10

I took a deep breath and prayed to all the angels in heaven to keep me as far away from Chris as possible today.

Because here I was, in a cute red slip on dress with my hair in a side braid and pumps in my feet, standing on the threshold of Rose's home ready to enter her b'day party.

I had a selfish wish in my head that tried to assure me stupidly that Chris might be too busy in arranging Rose's party and doing a shitload of chores that he wouldn't get enough time to give even a passing look to me. Because no matter how much I try to control the body shiver I get whenever he's around me, its futile.

And then I entered the party.

I won't say Rose's family was rich or anything but given a look to the arrangements of party, it was hard to believe that his parents worked under someone else. It was like I had entered a red carpet event that was held inside a house. The party was a full on bash.

I met Rose, the busy bee of the day when I was having my first drink. She came and pulled me in a choking hug. Thankfully I didn't die or anything. And when I pulled away from the hug, I kid you not, I swear I saw an fairytale princess in front of me. She was looking so beautiful that I had to blink to assure myself that she was indeed my best friend. I let her know my thoughts and that's when she beamed at me,

"All of these arrangements are done by Chris only this time. You see, he said he wanted to give me the gift of my b'day by arranging the whole party for me and even the dress and heels and makeup, everything is done by special artists. Isn't it amazing? I was like over the moon when I saw myself in front of the mirror and I almost fainted when I saw the arrangements. I'm so happy."

"Uh, okay..." I dragged out the word and muttered to myself, "I didn't know he earned this much money by working in an advertising company."

"Alright girlfriend", I shook out the thought of Chris from my head and said while smiling at her huge, "Let's rock the party now."

And then we rocked the party.

After having my fourth margarita I was on the verge of peeing myself. On my first margarita I saw Chris in the party in a cool denim washed jeans with a black t-shirt and jacket on top.

My eyes bugged out of sockets when I realised that I was having the thoughts of Chris naked on the top of me when his eyes landed on me. I nearly spluttered the drink out but thankfully didn't make a fool of me. I turned away from him and walked in the other direction so fast that anyone who saw me would think that my ass was on fire.

After that first margarita, other three margaritas were the result of my nervousness and in fear of accidentally running into Chris and now my vagina was bursting out beacause of the urge to pee.

I excused from Rose and other classmates of mine from the dance floor and went to relieve myself. I did my business but just as I opened the door and tried to walk out, I was pushed back inside by the hands on my waist and locked in with the body of those hands.

Those hands belonged to Chris.

Fuck!

"Hey!" I cried out and tried to walk around and open the door but before I could do that, I was pulled back by the waist and then my back was to the door and I was trapped by his hands on both sides of my head.

Jeez... he was soooooo close.

"Breath." He whispered in his oh so sexy voice.

And I didn't know I was holding it until I did as he said.

I slapped the back of my head in my head and did my best to appear strong in front of him.

"Let me go." I said in much stronger voice than I was feeling. And seriously, I was feeling proud of myself.

He just stared at me. When his stare lasted for more than three minutes, I snapped, "What?"

That's when he smiled. And trust me, it was rare when he did that. I was so dumbstruck that I kept staring at his face like a fool.

I came out of my trance when his smile took the place of seriousness and he said,

"Rose told me about your deal with that Eric dude."

My heart started thudding in my chest and I was sure that my face was red in humiliation. Because trust me, no matter whatever the situation is, it's very humiliating to appear this much weak in front of someone that you were crazy about some years ago. Maybe still are.

But instead of showing myself as weak I preferred to appear angry, "That's none of your business." I snapped.

"I respect you for what you did for your parents." He said in the same calming tone as before, "But I don't want you to be a slave of someone."

His words shocked me. Mainly because I couldn't remember the time when he took any interest in my business. Surely he was always there to save us when Rose and I did some stupidity and got into trouble but never a big fan of my personal life.

"I accepted the deal. I'm in debt of him until I repay him." My words were stronger than I was feeling in my heart. I didn't want to discuss about it, especially not with him. And I had decided, the first thing I'm gonna do after I'm out of this damn room is killing Rose. "And thanks for your concern."

His rough hand touched my cheek and his thumb started rubbing circles on my jaw lightly. This intimate type of touch was a shock to me because in the past, it was me who threw myself at him at any and every chance I could get but he never touched me. Never. I was controlling the signature full body shiver of mine and now this first secret intimate encounter with him was freaking me out.

Then he said, "You don't have to do this. I can give you the money you owe him."

Just as I tried to say something he beat me to it and said, "And yes I know you don't want to take it from me but take it and keep it until you can return it back to me. Just don't be around that jerk." His eyes flashed for a moment on the last line but then they were back to normal and he continued, "I know what he's doing to you from the past few weeks. Stop taking the shit and do as I say."

I decided, I'm definitely going to kill Rose. Fucking bestie traitor.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm the anger at the details of his knowledge of my life and said, "I appreciate your concern and thank you for the offer."

I saw a look of happiness came on his face but I decided to ignore it, "But no, thanks. It won't take long to return it to him from the earning of the shop. I will do whatever it takes to return the money to him. I signed the deal with him and I can handle it. Now if you'll excuse me then please step aside."

I could feel that he wanted to argue or say something but then he dropped the idea of doing that and stepped aside silently.

And that's when I took a dead run to my house. Don't get me wrong, I'm not arrogant but I can't run away from well and jump into a dead valley. I mean yeah, I don't like Eric but wouldn't it be a big stupidity to take money from the person I dreaded facing on every occasion? I have already made the deal, and I  refuse to go into the cycle of going into another debt to pay a debt.

I can handle the assault of Eric but Chris? Nah, nada, never. I would die from the pressure in my head.

Spare me.