Chapter Time-Frame: All future chapters are set after what we saw when the TV show ended!
CHAPTER 9 - ANGELS ON CLOUD NINE
Two weeks after the Hugo/Josh mission, things couldn't have possibly been any better for Eve. That guy was long forgotten, her clumsiness and disorientation had eased down, although her palms kept on sweating each time Bosley was around. At least now it felt good knowing what was going on with her and finally being able to accept that fact. However, she was keeping it simple, she didn't want anyone else to know. It was her feelings, her life, hence, her problem.
The Angels found themselves cracking a few more hard cases, most of which left them with cuts and bruises. Whenever that happened, they knew they should expect a really nice gesture from Charlie: either a nice relaxing weekend at an exotic location or a big fat check to cover all their shopping needs. This time, however, Bosley had a little something to do with the surprise vacation as well.
"Good morning, Angels." Charlie greeted on a Thursday morning, 9 am. But after a celebratory Wednesday night with dancing and drinking it didn't feel like a morning, it was no good time to be awake and in the office.
"Good morning, Charlie!" The girls cheered and Bosley chuckled. They were so full of energy. He felt like he was still drunk from last night, seeing the Energizer Bunny right in front of him, tripled.
"I'm in a hurry for a very important meeting, so I will only say that your services won't be needed until Monday. I'll let Bosley explain the rest. Have a good weekend, Angels." The man truly sounded busy.
"Wow, thanks, Charlie." Abby cheered and looked at Bosley, expecting to hear everything.
All three girls sat back comfortably, doing their usual actions for when they were curious and under pressure to hear something: Abby was chewing on the straw of her Frappuccino, Kate was tucking her hair behind her ears as if she wanted nothing to stand in her way of hearing the good news faster and Eve, well, she usually kept her poker face on, but she was swaying her legs left and right and Bosley could tell she was biting on her lip from the inside.
Bosley gulped, the girls could tell there was something he was hiding behind his back and he seemed a little pale. Charlie made it sound like a fun thing, although Bosley was now contradicting it with his actions.
"Err, Bos?" Eve urged him to speak, her eyes piercing right through him. If curiosity had a face, even though it was a Poker Face, it would look a lot like Eve.
"Okay, so here's the thing…" Bosley started off and Abby sighed.
"Bos, the last time you started a sentence with "here's the thing", we ended up getting our asses beat on a stranded island." The blonde one cringed, remembering a mission they had where the only option to succeed was for the girls to give themselves in while Bosley would find a way to rescue them, along with some other prisoners.
"No, don't worry. This is a good thing…" He trailed off, allowing himself to inhale and then sigh before he muttered. "…I think."
"Come on, Bos. I'm an ex-cop. I don't like suspense. What is it!?" Kate urged him with a smile.
He fidgeted a little before bringing his right hand in front of him, holding four tickets and four very elegant invitations.
"Right. So…my sister is getting married and we're all invited." He said shortly. There were so many more details to the story, but he was stalling.
"Your sister is getting married!?" Kate exclaimed happily, it sounded like a positive thing, like she was happy for the news.
"Someone is marrying your sister!?" Abby was startled. She made it sound like this girl was the biggest bitch on the planet. Abby had a way of belittling people when she spoke. Manhattan had taught her how to be cruel.
"Wait…" Eve's jaw dropped. "You have a sister!?" She couldn't believe that after all those months of working together this was the first time she ever heard about it. Abby and Kate seemed to already know this pretty huge fact about Bosley.
Before Bosley could open his mouth to reply, Abby started explaining. "Yeah, you see…like a month before you joined us, this bitch came out of nowhere and she attacked us." She said, dramatizing it mercilessly.
"Oh, come on, Abbs. She was just looking for her brother." Kate explained, she was the source of info that Eve was bound to believe.
"In my face?" Abby asked, crossing her legs like a drama queen. "She was all up in my space. Like, she was standing inches away from me, yelling and throwing her hands in the air, speaking Spanglish and demanding to see her brother." She added and it didn't seem like a made up thing. "And she was taller than me, but I mean, she had 7 inch heels when I was in my ballerina flats. Now I know why they say that no day is a good day to leave your high heels behind!" She smirked, proudly checking out the huge heels she had on at the moment she was speaking.
"Well, true. She was kind of bossy that way. And she tried to pull my hair too. Don't ask why, I never quite figured it out. All I said was that Bosley was out to grab some pizza and he was supposed to be back in a few. Seems like it infuriated her." Kate shrugged, she had a very good relationship with bossy Abby, but she always found it extremely hard to communicate with any other person with a huge ego.
"Girls…" Bosley tried to sound stern. "She's my sister." He gulped, appearing as if he was lecturing them for being rude to the girl, but somehow it was obvious he kind of agreed with their opinion on her. "And yes, Eve, I have a sister. Her name is Carmen and she's two years older than me. She lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico…still with our parents. And she's getting married to, uh, this guy that she has known since we were kids. Let me try and put this nicely…the dude is a total douchebag." He shrugged a bit.
Hearing about Puerto Rico, the girls finally checked out the plane tickets he had given them. Their names were on each piece of paper, business class trip to Bosley's homeland.
"Woah! We're going to Puerto Rico!?" Eve's Poker Face was gone and now replaced with a bright smile. She loved the Latino culture and she was looking forward to being a little closer to her own Latino routes. "Wait, she lives with your parents? That's crazy. Why would she want to share a tiny apartment with them if she's about to get married? Goodbye privacy!" She giggled, imagining how awkward that would be.
Bosley sighed. He intentionally decided not to give the girls any more details on his family and their living arrangements. Kate noticed how happy Eve was about the trip, so she jumped at the chance to start Phase 3 of Abby & Kate's plan.
"I don't think it's a good idea for us to go. I mean, Abby and I had a confrontation with her a while ago. I don't even know why we're invited. Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered, but…" Kate spoke, but Abby interrupted her.
"I'm not!" The blonde one said sharply. "What? Last thing I told this bit-…sorry, this girl, was that the next time she sees me she would suffer a nosebleed all over that Ralph Lauren shirt that she was sporting. I bet her fiancé is some rich elder man…" She trailed off, noticing how Bosley cringed when she mentioned "rich and old". She offered him a smile instead. "I'm sorry, I didn't exactly mean to-… Ugh, anyway. My point is, it's safer for everyone if I stay in Miami. But you two should go. Eve hadn't met her, so I don't want her opinion on the bi-…uh, your sister, to be biased by me." She put her hands in the air in mock surrender.
Kate shrugged when Bosley turned to face her. She agreed with Abby's words, they were both going to stay in Miami. Or at least that's what three of the Angels thought. One Angel had something else in mind.
"Alright then, I guess it's just you and me, Eve?" He stated, standing up as he didn't want the girls to ask him anything else.
"You and me sounds good, Bos." Eve smiled bright, but then realized she was once again flirting. "I mean, you know, for the trip and stuff." She covered up, but he still found her adorable, with the way she always tried to act tough after she had already said something inappropriate.
"I have to…umm, fix a bug in the software. I'll see you ladies for dinner." He excused himself and none of the girls could figure out why he wasn't happy for his sister.
That evening they spoke about everything else but the upcoming wedding. When they finished their meal, Abby insisted on having a private talk with Charlie before she and Kate would leave the Agency. Bosley asked Eve to stay a bit longer, so they would go through the travel plans. He let her know that their plane would leave at 05:50 and it would take them two hours and a half to get there. Eve kept asking about the things she should bring, but all he told her was to take anything she feels comfortable with.
Eve barely had any sleep that night. She was so excited to go on a trip, with Bosley…to see where he came from, what his family was like. And then she realized…she was going to attend his sister's wedding, with him, only her, no Abby and no Kate around. Didn't that look like… Nah, they were just friends, or rather, two people who work together.
She packed a few different dresses, so she would have options. She also threw in a pair of heels and lots of comfortable clothes to wear all weekend. Eve liked her trousers and floral tops too much to leave them behind. It was still pitch dark outside when she parked her motorbike in front of the Agency. She walked in with a smile which dropped the second she saw Bosley sporting a formal suit and a bow tie.
"Uh, are we attending the wedding right after the airport?" She asked, completely surprised. She kind of liked Bosley like this, all dressed up.
"No, we're going to, uh, leave our luggage first." He stuttered. He never really stutters. So why would he stutter now?
"Wait, we're going for the weekend. But where are we staying?" She eyed him curiously.
"Don't worry, I've taken care of everything. Now, where is your suitcase?" He looked around.
"Oops." She giggled. "I couldn't carry it on the bike. You wouldn't mind if we go grab it from the boat, would you?"
"Not when you're asking me so nicely." He smiled and walked to the car. He didn't let her drive, he did that himself. Sometimes he liked to calm his nerves down by hitting the speed pedal.
"Woah, Bosley, I can't believe I'm the one to say this, but you really need to slow down!" Eve gasped, noticing him fly by a red light.
"Sorry. I had too much coffee." He replied, but he kept on driving ahead.
"Okay, not to be mean or anything…but thanks for stopping by the boat." She folded her arms and frowned. He had promised and minutes later he had already forgotten.
"Do you have your passport now?" He asked quietly.
"Yes, but everything else-…" She tried to explain, but he drove in direction of the airport anyway.
"Bosley!" She whined. He was acting like a psycho, it felt like she was being kidnapped.
"What? Don't worry about it. I didn't pack either. We'll just get stuff when we go there. Relax." He shot her a glance and he smiled, to make her relax a little bit.
"Whatever. Just don't act like a freak or I'll have to take you to the doctor for a check." She laughed, she couldn't stay mad at him for long anyway.
"Hahaha. It would take a really good doctor to figure out what's wrong with me." He stated, she always made him laugh with her words.
"You can go to Dr. Quiteno, the one who did my check. He had a pretty accurate diagnose. Not that I'm complaining." She bit her bottom lip.
"He told you that you're tired after working too much and not sleeping enough. It was obvious. I could have said the same thing." He argued with a grin.
"Trust me, you had no idea what was wrong with me…" She suppressed a smirk. "…You still don't." She muttered to herself.
"DUDE, THAT WASN'T COOL!" Bosley suddenly yelled through the opened window. They had just arrived at the airport and he was at Level -1 at the parking lot. He had set his eyes on a free parking space by the corner, but in the very last moment some other guy parked his car there, not even noticing that Bosley was waiting to do the maneuver himself.
Eve's eyes were wide open in shock. Bosley was never the one to resort to any kind of abuse. He usually found a way to solve any conflict in a reasonable and civilized manner. It was the girls who liked to jump into a fight instead.
She didn't say anything, so they walked to the check in lounge and a woman tried to cut the queue. Bosley rolled his eyes and he was about to say something when Eve punched his shoulder. No words were needed. He calmed down immediately.
They soon found their way to gate A-16 and Eve asked if they could sit at a little café and get something to eat. She walked to the bar and got them some food, but when she joined Bosley at the table she saw how down he was.
"Hey. What's wrong? You should be happy, this is a good thing. Your only sister is getting married…" She said cheerfully. "Wait, unless you have other siblings that I don't know about." Her eyebrows rose up slightly.
"It's just…complicated." He sighed.
"I can tell." She giggled and sat down, wrapping her hands around him. It was the only thing she could possibly do. And it seemed to help him relax.
"Come on, eat your sandwich. It would taste terrible if it gets cold." He said weakly. "I uh…I have to make a phone call. I'll be right back."
With those words he excused himself from the table and walked away. She could see him pacing nervously, waving his hands in the air and a few times fanning himself with the boarding card. She overheard a few words in Spanish, but since it was crowded and very noisy around them, she didn't make much of the conversation. He joined her at the table looking even more pale.
"Look, Bos…I don't exactly know what your relationship with your family is, I mean, you never speak about them and I didn't know you had a sister until yesterday. But whatever it is, just remember, they're your family. You have to respect them and even if you don't want to go to this wedding, you have to…it's your sister." She placed her hand on his cheek and it was burning. He needed to calm down. Immediately.
"Eve…" He started off tentatively. "I don't think I could ever say this enough times, but…"
"I have a really nice ass, I know!" She giggled, making him laugh as well. She didn't like seeing him so uptight. Whatever it was that made him act so weird, she at least wanted to try and make him enjoy the trip.
"I was actually about to say that you're amazing." He smirked before eyeing her up and down. "But that too." He nodded, agreeing to what she had just said about herself.
Time flied and their flight was announced. They were quite a funny picture: Bosley with a smart-suit and Eve with jeans and a top. None of them really cared, however, Eve started to feel weird when people kept glancing over. She insisted on buying herself a dress from the airport and luckily for her there was a shop for clothes. Not just any shop, but a Gucci one. She walked in and grabbed a few things in a hurry. She ended up choosing a white pencil skirt with a blue collar shirt and a white blazer on top. It was comfortable, it looked cute, she matched Bosley and it was…
"Expensive!" She gasped when the cashier summed it all up. She knew this was a high end brand and she had purposely raid the Discounts section. And still, the total she had to pay surprised her.
"I got this." Bosley swiped his credit card and Eve felt bad. However, she knew that if she bought these clothes that would get her into even bigger financial trouble for the next month.
He managed to get her new shoes as well, so she put them on in the very last moment before their gate would close. They ran off to the plane, boarding last, but at least they made it in time.
All the time in the plane Eve slept. There was something so soothing about the way the engines worked, not to forget she was exhausted from all the packing she had done that night. Her eyes just closed and she dozed off while Bosley was saying something about Abby and Kate's choice to stay in Miami. At one point her position became too uncomfortable and he noticed the way she fidgeted, trying to stay asleep. He unbuckled her seat-belt and let her body rest against him while his arm secured it in place and made her feel warm once again.
"Tea, coffee, snacks?" A very short and energetic air hostess asked, approaching their seats. Her eyes got stuck on the way Eve was sleeping in his hands and being a typical girly girl, the employee let out a weird giggle. "Aww! Excuse me, but you two are just adorable." The girl added. "Honeymoon trip?" She was tiny, but she was definitely full of curiosity.
Bosley looked at her with surprise at first. But then he smiled and nodded. "You could say that." He replied, pushing away a strand of hair from Eve's face, so it wouldn't bother her. "I'll have a coffee. And for her one of those tiny bottles of juice. Cranberry. And a muffin. And if you have gummy bears that would be awesome." He kept on requesting. Yes, he knew that Eve just ate at the airport. But he wanted to keep her happy…for as long as that shall be possible. He knew what was about to happen in Puerto Rico and he was hoping none of it would change anything between him and Eve, neither between him and Abby and Kate.
A few minutes later the hostess brought him everything and he tipped her generously. Charlie was giving the Angels tons of money for the work they were doing for him. Abby and Kate usually spent the majority of their cash shopping, given that Abby owned her apartment, so that only left the bills to be paid. Bosley spent his money for the girls, he liked to buy them gifts, to take them place and to make them happy. Nobody really knew why Eve was still having financial troubles. She came clean about the huge loan and the way she was paying for her Second Chance boat, but then Charlie gave her more money and she still struggled with it.
The crew announced that the plane would be boarding soon, so everyone had to put their seat-belts on again. Bosley hated having to do this, but he started to figure out a way to wake Eve up. Shaking her would be rude. Speaking would be weird, because he had no idea if she would hear him at all. So he did the next best thing. His fingers ran up and down her hand and he felt her staring to move a bit. His other hand teased her nose, as if she was a child. That made her smile in her sleep. Finally he caressed her ear and her eyes opened up lazily.
"Did I miss the wedding?" She murmured and it cracked Bosley up.
"Not exactly. We're about to land. You need your seat-belt now." He helped her up gently. "And trust me, there's no way you could have missed the wedding. You'll know when it's happening."
"Oh, I'm not the emotional type. At all. You'll see." She shrugged. "I mean, I should probably warn you. Weddings don't move me at all. I don't believe in marriage. Hell, I didn't even believe in love…" She trailed off while securing the belt around her waist. "I mean, not that I believe now. Uh. Anyway. So if you see me staring at the distance with a blank expression, don't be offended. It's just how I am. I'm sure the whole thing would be beautiful and stuff. I'm just not the kind of girl to go all sappy and to cry my eyes out at such events."
"Uh-huh." He gasped as if he didn't agree.
"What was that supposed to mean!?" She pouted.
"Nothing. It's just that you can say you're not emotional, but the truth is…you are." He knew Eve wanted to punch him for saying this, so he explained. "Emotions are not only when you're all hyper, running around and dancing like a freak at someone's wedding. Emotions are all those things you keep to yourself. Come on, you didn't think you could have fooled me, right?" He checked his own belt before he continued. "I've seen you cry and while it's not the typical things girls cry about, it didn't mean it wasn't important. You're strong, but sometimes letting your emotions show doesn't make you weak. The way your face changes when someone brings up Gloria…" He looked at her briefly. "Yes, exactly like this. You try to smile, but I know you're hurt. That's emotions. And that's what makes you special, because you know what truly deserves your bitter tears. I just wish you could see what I see in you." He ended off with a line that Gloria always used to tell Eve and that strike a nerve in her.
"Gummy bears!?" She changed the topic, noticing the colorful things on the table in front of Bosley.
"Yes, it's all for you. I don't think we'll be getting any food, sleep or rest for the next 48 hours, so I decided to treat you in advance." He transferred the stuff to her table.
"Oh, shut up. You're making it sound like we're going to a dungeon." She giggled, opening the package of candy and the little juice bottle. "A very dark place…with cells…and guards running around. We'll be handcuffed to something very steady…like a loop on the wall. Oh my, we would be bleeding and gasping for air while the evil Queen of the dungeon would look at us from above and laugh. Her voice will echo in the building and the people from the nearby village would be creeped out by the noises coming from the mystic place." She kept on dramatizing it, using a fake dark voice as if she was telling a scary story to a child. "And then the evil Queen would judge us and ask us how come we dare invade her property. We'll explain that we were only visiting. She would tell us to run away and never come back. And when our hands will finally be unlocked, we would run, hand in hand, through the darkness and the endless tunnels, chased by Rottweiler dogs and…and…and grizzly bears!" Her enthusiasm was contagious and he couldn't stop laughing.
"You crack me up, Eve. Grizzly bears in Puerto Rico? Yeah, no chance of that. But the rest is a pretty decent guess." He shook his head. It all sounded ridiculous. Yet, she had no idea how close her story was to what they were about to experience.
Upon landing, a driver was waiting for them. Eve eyed the man suspiciously and tried to let him know they were in no need of car service, but Bosley greeted the man and she realized maybe he had hired him. She had no idea where they were going anyway. She was kind of spontaneous, she didn't like planning too much. Like she always said: "You never know when you might get thrown in jail!" It was her excuse for doing things without postponing them for the future.
The car turned out to be a Limo. A perfect brand new black metallic Rolls Royce. A precious thing on wheels. Eve was this close to asking the man if she could drive it instead. By the time Eve figured out all the details on the inside, the vehicle pulled off. She had been so into the car, that she didn't even realize how tense Bosley was. They stood in the car for a long moment after it stopped. Right when he opened his mouth to say something, she spoke first.
"Ooh, we're at the wrong place." Her jaw dropped even more than this one time when she saw Bosley change his shirt while he thought nobody was looking.
"Ooh…we're at the right place." He sighed. The driver opened the door for Bosley, but then he walked to Eve's side of the Limo and opened her door, extending his hand to her like a true gentleman.
She was a little surprised, but she figured they were making a little stop before they would reach the city. They were now in the outskirts, the villa zone with all the huge palaces with beautiful gardens and enormous swimming pools. They were standing in front of the most magnificent one of all. A tall metallic gate was right in front of them, a little booth with two guards, an intercom and a long driveway with a roundabout and a fountain with a statue on top of it. Just like in the movies! To top it all, there was a gigantic building which seemed too far away. Who needed this much land anyway? It was big enough to have its own name and it was written at the front gate with big gold-covered letters. The gate was white, the sharp toppings were gold. Eve already figured out that if she had to break into this place, the gates were off limits: they were impossibly high, no chance anyone could climb and jump over. This place was extremely well guarded.
Bosley was also staring at the property ahead of them, although he didn't seem too fond of what he saw.
"Señor Juan Eduardo!" An elderly woman ran towards them. She wore a housekeeper apron and she had big warm hazel eyes, just like Bosley.
Eve raised an eyebrow. This woman knew his name, so maybe this wasn't a stop along the way…it was their destination, like he had said. By the time the woman approached them a few scenarios were running in Eve's mind. One, this could be the place where the wedding would happen. She had seen it on the internet that you could rent out a whole villa for a private event. Two, this could be an old friend of Bosley's and he wanted to greet the woman right after he landed. But once she came closer, Eve saw tears in her eyes. Emotions, she remembered Bosley's little speech in the plane. This woman was full of those and she quickly shortened the distance between them, throwing her arms around Bosley's neck and kissing his cheeks one after another. It almost felt like she was never going to stop. And then Eve noticed something else…Bosley's eyes were most definitely not dry. So that lead her to scenario number three…this was his mother!
"Buenos días! Yo soy Eve. Encantada de conocerla, Señora." Eve introduced herself in Spanish, being all sweet and polite. But the woman had her own way of greeting people.
"Oh Dios mio, señorita…eres tan hermosa. ¿Boricua, no?" The woman was full of energy and Eve already adored her. "Yo soy Maria." She added with a very warm gracious smile on her face. She was exactly the type of person Eve liked to be associated with ever since she got paroled.
"No. Nací en el Salvador." Eve said with pride. Bosley had never heard her say it at all. It felt good to know that she was fond of her origins.
Eve took a brief moment to understand what was going on. Bosley had been an emotional wreck ever since he gave the Angels their wedding invitations. But why? Puerto Rico was beautiful, from what Eve saw by far. So that wasn't the reason. Was he feeling awkward to go there only with Eve? It couldn't be, because he acted strange way before he even knew that Abby and Kate wanted to stay in Miami. Was he ashamed of his family? It was Eve's best guess. Each time she said the word "family", she noticed him getting all moody, as if there was this huge dark secret he was holding back. It was ridiculous of him to think that Eve would not enjoy such a warm and amazing woman like his mother. The last thing Eve would care about was someone's job. A housekeeper was a way better occupation than a jailbird. Eve had no right to judge, nor any intention to do so. She smiled and bumped her hand against Bosley's, just to show him it was all good. She was quite content with the scenario she had just come up with. This would be an awesome weekend, she was sure of it. But then something else happened and it left her baffled.
"Vosotros dos, ven conmigo. Los Bosley le están esperando." The woman announced and started walking towards the house.
For a moment Eve questioned her ability to understand her native language. She was sure the woman just told them to follow her, because "the Bosleys" were expecting them. That made no sense at all. Or maybe she meant that the other people from the Bosley family were somewhere around as well. But wait, how would they be able to rent such a huge castle-like building for the whole weekend?
She walked in the lobby tentatively. It was enormous and it smelled like Chanel. There was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling on the second floor, illuminating the whole area. Huge windows were flowing from wall to wall, from ceiling to the ground. It was like one of those crystal castles they show in the kids movies. Everything was white, it almost hurt Eve's eyes. It was as if she couldn't see properly, because everything was smudged: white floor, white walls, white couches, white piano, white rug, white picture frames, white statues on each side of the staircase that was leading upstairs.
Eve gasped at the sight. It was like magic. Where had she ever seen something as beautiful before!? Certainly not in the orphanage, not in Uncle Sam's Garage, not in jail. Up until that day the Agency had been the most beautiful building she had ever stepped foot in. Now it had been replaced!
Her eyes were drawn to the few colorful things: a few pictures neatly put in frames and stocked on top of the piano nearby. There was a really dark and evil looking woman, all dressed in couture…she wasn't smiling, something must be wrong with her. The woman looked beautiful, maybe minus the few too many plastic surgeries to keep her looking like she was still in her 30's. But her face showed pain, angst, a blank stare. Eve could tell it wasn't this plain just because of the Botox.
The picture next to it was of a man in a suite, sitting properly behind a desk in what seemed like an office. If he had dark shades on, Eve would think he was head of the mafia. His body language showed that he was so full of himself. A smirk was plastered on his face and there was something so irritating about it, Eve fought the urge to kick the picture down and stomp on it. With all the money this man supposedly had, one would think he could at least fake a smile for the family portrait. It wasn't exactly a portrait anyway, since all the pictures showed one person at a time.
Right behind those two people there were two more pictures. One was of a girl who was truly in her 30's. Curly brunette who looked like any bitch who was ahead of the Mean Girls clique in an average American high-school. Only that she was a little too old to be still in that phase of life. A big chinchilla fur coat was covering her and Eve wondered why she even owned it if she lived in Puerto Rico where even during Winter one could go to the beach and get a tan under the heat and the sun. Some people just like to waste money.
The picture next to it was a man about her age, smoking an old-fashioned pipe as if it was 1855 again. Eve didn't pay him much attention, he didn't seem like he fit in with those people. His facial features were different, whereas the other people were definitely blood-related.
Behind that there was a picture of a dog on a swing an Eve considered that torture. It had a black leather suite on, with spikes and glitter, as if it was Kesha's prop from a music video.
The next line of pictures were sceneries: a swimming pool, a helicopter pad, a golf court, a private jet and a picture of the limousine that Eve and Bosley had arrived with.
Eve was spaced out for a moment, quickly checking out all details. She felt Bosley tap her shoulder lightly, to grab her attention again.
"Sorry. It's just that…look at all this." She pointed at the pictures that she wasn't yet done checking out. "Who needs to show off like this? Those people are a disgrace. I mean, I'm sorry, I know your mother works here, but…come on, Bos. They framed every expensive thing they own. And look at the poor puppy. This is ridiculous. I've always hated people like them. I'd rather have nothing, than to end up a lame excuse of a human being, quite like them. Look…do they even know how to smile and be happy? Ugh! Please tell me I won't have to meet the Adams Family? I just want to meet the Bosleys." Eve rolled her eyes dramatically.
Bosley could tell she spoke from the heart. All he could do was stand there and wait. For a moment he raised an eyebrow when Eve spoke about his mother, but then he realized she meant the woman they just met. When she disregarded meeting the "nasty" family, he tried not to turn around and run. There was really no way he could explain what was about to happen. Nor would he be able to justify not telling her the truth earlier.
And then the thing they both feared…happened. Upstairs, the woman from the front picture walked along the edge, tapping her hand against the elegant white handrail. Eve's head turned up, following the woman's trail out of respect, which she actually had none, at least not for her. Something ticked Eve the wrong way and she already hated the family. All of her life she had been belittled by people like these: rich spoiled brats who believed the world resolved around them. When she saw the elder woman that she met in the garden outside, bowing to the house owner, Eve's heart sunk. It was so hurtful. If Eve hated something in this life, it was definitely the social classes. Sure she joked about it with Abby since she used to be a Socialite, but the things she had heard about the New York Upper East Side were coming really close to what she was experiencing now. And the way this lovely woman, Bosley's mother, bowed to the…the evil Queen. There it was, Eve realized why Bosley said that she wasn't too far off with her silly made up story in the plane.
"Can this bitch walk any slower!?" Eve murmured into Bosley's ear.
She was already bored of watching her and she still had half the stairs to descend. Bosley went paler than Eve had ever seen him before. The elder woman was still bowing as if she was in the presence of royalty. And Eve was not sure how she should act, so she just forced herself to smile. Her eyes quickly reverted back to the picture frames on the piano, as behind the big line of property there was a little frame poking through and Eve was curious to find out what was the least important thing to this family…after the dog and their lavish belongings. And when she shot a glimpse of it, her jaw dropped and she felt like she couldn't breathe anymore.
"Hola, hijo. Que bueno verte de nuevo en casa." The evil Queen pronounced, not even changing that stupid facial expression that Eve had seen in her picture earlier. Not only was the last picture of Bosley when he was way younger…but now this woman was calling him "son". Not to mention, just seconds ago Eve had been blabbing rude things about the whole family. And she did call her a "bitch", right in Bosley's face.
Eve subconsciously grabbed Bosley's hand and squeezed it tight. She was like a scared little girl. She almost wanted to step behind him and hide herself. She had no problem taking a bullet, getting her ribs broken by hard kicks, swallowing her own blood with her whole face covered in sweat while being tortured. But this…oh, this was a new kind of torture, a different kind of pain. She wanted to dissolve into the air and disappear into the white space. She was wearing mainly white clothes…it shouldn't be this hard to hide.
"Good morning…" He trailed off, unable to call her by her title. He refused to speak Spanish with her. It was his thing, he always spoke in English with his family. He knew it was one of the very few things that could make them go insane.
"And you've brought…uh, company." She took a step forward and then circled around Eve painfully slow. She was judging her, how dare she. Eve could feel her evil stare piercing right through her. She couldn't help but think to herself: I'm so grateful that I'm wearing all the right lingerie today!
"How lovely." The evil Queen kept on speaking. Eve couldn't hear her high heels tapping against the floor anymore, so she figured she had come to a stop. It was time to open her eyes now. Eve didn't even realize she had shut them a few seconds ago. This was slow psychological torture.
"Gucci. Last season. Discounted." She commented, it didn't seem like she knew how to make proper sentences. Eve made a mental note to herself: Rich people think everyone knows what they mean.
"Seriously?" Bosley protested. It was one thing letting anyone in this world walk all over him. But it was a whole new story if someone insulted one of his Angels. "It has been who knows how many years and the first time I step foot in this house again you dare belittle the woman I'm with!?" His face was stern, but his voice was calm. Eve had heard Abby say that this was how the super-rich people fight. It was some sort of a formal way to argue in public, so they wouldn't be a disgrace and Page Six wouldn't be interested in the scandal.
"Ha!" The woman exclaimed, as if she was making fun of Bosley. Eve didn't even notice when the nice lady from the garden had disappeared. Wow, it was true that the little people were invisible to the rich ones. "Since when are you even with a woman?" She looked at him challengingly.
"You're gay!?" Eve didn't exactly mean to say it as loud as it came out. She was astonished. And she sounded like she had just lost all faith in love…all over again.
Weirdly, Bosley chuckled. "I think you know the answer." His hand was somehow ended up on her lower waist, tapping on her butt. Yes, she definitely knew he was straight. And her cheeks were now a rosy shade of red. The whole misunderstanding seemed to have been overcome, but the evil Queen had more to add.
"It's just that Eduardo has never been with one woman at a time." She did something like a smirk. "Why settle for one when you can have either one that's available at the time?" It sounded like she was quoting someone. "Remember those words, son?" She finally did it, she embarrassed him, just like she had done since he could remember.
"It's John. And yes, I remember. I also remember a lot of other things that drove me as far away from this place as possible." He rolled his eyes. "And she's most definitely not just an "available girl" for me. So I would appreciate it if you would back off and leave her alone. You didn't even ask what her name is!" He shook his head. All those years since he broke away on his own and it still hurt to know where he was coming from. Especially since he was nothing like those people.
The woman laughed like the Devil and walked away without saying a word. It was the moment she was off the horizon, that the housekeeper Maria magically reappeared.
"Señor, don't worry. She will come around." The woman smiled at both of them. A breath of fresh air. It was reviving. "Come on, let me show you to your wing."
Eve linked her hand with Bosley's as they walked down a few long hallways. All the time she kept glancing around this huge palace and it was full of expensive things. If it had been anyone else's house, she would have grabbed a few, ehm, souvenirs.
Wing? She must have meant our rooms. Yes. Finally some peace and quiet. I just want to shower and duck under the covers. But wait, I can't leave Bos alone now. What do I do? I don't want to risk being an annoying pain in the ass again. Stupid life, why does it have to be so complicated!? – Eve thought to herself as they walked. Finally they reached a big door that lead them to a huge corridor, it seemed like they had entered a new house seeing as there was everything one might need and there were enough doors to pass for bedrooms, bathrooms and other important rooms.
Wow…she really did mean "wing"! – Eve gasped at her own realization, yet she kept her thoughts to herself.
"Señor y Señora, master bedroom here ready for you." Maria opened the door leading to the biggest room. The bed was enormous and the walls were light blue. It seemed like a kid's room, there were a few toys on one side of it. "I kept your things." The woman announced with pride before she disappeared.
Eve walked in and looked around. If she had a horse, she could ride it in this room. Or dock her whole boat in it. Or make circles with her motorcycle. Bosley could tell she was very confused about everything, so once they were alone he was finally able to speak up.
"Eve…" He whispered and within seconds she was by his side.
"Don't!" She silenced him, once again giving him a hug. "I'm sorry…you know, for what I said about those peop-…I mean, for…uh, your…your…your fami…" She stuttered and she still didn't know what the facts were. She had already assumed Maria was his mother, then it all changed.
"Oh, please don't apologize. Everything you said is true." His words startled her. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you what to expect. I just didn't want things to change…" He gulped as he spoke.
"Bos, I would never change my opinion of you. So what if you come from a family who, well, to put it nicely…those people have zero morals. You're not like them at all. I'm actually even more proud of you now, knowing what you could have been and seeing what you turned into." She smiled.
"A criminal?" His eyebrow rose.
"That's my pity line, go find yourself another one!" She stuck her tongue at him. "You're an amazing person who knows what he wants from life and you have always had my back. So now I'll have yours. I don't care what the evil Queen says about me. We're staying for this wedding and then we're back home. Our home…where our friends are, where we live and where we feel happy." She winked at him, letting him know it would be alright. "I just don't understand…if you're basically loaded with money, why did you start hacking and stealing money from banks online? Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging at all. I stole cars! I just kind of want to know what happened." She sat down on the bed.
"Since I was born my whole life had been planned out for me. Law school, marrying the daughter of one of my father's business associates. Actually, my sister Carmen is marrying this guy whose father my family has been trying to be in business with for years now. Anyway. So, I didn't feel happy, I just wanted to grow up and get out of here. So after high-school I applied for colleges in America. I was supposed to go to YALE, but I sent out applications to other places too. Finally I got in with a full basketball scholarship and it was my only chance to have the life I wanted. So I jumped right at it. I remember the day I opened the acceptance letter I didn't even feel sad. I was happy to be leaving. I grabbed a few things and I just moved to America. My legal documents were fixed since I was enrolled and attending my classes. Then I got serious about coding, I was really good and a professor took me under his wing. He taught me a few tricks, of course he never would have imagined I'd become a hacker…" Bosley was having a tough time speaking, so Eve kept on cheering him up.
"One of the best hackers in the world!" She nudged his shoulder as he was sitting right next to her. In a weird way it was so easy to talk to her. All of the Angels had already established this. She was so calm and inviting, it was a pleasure to pour your heart out to her.
"Yes, when you put it that way." Bosley smirked again. "So that's pretty much it. I never came back home, until today. My parents had been reaching out, sending letters, trying to bribe me with money. I bounced them all back. After College I thought it was all going well. But then…uh…"
"Elisabeth?" Eve whispered tentatively.
"Yeah. After her…I uh…I went downhill. I don't remember half the things I did. I was out of control. I started to hack into banks worldwide. I was angry and I was on my own. Then I met Oswald, you pretty much know the rest. When Charlie gave me a second chance I held on to it for dear life! I knew I had been wrong and deep down inside all I wanted was to be free and happy. At the moment that didn't seem possible. I was staring at a 20 years sentence for tax fraud. I had just lost…her. And Charlie gave me the life I wanted. When he opened the Townsend Agency I felt like I was finally happy. Abby, Kate, you and Gloria were the best thing that ever happened to me. When we lost Gloria I was afraid I'd spiral out of control again." He sighed deeply.
"But you didn't!" She squeezed his hand. "Thank you for telling me all this." She snuggled closer and giggled. "You keep telling me that I'm amazing, but you don't even realize how amazing you are. All of us adore you. Gloria loved you too. And like I said, I'm here with you and I'm not letting you feel bad about yourself during our stay here. Let's enjoy it. Come on, promise me? We'll make the most of it and when we leave we would never regret it. It's just two days. We're cool people, we can figure out ways to entertain ourselves. Right?" She looked at him with this cheeky spark in her eyes.
"I promise you. And thanks. I don't know how I would have handled this without you. Oh and what the evil Queen said, about my past with women…" He started off, but she interrupted him. It was actually funny to hear him use the same words to describe the woman. Eve still didn't know what his mother's name was.
"Nah. Don't bother. You don't owe me an explanation." Her hand went up his chest and to his cheek, pinching it softly. "I'm not the jealous type. No strings attached. I heard you like it that way." She giggled, of course she was only joking. She wasn't throwing herself at him. Just teasing mercilessly.
"That's the thing…I don't want that kind of relationship anymore. Next one would be the real thing." His hand came up to the level of her face and she sucked in a breath. Suddenly this felt a little too personal. "Next one would be the last one...The one…No doubts, no games, no pain. Next girl…I'm not letting anyone hurt her or take her away. She will be mine!" His fingers brought her chin up, so their eyes would meet.
Eve blinked a few times. She seemed scared, yet happy. "She sounds like the luckiest girl in the world. I can't wait for you to meet her." She whispered weakly. His face was way too close to hers. This was torture!
"I may have…already." He said breathlessly and like all of their intimate moments together, this one had to be interrupted as well.
"Señor, wedding starts in tres hours. You have clothes you asked for. And pretty dress for Miss. I bring you food, now you rest and prepare your speech." Maria, the housekeeper, walked in and brought them a lot of nice things to eat. She spoke funny English and Eve was very entertained. But when she saw the woman bow to them, she felt so bad.
"Maria?" She called out after her, this time she saw the moment when she tried to run away, as if she wasn't wanted around. "Thank you so much for your efforts. Please stay and enjoy this food with us? And I want you to call me Eve. I'm not a Queen, I'm just a girl who wears trousers every day and who likes to eat slices of pizza with her hands." She smiled to the woman and she could tell Maria was about to cry. "One more thing!" Eve walked to her and gave her a very warm hug.
"Oh Señora…" Maria hadn't ever experienced something like that. She had been Bosley's nanny, then when he left the home she was just another slave for his family. "I mean, Miss Eve. Gracias. You are so nice. God bless you." The woman was so emotional, like a real Latina. Eve respected that way more than the coldness and rude behavior that she received from Bosley's real mother. "Señor John, she is beautiful. So beautiful. So nice. I see why you like her. She make good wife to you some day. Beautiful babies!" The woman dreamed away and Eve's eyes grew wide. Had Bosley told Maria that he likes Eve? Or was she reading too much into it?
The three of them sat down and enjoyed the typical Puerto Rico foods on the tray for the next half an hour. Maria asked Bosley about his life and she was glad that he was now happy in Miami. He had been sending her letters sometimes, he sent her money and he was helping her family out financially. In his mind…she was his mother!
The woman left and they could finally have some rest. They both took a shower and jumped in the bed. Eve was looking at it for a while before she finally hopped in it with a smile.
"What? Is there a problem? I could ask for another room, just for you?" He offered, hoping she would say no.
"Not a problem. It's just huge. I'm still in shock, this is your childhood room." She smirked, bringing herself closer to him as she ducked under the covers. She was most definitely not shy to share a bed with him. Not after so many nights of experience.
"Please don't tell me that turns you on!?" Bosley laughed, placing his hand on top of her. She smelled so good. Her hair was wet and she had no make-up on. He remembered what he told her during their dinner in Moscow, that she was the most beautiful woman. He wanted to say it again, but he didn't want to freak her out.
"Nope!" She replied and snuggled closer. Her nose was buried against his neck. This felt too comfortable. "But everything else does." She added, smirking against his skin.
"Is that so!?" He challenged her. Being away from Miami, being in this crazy world of unlimited cash and royalty, it kind of gave them the excuse to open up a little bit. Not to mention, they were alone, with no one to judge!
"You doubt it?" She replied with a question, but then she felt her eyes closing. "Bos, I know I slept in the plane, but would you mind if we take a nap before the wedding?"
"It's alright. I'm tired as well. I hadn't slept all night, wondering if you'll run away when you learn the truth about me. But now that you're still in my arms, I have nothing to worry about." He smiled and five minutes later both of them were sleeping soundlessly.
When they woke up it was time to get ready and Eve realized that she had only one set of clothes on her body. Bosley was prepared, he had contacted Maria and requested something specific for both of them to wear. He opened the huge walk-in closet adjoined to his bedroom and there were two mannequins: a male one with an all-white suite and a female one with the most exquisite gown Eve had ever seen…also white. Both of them were Valentino. Eve tried to argue about it. At first she thought it was the bride's dress. Then she felt bad for wearing white to someone else's wedding. Last but not least, she freaked out just at the thought of how much this must have cost. But Bosley told her it was alright and she had to trust him.
She found tons of brand new and unopened Chanel make-up in the bathroom and she was determined to grab some for Abby and Kate. After quickly applying some to her face, she proceeded to curl her hair a little bit. This had been a baby boy's bedroom years ago, but it was certainly full of everything one could need. Including condoms, which she rolled her eyes about when she found them stocked in the smallest drawer under the sink.
Walking out of the bathroom and showing a Hollywood Glamour version of herself to Bosley made him whistle. He helped her hop into her dress and he was barely breathing when he saw how beautiful she looked.
"I'm ready. And so are you. Now, is the wedding far from here, are we going by car, can I drive!?" She said with enthusiasm and he was happy she was enjoying it.
He stood up, fixing his suite and walking to the terrace. He moved away a thick curtain and opened a door before they saw the back yard. Everything was ready for the wedding, the guests had already arrived. He didn't let Eve look around for too long before they were back in the room, the sound-proof door had been shut.
"You're so beautiful." He finally said shortly. "And I have something for you. It's uh, a family thing." He gave her a white box and she gasped when she saw a diamond ring in it. "Something so beautiful deserves to be seen on someone worthy of its beauty." He quoted someone from Eve's favorite TV show.
"Bos…I can't." She wasn't stupid, she knew this thing was probably worth as much as the whole house. "Plus, I'm already wearing Gloria's ring. I never take it off. You know it." She showed him her right hand which was trembling, sweaty and red.
He reached out for her left hand instead. Her heart stopped for a long moment. But she allowed him to slip the ring on her finger anyway.
"There. Perfect match." He winked. His words were not only directed to the ring.
"Thank you, Bos. Now come on, we should go downstairs." She urged him.
Once they stepped foot outside, Eve checked out the decorations. It was so elegant, everything was white and black only. And then she realized something else. She turned to Bosley and her face was stern.
"Why are we the only two people wearing white?" She questioned. All the guests wore black.
"Because we can." Bosley smirked. Eve figured it was some wicked plan to make his family upset and she didn't mind at all. "Oh, I should probably tell you. As the bride's brother, I'm the Best Man. Oops, I should have prepared a speech." He smirked. "And since you're with me to the wedding, you're Maid-of-Honor." He smiled brightly as if this wasn't huge news at all.
"What!? Bosley! I'm going to kill you painfully slow for this!" She folded her arms.
"You're already doing it to me…that dress, my God, Eve!" He said flirtatiously, checking her out up and down.
Before they could have any time to realize what was going on, they were being pulled to a section near the altar. The evil Queen was there, a Priest and a few other people that Eve figured out would take part in the ceremony somehow. She heard a few people ask who she and Bosley were.
"Mi hijo." His mother said shortly, she was clearly not happy about this fact.
"El criminal!?" A few people said loud enough to make others turn around and check Bosley out. "Y la mujer?" They asked, this time about Eve.
"Ella no es importante." The evil Queen laughed, it made her feel good to speak badly of other people.
"Actually, she is very important." Bosley smirked, lightly holding Eve's left hand. Everyone's eyes flew to her hand and they all gasped. People definitely knew this ring and their attitude changed the second they saw it around Eve's finger. They suddenly smiled and greeted her, they almost bowed to her.
"Juan, what do you think you're doing?" His mother questioned, her confidence was now gone and she looked pale.
"Living my life and being happy." He stated simply. "And it's John!" He kept on repeating this, it seemed like the woman kept on intentionally saying the name that he didn't want to associate with anymore.
They were interrupted when the music started. Someone quickly told them where to stand and what to do. The groom appeared soon, then the bride walked in on her own. Eve wondered why their father didn't bring her to the altar. It was part of the tradition. They were a Latino family, it was a Latino wedding, it had to be traditional. Her eyes checked out a few of the guests: the young girls were gossiping about the bride, the young guys were checking out the bride and the elder people were yawning, checking if it was time to get drunk for free already. The whole thing lacked any kind of emotions. It felt like two people were signing a business deal…and from what Bosley told her earlier, that's exactly what it was.
By the end of the ceremony, Bosley brought the rings to the couple and they exchanged vows. Eve was absolutely amused…hours ago she was convincing Bosley that she would probably be the least emotional person at the wedding, when now it felt like she was the only one who cared about it at all. Lost in her thoughts, she missed the part with the vows, the rings exchange, the pulling of the veil. She barely registered the first kiss of the new family standing right in front of her. However, something brought her back to reality.
"By the power given to me, I now pronounce you husband and wife…" The Pastor said right before the couple kissed. But then he kept on speaking and Eve once again questioned her ability to understand Spanish. His words would be something like this, in English: "And the two of you…may you be legally and soulfully bounded for life. God bless you. Congratulations."
Her heart sank to her stomach. What was going on? His last words were clearly meant for her and Bosley, the man was pointing at them and he put on their hands a little white bracelet made of soft silky material. She saw Bosley nod and murmur something that could work as "I do!
in English, so she did the same, thinking this would be the end of it and then people would turn their attention back on the couple who was originally getting married. But then again, didn't she and Bosley…? What if that's why he insisted on wearing white as well, while all the guests wore black?
"Beso, beso, beso…" The guests started cheering once nothing was happening in front of them. Eve looked at Carmen and her husband, but it soon dawned on her that they wanted her to be the one kissing…Bosley. Suddenly her mouth felt dry. He didn't seem too puzzled about it, except that he had a silly smile on his face, as if he was in the 5th grade and she was the first girl he ever liked.
The people kept on cheering and she had no other choice but to comply. It felt weird…but it also felt kind of good. Without much thinking she took a tiny step forward and he did the same. His hands held hers tightly, her palms were sweaty again and it made him chuckle. She lifted her head to look at him. Was it just a game? Maybe they were just going to do it so that everyone would shut up and go get drunk already. Eve had done a lot of things for undercover missions, she even once posed as Kate's ex-girlfriend. But somehow…this moment they were sharing at the wedding…it felt real.
She looked up and their eyes met. This wasn't a game, at least not for her. She saw the way he was intentionally waiting, giving her a chance to pull back. It made her smile. Eve hated pushy guys, the kind of men who think they can claim you whenever and wherever they decide. He was nothing like that. He was a gentleman, he was waiting, the ball was in her court.
And then she realized she was taking way too long. His thumb brushed against the palm of her left hand…where the diamond ring was, where the white bracelet was, where her heart was, just a little higher. There was no doubt in her mind that she was madly in love with him. Only problem was…he was madly in love with Elisabeth!
She moved an inch forward, not breaking the gaze. Her heart was racing and she was sure that if people didn't stop yelling "Beso!" she would attack them with grenades.
"You sure?" Bosley whispered, inches away from her lips and she just nodded.
He embraced her tight, giving her a couple of seconds to calm down. Surprisingly, she was very calm. Her body wasn't trembling, she didn't seem insecure at all. Yes, her palms were still sweating. But she seemed a 100% into the moment. His lips lingered against hers for another second before he kissed her. And then it was magic. She couldn't tell if she was in Heaven or was it only that she was kissing an Angel? Either way, it felt better than anything she had ever experienced in her life. He could tell that she was smiling against his lips. His hands were almost grabbing her with urge, but at the same time it felt like he had never been softer with her. And she had never been happier than when she was with him. Neither one of them was ready to break the kiss that they had been waiting for in months. So they just kept on going. Nobody knew them anyway, it could be their little secret. Their huge secret. Although Eve knew she wouldn't be able to keep her marriage a secret from Abby and Kate. And maybe she wouldn't have to…
While the vows were being pronounced, two American women arrived at the Bosley property, holding invitations in one hand and a suitcase in the other. They practically rushed to the back-yard, throwing their luggage away. They had almost missed the whole ceremony. Abby's plan to give Eve and Bosley privacy in the plane on the way to Puerto Rico had backfired. She had asked Charlie to get her and Kate tickets to the next plane, but clearly the timing was all wrong. The blonde one was now fuming, tapping her Louboutin shoes against the pebbles in the yard, trying to reach the crowd of guests and get a little better look of the bride and groom. The fact that the wedding was held at such an insanely beautiful private property made it even more exciting. Kate followed on her high heels too, wondering out loud if they should text Eve and Bosley and let them know they had arrived after all.
Both girls stopped in track and their jaws dropped. They were pretty sure that "beso" meant "kiss" and that Eve and Bosley were standing in front of a Priest who was smiling at them while…well, while they were shamelessly locking lips and not letting go of each other. Carmen and her new husband had stepped away for a moment, so the thing Abby and Kate saw nearly gave them a heart attack.
"OH MY GOD!" Kate finally formed a few words.
"FINALLY!" Abby cheered, realizing there was a lonely tear in her eye, waiting to fall down.
"I can't believe we almost missed their wedding." Kate's eyes were fixed on the couple who was now leaning down, still kissing.
"I can't believe we didn't know they were getting married!" Abby dramatized.
Abby and Kate considered themselves the only people who actually cared about that kiss. However, there were others as well.
An elegant man in his 50's was sitting way back in the line of guests, comfortably hidden between the hundreds of people. He was calm, he had a little smile on his lips. It almost felt as if he was Bosley's father…watching his son walk down the aisle with a girl he seemed to have undeniable feelings for. The man didn't speak to anyone, he just stood there quietly, dressed in his designer suite, uncomfortably fixing his tie when he realized the kiss he was witnessing was becoming a little more passionate than what one might consider "appropriate" for such an event. He was happy, relieved even. But there was something underneath the layer of happiness, there was also pain. Memories of the past were haunting him and at one point it became too emotional for him to handle. He stood up discretely, just walking away before he would be spotted, although only one person at this event knew who this man really was.
Somewhere in the sidelines there was a gorgeous Latina girl with a long black dress, flowing down her delicate frame. Her hair was cascading down her shoulders in curls, much like Eve's hairstyle that day. Her dark hazel eyes were full of sparks, tears, emotions. She brought a little handkerchief to her eyes, wiping away the moist all around them. Traces of mascara were left on the delicate fabric and she smiled. She could hear her own heartbeat, her own breathing over the loud Mendelsohn tune, she could feel the way her blood traveled up and down her veins in a rush. It was pure emotions and she had a pretty good idea why she felt this way. Watching the two people kiss right in front of her, it filled her heart with joy. "That's my girl!" – She whispered underneath her breath. Nobody around knew who she was. She didn't know anybody either…except the few ones that mattered to her. A waiter came by to offer her another drink right before the ceremony would end, but by the time the young man turned around to pour the woman a glass of champagne, she had disappeared. Like a ghost. Like a vision. Like she was never even there. Who knows…maybe she wasn't!
At one point both Eve and Bosley needed to step back and take a breath. He found it hard to let go, she felt so good, leaning down, his hands supporting her in one of those dancing positions in the air, his lips against hers. But once they stepped back, they were still in trance. It took them both a lot of restraint not to jump at each other right after taking a breath to last them another few minutes. They put the married couple to shame. Eve noticed Bosley's mother nearly fainting and it made her smirk.
She smiled at him weakly, she was confused. First of all…were they now married? And second…was the kiss for real? At least one thing was for sure…Gloria would have approved!
He smiled wide, bringing her against his chest as the ceremony ended and everyone walked to the big open space seating area where the cocktail and dinner party would be held. His body language was screaming that he was relieved this kiss finally happened. But Eve was someone who liked verbal confirmation.
Hand in hand they walked by two female figures who didn't seem to move at all. Suddenly they realized they knew those girls.
"Abby!?" Eve squealed, letting go of Bosley's hand instinctively.
"Kate!?" Bosley added, frowning as he lost contact with Eve's warm hand.
"Yeah, uh…" Kate stuttered. Cops were never really good with words. Though one would think an ex-cop would at least be good with unexpected situations.
"…Surprise?" Abby ended off Kate's attempt to make a sentence. The ex-Socialite side of her instantly saw the huge diamond ring on Eve's left hand.
"Whe-…" Eve looked at Bosley for a second before she faced the girls again. "When did you arrive?" She asked frantically.
"Just…" Kate once again failed to speak like a normal human being.
"…a minute ago. We missed everything, didn't we? Sorry, we had a change of heart, we hopped on the next plane." Abby explained further. A little white lie wouldn't be a sin, especially since neither Eve nor Bosley were willing to speak about what happened a couple of minutes ago.
"You two are like Donald Duck's three kids. You know those little ones that always end off each other's sentences and thoughts. It's kind of creepy." Bosley laughed and linked hands with Kate, as she seemed the most puzzled one. "Come on, you didn't miss the good part. We have crazy good wine here in Puerto Rico. Not to mention the food. Let's go to our table." He smiled and walked the girl towards the tents and tables. His best game-plan was to separate Abby and Kate, so he could understand how much they saw and why Kate was so spaced out in shock.
Eve smiled and linked hands with Abby. She sure looked like a happy girl, wearing a white dress to a wedding. Abby and Kate had long and elegant black gowns on. "Oh, the food is divine. Maria brought us amazing stuff earlier today when we arrived. I'm hungry again, come on, you'll love it all. Hey, this is Maria over there. She's amazing. Her and Bosley are really close." Eve waved to the woman who was watching from distance.
Abby also waved and smiled. "Ooh! So that's why Bosley was keeping it hush-hush about the whole wedding thing. Seriously, he should know better than that. We don't care that he comes from a poor family. He is an amazing person. Money doesn't matter!" Abby stated proudly, but Eve just shook her head. She had learned the truth about Bosley the hard way, so she left it up to faith to break the news to Abby too.
Once they all sat at the table everyone's eyes went to a middle height man who just walked in and it seemed like people had to bow to him. Taking a closer look, Eve realized he was the man from the picture, the one standing to the evil Queen. The man stuttered something about a business meeting in the office and then he told his only daughter he was sorry for basically missing her whole wedding. He didn't seem bothered at all. He seemed tired, grumpy and too rich to have any morals anyway. His only sort of an apology was to say that "next time" he would walk her down the aisle. But that was hardly what any newlywed girl wanted to hear. However, it didn't seem like she minded.
"It's always been like this." Bosley leaned in and whispered to Eve.
"Jeez, I've seen snobs but those people take it to a whole new level." Abby commented and Eve tried really hard not to laugh.
"I hate to admit it, but I agree with Abby." Kate nodded after having carefully inspected the way people were behaving themselves during the dinner.
"Come on, girls. Let's show these snobs how we have a good time. Miami style, eh?" Bosley stood up, abandoning his food and speaking loud enough to be overheard by his family who was sitting at the table next to theirs.
The girls nearly tackled people over on their way to the dance-floor. The one thing all four of the Angels loved to do more than anything else was dance. They had their specific way of dancing in a group, making jokes, spinning around. The girls liked to test Bosley's quick reactions by twirling and letting him catch them before they would fall to the floor. Needless to say, he caught them, every time. And the night of the wedding was the same: they started dancing immediately. An hour later they were still on the dance-floor. People were still eating, but food wasn't on their minds. They loved the music and they loved being together. Bosley found it hard to focus on Eve, now with Abby and Kate jumping around as well. But he knew the night was young and he would have plenty of time to be alone with her later.
At one point he managed to get Eve away for a second, just enough to ask her something. "Should I tell them?" He was clearly talking about his family situation.
"Nah." Eve smirked and pulled him to the dance-floor once again. "Let them suffer the shock. I did." She made a perfect spin, landing in his arms after it. "Plus, I can't wait to see the priceless look on Abby's face when she realizes you're even more rich than her." She giggled.
"Was! I was rich." He corrected her and twirled her again, holding her hand in the air. "Now the only treasures I have are three little Angels. And they make me happier than all the money in the world could." He stated cheesily.
"You guys…" Abby's voice was full of emotions as she spotted them getting closer to where she was dancing with Kate. "You two look adorable. Wait, I'll take a picture. Aww, come on, get closer, don't be shy." She urged them and Kate already started pushing Eve towards Bosley. "Seriously Bos, hug her or something. She doesn't bite…unless you're into that kind of stuff." She smirked and grabbed the chance to snap a very warm and fun picture the moment both Eve and Bosley laughed out loud at her statement.
"Please don't tell me you…" Kate quickly walked to Abby, grabbing her phone. All she saw was a delivery report message. "…You sent it to Charlie!?" She sighed, it didn't even surprise her. Abby just laughed, Eve heard it as well, but she didn't care. Bosley, however, snapped a bit.
"You sent this picture to Charlie!? What did you say? Abby, I'm not even joking, what did you write?" He questioned, but given that Abby wasn't going to answer him, he grabbed her phone and walked away.
The girls weren't worried. They were used to Bosley having this weird little thing with Charlie, but since they were the only men in a crew completely dominated by women, they were allowed to have their guy-secrets.
After ten minutes Eve walked away from the dance-floor. She needed to take a breath of fresh air and to make sure Bosley was alright. She found him by the fountain, waving his hands in the air and explaining stuff to Charlie. She couldn't hear his whole sentences, just some words. But he seemed worried.
"…Charlie, you don't understand…no…Eve, no…just dancing…no, no, no…you're wrong…not Elisabeth…"
The moment Eve heard him say that name, her heart stopped beating for a while. She felt something stronger than her. It wasn't fear, it wasn't hate…it was pure jealousy. She dropped the glass of wine that she was holding in her hand and the sound of it made Bosley turn around and realize he wasn't alone. He switched the phone off without another word.
"Eve…" He started off.
"They're about to cut the cake. We should be there. I think." She smiled, dismissing the conversation that was about to start.
They walked back to their table in complete silence. While Carmen and her husband were trying to gather everyone near the cake stand, a girl came by and tapped Eve and Bosley's shoulders.
"Congratulations. She's stunning. I'm glad you finally settled down." The girl said in English, having overheard their previous conversations she figured she shouldn't speak in Spanish.
"Thanks." Bosley smiled without correcting the girl's statement. "Angels, meet the only sane person in my family, other than my grandma. This is my cousin Rosana. And these are my friends…this is Abby, then there's Kate and this is-…" Bosley started to introduce them but another girl jumped in their conversation.
"We know. She's that "Townsend" girl. She looks prettier than on that picture." The other girl commented.
"What?" Eve raised an eyebrow. She didn't know the girls saw her picture. And why would she be called "that Townsend girl"? She sighed, figuring out maybe Bosley sent his family a picture from the Agency. "Uh. Yeah. I mean, I work in the Townse-…" Eve started to explain, but this time Bosley cut her off.
"That's Rosana's little sister Viviana. She's the curious one. Now let's all keep quiet and watch them cut the cake, shall we, girls?" Bosley smiled, masking up the rude way he interrupted the whole conversation.
He figured that finding out that he's actually loaded with money, or rather that his family was loaded, was enough for Eve for one weekend. She couldn't possibly hear the truth about everything, especially about the "Townsend girl" comment. To top it all, Abby and Kate still had no idea about Bosley's origins.
The newlyweds cut the cake and it was time for Bosley to stand up and deliver a speech that he hadn't exactly prepared, yet, he had in his mind for a while now.
"Okay, let's all raise our glasses and welcome the new family to the table for some cake and let's wish them a lifetime full of sweetness. When I was a little boy and I asked my older sister Carmen about "love", she told me: Love only comes once in your life…you can't miss it, you'll know when it's there…it will be stronger than anything you ever felt before, sweeter than your favorite chocolate cake and sour like the cherry on top of your favorite ice-cream. Truthfully, it scared me, I mean, I was seven years old and I never wanted to fall in love. I'm skipping the stories about high-school, oh yeah, and college…and I'm going straight to the real life. One day I felt the sweetness and I thought I was in love. Then it all got sour and just like that, my fantasy was taken away from me. I despised love after that. Now I find myself thinking…you can only go this long without admitting it to yourself that sweet and sour is the best combination, just like Carmen said all those years ago. When you have someone and you spend every single day of your life just wanting to protect her, that's sour. When you feel both weak and strong, happy and confused, bubbly and out of words, that's sour. But when you see the way she looks at you and smiles…that's sweet. And then you know it…that must be love, no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise. Once you let yourself believe it…look, apparently marriage is the next step." He smiled, glancing over at his sister and her husband. "Because in the face of true love you don't just give up…even if the object of your affection turns out to be someone other than what you originally thought life had planned out for you!" His eyes were poking through Eve as he spoke. "So cheers, to the new family, to Love, to pursuing the right girl, to new beginnings…and happy endings!" He raised his glass and saw a few of his cousins cry, Abby and Kate did the same while Eve tried to get a hold of her emotions. She looked adorable, all serious and calm on the outside…she didn't even know she was biting her lower lip and her glass was half-way to her lips, but she had forgotten to take a sip.
"Cheers." He said to Eve while painfully slow maneuvering to sit next to her once again.
"Cheers." She repeated, just like she repeated the thing that sounded awfully much like an "I do" earlier, during the ceremony. She finally realized her hand was hanging in the air, so she took the chance to down the glass of alcohol. It took her less than 4 seconds to grab Kate's glass while she wasn't looking, eagerly taking a large sip.
"Whoah, easy there, Angel." Bosley laughed, removing Kate's glass from Eve's hands. "You're welcome." He smirked. "Those two alcohols don't mix well, trust me, been there." His hands made circles around his head, as if he was showing her how hungover she would be the next day.
"Thanks." Eve chuckled lightly, getting herself a bottle of water instead.
"Bos, it's so nice of those people to let you have your sister's wedding at their home." Kate smiled, looking around in awe.
"Yeah…no, I don't think so." Abby shook her head. "Rich people are stuck up snobby brats. They would never allow the staff to be anywhere near their property, unless they're cleaning it. You guys don't understand, but take it from me as the only representative of the world of Filthy Rich People…there's no such thing as treating the staff as friends. Ever!" She rolled her eyes. Saying this now felt so ridiculous. Years ago it would have been a normal thing to say, just another day in the life of a Manhattan Socialite Bitch. She was a changed person now, she was much more laid back and open to people from lower social classes. However, one thing remained: she still had the pride that used to be the richest one of the Angels.
The evil Queen, as Eve was referring to the woman whose name she yet hadn't even heard, stood up and made rounds with her glass, to greet the guests at their tables. Her husband followed. Abby eyed them from head to toe, they were wearing only designer stuff, the most expensive fashion items in the world. She was truly impressed and a little jealous. Whoever those people were, they were intimidating with their insanely huge and lavish palace, their money, clothes and well, the bad manners that follow.
"Nice speech, Juan." The elder man clinked his glass with Bosley's.
"Unimpressive. Sobby. Too long." The evil Queen commented, rolling her eyes, as they were the only things she could still move after all the Botox in her face. Once again she spoke without actual words, no verbs, no sentences. Yet she said enough.
Bosley didn't seem affected at all. He was like a robot. He took a sip of his drink and just smiled. Abby registered that behavior…she had been doing the same exact thing in Manhattan, during social events: keeping a straight face on, no matter how much the other bitches were trying to annoy her. Good for Bosley, he had the same ability as Abby.
"I'm quite disappointed. All those women you've been with and you chose…that!?" The elder woman pointed at Eve as if she was trash. Just the way she looked at the girl was so disrespectful and rude. "And you gave her the family ring…look at her, she would most likely sell it and run away with a motorcycle hippie!'
"Whoah, wait a minute. Nobody speaks like that about our friend. Got it!?" Kate stood up immediately.
"Bitch, who do you think you are!?" Abby stood up too. It filled Eve's heart with joy. Bosley's as well. "Take it back or we take you down!" She threatened, Blondie was ready to attack.
"Girls, settle down." Bosley stood up too and out of all the things he could have done…he simply laughed. "It doesn't really matter what she says. The more you get upset, the more you feed the dragon."
"Oh! This is scandalous. How dare you?" The woman gasped in a fake manner. Clearly she wasn't used to anyone standing up for themselves while she tried to stomp all over them. Suddenly she had a bunch of Americans teaching her manners.
Bosley tried to calm the girls down, he literally caught Abby's swinging fist in the air before any damage could be done to her fresh manicure and the elder woman's face. Eve stood up as well, holding Abby back. Kate tried to grab Abby's hand, but she grabbed Eve's instead, resulting into an instant reaction from Eve who stepped back, knocked over the chair and nearly pushed Abby to the floor, as she was thinking someone other than Kate was grabbing her hand in order to fight.
Bosley was enjoying this far more than what would be acceptable at such an elegant and classy event. He brought a hand to his mouth in hopes of hiding the chuckles and the facial expressions he did while watching the three girls attacking each other without realizing it, all while they were trying to protect Eve. He let them fix that net of hair, hands and parts of fabric that got entangled during those few seconds of pure bliss. Everyone was watching in shock.
"Juan, you're a disgrace to the whole family. I'm now ashamed to call you my son." The woman protested, stomping her foot against the floor and walking away, trying to save the little dignity that she had.
"You've always been ashamed of me. And you don't even call me by my name, which is now John." He smirked at her and finally went to the girls' side, helping Kate get her spikes bracelet away from Abby's ruffle dress.
Realization hit Abby and she was no longer worried about the couture item that was nearly ruined. "Son?" She murmured quietly. "The owners of this place…" She looked up to where Bosley was standing and smirking down at her. Suddenly she jumped up, grabbed him and shook him. "YOU'RE FILTHY RICH!?" She yelled, without really planning to do it. It was just too much to take in quietly.
"Oh no. Abby's social status has been outshined. Run for cover!" Kate narrated, dramatizing the whole event. She wanted to laugh so badly, but she was afraid for her life. She knew how much it meant for Abby to be the one with the highest social status.
"Uh, I don't like this term. Can we, please, discuss this later? Maybe when there aren't hundreds of people watching us." Bosley pleaded. "Now girls just sit down and shut up. I can't possibly survive more time than the needed. So let's let them wrap this thing up and go have some fun of our own!" He sounded a little too calm to be normal. Abby nodded, realizing how hard it must be for him to keep up a straight face on.
The wedding was over thirty minutes after the cake was served. Bosley and the Angels were among the first people to leave, followed by the faithful Maria. The woman hurried down the hallways of the house until she reached the right wing.
"Here. I stored luggage for Miss and Miss. It's safe. Now let me show you the room. It's in señor Eduardo's wing. Very pretty. Blue things, you'll like. There Chanel for the girls." Maria spoke, trying really hard to speak proper English, even though she omitted a few words in her sentences.
"Wait…wing?" Abby frowned. This was supposed to be a fun trip, but it was turning into a nightmare. As they walked in, she saw everything painted in white and very light blue. "You have your own wing!?"
"Don't make a scene. Breathe, think Chanel and keep walking." Kate whispered to Abby, helping her walk straight forward without falling to the floor in panic attack.
They were going to share a room with two enormous beds and an amazing terrace that was joined with the one Eve and Bosley had. After they had a tour of the wing, they ended up in Bosley's room and they realized something…
"Bos, your childhood room is adorable." Kate smiled and picked up a few of the stuffed toys that Maria had kept all those years.
"Wait. So this is your room. We're in the guest-room next door. Where does Eve stay?" She looked around, noticing one insanely large bed in the middle of Bosley's room, unlike the two big ones that Kate and her were going to use.
"She's…uh…" Bosley stuttered.
"Here!" Eve twirled around happily. She was way over the family drama. Bosley had promised them fun and she was looking forward to it.
"You're sleeping with Bo-… Ouch!" Abby started to speak, but Kate's elbow was fast enough to dig into her ribs. "Ugh." She grunted. This day was going so wrong.
"Abbs, can we maybe…talk in private?" Bosley suggested, walking her out on the terrace.
Eve remained inside with Kate, showing her all the cool stuff in the bathroom and grabbing a few make-up things in their bags. At the same time Bosley felt like he owned an explanation to Abby.
"I should have told you earlier…" He started off.
"Yeah. Months ago!" Abby specified, crossing her hands in front of her chest.
"I know. But hear me out, okay?" He put one hand on her shoulder and allowed her to sit on the swing that was on the far edge of the terrace. "I never really belonged to this world. I hated everything about it. Yes, I come from wealth, but that's not who I am. I ran away from all this when I was young and I never looked back. Now, I know how much your social status means to you, that's why I never mentioned it. I didn't want you or the other girls to see me as a…"
"…Rich spoiled brat?" Abby finished his sentence, taking offense.
"That's not what I meant…" He tried to argue, but he was only fooling himself.
"That's exactly what you meant, Bos." Abby sighed and looked at the horizon. "And it's alright. I mean, it sucks and I never expected to hear it from you, out of all people…but it's the truth."
"Wait, what?" Her words startled him.
"Bos…now you know how I've felt my whole life. Like I'm suffocating. Like I'm never good enough. Like I don't deserve the majority of the things that I have. Why do you think I started stealing things? It was easier to think that I stole it from someone who bought it fairly, rather than knowing I bought it myself, with money that my father got by giving the law the middle finger for years." She shrugged. "Now that I know you come from wealth too, I kind of see why you were so comforting when I opened up, you know, on the rooftop, when I joined the Angels. I felt like I could connect to you…share my sob story, you know?"
"Uh-huh." He nodded. The conversation wasn't going in the direction he thought it would. Not at all.
"But still, you should have been honest. I wouldn't care if your family has more money than mine. At least they got them fairly…wait, did they?" She chuckled and looked up.
"Yes. All fair. My family owns a multi-million dollar corporation that's been running in Puerto Rico for decades." He clarified.
"Ah. Old money. Well, it's not making me feel any better. But it's good to know." Abby let herself laugh so she would shake all the negative feelings that were pent up in her within the last one hour.
"Remember how you were the one who said that every Angel has a deep dark secret?" He looked at her challengingly. "I guess this is part of mine."
"Wow, wait. There's more? Please tell me you have a hot young cousin who is straight?" She laughed from the heart now.
"Oh, I have plenty of cousins. But you don't want to mix and mingle with the Bosley family members. It's so complicated that it often got me wondering if I could change my last name when I get married." He joked, but not quite.
"Hmm. John French would sound nice. I'm sure Eve won't mind." Abby nudged him lightly. He was sure she was feeling much better in spirit now that she was making her usual jokes again.
"Shut up." Bosley pushed her hand away gently, trying to mask up a huge grin.
"Oh, come on. The two of you looked divine today in front of the Pastor. You can't deny it…you've been thinking of that moment with her, eh?" Abby grinned curiously.
"It's not that simple." He shrugged.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you? And don't tell me you don't like her…I see the way you drool over her each time she passes by. And I saw the…ehm, reaction that you had when she was teasing you last week at the beach. A little tip, next time don't wear form-fitting speedos." Abby always had to take it to the next level.
"You did not just say that!" Bosley wasn't sure if he was blushing or fuming at those words, but he certainly felt uncomfortable.
"Oh, yes I did!" She smirked, but then started squealing loudly as Bosley attacked her with tickles. It was the only thing that could possibly shut her mouth. However, he always felt guilty when he tickled Abby, it was as if he was torturing her, she was kicking and screaming all the time and he had to yet understand if that was from pain or just for fun.
"Seriously though…" She said right after taking a breath when he finally stopped his torture. "What could possibly be so complicated? It's not like there's another girl-…" Her mind quickly scanned the facts and she brought a hand to cover her lips as she gasped. "Oh my God, Bos. I'm so sorry. I never thought…I mean…I forgot you told us about-…" She stuttered and he cut her off before she would be able to pronounce the name.
"Yeah." His eyes wandered around for a long moment before he faced Abby again.
"You know Kate and I love Eve like our sister. And we know she loves us too. But sometimes we feel like she would never fully let go of the past…like she would never look at us the same way she looked at Gloria…" Abby commented, speaking slowly, giving herself time to figure out if her words would freak Bosley out. Or if he was even going to get the parallel that she was drawing.
"But what Eve had with Gloria was unique. It was different. It can never be repeated, replaced, let alone forgotten. That's what makes it so special. That's why she's holding on to it for so long…and damn, she's holding tight. I mean, she turns into an emotional wreck each time we mention Gloria. But eventually she learned she had to let go and move on. She has been more open with us lately, she feels so much closer now. And look at her…she's happy." Abby pointed inside the room. Through the glass door they could see Eve and Kate jumping around and dancing like little freaks. Bosley was positive that he heard a Flo Rida tune coming out of someone's mobile phone and filling the room.
"Things from the past should stay in the past. There's a limit as to how long it is healthy that they circle around us and haunt us, preventing us from being happy again. I'm not saying those things should be forgotten. But they should be stored in a little compartment in our brains, just for reference…while the rest of it would be available for new memories. We should experience new things and meet new people. Just because Eve has us now, it doesn't mean she would ever forget about Gloria. It also doesn't mean that she didn't truly love her. It only means she's trying to live the life that her best friend would have wanted her to live: happy, steady, surrounded by people who love her." Abby finally finished her speech and it left Bosley baffled.
"Right…" He murmured quietly while on the inside his brain was registering all the information. He most definitely understood the parallel. What surprised him was that Sunshine Barbie went from zero to mad, then to upset, then to shrink in sixty seconds. Abby had always been the one to be straight forward. It sometimes got her in trouble, but she had a big mouth and she ran it whenever she wanted to. It was crazy to even think back of what she had just said now. There was no hostility, just softness. Every word she said made perfect sense and it wasn't that Bosley had never heard it before…it was just that hearing it from someone as special as Abby, it made him believe in it finally. He would probably never admit that, since he prided in being the best one of all four to give long motivational speeches…but he just got totally owned by Abby's words.
"Now let's go back inside before Kate gets jealous that you're taking me away from her." She giggled and stood up. "Oh and one more thing. Eve asked me earlier if she could borrow some underwear. Apparently you two travel light. So just so you know…whatever you do tonight, keep your grabby hands off of my La Perla and no monkey business around it, okay?" She laughed, back to her usual teasing self.
"Get out of my sight, Abigail!" Bosley threw a pillow at her and watched her duck and then run back inside his bedroom, closing the door behind her. "Girls!" He sighed, bumping his fists against the window and already deciding on his own revenge plan. He had been officially locked out on the terrace and the three girls were now laughing and sticking their tongues out at him through the glass doors.
"Poor Bosley." Eve giggled, hopping on the bed instead of opening the door for him.
"Yeah…he'll live." Abby shrugged. "What did I miss?"
"What did we miss? Things were pretty heated there and then there was a complete 180!" Kate sat down next to Eve.
"We just spoke about stuff. Now come on, get your asses up. We're going dancing. There's no way I leave Puerto Rico without a shameful night of Salsa with a stranger. And Kate, don't judge, I know what you did last Summer!" Abby shot her a glance.
"Will you ever let it go, Abbs?" Kate pouted.
"What is it?" Eve stood up and started hoping that Bosley had ordered more than just a white wedding dress for her, otherwise she would have to ask the girls to borrow everything.
"Newly single Kate here was out drinking one night. She must have spent at least half an hour dancing with this guy and in the end she asked for his name…" Abby dramatized, although it all seemed quite normal to Eve.
"Okay…so?" Eve shrugged unenthusiastically.
"It was Bosley!" Abby stated and all three of them burst out in laughter. Kate must have been completely wasted. That was her one shameful event…apart from the latest St. Valentine's Day, of course.
They didn't even realize when the door of the bedroom had opened and someone had reached them, now standing right behind them, near the bed. Suddenly a loud clapping sound startled them all and they shouted, turning around to see it was Bosley behind them.
"Karma is a bitch, ladies!" Bosley took his turn to stick his tongue at them as they were checking out their pulse and breathing. "The balconies are joined and someone didn't lock their room well." He laughed. "I know this place by heart. But I'm not willing to stay here any longer. So come on, we're going to have fun, like I promised you. I took the liberty of…well, Maria really did it, but there are a few dresses for you to choose from. Check out the left section of my closet. You're welcome." He smirked, knowing what would happen next.
As if they had rehearsed it, the girls ran towards the closet, jumping over teddy bears and stuff. Inside there were traditional dance costumes and they were all in bright colors, so beautiful. Eve chose a red one, Abby a blue and Kate was about to grab the green one when Eve spoke.
"Uh, can you get another one, please? Have mine if you want. Just not green…" Eve looked at the dress for a bit and then back at Kate. "It's just that…green was Gloria's favorite color." She explained very subtly.
Hearing those words, Abby realized something: if it was this hard for Eve to get over Gloria, it must be ten times harder for Bosley to get over Elisabeth. She took a deep breath, refusing to let emotions ruin their night. She showed Kate another dress, a purple one with tons of ruffles on it. Finally it was the choice Kate made and the girls dressed up quickly. They walked back into Bosley's room with a dance-step and a lot of good mood.
"Wow, ladies…" He whistled with his mouth. They looked insanely good in those huge dresses with lots of layers and colors. "Come on. I just scored us a great table at "Cocodrilo". I know it sounds funny, but trust me, it's the best place to go drink and dance. Maria's eldest son is a bartender. Single and straight. I'm just saying." He winked at Abby.
Soon the Limo drove them to this night-club that was apparently named after a crocodile. The couches around the tables were in the shape of this animal and everything was colorful and shiny. Abby loved experiencing different cultures. Kate always liked things that were different from the everyday stuff she saw in Miami. And Eve was in pure Heaven…it looked like El Salvador, at least the people dancing around, having fun, speaking in Spanish. It gave her flashbacks of when she was only five years old and she would sneak out with Gloria and watch the young people from their village dance at the beach after sunset. It was how she learned the dance steps to Salsa. She remembered being mesmerized by the beauty of the dance, the shapes that the bodies of only two people can create, the speed they moved with, the sensuality although at five it was doubtful she even knew what that meant. She was just a child who had been caught up in the world of dance and she kept on dragging Gloria around the tiny room in the orphanage, the room they were sharing with four other kids, so they would learn more steps and start dancing like the grown up kids. Thinking back of those days made Eve smile as they were seated at their table. She only realized Kate was asking her what drink she would like from the bar, when the question was repeated for the third time.
After a few cocktails the music became louder. Nobody was sitting anymore, so the Angels jumped up and found a little spot at the dance-floor, big enough for the four of them to share. Although…Abby quickly found herself dancing with the bartender, Maria's son, just like Bosley had suspected. The boy was very well behaved, well-educated and he had a smile worth millions. And he spoke English with a sexy accent.
Kate had been grabbed and dragged away by two guys, twins, who were rambling something in Spanish and twirling her around mercilessly. She was lucky she could hold her liqueur, otherwise she would be injured severely, probably falling under the table. Bosley gave her a hand sign that it was alright. The girls had seen Latino movies, it was normal to walk into a club and get "kidnapped" by a guy. Everyone changed partners while they danced. It was part of the Latino culture.
However, when a dude approached Eve and tried to grab her away, Bosley shook his head, pulling her against him. He wouldn't mind if anyone else danced with her, but not before he did so himself. He started to spin her around a few times before the song ended. Luckily for him, the next one was a ballad and she was trapped in his arms. It would be rude if she walked away now, given that she kind of owed him a dance since the previous song ended off just as they started dancing. So he held her close and she didn't seem to mind swaying around for the next 3 minutes.
When a quick song started, the other girls found them and joined them again. The dynamics between the four of them was crazy, there was no denying that fact. The girls seemed happy with Bosley around and he felt complete with the three Angels in his life.
"If that's how life in Puerto Rico is…I'm moving here." Abby said, all grinning while she danced.
"Yeah, we need that guest room in your wing. We just can't afford it. Friends discount?" Kate blinked innocently, looking over at Bosley.
"No." He shook his head, holding Kate's hand and twirling her twice before she ended up right in front of him again. "Family discount." He stated with a smirk. "You girls are my family, as far as I'm concerned." He didn't mind being a little cheesy around the girls.
"Aww, Bosley!" Abby squealed, they knew she was intoxicated when she spoke with that voice.
"Bos!" Kate cheered as well, throwing her hands around him right after Abby did it.
Last but not least, Eve hugged them all as well. "Señor John Eduardo Bosley!" She giggled.
It was safe to say that now everyone in the club knew they were Americans and that put them in the Most Wanted Dance Partners list for the night. The bartender threw away his apron and invited Abby for another dance. She kind of had a soft spot for sexy guys who work with alcohol. Back in Miami Abby knew everyone and everyone knew Abby. Kate was kidnapped by one of the twin brothers who was showing her the basic steps of some dance that she wasn't even able to pronounce right. And that once again left Eve and Bosley on their own.
"This is amazing!" Eve initiated a dance. She could tell that everyone in this club knew how to dance right, they knew all the steps, all the twirls, all the right moves. And they looked so elegant and graceful, yet so happy and peaceful when they danced. "I love Puerto Rico!" She added to her statement.
"You are amazing." Bosley changed the first part of what Eve had just said. However, he couldn't bring himself to change her last words into an honest emotional downpour. He knew he wanted to say it, he knew it definitely felt this way, but saying "I love you" would be the final step and there would be no turning back. It would mean he had officially moved on from Elisabeth and that felt as if he was betraying her memory. Plus, they were drunk, so it's not like Eve would take it seriously anyway. So he kept his mouth shut…until he couldn't anymore.
Eve had been way too close for the previous few minutes. He couldn't think of a good reason why he wouldn't do the thing that followed. Moreover, they had already done it before. And Abby and Kate were not really around them, so this felt somewhat private.
"You have to stop saying this…" Eve fake-pouted when Bosley said she was amazing, yet once again.
"You have to stop being amazing." Bosley smirked, he loved teasing her with those words. He knew she didn't feel like she deserved them, so he took every chance he had, just to remind her of the fact that she was truly amazing.
"You're a tease!" Eve stuck her tongue at him childishly.
"You're amazing." He smirked again.
"You're annoying." She giggled, wanting to trigger him to say something else.
"You're amazing." He repeated once again.
"You're hot." She raised an eyebrow challengingly.
This time instead of telling her the same thing, he brought her close and kissed her lips. She almost felt like she was about to fall to the floor. Why did her knees feel so soft whenever he was around? He held her tight and refused to break the kiss. She didn't mind. In her mind there was a battlefield…a part of her was thinking about what the doctor had suggested, that they should go to that upcoming music festival in Miami and she should tell him how she feels about him. Well, it was a night-club and he was kissing her. And it was divine! Another part of her was thinking this could be bad, really bad…if Abby saw them, she would never lay off of Eve. There would be constant teases and reminders of this. A little part of her was also wondering if Gloria was watching from above. She would approve. She had a soft spot for Eve and Bosley ever since that night when Eve saw him in Miami for the first time. The majority of her brain wasn't thinking at all…she was just relaxed, enjoying the moment.
"Holy freaking shit!" Kate gasped, leaving the twin guy astonished, alone, in the middle of the dance-floor. She pulled Abby away from the bartender's arms and they took the best position: far enough to be spying without being noticed, but close enough to see the whole thing.
"Oh, holy Fashion Gods!" Abby gasped as well, covering her mouth with one hand so she wouldn't start yelling.
The two girls remained silent for a couple of minutes, just watching their two friends. At one point they subconsciously brought their hands up in the air for a very much awaited high five. It felt even better that they didn't push them to kiss, there were no games, no plans, no schemes. Abby felt like she couldn't breathe while Kate's own breathing was ragged, she couldn't hold her breath for longer than two seconds before exhaling deeply and dramatically, letting out a cute little dreamy sound in the end.
"They did it again. Finally. Yes! Oh yes. This is good, Kate! This is salvation from our misery! This is our own personal Heaven right there!" Abby dramatized.
"Uh, I'm pretty sure it's their moment, not ours. Shut up and watch. Wait, give me your phone. Quick! I'll make a video. You snap pictures." She smirked.
"I like your thinking, Miss Prince." Abby smirked and complied.
Pulling back for air, Eve's cheeks were burning. She looked away shyly. She no longer had the crowd staring at her, like it happened during the wedding. But she had one thing: certainty that the kiss hadn't only been for cover in front of his family. Apparently he wanted to kiss her for real. Right? He did it again in the club and nobody told him to do so. She giggled nervously and felt like she needed someone to slap her. She felt like a fifteen year old school-girl.
"Wow…" Bosley muttered to himself.
"Amazing?" Eve winked, wondering if he still had the same opinion.
"Amazing doesn't begin to describe this." He smirked, letting his hand brush up and down her arm.
"Bos…" Eve finally got the courage to look him in the eyes. She kind of wanted to let it all out. It was high time. "I need to tell you something…" She was excited, in a good way. However, her face turned cold for some weird reason. And it freaked him out.
"No." He whispered, making her even more confused. "You don't need to say it." He continued. "That was highly unprofessional. I shouldn't have…" He stuttered, looking away. Suddenly his hands left her waist, the distance between them tripled and it felt cold. "It won't happen again." He ended off, he figured out the kiss had freaked Eve out and she was about to shut him off, so he hurried to be the one to say it. In his head this would help make things less awkward in the future.
"Right…" She mumbled. There was this weird thing in the air, whenever things were good between them something just had to happen and screw it all up. "I need a drink." She stated, just to be able to walk away. But she walked opposite direction from the bar.
Eve's eyes scanned the open space and she directed herself towards the restrooms. She nearly kicked the door down and after a loud "Get out, now!" scream, all the girls walked out, leaving her alone in there. She hopped up, sitting on the sink counter and letting her head fall against her hands. Tears came up and she couldn't control them, no matter how hard she tried.
Needless to say, Abby and Kate had witnessed the whole thing. Right after the passionate kiss they saw the two of them almost argue, there was tension and Eve had fled the scene immediately. So there was only one place where they could find an upset drunk girl in a night-club.
"Oh no. Eve?" Abby exclaimed when Kate pushed the door open and they found their best friend sitting alone, crying.
"Sweety, what happ-…Ouch." Kate's words came out without much thinking. This time it was Abby who elbowed her, so she would shut up.
"I broke a nail." Eve replied, looking up and instantly putting on a brave smile. It was so believable that the other two Angels started to wonder how many times Eve had done this before…how many times might they have walked in on her being upset or even crying, when she fooled them with a smile.
They let her take a moment to calm her nerves down before they collectively fixed her make-up. But no word had been uttered about the kiss. When they walked out they seemed happy and cheerful, especially Eve. She snitched a few drinks from people's tables, on the way to their own table, so quickly after that she felt drunk, tired and annoyed. They all decided to head home. It felt like they were leaving early, when in reality it was almost 5 o'clock in the morning.
Back in the Bosley Palace, the four of them separated and walked to their rooms. Bosley felt how weird Eve was acting around him during the short limo ride. It wasn't supposed to be like that. There was no way he would let this rollercoaster ride of a day end up sour-tasting. He wanted it to be sweet. But no matter the tricks he tried, she wasn't interested. She took a shower and hopped in the bed. By the time he got out of the showed she was asleep, or at least so it seemed.
An hour later the sun hadn't yet come up, but Eve woke up anyway. She sighed dramatically. Something was bothering her and she wanted to clear the air.
"Was it really a mistake?" She asked silently, knowing very well that he was also awake, even though she was turned with her back to him, much further away than what he would have liked.
"No." He stated simply.
"Then why did you say so?" It was obvious, she had been offended.
"Because you freaked out and-…" He started to explain, but suddenly she turned around to face him, cutting him off.
"I didn't." Her voice was serious.
"But you said you had to tell me something…" Bosley questioned, realizing he might have made a terribly stupid mistake, assuming stuff earlier that night.
"Yes. And if you would have listened, you would have known what it was." She scrunched her nose. Men were a difficult breed, because in her mind men were like dogs: big, scary, attacking…but all they really stood for was bark with no bite.
"You can still tell me." He urged.
"Right…and look silly? No, thanks." She rolled her eyes.
"Come on. I'm sorry. I thought you considered it a mistake. I didn't want to do anything you weren't ready to…or that you didn't want to do at all." He tried to shrug in the bed.
"Bosley, I'm a big girl. I've seen and done tons of things. It's safe to say I'm quite capable of taking a decision for myself." She stated. "If I was upset that you didn't tell me about your family earlier, I would have left. If I was mad at you for making your family believe we are engaged, I would have said so. And if I didn't want to kiss you, I would have kept my tongue to myself. I've done it a million times before. I'm the flirt, remember? Have you ever seen me actually kiss a guy? No. Isn't that telling you something?" She sighed and a smile formed on her lips. "Seriously. You need to stop freaking out. Relax and take a deep breath…you'll need it." Her right eye sent him a wink, being all cryptic in her words.
"So you wanted me to kiss you?" He wasn't stupid, he figured out what she meant, he just wanted to hear it again.
"You are unbelievable!" She rolled her eyes.
"You are amazing." He teased her once again with the usual line.
She rolled around and with one swift motion she ended up on top of him. No more being the victim of his teasing. She was now ready to attack. Her lips captured his in a soft kiss, she didn't give him the chance to register what was happening. She didn't care. He was being all weird about the whole day and she was already over it. And over him, on top of him. Never mind the things that were pulling them back.
This time, however, the kiss lasted much longer. Nobody was watching, so things got heated between them. The alcohol hadn't worn off yet and everything helped for this to be a blissful moment. The first rays of the sun were poking through the palm trees and illuminating his face as she kissed him, well, in the rare moments she had her eyes opened.
It amused him to realize this was their third kiss for the day and he hadn't had one of his painful hallucinations about Elisabeth yet. He remembered how in Moscow she had been the reason why he didn't kiss Eve. And when he got drunk at St. Valentine's Day, thinking of the past made it much easier to ask Samantha Masters to be his date, instead of Eve like he had planned weeks in advance.
"Does this feel like a mistake!?" She asked cheekily right before she bit his bottom lip very softly.
"No." He replied breathlessly.
"And this?" She let her hand trail down his chest, stopping right where he didn't want it to stop. She was a tease. The biggest tease of all.
"No." He whispered.
"What about…" Her lips were drawn to his neck for a long moment. "…this?" She was nowhere near done torturing him.
"No." He gulped, she was too much for him to handle. His sanity was long lost.
"Maybe if I…" She whispered, bringing her lips to his ear, letting her hot breath tickle his skin.
"No. Eve. God. Ugh." He found himself short of words. He wanted to say so many things. Yet somehow he failed at forming a sentence.
"Oh, I just wanted to know what you called a mistake." She smirked. "I remember you said it right after you did a little something like…hmm, let me think…" She brought her lips to his and kissed him again. "…this, maybe?"
"You're killing me!" He took a breath sharply. "If you don't stop…" He kissed her back, the moment she finally pulled away. "I'm going to…" He tried to threaten her. "…Never mind. Continue. You'll see pretty soon." He chuckled.
"Call it a "mistake" one more time and you'll be missing a very important body part. Understood?" She smirked, seeing him just nod in agreement. "Good boy."
"Damn." He groaned, hearing his phone. "I have to take this. It's Charlie."
"Nah, just pretend like you're sleeping." Eve suggested.
"I can't do that. I always pick up. It's…complicated." He bit his bottom lip. He couldn't believe he was choosing Charlie over Eve, but this was the least he could do now that he was trying to move on from Elisabeth. Although, what was Charlie's connection to Elisabeth anyway!?
"Hey Charlie…Yeah, I was sleeping…What is it?...Monday, yes, we land in the morning, we can go straight to the office…Alright, I'll let them know…Bye." He was intimidated each time he spoke to Charlie and Eve had seen it before.
"Why does he have so much power over you?" She snuggled close to him, her eyes were closing. Forget the teasing. She was drunk, her head started to pound and she just wanted to sleep. "You turn to a puppet on strings whenever Charlie says something. It's like you're constantly trying to prove yourself to him. Take it easy. Breathe. He's just a person and from what I hear, he quite likes you already." She was surprised she could speak words of wisdom after so many drinks, a crazy day and a wild night.
"Let's just say he has something over me. And he's my mentor. He's the reason why I didn't turn out to be a prisoner…oh crap. I didn't mean it like that." He sighed.
"Nah, it's alright. I went to jail. Big deal. I'm out now. I don't like dwelling on the past. It's lame. It only prevents people from being happy in the present…and shit, I didn't mean it like that!" She bit her tongue, they were going in circles. First he unintentionally could have hurt her about the jail thing, now she was unintentionally throwing jabs at him about the past haunting someone.
"It's fine. Today has been…crazy. Let's just sleep. Goodnight, Eve." He whispered, holding her close.
"Goodnight, Bos." She replied, dozing off quite fast.
Hours later, at noon, Abby and Kate jumped on the terrace and walked into Bosley's room.
"Guys! Wake up. Seriously. Come on. You've been sleeping too much. Maria just invited us to her home. I mean, I think that's what she did. She said half of it in Spanish." Abby cheered and it annoyed Eve that she appeared to be the only one with a splitting headache.
"Fine. Stop shouting. What are you…the Energizer Bunny?" Eve rubbed her eyes, realizing she was still in Bosley's arms. "Uh, give us half an hour and we'll be there."
"Take your time. Don't hurry on my account." Abby smirked. "Oh and you can keep the La Perla." She added cheekily.
"Actually. Why don't you go get your stuff. We'll spend the day at Maria's. I'm kind of over this family thing anyway. Plus, you've always been curious about my family, so now that you met my real one, it's time for you to meet the ones I feel like family. The Ramirez, Maria's family. You'll love them. See you in thirty minutes downstairs." Bosley suggested, trying really hard not to move, as it would indicate where exactly his hands were, under the covers.
A little more than thirty minutes later they all gathered in the lobby. The evil Queen whose name hadn't yet been cleared up, was coming downstairs for breakfast.
"Juan, I didn't expect to see and your posse up so early after a night of disgraceful behavior out on the town. Although, I can't say I'm surprised." The woman commented harshly.
"For the last time, it's John. And those girls are not my posse…they're my family, my life. Disgraceful? I don't think so. We're young, we went to a club. If you ever removed that stick from…ugh. Just…forget I was here. Clearly a mistake. Wait, another mistake to add to my never-ending list of mistakes. Isn't that what you said yesterday at the wedding? That's right, I heard that. From this day forward I'm no longer your problem. Focus on your perfect daughter, perfect marriage, perfect house. Oh and if you ever call her a mistake again, I'll make sure you regret it. Goodbye." He pointed at Eve and then waved. It was the first time he had ever been disrespectful to his family and it felt good. He had finally had enough judging.
The woman saw them walk out, rolling Abby and Kate's suitcases and she knew she had lost her son for real this time. It felt like a more serious thing than just him leaving for college and never coming back. And then she felt something weird…she felt pain. For a moment she contemplated a tear falling down, but then she got distracted by the beauty of all the artificial things she found on her way to the back-yard. It was the life of the filthy rich, like Abby always tried to explain to the Angels. People like her never really showed emotions…they didn't feel anything. Their life had been ruled completely by the things that sparkle. Sad, yet true.
Bosley didn't want to use the limo anymore, so he hired a taxi to take them to Maria's house. It was in the suburbs of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. It was a nice and cozy house, a small one, but full of life, color and love. From the moment the taxi stopped in front, a dozen little kids surrounded them. They all spoke in Spanish and the mood was completely different than what it had been 24 hours ago. It was cheerful and fun, energetic. The Angels were dragged in, their hands being pulled by the kids who were happy and eager to show them every corner of their little house.
This house had a back-yard as well, but unlike the Palace they've been to, this place was full of swings for kids, there was a trampoline under a palm tree and a big inflatable pool with little toy ducks floating in it, circling around a little child.
"Aw, cute little baby. How adorable. Oh my God, you're so beautiful!" Eve squealed, running towards the kid in the pool. It was a two year old girl with dark curly hair. Her mother was holding her up in the water while the kid splashed around. Eve was a natural, she got stuck to the kid, speaking Spanish to her and she met the mother as well, one of Maria's many children. The baby girl extended her hands for Eve to hug her and she did it without even thinking of her clothes getting wet. She pulled the girl out of the water and cuddled her lovingly. Bosley wasn't too far away and he was amazed to see that strong motherly instinct from the street racer chick who could blow up a car and not even think twice about it.
Abby found herself greeting the bartender from last night, Maria's son. They had such an awesome time dancing and it must have been the first and only time she had ever been so comfortable with a guy without feeling the pressure that she had to give him a little something more than just one dance. Suddenly she was surrounded by little Latina girls in big fluffy dresses, dancing around and touching Abby's dress. She felt like a Goddess, those kids already adored her and she could tell they were working up a plan to strip her down and steal her dress.
Kate was surrounded by a bunch of little boys with guns. She was handed a sword and forced to defend herself against the little troublemakers who were spraying her with water guns. She managed to tackle down one of the elder boys, he looked like he was about ten, grabbing his gun and pretending to hold all the others hostage. She proudly tossed the gun in the air, spinning it around before catching it and pointing it precisely towards the boy she had taken it away from. To those little guys she was like an icon: the girl who knew all about guns and fights. She was Superwoman and they wanted her to stay in their house for as long as possible.
Bosley was doing more things that he could handle, all at the same time. And it felt good. It was the touch of reality, the Latino culture he had missed. This felt like family! The little boys soon ran over to his side with a ball, wanting to shoot some baskets. He happily complied, giving them the advantage to score some points before he showed off his own basketball skills, making them all gasp in surprise.
"Come. Meet my kids. Then we have lunch. You see the way we do it in Puerto Rico!" Maria said proudly. She was so different than the shy invisible woman she had been in the Palace. Now, this little house had transformed her into this loving and caring sweet genuine and adorable person. And all the Angels liked her even more, if that was actually possible.
She started pointing at people, saying names, explaining her kid's interests, the things they study or what they work. It was surprising, all of them were enrolled into good schools, attending art classes, law school, advanced mathematics classes, dance schools, sports schools. It was quite impressive, given that the woman was just one of the many housekeepers in the Bosley Palace. Her salary was surely not the main cash income for her family. All the kids were dressed well, they behaved well and they all spoke English, even the little Roger who was only seven years old. All the other kids and grown-ups at the yard were somehow family as well: cousins, boyfriends, girlfriends, fiancés, aunts and uncles. Maybe some of them didn't even know the full family tree and it didn't even matter, because for the Ramirez family even the neighbors felt like relatives. It was precisely like a typical Sunday barbecue on the back-yard somewhere in Puerto Rico, just like they show in the movies.
"Well, the Bosleys might be the modern version of the Adams Family, but I give the creeps one thing…they've supported financially a whole other family that has nothing to do with them. I have to respect them for that!" Eve leaned towards Abby and Kate, thinking this was a private conversation. Little did she know, there was nothing private in Puerto Rico. Maria was just a few steps away and she overheard.
"Los Bosley? No, no, no!" She shook her head, attracting Bosley's attention and he stuck himself by her side, just to hear why his family was being mentioned. "They did not help. They never met my family." She continued, trying hard to pick up the American accent. She saw how confused the three girls were, so she told them a little secret. "This here, my girls and boys, my house…it's all thanks to Mister John Eduardo. He sends money to help, he put my kids in good schools, he helped my husband get a good job. He made sure I kept my job with his family and he very specific about us knowing a foreign language. Rebecca, my oldest daughter, knows Italian and Jose, my second oldest son knows French. And they all speak English too." Maria said proudly, giving Bosley a hug and letting an emotional tear fall down on his shoulder. The woman might have omitted a few words here and there, but her English was nearly perfect and it was plausible.
The three Angels looked at each other as if they had just been slapped with something large, wet and heavy. So this was what Bosley did with all the money from Charlie…well, apart from constantly buying them gifts and taking them to nice parties and restaurants.
"Next time people call us Angels, we should tell them this story and let Bosley take the label away from us. All we ever spend our money is shopping and food." Abby commented. This weekend had been a huge moral lesson for this ex-Socialite.
"Ehm, not all of us!" Eve protested against the statement that the girls spent money on shopping. It had been a while since she bought herself anything other than basic food supplies.
"True. Abby and I are the worst spenders ever. We don't even know exactly what you spend your money on, Eve." Kate shrugged, referring to Eve's very well kept secret about her financial status. "And Bos…this is amazing, but how do you manage? I know Charlie rewards us more than generously, but this is a whole family here that you've been taking care of, for years." Kate, as usual, was the one to suspect stuff, putting the pieces of the puzzle together and realizing something was not adding up.
Bosley just shrugged. He didn't want to brag, he didn't even want the girls to know about this. But now that it was out in the open, he didn't mind telling the truth. "When I left home, my parents insisted that I come back. They lured me with money, I kept refusing. It's what I was running away from. So one day I decided to soak up my trust fund. I transferred the money to a new account, well, an illegal one anyway. It was the time when I started getting out of control. So I set up another account for Maria and I started transferring the money to her, every month the same amount. She was telling me about her kids, how they were enrolled in better schools now and it felt like my own personal balance between hacking and actually doing something good. It's what kept me sane all these years. So yeah…I never used a cent from my trust-fund, not for myself anyway." He spoke quietly, as if he was ashamed to say it himself. He was never the one to show off. He liked to be in the sidelines.
"Si, si, si!" Maria nodded in agreement. "John is very good boy." She pat his shoulder and it made the three Angels giggle. For them he had always been this strong male figure, the one who set the rules, the one they listened to. It was definitely nice to see him in a different light, a new side of him. To Maria he was this little boy whom she had been taking care of since he was born. She considered him part of her family. In fact, she liked to call him "son" whenever his real parents weren't around to overhear. If all this time Bosley had been the girls' Guardian Angel, now they met his own – Maria.
"I'm glad we came here today before the flight. I wanted you to meet my family. So here it is…those are the people I feel close to my heart." He pointed at the yard full of people, kids, colors and joy. "And, of course, my three adorable Angels!" He smiled at each girl before the three of them jumped at him, hugging him and attacking his cheeks with kisses.
"We love you, Bosley!" Abby cheered.
"Aww, Bos, we love you!" Kate agreed.
"Bos, you're the best!" Eve said shyly.
It didn't go unregistered by the others, how Eve was the only one to be very careful with throwing the word "love" around.
"Come on, Maria's husband is by the barbeque. I'll go help out with the food and you ladies enjoy…everything." He smiled and walked away.
The three Angels got back to playing with the kids and having small talk with the grown-ups. Everyone was so warm and welcoming, so genuine. The next few hours were both peaceful and insane, full of people yelling and cheering. But above all, there was music. Being seated around the table, drinking and enjoying the food, someone would randomly just pop up and start dancing. You never know when your hand would be pulled, someone asking you to dance. It happened to Abby a few times, with Maria's son, the bartender. Kate was dancing with the young boy whose gun she had taken away earlier. Eve danced with random people, she didn't care, she even danced with the mother of the little baby-girl that she had grown very fond of. At the table, the child demanded on sitting in Eve's lap while they all ate and Eve was happy to shower her with attention, sharing her food with the child.
"You're really good at this, Eve." Bosley leaned in to whisper to her. Abby and Kate glanced over at the table as they were dancing. Eve, Bosley and a child between them, they were picture perfect.
"I love kids. Back in the orphanage I always played with the little ones. I was sad that the older ones never really cared about me, so I wanted to give the little ones the attention I would have loved to have. My own version of your story today. Give to people what you wanted to have yourself." Eve smiled, playing with the child's little hands. "Babies are so cute. I mean, look at her. So perfect!" She planted a soft kiss on the child's head.
"Perfect…" Bosley trailed off, repeating her last word, but meaning a completely different thing than what she said.
Maria stood up and played a song, urging all the love couples, engaged ones and married ones to stand up and share the next dance. Almost everyone was up and dancing, just the kids and the Angels were left at the table. Eve shrugged and felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Uh…?" She murmured, trying to provoke some sort of reaction from Bosley.
"You sure?" He raised an eyebrow. With the way they were behaving in front of the girls, he had figured out Eve wanted to keep them a secret. That was if there was even a "them" on the horizon.
"Well…" She stuttered, her eye flying down to the white ribbon bracelet around her wrist. She noticed Bosley had kept his on as well. "I mean…" She was beyond confused. What were they? They did say something to the Priest 24 hours ago and it looked like a wedding of their own. "I guess. Since we're, ehm, you know…"
"What?" Bosley raised an eyebrow quizzically and then he realized what was on her mind. "Married?" He let his words sink in for a long moment before he laughed. "Eve, you really thought we're married?" He questioned, trying hard not to come off rude. It was just too funny.
"But…we said "I do"…I think." She rolled her eyes. He needed to start calling things by their name. Everything always turned to have another side to it, if it was somehow connected to Bosley.
"My wife…" He trailed off, holding her hand in the air, inviting her to a dance. They stood up, the kid being transferred back to his mother's lap. As they swayed with the music he held her close. "Come on. It's been a whole day and you thought we are married without me even telling you that we're having a wedding. Didn't you freak out?" He whispered.
"Nope. Why would I? You're hot." She smirked. "Wait…so we're married, right?"
"Nope." He replied with a smile which faded very quickly when he saw her pull slightly away and frown. Her face was full of disappointment. It was weird, the natural thing was to be ecstatic that she didn't marry a guy who hadn't even proposed to her, not to mention, whom she hadn't even dated or kissed before their wedding ceremony. But there she was, she had been so calm and happy for those previous 24 hours. It kind of filled his heart with joy. And pain, since she was now upset that it all turned out to be untrue.
"Oh." She muttered, there was nothing she wanted to say out loud at this moment.
"Hey…hey, hey?" He picked her head up and gently pushed her face towards him, but her eyes looked away. "If I had known you'd be upset that I didn't ambush you into our wedding, I would have arranged it to be real." He chuckled.
"But you said…Uh, I heard. I was spaced out, but then the Priest said we were bounded forever and you agreed. I did too. And we have those bracelets. And the ring. And the white dress. And everything…" She looked at all the items, scrunching her nose and trying to make some sense out of it.
"You're seriously the most adorable thing right now…" He kept on chuckling and earned himself a bump of her fists against his chest. "What? You're getting all worked up over this. Okay, let me explain. In Puerto Rico we have this thing, like a tradition, that the Best Man and the Maid-of-Honor are a happy couple who kind of set an example for the couple who is getting married. Like a lucky charm. We're supposed to set the standard for them, but we don't have to be already married. It could be just dating. Or in our case, not even that. There should be something underneath…ehm. So, the white ribbon bracelet is a symbol of purity and devotion." He explained, but Eve's eyes widened.
"Purity? No! Take this thing off of me. I don't want to burn in Hell." She tugged on the fabric around her wrist, but he made her stop. She cracked him up with those little things she said sometimes. "Although, let's be honest, there's no chance I'm ever going to Heaven. No matter how many times I'm being called an Angel. I'm a bad ass, baby!" She said with attitude and she loved everything about herself. "But the ring…Abby was drooling over it, I saw her. So it must be real." She questioned.
"It's a family heirloom. Since the oldest Bosley family child is a girl, Carmen, I got the ring. I'm supposed to give it to the…uh…" He trailed off, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "…well, the one I feel…uh…it's uh…for the one I'd like to marry, you know, some day." He gulped.
"So…we're not married. But we're engaged. Or what?" She sighed, that was still an acceptable thing.
"No." He replied shortly.
"Then you should have it back. It's confusing. I don't have to wear it if it stands for nothing." She wasn't being mean, just laying down the facts. "I guess it's real, like I said, so it must be worth tons. You should give it to the girl you love." Her right hand tried to pull the ring away from her left hand ring-finger, but he stopped her.
"I already did. I chose you. The ring is yours and I want you to keep it. It's like a promise ring, How about that?" He smiled, cupping her cheeks with both hands. "And stop fishing for it…Yes, it's a real diamond." He chuckled lightly.
"WHAT!? That's a diamond!? Bosley!?" She finally freaked out.
"Yeah, what did you think it was, a white rock that shines?" He smirked.
"No, I don't know. Some other thing maybe. Wow, I have a diamond ring on me. And I don't feel the urge to pawn it! Now I really know I've turned into a good person." She teased.
"Shut up, you tease!" He laughed.
"We should probably discuss this whole thing. Maybe not now. Diablo and her twin sister are staring at us." She pointed at Abby and Kate who looked away, pretending like they weren't all up in their business. "But until then, can we maybe keep this on the down low? I don't want to jump into anything. And I know you're not ready to do it either. Please don't try to deny it. So maybe we should just be normal and keep our hands to ourselves for a while."
"What about our lips?" He tried to bargain.
"Them too. I'm serious." She narrowed her eyes.
"Oh, no. Not going to happen. Do you know your lips are addictive?" He was far from happy with their little arrangement.
"I know." She smirked. "Fine. I'm off limits when we're in Miami. Anywhere else it's alright."
"Looking forward to our next trip." He commented cheekily.
"You're unbelievable, Bosley!" She rolled her eyes.
"You're adorable, Eve!" He dared say it once again. He kept switching from "amazing" to "adorable", but both words fit her perfectly.
"Uh, we've been standing here on our own like five minutes after the song ended. You know that, right?" She looked around and everyone was done dancing and they were now eating and wondering why there were two people standing there and whispering stuff.
"Right. Let's go eat. And just so you know, I want our first baby to be a girl." He teased.
"You need to stop saying things like that." She sighed and joined the Angels.
"Yo, Eve?" Abby grabbed her friend's attention.
"Yes?" Eve turned around.
"Ehm. Bos, will you go get us more…wine. Please?" Kate smiled politely, making up for the fact that she was obviously trying to get rid of him. It's not like he didn't know.
"You girls are unbelievable." He shook his head and walked away, giving them some privacy. He just hoped that the Devil twins won't bake Eve with questions.
"So, are you married?" Abby questioned, the second Bosley was far enough to not be able to hear her.
"Abbs! We went through this. Baby steps. Make her feel comfortable, make a joke, make her laugh and then attack her with the question!" Kate rolled her eyes, revealing what their plan had been.
"Yeah, you see…no. Takes too much time." Abby said with attitude, grinning at Eve. "So, Mrs. Bosley?" She asked again.
"You really are unbelievable." Eve sighed. "It's still Miss French. And no, we're not married. We were maid-of-honor and best man. I don't even know why it was us, but whatever. We didn't really do anything, just that speech Bos delivered and we gave them the rings. No big deal. It was fun, though. But you didn't miss too much." She shrugged, playing it cool.
"Uh-huh." Abby wasn't buying this.
"So…nothing interesting?" Kate put her hand on Eve's shoulder like people do in the movies, trying to make the other person calm down and confide in them. But it bothered Eve, so she shrugged away. "Nothing we should know about?"
"You know that's creepy, right?" Eve raised an eyebrow. Kate was all up in her space and Abby was eyeing her like a hawk. "There is nothing you should know about. Trust me!" Eve smirked, keeping stuff to herself.
"But how can you not be married. You said "I do" and you got these bracelets…" Abby trailed off without even realizing she was letting out more info than she had to.
"Wait. How do you know about that!?" Eve panicked. She remembered very clearly the moment of the "I do" sort of thing and she knew what happened next. So if the girls had seen the part where she and Bosley spoke, they must have seen the rest as well. Her cheeks blushed.
"Oops." Abby smirked.
"Yeah, we kind of saw the…ehm, make-out session." Kate put her hands up in the air in mock surrender.
"Oh." Eve gulped. "It was just, uh…undercover. Like, uh, for his uh, family. And stuff…" She ended off lamely, unaware of the fact that each time she had been busted by the Angels her silly excuses ended up with "and stuff" and then a little shrug followed. The girls knew Eve's pattern all too well already.
"Relax. It's fine, we don't mind. In fact, we've been waiting for it to happen." Kate nudged Eve and this time it felt more comfortable, it made her giggle.
"Come on, it's crazy to deny the sexual attraction between you and Bosley." Abby narrowed her eyes at Eve. "We just want you to know that there is absolutely no problem about it, you know, on our side. We're actually happy for you. So whatever happens next, you don't have to sneak around and feel guilty about it. We approve." The blonde one leaned sideways, embracing Eve. Kate hurried to do the same until Eve couldn't breather anymore, trapped in their hands.
"Ehm, girls?" Bosley approached the table. "Is it safe for me to return?" He laughed and saw the way the three of them nodded. "What did I miss?" He asked, seeing as Eve wasn't too stressed out, so maybe it wasn't a weird conversation.
"Just some good old-fashioned girl-talk." Eve shrugged, grabbing a huge piece of bread and chewing on it, so she wouldn't be able to speak anymore. She decided to keep a little secret. If Bosley knew the girls approved, he would want to move forward. And Eve knew he wasn't ready for it, she could feel it. So for now she was going to stay quiet until she would form up a plan of action. She knew she would only have one shot to make it right. And it wasn't only Bosley who was afraid to move on. It was Eve as well. She had never felt this way about anyone and now it was intimidating. She wanted to make it right this time, given that her previous relationships had always ended with huge fights, fires and explosions. Literally. Eve had a short fuse. With Bosley she wanted it to work, so she needed time to clear her mind instead of jumping right into something without knowing exactly what to expect.
They finished most of the food in their plates, but it was definitely too much for them to handle. In the afternoon it was time to say goodbye and to leave for the airport. The trip had turned out to be an unexpectedly good one for all four of them. In ways it bonded them even more. Maybe not the way some might have wanted: Eve wasn't married, but she now rocked a diamond ring look and it was a promise that there was something good to look forward to. Abby had learned a valuable lesson: no matter how much money you have, you're never going to be happy unless you do something good with it. Kate just loved the culture, the food and the good time. Bosley was in his element, he was dealing with far too many memories all through the weekend, but having his three Angels next to him, he managed to have a good time. From this day forward they were all connected in ways they were about to find out. Nothing would feel the same anymore. If one thing was for sure, it's that everything would feel much better!
Next Chapter Spoiler: After impersonating someone and receiving a very unexpected delivery, Eve learns the truth about getting paroled. Then a mission goes beyond complicated when one Angel refuses to comply with orders, one Angel chokes and fails to do her job right, one Angel is unable to hold the team together and one Angel ends up in a hospital after being forced to re-live a painful memory of another Angel's past!
QUESTIONS:
Did you expect Bosley's family to be like this?
Who were the man & woman, spying on the wedding ceremony?
Which family did you like more: the one in the Palace or the one in the little house?
Was Eve cute, thinking they were married and then being upset that they weren't actually?
Enough Eve/Bosley hotness? ;)
What is up with Eve's maternal instincts?
Do you like the way the four Angels party together?
