COORDINACIÓN CON OTRAS INSTITUCIONES

this is going to be the one of the rare times I'm going to do an author's note at the start of the chapter. So I want you to listen carefully.

you should have more faith in me, yo. >:)

-Chapter 29: New Year's Surprise

Some says that you shouldn’t follow the stereotypes because it would be reducing people to fabricated axioms.

Some says that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

These were what I pressed my mind to chant when I heard Gabriel describing Alec’s father as a ‘charming’, ‘all-smiling’ ‘handsome man’. It hits way too close to his own incarnation, another charming, all smiling, handsome man of his own that hid secrets even darker from Edward the sparkly vampire.

But then, the minute I landed my eyes on a certain green-eyed man with carefully tousled brown-hair and a million dollar smile, I just knew that I couldn’t help being judgmental.

Adrian Blaze was just another copy of Alec Blaze. Only older. And more experienced. This observation was proven true when there were not one, but two huge-breasted women hanging on either of his side. One was skinny and blonde and the other one was bigger and had darker colorings.

Seriously. Couldn’t he be anymore of a cliché?

“Heeeyy, my favorite son!” Mr. Blaze opened both his hands wide as he welcomed us to his hotel. Well, one fourth of his hotel. It still gave him a reason to act all friendly and homey here, though, and it worked well to ease off the nervous ticks that I’d been experiencing as I glanced around the lobby.

It was, for the lack of better word, magnificent. It was as if every single meter of the interior was covered by gold or even better. The floor shimmered as it was marbles and the statues and paintings all around the lobby made it look like a recreation of a castle.

I gave a sideway glance to Gabriel, who was gaping as much as I did. We shared a ‘that fucking rich guy’ look as the Blaze men admired each other’s latest conquests.

“Double cool, Dad,” Alec winked to both girls.

“Oh, you’re getting back together with Cady,” Alec’s father said to his son as the red-haired girl hugged him tight.

Since Mr. Blaze’s face was facing mine, I could sneak a look at his ‘NO-FUCKING-WAY’ expression that he was throwing at Alec.

Suddenly, I decided that Adrian Blaze was cool.

As usual, Alec only shrugged and nothing else.

“And here’s my man,” finally, it was Gabriel’s turn to be bestowed by Mr. Blaze’s lighthouse-like attention. It would shine bright at your direction at one moment, but it’d only take a blink for it to disappear as it swayed its attention to a new, shinier object. “You’re even bigger than the last time I saw you!”

Gabriel managed a soft chuckle. “Yeah, haha. I got pretty obsessed. “

“Still making cakes?”

“Like there’s no tomorrow.”

“Nice catch you got there,” Mr. Blaze said as he glanced at me. I attempted to smile back at him but I thought I just gave him the creeps as my lips stretched a little longer than what would qualify as a charming smile.

“I got lucky,” the curly haired boy blushed hard, and it made it hard for me not to just pinch his cheek.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” Mr. Blaze stretched his hand out to me. “Just call me Adrian, I’m a father of two, but trust me, I’m not that old to be called ‘Sir’.”

“It’s Andrea,” I took his hand and shook it. “I clean the jugs in your house, Adrian. Oh, and also I clean your ex mother-in-law’s room.”

“Nice.” He held the eye contact as if to ensure me that he wasn’t in any way judging me for being a maid. His confidence was swell but not overwhelming as to make me feel annoyed. Alec was an expert at making people like him, but Adrian Blaze was the fucking guru. “Make sure you don’t do your job well on the latter part. I hate that old hag.”

That got me to beam so big, and I shook his hand even firmer. He seemed to appreciate the gesture and in just a moment, we did an impromptu high-five that somehow just made my fondness of him grew tenfold.

“Oh, I nearly forgot to introduce you guys to the girls,” he put either hand on the girls’ waist as he pushed them forward to us. “This is Faith,” he gestured to the blonde. “And this is Hope.” He gestured to the darker one.

As Alec and Gabriel and Cady shook hands with both girls, I couldn’t help sniggering, wondering if Adrian was being serious. The girls’ name, combined with their dresses and how they always posed near him, made them look like prostitutes.

Thankfully, Adrian shooed off the girls before he showed us to our rooms. We had the damn VIP that had the direct view of the beach, and even though we would be staying in the same suite, there would be three different rooms. Adrian’s eyes seemed to light up as he opened the door to the suite, waiting for our reaction.

Of course, I was the loudest motherfucker who appreciated this suite more than anyone else.

“Seriously? Seri-fucking-ously? Adrian, this is so great! I feel like I’m in the set of a high budget James Bond film or something.”

“It gets better,” Adrian seemed to really enjoy me gushing over his hotel. He brought us to the balcony, and there it was, sitting so innocently at the corner of it, the goddamn biggest Jacuzzi that I’d ever seen in my life.

At this, even Alec clocked his tongue.

“No. Way,” I couldn’t keep my volume down.

“Yes way, my lady,” Adrian nodded. “Just imagine sitting there, the hot bubbles messaging your back and the view of the beach pleasuring your eyes with a glass of Chianti.”

“I’ve never had Chianti in my life,” I said.

“You will tonight,” Adrian’s eyes lit up again, this time, he looked even more boisterous than before. “In fact, you guys are all going to have the best New Year ever. The club down there is having a new year’s rave tonight, and I’m going to give you a special VIP pass.”

Cady was the first to jump around and look excited with it. Since I’d never had any possession of fake-ids, I’d never been inside a real club, and Gabriel didn’t look like he knew what he needed to expect either. As we held hands, I noticed that Alec staring at us.

“Are you sure, Dad?” he asked.

Adrian grinned the grin that I so often saw in Alec whenever he wanted to make things go his way. “I’m not going to let my son and his friends just stay inside the suite while downstairs, I’ll be up till morning, drinking my ass off, right?”

Verdict: Coolest dad ever.

-Adrian wasn’t lying when he said he’d got us a VIP entrance. It wasn’t even from the backdoor. We just swept off the long line of people waiting to get inside the club for the New Year’s rave and I could feel hundreds of pairs of jealous eyes boring against the back of my head. Gabriel’s hand hadn’t left mine since the first time we got out from the suite, and as a result, Cady held onto Alec a little more forcefully than usual.

Maybe her brain was wired wrongly post the accident, but ever since the condom confrontation, it was like she was trying to outdo Gabriel in terms of being romantic and PDA.

Not a cool move. It nearly always made me switch on my temper tantrum.

When we went inside the club, I was blown away with the colorful displays of lights and the loud, thundering music that made its way to drum against my chest. It was like a house-party, only ten times more exclusive, and a hundred times more expensive, because the people here wore what seemed like clothes that could me a month worth of food.

Alec and Cady seemed like they were already familiar with this kind of setting, and had started to order drinks around and danced. Gabriel bobbed his head against the music, and not wanting him to feel alone, I did that, too.

We looked absolutely ridiculous and totally out of place.

A glass of something strong smelling was in front of my eyes. It was from Alec. I took it and downed it all in one gulp, eager to have my mind reduced to minuscule bubbles of obscurity. It was New Year eve, after all. And it’s free.

“Don’t let anyone else buy you a drink, Andrea,” Alec said to me, and then, as if remembering something, he also turned to Cady and said the same thing to her. Of course, she changed the last part from my name to her name.

Not a cool move.

“I agree,” Gabriel said to me. “You look too beautiful right now. I’m afraid that people might slip something to your drinks.”

“Please,” I scoffed to hide how hard he made me blush. I splurged my salary to buy this dress. “Save the lecture.

You know I only accept drinks from you and people I know.”

That seemed to work like a charm towards him, because even though he hadn’t drank anything, Gabriel looked like he was high on the sky. Grinning, he bought himself a bottle of beer and guided me to the dance floor. We danced three songs, the club was full of people and it became even more packed as it neared midnight.

At the middle of a slower song, Gabriel suddenly said to me.

“So, tonight?”

I gulped and felt the residue of the shot that Alec gave me. It was burning my throat. Since I couldn’t trust my voice, I only nodded at him.

Tonight. Tonight would mark as the day when I forgot about everything bad about this year.

Especially a certain bad episode of my life called Alec fucking Blaze.

I seriously hated him with every last bit of fury that I had.

Why in the frigging fuck did he have to get back together with her in the first place?

Now he was stuck with her for some reasons he couldn’t even explain, and here I was, trying to forget him in the least effective way possible. With a willing rebound boy and alcohol. I felt like I was a star in a sappy teen drama, only uglier and more violent.

I couldn’t even concentrate on my dancing, because my eyes always strayed to a particular couple ten feet before me.

Alec and Cady might not be the most vulgar couple out here (that first place was taken by an odd couple of a rather obese man and his thin stick girlfriend, who was displaying a very proficient practice of tongue-play at the middle of the dance floor), but their proximity was enough to make me want to breathe fire. Maybe it was the alcohol in my system working its devilish ways, but it was like every little irk that I had ballooned tenfold.

“Are you okay?” Gabriel asked me. I looked up to him, searching for his eyes, searching for a certain sparks that I’d been waiting to happen to me. To us.

It wasn’t there. It really wasn’t happening, even if I was drunk.

“I’m trying,” I said. “I’m really trying to like like you.”

His expression softened, even though I knew my words just did a number on him. “I know. I could see it.”

“I love your body.”

“No, you want to have my body,” he joked.

“I’m serious.”

Gabriel was still smiling. “So am I.”

“How do you do that?”

He tilted his head in confusion.

“You’re being so nice,” I said as I grabbed the beer from his hand and gulped it down. The bitter taste of it settled on my stomach and my courage doubled. “I mean, I know that I haven’t exactly been a dream girlfriend, so I know that I don’t deserve your niceness.”

“No,” he cupped my face. “I really like you, okay? I want to make this work.”

We looked at each other, , his hands were warm around my cheek and our bodies were so close that our hip nearly touched. It was the perfect moment for a kiss, but before we could even lean to each other, the music suddenly stopped and the DJ took over.

“Now switch partners, everyone! I know you guys all want to swing once in a while. It’s allowed today, so don’t dance with your current partner, yo, because in five minutes, I’ll be switching off the lights and you guys will need to find your partner for the classic New Year Kiss!”

I thought that the game sounded like an excuse to cheat, but it seemed like everybody else in the room cheered as they all shuffled and changed locations. Of course, at this time of the day, the best looking guys and girls would be the ones getting the most ‘invitations’, and already I’d have a few girls lined up to have their claws on Gabriel.

“Whoa, big boy. Look at the number of adoring fans that you have,” I elbowed him as Gabriel once again looked absolutely uncomfortable with the extra attention that the girls had been sending him.

“I’m not sure if I want to do this game,” he said. “Look at all those guys, waiting to snatch you away from me.”

My eyes bulged as I saw at least ten guys, ranging from my age to one that would already have a son my age, surrounding me, all were smiling and nodding in anticipation.

“No, I’m not doing this,” he said once again, and I could see how the girls’ faces around him fell.

I would have hated it if any of these girls would try anything more than dancing with my boyfriend, but I also wanted Gabriel to discover the power he had over the opposite sex. So instead of being a good girlfriend and refusing to do the game, too, like what most couples in the club did, I distanced myself from him.

“Yes, Gabriel, we’re going to do it. I want to have the full New Year clubbing experience.”

He still seemed worried. “But,”

I went to the least intimidating man that surrounded me. He was a thin, gangly man with beard and lazy eyes. He didn’t look strong so if he tried anything funny, I could take him down without any problem. He brightened up so much when he saw me coming up to him, I swore some of his beard fell out. “I’ll be with him.”

Gabriel sized him up, and upon realizing that there was no way I’d be attracted or even look at him without throwing up a bit inside my mouth, he agreed.

“I’ll find you, okay?” he said before I went away with the thin, gangly man.

“Five minutes,” I nodded. “And then we’ll talk more.”

“Five minutes.”

And then the girls pushed him way too deep to the crowd he nearly yelped. I had to smile as I shake my head. A specimen like Gabriel was a rare breed indeed. Good-looking, polite, nice, but in no way arrogant or even aware of his attractiveness.

“So can we, like, make out or something?” the thin man asked me as his tongue went over his lips licentiously.

Not a cool move.

I glared at him; the way he looked like he was entitled to some action with me almost triggered me to give him a knuckle sandwich. “Ugh.”

“Get off her.” Another masculine voice roared as I felt a hand snaked around my shoulder. Since my dress had a tube top, I felt an immediate wave as his hand made contact with the tender skin around my collarbone.

Alec was glaring at the poor thin man so fiercely that the phrase ‘if looks could kill’ made sense to me. Mumbling something along the line of ‘bummer, fuck, shit, bummer bummer bummer,’ the man gave up and went to hunt for another unlucky girl.

“I could have taken care of that,” I said to him, annoyed that I looked like a typical drunk in distress in a club.

“You could have, but I want to do it,” he was still growling. His breath smelled like thick alcohol. “That guy’s been ogling you for the last ten minutes you were dancing with your boyfriend.”

“Really?”

“And probably around ten more guys, too, have been ogling you.” he looked down to my dress, which was just a usual red number with a tube top and a not-so-modest skirt. “Out of all types of dresses that designers create, why choose this one?”

“Red looks good on me.”

“Gabriel approves of this?”

I winced. “Unlike you, Mr. Suddenly Prude, Gabriel lets me choose what I want to wear.”

“You show too much skin. In a club. Where nasty drunk old men will look at you like you’re some sort of object.”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “Like you.”

“Well, I’m not going to act on what crosses inside my mind, but who knows how the other guys are going to fare?

You’re the most beautiful girl in the room, and for some reason you’re not even aware at the stares that the men give you,” he shook both of my shoulders in frustration. “Wake the hell up, Andrea!”

“If I am so beautiful and all that shit,” I spat the words one by one. “why the hell you’re not with me?”

Alec’s bloodshot eyes were upon me as he was speechless. His lips parted, and before my imaginations ran wild with what I could do with those lips, I turned my gaze away from him.

“Please give me time,” he told me, and then, slowly he engulfed me inside broad shoulders, his arms were all over me and his chin was rested on top of my head. “Please.”

“You’re not being very nice,” I remarked as I tried my best not to let his scent intoxicate me. “I’m trying to move on from you.”

“You’re as obsessed with me as I am with you.”

I scoffed. “Cocky, much?”

“Say you are,” he tipped my chin so that I was looking straight to his eyes. We were so close and when I inhaled, what I felt was his breath. It smelled like Jack Daniels, but it also smelled like him. “Say you like me. You never say it.”

And I was weak with it.

“Andrea…”

But then, I wasn’t going to lose.

“Why don’t you say it first?” I pushed him away, and right in that moment, all the lights went off.

The DJ had the mic once over again. This was getting really annoying. I was in the middle of my personal drama,

The DJ had the mic once over again. This was getting really annoying. I was in the middle of my personal drama,