Chapter 52: Night out 1

At a club in the high life area of Carlton city, with a lot of noise as the music kept on blaring and people were chanting incessantly, Jessica and the rest of the girls with their partners, made their way inside the bar.
Raymond had requested that they chill out at a bar instead of just going home like usual. From the events that went on that day, they left school quite late, so it was already dark and the perfect time to chat over a couple of drinks.
The guys noticed the uneasiness that the girls felt and decided to leave the main hall of the bar, and move over to the VIP area, as it provided the serenity and security they needed. It was not Jessie's first time being in a bar, it was just better to put that she was not outgoing, to the extent of always crashing at bars.
The uneasiness she felt gradually dissipated when Charles noticed her and held her with one of his arms spread across her back as they made their way to the VIP room.
The VIP room was well spaced out, with dull lights of shouty colors glowing all around. The seats were arranged in a way where every group of persons had their corner, making it difficult for conversations to be picked among the few groups of people that were there. They were only a few people there because the VIP room was quite expensive and not many people would want to pay for it when the whole excitement of the club was downstairs where the strippers and the loud music were.
"Over here is much better," Carl voiced out as he saw an area to sit which was quiet, calm and from the place it was, it opened up to a good view of Carlton city. They took their seats there with the guys intentionally leaving spaces amongst them, for the girl to fill up.
Jessie sat next to Charles and was bordered by Raymond on her right, Alyssa following, Luciana then Carl. With the sitting arrangement, they formed a circular shape making communication easier for them.
A waiter walked over to them, not too long after they took their seats, smiling wittingly. A tab was on her hand as she smiled at them waiting for their order. Carl picked up the menu card that was placed on the table and requested a red wine, which the lady ticked on her tab.
As she smiled, then turned at them, "do you have any cocktail on your menu ?"Charles said out, raising his brows in inquiry.
"Yes we do, may I add it to the things you ordered?" She turned back, smiling as she waited for a response from Charles.
"Yes, sure. Be fast," Charles nodded and she dismissed herself and left to bring what they had ordered. Carl was shocked at Charles's order and turned to him with his brows raised, really bro, cocktail?"
"Yeah, they are females," Carl spoke out, straight-faced.
"But they never complained, do you girls need a cocktail?"Carl questioned.
"Yes," Luciana blurted out almost immediately and everyone at the table giggled, except Carl who was a little bit embarrassed in a funny way. He quickly let himself slide into his chair and then gave Luciana a quick glare which made her chuckle even more.
Charles was well aware that Luciana had a low tolerance to alcohol, at least from the first-hand experience he got on the night of the freshman party. Then Jessie, maybe she was light-headed also and he also knew she used it as an avenue to let out her sorrows. His problem was not knowing the sorrows she felt, or trying to stop the rest of the guys from knowing. He just did not like seeing her as weak as he did at the freshman party as it made him want to care about her and wrap her under his warmth.
"You are laughing at me now because you are quite weak, how is it my fault?" Carl argued, raising his head high.
"Just shh...," Luciana whispered to him, with her left index finger raised to her lips and then he finally kept quiet, as it was obvious that he was on the losing end.
Raymond got so excited watching the drama going on between Luciana and Charles, then turned to Alyssa passing a wink which she replied with a blush. Her cheeks colored crimson from Raymond's action, and she could not help herself hide the sweet embarrassment she felt.
"Well it seems I'm the only one not madly in love here, you guys can't even save your teasing for later. Oh goodness!" Charles voiced out, raising his hands to his head and shaking his head softly, "you guys disgust me."
The rest of them smiled at what came as a joke, except Jessie who only forced her lips apart but felt sad internally.
Raymond noticed Jessie's emotions, then tried to lighten the atmosphere, "Look, this guy has been drooling over Jessica," Raymond spoke out, and all of their heads turned, with Charles's head being the fastest, "where?" Charles said almost immediately and Raymond burst out into a feat of laughter. The rest of the people at the table understood what happened and laughed loudly too, excluding Jessie who giggled softly, and Charles glaring at the rest of them. Thank goodness the space they chose in the VIP room was away from the rest of the crowd, as they were already generating noise.
"Okay, okay, it just happened as a response, nothing else, "Charles declared trying to defend himself.
"A response that made you turn that fast?" Raymond sneered, "don't try to deny it, you are so much in love with Jessie."
Charles had no idea where Raymond's words sprawled out from, but he only hoped it wasn't the case. As he could not see himself accepting any feelings for Jessica.
"I am still not going to answer you, "Charles replied dryly, staring at his phone.
Carl turned to Charles once again, "you just did bro, you just did," he said. "It's amazing how you are easily denying the fact that you care so much about her. If you had not called me on the day she was Kidnapped, then I will have probably supported you also," he nodded his head in support.
Carl tilted his head slightly, and supported the side of his forehead with his arms, "there's no need to deny what you feel. If you guys think I'm talking too much, ask him how he spent his holiday."
"Carl," Jessie and Charles called out almost at the same time, then turned to look at themselves. Once again, the rest of the people found their actions attractive and giggled lightly.
Jessie raised her hands to her mouth, clearing her throat, then called out to Carl again, "tell me I'm interested, how did he spend his weekend?"
"Don't act like you don't know, dear," Carl voiced out, turning his head to take a glance at Luciana, who just sat staring at them with a wide grin on her face.
"Enough about my life, bro," Charles said sternly staring at Carl intently.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he raised his hands in surrender.
"What you ordered for, Sirs," the waiter said then showed off a wide grin, "and Ma'am's also." She held a tray that carried the wine that they asked for, with the rest of the things and not forgetting the alcoholic wine also. After placing everything she brought with her on the table, she took out the bill from her pocket and then kept it on the table, making a slight bow before she walked away.
Carl stood to his feet and then took out the bottles of wine. He opened the respective wine bottles, poured the alcoholic drinks for the guys, and the non-alcoholic drinks for the girls, then distributed the glasses of wine to them.
"I can only imagine how bad Sophie will be now," Luciana sighed then pouted her lips.
Unusually, Charles picked up the statement instantly, "she deserved it, that is what she gets for having such terrible attitudes, and every other person that acts that way deserves this."
They all went on nodding their heads, supporting him, as they felt he said it from a very general perspective. Little did they know that he was acting out of pain.
"But...," Luciana started, and was short cut by Charles curtly.
"There are no buts to it, Luciana. You have possibly never experienced the pain, so you may not get it. I believe Alyssa can relate," he concluded.
"Yeah," Alyssa nodded slightly, still wearing the smile that was on her face.
Luciana still not giving up on the conversation, "it's just that I feel like Alyssa handled it better as she had us, don't get me wrong, Alyssa," Luciana obliged as she turned her face to Alyssa to see if they were still cool, and Alyssa smiled in response. "I just think she will find it harder, you know she has no real friends, and it's a friend of hers that must have taken that video to the Chancellor. It's just..."
"Okay, Luciana, we get your point, but please let's not talk about this now. You care so much about people and I admire it, but still, we are not doing any sad talks this night, it's happiness all through," Carl declared, then raised his glass of wine in his hands raising it for a toast. The rest of the people at the table did the same thing, then Luciana followed, smiling at him as she did.
"Let's do this, more like a game. We will just go with the flow," Carl intoned as the quick toast was over and the glasses of wine had been dropped back to the table.
"You and the idea of your weird games, I hope it's not Truth or Dares this time," Jessie murmured, and the rest of the guys laughed at her. They were well informed of the last truth or dare, and how it was part of the things that led to Jessie's Kidnap.
Carl stopped laughing after a while, then took his arms to the table, leaning on it like he was in deep thoughts, "it won't be truth or dare now. And it's not anything tough either. Let us play 'My buddy went up to the bar and ordered' game," he announced.
"Nah, I'm not doing that," Charles said almost immediately, shaking his head as he did.
"What is that now?" Alyssa inquired, with confusion drawn all over her face.
"It's a game where the first player picks an alphabet, then the next goes about saying My buddy went up to the bar and ordered a word that begins with the alphabet picked. For instance, I pick an L, it goes this way, My buddy went up to the bar and ordered liquor, you get?" He paused and asked Alyssa, then continued without getting a reply, "the next person that follows goes about reciting what the last person said, then adds his L word, and it goes on that way. They stop when everyone has said the L, then pick a new alphabet. The person that can't get a word that makes sense fails the game and take whatever punishment is agreed on," Raymond explained.
"It seems I'm the only person that did not play these games," Luciana shook her head.
"I'm with you dear," Jessie chirped in, and they laughed at the little joke they felt they had created.
"So are we going with it?" Carl probed, turning his face to each one of them.
"I'm in," Alyssa chanted, and Raymond followed. Luciana and Jessie did their shares of I'm in, and it was Charles's turn,
"I'm not in," he said.