Chapter 47: Alone, once again.

"You are just smiling," Jessie turned to Charles, "I am serious, she has a whole lot of attitude," she cooed out, her voice sounding like the melodious notes from an orchestra, and her feets getting swallowed up in the sands as she stepped on it.
"A large part of me feels you noticed those things because she kept on staring at me," Charles said, twitching a side of his lips in amusement.
Jessie shook her head in disagreement, before she said, "I don't think I paid attention to that or even noticed it, she was just giving me this face like I was dragging someone with her," she rolled her eyes thinking about the lady's behavior.
"Well, the only thing I saw, was you being jealous that she was staring at me," Charles spouted out, paying attention to the large masses of sand that had begun to heap on his feet, and acting like he did not know that he had dropped a bomb.
Jessie stared at Charles like she wanted to chew him, one of her hands, holding onto her surfboards, and the other on her forehead as she turned to look at Charles. She was thankful that she had packed her hair into buns and even packed the other half she had let flow. They were gradually approaching close to the water, and the wind coming from it was making everything dangle around.
"Just so you know, I don't see any reason why I will be jealous of you," she held the surfboard tighter as she looked at him, "why will I be? I don't really care about you."
"It actually gives me this joy that you can not repeat what you just said. You almost ate her for staring at me, now you are saying you can't be jealous," he asked, with his eyes focused on the surfboard trying to place it firmly in his grip.
"I will just not answer you," Jessie said to Charles and continued moving, taking the lead like she knew what she wanted to do.
As they approached closer, the disturbance from the waves became more prominent and began to sound like there was some water war going on. Jessie took the first step with her legs inside the water and the next. She loved the feel of the water on her skin, that she almost continued moving deeper if Charles had not held her back.
"You should be careful on the sea, you said you have never surfed, but you're rushing in already. Or do you do it with every other thing, because I think I'm going to love that, if it is the case," Charles voiced out, winking at Jessie flirtatiously, and trying to sound stern at the same time.
Jessie turned her eyes away from him, as she was trying to not fall for his seductive glares on her skin, at least not on the ocean. She was fighting it hard to not take her body to his, and feel the warmth of his well-marked out muscles. Really, she could not blame the lady that was staring at Charles, he looked so good to not be stared at, and she was already taking occasional glares, checking him out.
"Once again your attention is drifting, Jessie," Charles called her out of her reverie, "how is it my fault that I look this good?"
"Stop praising yourself," Jessie yelled and kept her board to the ground as she noticed Charles did the same thing also.
"First of all, you need to watch the waves," Charles stated, staring closely at the large mass of water in front of him.
"Huh?" Jessie probed as she followed his eyes to the direction it traveled, "what wave?"
"You have never surfed before so I am trying to put you through," he said with his eyes still fixed on the water in view, like he was searching for something, "as this is your first time, we will be hitting the smaller waves."
"Ooh..., " Jessie blurted out as her mouth drew into an O, and her face showed that she understood him, nodding her head simultaneously.
"It's good you understand quite fast, you really don't in some other things," Charles mocked and gave a low chuckle. Jessie only frowned her face at his statement and chose to ignore him. Once again, she was choosing peace, as it was obvious he was trying to get to her.
"So let's go, I think I've seen one," Charles advised, getting on his board.
"Okay," Jessie shrugged and did exactly what Charles did. She was a novice there, so for her sake, she had to follow without arguments.
They paddled into the water, moving with the best speed they could, riding on very minor waves till Charles saw a breaking wave, and signaled Jessie, making her move with greater speed. Jessie positioned herself better on the board, paddling hard like she was being chased, as she saw Charles doing exactly that.
In an instant, Charles jumped to his feet and took a stance like he was about to fight. His feets were a little apart like it was a posture for a dance, with his knees bent, and his arms stretched out to the sides so he could attain balance. As a fast learner Jessie was, she followed immediately, achieving a stance that felt like she was on the thin edge of a rope, and could be tipped over at any time.
They rode on, till they caught up with the waves and Jessie felt so excited. It was her first surfing experience, and one with Charles, so she could not control the happiness she felt.
While every other person among the three girls was having a good day in their lives, Luciana lay on her bed dejectedly, scrolling through memes, trying to beat the sadness she felt.
Earlier, after she walked out on her mom, she later went back downstairs to eat and was upstairs ever since then. Checking out random things online, chatting, and a major part of her time thinking.
Mrs. Ranez went over to a friend's house and wanted to take Luciana along as she was left to stay at home alone. Luciana refused her, under the pretense that a friend was coming over, so, Mrs. Ranez left home satisfied that Luciana will not be all that bored.
If only things walked that way though. Luciana was dying in hard boredom, though she caused it herself. She refused to go out with her Mom, and also refused Carl from coming to pick her up as he opted that they spend the weekend together.
Lately, she enjoyed staying in her own space even against her Counselor's advice that it was not good for her mental health. Luciana dropped her phone on the space beside her and closed her eyes taking deep breaths. Her mind drifted to the moment she realized her dad was cheating and a pinch of sadness came to her.
Usually, as he (Mr. Ranez), always gave excuses of being busy, they did not have the liberty to call him at any time. On that particular day, she was feeling bad already about something and felt a void in her heart that she felt her Father could fill, so she decided to make a call to him, regardless of the time and inconsiderate about if he was occupied with work. If only she had not called though, maybe she would have felt better, living in ignorance.
The call went through on the first ring, and he did not pick up. Her mind was resolved to talk with him that day, so she kept on dialing even after three failed responses. Luciana was deliberate about speaking with her dad that day, so she made another call. And as it played out, he picked up the phone on the ring that she thought was going to be her last.
With all excitement, Luciana yelled out to her Dad in a way of greeting, and before she could get a response from him, she heard a female voice say, "Babe what is distracting you, I am lonely here." Luciana got stunned, and every single word hit on her.
"Luciana," her Dad had called out to her, and she took some terrible seconds trying to regain her composure. When he asked her what the problem was, she used the excuse of network issues and acted like the second call of Luciana he said, was the first thing she was hearing all through the call.
She did not hear much again from whoever was with her Dad at the moment, but the words that the person said, kept on ringing in her ears and it broke her. Never will she have believed that her Dad could cheat on her mom, and she could even vouch for it.
If she was quite sure about it, her mom was around in Carlton city, probably attending to a patient or in a meeting with the rest of the nurses, so who was the lady with her Dad?
More like the Universe wanted to prove a point, Mrs. Ranez came back just at that time that she was still deliberating about the issue, and it dawned on her that he was cheating, as there was no possible way that her Mom was with her Dad in the city he was in, and was back in less than five minutes.
From that day, she kept all of it to herself and decided to find out more about how her Dad was with the help of Miss. Selene. It was confirmed to her, that her Dad whom she held so high and always looked up to, was a staunch womanizer, and from what she gathered, he used the excuse that he needed a male child, and also needed satisfaction as his wife was far away.
She opened her eyes back, letting all of those troublesome memories dissipate like the shell of an egg that was smashed into pieces, and kept under a strong force of the wind to spread away. The event of that particular day crippled the trust she had for people, even as she still tried her best to not turn vile as a result of the man her father was.
Luciana picked up her phone that lay beside her and opened Carl's messages she left without a reply. Carl had sent her a message earlier talking about how he cared about her and wished she could really open herself up to him. She felt sad because she didn't see herself reciprocating the love and decided to ignore it, that was why she kept her phone back and closed her eyes to reminisce on her bittersweet memories.
As she opened the phone, she saw a new message from Carl that read, "I don't know what I did, dear, but you have been trying to drift from me, and I don't like it."
Alyssa closed her eyes again briefly, then opened them and decided to reply to his message as she had snubbed him for a long time.
"I'm sorry, I was kind of caught up with something. I am trying to not drift from you, even though there are some things that have been bothering me. Don't ask me what it is, I'm fine and I know you can help, but I am fine like I said. I am busy right now, but we will talk once I'm no longer occupied. Take care." Luciana sent the message to Charles and turned off her phone immediately after it was delivered.
She knew all of her problems was going to come to an end certainly, she just did not know if it was going to be a positive or negative end.