I turn to glance at Roman, “Please tell me you didn’t hire a limousine to drive us to our date?” My voice is pleading, this is a bit much. The nicest car I’ve been in is his Porsche but now a limo? He is introducing me to a whole different lifestyle from what I’m used to. My family’s cars consists of a ten year old sedan and a bust up Camry for petes sake. “Hire? No. I bought it” He replies simply, while placing his hand on the small of my back to guide me forward to where the limo is parked. I’m still stunned so I say nothing. I’m further amazed when a man steps out of the driver seat of the limo to open our door. “You hired a chauffer too?” I practically yell this time. He snorts at my dramatics, nudging me forward and inside the expensive vehicle. “He’s my driver, Cookie. He has driven me for years” He answers. I’m a bit relieved to hear he didn’t hire a chauffeur but I never knew he had a personal driver of his own. He usually alwa
“You trust me?” Roman asks me. “No…” I reply playfully. He raises an eyebrow at me in silent question and I correct, “Fine, I trust you. But only with ordering fancy Italian dishes for me in this fancy restaurant” I clarify. He snorts then turns to speak to the waiting waiter who I’m sure was listening in on our conversation. “First, we’d like a bottle of Cappellano Otin Fiorin Pie Franco. Then the Pomodori ripieni for starters, for the main course….” He looks to me before asking, “Cookie, are you allergic to anything or opposed to anything?” I take a moment to think on if there is any particular item I wouldn’t want. I’m not usually a picky eater. “I don’t want any thing with snails but I’m good with everything else” I answer with a shrug. He nods and turns back to the waiter, “For the main course we’ll have the Veal Saltimbocca, the Florentine Steak and the Lobster Fra Diavolo” He shuts the menu and tells the Waiter to bring the wine first a
On Monday, Cassie gives me a ride to school and as we pull into the school's parking lot, I think of telling her about my stupid date with Roman but we are interrupted by Case, her boyfriend. “Hey Lin, hey babe” he greets us and then lays a long kiss on Cassie’s lips. “Hey yourself” I reply “Are you girls coming to Jesse's party on Friday?” He asks. Jesse Landon is the star quarterback for Rixon High. He and Case are friends as they both play for the football team. I am contemplating how to say no because I’m not one to attend many high school parties but Cassie responds. “Yeah of course” She answers in a tone that conveys "Do you even need to ask?" “Great” he replies and pecks Cassie on the lips one last time before strolling away to meet his friends. “Cassie” I scold, “I never said I wanted to go to the party” “Lin, c’mon. We haven't hung out in a while now so please can you just come with me Friday? It will be fun catching up on things” she pleads with a sad expression befo
The week flies by and everyone is excited discussing the upcoming party. Cassie and I plan to go to the shopping malls today after school. Mom left for New Orleans two days ago so I have no curfew therefore I can come back home whenever I want. Right now, I just can’t wait for school to be over, not because I’m so excited about the upcoming party but because I dread gym class and gym period was now, like right now. I am currently sitting on one of the benches alongside a few non athletic students like myself who also hate gym class. I despise gym class mostly because of Mr. Francisco, our gym teacher. The man is the exact definition of MEAN. Whitney, the head cheerleader, and the rest of the slut squad are already on the floor stretching and exercising. Among them is also Robyn, Roman's cousin. She smiles and nods her head at me as our eyes meet, probably as a sign of greeting. Just then Roman and his band of merry men which among them was my traitor of a brother, walked into the
Jesse Landon's house is huge. It’s not as big as Roman’s mansion but it is bigger compared to what I see daily in the suburbs of Rixon Hills. Cassie and I were the only ones awestruck as Robyn just walked in like it was something she saw every day, actually it is probably not as marvelous to her because she is a Masters, this is likely an average home to her. We enter the mansion and unsurprisingly it Is filled with people. People including students from Rixon High and other neighboring schools. Some were even college students. It looks like the party is going to be a blast. Yay! I say to myself with false cheer. I’m still not excited about the party, I only came because mom is not around, and hence, there is no curfew, no need to waste it. At least we have dressed the part, Cassie has on a white see-through crop top and red shorts with heeled sandals. Robyn is in a black long-sleeved tight dress which came to her mid-thighs, she paired it with black knee-length boots. While I ha
At first thought, I want to murder the idiot who interrupted us, that is until I see the idiot in person, it is platinum blonde Barbie. Nicole. I jerk away from Roman, like his closeness is burning me. An emotion I can’t quite explain crosses his eyes but it’s gone fast, I might have imagined it. “Nikki, I didn't know you were here,” Roman says, turning around to look at our uninvited guest. So, he recognizes her by her voice? They must be closer than he lets on and I’m more foolish than I thought, because was I really about to kiss him? God, Lindsey! “I wanted to surprise you, Damon invited me” she replies, in her barbie like voice. She shifts her gaze to me as if just noticing my presence, am I that invisible? “Hey! You're Linda right?” She asked me in a friendly tone. Linda? I roll my eyes and snort, “Actually its Lindsey… Natasha” I reply dryly. I know her name, its Nicole but I’m angry and petty. Roman chuckles, he gives me a look like he knows I called her the wrong name o
Great! So, I'm the bad guy now, I never even wanted to come to this stupid party. This is what happens when I do things I don't want to do, I murmur to myself. I leave the mansion a few minutes later after struggling past drunk teenagers, trying to find my way to the exit. Let me tell you, it was one hell of a mission. Having to watch drunk teenagers throw up here and there was never among my list of 'things I must accomplish before my senior year ends'. Seriously it isn’t funny, it is just straight up gross. I don’t know what to do, with no ride home I as practically screwed. Robyn has disappeared, Cassie has stormed off angry, and my brother is nowhere to be found and is probably too busy screwing a girl to answer if I decide to call him to ask for a ride. I’m about to start shedding tears for the frustration when a shadow approaches me from behind me. I quickly turn scared its someone here to hurt me and turn my already bad day, worse. Thankfully, its not a dangerous strange
The rest of the weekend days goes by pretty fast. I don’t hear from Cassie after our "fight" on Friday night. I called and texted lot of times but not once did she bother respond. Soon, I stopped trying because obviously I was trying too hard and if she wasn't ready to reconcile, I wasn't going to force her. Early on Sunday morning Leo and I have to attend church service because we promised mom we would and we also know that if we don’t show up, Mom would find out somehow. My mom was a very dedicated churchgoer who never misses Sunday service and always made sure to drag her poor children along with her. The Reverend, Father Octavio is also a good friend of our family, and he is one hell of a gossiper. Mom probably told him to keep an eye out for us and tell him to inform her if he doesn’t see us during the service. After church is over, Leo and I are on our way home. Leo is driving and I'm bored sitting idle at the passenger seat so I decide to check for phone for any notificati