The Bright Side

Six - Boys

The storm between Rosalie and Dylan had finally settled down. They had found a new way to get rid of their frustrations. Any fights they had now eventually ended in sex. They hadn't expected this deal between them to work so well, but it was doing wonders. However, the conversations between them were still limited and they still tried to avoid each other during the course of the day.

Rosalie payed extra attention to their short set of rules as Dylan didn't take them very seriously. She just didn't want any attachments to form between them but little did she know, Dylan was careless because he was a bit too sure of himself. He had avoided having feelings for a woman all his life and this time was no different either.

Rosalie was sitting around in the living room, something that both Dylan and her had recently started doing. Now that they were both less likely to lash out at each other, they had finally started spending time out of their rooms. Neither of them bothered the other while they were in the living room except for one time, when Dylan was playing a video game and Rosalie had pulled out a rule and asked for sex. Dylan was reluctant to leave his game but eventually gave in. This had shocked Rosalie. She never expected a man to say no to sex for a video game.

Munching on a pack of crisps, Rosalie was engrossed in a movie she had started watching. The doorbell rang, startling her. It was around 9PM and she wasn't expecting any visitors. She opened the door and found four men staring back at her. Before she could start freaking out, her mind reminded her that they were Dylan's friends and she had met them at the wedding. She recalled the names of two of them. The tall, dark one was Ian and the pale one with red hair was Matt.

"Hey, guys," she greeted them politely. "Dylan isn't home."

Dylan was traveling in the Middle East for the past week. He was supposed to return tonight but it wouldn't be until two hours later.

"We know," Ian replied.

Rosalie stared at them, not knowing how to respond to that.

"So, are you gonna let us in?" It was Matt who spoke now.

"Uh, sure." Rosalie hesitated before opening the door fully and letting them all walk inside.

"Dude at least tell her why we're here," the dark haired guy, whose name Rosalie didn't remember whispered to Matt.

"Oh yeah, my bad," Matt said to him before turning to face Rosalie. "We're here to surprise Dylan."

"Why," Rosalie asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. This wasn't the first time Dylan went away for a trip.

"Well, it's his birthday today," Matt replied.

The rest of the boys had settled down on the living room couch and he was the only one left behind to talk to her.

"Oh," was all she could manage to say.

"Wait, didn't you know?" Matt raised both his eyebrows in surprise.

"He never told me," Rosalie shrugged.

"So you guys are married and you don't know when his birthday is?"

"Well, we haven't been married very long," Rosalie just wanted the embarrassing conversation to end.

"Still, that's weird," Matt exclaimed but luckily, left her alone and joined his friends.

Upon hearing the conversations between the four guys, Rosalie discovered that the dark haired one was called Ryan and the short blond guy was named Theo. She gave them all beers to drink and joined them in the living room.

The conversation among them was interesting, to say the least. They were all Dylan's friends from business school and now had jobs working at different companies. About an hour had passed since their arrival when Rosalie offered them food.

"Would you like some spaghetti? I made some tonight and as usual, it ended up being way too much. Not to brag, but I make great spaghetti," she added with a grin.

They all eagerly agreed. Soon, each one of them had a plate full of spaghetti in their hands as they devoured the delicious meal. Rosalie was in the kitchen when she heard the door lock click. She made her way to the living room and at the same moment, Dylan entered as well.

"Ayy! Look who's here," Ian yelled as he was the only one seated to face the direction from which Dylan entered.

"Happy Birthday bro," they all yelled in unison. Rosalie wished him too but she couldn't help the feeling of awkwardness that took over her in that moment. Luckily no one noticed except for Dylan as the others were still too busy eating.

"Thanks," he replied to no one in particular.

"We would get up to meet you but we're a little busy," Ryan added, lifting his plate up to show it off.

"Dude, your wife is great. She made us food," Theo said.

"She didn't know it was your birthday but I bet she has you to blame for that," Matt said winking at Rosalie.

"Never let her go man. This is delicious," Theo added as he stuffed his mouth while Rosalie just chuckled nervously.

She had never made anything for Dylan and she wasn't planning to, either. That didn't mean she didn't like his friends. Even though they had put her in an awkward position, she couldn't really blame them for it. They all seemed like great guys and she wondered why they were friends with someone like Dylan. He had already joined them at the couch without giving Rosalie as much as a second look. She realised that was her cue to leave.

"Alright boys, have fun. I'll leave you all to it," she yelled as she made her way out of the living room. A few 'byes' and 'thank yous' rolled her way as she exited and made her way to her room.

All the confusion and awkwardness that had filled Dylan when his friends greeted him was gone by now. He had been so busy ever since he took over as CEO, he hadn't had any time for the guys. The last time he saw them was at the wedding. Even though he was really tired from his flight, he sat down to spend some time with them.

His friends didn't stay for long, though, and soon left to allow him some rest. He made his way to his room and noticed that the lights in Rosalie's room were off, indicating that she was asleep. He couldn't help but feel a sense of pride when his friends had said all those nice things about her. She had looked so nervous. He quickly brushed the thoughts away, realising she was probably a lot nicer to them than she was to him.

Dylan had sometimes wondered why Rosalie behaved that way with him. He supposed it made sense since she was forced into a fake marriage with him. It wasn't that big a deal to him, but maybe it was to her. He had slept with more women than he could remember, and most, if not all of them, followed him around, revelling at his feet. But not Rosalie. Even though he had had sex with her more times than with any other woman, she still pretended like he didn't even exist. He tried to not let it bother him but the thought was driving him wild, much to his dismay.