How I Met your Other Mother

Chapter 5. Rude Person's Boyfriend

Chapter 5: The Rude Person's Boyfriend

"Girl, if you were a Transformer, you'd be Optimus Fine."

Cameron Connie T. James grinned, handing Natasha a single red rose. The model only gave her an are-you-kidding-me look.

"Still hitting on me, I see," Natasha rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. She smelled the flower and carefully put it on her dresser.

Cee cee only shrugged, admiring the beauty in front of her. "Will you go out with me this Saturday?"

"Sorry, I'm having a headache this weekend," Natasha replied nonchalantly.

Cee grinned, unaffected by the rejection. And besides, she was used to being rejected by women a lot.

"Oh come on. I know you want me. Go on, ask me out."

Natasha sighed, feigning a bored look, "Okay, go out."

Cee then let out the laugh she had been holding in since their exchange. "Gee Nat, you're really good at comebacks, aren't you?"

Natasha playfully slapped Cee's arm. "I told you to not call me Nat."

"Okay... Nat," Cee stuck her tongue out at Natasha like some middle schooler.

Natasha could only roll her eyes. "And besides, after years of being hit on, you kinda learn a comeback or two."

Their conversation was cut short when Dinah came up behind Natasha and told the both of them that everything was all set. Cee, without even knowing why, held her hand out to help Natasha stand, seeing she was wearing 6-inch heels.

It has been two weeks since the incident at Spiral and still,  their relationship consisted mostly of Cee playfully trying to flirt with Natasha and the latter half-heartedly telling her to stop. It was light and playful, just to make their jobs a little less boring. But Cee loved every bit of it.

Cee went to stand behind her camera and watched as Natasha slowly approached the bed in the middle of the studio. Natasha dropped the robe she was wearing before gracefully crawling in the middle of the bed and laying down. She was clad in a black, VS lingerie and nothing more. Cee's hands started to shake while she focused her camera on Natasha's body. All of the sudden, Natasha gave the camera a sultry look, ready to be photographed.

Cee cee swallowed the huge, imaginary lump on her throat. Her breath hitched and her cheeks flamed up.

Oh god. Thank you for thy blessings. How generous of you to let me, and a billion other people be given a goddess like Natasha.

With trembling hands, Cee took a picture blindly, not even trusting herself to look into the viewfinder. Because Natasha De la Cruz definitely gave a whole new meaning to the old, worn out phrase 'make love to the camera'.

Their shoot for the day had ended half an hour ago. Cee had already packed and cleaned her personal camera, slinging it over her shoulder. She then went on her way to the parking lot when she saw a beautiful Mercedes convertible parked a few cars away from her own. She whistled, admiring the beauty when she then noticed a man leaning on it, his back towards her. When he turned, Cee saw that he was strikingly handsome.

Hey, she's gay, but not blind.

His caramel colored skin glowed under the sun, and he radiated confidence and masculinity.  He was also on his phone, and loudly so. Cee couldn't help but eavesdrop.

"-I know baby. But I can't. My father wants me tonight. Mmm.. Yeah? How about I make it up you? Spend the night over next week and do naughty things to you all night long?"

Cee's face scrunched up. That, and the rest of the vulgar words she heard next, she didn't want to hear. She was about to enter her own car when she noticed the man looking up and waving. She followed his gaze and found a smiling Natasha starting to walk towards them, bags in both hands.

"Hey baby, I'll call you later, I'm running late for my meeting." Cee heard the man say in a slightly hushed voice before ending the call.

What really surprised Cee was when Natasha came up in front of the man and gave him a kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Hey babe," the man said after the kiss, dropping his hand into Natasha's perfect behind.

Wait, what?

That is the guy she's dating? That's her boyfriend? Does he even know that he is her boyfriend?

Cee immediately disliked the guy. Even more so when he got inside his car, leaving Natasha to carry her own bags and put it in his car's trunk. He didn't even open the door for her.

Unbelievable.

Well, Cee is into the whole gender equality thing and hates double standards too, but seriously? If she was the one dating Natasha she would lay a red carpet wherever Natasha walked, never let her do anything remotely stressful, and never have her open another goddamn door for herself.

It wasn't about the gender thing. It's just showing how much you adore and care about your significant other.

She shook her head.

******

"So, did it hurt?"

Natasha stopped texting and lifted her gaze up, finding a grinning Cameron. She gave her a confused look. "Did what hurt?"

"When you fell from heaven?"

At that, the model and chef blushed and opened her mouth to deliver a snappy comeback, but got nothing. That only made Cee  smile wider.

"Yasss. Score 1 for me!" Cee pumped her fist up in victory.

"Yeah," Natasha rolled her eyes, trying to look annoyed despite blushing. "So now it's Cameron: 1, Natasha 100."

Cee laughed softly and slumped down beside Natasha. "Date me already," she teased.

"Sorry. I have a boyfriend. You can try next millennia though," Natasha replied with a smirk.

Now it was Cee's turn to raise an eyebrow, donning that famous I-know-something-that-you-don't look. "Oh really?"

"What?"

"Hmmm... I have a feeling that your boyfriend is a fuckboy," Cee gave Natasha a small grin.

"Fuckboy? Really? That's very millennial of you to say," Natasha crossed her arms across her chest.

"Want to put it into a test? Okay then. First off, he is obsessed with his car. Cares more about it than anything or anyone."

Natasha raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Then he says all his exes are crazy." By then, Natasha had put her phone down, giving Cee her attention.

"Then, he probably doesn't introduce you to his friends," Cee continued.

"He's just a busy man!" Nat exclaimed defensively, realizing what she said after she saw Cee's grinning face.

"Busy? I bet," Cee scoffed. "And he probably has the phrase 'Oxford Dictionary in the streets, Urban Dictionary in the sheets' as his IG bio."

At that, Natasha's eyes widened. "Wait, do you know Dan?"

"So his name is Dan," Cee grinned triumphantly. "And he is a fuckboy."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "He's not. Drop it."

"Okay, whatever you say, princess." Cee winked before standing up and walking away from the confused Filipina.

************

"So you're saying that this dude she's dating is cheating on her?"

Chelsea asked as she watched her best friend toss a popcorn in the air and catch it with her mouth. Naturally, she failed and the popcorn went into her eyes. Chelsea rolled her eyes.

"Cee, there's a perfectly good way to eat popcorn. Here, let me show you," and with that, the blonde made a show of  getting a fistful of popcorn slowly and jamming the whole thing into her mouth.

"You're disgusting, Chels. Anyways, yeah. The things he said to his side chick made me want to apologize to my own ears."

"His side chick? How do you know that Miss Natasha isn't the side chick?"

Cee laughed. "He may be stupid, but not that stupid. Nat isn't the side chick type. She's the one you introduce to your parents and bring down to the altar type," the photographer finished.

"Damn. You got it bad!" Chelsea laughed and threw a popcorn at her best friend.

"I know. I really like her." She pouted and laid her head on Chelsea's shoulder. "I have zero percent chance with her anyways. She way out of my league."

"You'll be a spinster."

"And so will you! You are allergic to commitment," Cee spat back playfully.

Chelsea giggled, and for a few moment, both of them went quiet. Until Chelsea broke the silence.

"Hey Cee?"

"Hmmmm?"

"How about we marry each other instead?"

At that, the chubby brunette let out a laugh.

"Seriously? Chelsea, I'm not that desperate yet." Cee kept giggling and Chelsea was forced to slap an arm.

"Not now, you i***t. When we're like 35 or 36 and still single af. You love me, and I love you right? As a friend, of course. And we will never leave each other. So what the hell? Let's get married." Came Chelsea's long winded explanation. Cee actually pushed back a bit to see if her best friend was serious.

She was. Or it looked like she was.

"I actually see your point. It's still pretty desperate, but it does makes sense. Who else to start a pretty wacky family than my best friend, right? And besides, we still have years to find someone. Who knows?"

"So, is that a yes?"

"It's a yes," Cee grinned, laying her head back into Chelsea's shoulder.

"I totally proposed wearing my spongebob pajamas," Chelsea giggled with Cee.

"Don't worry. You still look cute."

After several minutes, Chelsea heard light snoring. She looked down and saw Cee happily sleeping against her. She rolled her eyes and carefully moved Cee into a comfortable position on the couch. She draped Cee's favorite blanket over her and watched her for a second.

Finally, she leaned in and kissed Cee on the forehead.

"Sleep well, Cee."

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