~RIANNA~
"And you are?" I retorted but found myself struck as soon as I caught sight of his face.
"Blake." he said, opening his mouth like he was to say something else but left it hanging as he stared at me. He was really gorgeous; with platinum blonde hair and the most beautiful, blue eyes I had ever seen. They were really attractive and, well, one could also say dreamy. Tattoos crept up and around his neck giving him a dark, edgy look, and I found myself fighting to resist the urge pushing all of my senses into flirt mode.
"Wow!" he pronounced at last.
"What?" I asked coolly, ensuring that my attraction to him was not apparent. On the inside, I was an ooey gooey mess from being this close to such a hot specimen. There had to be something in the city. First, I'd met sexy librarian guy, and now, another handsome man had appeared out of thin air.
"Nothing," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just didn't expect you to be so gorgeous."
"Is that your way of flirting?" I smirked at him and he stuttered through an excuse that I could barely get a hold of. "Well you shouldn't have expected less. It's me after all, Former Beauty Queen of Chesterfaire, for your information."
He chuckled at my statement, and I was pleased to see that he had a similar sense of humour to me. I did win the pageant for most beautiful woman in our city when I was 18, but that was beside the point. That tidbit didn't matter since my dearest mother forbade me from participating in such tackiness after that. "Thank you, though." I said, dipping curtsy. I know, I was so extra sometimes.
"You are welcome, Your Majesty." He returned, bowing his head then we were both standing upright, broke into a round of applause. I giggled at his little performance.
"Are you new here?"
"If you mean in this school, yes I am. But I lived in Chesterfaire when I was younger, returning only now." He replied.
"Oh okay. Cool. What department are you in?" I asked.
"Arts. Majoring in music." Maybe it was very stereotypical of me, but I'd pegged him as one to study music before he admitted he did. Those tats and beautiful hands were a dangerous combination.
"That's awesome. I have some friends there. I could introduce them to you if you don't mind." Okay, I was being too friendly now. But I couldn't help it. Gorgeous guys like him were my kryptonite. As a cited example, I've dreamt of my librarian crush two nights in a row.
"Sure thing. I don't mind at all." He gave me a smile that made my insides want to turn into jelly or jam. I liked jam better.
"Well, see ya later." I shot him my signature man-rod-hardening grin. He smirked at me, evenning the playing field and I sauntered away with a satisfied grin on my face.
***
I watched quietly as Colette called her 'second' boyfriend. This girl was a complete, hardcore player. And to think that she had the audacity to call me a maniser almost every time. Pot calling the kettle black? Hardly seemed fair.
"Alright baby. I love you so much. I'll see you later tonight. Okay, bye." I rolled my eyes at her. She was such an actress. I wondered if she truly liked any of these guys she was talking to, talk less of actually loving them.
She ended the call and I looked around her room. It was never arranged or near neat. Different colours of lipsticks and shades of eye shadows littered the floor. I could even see this girl's bra on the floor. She was the dictionary definition of lazy and unconcerned.
"Colette can we..." I stopped short when I noticed she was already calling someone else. Boyfriend 1, I guessed. She really needed to get a life outside of entertaining these men. While she was working on that, I needed to get some food.
I jumped down from the bed, causing it it creak a little. Colette gave me a look and as I walked out of the room, I heard her say. "I'm so sorry baby, we can't hang out today. It's family night today and I just have to spend tonight with my family."
Family night indeed. I shook my head and closed the door gently. The winding staircase led down to the kitchen which was my favourite part of the house. I loved the roof-to-floor length window (all glass) which allowed a magnificent view of the outside world. Colette's father was a surgeon while her mother was a real estate investor. This meant they could afford the many acres of magnificent land and the lake view on the side.
As I watched, little children played on the lawn behind the only other fenced house in this estate. I knew them to be her neighbours—children of a long-time friend of her mother's.
They both waved at me, mud on their hands, from a small pail between the swivelling dark heads. I waved back, giggling slightly while lightly wondering where they got mud to play with. I then got myself a box of chocolate chip cookies and set out to nibble on each of them painfully slowly on a kitchen stool. They were delicious—as every cookie should be—and I attempted to savour every moment I spent eating them.
As I reached for another packet, my phone vibrated furiously in my pocket. The screen read Mum. I sighed as I picked answered the call.
"Hello mum." I said emotionlessly.
"Rianna. Will you be free tonight?" That was my mother: always straight to the point.
"I've got work to do." I replied, thinking of the tasks Colette and I had to do. We were alarmingly behind on our projects and needed to catch up soon.
"What about tomorrow night?" she asked.
"Colette and I have a sleepover at her house. I thought I told you before. We will be completing a good chunk of our assignments." I let out air through my mouth as I talked.
"Yes I remember. Are those assignments really important? Can't you cancel the sleepover? Actually, never mind." She vented an exasperated sigh. "We were only going to have some guests tomorrow night. I wanted you to be around, so they could meet you."
"Why do they have to see me?" I demanded.
"Nothing really. They were just going to be with your childhood friend. Maybe you would still remember him."
I couldn't even remember where I lived for the first eight years of my life. Remembering someone so long ago was literally impossible.
"Yeah, sure. Maybe." I said, growing tired of our conversation. "Talk to you later. Gotta do some work now."
"Okay. Remember it's not too late to cancel whatever you have with Colette."
"Bye mum."
I had never been so glad to put my phone back into my pocket. This time it was staying put. Right where I kept it. I had focused my attention back on my sweet, lovely cookies when my freaking phone rang again.
Who was it this time? I swore under my breath; if it was my mom, goodness knew I was for sure going to throw a fit about this. I pulled out my phone a second time only to see a different caller.
Oh, Colette.
Why was she calling when she was upstairs? Not at all far away.
"Hey can you get some cookies when you are coming upstairs? I'm dying for some double chocolate cookies." I shook my head at her even though she couldn't see me. Colette was exactly a chocolate addict.
"Why are you calling on the phone when you could just call me straight from your room?"
"Umm no. I'm trying to save my strength and my delicate voice was not made for calling on people from afar. And did you notice something brand new? It's called a phone. You hold it in your hand and you can also use it to call people. Awesome right? Just wanted to let you know it existed." Drama queen. I thought.
"Nah, never heard of it." I replied in the same tone of sarcasm she used on me.
"Well I could show you later, as long as you make sure to bring the double chocolate cookies. They must be chocolate filled. Nothing else."
"Okay I'll bring some up now." I said, not ready to talk about her chocolate addiction with her.
"No, no, no. Don't bring it. I mean not now. Not yet."
"Then when yet? And why can't I bring the cookies now?"
"In fifteen or twenty minutes. I'm still talking to my boyfriend now and sooome single people like you get annoyed when I do so."
"Yeah right." I scoffed. "You mean your numerous boyfriends."
"I don't...I don't know what you're talking about."
"Of course you don't. Sure you don't. You'll never know." I muttered sarcastically. "I'll meet you in the room in fifteen."
"Thanks bitch. Love you."
"Love you too." I said and ended the call.
I pulled out the box of cookies she wanted from the pantry. There were a number of packed cookies in the pantry, so much so that I wondered if Colette would ever someday finish them. Well I could help her. I closed the pantry after taking a mental note of the types of cookies I wanted to eat next.
After getting the cookies out, I placed them on the table and decided to spend the remaining time I had in the living room.
While walking around the classier than average room, a gold object caught my eye as Sunlight reflected on it. I made my way over to the award hidden at the back of the shelf.
How come I had never noticed this?
It was the horse riding competition trophy. I remembered how as little kids we had all trained so hard to get the trophy, but at the end only one of us took it home and all because that one person cheated.
Dumbass. I thought.
As I lingered at the shelf, a firm arm wrapped around my waist, and I shuddered, whipping around in reaction to the unexpected display of affection. What the hell?
"You still remember huh?" that weirdly familiar and husky voice whispered in my ear.
I tilted my head back to face one of my worst nightmares. "Damien."
"Hello, love." He smirked at me, all devilish handsomeness.