scandals [czk]

e i g h t

"liliana, i would like to show you my happy place. santa monica place." she opens her arms wide as she runs towards the center to show me. i giggle a bit but look around. i see the site of cameras around, and people casually following certain people. that seemed too stereotypical of LA, but i didn't mind it.

just a few minutes of walking around, a group of girls came up to diana.

"omg hi diana," one of the girls stutter in nervousness. "i'm such a big fan. we all stan you and nick"

"hii!" she smiles, as she gives her a hug, along with the rest of those girls.

"can we take a group pic?" another girl asks.

"sure! lily, can you?" she asks, as the girl hands me her phone. then another. then another.

after all those photos, they said their goodbyes. they seemed nice, but some eyed me out.

"so, i guess diana is some word of the mouth here," i said.

"this is my favorite place to shop. a lot of people find me here. and sometimes i just encounter people," she sighs, as she looks into a shop that didn't get her attention.

after that, we got to bloomingdale's, where she bought her outfit for the wedding, along with a bunch of other clothes for personal uses. as for i, i screech in silence as i see the price tag of the clothes i found appealing. my jaw also drops as i see her outcome at the register.

"you know, earning money is scarce. you already spent over a thousand dollars." i point out, as i help her carry bags.

"you choose to live in an expensive area, you must be expensive." she smiles. "also, looking cheap is not good. i thought you were in business."

"well, i'm broke," i cry. "i just spent so much money on food yesterday to send back home. can we go uniqlo?"

"and what? buy the same article of clothing with a different design? wear something nice." she complains, as she leads me to ted baker. "i'll pay."

as i frown, i see a dress right away. i tried it on, i loved it. perfect for the occasion, it was a dark blue skater dress. not too inappropriate. the theme of the wedding was blue. so, yea. also, it was convenient to its purpose. but after the choice of the dress, i insisted diana i would pay for it. i cried when i did.

"okay, you wanna eat at cheesecake?" diana asked me

"yea, im hungry." i complain

"well, the wait is a bit long. can you reserve the seats? i'm just gonna pick up my order. it's the gift for the wedding." she begged, and as if i know where i'm supposed to go.

"sure," i emphasis my sarcasm. she thanks me, and runs. i die a little in the inside, as i look at the directory. once i figured it out, i reserved the seats and waited.

as i waited outside, those girls that encountered diana and I earlier came out of cheesecake factory.

"aren't you the girl that was with diana?" one of them ask

"yea, nice to see you guys again. diana just went to get something," i smiled a little so i wouldnt look bad.

"by any chance, you know zion kuwonu?" she same girl asks me

"yes. he is friends with the guy thats dating my best friend." i reply

"by any chance you came to santa monica yesterday? preferably with him?" she questions. by now i figure, this girl probably saw me and zion yesterday.

"i plea thy fifth," i answered quickly, as i hear my phone ring. i see diana call me. thankfully she calls to get me out of this conversation with a bunch of young teens. "i should take this."

"I'm coming. almost there." she said. i hung up afterward.

"i like you. you're funny." the girl snickers a bit, as i giggle along. "nice to meet you."

they all leave, and wave. then diana came with a bunch of bags with her.

"allison must be a really good friend of yours." i say, as i carry some of the bags.

"she helped me get my job. i am more than blessed to have her in my life. and now she's getting married." she breathes heavily, as she struggles to detangle a bag from her fingers.

the buzzer went off  and we got to our seats. we ordered what we wanted and as we waited for the food, she shows me the gift. first, it was a white piggy bank designed with flowers around it. Then she bought them keychains, with the mr. and mrs. on it. it was cute. but i still told her cash would've been okay.

but what seemed to come up in my head was how those girls asked me those questions.

"you know those girls that came up to us when we came?" i asked, as i grabbed a bread

"mhm," diana mumbles, as she swallows the bread

"they came up to me earlier, and asked if i was with zion last night, which i was," i told her. when i said that, she choked up a bit when she took another bite of the bread. "not only that, but when they first saw us, they were eying me out."

"well. there must have been some post of you guys last night. surprisingly, a pic of you guys sitting next to each other on the ferris wheel. some fan was visiting, and she saw him. she got on the one next to you guys. and saw. and there was another one from another person, where you guys were in the bumper cars, and a video of you guys sharing a funnel cake." she rambles, with some pauses in between the time she ate.

"lemme see." i looked into her eyes

"search it up on instagram." she rolled her eyes, as she continue to eat. By this time, the food already came, but im still in concern

as i checked, i do see a bunch of repost. but no name of mine to be- until i cross upon a more recent post. probably the girls that saw us today. caption saying "the girl that was with zion last night has the first name lily. she's best friends with diana." with a bunch of other tags.

along with the side comments were things like "oh, gag," "maybe she's just using her to get to him," and also "so kacie and zion aren't a thing?"

that account was pretty big. bigger than my own account. I'm a private account, and my account doesnt have my full name. so i didn't worry much.

"are you gonna eat that?" diana asked

"yes." i answered

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