Take Me by Surprise, It Will Blind Me

It was Tuesday and I didn't have anything to do for the day. Arletta closed all the boutiques for today because she would need the shop attendants to help her out at her launching party. She didn't need me because I got the holy job to build a catalog for next season, which I already finished since last night.

Tonight would be the night of Cameron's band, The Downtown Fiction, had a show at Jammin' Java, which I got invited, so did Amy and Feranix. They were ecstatic to go but I, as usual, acted the opposite. We went to gazillion shows in Jammin' Java, so it would be as ordinary as it could get. Last night, while I was doing the catalog in the living room, Amy already planned her outfit for the show.

"Ame, it's just a show.", I reminded her while scribbling on my note pad which dresses and gowns we should display in the next season.

"It's the first time I'll see Eric on stage!", she exclaimed. "With a crowd. Last time I saw him play his drums was back in senior year, in his garage... Only with Cameron."

"Well, he's with Cameron too tomorrow night... And David, plus that other guy."

"You mean Wes?"

I nodded and rolled my eyes a bit. "Yes, Wes or whoever."

"He's nice, you know.", Amy grinned. Everytime she would hook me up with someone, she'd say 'he's nice', it was like a magic spell.

"Amelia Devandra, I beg you, don't hook me up with Wes."

She pouted and sauntered away to her room. I know she meant nice by helping me get out from my paranoia of guys, but I didn't need to be 'hooked up' with every guy she know.

I was still bundled up inside my covers when suddenly, Feranix burst into my room. I was half asleep when she did and when I looked at my clock, it was only 2 PM.

"Go away.", I groaned, but sounded muffled because my face was under the cover.

"Get ready. We're gonna get lunch first with the guys."

Oh God. Some snarky comments were already in the tip of my tongue, but I bit it in a reminder that Feranix was my friend. After she left, I stayed on my bed for a bit longer then decided to take a shower first.

When I looked into the mirror in the bathroom, my hair caught my attention. Cameron noticed that my hair was brighter than my natural red hair in high school because I dyed it. Most people who knew me since high school, except for Amy and Feranix, didn't even notice that it was dyed. They thought it was just because the sunlight or something. A smile crept onto my lips, thinking how Cameron noticed it; it was really nice to be noticed.

Then, Dareen the ice queen kicked my gooey self on the gut, pushing me out back to reality. "Shit."

I turned on the shower and quickly stood under the cold running water. Why would I had that kind of thought? He was my friend and as far as I know, he had a girlfriend. Where was my ice queen self? Why was it only here when I was being gooey? I needed to pull myself together.

After I was done with the shower, I dried myself and changed in the bathroom, just for future references. God knows the guys would be outside and caught me only wrapped in a towel. When I was finished, I got out from the bathroom and almost screamed in happiness for my woman intuition; Eric and David were already sitting down on the couch, watching TV.

"What's up with you?", David asked and cocked his brow as he turned his attention from the TV, to me.

I smirked and flipped my still damped hair. "Nothing. It's just great to be a girl.", with that, I sauntered to my room. It didn't took long to blow dry my hair and put some make up on. A trick so I wouldn't look trashy was to put a simple make up on; eyeliner and lipgloss, nothing more and nothing less.

When I went out from my room, everyone already gathered in the living room. "You ready?", Feranix asked.

I nodded. "Yeah."

We got out from the apartment and went down the walk up to the parking lot. Surprisingly, all five of us could fit into David's car. He was driving, Eric sat shotgun, while Amy, Feranix and I on the backseat. We sang along to some Jimmy Eat World while on our way to the nearest Denny's for a late lunch before we would go to Jammin' Java. It felt like back in high school for Prom; we'd have dinner first then go to the country club.

The drive wasn't that far and when we got to Denny's, we quickly parked the car and got in. I could even hear David's stomach growling on the ride. The inside wasn't that crowded because lunchtime was already ended and there were just some people, including Cameron, Trish and someone else, sitting on the booth in the corner.

"Hey, guys!", Cameron called and waved his hands to get our attention. "Over here!"

David, Eric, Amy and Feranix walked in front of me because honestly, I didn't want to meet Trish this soon after yesterday. When she noticed me walking to the booth, she quickly hooked her arm around Cameron's and leaned her head on his shoulder. Was she really that dim?

"Sorry we took so long, beauty queen over there needed her sleep.", Eric teased, motioning to me.

I slid into the booth, sitting next to Feranix, David and Eric, and Amy sat on the end of table; it was the U shaped booth kind. "Well, I need to look good, right?", I grinned and tucked a piece of my red hair into the back of my ear.

Eric just stuck his tongue out and the others chuckled, but Trish just firmed her hold on Cameron more. The unknown guy kept staring at me and I looked over to him, smiling. "I haven't got your name. It's inappropriate to not introduce yourself to a girl."

"I-I...", he stammered. One thing I always loved to see was a guy being all nervous around me; from fear or amazement. "I'm Wes..."

"Wes... Unique.", I commented and it left a shy smile on his face. We ordered our food and got a little conversation built while we waited. Wes kept on glancing at me now and then, but I felt pretty pity for him; he didn't know how I work around guys. Most of them were just for fun, due to my paranoia of commitment and "true love".

Cameron, who already knew how I worked around guys, just glared slightly at me when I did some flirting with Wes. I just cocked my brow at him, telling him to shut it.

When we got to Jammin' Java, some of the kids were already lining up in front of the doors. We had to go to the back door or the guys would get mobbed; it was really their choice. The crews were already setting up and we just followed the guys to the dressing room.

Everyone just piled up into the medium size room and laughters quickly boomed against the walls. I decided to go to the bathroom because the 2 cans of Diet Coke I consumed back at Denny's already made their way down. The bathroom was just a turn from the dressing room, but it was at the end of the hallway. When I got in, it was empty. I done my business and when I got out from the stall, Trish was washing her hands in one of the sinks.

"Ah, we meet again.", she smirked and dried her hands by shaking it lightly.

I rolled my eyes. "What is it, Trish? Do you have some kind of problem with me?"

"Problem? What did you ever do to get into a problem with me?", she pouted fakely and her bitchiness dripped from every word she said. "Oh, I don't know, Dareen, probably the fact that you're trying to get my boyfriend's attention!"

Bingo. My guessing was right. "You're crazy. Cameron and I are long time friends, do you really think I'd like him after a couple of days of reuniting?"

"I know everything about the two of you.", she hissed and pointed at my face with her index finger, which looked sharp and long, like it could stab me any moment. "You two were buddies back in high school, had the same classes from first to last period, except for Advance Math, and I know how Cameron looked like when he told me his high school stories, mostly had you in it!"

"Wow.", I just breathed. She knew everything and she was completely crazy. "Just because he got me in every story he told you, doesn't mean I'd have him in every story of mine."

Trish just glared at me and suddenly, out of nowhere, she pushed me back into the stall and closed the door hardly, breaking the door's lock on the process. She tried to open it a few times, but I got locked inside the stall. "Oops, seems like you're gonna spend the night inside a toilet, Dareen."

"You bitch! Get me out of here!", I banged the door.

"Nope. I'll just see you... Whenever until someone gets you out.", she laughed and I heard her footsteps walking out the bathroom before it fell completely silent.

I was fucked up. Tried to fix the lock or something would just waste my time and my phone didn’t get any signal in here, So, I went with the most simple way; scream. “Hey! Is anybody there?!”

The noise from outside got rowdier because the doors were already opened and the kids were already inside the venue. It was muffled, but it assured me that my voice wouldn’t even be heard through that door. I sat down on the toilet after getting the lid down and sighed.