62
Tahti kept pouring herself a glass of scotch almost every three minutes and Demir, who was beside her, did his best to avert his gaze, even though it was worried him.
"You're drinking a lot." He said when he looked like he couldn't bear it anymore. "Is something going on?"
"No. It's nothing." She replied and made to empty another glass, when a text came into her phone. It would probably be Josh, she thought as she peered down to look at it.
She was right.
«Is work going on well?»
She picked up her phone and leaned on the chair before she typed a reply.
«No. I was tired so I went to get a drink.»
"I saw you with him at school." Demir said and she turned to him.
"What?"
"Josh Daniels." He replied as she returned her phone to the counter.
"Okay." came her reply as she picked up another cup of scotch.
"Do you like him?" The question she feared to ask herself came again as she downed the glass and lowered it for a refill.
"Why do you ask?" she asked, stalling for time to answer.
"I'm just curious."
"Okay. I like him. He's a good guy." She replied as she refilled her glass, knowing she had just told a lie but she couldn't didn't care anyway. Her feelings could develop along the way, she consoled.
"What makes you say that?"
"He's a good cook and he's considerate too. Most of all, I feel comfortable when I'm with him." She replied, downing one more glass. "Then, why aren't you dating him?" He asked and she sighed, wondering why he was so concerned about that about her and Josh "That's not something you should be asking, though."
"I guess." He sighed and Tahti considered telling him the truth but ended up spilling it out anyway.
"He'll be disappointed if I ended up dating him. Josh doesn't know I'm not the kind of person he views me to be..." She was saying as she swept her hair from her face. She couldn't imagine how he would look at her if he found out she'd slept with Demir. He would probably be put off.
"...but I want to look like nothing has changed about me for his sake."
"Then, what about me?" He asked they turned to lock eyes.
You? She repeated. She once used to care about the way Demir viewed her and was always bothered about how she was to him but those times were gone.
The clock in the bar hit ten and she turned to pick up a phone and bag.
"I should get going now."
"Now?" He asked as she passed a bill to the bartender before putting down from house to "I have work to do tomorrow morning." She replied.
"Alright. Are you walking home?"
"Yeah. I should sober up from all the alcohol after taking. See you tomorrow." She told him and turned to head out of the bar.
The night sky was aglow with bright city lights. The pale crescent moon shone like a silvery claw in the night sky and Tahti looked up at the blanket of stars that stretched out to infinity.
She dropped her head as she walked down the street, wondering what she was going to do since she had been rejected for the exchange program when she heard someone walking behind her.
She slanted her eyes over her shoulder and was surprised to see Demir behind her.
"Why are you following me?" She asked, her brows drawing slightly together to arch a brow.
"I'm not following you." Demir replied and she turned to walk home again, only to discover he was still following her even after a minute later and she whipped her head to look back at him again.
"Then, where are you going?"
"Your house." She turned to face him fully, with a frown on her face.
"Why?"
"To get my stuff, before you throw them out." He replied casually. That was true, she had threatened to throw his things out.
"I see."
Peter, Josh's boss, couldn't help but notice how Josh was kept smiling as he chatted with someone, later that evening, after the day's work and he knew it would be the girl that had come over to their QSR the other day.
"Do you like her so much?" He asked, when Josh wouldn't stop smiling.
"Yes, I do." He replied.
"Then, what are you waiting for? Be more bold about it." Josh lowered his phone with a sigh. "Well...I can't really do that right now. I feel like I might mess things up."
"How frustrating." Peter said as he rolled his eyes. "You should ask her to meet you right now. You even said you forgot to give her something."
Josh moved his eyes to the bag beside him, which contained the pictures from the beach and the guest house, which he had printed out.
"It's not urgent."
"Gosh...You are a decent guy but you're not making bold moves. Love is about timing. If you keep hesitating, you might never get her." He said and Josh sighed again.
He had promised to wait for her until she was ready, so if he tried to force himself on her, she would probably not end up having feelings for him.
The entrance to Tahti's apartment was locked, by the time they arrived as it was already ten and Tahti alighted the stairs to punch in the passcode. The glass door gave way and she turned to him.
"You can wait out here. I didn't pack everything as I didn't think you would come for it so suddenly."
He made a glance at something behind her before he returned his eyes to her.
"I'll pack them with you." He said and turned towards the door.
"I can go in, right?"
"Yeah." She replied and he turned to walk in, with her following behind as they headed her unit.
Luckily, his things only included the tons of textbooks he'd brought during his visits to study, which didn't take time to pack up. She noticed he had kept glancing at the song catcher he had gifted her and she tried to pretend she hadn't noticed.
"I think that's all your stuff." She said, when she was done packing up his textbooks. "Yeah, but I feel a little disappointed." He said. "What do you mean?"
"I thought you would have a late birthday present for me." He replied and she tore her eyes off him and she leaned back into this over.
"There's nothing like that. Can you leave now? I'm a bit tired so I have to go to bed."
Her heart started racing when he rose to walk over to sit beside her and Tahti almost forgot how to breathe when he took her arm.
"You're all better now." He said and she looked down to see that the cut was gone. She had been so busy lately that she hadn't even noticed.
"Yeah."
"I did a good job of treating you." He said and Tahti chuckled as she raised her head, on hearing the smugness in his voice. It sounded like he was the only one, who could have treated her without leaving a scar.
His gaze dropped to her mouth as his head started to dip towards hers and heat rose from Tahti's stomach to her chest. Demir's lips were getting closer and her heart decided to skip a beat, the smell of him hypnotic beyond reason. She parted her lips and felt him washing over like a wave of warmth, curling her toes, unfurling all her senses as the taste of him nearly silenced all thoughts. She wanted more.
But, she couldn't.
She slowly pulled away, her hand reaching up to stop him.
"Let's not make another mistake." She said, avoiding his eyes as she rose to head towards the fridge. She took hold of the handle to open it, revealing the fridge to be empty and she recalled she was yet to do the grocery shopping, since she got back.
A hand touched hers on the handle from behind and Demir helped to close the door, before taking her shoulders to turn her to face him, her back on the door of the fridge.
"Do you really think this is a mistake?" He asked, and her eyes were still avoiding his even as he asked.
"Yeah." Her voice came out in a whisper. "I'm sure you feel the same too."
"I don't." He replied and she finally felt compelled to look up at him, surprised he could admit such a thing. "I enjoy being with you."
"Are you kidding me?" She asked, in disbelief. How frivolous could he get? This was someone who had a girlfriend and yet he was trying so hard cupped hit on her. A smile crossed his lips as he kept her head.
"I like your angry face too."
"What exactly do you take me for, Aydemir Wilson? Do you like teasing me?" She asked. "I'm not." He replied, dropping his head so she was unable to stare into those pitch black eyes of his, making her fail to read if he was being sincere or not. He slowly raised his head to meet her gaze and Tahti couldn't read anything inside of them.
"Let's date."
The bombshell finally dropped and the air around her suddenly seemed heavy. If it was her a month ago, she would have jumped in excitement and said yes, but all she could do at the moment was to stare at him.
"What?"
He finally dropped his hands from her face. "Think about it and tell me... I'll see you tomorrow." He said and he walked over to fetch to fetch his textbooks before he took his leave.
Tahti could finally breathe when she heard the door click shut, announcing his departure. Demir had just asked her out, yet she didn't feel an iota of happiness, at that moment. He didn't like her, so why had he asked her out? Was it because he wanted to continue sleeping with her?
Her phone beeped and she slowly walked her way towards where it was, on the side stool and picked it up, sighing when she discovered it was from Josh.
«Can we talk right now?» came his text and Tahti knew there was no way he would not figure out that something was wrong if she went out to see him. She had even let Demir into her place late at night. That alone felt like she was cheating on him.
«I'm a bit tired so let's meet up next time.» Josh read silently from the screen of his phone and he raised his head to look at her apartment window, one more time before he turned to leave. He had to come to show her the pictures but had been heartbroken on seeing Tahti and Demir walk into into the house together. Sighing again, he turned to leave.
April kept emptying the cans of vodka as they came and her friends kept looking around and talking about handsome guys in the club, that night. She would have joined them but she had been in no mood to, ever since she got dumped.
"Hey, slow down." Anna, one of her friends said.
"We all came here to drink so why are you drinking so much?"
"Gosh, look at that handsome guy over there."
April picked up a phone to login to Instagram her eyes caught a funny video and she's not before tapping into stopping the share button, which brought up a list of her contacts. Without looking at the first contact, she tapped on it but froze after she'd moved her thumb, to realise it was Derek.
Derek, she repeated in her mind. She hadn't seen him in days to know what was he even up to.
She had missed him.
