TAMING THE PLAYBOY ALPHA - Chapter 26: Chapter 26

: FRIENDS AND FIGHTS
FREYA'S POV:
Xena crashed onto the soft plush bed layered with wool and cotton covers, sighing in sweet relief.
The warm bath definitely did a lot of good to her tensed-up joints and generally relaxed her after the most tasking day of flaunting her goddess-given talents.
I sat stiffly on the edge of my bed with a small smile - a small forced smile. Behind it though, the various thoughts revolving around her ominous history with her supposed rival and now past ex, swirl endlessly in my mind.
I smile nevertheless, because what else am I supposed to do about it? I want to pry so badly that the edges of my forced smile cracks a little but I reinforce it.
It's a delicate topic and I need to gently slide it out of her, like a very greasy baby.
"I am so out of it. I think I'm going to call it a night."
"Right now? No way."
"I have to. I'm participating in tomorrow's sparring category, remember?"
Darn it! I had forgotten about that one.
"Well... there's still so much time to retire. It's only 7 pm."
"Yeah, which means more sleeping time."
Xena could sleep like a freaking log most time which meant if I lost her now, they'd be no more opportunity to speak with her till she's off for her next tournament.
I can't last another day with this thing hanging over my head, I need to find out.
"C'mon, I rarely spend time with you these days. I feel like there's a distance brewing between us," I add puppy eyes for flare with my fabricated excuse.
She raises a brow at me lazily.
"Isn't that because Silas finds a way to steal you whenever he gets the chance?"
"Whatever the reason is, we need to have some girl time. I say we watch a movie."
I don't wait for her to object and instantly pull out her laptop from her neatly organized desk, flipping it open.
She groans but very reluctantly sits up from her bed, joining me on the floor.
I quickly click on the N*****x icon once her PC is on and it starts loading.
"I suggest while watching reruns of Legally blonde and Mean girls, we talk about our shocking high school histories, like embarrassing moments, crushes and maybe, even horrible exes."
Again she passes me a questioning glance, raising her brow.
"Maybe preferable exes. Like exes we recently dated but broke up with for unknown reasons, leading to boiling resentment and keeping it to ourselves - also probably never telling our best friend about it when she springs up in our live." I ramble.
"Wow, that's oddly specific for a topic."
"I know, right? It's a tough one. You go first." I know at this point, I'm flat out putting out what I really want to hear.
My patience is running thin and I'm too agitated to casually and slowly introduce the topic and lure her into talking about Lucas.
She looks at me like she's trying to figure some shit out, but then turns to the laptop again, tapping on the screen.
"I don't know. Is there like some other light-hearted topic? Like for example, the janitor seems more chirpier today, I'm suspecting he's got a girlfriend."
"Nice... Well, uhm... we can get right into that after mine."
She falls quiet again, tapping on her laptop. She's swiping like she's looking for some movie but I know for a fact that she's deflecting.
"Well... I don't have an ex Freya, so... I can't contribute to that very specific topic.❞
This is where I lose my shit.
"I call bullshit."
"What?"
I rise to my feet, taking the laptop away from her and dropping it on my bed.
"There's no way you have no exes."
"Okay, fine. I have a few but they're not worth talking about it. Why is this even important right now?"
It's very clear now that she's getting defensive but I push again.
"It's important because you and Lucas freaking dated and have some kind of deep history and you didn't mention it the entire time since I've met him."
"What? Who told you that?
"Does it matter who told me?"
"It's Silas, isn't it?" She fumes now. "I don't care if he's the Alpha King or freaking Johnny Depp, he definitely has no right to butt into my shit."
"That's not the point right now, Xena. Why didn't you tell me?"
I'm a little hurt by it, more than a bit. I had hoped we were close enough to talk about something so important like this.
I feel so goddamn awful for even trying to make them get along in the future instead of letting her have space away from him.
She's silent now, biting on her lower lip and avoiding my eyes.
"I get that it might have been tough for you. I mean, only goddess really knows what went down with you two, but I felt bad having to hear it from Silas. It might have been really hard for you but I'm your BFF. I just expect that you..."
"Just stop." She cuts in harshly.
"You, of all people, don't get to tell me that, Freya.
You literally have secrets that you don't tell me and I respect that, but do you see me trying to trick you into having some girl time to squeeze little details from you? Some Bff you are."
She huffs dramatically, standing up and stomping off to her bed. She aggressively throws the covers over herself and turns off the lights on her side of the room, huffing once more before going silent. Her whole body faces away from me, clearly making obvious the fact that she now pro ly hates me and won't speak to me again.
Well, just great.
Best girl time ever.
I take a full swing at my caffeine-laced soda drink, which is the closest thing to coffee the average student can get on the school campus.
The choice of caffeine had clearly been due to the lack of sleep all night long and the never-ending nag of guilt just biting at the back of my mind continuously.
She hadn't even given me the chance to apologize from the way she rushed through the whole getting- ready-process and almost raced to class, leaving me there as early as 7:30 am in my pajamas.
Now two days and sleepless nights later; not a single word from her and not a single wink of sleep.
It literally hurt fighting with her. It felt like the pain was physical. Either that or the lack of sleep was getting to me.
Now, here I am in our presidential booth at the arena an hour before the festival events for the day begins.
I finish my third bottle of liquid stimulant to keep me going. The door behind me pulls open, revealing Silas who is also an hour early, surprisingly.
"What the..." He's taken aback seeing me.
I probably look like shit right now.
"Shouldn't you be somewhere in a crowd of cute girls fawning over your arrogance and giving out autographed pictures of your face?" "Already did that." He smirks cockily, forcing an eye roll out of me. "Shouldn't you be hanging out with your BFF?"
"Ha-ha, hilarious."
I sigh, raising my bottle to my lips but then, I remember it's empty and toss it away.
Screw non-self-refilling bottles.
I need another cola.
"You do know that that doesn't fuck you up the way you're hoping it does, right?" He points out my drunken performance from just downing a full bottle of non-alcoholic cola.
Well, I feel pretty wasted.
"The world is a simulation and you're a hot-headed prick with an ego the size of your huge head, but you don't see me pointing out harsh truths in your face, do you?" "You think the world is a simulation?" He's mocking me again, as always.
I groan, turning away from him. Right now, his gorgeous face was too annoying to look at... Okay, that's a lie. Still, I didn't appreciate the mockery - not when I felt like a full-on pile of horse shit.
have
I shouldn't have tried to pry on her personal life, not when I was so secretive about mine. I should kept my mouth shut and let it go.
I'm such a darn hypocrite, the absolute worse.
"Look, don't beat yourself up about this." He says suddenly.
"Did you read my mind or something?" "Your self-loathing is written all over your face right now. Look, you fucked up probably and she doesn't want to talk to you, real sad. If you're this bothered by what she thinks, then you should hold her down and let out your feelings."
"Are you telling me to tackle the school's best female brawler? Do you not like me that much?" "No, what I'm saying is don't wait for her to finally give you a second out of her day to talk to you. You have to take matters into your own hands. Show her that you're sorry." I ponder on his advice for a while. It's weird to admit it but he's right. He's so right that
I look at him again to be sure I'm talking to Silas and not some shape shifter but I doubt anyone would be able to pull off those perfectly sculptured cheekbones effortlessly.
"Wow, you just might be right. That's actually a piece of great advice."
"Thank you?"
"Honestly I didn't think you could come up with something like that."
He chuckles, casually tucking in a wild strand of hair behind my ears. His sudden brush of skin pulls heat into my cheeks and I'm quickly nervous. "Like I said, there's a lot about me you don't know, Freya."
It seems like I've wandered too close to him in the course of our discussion and before I lose my sense too much, I put a little distance between us.
My phone chimes before the air can get awkward. I quickly search for it, anything to pull my attention from the present atmosphere.
I instantly notice that it's a text from Xena. My heart somersaults and I grow tense quickly.
"What is it?" Silas notices my change in mood too quickly.
"It's Xena. She wants me to meet her somewhere to talk."
"Isn't that what you wanted?"
I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. It was our first fight, the making or breaking point in our relationship. I can't not feel anxious.
"Yeah."
"Awesome, break a leg."