They grabbed their meals and headed for the living room. While Emerald had the decency to place hers in a tray with some cutlery and a glass cup, Oriana didn’t bother with any of those as she tried to balance the dishes in her short arms before settling on the bright orange bean bag, which was completely contrasting the colour theme of the house, much to Emerald’s dismay. It was the only thing sticking out like a sore thumb in the living room other than the red couches, grey walls and black furniture because Oriana hadn’t wanted to live in such gloomy themed house.
Having to see such a bright colour everyday before and after work was disgruntling for Emerald but she had to endure it because the entire house, ranging from colour theme to designs and arrangements were in her taste. Well all except for Ori’s territory.
Emerald balanced her tray on her lap and placed the glass cup on the coffee table beside the couch she sat on alongside the bottle of coke before wearing her glasses and flipping through the novel she had been trying to read since Friday, The Seeker. She had a novel to read at work and another to read at home and she had gone really far with the new one she had picked up at work today, Bound By The Erstwhile Chains.
“How was work today?” Oriana decided to ask, making Emerald stymie the groan that threatened to escape her lips as she finally found the mark she had made on the page she had been previously reading.
“Good,” she replied curtly, not deciding to ask about her friend’s day because then it would turn into a full blown conversation and that was the last thing she currently needed. She just wanted to eat her dinner in peace and then enjoy a good book where she could escape from her reality for a while.
“Well, my day was quite amazing, thanks for asking,” she replied sarcastically as she passed a glare unto Emerald who only pursed her lips in reply as she looked down at her meal before picking up the fork and knife to begin eating.
“We’ve been trying to come up with an article that’s groundbreaking enough for the public. The boss has been randomly deploying journalists and reporters around and beyond Manhattan for just about any juicy information they could attain. He’s bent on gathering huge wads of cash to make up for the boring times of not being able to find tangible information for publication. I had to go as far as Battery Park on the Southern tip of Manhattan.
Can you believe it?! Battery Park!” She lamented as she unceremoniously stuffed her mouth with some Magherita before letting out a satisfied moan. She unscrewed the cap off the Coke bottle before taking huge gulps.
“But at least I’m still lucky, unlike Mykel. He was asked to parade the Fifth Avenue for five days straight,” she added with a giggle as she began scrolling through Netflix in search of a movie. She stole a glance at Emerald who was only quietly eating her meal with the fork and knife.
She grimaced at the sight. She didn’t know how her friend was okay with having to eat only little bits of such celestial goodness one at a time. She was the ‘grab the food and stuff your face by hand’ type of girl unlike her friend, who was quite formal about almost everything.
“You still haven’t told me about your day, Mera,” she tapped her index finger against her chin as she contemplated watching Wonder Woman of 1984 or The Croods but finally decided against it before scrolling through and stuffing her mouth again.
Emerald looked up at her persistent friend who was still stuffing her face and scrolling through Netflix. Why couldn’t she just drift away from the topic like she does with the others? She needed her quality chipmunk attention span.
“Come on. I’m waiting,” but it looks like that wasn’t kicking in tonight.
“You already asked and I told you it was good,” she replied vaguely as she cut through her pizza before forking it and placing it in her mouth.
“I know that but I need details, you know? I just gave you a detailed explanation of what has been going on at work while you only replied with a curt ‘good’,” she stopped scrolling and turned to face her friend, giving her half of her attention as the rest was drawn to the last two slices of pizza on her plate.
“Too detailed if you ask me and I already told you how you shouldn’t tell me anything if you’d think it’s unfair that I only reply with a vague response but you know that my work requires-”
“-immense privacy and confidentiality because that’s what your sicko clients require of you and you can’t violate such unanimity even if I’m your bestest friend and blah blah blah,” she interrupted as she rolled her eyes at Emerald’s glare.
“You’ve said that a billion times already, Mera. I can read you better than I had predicted that Cynthia, the bimbo blonde back in the media class in Harvard, was going to be deflowered by a dildo and not the real stuff. And that’s saying a lot coming from me,” she watched as her friend’s lips momentarily twitched up in a scowl before her glare came over her face once again.
“First of all Oriana, my clients are not sickos. They’re just people who need someone to talk and open up to. Someone to guide them through the path of rectification and that’s far from being sickos. So please refrain from calling them that,” she chastised harshly. That topic had stabbed a tree branch at her slumbering past.
“Secondly, I wasn’t the one who forced you to tell me every single thing that happened in your workplace. I wasn’t the one who told you to tell me how Carlos had written an entire 3000 worded article to propose to Sandra and I also wasn’t the one who prompted the unnecessary information about how you suspect your HR manager is banging his personal assistant, now was I?” her voice rose with each word as she recounted, staring deeply into her friend’s glaring eyes.
They continued to stare each other down as the silence stretched out between them, encompassing the entire duplex apartment they had earlier bought a year after college after they had been given a week’s notice to vacate their old apartment, all thanks to Oriana who had made three attempts to burn down the house.
They had scored the duplex at a pretty affordable price and it was in perfect condition, containing everything they would need, ranging from household appliances to the required space in order not to invade each other’s personal space, much to Emerald’s taste. The furniture and decorations had all been replaced by Emerald and a few more things had been refurbished as well.
“I don’t think they’re banging each other, I know they are. I’m very certain,” she mumbled as she turned back to scrolling through Netflix to find the perfect movie, knowing that she couldn’t win against Emerald especially when she had that scary face on.
Her friend was usually impassive about most things but whenever she was enraged, she looked like a lioness about to devour her prey even with her specs on and that was how she currently looked.
Emerald softened her expression and looked back at her plate guiltily. She couldn’t blame Oriana for speaking like that. She knew how outspoken her friend was and how clueless she was about her past. They may be very close friends but Emerald was still a closed off person who wouldn’t let even her best friend know anything of her past, which she was trying desperately to put behind her after all these years.
She was very passionate about her clients and would do anything to help them emotionally or psychologically. She looked back up at Ori who was trying hard not to look back at her friend and was getting frustrated at her luck in finding the right movie.
Emerald sighed and got up, carrying her plate which still had a pizza slice before walking over to Ori. She squatted down beside her and dropped the pizza on Ori’s empty plate before placing an apologetic kiss on her right cheek while mumbling a guilt filled ‘I’m sorry.’
Oriana turned to look at her and she saw the sincere apology in her friend’s eyes. Pulling her into a bear hug, she rubbed her back and also apologised for her incessant probing and harsh words.
They pulled away from each other and smiled, staring into each other’s eyes for a few minutes before Emerald pecked her cheek again and stood up, grabbing her now empty plate from the floor.
“Good night, McStuffins,” she teased as she walked out of the living room with her book in hand, her empty dish and her bottle of half–filled coke, heading for the kitchen as she didn’t wait to hear Ori’s response.
She knew how much her friend hated that name which happened to be her middle name. Her parents had decided to let Jason – Oriana’s older brother, who was at the time, a five year old kid who had a crazy crush on the cartoon character, Doc McStuffins – give Ori her middle name.
He had decided to give his baby sister his crush’s name and their parents had found it cute, so they had kept it. Jason and her parents still didn’t hesitate to tease her about it, Emerald included.
Trudging out of the kitchen after clearing the sink, she was ready to embrace the peace and quiet her room always supplied after a long day. She was ready to forget all that had happened today and just sink into the world of fantasy her books always provided. A world that didn’t possess the pain of the past she constantly lived with.
Making sure the lock was in place, she plopped down on her bed, beneath the comforter without drawing the curtains to let the moonlight illuminate her room. She flipped on the switch of her bedside lamp and adjusted her glasses before opening the book.
As she attempted to begin reading, a certain image flashed through her mind. A certain chocolate brown–eyed devil seeped through her fantasy, burning her green eyes with his own penetrating gaze.
She shook her head, trying to get the image out of her mind but it didn’t seem to work as her subconscious played the image of how he had continued to stare at her without saying anything or replying to any of her questions.
She had had clients that took about three to five sessions of not responding or opening up to her before they had finally poured it all out but none had been able to look into her eyes like this man had. They would all avoid her eyes, staring intently at the desk or anywhere but her but this man had stared only at her, seemingly not interested in anything else.
Her subconscious kept playing his image like a broken record from the mop of sleek back sexy raven black hair on his head to the broad and drool worthy structure of his body beneath the exquisite suit that had adorned his body to the sole of his feet which had been clad in shiny, black and well polished shoes.
She let out a frustrated sigh after hundreds of failed attempts to get him out of her head, so she shut the book and tossed it unto her nightstand before removing her glasses. She switched off the lamp, casting herself into the darkness that wreathed her entire room, begging for the rays of the moonlight to fill them.
Settling well into the covers, she shut her eyes, attempting to go to sleep. Maybe that would at least clear the reenacting images of the chocolate brown–eyed man.
But oh boy, she had no idea what a world of limbo she was about to be plunged into.