“H–hey,” Oriana croaked out, her voice coming out in a stammer. They were the last set of people she ever wanted to see in her entire life and unfortunately for her, she was all alone this time.
A particular someone smirked when he saw her fearful visage as he got in beside her, aggressively pushing her against the end of the booth.
“McStuffins,” he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, purposely squishing her against his side. Oriana cringed. She didn’t only hate her middle name because of its origin but also because it held bad memories, all of which led to the guy seated beside her.
“Hi T–thomas,” she shuddered, looking up to meet the murderous glare of another ‘friend’ of hers. “Hi Calla,” she greeted, stretching her lips into a faux smile.
“Hi, Ori. It’s been a really long time,” Oriana shifted her gaze to meet the owner of the familiar small and kind voice. Britta. She was the only kind one amidst all three of them. Oriana passed her a small, genuine smile.
“Yeah, McStuffins. It’s been a long time. Too long, if you ask me,” Thomas smirked, applying pressure against her shoulders as he watched her wince.
Calla, who was watching the scenario before her, could only glare at the redhead woman being squished by her boyfriend before begrudgingly taking her seat on the other side of the booth. Back then, she didn’t know what Thomas had seen in Oriana and although, all he had done was bully her almost to the brink of death, she was still jealous of the undivided attention he gave while bullying her.
But now, everything was different. Oriana was now a successful and independent woman who had managed to land a major job as a journalist in the famous Hyde Newspaper Agency and that’s not even the end. She had also gotten more flesh to her bones. The puny high schooler Oriana was a bag of bones compared to this slightly curvy woman seated before her. Calla scowled at the obvious development in her beauty.
“It’s been so long since we last saw you and you came to town, yet you couldn’t come say hi. You have no idea how hurt I was, McStuffins,” Thomas taunted.
Oriana swallowed, “how did you guys know I was in town?” That was the last thing she wanted. Her plan was to lay low for her two to three weeks visit until her father was well recuperated before returning to New York. But that plan had been completely foiled.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but this is a small deadbeat town, McStuffins. Word does get around fast.” Thomas looked into her eyes, daring her to look away.
“No matter how much you wanted to hide your arrival, it couldn’t have stayed hidden for long. I’m pretty sure even the newborns of Laramie have caught wind of the successful New Yorker in town,” Calla sneered with contempt evident in her voice as she eyed Oriana’s barely calm stance.
“Oh,” that was all Oriana could sputter under the heated gazes of the browbeating couple.
“So Ana, how have you been? How has New York been treatin’ ya?” Britta – who couldn’t bear the sight of the closest person she had to a friend being bullied by her older brother and his girlfriend – hurriedly stepped in to save the day as she always did back then.
“Well, I’ve been g–good. New York has been quite hectic but f–fair,” she tried to keep her answer as vague as possible. She couldn’t help but think back to Emerald’s vague responses to most of her questions. Well, at least she had managed to utilise her friend’s bad habit in a good way.
“Good? Just good?!” Britta exclaimed, looking giddy and excited for some reason. “Ana! I literally see you on E-news almost every single time, not to mention the countless articles that have been written in the reputable Hyde Newspapers under your name.” Britta looked really happy for her friend and Oriana appreciated the genuine happiness she radiated but the devil’s pawns seated beside and in front of her were like whirlpools ready to suck all positive energy from her, replacing it only with their negative ones.
Calla’s face darkened and just in time, Thomas chimed in, “oh don’t mind McStuffins. She’s just being modest, isn’t she?” he taunted as he tightened his one arm around her even more so than before. Oriana was certain her right shoulder would be sporting a bruise by now.
“Ugh, the w-weather’s quite windy today, isn’t it?” Oriana asked to try to steer the conversation off her life in the New York.
“The weather in Laramie has always been windy, Oriana,” Calla spat.
“I guess?” Oriana tried to steady her erratic breathing as her eyes darted frantically around the quaint shop in hopes of finding a somewhat familiar face. Her small ray of hope was completely shattered when Thomas spoke,
“Looking for a saviour, are we, McStuffins?” he derided. “There’s no one here to save you, Mendel. You know. . .” he moved unbearably closer to her, much to Calla’s dismay. “. . . I thought that now that you’re an adult, you’d be able to stand up for yourself. I thought that now that you’re a self dependent New Yorker, you’d finally be able to rid yourself of your infamous ‘ugly and brainless’ title.” he whispered.
“But I guess the all knowing Thomas could be wrong sometimes. Well, look at the bright side, you’ve earned yourself a new title. Beauty without brains,” he chuckled, blowing his obnoxious breath in her ear before pulling away and standing up.
“Well McStuffins, as much as I’d like to stay and chat, I have somewhere more important to be right now but I decided to use a bit of my most valued time to stop and say hi to my bestie for old times sake,” he passed her a Cheshire grin.
“Oh,” his face lit up with an idea as a mischievous smirk graced his visage, much to Oriana’s discomfiture, “how would you like to catch up with us tonight at Reese’s bar? I feel like we haven’t talked enough. Besides,” he licked his lips as his eyes racked over her form, “you still haven’t told me about your love life,” he smirked.
“Tom! What the hell are you doing inviting her over?! It’s supposed to be our date night!” Calla snarled, her eyes glaring daggers at Oriana like it was her fault.
“Oh, come on, Calla. We wouldn’t want to be rude to our New Yorker now, would we? Britta could come along to keep her company, besides, you and I could always have countless date nights anytime, anywhere,” he winked seductively, causing Calla’s cheeks to turn pink as she grumbled dejectedly.
“I’ll be seeing you tonight at 8, McStuffins. Don’t be late.” Oriana could pick up the underlying threat in his last words as he sauntered out of the restaurant in his faded jacket, jeans and boots outfit.
She didn’t seem to be able to drag her eyes off his retreating frame as the horror of the situation finally dawned on her. She had met Thomas, the one behind her grisly past.
Oriana gasped, alongside onlookers in the restaurant, jerking off her seat as a sudden chilly feeling flooded her senses. With wide eyes, she looked up at the perpetrator to see the smug smile hiding the evil look in her eyes.
Calla stood across the table with Oriana’s now empty plastic cup in hand. “Oops,” she smiled, “that would teach sluts like you a lesson to never stare at someone else’s boyfriend,” she sneered and immediately followed in her boyfriend’s footsteps, leaving behind awfully baffled customers, a wet and very embarrassed Oriana and a sad Britta.
With an apologetic look on her face, Britta immediately passed Oriana a napkin in attempts to wipe off her face and clothes. Thankfully, she had chosen to put her auburn hair in a messy bun today.
“I’m so sorry, Ana. I really am. I don’t know why Thomas keeps acting like that even after-”
“It’s ok, Bri. None of this is your fault anyway,” she cut off Britta’s impending rant which was surely headed towards the direction of her past. With a sigh, she looked down at her soiled sweatshirt; because she had been seated when Calla had dumped the drink on her, it had also affected her blue skinny jeans.
She shivered, feeling the coldness of the drink seep through the thin camisole she had worn underneath the sweatshirt and onto her bare skin. In attempts to relieve herself of the nipping cold coupled with the merciless wind of the town, with her index finger and thumb, she held the drenched clothing away from her skin before looking up to find Britta still standing awkwardly with guilt written all over her face. She smiled sadly.
“Bri, there’s really no need to worry about me. I guess I needed a shower anyway,” she tried to laugh it off. “You, go ahead. I’m sure they must be waiting for you.”
“But Ana-”
“I’m serious, Bri. I’ll be fine. Leave,” she muttered harshly, albeit unintended for her tone to sound that way.
She could hear Britta packing up her stuff, taking one more look at her before moving towards the entrance with her head hung low. Her steps looked reluctant, Oriana noticed. With another sigh, she called out to her, “Bri?” the other woman hurriedly turned around with expectant eyes. “Thank you very much,” Oriana gave her friend a small yet genuine smile despite her situation.
Britta quickly ran towards her and pulled her into a hug, disregarding her soiled sweatshirt. Giving Oriana a peck on the cheek, she muttered, “It was really nice to see you again, Ana. Take good care of yourself and you don’t have to come to the bar tonight. I’ll take care of those two.”
With her last words, Britta rushed out of the restaurant, leaving Oriana’s dejected and dirtied frame behind. Looking at herself and the mess around her, Oriana chuckled humorlessly, loathing herself for being the same coward she used to be in high school. She loathed herself for letting Thomas have such an effect on her even after all these years.
Her amber eyes, empty and void of any emotion looked up to suddenly crash gazes with the same pair of gray eyes, which had been staring at her earlier. She went further to look around the entire restaurant to see the gaze of most of the customers set on her. Some gave her pitiful expressions while some wore sneers on their faces.
She swallowed thickly before her eyes darted back to the stranger’s intense gray orbs. Unable to withstand his amain gaze, she hurriedly picked up her wet mobile device and purse before darting out of the restaurant, never looking back at the stranger who also instinctively stood up from his seat to go after her, but unable to because of his pending meeting.