Loving Lucian ✅

Chapter Nine

This whole 'game' thing was making things weird for me. I mean, of course I was playing, but it was weird how just last week we weren't even friends and now we're technically flirting. But I know damn well I don't have even the slightest bit of feelings for Lucian, and he clearly has none for me. We barely tolerate each other half the time.

I could tell my strategies were starting to affect him. But it took ten tries to get him to crack. I just wanted to see if I could break him. His strategies were just like mine--subtle yet obvious. But sometimes I didn't know whether or not he was accidentally doing something, or purposely doing something. We've only been playing for two days.

That Wednesday, the day after the night he slept over, he left at maybe 3 o'clock to pack his stuff up for Spain. I called my mom and asked her if her friend had made my design. She said yes, and said the article of clothing was coming over in a bit. It was one of Lucian's birthday presents.

I invited Josh up to help me pack. He went on about how lucky he got last night at Bottles Up and how he now had fifteen girls' phone numbers stuffed in his pocket. Then I went on about the whole Spain thing.

"So you won't be single this weekend?" Was all he got out of it.

I rolled my eyes. "Is me having a boyfriend all you care about?" I asked, stuffing my suitcase with clothes, clothes, and more clothes. And shoes. I knew it was only four days but it's four days in Barcelona, Spain!

"Peyton, I don't want to be the only person in this friendship in a relationship. And I don't want you third-wheeling because it's weird."

"I won't third wheel because I'll never go out with you and your future girlfriend. Problem solved. Now, I'm supposed to be ready tomorrow at six in the morning so I can ride with Lucian to the airport so we can take a seven and a half hour flight to Barcelona, Spain where I have to pretend to be his girlfriend and meet his family. All because he had a falling out with his mother." I said, plopping down and sitting on my suitcase just to zip it up.

I stuffed my chargers, laptop, iPad, and work-in-progress documents I'm working on, in my briefcase. Josh annoyed me by saying, and I quote, 'you should pack some sexy shit for the game' right after I finish packing. Which made me want to throttle him. But I did it anyway because Josh is a promiscuous guy, and promiscuous guys know a lot about seduction.

After a few hours, he had to leave because his grandma called him about her cat being on the roof again. Josh got those calls often, and he'd go all the way to his grandma's house in Staten Island just to climb up to her roof and get Gregory the cat.

Then right as my front door closed, Lucian called me. "Hey, Bossman." I greeted, walking out of my room and wandering around my apartment.

"Change of plans." He said. "Come over with your things at 7 o'clock. I...made a mistake."

I gasped dramatically. "The Lucian Montenegro made a mistake?!" I said, before chuckling. "What'd you do?"

"I figured that if we left at six in the morning tomorrow, we'd arrive at three. But no, because España time is different than New York time. So if we leave at six, well arrive at near nighttime. So instead, we're gonna leave at 7:15 pm NY and arrive in España at 8:55 am, España time. Got that? I'll see you in ten minutes." And with that, he hung up.

I took a cab over to Lucian's house, making a few stops on the way, and when I got there, I knocked on the door. No answer. Then again, and again.