"Allie and Noah sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Lacey dodges a pillow I aim at her face. "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage."
"I have never been this humiliated in my entire life."
"Come on, it was romantic," Lacey says dreamily and bats her lashes.
"Define Romantic."
"I bet he was swept off his feet."
I dramatically fling myself on the bed and spread out my limbs. "My life is over."
Let's get one thing very clear, especially now that a certain plague with the name Noah Gallagher is now fast spreading through my life like the Coronavirus. Even though I'm the kind of girl who likes to blend into the crowd and attract attention, I like my privacy sometimes. Most of the time. The purpose of this brief explanation is to highlight how frustrating it is to be constantly watched. Eyes follow me everywhere I go after my drunken confession was broadcasted to the world. Ok not the world, just hundreds of people who don't even know who I am.
But still!
I don't mean for things to happen. I'm just a constant victim of circumstances. My life is like one big American soap opera, we'll call it 'Allie Does The Dumbest Things'.
I decided to self isolate inside my room because of the stares, and also to avoid Noah. I walked face first into a door to in an attempt to escape when I saw him walking down the hall towards my direction yesterday.
He didn't see me, thankfully.
"You can't hide in here forever," Lacey tells me.
"You wanna bet?"
"I think you're just blowing things out of proportion. That video was really sweet."
"Because it wasn't you in it! Alvin, back me up here."
The Llama only makes a grunt. "See? It says Noah thinks I embarrassed myself and will never speak to me until this vacation ends."
"You really want to believe the grunts of an animal?"
"Alvin's my friend."
She just stares at me like I've completely lost my head. "I'm done with this kid." I watch as she exits the room.
I sigh and follow her out the door, looking left and right to check if the coast is clear from a certain somebody.
Whatever it was, it made me fall pretty dang hard.
Gah! Why would I say that?! Now I can't even maintain eye contact with him knowing he heard those words come from my mouth.
Me walking down to the kitchen to get dinner right now feels like the longest walk I have ever had. It feels like high school once again, when you talk back to a teacher and you're sent to the principal's office to face your sentence. The walk there is usually dreadful, and scary. Your palms get sweaty, and there's this tiny knot in your stomach that tightens with every step you take.
I know that feeling all too well because I always got sent to the principal's office after getting into some trouble or the other. Again, victim of circumstance right here.
I'm almost at the kitchen when I spot my target walking directly towards me, talking and laughing with some other guy by his side.
Abort mission! ABORT MISSION!
I spin around and disappear behind a statue used for decoration in the hall, imitating it's pose so no trace of my body parts could be found on the other side of the sculpture.
Well, this isn't weird at all.
"I thought I'd find you here." A voice says.
I give a deep breath of relief when I see Miss Renee approach me as the owner of the voice.
"I'm sorry I almost ruined your party with that stupid video..." I begin to apologize but she cuts me off with a hand.
"Are you free on Sunday?"
"Yes. Why?"
She outstretches a pair of tickets to me. "I won two tickets to a magic show. I have no one to go with, and Jane's not a fan of magic."
My eyebrows furrow. "So you want me to come along?"
"Yes, but not with me."
"Oh, I don't have a date either."
She gives a sly smile. "You could change that."
"But..." She walks out on me before I can even think of the next words to say.
What is she up to this time?
I look down out the tickets to read what's written on them:
Experience a night of enchantment at the 1.5 hour Magic of Polynesia show in Oahu.
See people disappear into thin air and levitate from the ground under the command of internationally-acclaimed illusionist John Hirokawa.
Seems legit, I think, slipping the tickets in my back pocket as I make my way to the kitchen.
"You're just in time." One of the chef appears before me and thrusts a broom into my hand. He points to an area. "Sweep."
"But it's my day off."
"I know. Just help me this once. It's my wife's birthday and I promised I'd be home for dinner. You know how women can be," he chuckles and takes off his hat. "We've been together for ten years now."
I try not to let out an awwwww and just smile at how so in love he seems to be with his wife. "I'll handle the rest of the work. Go get your woman."
He offers me a quick Thank you and dashes out of the kitchen too fast for me not to be suspicious about the action, then it clicks in my head. "Hey! You're not even married!"
But he's gone already like he wasn't even there.
Dang it! I just got played.
Piles of dirty dishes, cups, and baking pans are precariously stacked in the sink, and the trash can looks like it hasn't been thrown out in weeks.
Somehow, I wish I had Merlin's magical powers to make the dishes wash themselves without touching a thing. But it's just me. A normal girl with just two arms.
"This should be fun," I murmur sarcastically and start to scrub out the pans till my hands turn white as sheet.
I did not sign up for this!
The next hour is spent with me working, cussing at the chef for doing me dirty, then working again.
I begin to sweep the floor with short, abrupt strokes, frustrated and angry.
"Cinderelly, Cinderelly. Night and day it's Cinderelly. Make the fire, fix the breakfast! Wash the dishes, Do the mopping! And the sweeping and the dusting! They always keep her hoppin..." I trail off when the lights suddenly goes out, darkness surrounding me.
I reach into my pocket for my phone to turn on the flashlight when I remember I left it in the room.
Because the elevators are no longer working as there's no power supply, I use the stairs up to my room to get a flashlight. It's pitch black everywhere and I'm trying not to imagine a monster following behind me in the darkness and carrying a knife.
My brain works in the weirdest ways.
I'm almost at the top of the stairs on the last floor and I start to feel more relaxed for getting this far.
All of a sudden, strong arms wrap around my waists with a hand covered to my mouth. I'm being dragged to the end of the hallway and pushed inside a small closet that reminds me of a janitor's closet.
It's pitch black inside and I'm not able to see the face of the figure that pushes me against the wall.
I don't scream out my lungs. Something tells me not to.
A firm hand goes up to my cheek to caress it, and I'm all too familiar with the touch, and even with his voice when he breathes out a, "Hey."