43
The beach was fairly deserted mostly because it was Wednesday, she noticed as she looked out through the window that morning. Her phone had been powered off since she had left L.A but she'd just switched it on, that money for a reason she didn't know. Was she, by any chance expecting Demir's call? Her phone rang and she dropped that her to look at who it was.
"Hey, Sol." She greeted, on answering the call.
"Tahti Lee, why did you ignore my calls and answer Sol's?" Jennie said, from the other side and she smiled. She hadn't ignored anyone's call and moreover, Sol's call had just come in, by chance.
"Hey, Jennie."
"You're coming to the workshop, right? Sol's coming, too."
"I don't think I can't come." She sighed.
"Really?" She asked and she could hear he disappointment in her voice. "I thought the location was changed because of you."
The location was changed?"
"What?...To where?"
"It's Santa Barbara. The guesthouse of a QSR...What was it called again?...The Daniels."
The Daniels? That was Josh's family guesthouse.
Tahti sprang to her feet, completely stunned by the news. "What? You're coming here?"
Jennie frowned. "Here? Are you there right now?" She asked and Tahti gnawed on her lower lip, at her silly mistake.
"No, I'm not...My auntie lives nearby."
"Are you staying there till the weekend?"
"I am, but...I still can't come." She replied.
"Why? You can come hang out with us. It'll be fun."Jennie told her and she knew she couldn't win against Jennie, when it came to things like that. Jennie would just continue to badger her until she agreed.
"Well...Is Demir coming?" She asked with a little hesitation. If he was, then she would close shop and decide not to go.
"Demir?...He said he has other plans, so he can't make it."
"Really?" She asked, wondering why she felt disappointed with the news, when she was supposed to feel relieved. "i'll come if I have the time but don't tell the others that I'm here."
"Alright. My lips are sealed...and don't ignore my calls anymore, okay?" Jennie said and Tahti smiled, knowing Jennie would be pouting at the moment.
"Okay."
"Alright, I'll hang up now."
"Bye."
Tahti lowered her phone to hang up the call and her eyes were greeted by a bunch of text from someone she was hoping she would not ever contact her.
«You weren't in school today.»
«Us something wrong?»
«Are you ill?»
«Where are you?»
Tahti's mind went back to what she'd told Stella in the school cafe and she groaned in regret, wondering why she told her that. She'd only belittled herself and in the worst way as that.
Wanting to clear her head, she powered off her phone and walked out of her room, wrapping her arms around herself as she headed for nowhere in particular.
How they did things turn out this way? Just four months back, she was a normal student who had things going for her, even though her relationship has been a huge deceit, but her life seemed to have taken a turn for the worse, the moment she'd met Demir, at that bar.
She'd done nothing but regret ever since the moment she met him and there'd been tons of red flags, which were sending her warnings about how disastrous things could get but she'd been too infatuated, to see the handwriting on the wall.
Well, things were better known when people realised them themselves.
She worked her fingers through her hair as a jeep turned up from the turning ahead, to screech to a halt in front of her and she was surprised to see who it was when he alighted. "Hey, Tahti."
"Josh?" She blinked her surprise.
"Heard you arrived today?" He asked and turned to the road for a minute before returning in his eyes to her. "Where are you headed?"
"Me? I was taking a walk. How about you?"
"I was going to come see you." He replied and she frowned.
"You were coming to see me?" She asked and he nodded.
"Yeah."
"You should have called me. We could have missed each other, you know."
It was his turn to frown. "I did but your phone was turned off."
"That's true." She muttered under her breath. "Well...since you are here now, do you...want to go to the beach?"
"The beach?" She repeated.
Meanwhile Sol turned back to look at Jennie, with one of her eyebrows arched once she'd dropped the call with Tahti.
"Didn't Demir say he was coming to the workshop?" She asked.
"Yeah, he did."
"Then, why did you lie to her?" She asked and Jennie clasped a hand over her mouth, with a shocked expression.
"You're right. Why did I do that?" She asked, before lowering a hand to reveal a mischievous smile. "Whatever, I had to say that to get Tahti to come."
Sol tilted her head with a sigh. "That might cause trouble."
Jennie shook her head as she raised a hand to her shoulder. "I don't think so. They could get back together, thanks to us."
A nervous smile crossed Sol's lips as she raised a hand to slightly push down on Jennie's.
"Please don't say 'us'." She told her and Jennie smiled.
"You heard me, so you're an accomplice."
"She doesn't even like Demir, you know. So why are you doing this?" Sol asked and Jennie cupped her chin, with a sigh.
"I could detect she wanted him to come when she asked if he was coming and I only want her to help her realise that." She replied and turned to look at her. "You can't tell her, okay? You have to keep this a secret."
"Okay." She replied and resumed her reading. "Let's go watch a movie today." Jennie said, trying to get her attention.
"I have plans." Sol replied and Jennie straightened, with a frown on her face.
"What? With who? You didn't even tell me." She said and her plan worked when Sol dropped the book and faced her.
"Herley wants to have lunch with me." Jennie frowned on hearing Herley was the one who'd asked her for lunch.
"What's he up to this time?" She asked, rolling her eyes and Sol sighed.
"He's not up to anything. He wanted to ask me something about homework."
"Can't he just ask you over the phone?" She whined.
"Do you want to come along, then?" Jennie was quick to nod and Sol smiled as she raised a hand to pat her hair.
"Okay."
