Standing before Alice now, Avery was grateful Jodi had warned her about this previously. With her slight obsession on this building, who knew if Alice would have asked her to help get an apartnt in this building? Hearing the sound of the other girls alighting from their car, Avery snapped out of her reverie and looked up to see Jodi had almost gotten to where they were.
"We should go now. My brother and his friends are waiting," Alice said.
"Your brother? It won’t be an only girls outing?" Jodi echoed, astonishnt tinting her voice.
Alice replied, "Yeah, just my brother and his friends. But you have nothing to worry about, it’s totally safe and you won’t be forced to do anything you don’t want to do. We are only joining them because they are occupying the private room we were supposed to use."
Before she could hold herself back, Avery had slipped her hand into Jodi’s and pulled her closer to whisper into her ear, "Did you know about this?"
"How was i expected to know?!" Jodi whispered back. "We should back out, Ava. I’m sorry for forcing you into sothing I wasn’t sure of..."
"I will forgive you the mont you co up with a tangible excuse to back out at this last mont. One that won’t make her think we do not trust her or her brothers," Avery retorted.
"This will be hard..." Jodi groaned. "What if I fake a call and lie that we have a sudden appointnt?"
"And what would that appointnt be?"
"A doctor’s? Of course not. How about family mbers suddenly visiting?"
While the two were completely absorbed in their whispered dialogues while trailing after the other girls, they had no idea Alice had fallen behind to pick a call. Therefore, they were more than startled when she scread from behind them.
"Valentina McCAllum, that bitch! Do I need to show my claws before she knows her space and stop getting on my nerves?!" her voice echoed in the garage.
Avery stopped, turning abruptly on her heels with questions in her eyes. Valentina... That sucker had angered Alice Sherman too? She waited patiently, along with the others, until Alice disconnected the call.
Alice was still fuming when Avery summoned the courage to ask, "Did Valentina McCAllum annoy you?"
"You can be sure she did," Alice spat in annoyance. "She has been angering every single person in the industry and when the person tries to retaliate, she complains to her fans—Her dead cousin fans, to be precise! I can even hear her now..." she softened her voice to mimic Valentina and continued, "Guys, I am proud to call you the best fandom in the world. Now I can imagine the extent to which you loved my cousin before she left this world...but do you know so seniors are now trying to bully the way Emma was bullied? I really do not have the power or influence to fight against anyone but I will try to endure it all for you guys. Her fans believe all the bullshit she spills!"
Avery’s eyes clouded in anger and disgust. Though Valentina was not present at the mont, Alice’s mimicry of her was so annoying that it still angered her all the sa.
"She’s truly evil," she blurted out, unable to withhold it within herself. Her voice held undisguised hatred which the other girls noticed imdiately.
"You talk like she has offended you once," Alice pointed out, her brows raised in surprise.
"She didn’t," Avery was quick to disagree. "I could just guess how annoying she was from what you said."
"Finally soone who also sees things from my point of view," Alice sighed. "Well, we shouldn’t let her dampen our moods. We should enjoy our night to the fullest!"
With that, she linked her arm around Avery’s free hand and pulled her along.
"As I was saying, no one has to worry that we are sharing a private room with n. There’s enough space for everyone to enjoy themselves individually, if you’d like that," she explained. "Also, due to the identities of half of us here, we won’t be using the normal entrance but an hidden one."
Avery leaned slightly to the side to listen to Jodi, "All hopes of escaping this outing has been dashed now, Ava. Why did you have to make her like you more?"
"It was a mistake," she muttered in reply. "Why don’t you ssage Neil while I ssage Archie and tell them where we are? We can also tell them if they don’t hear from us in 15 minutes, they should co looking for us. They will be worried, yes, but we will be sure we are safe."
Jodi complied and the both of them simultaneously took out their phones. They were still texting when they got to the door of the private room, and did not hear when Alice gasped,
"Donovan."
Inside the room, Archie picked up the book he had earlier slamd on the table. Without looking up at the won who were now filing in, he ordered, "Dismiss the won, Benedict."
"I can’t, Arch. If you are withholding yourself for your wife, why should I and my friends do the sa?"
"Because I said so," Archie deadpanned. "Do you need to dismiss them myself?"
"B—But, Arch, I already apologized, didn’t I?"
"And you’ve never had anyone tell you sorry doesn’t repair shit?"
Benedict was frustrated and he did no good job in hiding it. He was now sitting at the edge of his seat so he could seem respectful to Archie and at the sa ti, maintain his own dignified image.
"Look, Archibald, I can’t just tell my sister to go back with her friends. She will be embarrassed!"
Archie looked up, "Why should I care if your sister is embarrassed or not? All I want is—"
"Archie...you are here?"
’Archie...,’ the voice resounded in his mind. His eyes travelled along the short line of girls and when he got to the last one, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold up on his promise of spending the next five hours here.
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