How do say, you are being very you unknowingly,
memories, yes !
Those are my lost memories.
Come back to me, please.
Leo came back with another round of beers, they were drinking and talking. Though Zara felt shy around him, she had started to relax. They were soon to be joined by Aly and his mystery person. They did not arrive together, Aly came first and settled himself between the two of them after he got his drink.
'So, how are you two?'
'When did you come back?' he asked again looking at Leo.
'I reached today with Adam, will be joining them in sometime,' replied Leo.
'Will you join us?"'asked Zara.
'I will try, I mean Eli will be joining me soon, need to take raincheck,' replied Aly while he looked around waiting for Eli.
'Eli, so that's his name.'
'That's a nice name,' she said smilingly.
'It's Eleanor actually,' said Aly.
'Oh well, ... thats even prettier, ' said Zara thinking about what happened to the mystery man who wasn't Eleanor and before she could further ponder , Aly stopped her and said,'I met her some time back and wanted to give it another shot.'
'And she has a hot brother, i want to introduce you two.'
That last statement didn't just get Zara's attention but also Leo's. She decided not to look at him and glared at Aly and giving him the eyes as what the hell was he thinking of inviting another guy when she was here with one already. Aly acted like he knew nothing and had done everything under goodwill. She finally looked over at Leo and saw him looking at Aly, his face looked calm but then she saw his eyes were a little hard. Maybe that's what it looks like when he is pissed she thought and the stare, she wasn't sure about that as being a direct receiver herself. How Aly managed to ignored it she wasn't sure, maybe he was used to it. But she sure found it impressive. Aly was a bit of Alpha in his own way, if some one did not notice because of his sweet temperament they might have a look at his Irish hounds.
She stood with Aly drinking her beer while he chatted with Leo. And she could feel the sarcasm floating in the air through Aly.
'So when are you heading back, Leo,' he carried the conversation nonchalantly.
'I heard things were not good in London.'
'Why are you here?'
'Things went exceptionally well, ALY,' replied Leo tersely which indicated that he was showing Aly same level of Alpha male seniority.
Zara always thought they got along and now here they were spreading out animosity. Aly was about to say something when Zara finally intervened by stepping on Aly's foot but he didn't stop and then she stepped again and that was when Leo looked at her a little questioningly.
'Violence is not the right way to cut a conversation,Zara,' said Leo and that was when she realised that she had been accidentally stepping on Leo's foot than Aly's.
'Oh sorry, wrong foot,' said Zara as he heard Aly give out a cute little chuckle.
'AOOOO, Isus bok mater,' sweared Aly as Zara stopped on his foot looking smilingly at Leo and then looked back to and fro between the two.
'Knock it off both of you,' and went back to finishing her drink.
'I want another,' she said and that was when Leo stepped in and took her bottle and said,
' I will get you more after i throw this,' and was about to head towards the bar when Aly cut across him and said, 'No, I will.'
'You can throw min as well in trash,' and handed his bottle as well to Leo and quickly left to buy more beers.
'And we are back to kindergarten,' breathed out Zara as she sighed.
With their changed mannerisms Zara was glad to see a girl with Aly who was heading back to their table. She had a cute face and was quite tall and was smiling at something Aly was saying to her and that was when Leo joined her and gave her another bottle of beer.
'You like beer ?' don't you he said.
'Sometimes, i do and it's definitely better than Rakija. Cannot handle that very well,' she replied smilingly.
'You certainly did hold on well the last time at the club when you all were drinking Rakija.'
'I had fun that night, fondest memories actually,' he said giving her a devilish smile.
'I would like to drink some Rakija with you.'
'Adam was telling me about this place called Rakija bar where you get all types of Rakija's ,' he said smilingly.
' Sure, 'was all she could manage to say. She blushed and blushed profoundly as she knew he meant the steamy kiss they shared. And looked up and her eyes went to his lips and he caught her stare the very moment. And that was when he asked her teasingly,'Shall we go there after you finish up your beer?'
'Sure,' was all she said again and then it hit her like she actually said yes to some more kissing, well that was what he meant if you ignore the surface question. Zara felt that her head had gotten detached for some time, else she would not have blanked out and just said yes to it all. She needed to get a grip and was thankful as Aly had reached them the very moment with his friend Eli.
'Guys, this is my friend Eli,' said Aly.
'This is Zara and this is Leo.'
'Hi, How are you' said Zara.
'Hi,'said Leo.'
'I am great, thank you,' she replied and they settled in their conversations about each other when Eli interrupted them,'Oh look, Chris is here.'
'Hey, Bro what's up man,' said Aly who rushed over to Chris and gave him a hug. It seemed to Zara that Aly might have genuinely wanted her to meet him as he seemed close with the guy, especially the way he hugged him.
" I want you to meet my friend Zara here," and both the men walked over to their table and Zara could feel another intense gaze and she did not know how to tackle it so she ignore it altogether.
"Hi, I am Chris,"
"Nice to meet you, Aly told me so much about you already," said Chris who seemed like a pleasant fellow and Zara looked at him quickly.
"Hi, I am Zara," was all she said and she suddenly did not want to look at his face anymore, not that there was something wrong with him but half of his face was covered with a black cap.
"Leo, " she heard him say as now he stood right next to her protectively and he shook his hands with Chris. She could feel some tension building up but it got completely diffused after the next thing Chris said.
"Hey, man i know you,"
"Don't you remember me?"
"We met in London a few years back, at your gallery when you exhibited Khalo."
"My father had a dealing with your father, Mr. Colton." said Chris.
"Are you Mr. Lewis's son?" asked Leo.
"Yeah, man," replied Chris.
"I remember you," said Leo.
Zara was listening to all of them talking and she started feeling strange, she did not want to look up anymore and she tightly held onto her bottle to keep her ground. This went on for few minutes and then she had this numbing thought, she got some flashes, some pictures which surfaced onto her mind like a screen was started and she was watching it. She wanted to run away, anxiousness was suddenly seeping in. She handn't felt like this in a long time, especially when she was having a good time. And it felt like her happiness dropped, the world felt lonely. She wanted to cry for no reason and so many reasons. What trigered it she couldn't say. All she knew was that the moment Aly's friend Chris joined them, she felt uncomfortable and that's when the flashes started and she went quite.
She felt like she ate all her words, she couldn't remember how to say i am good and how are you?
It felt that the words disappeared in her, her mind could not process and she needed to say and speak but what and how?
She felt her voice failing and so she just walked a little ahead from the table to gain a certain distance. Also to find her way to the public washroom but then everything became choatic and..... the flashes increased and then disappeared and then it was all black...