Unedited!

Rita's POV

The next morning, I'm awakened by a loud shrill noise from right outside my window. After dragging myself out of bed, I peek out and see that it's Mr Ade, the elderly gardener lawning the grass with his machine.

I roll my eyes and walk back to my bed, crashing onto it. I try going back to sleep for the next few minutes to no avail.

Well, now I'm up thanks to a certain someone.

I walk into my bathroom and wash my face. Afterwards, I brush my teeth and quickly handle my hygiene before I make my way downstairs.

Had my room not been in a whole other wing of the house, I know for sure that it won't have been the lawnmower waking me up this morning. It would have been another noise.

Everywhere is in chaos. The living room is being decorated, and for a moment I'm confused as to why before dismissing it. It is afterall my mother that is throwing this party. She would go and above and beyond just to make sure everything was extra.

The kitchen is filled with people who I assume are from the catering company. Why my mother choses to hire one for her events when she has more than enough capable hands as maids, I don't know.

The atmosphere is frantic as everyone rushes to do their duties and I just stand there in the middle of the chaos.

"You're up!" Mom exclaims, seemingly appearing from no where. She pulls me into a tight hug.

"Good morning, mom." I greet respectfully.

"Good morning, my darling." She replies. She looks at me for a moment before continuing. "Why don't you go back upstairs, I'll have Ore bring you some breakfast. Afterwards, I want you to freshen up, okay?"

I nod my head relieved that I'll be away from here soon.

"The party begins at 2 pm," Mom continues, "So you can begin dressing up by 12, okay? It's your party afterall, dear. You need not do anything. Just wait. When it's 1:45, then I'll have someone come fetch you, alright?"

She seemed like she had everything planned out and it was all fine by me as long as I wasn't involved in this commotion. "Yes, mom."

"Good now go." She says before going back to what she was doing.

I'm not even out of the large kitchen before I already hear her barking orders at people.

On my way to my room, I see Rachel about to enter hers which is across mine.

"Hey stranger." I greet before she disappears inside. She didn't notice me earlier with her head in her phone and a half eaten green apple in hand.

She looks up surprised before she comes to give me a hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in days." She laughs and pulls me into her room.

I settle on her bed while she sits on the chair. Suddenly, she ditches her phone and gives me her full attention and I already know she's about to engage me in some gossip when a sly smile comes to her face.

"So..." She says still with that smile.

I'm confused. "So?"

"Are you just returning?"

This has me even more puzzled. "Returning from where?"

"Stop acting confused. Didn't you go out with Cameron last night?" She asks getting impatient.

I suddenly understand and I can't help the laughter that comes out. This girl is so silly. "You, ehn! I came home last night. Nothing happened."

She rolls her eyes at me looking disappointed.

"And even if anything did happened why will I tell you? Small girl."

She gives me a smile that says 'you don't know anything'. "Me?" She asks, touching her chest. "Small girl? You're funny."

I just ignore her. "So what have you been up to?" I ask as I stand up and observe her room.

It's surprisingly really neat and filled with a reasonable amount of posters. A few of quotes and the rest of stars such as Beyoncé, Drake, Rihanna; the usuals for a teenage girl.

"Nothing really. Just been hanging out with friends and going to parties."

I give her a smile. "Parties. I remember when I was your age I hardly ever went for those."

"Well that's because you're more of an introvert." She retorts.

"True." I admit. I'm not really a party person. I guess I took after my dad in that aspect while Rachel took after my mom. And as much as she loved attending parties, Rachel was also a good party planner.

"I actually have this yatch party that I'm attending next weekend. It's more like a music video shoot. Popular celebrities like Wizkid and Skepta will be there and also some upcoming alte artists as well. Wanna come? I promise it will be fun." She assures me with a hopeful look on her face.

"No, thank you. In case you're forgetting, I have a man. How do you even get into these parties? Don't they have like age restrictions or something?"

"First of all, who says Cameron can't come? Trust me it will be lots of fun and you don't wanna miss. And second, I know people who know people." She smiles that sly smile again. "In this lifestyle, sis, that's all that you need. Connections."

I consider the invite for a short minute. "Well, I'll ask Cameron if he'd like to go. I personally won't mind going if he doesn't. I've been couped up in this house ever since I got back. Now I'm kinda missing America."

I remember back there, although I personally prefer staying at home, Carla wouldn't let me. She would guilt me into going to parties and clubs with her saying she needed a chaperone otherwise there will be a high possibility that she will be drugged and taken advantage of so I always gave in. We went to a lot of parties together but I was no party monster. I like spending time with myself. It keeps me sane.

Almost everything makes me miss Carla recently so I make a mental note to call her as soon as I'm back in my room.

Rachel and I chat a bit more and afterwards I leave for my room where I find a tray full of breakfast consisting of pancakes, syrup and a cup of coffee. I was grateful.

As I settle into my bed to eat (bad habit, yeah I know) I go through my phone and see a message from Cameron.

Cameron 💕 : Good morning beautiful.  Hope you had a good sleep. About to go into a meeting soon, hope your day is starting better than mine. *sigh*😩

Me: You're starting your day signing contracts and closing deals that will bring in millions and you're complaining?😂 I was having a good sleep until I was forced out of it😑 my day is going okay now though. Hope you're good?

After that I drop my phone and focus on my meal knowing that he won't reply my text anytime soon since he is in a meeting.

Once done with my meal, I keep the tray on my table and contemplate calling Carla now. It's about 9 am here and Carlifonia is 8 hours behind and knowing Carla, she doesn't go to bed early so I decide to give it a try.

I dial her on facetime with my phone not my laptop.

After a couple of rings she picks but instead of Carla I see Ash. "Riri!" She exclaims while she looks to be running.

"Would you give my back my phone, you dimwit!" I hear Carla say annoyed, in the background.

I can't help but laugh and then tear up. I really missed these girls.

"Hey babe." I say loudly.

"Oh my god you don't know how good it is to see you right now." Ash says with her head too close to the camera.

"Good enough that you risk being beaten." I hear Carla say again in the background.

"Carla." I call her name in a singsong voice.

After some seconds the two of the finally come to some kind of agreement and share the phone with Carla holding the camera at a good angle.

"I've missed you guys so much." I say tearing up again.

"We've missed you too. You have no idea how much. Here is a bit dull now. Who am I kidding? It's a lot dull. Derek doesn't come around much anymore. You know he only ever was here for you." Carla begins while I just roll my eyes at that. Derek was never subtle in his likeness for me although I had told him several times that I was in a relationship, it didn't matter to him."The gang doesn't hang out as much anymore. Alan is leaving back for Texas in two days. He got a job there and he and Jessica had to break up. She's kind of in her shell now so it's really just myself and Ashley and we just miss you so much!"

This was all too much to absorb. "Jessica and Alan broke up?" I ask in shock although I heard her the first time. 

"Yup." Ashley says with a nod. "Suprised right? I was too."

"Very." I sigh. "How is she?"

"Well she's taking it quite hard. She doesn't wanna see anyone, last I heard she barely leaves home these days. I just really feel for her, yunno? I really thought this one was gonna last." Carla says.

We all did. Jessica and Alan had been dating since their senior year of high school back in Texas but after she lost her dad and her mom moved out to Carlifonia, she had nothing there for her anymore but bad memories so she was definitely not going to move back to Texas.

We stayed on the phone for over an hour catching up, until it was too late and the girls felt really sleepy so they left with a promise to call back.

After the call ended, I just sat there on my bed and thought for a moment. This life was so unpredictable.

If Jessica and Alan, who were absolute relationship goals, can spilt over something like this who's to say that...

Suddenly, I'm reminded of my conversation with Cameron last night. If I'm being honest with myself, I'll admit that I'm actually not one hundred percent sure that I meant what I said about being ready to take the next step. I feel like it was an in the heat of the moment kind of answer and now that my head is a lot clearer, I'm really doubting the truthfulness of my words.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Cameron. But sometimes, love simply isn't enough. I don't know if we are compatible. We've never really had to be in each other's space physically or anything.

Sometimes, I wish I didn't agree to date him three years ago. We had only known each other for a couple of months back then and it was too soon. Also, our relationships consisted of phone calls and brief visits. I've never seen him around his friends, I've never seen him around his family or other people in general.

What if he was showing me only the parts of himself that he wanted me to see?

Or maybe it's just my mind making up excuses. I don't know, I think to myself with a heavy sigh.

***

A/n:

Hello my lovely readers!  Sorry if this chapter wasn't as long as the previous ones but this is just a filler chapter before the main event. 

How did you like it though?

Please consider voting and dropping a comment. It would make my day.

Until next time.
~love, Chisom.

P.S- Please check out my newly released book 'Lagos babe'. It's on my profile. It's a Nigerian drug dealer romance story, if you are into that.