27. Drive Beth home.

TONY.

We were still discussing on the table when I sighted Beth coming back. The expression on her face was something between pissed and frustrated, but she was trying so hard to hide it.

"Uhm, sorry I have to ditch y'all. I have an important thing to attend to. I got a call from home and—" She said as soon as she got to our table and I wondered why, until my girlfriend cut in.

"It's your mum again, uh?" Lara blurted out. "You know this is one of the disadvantages of being a mistress, no peace, nothing! Now, the daughter has to suffer from it too! When did you just get here that you're leaving beause of your mother again? Is it your fault that she turned out to be some man's—"

I quickly stopped her from saying more by covering her mouth with my hand. I had told her several times to watch the way she speaks to people. She speaks nonchalantly, not knowing her words hurt people sometimes. But she hasn't changed a bit since when she's been telling me she would. I sighed before looking up to Beth, who just stood there staring at her so-called best friend. "I'm sorry. I think she had a lot to drink, and you know how she is whenever she's drunk."

Lara wasn't drunk, she wasn't even tipsy, but I had to say something to cover up for her.

"It's fine." She picked up her bag on the table and set to go. It was only that I released my hand from Lara's mouth, glaring at her in a scolding manner.

"I'm off," Beth said to us and then turned to Luca. "I think I'll see you around, Luca."

"No, you won't," Luca replied and stood up, making all heads snap in his direction.

"Sorry, what? Are you returning there?" Beth asked him.

"Oh, no, not at all," he chuckled lightly. "I meant you won't see me around because you won't be going off on your own. I'll give you a ride home."

"Ouuuuuuu!" Lara and the other girls exclaimed, and I could see that Beth chuckled.

The whole thing was making me pissed and inconvenient. Luca wants to drive Beth home? It just didn't sound right to me. Maybe I was just being a jerk, because immediately after he said that, my mind flashed to all the things Beth and I have done. The kiss, the sex and thinking of how I still want those things from her, I could not let any other man just taste her just like that. And yes, I don't trust Luca. He's a playboy who fucks any girl that tries to seduce him and even the ones that don't. Then, he'd leave them.

"You want to drive her… home?" I found myself asking.

"Yeah, why?" Luca asked me, looking unbothered.

His reaction made me scoff. "Why? Dude, they threw this little party for you and you're leaving in the middle of it?"

That was not the reason I was objecting to him driving her home, but since I could not state the actual reason, I had to at least cover it up with something. And this was the only thing I could think about.

Luca bent his head a bit and said to me, "if you ask me, I don't think you're pissed because I'm leaving the party. I think it's about something else. But that's a matter for another day." He then raised his head and winked at me while I just sat there staring at him. "Shall we?" He turned to ask Beth.

"I'm sorry, but I think Tony is right. You're the reason for this event, so you have to stay." Beth said in all sincerity. I smiled inwardly to myself when she said that.

Luca then turned to face Lara. "You threw this welcome party for me, in-law," he started, and I couldn't help but wonder what he was driving at. "So, tell me, do you mind if I drive your best friend home, or I should—"

"Mind? I don't! You two can have all the fun in the world on your way, even." Lara said and added, "just go, I don't mind."

"Sure?" Beth asked her.

"Yeah, babe. We'll meet some other time. Greet mom for me." Lara replied to her.

"I will," Beth answered and turned to face Luca. "Shall we?"

"We shall." He replied, and told Beth to go in front while he followed her closely behind.

Upon their departure, the three friends of Lara excused themselves to go dance on the dancefloor and they all went, leaving just Lara and me alone.

"What the heck was that about, babe?" I asked Lara immediately after the girls were gone.

"What?" She asked, turning to face me. She tried to understand what I was saying but it seemed like she genuinely didn't understand.

"Why did you give Luca the go-ahead? I am his brother, you should have understood my body language when I told him not to leave!" I snapped at her, unknowingly though. I was beginning to get pissed and it annoyed me, even more, the way she still stared at me cluelessly.

"For all I know, Luca isn't a baby. Why are you this bothered? Stop trying to be an overprotective brother. I mean, when he was in the states, were you there with him? Do you know all of the things he did there? No! So, why bother now? Let the boy be. He's a fucking grown-up!" Lara said and shrugged.

But I wasn't having it. Her reply somehow only pissed me off the more. I just didn't know why, but staring at how she spoke nonchalantly, I was pissed. Another thing was that she was right, and I wasn't bothered about that. If it were to be some random girl that he's going with, I would never be this concerned. But it wasn't some random girl, it was Beth. The same Beth I was beginning to feel some unexplainable things for.

"I know Luca, Lara. He always wants to have his way with girls, and you don't even mind, despite her being your best friend?" I asked, trying to make her feel guilty by all means.

But I was wrong. Instead, she picked up something else from what I said. "Oh, so now, it's Lara and not babe anymore?" She asked and scoffed.

"Babe—"

"No, just stop it! What is wrong with you? If he wants to have his way with Beth, let him. Besides, she's going through so much. She doesn't have an actual man and I don't see anything wrong with it if both of them date! And if it's to be fuck buddies even, there's nothing wrong with it! They're grown-ups, okay? Stop bothering yourself over some shit. Life isn't hard, it's you all that make it unnecessarily hard." She scoffed and rolled her eyes at me. "I'm going to the dance floor to dance. When you're back to being the Tony I know, meet me there." She said and without waiting for my reply, she stood up and headed to the dance floor to join her girls.

I thought about what Lara said and I felt embarrassed. "She's right, man," I muttered. "I need to get this Beth girl out of my head so I can think straight."