Chapter 22: XXI

LAIA WAS BARELY ABLE TO CARRY BRIE HOME. It was a good thing that Niel offered to drive Brie's car, or her nice ass convertible might have had met its end with Laia's awful, nonexistent driving skills.

"God, this woman is heavy," Niel complains as he pulls the long-haired woman out of the passenger seat through her hand. "Is it because she ate all those cupcakes?"

"I have no idea," Laia replies, grimacing when Brie starts crying again. "Can you ring the gate for me?"

Niel raises an eyebrow. "Ring the what?"

"The gate," Laia points to the gate briefly before returning her attention to Brie who just wouldn't stop crying loudly. "Just press a button somewhere,"

The boy still looked confused but pressed the first button he saw, immediately causing a series of noises inside.

Niel steps backward and turns to Laia with fear in his eyes. "Was that the wrong button..?"

Laia shook her head, genuinely amused by Niel's reaction which resonated with her first reaction when she visited her friend's mansion for the first time as well.

The short-haired girl even almost peed her pants when two guards came out of the mansion holding guns. She thought she would be shot for pressing a random button, but to her shock, they immediately smiled at her upon seeing their young mistress alongside Laia.

She expects the same thing to happen this time. Niel, however, still looked like he was about to shit his pants.

As Laia expected, the same guards came out of the gate with serious expressions.

Niel immediately bows as deep as he could. "I didn't know what button to press! Spare us, please! I am way too young to die!"

Laia turns away in embarrassment. At least she didn't react like this!

One of the guards laughed. "Don't worry, we don't bite,"

The second guard chuckles as well and smirks. "Unless you want us to?"

Niel flushes, and his eyes drift to the ground. Laia decides to take over the conversation before awkwardness fills the air. "Uhm, your young mistress right here might need a little bit of help--"

Brie, who suddenly seemed to have finally realized where she is, pulled away from Laia and scowls. "Why'd you have to bring me home?!"

The first guard approaches her warily with a perplexion on his face. "Young miss?"

Said young miss turns to him with a frown. "What is it, Frank?"

Apparently, the first guard's name was Frank. Frank clears his throat and the playfulness in his demeanor disappears when he points to the highest floor of the mansion visible to Laia and her companions. "Your grandmother came to visit,"

"Grandmother?!" Brie exclaims, obviously taken aback. She immediately tries to fix her rumpled clothes and takes the pocket mirror that the second guard hands her. "Why'd she have to come today of all days?"

Laia turned to her friend in both worry and confusion. Her friend's grandmother can't be that bad, right? Laia's grandmother is the kindest woman she knows!

Apparently, Brie's grandmother wasn't bad.. she's just a bit too much.

Dressed in an all-pink ensemble with a matching fur coat and leather white boots, her friend's grandmother didn't look over the age of sixty. She can even probably lie about her age being in the late fifties!

The oldest woman in the room immediately stands up from her cross-legged position on the sofa and opens her arms wide upon seeing her granddaughter. "My darling Brielle Maybelline Mae!"

That's a name Laia hasn't heard since forever. The long-haired girl didn't like her first name very much as she hated her second name, so she always wanted her friends to just call her Brie.

Which according to her was the most likable among her three names.

Laia secretly agrees but doesn't dare say it in front of her friend's face.

Brie grimaces at her grandmother calling her with her three names but says nothing, instead, she accepts the hug from her grandmother. After a few minutes, they both pull away from one another and the older woman turns to both Laia and Niel with a small smile.

"You didn't tell me you brought your friends along! I should have had ordered a box of pizza! Like is three enough, darlings?"

Before any of the three youngsters in the room could respond, the older woman had already fished her phone from her pocket and dialed a number.

"Looks like we don't get a say, apparently," Niel whispers to Laia, who nods in agreement. "Not that I'm complaining, I have been craving pizza for days!"

Brie, who seemed to have overheard the conversation of her two companions behind her, sheepishly grins. "Sorry about her, she gets really excited when I bring my friends over. Sometimes she even orders a whole buffet table for no reason--"

"Oh, we can absolutely come every day," Niel interjects, nudging Laia on her side to make her agree. Laia laughs at the boy's obvious excitement at the mention of free food, but she couldn't help but have the same reaction.

Brie laughs as well. "Okay. Just tell me when you want to visit," She turns to her grandmother for a while and watches her facial expressions change a lot. "Anyway, even when grandma isn't here we can still order whatever you want,"

"That's amazing! We are definitely made to be best friends!" Niel even shook Brie's hand enthusiastically, as if he didn't say earlier that he didn't know her.

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Laia shook her head, chuckling nevertheless. The boy notices her reaction to what he said and he smirks at her. "Laia's acting as if she's not excited to eat ten slices of pizza but she's definitely excited! Look at how her eyes continuously watch your grandma!"

The short-haired girl averted her gaze from the old woman and hits the boy on his shoulder with her bag. "Asshole! I wasn't looking at Brie's grandma, I was looking at her boots!"

Which was fifty percent true.

Just a bit.

Niel obviously wasn't convinced by Laia's lying and narrows his eyes at her in a joking manner. "I don't believe your lies at all! You are a pizza fanatic as well!"

Brie laughs but makes no movement to defend Laia who was looking at her and begging her silently to save her from being embarrassed. "Don't be shy Laia, we all love pizza after all!"

Laia glares at both her friends and was about to retort back when the oldest woman in the room turns to them with a huge smile on her face. "The pizza's on the way! Why don't we get to know each other for a while? I haven't talked to or met many friends of my granddaughter since I came home from my travels to Greece last year!"

"She went to Greece?" Niel whispers from behind Laia.

The older woman heard him and smiles at him brightly. "Yes, I did darling! I also went to Italy after that. Believe me when I say that those places are incredibly beautiful!"

Niel's eyes widened and he looked sheepish for a while at having his whisper heard by the old woman.

The old woman pays it no mind and continues talking.

"So, what are your names darlings? Has my darling Brielle Maybelline Mae been good to you? Has she done well in her studies? Did she finally move on from that Frederick, or whatever that boy's name is?"

At the mention of Frederick, or just Fred actually, Laia blanches. She remembers how Brie dated an older guy when they were juniors, and remembered quickly how much of a narcissistic toxic asshole that boy was.

From getting angry at Brie for the smallest of things and even getting jealous of some of their guy classmates when they talk to Brie, Laia remembers how much she convinced and talked to her friend regarding her relationship with Fred being toxic and the boy being a gaslighter.

Of course, Brie was still blind to everything and remained loyal to the guy. Not that Laia was being mean but she was relieved when they broke up after Brie caught Fred cheating.

The short-haired girl turns to her friend who paled. Shaking her head, she tried to divert the topic to introduce herself. "My name is Laia, ma'am--"

"Oh darling, call me Louise," The older woman says with another smile. Laia notes that she seemed to smile a lot. "Being called ma'am or grandma makes me feel old!"

Laia nods but wasn't able to say anything else. She turns to Niel for help and the boy was quick to understand, interjecting with an enthusiastic voice, "You don't look like someone in their sixties, Louise!"

Louise smiles, flashing her bright and white teeth. "That's a lovely thing to say. Your name is?"

"My name is Niel," The boy even bows a bit. "I work in the same coffee shop as Laia and I recently became friends with Brie. Just earlier when she went to the coffee shop--"

Brie covers the boy's mouth with her hand before he can continue speaking. "The pizza's here!"

Before anyone could say a word, the long-haired girl runs out of the room. Louise follows her granddaughter's figure leave the room in silence and turns to the remaining youngsters in the room with an impassive expression on her face that seemed to be out of place from her smiles from earlier.

"Did my stupid granddaughter meet another toxic man again?"

Laia's eyes widened at the brash words that came out of the older woman's mouth. Even Niel was taken aback and looked away.

Realizing that Brie might not want her grandmother to know and it was definitely not Laia's story to tell, she refused to say anything. Niel did the same.

The room was filled with awkward silence until Brie returned with a box of pizza in her hands and the two guards from earlier bringing boxes of pizza as well.

Brie raised an eyebrow at the obvious awkwardness lingering in the room but says nothing, and instead opened the box of pizza. "Come on, don't let me finish this box by myself!"

Laia awkwardly turns to Niel, who walks towards the box and takes a slice. Laia stays at her position for a bit longer until the aroma of the pepperoni pizza tempted her and she decided to just take a slice.

The jolly atmosphere from earlier seemed to have disappeared completely and it was very obvious. The munching of pizza slices and the occasional awkward small talk filled the room until Laia and Niel simultaneously reasoned out that they had to go home.

It was still early, eight in the evening, but both of them desperately wanted to leave after how they found out that the old woman was a bit different from what they expected.

Brie offers to take them home, but Niel and Laia refused and awkwardly say goodbye to the grandmother and granddaughter tandem.

After finally walking out of the gates, Niel sighs in relief. "That was awkward,"

Laia nods and sighed as well. "I know. I definitely did not expect that to happen,"

The boy turns towards the towering gates as if it could record whatever the two were saying. "Let's just leave before they invite us to dinner!"

They left quickly and soon went on their separate ways after getting the rest of their belongings from the coffee shop and bidding goodbye to Keith who stayed behind and left as well after.

The moment Laia arrived at her house she immediately went straight to her room and slept, trying to forget whatever happened during this day.

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