"Hey, earth to Lilly!"
Reagan snapped his fingers in front of her face. She was sipping her drink with her brain flying. They were lying on the deck of the Rosa, her father's yacht, that was named after her mother.
"What is it?" She asked in a small voice devoid of any excitement despite the loud party on the boat.
"Baby girl, what's wrong? It's our graduation party. Let's have fun because after this we are going to be busy with uni…and speaking of uni, you haven't told me where you are going to?"
"Y university," she answered Reagan with her eyes fixed on the upper deck. There's some kind of commotion on there. It seems that they are going to jump off to the freezing night sea. Her attention was caught on it that she didn't see the flash of envy in her boyfriend's eyes.
Reagan wanted to enter Y university since his father was an alumnus of the said school but he didn't pass. He's going to C university instead, the same school as Tiffany.
"Where are you going?" Lilly asked when Reagan stood up and walked away from her without a word.
"Where the party is," he replied in a defiant voice.
Lilly furrowed her brows with the hostility of Reagan's voice and action. She wanted to ask him if she did something wrong but he was already climbing up to the upper deck where most of the partygoers were.
She couldn't believe that Tiffany was able to gather this crowd by posting an invitation on her social media. She wanted to party with them but she wasn't really in the mood. If she has a choice, she won't come here. But she knew that Tiffany and Susan won't forgive her—especially Tiffany if she changed her mind.
"Hey."
"Oh, Andrei! Tiff said that you're not—" She covered her mouth when she realized what she was about to say.
"Don't be sorry. Tiffany is mad at me and we know that she can be...a bit difficult."
She nodded and handed Andrei a drink. She doesn't have to say that Tiff is not just difficult. She just smiled because, despite Tiff's shortcomings, she's a good friend—as long as you don't cross her.
"Have you talked to her yet?" She asked when the silence was stretched awkwardly between them.
"Not yet. I don't want to ruin her party."
"Hmm," she mumbled under as she sipped her drinks. Andrei saying that this is Tiffany's party somehow annoyed her. After all, it's her father's yacht, and her credit card—Matthew's card, paid almost half of the expenses of this party because she was so guilty that she couldn't be honest with them about her upcoming wedding.
Mr. Gallard had already informed her that the documents were ready and he just needed her signature and he would file it and she and Matthew would legally become husband and wife. The idea that the documents just needed her signature meant one thing. Matthew had already affixed his signature on it.
A certain wave of sadness engulfed her. She wished she was on the upper deck of the yacht and would be one of those who jumped in the icy water. She wanted to drown the confusion she was feeling. She could feel her life slipping away from her hands.
She was trying so hard to keep them in her control but it was like clutching sand in her hands. No matter how much she clenched them in her fist, the more that they slipped in her fingers. Everything was like being taken away from her grasp. And she was being swept under the current.
"Are you okay?"
"Huh?!"
Lilly pulled back from her wandering thoughts with Andrei's question. She gave him a puzzled look for she had already forgotten his presence.
"You look so conflicted, Lil," he said, laced with worry that Lilly's heart melted a little. "You look like someone who doesn't want to be here."
"Like you?" She teased Andrei. She doesn't want to be questioned for she doesn't want to add more to her lies. Thus, she jokingly threw back Andrei's question to him.
He laughed and playfully flicked her forehead. "You're deflecting, Miss Morgan. I got it. You don't want me to probe and I will stop now."
Lilly laughed, rubbing her forehead. It doesn't hurt that she wanted to capitalize on Andrei's guilt, she pursed her lips and said. "How could you hurt me?"
Andrei laughed and playfully hooked his arm around her neck. They were having such a good laugh that they didn't see the pair of eyes that were like laser beams pointed in their direction.
"What are you looking at? The boys are looking for you."
"I don't like any of those boys. They were lame. The only one I want is over there and being taken from me."
Susan furrowed her brows and followed Tiffany's line of sight and squeaked like a mouse caught by a tomcat. "I thought Andrei won't be coming," she asked in a hushed tone after she got over her shock. She subconsciously stepped back from Tiffany because she doesn't want to be caught in her tantrum.
"I also didn't know that he would come. Ever since he walked in the middle of our mild disagreement, he refused to take any of my calls, that's why I didn't expect to see him here tonight and most especially in that kind of situation," she said with clenched teeth. Her eyes were seething with jealousy.
"They were just having a conversation and…" Her voice trailed and she chewed on her lower lip when she saw Tiffany ball her hands into a fist. She looked down on Andrei and Lilly who thankfully were standing apart from each other, although they were still laughing.
"You know that Reagan and Lilly were just a couple out of mutual needs, don't you?" She asked Susan without pulling her gaze away from Lilly and Andrei.
"Uhm, yeah…I mean, Lilly doesn't really want a boyfriend and…" She bit her lower lip. She couldn't tell Tiffany that Lilly just have Reagan around her because Tiffany required them to have a boyfriend as part of their status at school.