Take Me by Surprise, It Will Blind Me

It didn’t take me too long to stop my alarm from beeping, signaling me that it was already morning. The sun rays streamed into my room through the curtains and hit my eyes, making me couldn’t even go back to sleep. Feranix’s stereo was blasting out Sleeping With Sirens loudly, so it was necessary of me to stomped my way to her room next door and slammed the door open.

Feranix was painting her toenails on her carpeted floor with her hair still twisted inside a towel. She looked up from her feet and looked at me, who was still standing in the doorway. “What?”

“Could you please turn it off? It’s only 7 AM.”, I sneered before going back to my room. I mean, it was a Sunday, and I’d love to sleep in. When I passed the living room, Amy was still in her pajamas, but already had her laptop on her lap and groaned as she scratched her hair out of frustration. “What’s wrong, Ame?”

She didn’t noticed me at first and it took her 5 seconds to look up from whatever she was working. “Oh, morning. I’m just sorting through what CDs we should get into the store this month. The boss want this by tomorrow but he just gave it to me last night!”, she rambled. “How can I possibly get this done today? It’s a freaking Sunday, for God’s sake!”

“That means you wouldn’t be able to pick me up from my lunch later?”, I asked, pretty worried that I had to take the cab or something. Truth to be told, I couldn’t drive, more likely, I didn’t want to drive. My step dad died in a car accident and as much as I hated him to the core, he was still a really great step dad, so it was a bit traumatic for me to be behind a steering wheel.

“I’m sorry.”, Amy pouted. “I can’t, but if you take the cab, I’ll pay for it.”

I groaned softly before making my way back to my room. Even though it was Sunday, I still had meetings and stuff for the boutique and today, I would be having a lunch meeting with my boss, who was Arletta Stevens, the famous designer and the owner of the boutique for “someone exclusive’s” gown, like she pointed out in the IM she sent me last night.

The meeting was at 11, so I still had 3 and a half hour to lounge around my room. A certain book caught my attention, though, when I was passing my desk. It was my high school yearbook and I tempted to check it out. I sat down on my computer chair and flipped the book open, reminiscing my senior year. Most of the pictures were colored, but some of the pages had black and white pictures, making me feeling like I was transported back in time as I looked at the pictures.

My hand stopped flipping when I reached the page where there were pictures of the daily activities in school. At the middle of the page, there was a picture of Cameron and I in the chemistry lab, the very first project we did that year, and we even spent the first 15 minutes of the class, rambling in excitement that we were partners again for the gazillions of time.

I had to chuckle at the memory and other memories that we made back in high school. As much as I was the ‘ice queen’ to other people, I had to say that I’m pretty warm to my friends. While I was in this state of mind, something in my gut kicked in. That kind of kick who kicked me back to reality; I hated guys. I was scared to get into them too much, including my friends. Now I remembered that I only hung out with Cameron in school, never outside of school.

***********
“So, you wrote down all the memo, right?”, Arletta asked me after the “exclusive customer” walked out from the bistro with her manager. Spending two hours, listening to what she wanted the gown to be like, was devastating. I felt like I wanted to stab my eardrums with hot metal rod when the customer went on about how her fiancée wanted her gown to be slim and showed her curves.

I nodded as I shoved my notebook into my bag. “Yes, and I’ll E-mail it to you tonight, as well with the design I’ll have so far.”

Arletta widened her eyes on my last words. “Your design?”, she asked in disbelief.

“Honey…”, she clucked her tongue. This didn’t sound good in any possible way. “Dareen… you know I trusted you in so many ways, but… I don’t want you to design the gown for this one.”

Then, it hit me. “W-What?”

“Your designs are perfect, but… I don’t think she’ll love your style. Just let me handle this one.”, Arletta smiled before slapping her sunglasses over her eyes. “Don’t forget to go to work tomorrow.”, then with that, she stood up with the bill, dropped the bill on the cashier and walked out of the bistro.

Honestly, I could bitch out on her or just rip her head off, but I would be jobless at the end of the hour. With a groan, I stomped my way out and decided to go to Starbucks, three doors down. It was something Feranix taught me back in college; to get coffee when we’re frustrated, and I found it helpful.

The smell of the brewed coffee when I got in instantly calmed me down, but there was still a bit of rage in my system. I couldn’t help it that I just wanted to push Arletta into a cliff or a gorge because I worked my ass off for her in these two years, but she thought I wasn’t ready to design something for her “exclusive customers”.

After ordering my drink and picked it up, I found a seat at the corner, near the windows and sat on one of the armchairs. There were only a few people in the coffee shop and it helped me to clear my mind. I leaned my head back on the chair and closed my eyes, drowning myself.

“Dareen?”, a distinct voice asked. I opened my right eye and saw a guy, standing across from me with a drink in his hand. “Are you up?”

It was Cameron. Why in the world he had to show up in this kind of time?

“What?”, I hissed and opened both of my eyes, sitting up straight.

He blinked and arched his brows. “I didn’t get the memo that you’re being your ice queen self today.”

“Look, Cameron.”, I sighed. “I’m having a rough time right now, I’m sorry.”

“Do… you mind if I ask you what’s wrong?”, he shifted his weight awkwardly and glanced at the armchair next to me. I rolled my eyes and nodded, giving him a permission to sit. Cameron grinned and sat down.

“I know we’re friends since high school but we lost contact and just met again yesterday, I don’t really think I’d tell you what’s wrong.”

I could tell that he was a bit offended by it from his eyes but then again, he noticed that I could read him like a book from them. “Fine.”, he smiled and leaned back onto his seat. “But, can I at least get you back to your warm self?”

“Are you trying to seduce the ice queen, Leahy?”, I teased and narrowed my eyes. I was actually half serious about my words.

To me, guy friends are okay, but if they started to develop some feelings for me, I had no other choice than staying away. It would be the best for him, anyway.

“What?”, he chuckled. “I just wanna make a friend laugh, is that a crime?”

“No.”, I sighed. “Okay then, personal jester, do your magic.”

He just smirked at my answer and we got into a conversation about everything. We talked about our high school lives, his touring life, my job, our old inside jokes, and other random things that we got in mind. From a cup of coffee and then turned into three cups each, from day light to twilight; we time warped.

“Shit, is that the time?”, I exclaimed when I glanced at my watch and noticed it was already 5 PM. “Amy would kill me if I’m not home for Sunday Girl’s night!”

“You have that kind of night?”, Cameron laughed, sounded so amused by it.

My cheeks reddened. “Yes, we do.”

He stood up and straightened his shirt because it wrinkled a bit due to the long hours of sitting down. “Well, I gotta get back too, Trish is inviting me for dinner.”

“Oh, date night?”, I smirked.

“You know it.”, he chuckled and gave me a fist bump. “I’ll see you around, Dareen.”

I nodded and just smiled as Cameron turned around and rushed out from the coffee shop.