New Ways

NINETEEN

Amery

Sigrid arrived at my place just as I was done showering. I told Gerard to make her wait for me in the living room while I got dressed and offer her a drink or two, but not get her drunk cause we still had work to do.

When I finally appeared in the living room, Sigrid was seated on the sofa with her back facing me and when I stood in front of her she looked up from her phone and studied my outfit.

"Are you another kind of stalker I have to worry about?" She grinned.

Not again. We were wearing outfits that almost matched. I had on a white v-neck and so did she. I had on denim ripped shorts and well, she was wearing ripped jeans. The only apparent difference was that she had white sneakers and I had a pair of panda bedroom slippers on. Oh god why didn't anyone warn me to change my slippers! Now I didn't think Sigrid would ever take me seriously again.

"Fine, laugh. But these are mad comfortable," I gestured for her to follow me to the dining table. "Gerard will you please bring the dinner over? And my laptop too!"

Sigrid stopped halfway in front of my floor-to-ceiling window and was impressed at the view. "Hey, Am? Wanna try changing houses for a day?"

"No. And would you please come here," I said in a monotonous voice while typing the password to unlock my computer.

"Anywhere you want me to be, baby," Sigrid took a seat beside me and peered over to my laptop screen.

I blushed instantaneously at what Sigrid just called me. No one has ever called me that before, well obviously because I haven't been in love or in a relationship before. Not even my parents called me that. My heart skipped a beat. What was happening? Was I blushing because that was the first time someone ever called me 'baby' or was I blushing because Sigrid was the one who called me that?

"Do you go around calling every girl that even though you already have a girlfriend?" I asked, pretending not to be affected.

"Yes, because my girlfriend doesn't mind," she replied casually. Ouch, so I wasn't the only one. Talk about short-lived happiness. But wait, why was I even hurt?

Gerard arrived at the table with two plates of baked pasta. He gently placed one down in front of me and one in front of Sigrid.

"I didn't know what you wanted, so I just told them to make this."

Sigrid poked a fork into the pasta and squinted at me suspiciously. "This isn't poisoned, right? It's not worth your time trying to kill me, Am. My soul will possess your body when I die and I'll walk around town naked in your body as a form of revenge."

"You perv! What kind of revenge is that?!" I smacked her arm hard and she laughed. "And no, that's not poisonous. Someone like you deserves a slow, tormenting death. And you're gonna get exactly that from me if you don't start eating now so we can quickly get down to work."

Sigrid obeyed me and we both ate our dinner. After Gerard came to clear the plates, we started working on the drafts that I needed help with earlier on my laptop. I was actually impressed at how good my vice president was at her work. She even taught me how to write emails to the commissioners that sounded less demanding. She added that her volleyball team didn't win all those championships because she merely yelled at them to win, but because she told them in a professional and friendly manner that winning a trophy will not only uphold the team's reputation but it will also bring a sense of self-achievement to each player.

"You must be thirsty from all the pep talk you just gave me," I stood and walked over to the bar. "If you aren't, I am. What do you want? Wine? Vodka? Scotch?"

"Wine makes me sleepy. Vodka gives me a bad hangover. Scotch then," Sigrid replied, her fingers typing away on my laptop keyboard.

I ran my own fingers through the wide selection of alcohol on the bar and found a bottle of Jack Daniel's. It was about nine now, and here we are drinking on a school night.

I lifted the bottle up and slowly tilted it down, when the lights suddenly went off. I froze in my spot.