21
Sol would turn it down, Jennie was so sure of it as she said to herself. Sol hated those kind of games after all.
Jennie's jaw dropped however, when Sol accepted the balloon and placed it between her and Ralph before they sent their arms to each other's back.
"Let's begin...Ready...Go." April called and Jennie curled her fist as she watched them pull each other closer, popping the balloon, almost in an instant.
"You did it.Congratulations." April cheered and Sol gave Ralph a high five while Herley sadly looked on.
"Take your prize."
"There's a prize?" Ralph asked.
"Yup. Come take your pick." April said and led them towards the stuffed toys under one of the canopies.
"Did Sol tell you anything?" Bella asked and Jennie rustled her hand through her hair.
"No, she didn't. She said they are not dating."
"It doesn't seem like that. I can totally tell from the guys face. Why else would he have to come here?There's nothing to see in the school." Bella replied and Jennie gritted her teeth and counted to five as Bella seemed to be getting on her nerves.
"He only just came to take a look around. Why are you trying to add meaning to his words."
"I'm not adding meaning to anything. It's the truth. Sol's lucky, you know. You know how they say you will get really lucky with me after you have no one for a while.It's an undeniable truth, you know."
"She said they are not dating." Jennie blurted and Bella shushed her immediately, and Jennie realized it was because Sol and the Ralph guy were approaching.
Sol dropped Chimchim, which was her favorite bear character, in the game BT21 on her table and she raised her eyes to her, trying to conceal her anger.
"Why are you giving me this?"
"You like Chimchim's character, so I got it for you as a gift."
"I don't like it anymore." She lied, bitterly.
"Why? Is there something going on?" Sol asked and something exploded inside of her. There was no way her anger could be concealed any longer.
"We were supposed to hang out together. Why did you bring a guy along?"
"Oh... I..." Sol stuttered as she turned to exchange looks with Ralph who looked embarrassed. "Well...I'm sorry, Jennie. I didn't think it would make you uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable? Why would it? If I knew, I would have brought a guy too." She paused to scoff. "Oh, did you enjoy playing the couple games, too?"
Everyone, stunned by her outburst turned to look at her in bewilderment and she rose to stuff the bear into Sol's arms.
"You should keep it, since you won the games, or you can give it to your friend. I need to smoke." She said and turned to walk out and Bella rose to run after her.
"Jennie, what's wrong with you?"
Tahti was returning home after getting the drugs moments later when she saw tons of people gathered outside her apartment. There was a parked ambulance and a police car too and she knew something must have happened in the house. The last time there had been an ambulance and a police car parked at the entrance of her house was the time a mother had attempted suicide in that apartment complex because she'd caught her husband cheating on her.
"There must have been an accident."
"There's a police car too. Did someone get hurt?"
"What's going on?" A woman asked.
"Why is there a police car?"
"Was there an accident?" A man asked and she rushed over, once she started seeing people pointing at her window.
"Is it a student, this time?"
"A student lives there."
"Could it be another suicidal case?"
Had something gone wrong with her apartment when she was gone?
"Excuse me." She said and hurriedly forced her way in, with whispers from the people behind her.
The hallway and stairs were crowded with more people and there were questions and gasps here and there as she kept forcing her way towards her apartment.
"The third floor."
"Isn't that her?"
"Hey, can you hear me?" She heard someone bang at the door upstairs and feeling it was her apartment, she increased her pace.
"I think something happened to her. Hurry." She heard a voice yell.
"You need to step back sir."
"We should open the door."
"Hurry."
"Wait." She was screaming by the time she arrived the third floor, in time to see the police trying to force her door open.
"Wait...sir. Don't break my door." She called and everyone turned to look at her in confusion, probably wondering who she was. "What are you doing? Who called you?"
Her eyes fell on Demir who was behind one of the officers, a frustrated look on his face on sighting her and the realisation of what probably happened dawned on her and she sighed in turn.
"I'm so sorry." They were saying at the entrance of her house a couple of minutes later and the misunderstanding had been cleared.
Demir, scared that something had happened to her after he'd been unable to reach her after her phone had gone off, hadn't thought things through and rang the emergency line immediately.
Tahti thought the men would be pissed but rather, they looked relieved that she was okay. So much for the emergency unit in L.A.
"It's fine. We'll get going now." One of them said and she waited for them to drive off before she turned to him.
"Do you know you totally overreacted, right?"
"I was just worried. You said you were sick, plus you live alone." He replied and she sighed.
"Alright. Well, you know that I'm alive now. I'll head back in now." She said and turned to head in when he grabbed her arm.
"Are you really okay?" He asked and he raised his hand to her burning forehead.
"I'm fine." She replied and raised her hand to take his off.
"You have a fever. We should go to the hospital."
"It's fine. I just went to get some drugs so I'll be fine if I get some sleep. Bye." She said, not waiting for a response before she walked in.
Derek slapped his forehead in frustration as he veered to a drunk April who was now sitting on the floor. He kept throwing warnings her way during the after party where everyone in the department got to drink but she's ignored him and kept drinking like a fish, only to end up sitting on the road, when it was a couple of minutes to eleven, that night.
"Let's go, April. Everyone left." He said as April muttered some gibberish and he wondered why he kept caring for her, despite his hatred for stubborn girls.
He sighed as he crouched in front of her before raising his hands to cup her shoulders. "Get a grip.Don't you know how late it is?" He asked and she raised her eyes to him.
"What are you doing?" He asked when she kept staring at him and not taking her eyes off. "Come on, let's..."
"Shh..." She raised her index finger to his lip and he blinked. He regretted not snatching the bottles of beer when she had started drinking and when she had even competed with Herley, over who could drink more. How much had she drank when he had even gone to get more drinks for the guys to be that drunk?
"Shut up." She whispered as she lowered her finger. "You kind of...look... handsome up close." She said and Derek decided she'd drank a lot. The only thing April knew how to throw his way was punches and fists, rather than compliments.
He was wondering how he was going to get her home in that state when she raised her hands to his collar and pulled him to kiss her, taking him breathless and by surprise.
His heart thumped as she pulled back a minute later and he blinked hard on realising what just happened. She would probably regret this the following morning, but screw anyway.
His lips parted as his chin started to tilt towards hers and he kissed her slowly, showing how a kiss was meant to be, though he hardly knew either, as it was his first. But he could tell by her heart thumping that she was enjoying it.
Tahti dropped to the bed with a sigh after taking her drugs and she wondered if she had been too cold to Demir back then.
*******
"Are you really okay?" He asked and he raised his hand to her burning forehead.
"I'm fine." She replied and raised her hand to take his off.
"You have a fever. We should go to the hospital."
"It's fine. I just went to get some drugs so I'll be fine if I get some sleep. Bye." She said, not waiting for a response before she walked in.
*******
"No. I did the right thing." She suddenly decided.
Demir was probably trying to play around with her again and she would be nothing but a fool if she fell for the same trick twice.
"I should get some sleep." She said to herself and reached out to the bedspread to cover herself, when the doorbell rang as she made to switch off the lamp and she wondered who was asking for a curse, by interrupting her when she was trying to sleep that night.
"Who is it?" She asked as she slipped out of bed, headed for the door and on opening it, she was surprised to see Demir at the other side.
Why was he there? She had just gave him the cold shoulder, moments ago, so why was he back.
"Can I come in?"
"Oh. Sure." She replied and he walked in, closing the door behind him as he did.
"There were not any pharmacies open so I went to a convenience store." He said and passed a white shopping bag to her. "Take some medicine after you eat."
"Okay. Thanks." She whispered and he threw her a smile, one which made her feel guilty. Did he really come back just because of the drugs?
"Get some sleep." He said and turned to leave.
This was someone she was avoiding, but yet he called an ambulance on her, fearing that something bad had happened to her and despite the cold shoulder, he had come back to give her drugs. How heartless could she be?
"Hey, Demir." She called on his way out and he turned back to her. "I don't like this...You should take it back." She said and stretched the bag towards him, hoping the guilt that jabbed at her heart would go.
"I'm hungry." He suddenly said and she blinked.
"You didn't eat? Until this hour?...Like are you serious?" She asked and he pulled down his bag.
"I didn't have an appetite since I smelled food all day. But I'm hungry now. All of a sudden."
She recalled she had some homemade meal, her aunt had made her in the fridge and she sighed. That was the least she could do, for someone who had done something huge for her that day, anyway.
"I have some homemade meal in the fridge. You can eat that here." She told him.
"Really?" He smiled and she tore her eyes off him, not wanting to get all goofy again.
They were seated on at the dinning couple of minutes later and Tahti couldn't take her eyes off him even when he ate. How could someone manage to unnerve her this much?
"This is really tasty. I haven't had homemade food in a while."
"My aunt made all this." She replied, rubbing her eyes.
"The aunt who named you?"
"Yeah." She raised her palms to cover her mouth before she yawned.
"You must be sleepy."
"Yeah. Probably because of the drugs...I'm so sleepy now." She replied and he dropped the spoon.
"Go lie down."
