Felix's pov
She was of average height and had straight shoulder-length auburn hair. She wore glasses and had a permanent soft smile on her lips. All the times we talked, she appeared shy and short-spoken to me. Then again, Ryker was always the one doing the talking part among us, so neither she nor I had to talk much.
That's mostly all I can remember her from the past. I'm even impressed that I remember this much as I never really paid close attention to her just like I do with neither of Ryker's girlfriends. And Ryker has a pretty active dating life unlike me, may I mention.
Whatever I remembered about her is quite different from whatever I'm seeing right now. Within the last three years, she had a pretty dramatic change.
She appears tall now with the way she's standing and holding herself. The soft light above her head is creating a shadow over her face. That makes her look more mysterious and dominating. Her face is angular, with sharp cheekbones and a defined jawline that gives her an air of confidence. Her skin is smooth and flawless. Her lips, tainted with dark red lipstick, are curved up into a twisted smile. Her eyes are piercing and intense, a deep shade of brown that seems to see right through people like they were seeing through me minutes ago. Now they are fixed on my date. Since the moment she's standing here, she hasn't glanced in my direction once.
She has her arms crossed over her chest with her back painfully straight. Her oversized white shirt has reached her mid-thighs. Underneath that, she is wearing black pants that have reached her knee-high leather boots.
There is something about her, an aura of power and authority, that makes the others around her feel insignificant in her presence. She is a force to be reckoned with, a woman who knows her worth and demands nothing less than complete respect from those around her.
"Maisara." That's my date's voice that pulls me out of my daze. I look at her to find her gaping at that woman. Her face has lost all the colors it had moments ago. She gulps before asking with a smile, "What are you doing here?"
I cringe at her failed attempt to smile. It looks so fake that it doesn't even count as a smile. She looks so shaken up by her presence that it's almost painful to witness.
Instead, I turn my focus back on the woman. So her name is Maisara. Did she change her name as well?
"Had a meeting." Maisara jerks her head towards the booth where she was sitting with a group of people moments ago. As she moves her head, something shines on her nose. When I look closely, that's a nose pin that's reflecting light. Her voice is steady and smooth as she continues, "Until I found my little Leila cheating on her sweet boyfriend."
I flinch as soon as the words register in my brain. What the heck is she talking about? Leila has a boyfriend? And she's cheating on him? No way, she is not the best but I don't think she would go that far. After all, she's the one who was telling me the story of her best friend's cheating boyfriend. I don't think she would-
One look at her and I'm confirmed that what Maisara said is right.
"I-I wasn't...." Leila stutters badly as she glances in my direction. "It's not like that actually..........." She trails off failing to find the right words. She looks back and forth between me and Maisara quite a few times. Finally, she takes a deep breath and mumbles, "We are on a break."
The words only seem to provoke Maisara. Her crooked smile widens. "Oh, really?" She raises one eyebrow at Leila. Then she pulls her phone and unlocks it all the while saying, "David doesn't seem to think so. He has been looking for you all over the place for the past two hours as you told him you're going to visit your parents. But guess what happened when you didn't pick up any of his calls and he called your mom to check up on you? He found out you never went there in the first place."
Maisara hands Leila her phone. Leila takes it in shaky hands and glances at the screen with wide eyes. I've passed the phase of getting any more shocked. I assume that that's the text David sent to Maisara looking for Leila that she's showing to her. Leila's eyes widen more if that's even possible and when she's done reading the text, she just sits there staring at nothing. Maisara takes her phone back.
"Should I call David to inform him that I found you?" Maisara asks shoving her phone back into her pocket and Leila responds almost immediately, "No!"
I see the expression of dark amusement on Maisara's face as she watches Leila shaking her head repeatedly. "I-I'm..... I need to go."
She grabs her things and in the next second, she's gone. Both Maisara and I watch her as she rushes out of the restaurant bumping people on the way.
When Leila is gone and I look back at Maisara, she has already started walking back to her booth. My voice stops her instantly, "Wait!"
She turns her head around just enough to look at me. Her face betrays no emotion. Her gaze on me is so strong and steady that it's nearly unnerving. I shift my weight from one leg to another.
"Thanks," I say. She raises her eyebrows in question. I gesture to the exit of the restaurant, where Leila rushed out moments ago. "For that."
She turns around fully this time. Lights catch her nose pin again. Crossing her arms over her chest, she tilts her head back a little and speaks in an authoritative tone, "You need to speak out loud when you don't like the way things are going for you. You can't just sit down and be nice until someone helps you out. Life doesn't go like this."
This time, it's me who gap at her. She didn't just.........well, she did just say the right things I needed to hear. But that was kinda rude. And it definitely hurts my ego.
When I turn my attention back to her to come up with a reply, I find her walking to her booth again. And I interrupt her again before she can take any more steps forward. "I think you don't remember me."
I cringe as soon as the words leave my mouth. That sounded so desperate just now. What the heck am I even thinking? Why did I say that?
She doesn't turn back this time yet her reply comes out slowly but strongly, "Of course, I remember you. You're Felix Reyes, brother of my one and only ex, Ryker Reyes and a jerk."
A few hours later-
"So how was the date?" Ryker asks, sitting down beside me, the couch dipping with him.
I roll my eyes but don't take them off of the laptop. "Fine."
"Yeah, right, fine," he says, in a sarcastic tone. "Then what was that eye roll?"
I sigh. Pausing the movie, I finally turn my head around to look at my brother. He's leaning against the armrest of the couch, getting comfortable with his right arm over the backside of the couch and his right leg up on the seat. His wet raven hair and grey sweatpants are indicating that he has just gotten out of the shower. One side of his lips is curved upwards slightly and the playful look in his eyes is enough to let one know that he brings trouble pretty often. Among the two of us, he's the most mischievous one.
There's a beer can in his left hand. I raise my eyebrows in silent question. He gestures to the tea table in front of me with his eyes. As I follow his gaze, I find another unopened beer can. I nod a silent thanks in his direction before taking the can.
"So?" he insists again as I pop open the can and take a sip from it, savoring the bitter-sweet taste as a warm sensation spreads through my chest. Sighing, I glare at him. "You tell me how it went, you think?"
He chuckles, raising his eyebrows at me. "Me? Okay. Judging by your past experiences, I'm almost eighty percent sure that it didn't go well. And judging by the expression on your face right now, I'm ninety-five percent sure."
I scoff, taking a large sip from the can. A snort reaches my ear from Ryker followed by. "So, how did you ruin it?"
I glare back at him and mentally debate whether I should punch him in the face or his guts. He laughs seeing my expression. "You won't do that."
It irks me more that he's actually right. I roll my eyes and pull my left leg on the couch seat, adjusting myself on the couch like him. Facing him, I reply, "First of all, it wasn't me this time who ruined it. It was her. That girl has a fucking boyfriend!"
The smile slips off his face for a second as the words leave my mouth. His eyes widen a little as well. But in the next second, he's howling with laughter.
"What?" He chokes out in between his laughing spree. "No way!"
I scowl. "You tell me. You were the one who found her after all."
He shakes his head, finally able to stop laughing. "She was a friend of a friend of mine. And I checked thoroughly before I set this date. I didn't find any signs of a present boyfriend."
"Then you didn't check thoroughly enough." I shrug, pouring a large amount of beer into my throat and feeling the lightness slowly evolving in my head.
Ryker punches me on my arm getting a hiss from me in response. "Don't ever speak of my stalking ability like that!" He hisses back.
"No, you have a great stalking ability." I roll my eyes again as he glares at me. "Whatever. Even if she didn't have a boyfriend, she wasn't my type. I wouldn't date her either way."
"Sounds like you." He shrugs taking a sip from his can before squinting at me. "Are you sure you're not gay? Don't worry, I've some friends-"
"Ryker." I give him a sweet smile, my eyebrows twitching with irritation. "I would love it if you stop worrying about my sexuality and my dating life."
He shakes his head, not getting the mood. "No, I mean-"
"I would love it if you stop," I repeat, widening the smile into a grin and finally that idiot gets it. His eyes widen as he nods. Silence falls between us. As I start contemplating whether I should start the movie or not, Ryker opens his mouth again, "On a totally unrelated note." He flinches as I glare at him again but continues anyway, "How did you find out about her boyfriend?"
"Thought you were confident about your stalking ability." I pour down the remaining liquid of the can and toss it in the bin next to the couch.
"They are not related," he mumbles rolling his eyes again.
"They are ver-" I start retorting back but suddenly don't feel like doing so. I'm tired anyway. Instead, I decide to say, "One of her friends caught her on a date with me."
I don't know whether Maisara is her friend or not. But it's the easiest way to say that to him without mentioning her.
Ryker cringe before saying, "Eh, that sucks."
I shrug in reply. Silence falls between us again. Ryker pulls out his phone as I start playing the movie again.
Almost five minutes later and I still can't get my concentration back on the movie. My mind keeps going back to the event of the restaurant and questions after questions keep arising. The most nagging question of all of them was why did Maisara call me a jerk? I didn't do anything jerk-ish with her as far as I can remember. Did she call me a jerk only because I'm Ryker's brother? She didn't seem like one to do so.
My eyes automatically go in Ryker's direction. Did he hear from her recently? I don't think they are keeping any communication. But he can hear from his other sources. No matter what I say, he actually has great stalking skills. It's easy for him to know about her if he wants to.
That leads to the question does he actually want to? I don't think so. He's pretty happy with his recent girlfriend. He was quite happy with Maisara too, or Rose, we can say. All of a sudden, they broke up. And he never told me why they broke up. I asked a few times. And his reply always were like 'It didn't work out' or 'We wanted different things' or 'She deserves better'. I know that's not the whole story. There is something more to that.
"What?" Ryker asks without taking his eyes off of the screen and I realize I've been looking at him for a long time. I debate asking him about Maisara. Maybe he does know something about her and will likely share it with me. After all, it has been such a long time since they broke up.
"Just say it, Felix." Ryker eyes me once before looking back to his screen. I sigh deciding to just word it out and see what happens. So the first question I go with is, "How did you and Rose break up?"
I watch him freezing on his spot. His eyes move to my face slowly and I see the panic and anxiety in there. They vanish as soon as they came and are now replaced with annoyance. He sits up straight putting his phone down.
"How did she come to your mind all of a sudden?" He frowns at me. I feel relief because he didn't act to not remember her at least. I shrug, leaning back on the couch. "I don't know. Just crossed my mind suddenly."
"Can't remember." His reply is almost instant. As I raise my eyebrows at him, he adds, "It was a long time ago."
He's lying. I don't know what it is but he's lying. Or he's not lying but hiding something. From me. I felt that before too whenever I asked him this question. And like every other time, I decide to not push it any further since it's his past and not really my concern. If he doesn't feel like sharing it, it's his wish.
I decide to not ask any more questions about her and change the topic instead, "How are things going with Lydia by the way?"
At the mention of her name, his whole demeanor changes drastically. His tight face loosens and breaks into a smile, a smitten smile, to be exact. I cringe at the sight of it. He rolls pulling both of his legs on the couch seat and crosses his legs together. Excitement radiates from him as he leans forward to talk about her.
"Things are going really well with her. I don't think I've ever met someone like her. You know when.........."
And like this, he keeps talking about his latest girlfriend for hours until both of us become too tired and eventually go to bed. All this while a single sentence keeps repeating in my mind like a broken ancient music record.
You're Felix Reyes, brother of my one and only ex, Ryker Reyes and a jerk.
No comments:
Post a Comment