Rafael

Chapter 38 - I Just Don't Get It

"I missed you."

"Really Mia, that's all you have to say to me?" Mel squeaked before pulling me into a hug.

"How is everything with the billionaire in the bathroom?" She asked, whispering the last part excitedly after we finished hugging.

"I'll tell you everything when he's not a few feet away," I whispered back, paranoid that he could somehow hear me.

"Just tell me," She started with an evil smirk, "how was he in the sack?"

"Mel!"

"Sorry, but you're glowing like you got some good loving down in Newport, Rhode Island."

Well, she wasn't wrong.

"Well, I did; but that's all I'm going to say about that right now."

She squealed in response.

"Where's James?" I asked, because you rarely saw one without the other, especially now that they were married.

"He's at home. He wanted to come but I thought it would interfere with our girl talk which is pretty much not gonna happen anyway because your boyfriend is here so I regret leaving him."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Please. Anyway, I'll get out of your hair unless he's just dropping you off because in that case, I'll wait here so we can talk about him when he leaves."

"Well...he is leaving but I'm leaving with him," I grimaced, hoping she didn't freak out.

At that moment, Rafael exited the bathroom and walked over to us.

"Wait, what? Are you guys going away again?"

"Huh?" Rafael questioned in a confused tone.

"No, I'm just leaving my apartment for a few weeks," I told her, gauging Rafael's reaction.

I didn't know if I was allowed to tell her the reason that I was leaving my home temporarily.

"Why? Are you going to Florida to see your parents?"

"Erm, not right now."

I widened my eyes at Rafael as a signal for him to say something.

"She's moving in with me for a bit," He clarified, not giving anything else away.

"Huh?"

"I'm in danger so I have to!" I blurted out.

"You're in danger?"

Why couldn't I lie?

"She's in danger of burning her apartment down because there are a lot of repairs that need to be done," Rafael interjected smoothly.

She looked at us weirdly before shrugging her shoulders, deciding to just go along with what we were saying.

"Oh, I guess it is good that you're moving out for a while. It can get quite dangerous if proper maintenance work isn't done, especially on that flickering light in the broom closet. That could definitely cause a fire."

That light had been flickering ever since we first moved in and it had never been a problem before.

Anyway, I would go along with the little lie because the last thing I would want is to put my best friend in danger.

"Yeah, so I came here to pack a few things, and then I'm going to go live with Rafael."

It still felt unreal that I was going to live with this man, for real.

"Okay, I can help you pack. Um, Rafael, I can call you that right?"

"Sure," He said, his face as serious as a judge's.