Our "Friendly" Matrimony

5-Unexpected Turn of Events

Alex's POV

"So you're telling me, that you two~"

He took a brief pause to point at me and Soph alternatively before continuing.

"Kissed, and someone took a picture?"

The day after the party that we were supposed to spend relaxing in Vegas was now the day we had to face the repercussions of last night on.

I should've known, expecting Floyd to throw a party and for something shady to not be involved... God! How could I have overlooked his past!

It might've been because JJ and Rachel were also going to be there. I knew Soph would need my assistance throughout the night to not make a fool out of herself in front of her crush. While I needed her to provide me with a distraction to stay away from Floyd for as long as possible. Though that ought to be impossible, since it was his party.

A swaying Floyd made his way over to us, upon noticing him, Soph's hold around my arm tightened and she gestured in his direction to warn all three of us altogether.

"Floyd my man! It's been ages!"

Leo greeted him enthusiastically, as he straightened up and brushed his jacket briefly.

"It truly has been, would you guys prefer the same as always? Virgin margaritas?"

That was Soph's go to drink every time we were forced to head out for a party. And it was obvious that his question and attention were now directed to the drop dead gorgeous female beside me.

Her party dress really did her reputation justice. Just as perfect a mixture of sleek, formal and casual as she herself was. She was bound to draw attention to herself, but with the three of us around her it would ward off any dude with a plan in his mind.

"Same as always, how's Stella?"

Referring to his long term sweetheart, Soph detached herself from my arm, leaving it feeling cold without her as she held her hand out for Floyd to shake.

I shrugged off my questionably clingy thoughts and focused my attention to a grinning Floyd. A party and attention starved animal, as we knew him. But at the exact same time, the results he produced while diligently partying every chance he got, had earned him our respect.

"Wanna dance?"

Dancing was an offer that Soph would never turn down. And without another word, I stared with a slacked jaw as he whisked her away.

"Eh, still the same."

Vince mindlessly muttered beside me while scrolling through his phone. Whenever we had to go to such events for the sake of business, relationships or fun, the twins switched habits.

Leo would become the one talking and doing the bonding with several other rich children or heirs while Vincent only focused on whatever non-alcoholic drink he chose for the night and his phone.

I, on the other hand, took the responsibility of keeping an eye on Soph all to myself. And knowing that a swaying Floyd could only do so much good on the dance floor, I left Vince to find my best friend.

The thing about Floyd's get together's was that, no matter who you were, as long as you were invited, you could forget everything and party or drink as much as you liked. And no one would raise an eyebrow at that, but none of us were accustomed to such a lifestyle.

Hence finding Soph became my top priority. For all I knew, she could be dealing with the drunk and dumb men and women that surrounded us. And with her inability to realize when someone was flirting with her, I knew I had to hurry it along.

At 26, my best friend could still get herself in trouble without knowing exactly why she was in trouble.

I found her laughing at something a male across her had said as they casually leaned against the bar counter. Drink in hand, I watched as giggled at his words without even looking around for a second.

Must be someone familiar.

With that thought in mind, I strode towards her effortlessly. Only pausing once I was in their sight and had realized exactly who the male was.

JJ

"Hey man."

Awkward greeting- check.

Eyes darting to Soph- check.

Not many people around- check.

What Soph didn't know was that JJ was currently in a relationship. Regardless of how much he liked her, he hadn't taken the step to ask her out or approach the elders to get their approval. Instead, he had settled for another female. And as her best friend, I found that to be the most disrespectful thing he could ever do.

Especially since he was clearly  still interested in her. He was leading her on. JJ's family was just as strict as ours when it came to things that went against their religious teachings. So relationships and boundaries had to be approved before hand.

If his family had already approved of another female, one that I knew he himself had chosen, why in the world would he hurt her like this?

Letting my arm curl around hers, I picked up a virgin margarita from the tray of labeled drinks that went by us.

JJ took note of my action and sent me a small reluctant smile. He clearly wanted me to not disclose his relationship status, and that wasn't my place to do so either. The only thing I could possibly do was to make sure Soph remained unhurt.

Soph raised an eyebrow in my direction before I gestured her to the dance floor. With a frown marring her forehead, she let me lead her to the dance floor as a slow song came on. Settling my arm around her waist I intertwined the other one with hers.

I led the steps as she focused on our footing for a bit before looking up at me inquisitively.

"What was that?"

She asked after a minute of me avoiding eye contact. I wasn't good at lying to her, but I couldn't bear hurting her either. With a glance toward JJ, I spun us around so we were behind a few others and away from his line of sight.

"Nothing, just... lonely."

She tilted her head a little before grinning at me and dragging me off the dance floor. I threw a confused glance her way because she had forgotten all about her long time crush in barely a minute.

Grabbing two more margaritas she handed one to me and I watched as she placed her now empty glass back on the tray.

"This isn't exactly the place to talk, wanna go to the balcony?"

I laughed as she grabbed a whole tray of virgin margaritas and made her way towards the exit of the party room. We passed by Vincent, who was now busy in a supposedly serious debate with a few other recognizable heirs. While Leo had found an ex-team mate and was chatting it up with him.

Once we were away from the chitter chatter of people, we fell into a comfortable silence. I took the tray from Soph as she pushed open the balcony doors and walked out.

Another laugh bubbled up my throat as she immediately shuddered and threw the most regretful look my way. After somehow balancing the tray on the thick sill. We each took a glass to sip from.

"A gentleman would give the lady his coat."

Soph muttered as another shudder raked through her. By this point, my sight had started to become slightly hazy. Probably due to the moonlight.

"Well then, let me just go grab you a gentleman."

Rolling her eyes at my attempt at a joke she curled herself into my chest as I undid my jacket buttons to make room for her.

"You couldn't find Rachel in there?"

In all honesty, my mind hadn't been occupied by Rachel whatsoever. Instead, it had been focused on making sure the girl finding warmth in my jacket was okay. I felt guilt flood me, I was doing something quite similar to JJ. Well... except the dating part.

My attention got diverted to my best friend and I replied.

"No."

She chuckled lowly at that, leaning closer to me as I placed my arms around her waist. Like always, Soph cuddled herself closer to me.

Shuddering for a final time, she looked up at me and grinned. Mesmerized by how the moonlight reflected off her features, I didn't realize that I was leaning in.

Her lips parted as our eyes met briefly. There must be something in the drinks. I didn't know what it was exactly, but my actions clearly weren't under my control.

My eyes closed as our lips touched and I felt her gently shift to settle against me as I leaned closer and applied force. A click resonated around us as I brought my hand up to her cheek...

The memories were clear as day, and the only thing that distracted us was the clattering sound of the tray as it fell off the sill and onto the ground. It was then that everything had registered. But the person with the camera was already long gone.

Relaying the events to our elders was, intimidating to say the least. However, our blood tests had proved that we were under influence and Floyd was currently on a plane to come and negotiate terms with our families so they wouldn't press charges.

We had considered this the best option, instead of them finding out through the paparazzi, we knew the only choice remaining was for us to gather them and speak to them ourselves.

Soph's uncle Arlo and Aunt Jasmine had both also been cordially invited to attend our confession along with her grand father, while my parents took the lead from my side for decision making.

"The press is going to have a field day."

Jas, as we like to call her, muttered. Without another word, I watched as a silent note passed between Arl and my father and before long, Arlo was turning the laptop screen to me. Noticing the multiple tabs that were opened, I gestured to them.

"What are those for?"

My mother was the one to intervene as she poured herself a glass of sparkling water and sat back in her rocking chair.

"Those, son, are the published tabloids wondering about the relationship between you two ever since you started high school."

Soph, who had been quiet this whole time, finally chose to speak up.

"High school?"

Mother nodded in her direction and all our gazes transferred to Soph's grand father, the man was clearly thinking of something but hadn't said a single word so far. He was like the head of the council with a pair from each side heading the negotiations. I held back a snicker at the thought, because this situation wasn't best defined as funny. Maybe one day, but definitely not today.

"Yes, High school, both of you have been the subject of several rumors since you're barely ever apart for a long period of time."

That was correct, the most time we had spent apart since knowing each other was about... four months? Something along the lines of that, but we had both then gotten back on track faster than ever before.

"But that's because we're friends."

Soph argued in return while I sat back and pondered over the choices we had now. It was practically impossible to silence the press for good, and with the perpetrator still out there with the pictures, god only knew how long it was before s**t would hit the fan.

"Yes Sophia, in your eyes and in our eyes, you're nothing more than friends. However, this moment says the exact opposite, does it not?"

Our cheeks tinted pink, Soph squeaked and lowered her head while I cleared my throat and looked away. Just put it like that, why don't you?

How did they even get that picture?

"Unfortunately, the CCTV cameras only show the picture being taken but not who took it and since every male in that room was wearing similar tuxedos, its impossible to track down whoever has the picture."

I groaned in response, dammit, we had literally no way out of this.

"It's obvious that the picture will hit the tabloids soon enough, if they're after money we might be able to change their mind."

My father hummed in thought to Arlo's remark before speaking up.

"Let's alert our contacts and see if someone reaches out to sell the picture, or pictures, we don't know how many he took, correct?"

I cleared my throat and shook my head in response, yes father, I had been too distracted to hear anything beside the first click and the clattering of the tray... and maybe Soph's breathing going ragged... Stop it!

They were reacting a lot better than we had expected them to and that was undeniably a good thing.

"Too late."

The oldest man in the room finally chose to speak up and turned the laptop screen towards us. Revealing the latest update to a popular article website. The headline read: Suspicions confirmed! Whittman and Sallow family heirs caught in an intimate embrace!!

I scoffed in return as Soph face palmed hard enough to make the grown ups wince at the sound.

"Literally no one's going to read that."

"Oh you'd be surprised by the number of people that have nothing better to do than scroll through these articles."

I sighed defeatedly in return, watching the number of readers online at the platform increase by the minute.