Chapter 33

"Let me help you with that." I ran towards Angela who was carrying a huge box. "Oh, hello there, dear. It’s been awhile." She greeted. I smiled at her widely and took the box out of her hand. I went to her car and placed it at the back. She smiled at me warmly. "Where are you going, Angela? Do you want me to drive you there?" "Oh no, dear. It’s alright. I can do it myself. I’m going crazy with people helping me too much. I’m just going to a friend and deliver some stuff. " I chuckled. "I can’t believe I was rejected just now. That hurts, Ange." She laughed with my joke. "You can live with that. I’m sure my son needs you more. I have to go now. It’s nice to see you back, Avery." She hugged me and went inside her car and drove off. I looked up and saw Carson looking at me from upstairs. "Yo." As usual his straight face was flashed before me. "Did you have a good break, Miss White?" He asked while descending the stairs with his usual folder on his arm. "I don’t think it’s quite a break. You’ve seen how busy I was with the wedding." He nodded. He was now on my ground level. He’s taller than me so I have to crane my neck a bit. But he wasn’t as tall as the man approaching towards us now. "I assume Mr. Clarke already sent his thanks to you." I snorted. "Really, Carson. You should stop being too formal with me. I’m not one of your bosses. We could be buddies, yeah?" I smirked teasingly while nudging his arm a few times. "Let’s go, Carson." Stefano quickly descended down the stairs. He was buttoning his suit on the way. I just sighed when he got into the car right away. I could obviously feel the tension in the air. --- Wanna go bowling? Sierra texted me while I was on my way having my lunch. Carson said I was free until 4pm. Sierra: Wait. Let’s have lunch first. Me: Why do I feel like you are stalking me right now? Sierra: I asked Carson for your boss’ schedule. Sierra: I know you’re free right now. So don’t even dare refuse me. Me: You’re such a pain in the ***. You know that? Sierra: I’m coming for you, bitch. No way you’re gonna escape. I frowned. What the hell is this girl up to now? Suddenly my lungs went straight out of my mouth when somebody lunged at me from behind. "****, Sierra! Are you insane?" I yelled when her arms went around my pitiful neck. I swear I stopped breathing for a minute there. "Let’s go have lunch." She hooked her arm around mine and dragged me at the busy streets of New York. --- "How many sets do you want? Or are you gonna go with 1 hour? Two? I swear if you’re gonna pick the latter, I’m going to leave you- the hell! Are you even listening?" She was busy texting while I was here talking by myself. "Hmmn. It’s Ashton. He was looking for me." She answered nonchalantly. "Well, good for you." I rolled my eyes. I sat down at the couch with a sigh. I removed my heels awhil ago. Been wandering at the alley barefoot. "Just go with 1 hour. Ashton’s gonna join us." I grinned. "Looks like you two are-" She cut me off. "Shut up, Ave. Just shut up." She scowled and I just laughed. "Why the hell are you good at this?" She yelled. "I don’t know... Maybe because you’re just a loser." I laughed. I just got my third strike. I swear it was just my luck. We used to play this in high school but I wasn’t really that good. The training paid off really well I guess. "You little..." Sierra lunged at me again. Her arms were around me wringing my poor neck. I just kept on laughing. "Honey, what are you doing to the pretty lady?" Sierra stopped trying to kill me. We followed where the voice came from. He was smiling playfully. Sierra let go of me and walked towards him. "You’re going to help me beat her, Ash." "I thought you guys are friends." He chuckled. My eyes widened when I saw him walking towards us. I looked away ignoring him. I sat on the couch waiting for Sierra’s turn to bowl. "It’s alright if I brought him, right? What better way to play bowling when there’s four people?" I could hear a smile on Ashton’s face while talking. "Yep, you’re right. But from the looks of it, you forced him to be bere." Sierra answered. I’m sure she was talking about the scowl on Stefano’s face. Ashton just laughed. "Who’s better at playing bowling between you two?" Sierra asked seriously. "Definitely my friend here. This guy’s almost good at everything. Bowling for him will be a piece of cake." Ashton answered playfully. "Then you’re going to partner up with me." Sierra dragged Stefano with her. "Hey, I’m your husband in case you forgot." Ashton complained. "We’re going to defeat her, Stef. We’re going to defeat you." She pointed as she narrowed her eyes at me. I just chuckled. "Yeah, yeah." I could feel Stefano’s burning stare at me but I didn’t mind it. I didn’t even look at him. Ashton took a sit beside me. It was Sierra and Stefano’s turn to play. "Sorry if I brought him. It slipped my mind that you’re with her. I was used to always bringing him around when I can." I snorted. "You shouldn’t be sorry bringing your friend. It’s fine. I wouldn’t have cared either way if he’s around or not. I mean I drive him to places. I am always with him." He nodded. "What you should be worrying is your relationship with your wife. Any plans to have a little Ashton and Sierra soon?" I laughed when he scrunched his face. The couple still has a long way to go. --- It’s been more than half an hour and it’s obvious who’s going to lose. Sierra sucked so bad at this game. Even if Stefano was keeping up with the scores but it’s not gonna cut out when Sierra’s bowling ball always fell right on the gutter. "Well, what’s important is that you had fun." I patted her shoulders. "Argh! That’s so unfair. I’m the only one who suck at this." She then turned to me. She then reached her hands to wring my neck. I laughed. "You won’t have a friend if you kill me right now." She then withdrew her hands and glared at me. "I hate you." "I know." I giggled. Ashton and I won obviously. After the game, Stefano decided to go to work. Ashton offered a ride since he was the one who drove him here. I insisted to drive instead because mainly I was the designated driver. Ashton gave me his car keys. I also wanted the two to have their date. They haven’t been in one since they got married. Even if they dislike each other a lot, their chemistry was undeniable. The ride was quiet in a weirdly comfortable way. That’s probably because we chose to ignore each other. That was the only thing that was mutual between us but sometimes I could feel his burning stares. Perhaps I was imagining things. I mean I did make an effort to evade his eyes. When we reached to his building, he told me his 4pm schedule was moved to 7pm. So I was free for another 2 hours. I just nodded at him and drove off. I went back to the married couple and enjoyed being the third wheel of the day. It really didn’t take that long when they were both called by their parents to have a family dinner so they left early to prepare. I was quite exhausted from our little outing so I decided to hang out at Grind House. "Just coffee for me, Hailey." I ordered as I sat down. Hailey was one of the cafe’s waitress. "Got it. Best coffe in the house for our favorite customer." She said chirpily. "But where’s my favorite waitress?" I asked cheekily. "She’s out taking the trash." She then winked at me and turned around to walk away. Feeling so mischievous, I went out to the back and plan to make a prank on her. I was smiling evilly just the thought of Jenna’s scared face when I jump on her. The girl kept on reminding me how she misses my presence in the cafe. To my utter surprise, I wasn’t the only one who planned on scaring her. "What the **** are you doing?"