The Exchange Day

8. THE SECOND EXCHANGE

"Oh please, are you seeing these babies?" She puckered her mouth to show her scalded lips. Sam winced.

Yup, now he knew what was different about her face.

That looked pretty painful. Her horde made sympathetic noises as Alice resumed, "I feel so ugly." She wiped her fake tears. "These babies were smooth like butter but this one stupid lipstick fucked them up. Bloody allergies. Now, I look like an orangutan."

Wrong! Sam believed the gorilla family was hella cute. Alice, on the other hand, was not.

Was he allowed to laugh? A small chuckle of amusement left his lips and he was immediately silenced with a united glare from all the girls.

"Listen up, just give the damn lip balm and I will pay you," Alice proposed when she realised that mere ordering would not do it. "I need it and none of my girlfriends has it."

Then she should be asking Ian instead, Sam thought. The guy had it all and like the angel he was, wouldn't mind helping her.

But oh, Sam recalled, Ian and Alice had a cold online battle, stretched by Alice because she lost the Fox Eye makeup challenge on Tiktok to Ian. She had thrown a fit over how he could get more likes than her over that particular trend. Because he did it better, duh!

Since it was a matter of pride, nobody would back down, especially Alice.

And as much as Sam wanted Karma to do her work, his softie heart said otherwise.

Nobody deserved scalded lips. Not even Alice. Sam speculated if he didn't give her the lip balm, they would bleed for sure and bloody lips of a female were pretty disturbing to watch.

But not so fast.

"I don't mind giving it but you are being unnecessarily rude," Sam told her straight up. He can be a petty bitch sometimes. "Ask nicely, if you can."

Alice gave him a blank stare, her eye twitching on the side. They had a staring contest and Sam made sure to convey that he would not be giving up unless she accepted her condition. Finally, the girl clicked her tongue.

"Fine, I am sorry. Happy? Now can I have the lip balm if you allow me to? I have to kiss someone later." Her girlfriends giggled as a group. Sam faintly heard someone mentioning the kissing booth at the back. He selectively closed his ears.

"Sure, but I need something in exchange, not money, I am telling you beforehand." Rich people could stick their money where the sun didn't shine. Sam didn't need money, it was after all some green-designed papers with undue value to them. 

Alice narrowed her eyes at him that dared him to ask for something inappropriate, "What do you want?"

Sam rolled his eyes. What did this girl take him for? First of all, Sam was not that type of person, second of all, he was gay and third of all, he would never even think about Alice of all people in any inappropriate way.