Un atardecer contigo

Chapter 12: Girls' night

Laila and I got together at my house to have a sleepover after returning from the beach. She loved the idea and also wanted to see my house. First, we went to her house to pick up her clothes, and she took a shower. While she packed her bag with clothes, I stayed chatting with her mother. Obviously, I didn't mention Zac; I wanted to, but it's a matter for Laila to sort out with her mother. I played a bit with her younger sister, Lucy. Laila's mother seemed very sweet, but from what her daughter says about her thoughts on Zac... they seemed like two completely different people. I thought she was a bitter woman about everything, but she's not. I talked to her about a little bit of everything; it was nice.

"I'm ready, shall we go?" Laila says, coming out of her room with a pile of stuff for the sleepover. I nodded and grabbed her backpack to help her.
"Thanks for the tea," I thanked her mother.
"You're welcome, come anytime, Vicky."
"Of course! Thanks."
"Goodbye dear, have fun, love you," she bids farewell to Laila. "Goodbye," she responds curtly.

The first thing we saw when entering my house was my mother struggling with the lighter because it wouldn't light.
"Hi mom, we're back."
"Oh hi, cuties. Sorry you have to see me like this, stressed out, it's just that the lighter has no gas left to light the oven."
"Oh, how nice, muffins!"
"You'll have to eat them raw."
"Are you sure there's no other lighter?" I asked.
"I looked everywhere and no..." my mother didn't finish the sentence because she saw me with a lighter in my hands that was in a drawer.
"Where was it that I didn't see it?" "In this drawer, the one with the cutlery."
"Of course, it doesn't belong there, surely your father put it where it shouldn't go."
"Well, well, calm down mom. We just moved in, he probably doesn't know very well where things go." "Thanks, my darling."
"We won't eat raw muffins anymore, yippee," Laila celebrates.

I went to take a bath to get the salty sea water off and washed my hair, which looked like it had dreadlocks. I put on my pajamas and went back to the room.
"Oh, Romi, I was going to invite you, but I see you've already done it yourself," I said, laughing as I saw my sister was already settled in my room chatting with Laila. "Obviously! There's no way I'm missing a girls' night," we all laughed.
"Look, I brought facial masks," Laila shows. Romi chose a pink one, I chose a yellow one, and Laila chose the blue one. We took a bunch of photos in the mirror with the masks on.
"I'll post it on Instagram," Romina says. She's the family influencer, she has like a thousand followers. We spent ten minutes talking with our mouths shut because of the masks, but it was worth it, our faces were so smooth.
"Oh, how beautiful," Laila says. "Who?" I ask.
"Me, hahaha."
"We're the least narcissistic," I say laughing.
"Hashtag: self-love forever," Laila and my sister say at the same time. Sometimes they seem like sisters. We all laugh at the coincidence.
"Do you have LED lights and I hadn't noticed?"
"Oh yes, turn them on."
"Favorite color?" Laila asks. "Um... violet, I like it."
"Oh, me too!" We both laugh. We put on music, sang, danced, and took selfies. Mom brought us snacks and drinks. While we talked about a bit of everything, they started talking about Luke. It's not that I don't like talking about him, but they do whatever it takes to get me to talk and tell them if something happened.
"I already told you, he talks to me with indirect... very direct hints, actually."

- Aww, she doesn't know how to say "you're the love of my life" or "I love you so much" - Laila jokes.
- But, what he told you today, from what you told us... that I'm not sure if it was a hint. - Romina seemed to be a detective trying to get information out of me.
- Yeah, well... it sounded like a friend and like... I honestly don't know.
- Are you sure you don't know...?
- Does he want to tell you something... like for example...?
- Oh stop, you two sound like stalkers and no, I don't know what he wants to tell me, I wish I knew.
- What if we pressure him tomorrow to spill everything? - Laila says very excitedly.
- Threaten him?
- No, no, and no! You're not going to do anything, let him tell me on his own.
- Nothing... at all? Not even a little question...? - Romi says in a low voice trying to convince me.
- NO, NOTHING.
- Vicky is right, it's better for him to confess on his own. - Laila tells Romina.
I nodded in agreement.
I wanted to change the subject from Luke and basically passed the ball to Romina, for her to say something about Ivan.
- We talked a lot about me, right, Romi?
- Oh no, what? Now it's my turn?
- Yes... although I'm not quite sure what it's about, but... yes, it's your turn.
- Just one little question... my dear sister - I say looking at her with the same face she had when she asked me. - How do you feel about... Ivan? Romi's face was panicked, surely because she doesn't know why I'm asking her.
Laila also looked at me strangely but still followed the thread of my question.
- What's that about? - Romi asks.
- I don't know, but tell me, do you like him? What do you think?
- I like him a lot... but, I don't know what that has to do with what we were talking about before.
Laila looked at me and quickly understood why I asked her. "He's very cool... and also cute, right?" Laila said.
- Yeah, he's cute and everything, but... - she interrupts herself. - Ah, I know where you're going with this. You think I like him? Is that it? - she adds.
- We don't think that.
- It's just that, you two look alike. - I said.
She looked at both of us and listened attentively, she was processing everything. If she didn't agree, she would deny it completely, so far that hasn't happened.
- Well... he's actually a nice guy, we talk quite a bit. She threw me a piece of information I didn't know.
- Do you talk a lot? On the phone or in person? - I ask.
- Both.
- Does that mean... you were already talking to him while with Axel? - Laila asks.
Romina thought about how to respond.
- Yes.
- You're sneaky, huh? - I say teasing her.
- I'm not sneaky at all.
- The important thing is, who texted first? - Laila asks.
- Let me think... oh, I remember, he asked for my number and texted me. The truth comes out. Romina never texts first, nor takes the first step.
- Oooh and here I was thinking Ivan was shy. - Laila affirms, laughing.
- Pff, he's not shy. - Romina says, smiling shyly.
Laila and I looked at her with wide eyes and Romina covered her mouth. She probably spoke out loud.
- And THAT? - I ask, equally surprised as Laila.
- What did you mean?
- Romina, what did you mean?
- Do you know him well enough to say that?
What if Romina is already into Ivan and doesn't want to tell us? What if he acted jealous that day at Pipeline because they're already something? But I don't understand, Romina cheated on Axel, although if she really didn't love him, she would have ended it right away.
Romina smiled at Laila and me, significantly. I returned the smile; no words are needed.
- Oh, I don't understand. What's going on? - Laila asks.
- They're secretly dating, aren't they? - I ask.
- For now...
- Whaaaat!? Neither Laila nor I could believe it.
- If you tell us the story, I would appreciate it. - I ask her.

- Well, let's see... Ivan and I met at one of those gatherings we all had, I liked him a lot, and we started off as friends because I was already dating Axel. One day, I argued with Axel, it was over something trivial but I got pretty upset. I talked to Ivan and he helped me, gave me advice, etc. That day I realized I started to feel something for him, we had already hung out as "friends" and he had such sweet attitudes that Axel never had with me. When we went to Pipeline, it was obvious that Ivan was jealous, it was because Axel was there and because, well, he and I were already talking, without officially being together. Until I broke up with Axel, we didn't start our relationship, up until now secretly, I don't like doing what I don't like to be done to me, so I wouldn't cheat on anyone, I clarify things first. But well, I never loved Axel, it wasn't a true feeling according to his behavior towards me, but it's not like that with Ivan, and this time I'm not wrong. Laila and I were left speechless. It sounds like a movie script. The only thing we managed to say was: - Wow. - Now you know everything, now he has to talk to his friends. - No wonder his attitudes. The mischievous couple is you two. - I say laughing. - I don't know what to say. - Laila says still surprised. - I would say you should become a film director and make a movie with this story. We laugh. - This is the best sleepover I've ever had in my life, I've never been told so much gossip, I swear. After the bomb my sister dropped, we started watching a romantic movie. The three of us lay down on the bed and watched the movie.