Callie arrived at the hotel a few minutes past the agreed time and was led to their table by a waitress. Victoria smiled as she saw Callie approach the table. "Hey," she greeted first.
"Hey, sorry for running late. Traffic was a bitch." They laughed at the lie.
"Yeah, traffic in L.A at one in the afternoon, very believable." Victoria teased.
"It's really nice to see you again Victoria." Callie admitted.
A different waitress walked to the table and spoke before Victoria could reply to Callie. "Good afternoon," she greeted, looking at Callie, then presented her with a menu.
"Five minutes," Victoria said to the waitress who gave a nod and walked away.
Soon after, the waitress brought them the starters Victoria had earlier ordered.
The two played catch up for a while before their food came. Sharing the ups and downs of their lives that had happened since they met.
The food came more than half an hour later. They ate, talked, laughed and when the table was cleared, they ordered dessert.
"My brother mentioned that L.A Today offered you guys a chance to be the brand ambassadors for their magazine." Callie said looking at Victoria.
"Mh hmm, what did he say about it?" She wanted to know exactly what Callie knew before she responded.
"Nothing much, just that you guys wouldn't take them up on their offer because you have too much going on right now."
They talked about it, Victoria explaining to her all the projects she was currently working on, and how overwhelming it would be for her if she added working with the magazine.
"I understand that, fully. I just hate that they had to make it a joint affair. Hiram seemed so excited about it."
"Trust me Callie I feel the exact same way, I really wish it had worked out for him." There was a sigh from her before she proceeded. "Speaking of your brother, what does he do?" Victoria asked, taking an interest in the Michaelson family.
"Um, school has most of his attention, he is in his final year. Our father has tried to get him into the family company, but he has been reluctant. He claims it's because of school but I don't buy it." Callie chuckled at that and so did Victoria.
"Why do you say that?"
"Hiram is a brilliant kid and as much as his school work is demanding, he is very capable of juggling the two. I think he just doesn't want to get into the company for other reasons best known to him." Callie explained, scooping some of her dessert ice cream.
"And what about you ?" Victoria went on.
"What about me?"
Victoria chuckled, "come on Callie, you know what I mean."
"There's nothing much to say about me. I started a clothing line about a year and a half ago, so far so good. It's call Dress with Cal. That's-" Victoria interrupted, with a surprised look on her face.
"Wow! You own that?"
"Yeah, why do you look so surprised?"
"Nothing really, I've heard great things about that line. It's really impressive."
"Thank you Victoria."
Their lunch 'date' went one for another hour before the said goodbye, promising to do it again sometime soon.
*-*
Thoughts of what could be bothering Ammika had occupied his mind for the better part of the day, with several people pointing out to him that he seemed distracted. "I'm fine, don't worry," had been his answer to them all. None tried to push any further on the matter, they could easily tell it wasn't a subject he was open to discuss.
His last class for the day came to an end a few minutes to nightfall. After a few minutes of discussion with a couple of his classmates, he made his way to the parking lot. The sun was just about to set, painting most of Los Angeles orange, complimented by a light evening breeze.
Behind him, he heard quick footsteps which made him turn. His face was mixture of shock and confusion. "Trisha, what are you doing here this late?"
"Wow! Not even a 'hey Trisha, how was your day?'" She joked.
"My bad," he admitted. "I'm just surprised to see you here this late."
They walked together towards the parking lot. "We had a make-up class that ran late."
It took her less than a minute of them talking to notice something was off with him. "Everything okay?" She turned to him.
"He did too and met her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean Hiram, something is troubling you."
At that moment, he hated that he knew him that well. She could always read him quite easily, the same went for him. Being together for that long made them know each other inside out, being able to pick out little things about each other that most people would not.
He thought about it for a while. He knew how the girl walking next to him felt about him, how on earth would he tell her what was really troubling him? How would he tell her that he is worried sick that something is up with Ammika and how he wished she would just be honest with him? That would crush Trisha.
"Don't worry, you don't have to share if you don't want to." She said before he could speak. "I know you'll figure it out, and I am here for whatever you need."
He looked at her from the corner of his eye for a quick second. "Thank you, I appreciate that."
Her chauffeur stepped out of the car and opened the back door for her. "Can we grab a coffee? If you aren't busy that is." She suddenly spoke, a few steps away from the car.
"Um, I wish I could but I to go buy some items for a project for class."
"So, you're going shopping?" She drawled as they stopped and turned to face each other.
"Yes, basically." He confirmed with a laugh.
"Mind my company?" She asked, eying him for any facial expression that would hint what he thought of the suggestion.
"No, you don't have to, I'd hate to inconvenience you." He cried.
"You wouldn't be. My sister is out of town, so I'd just be going home to an empty house, shower and probably binge-watch some lame- ass show. So no, you wouldn't be inconveniencing me." She confirmed.
He agreed and she sent her chauffeur home, then joined Hiram in his car.
He drove out of the university with much ease, many students having left the premises already, leaving the parking lot almost empty.
"So um, did you see the article post by Day Today magazine?" He asked as he waited for a light to turn green.
She knew what post he was talking about. A few days back, Day Today magazine had an article about them in one of their dailies. They used a photo taken by paparazzi on the day the two went out for lunch. The article speculated that the two might be getting back together, following all the 'dates' that the two were going.
Neither Trisha nor Hiram had reacted or made a comment about the article. Neither had brought it up with the other, up until now.
"Yes, I did." Trisha replied looking at him.
"Any thoughts?" He inquired.
She fell silent and turned away from him, fixing her gaze far ahead at the remaining tip of the setting sun. She was deep in thought, contemplating on whether to be honest with him or tell him what he wanted to hear. In all honesty, she more than wanted the speculations to be true, God knows how much she wanted them to get back together. She wasn't sure what he wanted. Yes, they had gone out several times, had fun, laughed and all that, but it was no sure way of saying he felt the same way as her.
"What they did was wrong, they shouldn't have." She found herself saying.
The light turned green and Hiram pressed on the gas pedal.
"I thought so too, but that's the media for you." There was a sigh from him.
"Why didn't you say anything about it?" She wanted to know.
"Because I don't really care what they post, they can speculate all they want." He sounded bitter.
They didn't speak more of the matter. What was there to say? She knew where he stood on the matter, she knew enough.
A little bit more than an hour later, he pulled up in front of her house.
"This is me," she told him looking at the house. A trace of sadness in her voice. "I better get inside."
"You don't sound too thrilled by that." He pointed out, leaning back on his chair.
"Maybe because I'm not." She admitted.
"Why is that?"
"I mean, being in that massive mansion alone. Not the most exciting thing in the world."
He didn't know what to say to that.
"I should be going now. Have a good night Hiram."
"Have a beautiful night Trisha. Thank you for tagging along."
With a smile and a gentle nod, she alighted and went into the house as he drove off.