Repeat and Retribution

Chapter 48

Crystal was busy crossing out some of her to-do lists. Sitting outside of the shop, waiting while enjoying the morning sun that caressed her porcelain white skin.

She was really feeling good right now, though she knew there were still a lot of things to do, she was determined to finish this through to avoid not making the same mistake as last time.

Unaware of her surrounding she was not able to notice the woman approaching her until she saw the shadow blocking her sun.

“Crystal!” Brittany frowned, hands on her hips giving her a funny look.

With one simple motion, she was able to close her book and hide it away on her side as she stood up to greet her friend with a kiss on the cheek.

“Brit, hey! Why call me all of a sudden,” she giggles. It was rare for her friend to just schedule a meeting with her, especially during weekdays.

They both sit down at the same time, Brittany immediately gesturing for the waiter though she was still looking at her.

“I’ve been hearing rumors lately,” she says with a smirk and one brow raised.

“Rumors?” Crystal shots back at her, not letting herself get intimidated by her best friend's action.

That made Brittany’s brow raise even more, quite surprised and amused. “You went to see Larse didn’t you,” the woman ends up saying as the two of them were starting to have a staring competition.

Unable to hold on to her feelings she ends up chuckling. “Yeah, so?” she says still trying to hold on to her grin.

That made Brittany’s face lighten up into a smile. “Seem’s you’re back in the market. You go girlfriend, aiming for the most eligible bachelor. You have no idea how proud I am of you right now. Though I know that he’s a lot better than your ex, I just want to remind you, he’s different from the other Larse that wasn’t exposed to those hooligans, so make sure to keep that in mind, all right!” her friend points out.

Crystal ended up holding her laugh. “What are you saying? I’m not aiming for him, I was just there for a business proposal,” she says.

That made Brittany’s face frown and raise her brow again. “Really now?” leaning back on her chair while crossing her arms together on her chest, she made this slow movement of crossing her legs together another sign of her interrogating tricks.

“Yes. And besides, I heard he ain’t a bachelor anymore.” Mimicking her friends' action, Crystal lets out a wide grin on her face to tease her best friend.

Brittany was unable to hide her surprise as her eyes grew wide and she ended up gaping for a few seconds.

“You sure about that?” her friend could not help but frown at her as she moves forward on the table.

Crystal ended up letting out a soft laugh. “He’s married and with a child,” she tells her.

“You got to be kidding! How come I never heard of that,” her best friend's voice boomed, both shocked and surprise etched on her face.

It took Brittany a few moments before asking again. “So you met his wife then?”

Not wanting to hide that information from her best friend, Crystal let out a wide grin as she looked at her straight in the eye.

“Yes, we both did,” she says in a teasing and sarcastic manner.

Brittany’s brows furrowed. “Who?” she states with a deep and confused expression on her face.

That made Crystal smirk. There was just a part of her that was really enjoying the feeling of letting out such a secret to her best friend.

“Dana Johnson,” she says in with smug as if she felt like puking at the mention of the woman’s name.

“What! The b***h who’s with your ex right now is married to Larse! How did that even happen?” Her friend hissed as she gritted her teeth.

“I heard it was a shotgun marriage,” Crystal said with a very bored tone.

“Then how did she and Clyde got back together?” Brittany was unable to control her voice almost screaming that out.

Seeing as how her best friend feels the same as she was made her feel quite relieved for letting it out.

She again managed to calm her nerves and her face finally relaxed after a few moments.

“Beats me, though I don’t really care about that anymore,” she shrugs, not really wanting to think about it as it only irritated her more.

“Does Larse know about what happened to you?” Brittany had a very scornful look in her eyes as she said those words.

“I’m not really sure,” she shrugs her shoulder once more.

It was the one thing she wasn’t really sure of right now, especially since she didn’t want to dig in on the subject yet.

“Did you tell him?” Brittany could not help but ask.

“I didn’t have the chance to since we only talked about business,” Crystal smile at her friend.

Yet her smirk didn’t escape Brittany’s hawk-like eyes. Immediately noticing something.

“Wait a minute. How come you know so much.” Her friend's eyes squinted giving her an ‘I smell something fishy look’ on her face.

Crystal tried to hold her laugh again, all the while she tried to remain calm and collected. “You know how my old friends love to gossip, especially if it’s about famous people from our school,” she explains, yet Brittany’s face twisted even more as she pouted.

“Uhum.” The woman just gave her a quick nod of disbelief.

“What,” she let out a snort trying to hold her laughter.

“Is there something you need to be telling me girl, because though you ain’t saying it, I can definitely feel that something is up,” Brittany’s lips were drawn in a straight line as it twitched.

“Nothing’s up, I just accidentally found out about it during our little reunion,” Crystal tried to wave it off, not wanting to bear her thoughts yet.

“You better not be thinking what I’m thinking,” Brittany glared at her.

With the tone of her best friend, Crystal knew exactly what was on her friend's mind right now as she was very familiar with that look.

“Of course not, there’s no way that I’d still chase Clyde cause of this, I can assure you, I’m over him,” she gives her best friend her widest smile.

The woman let out a sigh, massaging her temples for a moment. “Then what’s the reason for all this,” she blurts out.

“I just want to get back on track, you know. Try to gain back all those things that slipped past my grasp,” she says carefully, making sure to give a hint to avoid being suspicious.

“And meeting Larse would help you in what way exactly?” Brittany gave her another raised brow.

Prepared with that question her smile quickly grew wider. “You should know that anyone who manages to snag a deal with their company always ends up successful, or have you forgotten that?”

It was a truth that a lot of people knew about. As the man’s company had a very wide reputation for it.

Brittany let out a deep breath. “I know, I know. Though I can’t help but feel like something ain’t right here,” fanning her hands on her face her friends still seemed wary of all this.

“You’re overanalyzing things again. Weren’t you the one who told me to aim high and reach for what I want? So now I’m listening to you and doing it,” she says, deciding to end the topic there.

“There’s still something you ain’t telling me.” Brittany pouts as she glared at her again.

“It’s because I’m not even sure yet if I’d be able to do it, so as not to jinx it, I’d like to keep it to myself for now,” she says crossing her hand to her chest once more and a teasing manner.

Though she was determined to continue with her plan, there was still a part of her that was really nervous and scared. Even at that moment. There wasn’t really an assurance that she would even be able to pull it off in the first place, especially with all that’s happened to her.

“If you say so,” Brittany raised her hand in surrender as she blew her breath.

She felt a bit guilty for not being able to say everything to her friend, but she didn’t want to drag her down with her as she knew what she was about to do was going to cause trouble.

“Anyway, enough about me for now, I want to know the real reason you called me out here,” she shrugs, knowing full well that there was something else on her friend's mind.

That quickly returned the smile on Brittany’s face. “We’ll, Damien and I are going steady!” she said in a very cheerful and giggly voice.

That also somehow made Crystal feel better. “Really! Congratulations, I’m so happy for you,” she wasn’t able to hide her own joy as she was glad that at least one of them was happy with her life right now.

“I knew you would!” Brittany was all giddy as she started telling her stories.

Crystal wanting to at least ease the burden she was feeling right now, focused on listening and just enjoying the good time that she and Brittany were sharing right now.