When the couple got onto their carriage for the honeymoon, the crowds began to disappear like magic. Everyone understood this meant that the wedding was over, and they left without complaint. Jared gave Musa a kiss on the cheek before taking leave of her.
"Why aren't you staying for the after party? All of us are…" Musa asked him in surprise.
He cut her off by holding his stomach and moaning. "Not up for it, Muse,"he mumbled, apologetically. "Have a bad stomach, gotta go.." With that, and a weak wave, he took off running.
Well, he did look a bit…green, Musa thought. But now, I have to face everyone alone, after I've twice embarrassed myself. She wondered accusingly whether that was the reason Jared had a convenient 'stomach ache'.
Perhaps…I should just make myself scarce, too… she wondered. She then saw Riven, seated with his back against her, talking with a pretty blonde.
That's it, she thought. I'm getting out of here. he's even found someone else. She had taken off running after Jared at first, then, thinking better of it, headed towards her dorm room in Alfea. Time to sleep off all that booze.
Riven gestured towards the bowl of chips that lay between them.
"You want these?" he asked her.
"I don't eat carbs," she retorted, waving away the snack, her nose in the air.
"You on a diet or something?" he snorted, "You sure don't need to be on one."
"Thanks," she said, with a smile.
She doesn't get sarcasm, he thought. I was making fun of her, and she took it as a compliment. Wow, everything's going differently today.
"so…was that your girlfriend?" Alberta asked, green eyes studying Riven's handsome face for 'the signs'. "She sure embarrassed herself tonight."
He grunted non-commitally.
"Is that a yes for the girlfriend part, or the 'made a fool of herself' part?" asked Alberta, eyes dancing.
She's flirting with me, realized Riven.
He decided to take a stand. "The girlfriend part," he shot back defiantly.
Alberta knew she had been shot down when she heard the words. Her expression hardened, and she looked at him with cold eyes.
"Really," she said, attempting to give it one last shot.
Riven remained stoic. "Yes," he said, confidently.
She chuckled. "Then explain to me why she just took off with that 'two-bit twerp' she's supposed to be on a 'rebound with'?"
She was using his own words to toy with him.
"WHAT?", he snarled, venomously. "She was still here after he left, I saw her after he left."
With a mock yawn, Alberta explained to him in a sing-song voice, "Guy leaves, girl counts to…um, a hundred, then they meet up at a agreed location, then—'bang'," she smashed two chips together for emphasis. They fell in pieces on the white tablecloth. "They do it." She paused for a beat, allowing him to get her meaning, then continued, "So, I ask you again, is she really your girlfriend, or his?" Her eyebrows raised in mock question.
"Mine," Riven said. But there was a tremble in his voice that Alberta did not miss.