Book 2: Chapter 23

***Chapter 23***

The next day, Farah had us all meet out in the back for an announcement about Friday’s events. I have to say, I missed her calling us together so she could go on and on about whatever it was she had planned. The weeks are still going by painfully slowly. But things will soon pick up speed as my week is filled with things to do.

Before any of that could happen though, the girls and I were all waiting for Farah to show up. She was always the last one to arrive whenever she called meetings like this. Though it gave Jenna and Kameron time to pick with me. Something they both seemed to love to do. I could be taking a shit and here they come with theirs. It was quite aggravating, but they were the least of my concerns.

My big concern being Sienna. This whole competition she looked off. Apart from when we all went to the pool, Sienna was oddly more quiet. My brain wondered if it had something to do with Twila and Kira. She did ask me about them, and the tone of her voice didn't sound happy. Though she was the one who wanted to leave Twila. Sienna couldn't possibly be upset about her moving on. Could she?

While my friends were chatting, I took a moment to slip away walking over to Sienna. We weren't friends, but acquaintances. We've built up a good enough relationship where we would talk to one another every now again. Twila didn't seem to mind either and I personally wanted to know what was up with her. It was like last year all over again. I'd find her sad sitting somewhere alone eventually turning into what it did.

Glancing up at me, Sienna tried to change her face, but she did a poor job. "Autumn, what's up?"

"Hey, I came to see how you were doing. You looked completely zoned out." I say already knowing what's bothering her.

She tried to lie to me though. "Oh, what I'm fine maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night."

I crossed my arms giving her a knowing look. "Sienna, come on don't lie to me," I say. "You can speak with me I won't say anything."

Her lips pursed as she looked at the ground. "It's not the matter of you saying anything it's that I know I'm being irrational."

Personally, she was being a bit irrational, but I understood her. You can't control what you feel for someone, and Twila was someone of significance in her life for a very long time. Sure, she wanted to move on and be free from their toxicity. Though, I highly doubt she expected to see her back here with another woman at that. It had to be rough and seeing as she hadn’t moved on must have made the feeling even worse.

That was part of the beauty of being human. We had complicated feelings and society has put us in a box for so long. Deciding who we should love, how we should love, and when we should love. The things were able to try now were once frowned upon. I knew how she was feeling and in times like these, it was best to have someone who understood you.

"It'll only get worse the more you bottle it up." I try to get her to let it out.

She sighed, becoming annoyed. "I just don't understand how she's moved so quickly!" She finally let her feelings out. "It's been a year yeah, but we've been through so much together. I-I feel like I made a mistake."

That got me to widen my eyes. It was interesting to hear how she felt. At the same time though, I couldn’t let her jeopardize Twila's or Kira's happiness. If Kira hadn't been in the picture, I would tell her to go for it, but Twila isn't exactly single. This was one time where Sienna was going to have to cut her losses and try to move on. It's the only thing she could do in this situation.

"Sienna, trust me I know what you mean. But look at Twila," we both look over to her smiling with Kira. "Do you want to ruin her happiness for selfish reasons? I mean last year Twila fought hard for you and you turned her away. She wasn't going to just sit around and wait forever."

She sighed again. "I know, I just wish I could go back in time and make things right." Sienna looked at them one more time. "Just make sure she stays safe, okay?"

I nod in agreement. "Of course, I will." I say before sharing a hug with her.

Twila was going to be just fine. If Sienna didn't say anything to stir the pot, their relationship would stay intact. It was for the best that she kept her distance from them. There isn't much need for the theatrics this time around. Their ship has sailed, and it should stay that way.

After talking with Sienna, we were all pleasantly surprised to see the groomsmen, including Cyrus, coming through the door. My heart dropped a little seeing Cyrus. Knowing that I agreed to his shit plan made me curious to know what he would do. However, that quickly changed once I saw him go over to Jenna. Keeping up appearances I guess, but from my perspective it seemed as though he did like her. Why were we trying to sneak around again?

Luckily for me, I had someone else catching my eye. He kept his distance since Cyrus was also around, but it didn't stop him from flashing me that gorgeous smile of his. It made me feel giddy as I fiddled with the locket, he gave me yesterday. I also averted my eyes to not make it obvious we were looking at each other. Though, I couldn't resist the urge to go over to him.

Disregarding Cyrus being here, I was going to keep this as PG as possible. Jay is truly a weakness I'll never be able to shake. Plus, I needed my hug for the day. He was surprised at me being so ballsy, but we were friends, no one could stop that from happening. Not even Cyrus.

Wrapping my arms around him, he hugged me back whispering in my ear. "Don't you think it's a bit risky?" He asked me with worry.

"Oh please, it's just a hug. You act like I'm straddling you in front of everyone." I brushed it off.

"That could be arranged." He winked at me as I rolled my eyes.

We couldn't talk much before Farah and Cairo came walking through the door as well. Turning around, Jay wrapped his arms around my shoulders as I stood there enjoying his embrace. We made it look friendly and to be honest, Cyrus knew Jay was the only other guy I was close to here in Sunbury. While he was being distracted with Jenna, Jay would be the one I gravitate toward. More than he personally knew.

That being said, Farah looked happy to have us all here mingling. Her announcement, on the other hand, didn't warrant a meeting in my opinion.

"Listen up everyone, this Friday we'll be going around town doing a wine tasting," that obviously caught our attention. "And all of you will be traveling on a party bus."

Party bus? Those are definitely loads of fun, but shouldn't that be saved for the bachelorette party? Either way, it would be a fun time if we were all going to be super drunk once it was over. How many places were we even going to taste wine at? It's not that much of a hard-hitting drink but get enough of it in your system and you'll be dazed. Let's hope the wine we taste will be good. I'm more concerned about what would be on this bus.

"We'll meet up here around 10 in the morning, have breakfast and then be on our way," Farah said sounding excited herself. "Make sure to not be late!"

With that, she walked back inside followed by Cairo who didn't say much. When did he ever speak up though? The rest of us were thrilled about going to do a wine tasting on a party bus at that. All of us together would sure make for a great time. Though, it made it even harder to be around Jay in front of Cyrus. We would really have to keep our distance that night as much as possible.

Speaking of which, Jay unwrapped himself from me saying bye as he headed back inside with the other guys. It didn't take long for my body to miss his warmth, but I kept myself together. Besides, the girls and I were going to head to the theater to watch some movies since we were here. The Hadids updated the room and its features. I couldn't wait to check it out.

"Autumn, don't think you're getting out of watching movies with us!" Kira yelled at me.

I laughed. "I'm not trying to get out of it. I'm just grabbing a drink," I say heading toward the kitchen.

"Yeah, well hurry it up will ya!" Twila yelled back.

I confirmed to them that I would be there before making it into the kitchen. As I opened the fridge and closed it, my body jumped seeing who was standing there waiting for me. Cyrus stood there with this smug look on his face not seeming to care that he scared me nearly half to death. I wasn't expecting him to come to talk to me. We were out in the open where anyone could be listening. However, I was going to entertain him.

Cyrus smiled at me walking a little closer with his hands in his pockets. Dare I say he looked pretty good? His perfect messy brown hair and chocolate-colored eyes reeled me every time. I did agree to his crazy plan, but I can't say it wasn't something I didn't look forward to. Especially now that this seemed to be what he wanted to talk about.

"Hey, A." He said calmly.

I raised a brow. "Back to calling me A now?" I could've sworn he said that was too intimate, but it is music to my ears.

Cyrus rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes I know, but listen we needed to talk," he begins. "Can I interest you in an outing tomorrow night?"

And so, it begins. "An outing where?" I ask before agreeing.

"I'm afraid that's a secret, but you'll love it." He wouldn't give it away.

I couldn't say no as I agreed to sneak around with him. It still felt wrong that we were doing this, but I've been waiting for him to ask me to do anything with him. There wasn't a clue in my mind where he was going to have us go. He was always great at surprising me with the greatest of dates. There isn't much doubt that this won't be perfect. No matter how wrong it felt. I've been looking forward to this.

Sighing, I look at him pouting my lips. "Are you sure about this?" I continue to question. Maybe he'll see how wrong this is.

"I've never been more sure," he wasn't backing out. "Don't think you're getting out of this." He says before looking down at my neck.

It is risky wearing a locket that Jay gave me, but I didn't want to take it off. How was he going to react when I told him who bought it for me? Seriously, Jay and I were doing such a bad job at keeping things lowkey. Cyrus would soon catch on to us and I'm not looking forward to that. I guess it was time to play this up.

He looked confused grabbing the locket between his fingers. I took it back because I didn't want him to open it. The minute he saw the engraving on it, the whole thing would be over. It's bad enough he was examining every part of it. One good look inside and he would lose his mind.

Chuckling uncomfortably, he looked at me and locket again before finally speaking. "Where did you get that from?" He asked with a soft tone.

I gulped nervous to say anything. "Well, it was a gift," I say which is true. I knew what Cyrus was like when he got angry. I didn't want to see it again.

"Okay, and who gave it to you?" He continued to ask questions I didn't want to answer.

Looking down, I fiddled with it again. "That's the thing, it was a gift from Jay," I sounded scared when I should have been confident.

Cyrus stayed quiet for a minute processing what I had said to him. I couldn't tell if he were angry or if he was confused as to why Jay would buy me such a nice gift. Using the friend's excuse would get old quickly. It's not like friends don't buy each other gifts though. It's the simple fact that Jay and I have a history according to Cyrus because Jenna told him I kissed him. Remarkably, Cyrus hasn’t questioned Jay about anything. At least not to my knowledge. This may lead him to start doing so.

He scratched the back of his neck, not sure what to think about it. "Jason bought you that. Really?" It's almost like he didn't believe me.

"Yes, really is there something wrong with that?" I tried to add more confidence to my voice.

The frustration on his face was growing. "I don't see why he would buy you such a nice gift," his jealousy showed every time Jay was mentioned.

"I saw the locket, thought it was nice, he bought it for me. It's that simple." I speak. "The same way you got the bracelet I liked in that jewelry store."

"And where is that bracelet now?" He asked.

He stunned me there as I wasn't wearing it because I took it off. I still had the bracelet though. It was rummaged between my clothes back at Jay's house. Wearing that would mean we were still together, but we weren't. He only just started asking me to sneak around with him again. It’s not like I was going to magically wear it just because Jay bought me a locket. Every time he seemed to forget that he was the one who made the wrong decision, not me.

I rolled my eyes. "Cyrus, what are you trying to get at? You act like friends can't buy things for each other. He even bought me a pair of sunglasses when he took me to his mom's grave sight."

"That's a pair of glasses anyone can get you that." He argued. "This is a beautiful locket. You make it harder and harder to believe there's nothing going on between you two."

"Well, there's not, so are we going on a date or not?" I say putting this conversation to bed.

He stared at me intently, not willing to believe me. Instead of continuing to argue, he let it go as it wasn't worth the energy. It'll only make him angrier, and I didn't want things to turn sour already. I was looking forward to tomorrow night and getting to feel what I used to before he went the other route. This was our chance to make things at least better between us. A thing like a locket couldn't possibly ruin it.

"Be ready by 10."