I still hadn't wrapped my head around everything that Mr. Barney said, even after a day and a good night rest. I was still pretty shakened by the fact that Berkscorp would one day collapse. Luckily for me, the next day was one of our close friend's wedding. It was the perfect opportunity to drink and get out of my head. Leah was my roommate during my first year in college, together with Nadia and Aaliyah, the four of us were unstoppable. Sex, pills, and domination—we did everything. But unlike the rest of us that decided to stay together when we moved to LA, Leah chose to travel around the world. It wasn't until recently that she reached out to us that she was getting married in Vegas to the nerd none of us wanted to be with during college. Of course, we were happy for her. Even though Cory was a nerd at the time, he was pretty rich so it made sense that Leah loved him. Our group only loved two sets of people—rich and boys that can give us a proper sex. To us at the time, those two could take us to any corridor of power, and we weren't actually wrong.
That morning, we had packed our things. I stood at the balcony, watching the sun rise. Nadia was keeping us waiting, she had spent nearly fifteen minutes in the bathroom, just washing her hair. I was starting to get frustrated. We were all anxious to see Leah again after six years and couldn't even wait to get on the plane.
Eventually, Nadia came out, dressed in one of her wide gowns. I stepped back into the room only to see her looking pale. Her eyes cold like she was ill, but she refused to let me check her. Aaliyah came out of her room with Paige. The two stuck really close to one another, glued like an error secured by fate. Then we all walked out of the apartment. Our ride was already waiting downstairs. I got into the car at the front with Nadia, while Aaliyah and Paige entered the other one. After the driver was done loading our stuff in the trunk, he got in and drove us straight to the airport. Nadia was quiet all the way there which confirmed my suspicion that she might be sick, but she was hiding it pretty well and I didn't want to appear intrusive, so I kept quiet.
We arrived at the airport a minute before Aaliyah and Paige's car did. Our flight was slightly delayed, but we eventually got on the plane around 1pm. Aaliyah and Paige sat together adjacent us, while Nadia sat beside me. We had intentionally booked our seats that way and we were quite fortunate there wasn't actually any mix-up. The flight attendant walked down the aisle to address us, telling everyone to buckle up as the plane was about to take off. Nadia held onto my hand tightly as if she was trying to express something which I completely understood. That was her second time flying, and she used to be a very scared person, so I gently placed my other hand on hers to comfort her.
When the plane finally took off, she was still silent. She had her headphone over her head but I was completely bored with nothing to do. I kept peeping at Aaliyah and Paige who were watching a movie together and smiling like they had just won a lottery. I didn't like the way Paige had separated us from Aaliyah, the three of us had always done things as one. I needed someone to rant to, so I immediately turned to my side to disturb Nadia who was enjoying her peace.
I tapped her twice, and she tilted her head to look at me. I signaled to turn off her headphones, but she calmly dropped it to her neck instead.
"Do you think it's alright the way Paige is following us to our friend's wedding?" I heard myself ask her. "I mean, she doesn't even know Leah," I whispered.
Nadia leaned close to whisper back in my ears. "I don't actually see a problem with that. You know you've been acting off lately, girl."
Acting off? She was the one acting off all day. What did that even mean?
"What do you mean?" I was slightly offended.
"The way you are overprotective and shutting your heart out. Enjoy life... Enjoy love," she advised.
I wasn't completely offended, she did make some sense, but I wasn't expecting someone like her to say such a thing to me. I watched her calmly place her headphones back on, and until the moment that the plane touched down in Las Vegas airport, we didn't say a single word to one another. It was as if the silence connected us in a way words couldn't, and I just took it that way.
By the time our plane landed, Leah and Cory were already waiting for us outside the airport. The minute we got our bags cleared, I could already see Leah outside, smiling at us, waving her hand happily. She was in a flower pattered mini gown, and beside her stood the boy we all used to call a nerd. He was a completely different person now. His ginger hair that was always messy had been dyed black and curled. I almost didn't recognize him.
We embraced warmly, almost squeezing life out of one another while Paige stood far apart like the outcast that she was. It had been so long and no one could have imagined we would be meeting for an occasion like this. We hurried into the mini van they came in happily, and couldn't wait to catch up on so much. Cory drove us to the hotel where we would be having the bachelorette party, dropped our things before driving away to go and prepare for his own party.
Throughout the day, we discussed about everything we all had missed about one another over the years. Leah certainly had more experience than the rest of us combined since she had been traveling the world. It was such a beautiful moment that I didn't want it to end. My mind totally forgot the Berkscorp drama I had been dealing with. It was almost as if it had opened up a secret folder and shoved them all inside, never to be seen again. Two other classmates of ours arrived later that evening to join the party, we even ordered for male strippers. Although Leah tried to refuse at first, claiming it felt as if she was cheating on Cory, our persuasion however didn't leave her with an option.
We kept on drinking, glass after glass, bottles after bottles, and eventually around 8pm, we decided to order for food while we play a truth or dare game. We all sat in a circle, using a phone application to decide who asks who a question. When it eventually came to my turn, Aaliyah stared deeply into my eyes, her gaze fixed on me, then she asked;
"What's one thing you think we should know?"
It felt personal. Too personal.
I froze, eyes blinking like a SOS torch. I was confused, I didn't know if I should answer or not. If I did, they might not take it well, if I didn't, they might get mad at me. So at that time when their interests were completely in what I had to say, I just smiled, prompting them all to burst into laughter before I dropped the bomb on them.
"I have purchased a house in Beverly Hills and I've been thinking about moving out," I answered reluctantly.
The room fell into total silence. Gazes met, confusion thrived. All of us just froze in place, as I could see the betrayal expression on Aaliyah and Nadia's face. The room suddenly reeked of mixed feelings. I wasn't planning on letting them find out this way, I had been thinking on how to tell them, but with everything going on recently, I didn't see a time fit for such conversation. That was why I had been a little overprotective, I didn't want to leave, part of me already missed them even before I moved out. We had sworn to be together forever and this betrayal just cut deeply into their flesh than a stake to the heart, but they were great at hiding it. Nadia immediately smiled.
"Oh girl, I'm so happy for you. Why did you keep it for so long?" She asked, her expression slightly fake. I just gazed at her bitter eyes, apologizing consecutively in my mind.
Leah, sensing the tension immediately cleared her throat to shift our focus from the reveal back to the game.
"Let's continue," Leah advised.
Things didn't seem the same from that point, everyone became quieter, except Leah who was having the best day of her life. My eyes darted to my knee, expression covered in shame. Then, the doorbell rang. Our food had arrived, so I got up before anyone else could, to attend to the person at the door, leaving them to continue the game.
When I pulled the door open, in front of me stood a 6'4 male, eyes blue like the ocean. He was well built, trimmed eyebrow and the gaze sharp like an eagle's. His tiny beards swung down his jaw on a straight line, linking up with his moustache. His blonde hair leapt to a side, covering one side of his face, while the rest was packed in a dough. His chest was slightly exposed at the top, chest squeezing over his packs. His built physique immediately charmed me and I struggled to take my eyes off him. The necklace around his neck dangled in the air, like hypnosis, keeping me in stasis. But there was something about it... Something familiar. How the atmosphere shifted immediately I saw him, and moreover, he didn't seem like a delivery man. Looking closely, I knew this face... I didn't just know, I once loved it of at least someone with a similar one, and before my mind could go through my memories to search for answers, my mouth gave out;
"Stephan."
He smiled, staring deep into my eyes, making me freeze in place. "Isla, it's good to see you again."
My heart skipped.