A/N: Hey Bobo, can we have an update on Sharing the Life now? )
CHAPTER 2TENSION AND PRETENSIONS
"Good morning, baby…" A sweet, sultry voice whispers in Katie's ears. Her eyes remained closed, but a smile forms in her face. Perfect way to wake up, though she isn't really intending to get up from bed anytime soon. After that walk at the beach with Kim at 3:00 a.m. that took hours, she still wasn't able to fall asleep soon. Her mind kept drifting into that one forbidden thought.
The thought of that flowing blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and that very sweet yet sexy smile…
Shit, I'm doing it again… Katie forces the thought out of her head and opens her eyes instead. Her gaze falls on the grinning blonde lying in front of her.
"Hi…" Katie greets her girlfriend.
"Come on, get up, we got to go." Carla kisses her on the forehead and jumps out of bed. It was then that Katie realize Carla was already dressed to go out.
"Go where?" Katie's forehead contorts, and talks almost lazily. She checks the clock on the bedside table. 7:00 a.m., which means she only had an hour of sleep.
"Boracay Regency. Grace called, we're having breakfast with them." Carla heads to the nearby mirror and looks at herself. Then she speaks again.
"I don't look so bad." Carla then smiles.
"You never looked bad." Katie compliments her. Carla turns around to face the direction of the bed again. Slowly, she walks back, and kneels on the floor so she would be eye-level with Katie.
"I know… But you have to get up now." Carla reiterates. Grace said 7:00 o'clock, and the clock just ticked 7:01. Not that she mind being late, but Grace is a sucker for punctuality. And besides, she feels like seeing the beach early.
"Can't I just sleep and stay here all day?" Katie pouted like a child. Carla finds her adorable, as usual, and leans over and gives her a short kiss.
"We didn't fly all the way to this country so you could sleep in this antiquated hut. Where's your sense of adventure?" Carla encourages her girlfriend.
"I feel tired." Katie whines.
"Me too, but who cares? There's a lot to do out there." Carla jumps into her feet and heads to the door.
"Can't we do that later?" Katie said. Carla stops on the door before opening it, turns and fixes her eyes on Katie. Katie isn't the type who stays in bed until 8:00 a.m., it just isn't her.
"What's wrong?" Carla finally asks.
"What?" Katie was suddenly alarmed. Can she see through me? Does she know what's bothering me? Katie then tried to look as normal as she can.
"You're the one who insisted that I cancel all of my photoshoots and magazine interviews so we could have this vacation with your friends… Why are you acting otherwise now? You don't look so excited." Carla ran her right hand in Katie's forehead, making sure that she isn't sick. Of course, Katie isn't sick, just trying to avoid a certain someone.
"Fine… I'll just change my clothes." Katie finally gives up and decides not to argue. Skipping breakfast might probably cause her more problems that would demand more explanations from her. And why was she having problems with this anyway? It's just breakfast, right? Despite of Jessie Sammler's presence, everything will be okay, right? Katie has a girlfriend, and Jessie has her own boyfriend. It's not like they had a past to begin with, so why is she letting herself get affected by this stupid thought? It's just Jessie…
But that's exactly what's bugging Katie. IT IS JESSIE…
Boracay Regency… Jessie, Adrian, Grace, Tad, Kim and Nikki are already gathered and having their breakfast at the said hotel. Grace had been glancing at her watch, wondering where her remaining friends had gone. It was 7:30 a.m., and the lack of sense of time isn't making Grace happy.
"Where are they?" Grace said, tapping the fingers of her right hand on the table. Tad smiles at her.
"They'd be here, relax. It's not like they are going to miss anything. It's just breakfast." Tad said. Grace sneers at him.
"We are supposed to eat together. What's so hard to understand?" Grace replies impatiently.
"Tad's right, Grace. Besides, they're adults. They'll eat if they're hungry. Maybe they're just making the most of their time. Now that both of you are here and won't be able to distract them." Nikki says mischievously then grins, giving Kim a wink. Kim looks at her with open mouth.
"What?" Grace growls at Nikki this time. Katie had obviously told Nikki about the 'distractions' Grace and Tad had been doing. Not that Grace was doing it on purpose. She really just had awful timing lately.
"Leave those lovebirds alone. They probably haven't had sex in the last month with the two of you barging in whenever they're about to start." Nikki laughs, Kim merely smiles. Adrian finds her story funny and laughs along. Jessie merely listens. She barely throws a look at the people in front of her.
"So, you like Carla now?" Tad raises his eyebrow at Nikki. Nikki almost spits her coffee and snarls at him in disbelief.
"What?!" Nikki exclaims in the most exaggerated way.
"Shouldn't you be happy that we're practically ruining their sex life for you?" Tad grins. Grace narrows her eyes on her husband but he ignores it.
"Why would I be happy about that?" Nikki frowns at him. Tad shrugs.
"I don't know, you tell me." Tad winks at Nikki. Nikki's jaw drops.
"I am not after Katie, okay? God, how many times do I have to reiterate that?" Nikki lets out a deep breath. "Why wont the two of you just leave their sex life alone?" Nikki points at Tad and Grace simultaneously.
What is it about Nikki that concerns Katie? Jessie just couldn't help her curiosity anymore.
"Uhm… Wait, I think I've been gone really long… You and Katie?" Jessie finally speaks, and this time, she was looking at Nikki. Adrian isn't much of a talker, so he just listens to Jessie's friends while they are having this animated lesbian conversation, which he thought was interesting.
"You don't know?" Kim looks at Jessie in amusement.
"Know…?" Jessie's forehead contorts in curiosity.
"They dated for a few months." Kim confirms, 'coz Nikki just isn't in the mood to talk anymore. This 'Katie-talk' is starting to get to her. Her friends are accusing her of something she isn't capable of: loving someone.
"Really?" Jessie stares at Nikki. Nikki merely shrugs. Jessie didn't know how to react on Nikki's confirmation, but it created some sort of emotional whirlwind inside of her.
"You really should have stayed in Evanston, Jess. Lots of things had changed." Tad smiles at her. Jessie returns it.
"Yeah, I noticed…" Jessie answers almost quietly and looks back down at her plate.
"So… What do you do?" Kim throws the question at Adrian's direction.
"Me? I fly a commercial airplane." Adrian smiles at Kim, glad that someone finally starts a conversation with him. Being isolated in a conversation between friends never felt good. At least they are starting to notice his existence. If it wasn't for Jessie, he wouldn't be here.
"Wow, that's cool." Kim replies.
"He's a pilot at Qantas. Come on man, when are you teaching me how to fly?" Tad looks eagerly at Adrian. Adrian looks apologetically.
"Sorry man, but I'm afraid that's not possible. Too dangerous, and I'm not licensed to do that." Adrian chuckles. The only way that a person would be allowed to fly a plane is to go to flight school and get a license.
"Have you met John Travolta? He's a pilot too, right?" Nikki finally pays attention to their guest, and looks in with interest.
"Well, I had a run in with him once, but I never saw him since… He's too busy with movies, I guess. So, the only plane he's flying right now is his own jet." Adrian replies.
Just then, Katie and Carla walked in, holding each other's hand. Katie managed to smile at everyone, but made sure she isn't keeping too much eye contact. She did see Jessie throw a rather shy smile at her, and she smiled back. The awkward exchanged unapparent to their friends.
"What took you guys so long?" Grace narrows her eyes at Katie. Katie slightly blushes.
"I didn't have enough sleep…" Katie answers.
"I had to pull her out of bed." Carla interjects. Tad grins.
"I bet." Tad laughs. The nasty look Katie had thrown his direction silenced him for a bit, but then he starts laughing again. The waiter approaches their table and writes down Katie and Carla's order. Adrian moved closer and wraps his arms around Jessie, which Jessie, noticeably, barely acknowledged. Nikki looks indifferent. Kim tries to control the urge to spy on Katie and Jessie. Katie tries to be civil. Carla, Grace, and Tad were having an animated conversation about their previous night at Coco Mangas.
Katie watches her friends and girlfriend in amusement. They hung out all night at Coco Mangas and still, they couldn't stop talking about it. They must have had a good time. She would have stayed and joined in the fun, but she wasn't in the mood to celebrate anything. Maybe it's the exhaustion of the trip… Or maybe it's something else…
"Wait a minute…" Adrian says while staring at Carla. He had already joined the conversation, and Jessie didn't even notice. She was busy staring at someone else to even pay attention to her boyfriend.
"What? Just make sure whatever you're going to say is going to make sense, okay? We're having enough gibberish talk from Nikki since yesterday. One doofus would be enough." Carla sneers playfully at Nikki's direction. Nikki's jaw drops in mock shock.
"Who are you calling a doofus?" Nikki says indignantly.
"You are." Carla grins.
"I'm not a doofus." Nikki sounds unyielding, then crosses her arms.
"DOOFUS." Carla widens her smile, which annoys Nikki even more, giving Carla the satisfaction of seeing her annoyed. Katie, instead of mediating between her girlfriend and her ex, merely sat watching in amusement. Not that she's seeing or hearing everything that's going on. She could barely focus on anything anymore, or at least since yesterday.
"When are you guys ever going to give each other a break?" Kim frowns at her childish friends. Who would have thought that these professionals act like a kid most of the time?
"You are Carla Farrell." Adrian still stares in open-mouthed astonishment. He had been spending time with these people since yesterday and it was only now that he actually paid attention to look at each of their faces. He couldn't believe he's looking at the eyes of one of the Victoria's Secret supermodels.
"Uh… We were introduced yesterday." Carla chuckles in amusement. She gets that a lot. Carla looks really gorgeous with all those camera magic and make up. But in person, despite the lack of make up, she's still gorgeous. Though you wouldn't recognize her if you don't actually stare at her.
"Yeah… I mean, no…" Adrian laughs at his silliness. "I mean, you ARE Victoria's Secret's Carla Farrell." Adrian's face slightly blushes in his stupidity. How could he have not noticed last night? Certainly, the lights at Bora Spa were enough to recognize someone. But his attention was monopolized by another gorgeous blonde, whom he couldn't seem to get enough of as days go by…
Remembering Jessie who was still sitting beside him, he wrapped his arms around her tighter, and gives her a kiss on the side of her head. Another shy smile forms in Jessie's face, which Katie saw from the corner of her eye.
"I get that a lot." Carla replies cheerily. Nikki gets up from her chair.
"I'm going surfing." Nikki says. Kim frowns at her. Carla finds the opportunity to taunt her.
"You can't surf in Boracay. There's no wave." Carla says incredulously. Nikki stops walking and turns around to face the group again. Everyone's attention is on her, well, still, except her ex's, and Jessie, who find the food on their plate more interesting.
"Of course there's wave. It wont be classified an ocean if there's no wave." Nikki tries to sound the smartest as she could.
"But you can't surf with that wave." Carla shrugs with a sarcastic smile. Nikki growls at her and strides out of the hotel.
"What do you have against her?" Tad's voice comes from Carla's right side. So Carla turns her head to face her friends again.
"Huh?" Carla asks.
"Why do you hate each other so much?" Tad followed up with that question. Carla frowns. She doesn't like Nikki, definitely not. But hate her? Hate is a strong word. She doesn't hate Nikki.
"I don't hate her."
"Sure you do." Tad says knowingly.
"Tad, shut up. You're a guy, and you probably don't know what you're talking about half the time." Carla says dismissively, making Tad turn red. He then turns his head to Adrian's direction for help. Adrian smiles and comes to Tad's rescue. Carla just started THE debate.
Katie was getting bored of her situation. She wasn't that eager to join the conversation, and having Jessie sitting in front of her is making her all tongue-tied. She excused herself from Carla, and from everyone, then jogs out of the hotel, hoping to catch up with Nikki.
Nikki was still walking, heading to the shore when Katie caught up with her.
"Nicole!" Nikki turns around upon hearing that familiar voice calling her name. She plasters a smile as she sees Katie.
"Katherine Anne." Nikki jokes. She knows how much Katie hates the 'Anne', but the ex didn't chastised her for calling her that.
"You serious about that surfing thing?" Katie asks in amusement. Looking at the waves, you'll barely even move your surfboard.
"No. I just needed a way to get out." Nikki laughs. Katie laughs with her.
"So… Do you like it here?" Katie was curious. Nikki stares at the water. The sun was rising, and it was a very pleasant morning. It was a very serene environment, and it gives you a very peaceful feeling.
"Of course." Nikki smiles sincerely.
"About Carla---" Katie was interrupted before she could continue.
"Katie, I don't hate your girlfriend, okay?" Nikki looks up at Katie and meets her eyes, conveying the genuineness of what she had just said.
"Okay…" Katie says slowly, anticipating for Nikki to continue. She cares for Nikki. She's her friend, and they had been friends for a really long time. She hopes Nikki could try harder and try to be civil, if not nice, towards her fiancée. Carla means a lot to her, and Nikki too.
"We just don't get along, that's all. But it's not because of you." Nikki says firmly. Katie's forehead contorts.
"Really?" Katie sounded disappointed and incredulous at the same time. Nikki playfully punches her on her right shoulder.
"Really…" Nikki smiles. Katie believes her. When she broke up with Nikki, she knew she made the right decision: she and Nikki will be better off as friends. Together, they'll just ruin each other's lives.
"So, you want to try out the waves now?" Katie jokes and motions to the ocean. Nikki gives the ocean a brief look and shakes her head.
"Nah… I was thinking of parasailing. Wanna come?"
"No thanks. You go, have fun." Katie smiles. Nikki gives her a high five and walks away. Katie watches her, when that soft, female voice sounded from behind her.
"You're so full of surprises."
Katie made a sudden turn to find the owner of the voice that made her heart beat frantically, as if it was trying to get out of her chest. Jessie's presence, now in front of her, was so powerful, that for a moment, she even forgot to breathe…
This isn't normal… Breathe Singer… Breathe!
"Hey…" That was all Katie managed to say at first.
"You and Nikki?" Jessie says, looking amused, and intrigued, and curious. Katie, normally, wouldn't want to talk about her and Nikki's past. They both decided it was a mistake. They were each other's rebound relationship. Both of them just wanted to forget it, but instances like these are unavoidable.
Where did she even find out?
"Yeah, well…" Katie shrugs. She really has no idea what to say.
"Who would have thought?" Jessie chuckles. Katie smiles. She loves the way Jessie laughs. She has this really cute laugh, a contagious laugh.
"Things like that happen, you know… Sometimes to hurt you… And then to teach you." Katie didn't realize she was already staring at Jessie's blue eyes, and Jessie was staring back.
"Congratulations…" Jessie spoke, almost a whisper, then she looks away from Katie. Katie was disappointed that she didn't get to hold the blonde's gaze longer, but it was probably better that the other girl made the first move to look away.
"What?" Katie has no idea why Jessie was congratulating her. Jessie smiled, but decides not to look at Katie and focuses her eyes on the sand, as she plays with it with her feet.
"I heard you're getting married…" Jessie's voice almost faltered just by saying that last part. When Grace called her in Australia and asked her to join them at this vacation in this tropical island in Asia, she was hesitant. But when Grace enumerated the reasons why she shouldn't pass it up (i.e. Katie and Carla's engagement and Kim's medical board exam), Jessie immediately packed her bags and prepared herself in going to the Philippines. She wasn't intending on taking Adrian along with her. In fact, she never even thought about telling him about it. But he found out about Grace's invitation, and wanted to come along. Jessie just couldn't say no.
"I am…" Katie wanted to smile, to let Jessie know that she's happy with Carla… But she couldn't. She is happy with Carla, of course, but she just couldn't smile about it now… Standing in front of Jessie is bringing her too many good and painful memories. And when in front of Jessie, she couldn't even think about Carla…
"That's why I'm congratulating you."
"Yeah… Thanks." Katie sounded almost stupidly. They fell in short silence. It was a bit awkward, but nothing that Katie couldn't handle.
It's just Jessie… Just Jessie…
"And congratulations to you too…" Katie greets back, though not as sincere as she would have preferred to sound.
"For what?"
"You and Adrian." Katie could swear she almost choke with that last word, rather name.
"Me and Adrian? We're not even engaged."
"Yeah, but you will be…" Katie trails off. For a moment she looks out in the sea, her mind drifting into a daydream of Jessie looking so happy, but in the arms of someone else… Katie winced upon feeling a familiar sting in her heart, a sting she hadn't felt in a long time…
"How can you tell?" Jessie looks at Katie with interest, but the dirty blonde wouldn't even turn around to look at her again. She seemed too engrossed watching the waves hit the shore… But Katie replied.
"You're not the type who would grow old without someone by your side…" Katie says thoughtfully. Still, she kept her eyes on the sea. Jessie merely watched her back. She wished Katie would turn around again, so she could look at those beautiful green eyes, but Katie's back remained facing her.
"Doesn't mean it's going to be Adrian." It was Jessie's reply that surprised Katie. But Katie managed to hide her astonishment. Jessie's statement caught her a bit off guard. For a while, Katie pondered on what to say to that… She isn't sure how Jessie could even say that. Adrian is her boyfriend. Isn't she supposed to be the happy and dreamy girlfriend? Katie turns around again, looking at Jessie.
"You deserve to be happy, Jess… And he seems like a nice guy…"
"Are you saying that he's good enough for me?" Jessie asks her seriously, her facial expression matching her question, and her blue eyes piercing through Katie's green orbs, as if challenging her…
"Isn't he?" Katie challenges her. Their eyes locked with each other's, daring each other to look away first. It became almost like a competition between them, and not one of them wants to look away.
But the challenge did not last long, as Katie was distracted when a volleyball hit her in the head. It wasn't that hard, and she didn't fall on the sand. But it did hurt a bit. The local tourists who were playing profusely apologized to the dirty blonde, which Katie pleasantly accepted. Upon hearing Jessie giggling, Katie turned her attention back to her companion.
"Don't laugh at me." Katie could feel her face blushing.
"I'm sorry…" But Jessie continued laughing. And amused with herself, Katie laughed with her.
"It's great to see you again, Jess…" Katie smiles at her.
"Same here, Katie…" Jessie smiles back, with that smile that 'used' to take Katie's breath away… I had to quote it, 'coz right now, Katie forgot how to breathe again…
