Chapter 12: Coincidence?

The sunlight pierced through the palm leaves, illuminating the south facing hotel rooms. A ray of sunlight hit Helia directly on his eyelid, making him groan. He sat up and muttered something groggily. It was much too early to wake up, even for him. He was about to screw his plans for the day and go back to bed, but the sound of snipping caught his attention.

"What are you doing?" Helia asked, rubbing his eyes.

Riven took a glimpse of Helia, almost getting blinded by his glowing skin, and then turned away.

"Um, hello? Riven? That's my vest you have there." Helia pointed out, rushing over to his friend on the other end of the room. He stood there, arms crossed to the back of Riven, waiting for some sort of reply.

"Yeah. I know that."

"My vest. Mine. What are you doing-" Helia walked around to front of Riven and screamed like a girl. He jumped back with splayed eyes, utterly shocked. "I think I'm going to faint…" he whispered.

"Go ahead."

Helia scoffed, but didn't dare snatch his vest away from Riven. He didn't fancy being pulped first thing in the morning but the vest that Riven had was his favourite. And it wasn't like his magenta haired friend was just borrowing it, oh no, he was cutting it up. Well, only the bottom of it.

"Do you know how much that vest cost me?" Helia placed his hands on his narrow hips.

"Don't know, don't give a shit." Riven shrugged, focusing solely on his task of getting the raven vest to fray.

Helia looked up at the heavens. "You know, you could've asked before taking it."

"Yup, 'cause you'd have definitely let me cut the bottom."

Helia looked up at the heavens once again, exasperated. Since Helia was always the nice guy, he surrendered, only on the basis of knowing that he wasn't going to get the vest back. He sighed, before plopping down on Riven's bed. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Make it fray."

"Oh…Does this have anything to do with the diary you were reading yesterday?" Helia cocked an eyebrow. He could see right through his friend, no matter how much Riven hated it.

"Maybe."

"Spill."

"Spill? Really? Helia, do you realise that you're sounding more like a girl every time you open your mouth?" Helia blushed at Riven's point.

"Uh…I meant, um…." He stuttered, scratching his head. "Do I really sound a girl?"

Riven nodded.

"Do you think I should cut my hair?" he asked, holding a thick lock of hair in his hand and examining it.

Riven rolled his eyes and pulled the vest over his bare chest."Sexy?" he quizzed, gesturing to his vest which was once Helia's.

"Now you're starting to sound like a girl."

"Atleast I don't have long hair." Riven remarked as he left the room, smirking to himself.

His smirk was for a lot of things. One reason being for provoking Helia, and managing to steal his vest. The other reason was for knowing that Musa was still single, despite the fact that she'd slept with Andy. That fact though, wasn't bothering Riven too much; in fact, he'd started doubting what he'd heard, hoping that he was just drunk after the bonfire. All he cared about now was the fact that she was going to be trapped in his cage.

He arrived at the beach in no time and made his way to the large stage by the cliffs. He had seen Musa at the concert the previous night, so it'd given him an idea of what she liked. Riven crept through the exit and found himself backstage. Luckily and much to his surprise, no one was patrolling the area. It was strange how they left all the expensive equipment behind. That though, was to his advantage. He searched around for a bit, until he finally found a closet full of acoustic guitars. "Perfect," he hissed and grabbed one.

After returning to the middle of the beach, far away from the giant stage, he sat himself down in the warm sand and fiddled around with the guitar until it sounded somewhat right to him, and then began strumming. Thankfully, he had learned to play the guitar when he was younger, but remembering a piece was proving to be a challenge. After a few minutes of frustration, he resorted to making a piece up. While he was busy perfecting it, he'd forgotten about a tiny little detail.

Half an hour later it finally came to him. "The girl!" He facepalmed, feeling defeated. What guarantee did he have that Musa was going to show? None. He felt stupid. Utterly stupid. He could just picture her, waking up next to Andy, smiling contently. It hurt just as much as being rejected.

He bit his tongue to distract his brain from the mental pain. He didn't even know why she meant so much to him; he didn't even know her for crying out loud!

He stumbled on to his feet and breathed out. He felt like yelling, throwing all his feelings out of his system. He grabbed the guitar, swung it over his head and smashed it on the ground.

"Whoa!" A gasp sounded from behind him. Riven was too angry to acknowledge the person, so he didn't bother turning around. The person behind him just watched him breathe deeply. She walked past him and stopped to admire the sea. He caught a sight of the girl's long blue hair that was being wisped in the strong wind. It made him slowly lifted his head up, and gaze at her as she pulled her cream coloured cardigan around her petite frame. "You don't get those things for free, you know," she said, half turning to him.

He furrowed his eyebrows when he saw her face. He was baffled. What was this? It couldn't be a coincidence that she appeared, could it? When she didn't get a reply, she decided to carry on with her walk. "Where are you going?" Riven asked, quieter than he'd have liked.

"I-I was just going for a walk." Musa jut her thumb out to the shore behind her. They stood, eyes locked in each other's for a few seconds. "You're the same guy from yesterday, right?" Musa furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

Riven half smiled. "I am that guy." Once she smiled back, he silently approached her. "Mind if I join?" he asked, whilst looking at the horizon.

"Huh?"

"On your walk? If you don't want me to then-"

"Oh no. It's fine…" She started heading forwards, making squeaky sounds with her flip flops.

"Damn, those are going to annoy me." Riven buried his hands in his pockets as he trailed beside her.

"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry." Musa giggled a little, seeming quite distant, before continuing. "These were the only things I could find. I had to escape before Stella woke up."

"Stella…?"

"My friend."

Riven nodded. "I'm Riven by the way, and…you're name's Musa?"

"Yup. Different, isn't it?"

"Unique is more the word. It's nice…I like it." Riven replied thoughtfully.

Musa's eyes shimmered as she heard those words. Though, she was finding it hard to believe that Riven was the same guy she bumped in to, he had been pretty rude. The warm rush she felt was short-lived and a sullen expression soon adorned her features. Musa turned her face away from her company and looked out at the sea. She loved the peaceful sound of the waves crashing on each other. Though as much as she wanted, the waves didn't wash away her pain. The bottomless pit in her stomach just grew, and pangs of anxiety worsened her state.

Meanwhile, Riven was battling his inner self and trying to figure out what to say next. A good couple of minutes went by until he turned to Musa, but instead of showering her with compliments, he stopped, eyes transfixed on her expression. "What's wrong?" he breathed.

She jerked her head in his direction with a carefree smile that she'd just painted on a second ago. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"You don't look it," he stated. They then stopped and he stared at her, while she stared at the ground.

"I should go." Musa whispered and pushed past Riven.

Riven grit his teeth and stretched his hand out to grab her wrist. "Tell me," he demanded.

"Why? Who are you to me anyway?" she cried, tears pooling in her eyes for various reasons. Musa wasn't one just to go around dishing out her emotions to people she didn't even know properly. This was her issue, not his. The tone of his voice was also too hard, and she didn't like it. She was beginning to think that walking with him was a mistake.

She struggled in his grip for a while until he let go by himself after seeing too much of her distressed state. Musa stormed away with an angry pout. He watched her as she trudged through the sand and pulled her cardigan around herself tightly. He wasn't about to let her go without a fight. "Musa…" he called, chasing after her with a small run.

She furrowed her eyebrows in anger at the sound of her name. Her speed quickened and she stuck her middle finger out at him. Riven stopped and astonishment took over him. He couldn't believe that she just did that. Although, he did like her badass attitude, it was so much different from what he thought she was like from reading her diary. A strange feeling settled inside him, one which he hardly felt and that was the feeling of care. Was he falling in love with her? He repeated that question in his mind several times but then resolved it by shaking his head.

Suddenly his mobile started ringing.

'Warning, warning! The person calling you is a c*nt! An absolute c*nt is calling you now. A complete and utter c*nt wants to talk to you. Do not pick up the phone or you'll be talking to a c*nt!'

Riven smirked at his ringtone. He absolutely loved it. He had set it for each of his friends because he was so nice. He wasn't going to pick it up, but the person obviously was patient so kept ringing for a good few minutes. Finally, Riven gave in because the voice of the ringtone started annoying him. "What?" he snapped.

Helia, who was on the other line, rolled his eyes. "We're going down to breakfast in fifteen minutes with the girls. Hurry up and get here."

"What makes you think I want to have breakfast with you?"

"Awwh, did Riven's little plan fail? You're a bit cranky. Just get the fuck here!" Helia said sternly, not intimidated by Riven's angry tone.

Riven didn't reply but just disconnected the phone. He started walking back towards the hotel, figuring that going to the stupid breakfast was better than rotting on the beach. As he was marching through the rough sand, he stepped on something hard. He paused for a second but then dismissed whatever it was for a stone. Only when a gleam caught his eye, he looked back and realised that the hard object was a ring. He crouched down and carefully fished the metal circle from the sand. Shrugging, he tossed the ring up in the air and caught it, and then shoved it in his pocket.

"You look great today, Stella." Brandon told her when she came out of her room. She wore he hair in a messy bun on top of her head, and a simple, strapless lilac dress with heeled wedges.

"Did I not look good yesterday?" she headed towards where everyone else was stood. Her tone had been regardless, confusing Brandon because he thought she liked him a little.

"That's not what I meant." He assured her once he was at her side.

Stella paused, thinking about the previous night. Why was she behaving like this? Did she still have a thing for Andy? Brandon was taking interest in her and she was just pushing him away. She was acting the opposite of who she was. Andy was history now, but her past feelings for him still dwelled inside her, making her act differently. She needed to get control over her emotions again. She sighed outwardly and then smiled at Brandon. "I'm sorry. Thank you for the compliment."

"What's up?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm just tired and when I'm tired, I get quite cranky."

"So I see." Brandon laughed, and was soon joined by Stella.

"Morning, Stel." Bloom greeted. "Where's Musa?"

The other girls also looked at Stella for an answer. "I don't know. I woke up this morning and she was nowhere to be seen. She was there yesterday when I got back, but-" Stella stopped herself, knowing that Musa wouldn't want everyone to know of her incident.

"But?" Layla gestured for her to continue.

"What's up, guys?"

"Musa!" Bloom announced cheerily. "Where were you?" her eyes narrowed at her friend.

"I just went for a walk…jeez!" Musa put her arms up in surrender.

"Bloom, let it go." Flora placed a hand on the ginger's shoulder. "Musa, these are the guys you met yesterday." Flora quickly got them and Musa acquainted and told her that they were going to go breakfast together.

"How was your interview?" Tecna inquired as the group made their way to the end of the corridor.

"Good, I suppose."

"Uh-oh! Musa doesn't sound too happy about her job." Layla chimed in and linked arms with her friend.

"I am happy with it. It's great." Musa held up her fake smile long enough for Layla to address another matter.

"Hold on! What about Andy?" The group stopped at Layla's outburst.

"Someone go get him, it wouldn't be fair if we just left him." Timmy said.

Sky nodded and started walking towards Andy's room.

Musa hesitantly swallowed. She had a funny feeling that he wasn't going to be happy about getting disturbed, and she didn't exactly want him to join them. "Wait! I think he said something about being busy." Musa rushed. Luckily, she was a good liar, so Sky bought it.

"Alright then." Sky said slowly, returning to the group.

"Who said I'm busy? I had just gone for a drink." A nonchalant voice spoke.

Everyone turned to face the guy who'd spoken but Musa. "Whoa, dude! What happened to you?" Nabu exclaimed.

Andy glanced at Musa but only saw the back of her head. "Some crazy bitch just-…forget it."

His words stabbed Musa. Atleast she came to a conclusion that they were no longer friends. All their closeness just vanished in that second. And to some extent, that hurt. She had lost one of her closest friends due to his misunderstanding and some of her punches.

Stella looked at Musa, giving her a surprised and proud look. Musa caught her glance and returned it with a smile.

"The breakfast here should cheer you up." Helia told him, unsure of how to react in this situation.

"Nothing's going to make me feel better." Andy grumbled, deliberately as he walked past Musa.

Musa felt the knot in her stomach tighten. She could've taken anything else but that type of verbal revenge. She didn't want to be enemies; she didn't hate Andy that much. She would've liked to make everything better, but she believed that everything happened for a reason, and maybe the lesson here was that Andy wasn't worthy of her friendship.

Stella punched the down button of the elevator and everyone soon crammed into it and were on their way to the breakfast room.

The room was huge, but that wasn't a surprise considering the hotel was five star. The décor inside wasn't too fancy making it just right for a casual eating room. A waiter soon showed the large group to a large table and everyone took a seat.

They ordered their drinks, and then cleared off to the breakfast buffet. The only two people left on the table were Andy and Musa, causing the air around them fill with awkwardness. Musa tried looking away but couldn't help notice that Andy's injured leg was preventing him from getting up. She didn't know what to do. No way was she going to help him, even though it was her fault. She closed her eyes to steady herself before going to the buffet.

"What can I get you, sir?" a waiter asked Andy. The brown haired boy wore a sympathetic expression.

Andy looked at him, confused as to why he was here. He then caught sight of Musa a few metres behind the waiter and realised that she'd sent him. Musa gasped when she noted that Andy had seen her, so she scurried off.

Questions and doubt arose in Andy's mind. The memories of last night came to his head and he wondered why she'd behaved in the way in which she did. It was clear to him that she felt something towards him.

Andy's trail of thought was disrupted when the waiter repeated himself. "Sorry," mumbled Andy and then placed his order.

"Hey, is this Sky's table?" a blunt voice asked Andy.

Andy turned his head and saw Riven, the guy who he'd seen Musa with at the beach. Riven raised his eyebrow, remembering where he'd seen the guy who was now badly bruised. "You?" they both sounded equally displeased.

I don't know how I feel about this chapter? I could've extended some scenes and blah, but whatever.

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