CHAPTER 26
1843 Words
I stared blankly at Michael when he said that and a part of me was torn between thinking if he said what I really said he said or if it was me that was hearing things.
For a moment, I was frozen in shock and it was evident in every feature of mine. I could not see me, but I was certain that my green eyes were nearly bulging out of its sockets in shock and my mouth as hung down so low that I may have as well dropped it to the floor.
Oddly, Michael did not seem to look like there was a problem with what he just said to me.
He wasn't frowning. Neither was he smiling. A neutral face was what I could term it and that left me even more confused, thinking what exactly it was on his mind. It was hard to decipher, really.
I only understood him when he opened his mouth to speak again, right after he had paused in his stare at me.
"Are you okay?" He asked me.
My response to him was a confused blink. "Huh?"
His brows furrowed as he studied me for a few seconds more, forehead creasing slightly.
"Are you okay, Rachel?" He asked again.
"What did you just say to me?" I asked him straight up.
"I asked if you were okay," He answered me.
"No, before that," I said.
He patiently answered still, "I said 'We shall'—"
"After that," I cut him off before he could even finish what he was saying and I saw him back up for a moment, confused, I must add.
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again.
"I'm fine. I just want to know what you said. What you called me." I specified and I saw his eyes light up with a glow.
"I called you what you asked me to call you last night," He answered easily.
So easily. Like it was nothing. It couldn't be nothing. If I heard him correctly, he had called me 'bundle of deciet with perfect blonde hair and pretty blue eyes' and that was the very term that I used in my head every single time that I beat myself up about all the lies that I was telling to Michael McAllister.
If I asked him to call me that last night, then, damn it, what on earth could I have said to him? And why did he seem so casual about it all? Nah. Something was terribly wrong and I needed to get to the bottom of it. All of it.
"What do you mean that was what I asked you to call me last night?" I asked him.
And hoped he would give a detailed answer.
Michael walked with me as he talked, unprovoked, calm and untethered, easily answering my question as he led me to his car and I was wondering if I should be worried or not. I had no idea how to feel about all this yet. It felt so off.
"Well, you seemed a bit different when you called me last night," He started off.
I swallowed a rock. My gulp was loud. He probably heard. But maybe he prefered to act like he didn't. He was an impeccable actor, if that was the case.
"And, I have a feeling you were drunk," He said to me, with a corner of his lips pitching slightly up in what wants to resemble a side smile, but I couldn't be too sure because it never fully showed. "Were you?" His head turned to me as he asked.
I had no idea what to say to him about that.
Completely, I was unaware if relating drunkenness with the image I was trying to project was a good idea.
One couldn't even be too sure again.
Do women with the image I was trying to show forth to Michael McAllister even drink alcohol? Up to the point of intoxication? How would I know?
"It was cool," Michael commented and that was all the answer I needed to know what act to put up for him.
A light smile grazed upon my face.
I was still on track. Still, impressing him.
"Why so?" I asked with a raised brow.
"I mean, seeing that side of you was fun," He said to me.
"What side of me?" I asked him.
"Careless with words. Funny. Loud. Silly…" He easily got down with a list.
"So, what is this? Are you saying that you think I am boring?" I asked him with a but of passive aggressive energy in my tone.
"Oh, no, no," He denied, "Last night, you just seemed more loose. I enjoyed speaking to that side of you, Rachel. It really interested me to that there was such a side to a woman like you."
I had mixed feelings about this.
I was happy that he enjoyed speaking to that side of me. I was on my worried that I may have been a bit 'too loose' and said things I was not supposed to say.
Like 'bundle of deciet wrapped up in perfect blonde hair and pretty green eyes'.
But, hopefully, if Michael was not mad at me, then maybe I did not overstep a boundary, right?
"So, um, what did I say to you, if I may ask?" I had to come to ask that.
It was high time I officially knew.
"Well, when you called, the first thing you started talking about was clubbingnin Highway and getting high on cheap w**d," He started telling me.
Fear gripped my soul.
"That was pretty hilarious to me and I was laughing so hard, because it made absolutely no sense," He said.
I laughed along side him when I heard him chuckle, pretending to agree.
I had to agree. Clubbing in Highway and getting high on cheap w**d? Definitely not something a woman with the image I was trying to imprint on Michael McAllister would be caught dead doing.
"The first thing I asked was 'who are you and what have you done with Rachel Kelly's?" He went on.
Okay….
"And that was when you told me to call you a bundle of deciet wrapped up in perfect blonde hair and pretty green eyes," He revealed, "So, who am I to object?"
"Hehe," I cringed at my own awkward laughter, in a bid to keep the conversation not suspicious.
I was failing, nonetheless.
Hopefully, Michael did not catch.
"I thought it was poetic and all," He told me instead, "So, sure, I'd call you that."
"It's too long a name," I shook my head in disregard.
"You call the shots," He only smirked at me.
Michael and I were getting into his Tesla at that point, and it felt like literal heaven in hear. The smell of new car, lavender and cidar blessed my olfactory nerves as I took in the scent and meditated on it.
"What about Green?" He asked me.
"What about Green?" I asked back.
He looked at me and his eyes glowed a pretty light brown hue that mesmerized me and nearly turned me into mush and dust.
"Can I call you Green?" He asked me.
"Why Green?" I asked him.
"You don't like?" He asked.
"Didn't say that," I answered, "But, Green hints for envy and I am no envious woman."
Michael smiled charmingly.
"I prefer to associate Green with nature," He said to me.
Hm. That was Interesting.
"So, you associate me with nature?" I asked him.
"Well, you are graced with the most natural beauty I have ever seen," He said to me.
Don't explode from blushing, Rachel. Don't explode. Don't explode…..
"You do remind me of Nature in a way," He said to me, "Beautiful. Bold. Yet, contrastingly, calm. And when I look at you, the first thing that catches me in a web is your eyes. Peaceful. Pretty. And, well, green."
Oh, wow…..
"And really, to top it all off, looking at you today, all I can think about is the sun," He said to me and I smiled at that, chuckled softly.
I was glad that he noticed my appearance. He always did that. He noticed the efforts that I put in, into everything. I loved that about him.
"You confessed your heart out to me too, Green," He said to me.
I nearly started choking.
"Last night," He continued, "That may have as well been the most memorable part. On our first date, you didn't want me to hear it from you what you felt about me. I got to hear it all Last night and it was worth while."
"God," I face palmed, "I must have embarrassed myself, didn't I?"
"A little," He laughed softly, "But it was adorable."
"You were really gone last night, Green," Michael said to me, "Seems like you had fun."
With Quinn and Monica? Oh, he didn't even know the half of it!
"You can't even imagine," I said to him.
"Without me, huh?" He joked around.
"It was just a last minute drink session after some work out with my Friends," I said to him.
"Friends," He repeated.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing," He cracked a chuckle, "Just that I never see you around with anyone."
"Oh." I said to myself, putting a reminder to myself that I had to fix up that little 'bug'.
"What else did I say?" I asked him.
"Something about my brother," He answered quickly as he started the car engine casually.
I nearly had a seizure.
His brother?? His BROTHER?!
"You were mumbling a lot at that point, so it was almost impossible to hear everything you were saying," He told me.
Oh, sigh of relief.
"You fell asleep not long after," He said to me and his eyes practically smiled before his lips did as he turned to me, "You snore like a new born puppy."
I gave a genuine smile.
A lot of me felt relieved, I won't lie. So, so relieved.
I watched Michael there on, as he started the car off and there was this comfortable silence between us.
"Where are we going?" I asked him.
The car was on the road and off to a destination that I was not sure of.
Michael looked at me over a shoulder and a small smirk appeared on his face.
"My home," He answered.
I nearly had a flip.
My head whipped so fast to him that it almost snapped.
Getting him to take me to his home was the main thing that Mr Sanchez wanted me to do.
He had maeit clear to me that it was a very difficult task because Michael did not let anyone into his house, and Sanchez's aim was for me to find out that secret that Michael McAllister was hiding from his father and in turn use it against him and he he company.
"Why are you bringing me to your home?" I asked Michael.
His answer surprised me even more.
"Because Last Night, you asked me to."
- Writer
