“Pa? Are you feeling any better now?” Oriana asked her father, who laid awake on the hospital bed. “Any aches or pains anywhere? I could always go get the doctor,” she pushed, watching as her mother replaced the lid back on the rim of the water bottle before adjusting his pillows so he could sit comfortably.
“Ana bear, calm down.” Peter, her father chuckled, “I assure you, I’m perfectly fine. I have no idea why your mother panicked and deemed it necessary to call you all the way down here,” her mother shot him a glare at his words.
“What do you mean by that? She’s our daughter, she has every right to know.” Doris, her mother frowned with her arms crossed. Oriana rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, settling herself for the drama that was sure to spring up between her parents.
“Not what I meant, darling. I was just trying to say that it was just a mild accident. No need to over–exaggerate and make it seem like it was a severe issue,” he mumbled, cowering under her sharp glare as he tried to avoid her gaze by playing with the fraying edges of the bed comforter.
“Mild?! Over–exaggerate?! You think I’m over–exaggerating?!” Doris exclaimed, her cheeks flushing red in anger. “You had gone mountain climbing with your ‘pals’. Mountain climbing, Peter. Don’t you realise that you’re no longer your young and agile self? Why don’t you just admit that you’re getting old, ancient dude,” she concluded with narrowed eyes, daring him to counter her words.
Peter’s face pulled up in her scowl at his wife’s words. Oriana knew how much her father hated being referred to as ‘old’ or ‘ancient’ and her mother had called him both of those adjectives, much to his dismay. Oriana could only fold her arms and cross her legs, making herself much more comfortable for the impending blockbuster movie her parents were acting.
“I am most definitely, not old, Doris. I am still very much my strong and agile young self and our able-bodied kids are a massive proof of that fact,” he smirked and Oriana could almost predict the dirty words that were about to leave her father’s mouth as his amber eyes shone with an espiègle glint.
“Besides, you better than anyone, should be able to testify to my strength, considering what had transpired between us few days ago in the bedroom,” he winked at his wife, whose face immediately turned pink in embarrassment as she stood frozen while gaping for a moment.
“Pa!” Oriana exclaimed, trying to block the very uncomfortable imagery her father’s words had set free in her head. “Why would you say that in front of me?” Peter chuckled, watching as his wife shuffled around the room, clearly uneasy.
“I need to go get the doctor, Ri. Clearly, something’s wrong with your father, seeing how delusional he’s being.” Without waiting for her husband’s comeback, she immediately scrambled out of the room, leaving Oriana and Peter to laugh at her flushed figure.
“Pa,” Oriana laughed, “why’d you do that? You had to embarrass her, didn’t you?” she pouted, taking her mother’s side.
“Oh, but she deserved it and you know that, Ana bear,” he stretched out his arm, holding it up for a fist bump. “Now, bump it,” he teased, raising his eyebrows at his daughter’s reluctance, “you know you want to.”
“Fine,” she finally conceded, huge grins gracing both their faces as they did their signature fist bump, pulling their hands away with a wiggle and a ‘psssh. . .’.
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“What would you be ordering, ma’am?” the young barista, who appeared to be in her late teens, asked Oriana, successfully drawing her attention away from her phone.
“Uh? Oh, I’m sorry. I would like a frappé, please.” Oriana distractedly fished out the right amount from her purse, sliding it across the counter before making her way to a corner booth with her cold drink in hand.
A persistent frown was etched on her face as she continued staring at her phone, hoping against hope that it would suddenly come to life with her friend’s name on the screen.
She had been trying to reach Emerald for two days now but for some reason, her friend’s number wasn’t going through and although, she had Jordan’s contact info, she was holding off calling him; she didn’t want to seem like a disturbance or perhaps, a cockblocker to her friend.
‘Heaven knows how soon Emerald needs to get laid,” she thought.
Finally giving into her worries, she decided to instead, send a text to Jordan. Precise and concise. Confirming that her message had been properly relayed, Oriana sipped her cold drink as she finally looked up to take in the serene atmosphere of the quaint restaurant slash café.
Probably due to the windy evening, there weren’t many customers present in the restaurant. Other than an old couple, a few singles, two sets of young couples with their kids, three business men fully suited with Oriana, herself, the place was practically empty.
As she continued her silent observation, her eyes suddenly collided with a pair of gray orbs which were staring right at her. Unashamedly, she ran her gaze up and down their owner’s face as she saw his eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly with his head gently tilted to the side.
Not wanting to seem like a creep who had never seen a handsome man before, Oriana quickly looked away just in time for her phone to beep with a message. Clicking on the notification, she read the short yet soothing text.
A smile filled with relief and mischief graced her lips as a knowing look crossed her countenance at a particular sentence Jordan had sent. ‘She has just been busy,’ he had texted but Oriana’s dirty mind had somehow managed to read through the non-existent lines of his words and had pegged the message as ‘We’ve just been busy.’
A small chuckle escaped her lips as she shook her head at the thought of her best friend doing the deed with a hot chunk of a man like Jordan. She heaved a sigh and slumped into the booth while sipping her drink with a sulk.
‘When will I get my own prince charming?’ she lamented internally.
“Well, look who it is.” A voice called out, successfully pulling Oriana out of her depressing thoughts. With furrowed eyebrows, she looked up at the intruder, or rather, intruders.
Her eyes immediately went wide when she recognized the set of people surrounding her booth like moths around a ball of flame. Her so called, old friends all stood there, watching and gauging her reaction to seeing them with condescending expressions on most of their faces.