𝘏𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭 𝘓𝘶𝘴𝘵

~thirteen~

The two decided to smother Duncan with a pillow. 

A fully good plan. 

Yara finally stopped Duncan's snoring (and probably his breathing) and hopped onto the couch, relaxing into slumber. She heard Lucas shifting around on the bed in front of her, and she felt her pulse spike. 

Stop it, Yara Moore. You cannot be reacting like this. 

You hate him. He hates you. 

End of story.

But she feels her mind travelling to the sight of him in that lift. When the doors opened, lights beaming from above, he looked like a literal angel. The shadows highlighted his cheekbones and his pink lips. 

She despised it. 

She despised him. 

She knew she had a blushing problem, though. She couldn't help it, her cheeks flamed whenever she was uncomfortable. 

Or aroused, said a voice in her head. 

She quickly shuts it up and shakes the thoughts of Lucas's defined abs out of her head, finally surrendering to sleep. At last.

~~~

"So? How was it?" Yara stabs a piece of pineapple with the fork, looking eagerly at Sarah. 

The pair were in the cafe on floor three.

Reminded by Lucas last night, of course, thought Yara bitterly. 

Yara chewed on a strawberry from her fruit bowl, getting the juicy details of Sarah's activities last night.

Sarah blushes and stirs her bowl of cereal. "It was... amazing. I had no idea what I was missing out on. I'm just happy that I lost my V-card with Reid. He was so sweet about it." 

Yara smiles encouragingly, but inwardly cringes. She needs to tell Sarah how she... overheard certain things last night. 

"That's good, I'm happy for you. But now you've gotten the sweet stuff sorted, I bet Reid can't wait for the dirty stuff." Yara smirks.

Sarah reddens. "Yeah... I hope so." 

Yara laughs out loud, relishing the way her friend turned redder than a tomato. "I'm sure you will. But trust me, guys have no issue if you ever want to try anything new." 

Sarah frowns, looking at Yara. "How do you know so much? Just out of curiosity. I thought you've only had one boyfriend before."

Yara sighs, staring at her bowl of fruit. "Well, I've slept with three."

"Oh." Sarah blushes again, then glares. "You've never told me!" 

"Don't worry. It's not like I'm going out every night asking for it. I lost my virginity to this really sweet guy when I was seventeen. Then I slept with another when I was eighteen, we were like, friends with benefits. Then, as you know, I dated Zach. It's not like I'm a pro." Yara feels her cheeks growing pinker by the minute.

Sarah giggles. "I know. I find it really cool. Does your mom know?" 

Yara breaks down laughing. "Please! Imagine the look on her face!"

The two laugh until their stomach's hurt, their breakfasts forgotten as they gossip some more. 

"No, but seriously, have you told her?" 

Yara gulps down a piece of watermelon. "All she knows is that I lost my V-card to Zach. She doesn't know about the other two." 

Sarah snorts. "What a scandal." 

"For real." Yara laughs.

"How did you sleep last night?" Sarah changes the topic, eating a spoon of her Fruit Loops.

Yara's mood immediately deflates. "Meh. It was alright." 

Sarah sighs, guilty. "I'm really sorry, I know how weird it must've been."

"It's okay, at least one of us enjoyed herself." Yara smiles. "Duncan's leaving tonight, though. His parents are picking him up, I believe." 

Sarah grimaces. "I'm sorry! That'll leave you with Lucas! I'm so, so, so, sorry, Yara!" 

"Sarah, calm down, it's fine. It's more a blessing than a curse, trust me." 

Sarah frowns. "How?"

"Oh my God, last night, Duncan wouldn't shut up. He snored so loud." Yara scrunches her nose. 

"Ew, I'm sorry, again." Sarah grins apologetically.

"It's fine. But guess what." Yara pauses dramatically, taking a sip of her milky tea.

Sarah sat, patient like a puppy waiting for her treats. "What, what, what?"

Yara cringes. "It was like, I kid you not, he had some weird fascination with Lucas and me." 

Sarah tilts her head, frowning dramatically. "What? That's some weird sh!t. How?"

"I don't know, he just kept saying stuff about chemistry, and wanting me and Lucas to sleep in the same bed. It was weird." Yara goes on, plopping a grape in her mouth. 

"Did he mean it in a weird way or joking way?" Sarah ponders. 

"Joking way, but it sounded like it had a deeper meaning. It's strange. Why would he ever ship us together in any way? Does he not know how much we hate each other?" 

"True. I can't say I haven't shipped you before, though." Sarah grins evilly. 

Yara's mouth drops open. "Shut up." 

"It's true though! You've hated each other since you were, what, fourteen? And you only met when you were fifteen at a dinner party. It's something from a romance novel."

"Sarah, you're not helping!" Yara snaps, but finds herself scanning around the cafe for Lucas himself. 

She spots him sitting at a table with Duncan and a few other guys, talking and rolling his eyes at Duncan. She steers her eyes away. No way. 

No way. They would never be an 'item'. They strictly could not. They were rivals, for God's sake. Their families were far from friends. 

She turns her full attention back to Sarah and her fruit bowl.

"Just think, enemies to lovers! When hate turns to passion! Oh my gosh, imagine the sex! I bet it would be phenomenal!" Sarah blows a chef's kiss, rambling on.

Yara grits her teeth, but not fully out of anger. Something else lingered in her emotions, though she wasn't sure she wanted to explore it.

"Sarah, I kindly advise you to shut up." 

 "No, but really. You think you hate each other, but what if, really, you want each other, and you won't admit it because you're not allowed to do anything. Because your families hate each other!" Sarah was fully into this, her eyes sparkling with delight. 

Yara huffs out a breath, getting more and more pissed off. "Sarah! Get your head out of the clouds. It's not only that, I honestly dislike him as a person anyway. Us being rivals makes no difference." 

"Oh, be quiet. I'm sure you two secretly want each other." Sarah sighs dreamily. "It's like an erotica. The heated glances, hungry eyes. The hate that turns into love. I swear, he'd be all over you-"

"Who?" A voice cuts Sarah off, causing her mouth to gawp open as she stared over Yara's shoulder.

Yara freezes, her fork in her mouth. She knew that voice. The deepness of it, the roughness of it. The hatred she had for this voice was comical. 

And as she turned around, she swore her heart sped up.

~~~