Love & Gamble

Acquaintance

Rosa Giovenesi's P. O. V

Pouring coffee into my mug, I sip at the bitter dark liquid and grimace at the taste. Fen peers over my shoulder and at the lighted screen of my phone, her gaze keen and sharp.

"Hmm. He doesn't sound like an old person texting."

"What does an 'old person' texting sound like?" I ask in confusion. I know how a relatively older person texts what with the one finger pressing at the screen with the phone lower and head tilted till a double chin forms with their features all scrunched up. Nearly every older person I know pulls that classic movie.

"I don't know. They probably end it with 'love' and a bunch of irrelevant emojis." She muses to which I scoff and move away from her.

"Throw in a bunch of grammatical errors and that's exactly what you text like." A short laugh escapes me as the woman tries to smack me but then gives up midway when she realises I'm too far away from her and not worth the effort.

"So, a hot, hopefully, younger than forty guy, might just show up tonight at eight. If you want I can give you the apartment for the night. Give you both some alone time." Her wink makes me roll my eyes.

"I'm not about to sleep with some random guy who is supposed to help me put my maniacal father back in his place. This is strictly business. Anyways, don't you have that art exhibition downtown to get to by eight?"

"Oh yeah, shit. Glad you remind me or Rico would have me be the head."

"Kinky," I comment offhandedly as I chug down the rest of my coffee, wincing at the slight numbness that creeps up my tongue until the muscle feels weird in my mouth.

Placing the mug in the sink to soak with the other dishes, I decide I really should change out of my pyjamas and into something a little more presentable. I know the man will be coming nine hours from now but I'd rather get situated properly now than rush around trying to look presentable at the last moment.

"What are your plans for the day then?" Fen asks as she gets started on washing up considering I made breakfast.

"I have to finish up a few assignments and then run some errands. Other than that I'm free for the day and ready to work with this Luca to come up with a plan. Wait, do you think he'll be ready to help me? Knowing Leo, he's not going to tell the guy anything and rely on the supposed favour he has towards him to actually help me."

Fen pauses in her clanking which she thinks is customary when washing dishes, "That is true. Mr Leo does think people follow up on favours owed nowadays. People usually start ghosting you once you help them and then ask for help for something in return."

Ghosting. I'm not going to pretend I've never been ghosted before.

It still hurts when I think about it to this day. More like I cringe at myself for falling prey to three in the morning drunken dares. I sent a message to a crush only to get ghosted while Fen drunk dialled hers. I guess I didn't have it as bad as she did.

"I don't know the guy so I can't speak on his behalf but I'm keeping faith in Mr Leo. It's either have faith or wallow away in pity like I've been doing for a better part of this year."

Fen places an arm around me at the last part while she lets out a loud sigh, our heads leaning against each other. "No matter what you choose to do, Lola and I will support you. Although we are rooting for the hot and mysterious Luca."

I let out a long withdrawn sigh as she smacks me on my backside in good faith. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

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