason explained, smiling.
"What makes you think that I agree-"
Jason cut her off with a swift clapping of his hands. "Alright, listen up people! This is here is my fiancé that I'm talking about. Tend to her wants and needs and make sure that the informations gathered are accurate. There should be NO mistakes. I want our wedding to perfect. Understood?" The people nodded their head professionally. "Good, you can now approach her."
As soon as Jason left, Rhian is immediately surrounded by people, who all at once started talking. Two classy women on her left side pulled her to the foot of the stairs, one of them drag a small chair and ordered, well, more like pushed her to step on it. Her arms are lifted sidewards and the two began measuring and jotting down the measurements on a notebook.
Next, she was dragged by two energetic ladies into the living room, made her seat on the cushion, and sat either by her side. They took out their own tablets and showed her different designs of wedding gowns. Rhian's head cocked left and right when the two started talking about which gown is the best and why. With all that bubbly talking, she absentmindedly picked out gowns that caught her eye, resulting to the two arguing whenever Rhian picked something that the other disagrees with.
Fed up with their noise, Rhian excused herself and stood up, but is yet again pulled by a middle-aged man and his daughter towards the kitchen where various kinds of desserts and cakes are served on the counter. Although they weren't as upbeat as the two ladies, it didn't erase the frustration Rhian felt as they discuss the perks of having a certain dessert on their wedding. They presented her samples to taste, and with Rhian having a sweet tooth, she couldn't just simply resist the given-free desserts. Complimenting some of it, the two thought it was what she picks.
After that, she was still bombarded with people asking her questions on things. The invitations, the table arrangements, the theme, the floral decorations, everything. And she was being pulled from one place to another, catching her attention every now and then. At one time, they started talking in unison again, that Rhian became dizzy and her ears started ringing, not knowing what and who she's suppose to listen to. Seeing Jason by her peripheral vision, she made way towards him with all the people trudging behind her.
"Stop this and make them all go away." Rhian whispered harshly.
"What? But Rhian as I said before, they're here to help us plan for our wedd-"
"No!" Rhian shouted. "There will be no wedding because I'm not marrying you! Ever! Hell, I don't even like you, much worse love you! Why can't you stick that through you damn skull, Jason?! There's no us! And there never will be!"
The room became suddenly quiet. There's no chatters and talking, and everyone was feeling the awkward tension in the air, especially the ones in business attires. No one didn't know how to break the silence so they kept their mouth shut.
"Rhian..." Jason walk closer to her. "Don't say that. I'm sure with time you'll eventually learn to love me."
The rich girl avoided Jason's hand going over her shoulders. "No Jason, I'm sure it won't."
Then she storm off upstairs, her steps echoing throughout the house. The people began whispering at the situation, pointing at either where Rhian stormed off to or at Jason, who's fists were clenched and angrily kick a chair and walked away, earning a couple of gasps. The guys followed Jason while the girls announce to the people that their service is not needed and should head home. Without hesitation, Glaiza went upstairs to her room and catch the rich girl pacing back and forth, eyebrows connecting in irritation, with different emotions flickering on her face.
Glaiza listened to Rhian's rambling and complaining at what Jason did. How the guy couldn't understand that she's not into him at all. How it was all her father's fault and how he could be so cruel. Dictating her future and forcing her into something she strongly disagreed to.
Rhian ran her hands through her hair and slightly pull at it, her anger starting to surface. She brisk walk to the terrace and shouted at the top of her lungs at how life is so unfair. Her hands rest on the railings as her head went down, feeling her eyes welling up and her breathing became ragged. After a minute or so, she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning her. Her chin was lifted up and her tears that she didn't know were sliding down, was brushed away. Rhian stared blankly at Glaiza while the latter gently caress her wet cheeks.
"I'm so... tired of this, Glaiza. So... stress at this situation. I-I wish I could just... walk away and forget all about this... But... I can't." Rhian says.
Glaiza's hand went to Rhian's, and gently lead her towards the bed, not before closing the sliding doors. Rhian immediately crawled in, resting her back at the headboard, her knees to her chest, and her head on top of her knees. The short-haired girl sat cross-legged in front of Rhian and joked about how cute she is when crying, in attempt to lighten the mood. Noticing that there was no reaction from Rhian, Glaiza's smile faltered.
She remove the rich girl's hands wrapped around her knees, making Rhian cross her legs in an indian sitting position and looked her in the eyes. The blank look was still present on her face so Glaiza thought on how to get rid of that look. Seconds after, an idea popped into her mind.
"Hey, close your eyes." Glaiza says, and held Rhian's hands.
Rhian pulled away instantly. "Glaiza, no. I'm not in the mood to play and-"
"We're not playing. Just trust me." Glaiza whispered.
The rich girl huffed before complying. Her eyes close and cross her arms. Glaiza's hands went to either side of Rhian's temples and began rubbing circles.
"What are you doing?" Rhian asked with still eyes closed.
"My mother used to do this to me all the time when I'm feeling drained out. She says it helps relieve stress, so I hope it would work on you." Glaiza responded softly.
Rhian stayed silent after that, focusing on Glaiza's hands instead. How firm yet gentle her fingers are, circling on her temples. She sighed in content as Glaiza ran both her thumbs across her forehead, sliding them sidewards. Then running it towards the tip of where her hairs meet, really working out the knots. Rhian hummed in delight and lean forward for Glaiza's easy access. She could feel herself getting calmer and calmer as she urge the short-haired girl to continue. Minutes past, and Rhian felt herself getting drowsy and sleepy, but before she's swept into dreamland, Glaiza pulled away.
Rhian slowly open her eyes and saw the short-haired girl smiling lightly."Feeling better?"
"Yeah." Rhian whispered noddingly.
"I'm glad." Glaiza responded, patting her thumb on Rhian's chin.
She stood up from the bed and was about to walk away when Rhian tug on the short-haired girl's shirt. Glaiza glance back down at her in question. Rhian wrapped her arms around her hips and gave her a hug, her head resting just below Glaiza's breasts. The short-haired girl's hand were in mid-air, surprise at this.
"Thank you." Rhian mumbled through Glaiza's shirt.
Glaiza sighed and gave a small smile. Her hands went to the back of the rich girl's head and caress her hair, saying, "You're welcome, Rhi."
They stayed in that position for minutes, neither pulling away. Though, the two have different reasons. Glaiza, being a good friend who offers comfort to the rich girl, whereas, Rhian, who seems to be getting closer in having the answers as to why she's been having these strange feelings towards the short-haired girl. And frankly, she's starting to like having those feelings.