Chapter 9: Under The Skin
The moment Reina's eyelids fluttered open, her chest was seized by a very bad feeling. It took her several seconds to register where she was – in Ander's room. More specifically, in his bed.
She turned and saw Ander sleeping soundly next to her. Naked.
She looked down and noted that she was missing her own clothes as well.
Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck.
What time was it? How long had she fallen asleep?
Reina scrambled to get herself out of the bed and retrieve her phone from her bag.
The phone screen said 10:49pm. Which meant that she and Ander had dozed off for more than two hours!
She quickly unlocked the phone and called her driver.
Luckily, he picked up almost right away.
"Luis," she said, trying to sound calm. "Can you pick me up now? I'm at -"
Shit. She didn't know what address to give Luis.
She padded over to where Ander was, shaking his shoulder urgently. "Ander! Wake up."
"Hmm?" Ander cracked one sleepy eye open, confused.
"I need your house address," Reina hissed. "What is it?"
"Huh?"
"Your address. House number and street name. Tell me."
Comprehending her request this time, Ander gave Reina the information she needed, which she relayed to Luis.
"Okay. See you, Luis," Reina said before hanging up. She sat back down on the edge of the bed, exhaling a huge breath loudly.
She felt Ander's fingertips on her wrist. "Ander," she spoke in a detached tone without looking at him in the eye. "What we did – it was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened. It was my fault for even suggesting to hang out at your place here."
"Reina..."
"We were both under the influence of drugs and shit happened. Okay?"
Reina didn't bother waiting for his response. She freed her wrist from Ander's hold and picked up her clothes that had been flung with abandon two hours ago.
Once she was fully dressed again, she cleared her throat. "Umm, Luis will be here in ten minutes and I need you to let me out. I think I hear your parents downstairs."
Ander nodded and started putting on his clothes. As he did so, she could feel his unwavering gaze on her, but it wasn't her problem. She didn't owe him a proper sit-down conversation about any of this.
As a final step before exiting Ander's room, Reina reached for a travel-size spray bottle of Gucci Bloom perfume from her bag and spritzed all over to make sure she didn't reek of that distinct weed smell.
Ander went through the door after her and Reina decided to spritz him too.
Reina snuck a peek as she descended the staircase and spied a short-haired middle-aged woman – presumably Ander's mother – sitting on the sofa in the living room, flipping through the TV channels with a remote control in her hand.
Oh God, this is going to be beyond awkward.
Ander was right behind her, so she signaled with her hands to ask him to go ahead down first.
"Hey, mom," Ander called out when he reached the landing, his hand hovering on the banister.
His mother glanced up. "Hello, honey. Have you had dinner? We brought home some leftovers from the party."
"I've already had pizza," Ander replied before making a move towards the front door with Reina discreetly tailing him.
"Oh, hello there," His mother said, catching sight of Reina.
Damnit.
Reina paused in her steps. "Hello," she returned softly, forcing a grin on her face.
"Mom, this is Reina," Ander introduced quickly. "We were, uhh, playing video games."
Reina hastily nodded her head. Video games? We were definitely playing something, all right.
"That's nice," Ander's mother replied, but a knowing smile crept at the corners of her mouth.
"I'll have to leave now. It was nice to meet you, Mrs Muñoz," Reina said.
"Oh no, please call me Azucena."
"Azucena," Reina uttered obediently, her forced grin still in place. "Have a good evening. Goodbye."
"Okay. Goodbye, Reina."
Ander opened the door for her. Together, they stood outside at the porch in the quiet night, waiting for Luis.
"Hey, listen..." Ander intoned.
Reina's eyes flicked over to his face for a brief moment. He didn't have sharp, chiseled features like Matteo, but still, there was something irresistible about Ander. Those hazel eyes that she wanted to dive into and never come up for air. Tousled curls brushing his forehead. His soft, delicious lips. His strong arms that had encircled her and given her a strange, safe feeling.
Would Reina ever deny that she was physically attracted to Ander? No. But that was all there was to this. A physical attraction. It would surely subside and disappear in time.
"Text me when you get home?" Ander requested.
Reina shrugged her shoulders. "I'll be fine."
"Just to be safe."
He was sweet. He would make a great boyfriend for someone – someone who didn't already have a long-term boyfriend and go to a rival school.
"If you insist," Reina relented. "What's your number?"
Ander gave it to her.
A minute passed before a bright pair of headlights illuminated the road in front of Ander's house.
Recognizing the silver Mercedes Benz S-class that Luis drove, Reina said, "That's my ride."
She turned to Ander, facing him fully for the first time since they'd woken up from their.. bedroom entanglement. She couldn't bear his solemn expression, and despite her resolution to be emotionless with him, she took a step closer to him and placed her hand gently on his cheek.
"See you around, Ander."
"There you are. Finally," Kate said to Noel as he showed up at the gang's usual lunch table in school on Monday, ten minutes later than the rest. The table was set outside, under the shade of a giant oak tree.
"I had to go to two vending machines before finding this," Noel explained, triumphantly showing his can of Aquarius Naranja.
"You know it's just orange-flavored chemicals, right?" Emilia said with a wrinkle of her nose.
"Damn delicious orange-flavored chemicals," Noel corrected her as he opened the can and took a big, satisfied swig.
"All right, Noel. Just take a seat so that we can get started," Matteo told him, bringing his palms together in excitement as he looked from one person to another – Noel, Reina, Kate and Emilia.
Noel dutifully placed his lunch tray on the table and dropped into an available chair next to Reina. He nudged her and asked, "Get started on what?"
Reina shrugged her shoulders. "On plotting a plan to destroy our dear friends at Las Encinas."
It was weird how Reina wasn't more enthusiastic about this. Normally her competitive spirit would be on a perpetual, scary sky-high level.
And devising games that would ensure her side wins by a landslide? Just the thought of it would usually get her grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Usually, yes.
But today Reina just felt.. off. Like she'd gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.
Her mind flashed back to the short text conversation she had with Ander when she got home last night.
Reina: I'm home
Ander: Good
Reina: Okay
Ander: Okay
Talk about bizarre. For about ten minutes after receiving Ander's last message, Reina had actually contemplated to continue replying, but what would she say? It would be stupid to type "Okay" again.
So in the end, she had flung her phone to the other side of the bed and decided to call it a night.
Now, looking at Matteo who was sitting beside her and talking animatedly, Reina thought belatedly that the reason for how she was feeling – it could've been related to the fact that she had oh-so-casually cheated on her boyfriend.
I'm sorry, babe.
So this sensation that was prickling under her skin... Was it guilt? She couldn't be sure – she had to admit that she rarely ever felt guilty. She didn't need to. Everyone else would normally give in and fix the situation for her.
But this time, it was all on her. Her impulsive decision to follow Ander back home. And to smoke weed together, of all things.
Reina hated that she had lost control. After all, she had worked too hard to get to where she was today – with Matteo, and her rock-solid status in school. And she could've lost it all, in just one night.
Well, it wouldn't happen again. She would make damn sure of that.
"Reina? Hel-looo?" Noel said loudly.
Reina had just noticed that the entire table was staring at her.
"I zoned out," she muttered casually, tossing her head back and sending her hair over her left shoulder. "What are we talking about?"
Matteo smirked. "Emilia was suggesting a good old arm wrestling match between me and that Ander Muñoz. But Noel thinks that's boring and we should go for something more extreme – like a habanero pepper eating contest. But after the insane shots competition we had the last time, I'm not crazy about over-consuming anything again."
"Hmm." Reina pursed her red glossy lips in thought. "We definitely want something out of the ordinary... At the same time, it should be something we have an advantage over Las Encinas."
"Well, that's easy. Being in San Patricio is already an advantage over any Las Encinas dumbass by default," Noel pointed out.
Matteo laughed and bumped fists with Noel, while Kate and Emilia exchanged amused grins.
Reina ignored them, taking a bite from her serrano ham, manchego and apple sandwich as she continued brainstorming. There had to be something spectacular and wildly challenging that they could throw at Las Encinas. Something maybe even... dangerous?
"I've got it." Reina sat forward, slapping her palm on the table.
"What? What?" Kate asked in gleeful anticipation.
"You guys know the cliffs near my family's lake house, right?" Reina smiled. "My idea is for Matteo to challenge Ander to a sprint on the short trail that leads to one of the cliffs, followed by a dive off of that cliff into the lake below. The first one to swim back to dry land wins."
"Nice," Noel approved, nodding his head enthusiastically.
"Yeah. Matteo is strong in both running and swimming. He'd win for sure," Emilia remarked with a glint in her green eyes.
"Babe, you always come up with the most wicked ideas," Matteo told Reina with an affectionate smile. "Let's do it."
Reina smiled back at Matteo. "I was also thinking... The punishment for the loser can be spiced up. Instead of getting beaten up by the winner, how about we make the loser put on a cheerleading outfit and cheer at the winner's next school game? It'll be super public and humiliating."
"Oh my God," Kate squealed in equal parts of horror and excitement. "That's brilliant."
"This is why you're the queen, Reina," Emilia quipped, shaking her head in awe.
Reina relaxed her posture and reclined into her chair, feeling pleased with herself. Sure, there might have been a temporary glitch earlier, but now the usual scheming Reina was back in action.
Good luck, Ander, she thought. I hope you have some good cheerleading moves up your sleeve.