This chapter is dedicated to Asiyeneys17 for the tremendous support. Thank you so much.
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Chapter 5: HIGHWAY TO HELL.
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It’s been two days since the interview and any hopes of me getting the job are certainly out the window.
I kept checking, rechecking and refreshing my emails and disappointment filled me with each attempt.
The optimism that I felt previously was abandoning me slowly until doubts and second thoughts were all that was left.
I don’t really want to deal with another rejection letter. That’s all I’ve got the last four times and every time my confidence has taken a serious blow that was difficult to recover from.
I hugged my pillow and sat up in my bed looking at the wall in front of me which was painted green.
Only the wall opposite my bed had some colour in it, all others were plain white and lined with various photo frames, my walk-in closet was to the left and my king-sized bed took up most of the space in my room.
My eyes landed on my laptop and I sighed. There wasn’t even a rejection letter in my inbox, even though that fact should be comforting in a way, it felt nothing like relief.
‘They said they would get back to me within two days.’ I sighed.
‘I should probably apply to some other place soon’ I thought dejectedly at the series of stress-inducing, nerve-wracking events that would surely follow.
Kyle marched inside my room, since the door was wide open, sending a wrong welcoming message, he came and stood in front of me.
Holding up two shirts from their crooked hangers, he asked me “which one?” his face was hopeful, and eyes naturally bright with mysterious excitement.
I scanned the shirts, they were both sophisticated and casual, one was a midnight blue and the other was crisp white with black polished buttons down the front.
“Where are you going?” I ask instead, ignoring his question and held off giving my opinion.
“I have a dat-” he cut himself short, cleared his throat and attempted again “I mean a day out with my friends.”
So he has a date?
No wonder he wanted my opinion on fashion, since his own sucks.
“A day out with friends huh? Then why do you need to ‘dress to impress’?” I teased, calling him out on his white lie.
He tensed up like a stretched guitar string and that more than confirmed it for me.
I smiled, well….cat’s out of the bag bro.
I jumped up on my bed holding my sunscreen bottle in front of my face like I was holding a microphone and started speaking dramatically like a reporter. “breaking news, famous actor slash supermodel Kyle Brook has a secret date with a mystery girl, or it could be a guy, we never know.” I winked as if I was speaking into a camera and continued, “this is gonna come as a heartbreak for all his fan-girls…… oh well” I pretend to be sad.
“But to all the gossip columns and magazines it could be a treat.” I mused. “so, who is this mystery date and why is she/he a mystery? let’s hear it directly from Kyle Brook himself!” I Stretched my arm to hold the bottle in front of his face while trying hard not to laugh out loud at the annoyed expressions he wore.
He tried to look intimidating and unfazed but failed miserably at both when he flatly said “Alexandra”.
“Yes, Kyle Edward Brook?” I humoured him, a cheeky smile on my face.
He huffed in annoyance, still holding both shirts and told me; “Just pick one!”
I dropped my hand to one side, tossed the sunscreen bottle away and smiled at him. “You’ll look hideous in both.” What can I say? I like giving him a hard time.
“That’s what I said.” another familiar male voice interrupted in a sing-song tone and we both looked to the doorway where Sam was standing, leaning against the doorframe.
He casually walked inside and deposited himself on my bed next to me while munching on a shiny green apple that looked minuscule in his large hands. He had on a dark blue shirt that stretched across his muscles, showing off a dancer’s physique which he prided in a little too much. His dark hair was a wild mess on top of his head and his slightly tanned skin only added to his good looks.
Kyle hung his head looking at us. “Why do I even bother asking you guys?” He muttered.
Sam looked at me, his baby-blue eyes alight with amusement and I gladly returned the smile.
“So do you want us to lie, is that what you want?” Sam asked him, his voice taking on a defensive yet fake serious tone.
I pressed my lips to keep from laughing at their banter. Kyle rolled his eyes, “Forget it.” he mumbled as he turned to leave.
“I’ll give you my impeccably flawless and priceless advice if you tell me who the girl is.” Sam offered a trade.
“Or guy” I added, earning a grin from Sam.
“Yeah, we haven’t ruled out that possibility yet,” Sam told him with a surprisingly straight face.
The more tight lipped Kyle was the more Sam wanted to find out. Their friendship was built on giving each other a hard time… for everything.
Kyle didn’t consider it even for a second “No thanks, I’m not telling you who she is.”
“Kyle!” I called, making him pause on his way out.
He turned around and asked “What?” irately, and impatiently waited for me to speak.
“I don’t know about her taste, but I think the white one would make you look less hideous,” I told him as a matter of fact.
He smiled knowing that’s the most sincere I could be, but before he could leave the room I added: “but if you really want to look good, maybe you should try that black dress-shirt, the one you wore for mom and dad’s anniversary dinner this year.”
“I don’t know….” Kyle said unsurely, “Don’t you think black is a little clichè?”
“Clichè is the new classy bro,” I said, and Sam agreed with me.
“Chicks dig it.” He added helpfully, earning a hard smack on his head from me. “Hey! I’m on your side.” He told me, and then turned back to his best friend “and since you don’t have any killer dance moves, you have to make do with fashion.” His tone yielded sympathy.
Kyle regarded both of us with a cautious and calculative look, and then he nodded, “I guess….”
“That would be one million dollars, thank you,” Sam said with a poker face.
“Buzz off.” Kyle turned around and finally walked out, absolutely used to Sam’s antics. “And stop boasting it’s not attractive, your ego is inflated enough,” he called out.
“Nothing about me is unattractive,” Sam yelled from next to me, effectively impairing my eardrums. Wow, he definitely wasn’t one for modesty.
I chuckled at their exchange of weird and ludicrous gestures, it was rather usual, but for me it never got old.
Sam turned to look at me with eyes as wide as golf balls, “Did you just help him out for real?”
I shrugged.
“Who are you and what have you done to Alex who threatened to sell his phone number on eBay?”
I laughed, “I guess I’m just feeling a little generous.”
Sam dramatically dropped his head in his hands “I can’t believe I witnessed such an act, I might just need to bleach my eyes and erase my memory.”
I patted his back in fake sympathy “there there, how atrocious is it that you just observed the world still having some good in it, you might just get haunted with nightmares you know, rainbows and unicorns the whole night.”
He straightened up to look at me, “you’re making light of this serious situation Lexi, I could be a victim of PTSD.”
I widened my eyes in horror, “And no amount of therapy would ever be enough.”
He pretended to be scandalized by my words but as usual his acting kind of sucked. and soon we both were enveloped in a wave of laughter.
Sam’s voice suddenly dropped down to a soft whisper “Do you wanna find out who he’s dating?”
“I don’t think he’ll tell us, he seems a little too resolute,” I said.
“Which is why….” his eyes widened as he looked at me as if waiting for me to catch on already.
“No, no, no, no, no Sam we are not doing that.” I shook my head vigorously but Sam was having none of it.
“Yes, yes, yes!” he was saying, not going along with my disagreement.
“You do remember what happened last time we spied on him don’t you?” my eyes shot him a pointed look.
“And we have learned from our mistakes,” he countered. “Come On Let’s go…” He grabbed my hand and pulled me and himself off the bed and towards the door but I didn’t budge.
“I don’t want to,” I said and heavily collapsed in my bed like a lump, once again letting exhaustion sweep all over me.
Sam looked at me, his piercing gaze almost instantly picked me apart. “Alright, what is it?” He asked, shifting in his spot to face me.
“What?” I asked, not understanding his train of thought.
His sigh was dramatically exaggerated as he regarded me with a curious glare. “Lexi, you of all people know how much I despise being all serious and intense, but I’m still trying, you should at least meet me in the middle, I can’t be doing all the work.” I smiled at his ridiculous whining and adorably disapproving stare.
“Fine.” I sat up and decided to tell him. “It’s not a big deal, I’ve just applied for this job and now I’m waiting to hear from them, I don’t know why I’m overthinking this…”
“Maybe because you want it so much,” Sam said.
I nodded weakly, “maybe. I felt so positive about it after the interview but not anymore, there’s nothing I can do and I hate feeling so useless, and it’s definitely not helping that my insecurities are throwing an I-told-you-so themed party.”
“Without inviting me?” Sam exclaimed as if truly scandalised. I cracked a small smile. “Listen to me.” He said a lot more calmly. “The day has barely begun-“
“It’s four pm.”
“HR is usually lazy. But the point is, I know how crazy talented you are, you are amazing at everything you do and you deserve the very best, and if they can’t see that, it’s clearly their loss.”
“You’re just saying that because you think I’m cool.” I smiled.
“And sexy.” He added with a wink, making me burst into laughter.
“Don’t let Kyle hear that he’ll shoot you with his handgun,” I said making him chuckle.
“He’s all bark and no bite,” Sam smirked impishly. “Speaking of that dimwit, I’ll go check what he’s up to.” I nodded as he stood up to leave, “I can’t believe I was so wise.” He said sounding so truly astonished at his own capabilities, it made me burst into another round of laughter.
“Nor can I.” I agreed wholly and this time he glared. Before he could leave the room, I called his name, “Sammy.”
He turned around and met my gaze, waiting for me to speak. “Thank you,” I mumbled.
His dimple made an appearance with his smile, “No problemo” giving me a two-fingered salute he left, closing the door behind him.
I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. My curious thoughts wondered who Kyle’s date could be? And why was he keeping it from me and Sam?
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My laptop screen displayed my email inbox and I stared for a moment too long at the latest mail that just popped in. Meticulously I clicked to open the mail without blinking fearing it would disappear if I did, I breathed in deeply to calm my nerves and began to read.
And holy bagels! I couldn’t believe it! That was it, a loud scream tore through my throat.
The door to my room opened with a bang crashing against the wall behind it so forcefully that I could feel its vibrations.
Dad showed up in my room, holding his golf stick in an attacking position as his eyes around everywhere as if trying to locate a threat.
Sam showed up moments later, in his tightly wound-up fighting stance, as if he was prepared to karate chop someone if needed.
Mom soon followed with a spatula in hand but managed to look threatening instead of comical.
All confused eyes then turned to me and dad said: “We heard a scream, what happened? are you ok?”
“I got the job!” oh my gosh, saying it out loud was even better than just thinking about it.
Sam was quick to catch on and grinned. I jumped from my bed and launched myself in his arms, he caught me and returned the hug. “That’s awesome Lexi!”
Both my parents mostly looked relieved that there was no life-threatening danger in my room.
“You freaked us out, Lexi,” Dad said sternly, but couldn’t commit to the hardcore vibe. after letting go of Sam, I turned to my dad, he smiled and pulled me in for a hug while congratulating me.
When I moved out of the embrace he ruffled my hair and said: “Next time don’t scare us like this okay, you gave your mom quite a fright.”
I turned to my mom and said “sorry” in sheepish guilt.
she rolled her eyes and playfully slapped my arm, “come on now, dinner is ready.”
Everyone walked out of my room with me in tow, soon we were all settled around the table, the big smile on my face wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
I couldn’t wait to tell Kate about this!
Everyone chatted while eating and dad noticed my brother’s absence and voiced his curiosity “where’s Kyle?”
Before I could answer, Sam swooped in “Out on a hot date” He said.
“Oh yeah? With who?” mom asked, sounding excited about Kyle’s potential girlfriend.
“We don’t know….yet,” Sam said and smirked.
I shot him a wide-eyed what-are-you-planning look, and he just winked at me.
The conversation on the dinner table soon shifted to me and my new job, as I told them that I’ll start looking for an apartment close to my workplace and move soon, Sam seemed unfazed, dad agreed and mom just looked disappointed.
Dad said to me “I don’t understand why you would want to work elsewhere? You know you could just walk in and take over the company any day.” He huffed dramatically. “why won’t you just let me retire?”
“Sorry pop’s but you’ll just have to wait a little longer,” I said as I served myself some mashed potatoes, knowing that he was just throwing another one of his stubborn tantrums.
“But that’s too bad, now who will help me with all the parties?” Mom piped up sadly.
That’s the point mother, that’s the point.
“Oh Darn! Too bad!” I said, my words were borderline sarcastic.
Sam caught on with my sarcasm and was about to laugh when I kicked his leg under the table and his laughter morphed into a painful grunt as he glared at me and I ignored him and innocently ate my food.
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What do you think of this family?
And Sam?
Do let me know…
Please vote, comment and share.
Thanks for reading.
-Vinee
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