Falling For The Playboy

EVA

“Jesus Christ. ” the boy groaned for the seventh time today, within the last thirty minutes. “Can we leave already? ”

“You’re not the only one here. You know that, right? ” an exasperated voice retorted and that was obviously the wrong thing to do because the frustrated boy wasted no time in channeling all his anger at the speaker, which made me think he probably had been looking for an outlet all along.

“Did you not hear the ‘we’ in the statement I just made? ”

“Wasn’t a statement, Destiny. It was a question. ” Another voice piped in. This one, belonging to a girl. “You would know the difference if you ever paid attention to a single thing that’s said in English class. Just like you’re not paying attention right now. ”

It was Natasha, the queen of sarcasm. A vibrant, quick-witted girl who had a smart-ass reply at the tip of her tongue, always ready to launch. I envied her the talent.

“No one asked you, Natasha. ” The boy -Destiny- bit out, his jaw tightening in anger and embarrassment.

“Of course. ” Natasha replied smoothly, her mocking tone unmistakeable. “I like to help however I can. ”

A round of laughter rang out and Mrs Philomena’s eyes widened in alarm at the disturbance. We shouldn’t be talking, not when we were supposed to be taking notes as we listened to the Tour Guide.

We quieted down and after throwing a menacing look our way-that was actually more funny than menacing-our Principal turned back to the Tour Guide, her hands at her back in that stance people in control wielded. A quick glance at my jotter told me that I hadn’t written nearly enough to make an essay out of. Because apparently, we were making one.

It was hard to blame Destiny for wanting to leave, really. We’d spent over an hour and a half on our feet, walking from one section to another and just before we entered the section before this one, I’d asked myself if the tour was ever going to end. I was starting to believe it would go on forever.

I, for one, didn’t find the mesuem particularly interesting. It was more the location that did it for me. I didn’t think staring at Dorothy’s shoes or equally uninteresting artifacts was a great idea of spending my day, so, yes, this excursion was in fact, terribly boring.

We were all asked to turn our phones on silent before coming in and a lot of people had resorted to texting, doing it conspicuously to avoid getting caught by Mrs Philomena. Whiling away their time this way, obviously alleviated some of the boredom seeing as no one was complaining as bitterly as Destiny, which led me to believe that his problem was hunger.

Judging by his incessant complaints, it was a nagging one. And that didn’t make sense because we all ate our fill before coming here, just two hours ago. He was probably one of those always-eating people, like Laura, but while Laura had an ass to show for it, he had nothing. He was skinny.

A phone beeped and I unconsciously reached into the back pocket of my jeans, thinking it was mine. I heard a muttered ‘shit’ and I might have uttered the word, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t cognizant of a lot of things happening around me as I watched my hand come back out of my pocket. Empty.

My blood ran cold.

Mrs Philomena was whispering furiously at someone, scolding them for disobeying her, but it all seemed to be happening at a distance. My heart beat faster and my hands started to shake. I shoved my hand into my left back pocket, wondering if my phone had, by some miracle, grown legs and jumped into the other pocket, but I had no such luck. It wasn’t in there either.

My phone was gone!ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Had someone slipped it out of my pocket when I wasn’t looking?

I dismissed the thought immediately. I would have felt it if someone had and it’s not like there were thieves amongst us.

Or were they?

The girl beside me shifted, sensing the shift in my body language and I glanced at her with slitted eyes as if she was the cause of my predicament. Her eyes widened and she shifted farther away from me, no doubt thinking I was a psycho. I was far from caring.

Beads of perspiration settled on my forehead and I wiped it off with the back of my hand.

How did this happen?

I had my phone with me all through breakfast at the hotel restaurant, I’d even taken some pictures. From there, we had gone outside to the bus and come straight here, but I couldn’t remember it being with me during the bus ride. Could it be that I might have misplaced it at the hotel?

I had to find it. I had to-

Laura!

I’d given it to her when I went back upstairs to make quick use of the restroom. Oh, God. What if she lost it? Laura wasn’t the most careful person.

My excitement gave way to fear and I searched for her in the crowd, my movements frantic. Despite her lack of height, she was quite easy to spot and it wasn’t just because of the hot pink sweater top she wore, it had something to do with her energy.

“Laura. ” I tugged on her arm impatiently when I reached her. Her head whipped around and by the irritated scowl on her face, I could tell she didn’t appreciate being approached in such a manner. However, her frown smoothened when she saw it was me.

“Dammit, Eva. Don’t do that again. ” she whispered. “I was just about to slap you. ”

“A slap wouldn’t be a bad idea right now, except I’m not sure who’s going to be on the receiving end. ” If it was another time, I would relish the surprise my words evoked in her. “Where’s my phone? ” I asked urgently, going straight to the point.

She rolled her eyes leisurely, no doubt thinking I was overreacting. “Calm down, will you. It’s in my pocket right…. ” her voice trailed off, a confused frown settling on her face.

My stomach dropped.

Lines appeared on her forehead when she checked her sweater pocket and saw that it wasn’t there either.

“I don’t understand. I had it right here. ” her eyes were two pools of worry when she glanced at me. “I swear I was holding it. Ever since you gave it to me, I haven’t dropped it once. I swear, I-” she stopped abruptly and her eyes narrowed.

“What? What is it? “