Chased by Bad Boys

Chapter 6: Heading to Los Altos

I paced my room for a bit, confused and feeling lost like a little puppy, should I go? Scratch that.. Obviously I have to go. When should I go? How long should I plan to be gone for? What about school – would I be exempted from not attending for however long it would take to take care of things back home? Am I strong enough to face all the people back home, specially Zosar? Should I just bring Casimir with me? He always has this calming effect on me and is always so supportive; however, this would not go unnoticed by the other two who obviously won’t take this well. Should I just let them all come? But then I am not close to Alistair and well other than the “deep” feelings voiced by Aziel, his past does not really motivate me to ask him for anything. Deep breath… Deep breath… One thing at a time.

After going through all the messages of Zosar, I decided to reply to let him know that I would take care of my own flight arrangements as I am sure he had enough to deal with. I elaborated that I would give him details of when I would be reaching once I made my arrangement. I did not have it in me to talk to him for the first time in such a long time over the phone so I opted for asking him for some time so I can process and prepare myself.

I started looking up flights when Alistair’s name flashed on my phone. It was already almost midnight so I was surprised of his call.

“Hey, so I know you will most probably chicken out and keep us out of your trip to Los Altos, so I booked 4 tickets for tomorrow morning,” he started without giving me a chance to reply to his call. He continued, “I already told the others, so we will leave the campus at 7am. I got my driver to get us to the airport.

“Oh… Uhmm..”, at a loss for words, I just nodded to say yes. I mean he already booked the tickets and anyways I know I would need some distraction, good or bad that is yet to be determined. When I realized that he most probably could not see me nodding and he was still quietly waiting for my reply, I just agreed, “7am tomorrow morning, ok. See you tomorrow.”

“Try to sleep and see you tomorrow. Good night Nefertari,” he whispered as he hung up. I was shocked for a short moment as he always called me “new girl” or “Cali girl”. I just shrugged off the thought as I remembered, no distraction. Without one less item on my to figure out list, I decided to pack before having a quick shower.

As I was lying in bed waiting for sleep to come, a lot was running through my mind. I had to ensure to confirm the return tickets were not booked yet as Zosar had mentioned that in eight days, two days after the funeral, mom’s will would be read and I had to be there. So many more thoughts kept crawling my head so I took a deep breath and started remembering the beautiful memories shared with my beloved mother. The beautiful flashbacks allowed me to calm down and fall asleep.  

True to his words, the next day, a red seven seater Benz GLS was in the campus yard. The guys were already there as I walked to them with just a small travel suitcase. “I am going home, I have everything I need there and get anything missing,” I greeted their questioning looks.

As if the gears in their brains started functioning, they had a little aha moment. Aziel swiftly, quickly and above all so smoothly came to me and hugged me in a fraction of a second. I was unprepared for the action that I am pretty sure I looked like a deer caught in headlights. After tightly squeezing me, as if we were lovers who had not seen each other in decades, he walked back, but not without taking my luggage. As he placed it in the car, Alistair sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of whether he should do the same and he just started, “how about we all get in, we don’t want to be late for the flight. Nefertari, how about you make yourself comfortable in the passenger seat at the front?”

I did not need to be a genius to figure out what he was doing and I actually chuckled as I made my way to the front. Aziel glared at Alistair, who just acted like he did not separate me from them. Maybe this trip would turn out fine afterall, I mean as long as they don’t get at each others throats, they might be exactly the support or rather the distraction I would need.

As we started to drive, I made it a point to blurt out the speech I had been repeating to myself since I was up, “So I just want you to know, you really don’t have to come along for this. I mean, I am getting excused for the obvious reason, what about classes for you guys?”

“Already taken care of, nothing the administration could do against my charm and plea for accompanying and supporting our best friend during such a terrible phase,” Aziel replied nonchalantly.

Well that settled everything, the boys would be staying with Aziel and would be at my place everyday. Great… Now I had to think of how to justify their presence at home to Zosar, though I doubt he would care but you never know. My thoughts started travelling to my family and the memories of my loving father, Abayomi, the nice version of Zosar and my loving mother, and the tears just started forming in the rim of my eyes. As soon as the first tear drop rolled down, the other drops easily followed its path. I could not control them and neither did I want to. By the time we reached the airport, my eyes were already puffy and I kept blowing my nose using the different tissue the guys offered me. I found solace in that simple action of theirs. Their quiet support, no words, no advice but just being there and getting through it.

Once we reached the airport, we hurriedly checked in and I stepped away from the guys while waiting for the gates to open. I went to freshen up and as I stepped out of the restroom, muscular forearms just came forward and grabbed my elbows, pulling me in the direction of their owners. I clashed with a slight gasp, closing my eyes. As I felt the weight of a head on top of mine, I peeled my eyes open facing an apple green t-shirt which did nothing to hide the muscled pecs. Recognizing Aziel by his attire and his woody toned perfume, I slowly raised my head making him step back slightly. With a firm but warm grip on my arms, he held me still and looked at me straight in the eyes. With the look of helplessness and pain in his eyes, we shared an intense staring moment.

“Neffi, I feel helpless,” he exasperated, “I just do not know what to do to help you. I know you need to feel this moment and get through it but I cannot see you suffer. I know I did some really mean things in the past but I cannot bear to see your tears. If there is anything I can do to alleviate your pain, I will be right there.” With that he pulled me gently to his chest, wrapping his arms around my neck to keep me close to him before kissing me on top of the head.”

This small action made something move in my stomach and I chose to ignore it. Without giving me a chance to speak, he pulled away and intertwined his left hand with my right one and walked me in the direction of the guys. As we approached them, Casimir looked at our hands and proceeded to act like it was nothing, while Alistair glared Aziel for a quick second before returning to his goofy self trying to provide any kind of distraction.