My Champagne Problems

14: Armand de Brignac

'Some dreams are just memories coming to haunt your slumber'

Shut in my room I resort to better spending my time in solitary confinement by chatting with Graham.

"What the fuck happened to your face?" I snap my attention--without diverting my eyes from my phone--to the intruder in my room. Kayden.

"An alien kissed me, now I'm turning into one of them," I reply nonchalantly, my eyes not moving from my phone.

From my peripheral vision I can see the evident confusion on his face before he opens his mouth again, "aren't aliens grey?" He asks with a raised brow, referring to the green clay cica mask I have on.

"Eh," I shrug, "mine was green," I reason.

"Whatever," he rolls his eyes, "you're a weird one," he mutters to himself as he exits my room, annoyingly enough leaving my door open.

"Close the damn door!" I yell from my comfy position on the bed.

"Do it yourself, Alien!" I hear him tell back, by the sound of it his already halfway down the hall.

Asshole.

'Why was he here anyway?'

'Probably come to drive some sick satisfaction from my torture' I conclude before resuming my venting session with Graham.

"Get out of my room," I warn sensing Kayden's reappearance before he has the chance to make his presence known.

"Technically I'm not in your room," he states as a matter of fact. I glance at him from my peripheral vision.

"See?" I emphasize pointing at his feet. "I haven't crossed the threshold," he smirks smugly.

Annoying asshole.

I turn to face him, my brow raised in question. He just stares back at me. I sigh.

"What do you want?" I grit out, really not in the mood to voice my thoughts.

"There you go," he patronizes. "Is it really that hard to use words?" He remarks.

"Yes," I reply curtly before turning my back to him and returning to my conversation with Graham.

"Aw really?" He taunts, and from his voice, I conclude that he has stepped closer hence now in my room.

"Out," I demand, my thumb pointing towards the door, my back still facing him.

"You're no fun," he grumbles, with an undertone of amusement.

In a moment of unclear thought and impulse-driven action, I grab a pillow and chuck it at him. But unbothered by it, he skillfully catches it with an amused look plastered over his face.

"Why are you annoying me?" I demand, slamming my phone down on my mattress in bubbling vexation.

"Isn't that my job now?" He asks feigning innocence.

"Excuse me?" I raise my brow.

"You know, now that you're going to be my little sister and all," he smiles cheekily while flopping down in the bed beside me.

I ignore the part of my nudging me to correct him and add 'step-sister' instead resort to a simpler response.

"No," I say blankly. Still annoyed.

"You wound me, little sis," he gasps, mockingly placing his palm against his chest over his heart. I roll my eyes at his dramatics.

"Great, hope you bleed to death," I say before getting off the bed, pocketing my phone, and heading to the bathroom to wash my mask off. 

"What kind of a sister are you?" He yells back at me. I can hear the amusement in his tone.

"A really annoyed one," I yell back.

'Why am I even indulging him?'

Dabbing my freshly washed face with a towel I step back into my room. And as expected Kayden is still in the same spot I left him in.

"Hey on the bright side, this is the longest conversation we have ever had," he points out with a brilliant smile.

"And the last one," I roll my eyes before ushering him to the exit of the room and resorting to smacking him with the towel when the civil way doesn't work. 

"Geez woman, I'm going, I'm going," he holds his hands up in mock surrender. I finally stop my pathetic excuse of an assault and with a vigilant gaze, I watch him leave the room.

"But you got to admit, this was fun-" I slam the door shut on his face.

"One job, you had one job, Kayden." A loud sigh from the other side of the door catches my attention.

"I was getting to it, okay," Kayden defends himself.

"Sure you were." I recognize the voice to be Wesley's. "Was that before or after you annoyed her enough to get yourself kicked out of her room?" I can practically hear the eye roll in his tone.

'What are they talking about?'

A knock soon follows the end of the conversation and I take a moment to deliberate on my opinion. I could open the door and ask them what they want. Or I could just ignore them and continue my chat with Graham.

The latter appears to be a very appealing choice by the second, but I let my curiosity get the better off and I open the door.

"What?" I demand nonchalantly, lazily resting against the door frame.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Kayden denounces. I won't dignify his accusation with a response, instead shift my expectant gaze towards Wesley awaiting an answer.

"We were heading to the beach and we're wondering--"

"You were eavesdropping weren't you," Kayden cuts Wesley off. A mistake he's made aware of my the deadly glare directed his way by Wesley causing his eyes to widen.

"Shit, sorry," he mumbles under his breath. I raise my brow at him.

"Anyway, I wanted to know if you want to come along?" He asks, his tone remaining gentle contrary to the warning gaze towards Kayden moments ago.

"I can't," I shrug.

"We've cleared it with your mum," Kayden assures, with a side-glance at Wesley for conformation, who nods. "If that's what you're worried about," he adds.

"What's the catch," I cross my arms across my chest. I know my mum and such liberties don't come without some form of restriction and condition.

The two men share a glance, then look at me. "We can't let you out of our sight," Wesley replies casually.

I nod and wait in silence for the other shoe to drop. They sigh. "And you can't go anywhere near the marketplace or the towards town," he adds.

'If all this is just my imagination, why is mum trying so hard to stop me from conforming to my doubt?'

'Unless...unless this isn't my imagination and mum's hiding something '

'But what could she be hiding and why?'

There is just one way to find the answers to these unnerving questions and that is by proving that I'm right about this place.

With this new resolution in mind, I snap out of my thoughts. "Sure," I shrug accepting their offer to go to the beach.

Step one; I need to find that playground and see for myself.

Author's note:

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Thanks for reading!

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~Kia