Hold Me 'till the rain stops

chapter 17- Friends

Elliana:
My blood went cold. Did she know? How is that possible? As if sensing my confusion, she spoke "I was standing in the balcony a few minutes ago, when I saw a car pull over and you get out of it with a man, whom you hugged. A man. Isn't a man, who looks like he's in his late twenties too old to go to college? Unless he's your professor. What are you up to Elliana?" She asked sternly.
I took a deep breath. Okay, it's not like you've done anything wrong. You have nothing to worry about.
I took a deep breath as I collected my thoughts and started speaking "That was Massimo" I said and Iris raised her eyebrow, telling me to continue. "He's not a professor or related to me by school in any way. He's the grandson of the Laurents."
"The Laurents? As in Savannah and Martin Laurent?" She asked, sounding shocked. "How do you know him? And why were you out with him?" She gasped. "Well....we met a few months ago, and became good friends, he said he wanted to take me out to dinner to catch up, since we haven't met in a while." I said.
Iris only looked at me for a second "he isn't forcing you to do anything, is he?" She finally asked "look, you can be honest with me. There's no need to be scared"
"No!" I gasped, causing her to jump. "I mean, I wanted to go." I scrambled. "Are you mad at me?" I asked in a small voice.
Iris sighed and smiled at me "of course, not. Despite what you think, I'm not here to babysit you, Elliana. Yes, that was my job, when you were like, 5 but you're all grown up now. Byi can't say I'm not disappointed. I genuinely thought of myself as your friend. And you don't hide things from your friends."
"I know" I whined "but for some reason I just wasn't ready to talk about him yet."
She looked at me with a knowing smile "do you like him?" She asked, moving her eyebrows.
I blushed and admitted that I did, but of course that we were just friends. Our families were doing business together, so we were going to be stuck together for a while. And If we mess up our relationship by talking feelings, it's going to be really awkward in the future.
Iris laughed and agreed "well, I hope you get what you're looking for" she said as she went into her room to sleep.
I pick up my purse and walk into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water to carry it back to the room with me. After I shower and complete my nighttime skincare, I'm ready to jumo into my bed as the exhaustion kicks up. Today was Wednesday, so tomorrow is still a school day. I need to be early tomorrow.
I think I fall almost as soon as I shut my eyes, because I'm exhausted. I wake up the next day at 6, which is my usual time on weekdays and decide to go to the gym since I don't have class until much later. I only wash my face and brush my teeth then change into some workout clothes and then tie my hair up in a tight braid to avoid flyaways.
I do a good amount of exercise in an hour and a half, before I head back to my apartment, all sweaty and sticky.
I find Iris slicing some avocados for breakfast as she smiles at me and says that breakfast is nearly ready. So I hurry to my room and shower. I change into a green sundress and decide to tie my hair in a half pony with a white bow on it for a change. I wear some simple gold chains and small hoops, slip on my white sneakers and go to the living room.
I don't see Iris anywhere, so I assume she was in her room, reading, since she usually wakes up early and eats her breakfast before me. Some five minutes later, she comes out, dressed in jeans and a blouse "Hey, I need to run some errands to the grocery store, I'll probably be a little late so I'll see you in the evening?" She asks as she starts wearing her Skechers.
"Yeah. I have a class at 12 then one at 3 so I'll be home by 6"
"Okay" she says and leaves the house.
Peacefully, I eat my bagels and sip on my coffee, before I pack my laptop into my backpack and grab my keys and head out the door.

Massimo:
"Helloooo?" A hand waved in front of me, brutally slamming me back into reality. "Earth to Massimo!" My grandfather waved his hand in from of my face as my grandmother laughed. "What are you dreaming about? A McFlurry? Cause I've been dreaming about her too. Let's get some for lunch!" He exclaimed. My grandmother shot him a warning look "oh sure! Get some for lunch. It totally wasn't you who was warned by the doctor to watch his sugar intake! It was me!" Sarcastic as ever Grand-mère. I couldn't help but chuckle. They'd been married for almost 37 years now, and still act like teenagers.
"In all seriousness Massimo, you do seem a little out of touch with your emotions'' Grand-mère said "did something happen? Are you not feeling well?" I detected a hint of worry in her voice.
"No, Grand-mère, I'm totally fine. Just... angry and worried about Xavier and Krimson. Hermit and Rosalia worked so hard to build that company, and they're going to ruin it by smuggling and dealing drugs under the facade of a successful multi-million dollar tech company. They trusted us with this responsibility. We can't let this happen." I said.
"I understand" Grand-mère said "but you just can't let that keep you away from your sanity and regular day. We don't have much we can do as if now, but we are making progress" she said as she squeezed my hand.
Although I hadn't officially inherited their company, I had started working there as soon as I graduated from University. And my grandparents came in from time to time to check on the reports and stats of my work, but mostly because she was the chairman of the board of directors of Laurent Group.
"I know! But I'm mostly worried about Elliana. She's alone with them. If those people can kill their own parents, they can do much worse when they're going to know that pretty much everything Hermit and Rosalia owned is left for Elliana."
Grand-mère's eyes softened "yes, but she's not alone. We have our people watching her undercover, and even her parents." She responded.
"If anything goes wrong, we will be the first ones to know" grandpa said. "You can't rack your brains for something you have no control over. But what you can do, is stay prepared for whatever does come." He said "and as for Elliana, believe me, Hermit was one proud grandfather. He always told me how that girl was exactly like Rosalia. And if that woman is anything, its strong. Do not think of her as a weak child" he said. He made a good point.
"So how was your dinner with her last night?" Grand-mère asked, seemingly too exited.
"It was great" I said, hoping she'd leave me alone on this one. I usually don't like going into details. She just narrowed her eyes as she nodded and muttered a "hmmm"
"Well, what we came here to do is done, so we'll leave you to it to attend with Theodore Rand. I hope you're still coming over for dinner tonight?" We said our goodbyes and I attended my meeting with Theodore Rand. During the meeting, the only thing I wished was being with her.