Are you locked in?
Are you locked in?
Anyone who saw Richard's house would probably think it was a family house. It was large, exquisitely furnished and looked bright. It always reminded Leo of his family's house.
"I guess I have to." Leo answered with a shrug.
"Good! Because I'll be going there and it would be awkward if i went there myself. I don't even know who they are having the welcome party for." He said with a laugh making Leo to chuckle.
"You've been sulking since you came here. What's wrong? Haven't you clarified the issue with your family yet?" Richard asked going to sit opposite him.
"I haven't been able to do so. These people only believe what they want to believe. Even my mother wants me to come home tomorrow." He said with a frustrated sigh.
He had gone to meet Louis earlier and his idiot of a brother had been amused by the whole thing making him pissed off.
"Wow! Sounds pretty serious" Richard said.
"Well, it's going to be fine. Thankfully, Mia is a girl you like. You can just date her for real."
"You know I can't do that. I meant it when I said I'm never going to date anyone again!"
"And you know that's a lie. You know deep down inside you that there would come a day when you'd fall in love again. You are probably just too scared to test the waters. But let me give you an advice... you don't need to think too much about it. Trust me, things would flow naturally so just go with the tide."
Leo listened to him quietly and when he was done, he raised a brow at Richard.
"Anyone who'd hear you talking right now would think you are always this smart." Leo said with a laugh before standing up.
"I am always smart my dear friend. We better start leaving for the venue now. It's already past 8. Uhm.. are we using a car or driving separately?" Richard asked curiously.
"Seriously? You want to make your presence really obvious when you do not even know who the party is being held for?" Leo asked with an amused laugh.
"Let's just go with a car. Mia is probably waiting so let's leave." Leo said and began to walk towards the door with large strides to quickly get away from Richard who was already singing with Mia's name.
********
Jeremy was uncomfortable with the silence as he drove towards the venue of the party with Chloe.
Never in his life would he have thought that Chloe would agree to go out with him. She hadn't even put up much resistance like he had expected her to. Hehehe!
"Can I... ask your permission to ask you a question?" He asked.
Chloe was looking out the window. She said a cold "No" without even bothering to look at him.
"Okay, so I've been wondering... why are you always so distant?"
Chloe slowly turned her head to look at him. "I thought I said a 'No' just now?"
Jeremy nodded.
"I asked if I could ask you for permission to ask a question and you said No so I assumed you wanted me to just ask the question without asking for your permission." He said logically making her scoff.
"You are so smart, aren't you? Would have been great if you also apply such logic in your
academics." She said with a forced smile.
"Unfortunately, I do not have a crush on my academics" He said with a cheeky grin making her turn to look out the window. It was always a futile effort arguing with him.
"Look, maybe you think I am a pest..."
"Thanks for just noticing!" She interrupted with an eye roll.
Jeremy didn't stop talking...
"But I am just a bit excited that I finally get to.. you know.. be here with you like this after years of liking you from afar. I am really terrible at hiding my feelings and I know you were aware even though I didn't approach you all those years because you had a boyfriend—"
"Stop saying weird stuffs like that." She interrupted with her palm on her forehead.
"But you are always so mean to me. I promise you, the day I finally let you be, you are going to miss me." He continued. At least he knew she wasn't going to work out on him since he was driving.
Chloe laughed dryly. "Those kind of things only happen in the movies, not in the real world and especially not with someone like me." She said without looking at him.
"No! It's going to happen. And you are going to cry. When you are inside the office for hours and you start feeling hungry, you are going to remember how I always bring you snacks."
"Oh stop it!" She said rolling her eyes but he continued still.
"Then you are going to burst into tears and scream my name. "Jeremy!!!!! Why did you leave me?" He said dramatically making her laugh loudly this time.
He turned to look at her with a smiling face filled with surprised.
"I just made you laugh didn't I?" He asked hopefully but almost bit his tongue when he saw how she was glaring at him.
He snapped his mouth shut and continued to drive quietly.
"This is... the house?" Chloe asked looking at the gigantic black gate ahead of them.
"I guess this is it." Jeremy said in surprise as the security men came to check them before allowing them in.
The place was beautiful. They both saw a tall building and Jeremy gaped at it in surprise.
"Mia's friend is this rich?" Jeremy asked no one in particular. He became suspicious seeing how Mia was surrounded by rich people.
Only rich people knew at least more than one rich person. Mira's family was rich so was James. Was Mia's family also rich and she was hiding it? He wondered in surprise as a man directed him on where to park his car.
"I thought you said it was a small party?" Chloe asked him when she saw the different luxury cars parked at the car park.
"That was what I was told." Jeremy answered. He was also surprised. He looked down at the way he was dressed and cringed in embarrassment. If he had known he was coming to this type of place, he would have put in a bit of effort.
He was dressed in a simple shirt and jean trousers with a shoe. His long hair was always tied in a ponytail and it made Chloe slightly curious what he would look like with his hair loose.
"You feel embarrassed?" She asked with a look of amusement before opening the door.
"At least we are both dressed casually. Just so you know, I won't spend more than an hour here." She told him as they walked towards the door which was opened.
"Hi! Welcome!" A young lady which they both didn't recognise said to them. She looked like she was in her early twenties and wore a simple gown but heavy make up.
Jeremy peeked inside the large sitting room and could see a lot of people but they weren't as much people as it was in other parties. Thankfully, they were all dressed casually also. Only the girls were slightly overdressed.
The girl held out a bucket for them to each pick a tag from and Chloe frowned. Were they also planning to do that silly kissing game in this party? She wondered as she turned to look at Jeremy and could see he was desperately trying to keep himself from smiling.
"Oh, hey!" James said when he recognized Jeremy and he looked very surprised to see Chloe standing there.
After the guys shook hands, he turned to look at Chloe who looked like she would prefer to be anywhere else than there.
"I didn't think you'd come." James said to her.
"Well, I didn't think so either." Chloe replied not knowing how else to answer that.
James thought it was best to go talk to Mira to let her know what was up.
Firstly, she had said Chloe wasn't going to be there and had invited her brother. Secondly, Chloe had come with a guy she was crushing on.
Mira was already in a bad mood and had refused to tell him what was wrong with her, he didn't want this to worsen her mood.
James quickly excused himself and began to look around for Mira.
"Have you seen Mira?" He pulled his sister to ask in her ear since the loud buzz of music was getting in everyone's way of a proper communication.
"Saw her going upstairs earlier." Rachel said pointing at the top.
He sprinted upstairs and opened his room's door but she wasn't inside. He was about to leave when he heard a knock on his bathroom's door.
He paused and closed the door behind him, wondering why Mira would be knocking on the bathroom's door.
"Mira?" He called her name but there was no answer. The only sound he heard was the three continuous taps on the door.
"Are you locked in?" He asked and yanked the door open with full force.
Immediately the door opened, his jaws dropped.
It took Mira five seconds before she screamed and yanked her towel to cover her completely naked body. Her scream was ten times louder because she wore an earphone in her ear.
"What the hell!?" She said looking at him with wide eyes.
James tried to say something but nothing came out from his mouth. His mouth just remained open and he finally blinked after a minute passed.
"How could you just open the door like that. You saw me naked!" She repeated in a loud voice.
"I swear it wasn't my intention. You were knocking on the door, I thought you were stuck in here. I even called your name but you didn't answer!" He said defensively.
"I was drumming and it wasn't even on the door!" She clutched the towel around her body tightly and her face reddened even more from embarrassment.
She had been busy the whole evening and just wanted to take a warm bath before going downstairs. She had been applying her cream on her body and wanted to relax a bit with some music before she went out again and pretend like all was okay with her. But now... this?
"Are you serious? You planned a party and you are here wearing an earphone and drumming?" He asked not knowing what else to say but he didn't want her to put the blame on him when he had been simply worried about her.
"Just leave! Shoo!" She said pushing him out.
"This is so embarrassing!" She cried immediately she locked herself inside the bathroom when he was gone.