Falling For The Playboy

It felt silly, whispering like this when we were talking about something so important, but we couldn’t risk getting caught by Mrs Philomena who seemed to want to bite our ears off for doing something even as basic as sneezing.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Laura… ” I pressed when she just kept staring at me with a look of utmost concentration on her face. If perhaps she remembered where she left my phone, then we had greater chances of finding it before someone else did.

“When you guys came down from the vehicle, I stayed back to make an impromptu video call. But I wanted somewhere private so I used the back seat. ” Her eyes met mine. “And I think I might have left it on the back seat when I was leaving. ”

Mrs Philomena caught us talking then and she fixed us with an admonishing glare. Laura scoffed, muttering, “Fuck you. ” At my gasp of surprise, she said, “If not for her, your phone wouldn’t be missing in the first place. ”

“How is it her fault? ”

“She didn’t let us bring our bags in. Lord knows I would have kept your phone in there and not a damn thing would have happened to it. ” she fumed.

It would be so easy to put all the blame squarely on Mrs Philomena, but I couldn’t ignore Laura’s carelessness either. She was the one that had decided to stay back for a video call and ended up totally forgetting about my phone. And it was my fault for asking her of all people to keep my phone safe. The word safe and Laura couldn’t be used in the same sentence.

How on earth could we possibly find out who could have gone into the bus and taken my phone? Where would we start from?

…. Or what if it was still in there?

My heart leapt at the thought.

“Maybe it’s still on the bus? ”

She shook her head as she whispered. “Could be, but I don’t think so. Some of the guys came back in just as I was leaving and I think they hung in there for a while. ”

The little flare of hope I had felt, dissipated into dust. If my phone had been in the bus before the guys went in, then it definitely wasn’t in there anymore. I knew Ivacy High boys. They treated everything like a joke. They would want the owner, whoever it was, to suffer a great deal before giving it back. And in this case, it was me.

Which meant I was in for it.

“I know what to do. ” Laura said, dragging my attention readily back to her. “Did you put your phone on silent? ”

“Yes, I think so. ”

My phone was almost always on silent –because what was the point in turning the volume up when no-one ever called or texted? Once in a while, Laura and I engaged in back and forth texting but that was on rare occasions.

“Shit. ” she cursed in obvious frustration, then her eyes lit up again. “No, wait, that works too. ” she tugged me closer to her, bringing her lips to my ear as if anyone was paying attention to us. “I’m going to call your phone and if anyone here has it, we’re going to know. If not, then we’ll know that it’s still on the bus. ”

Okay, that was smart. But she forgot one little detail.

“My phone is on silent, Laura! ” I whispered harshly.

She glared at me. “I know that, but it must be on vibrate or something, right? ”

“Or something. ” I agreed. “Silent. ”

“Oh, shush. Whoever has it, they’re going to feel it when it rings so let’s hope they’ll bring it out to see who’s calling.” She pulled her phone from her pocket, unlocking it and scrolling to find my contact. “Jeez. I’ve never met someone so pessimistic. ”

More like realistic.

“I’m not being pessimistic. My phone has never vibrated once in all the times I’ve put it on silent. Why would it start now? That’s just wishful thinking. ”

But what did I know about a phone I’d only been using for a month anyway?

Enough to know that this plan was pointless.

She pressed her index finger to her lips, telling me to shut up as she flipped her phone around, showing me that she was already calling my number.

“Observe. ” She twirled her fingers in a circular motion and I assumed she wanted to watch everyone closely.

I had a strong belief that my phone was still on that bus, but I also didn’t want her to think I had dismissed her idea without giving it a try. Sighing, I glanced around warily. I guess it didn’t hurt to be thorough.

My eyes moved from one person to the other in the hopes that my phone might be in the possession of one of them while at the same time, knowing and praying that it wasn’t. If my phone had been found by one of the Ivacy High boys, especially the notorious ones, then I was going to go through hell to get it back -and that was if I did.

As I surveyed the crowd, I paused briefly on Destiny. His eyes were red-rimmed, signaling that he was nearing his breaking point. I wondered what I would do if he happened to be the one that had found my phone. My pulse raced in trepidation at the mere thought of having to speak to him. I would just forget about it, to be honest. The phone wasn’t worth the trauma I would go through.

After a few seconds of watching and waiting with no progress, I turned back to Laura with a brow arched. “I told you this wouldn’t work. ”

“Don’t give up so soon. I’m calling again. ”

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. It was obvious that we were just wasting our time, but Laura was too hard headed to admit it. The Tour Guide rambled on, gesturing wildly with animated expressions.

Only a few people were actually paying attention to her. Some of these people were Abi and Phoebe.

Abi wasn’t one to miss out on a single moment especially at a museum like this. She was an Arts student to the core. One of the few times I went into her room, I noticed a small shelf of novels just beside her bed. Me being a book freak, I had wanted to take a peek but she stopped me before I could get close enough and that had increased my curiosity ten fold.

What was she hiding?

Phoebe stood off to the side in front of the group, just a few feet away from the Tour Guide and Mrs Philomena, making notes on her jotter ever so often. I didn’t know if she was just making notes simply because we ought to or she was actually enjoying the discussion.

I knew I wasn’t.

She was surprisingly easy to talk to, even if just a little confusing with her half jokes and the laughs that didn’t quite reach her eyes. She was a mystery to me.

Deciding I was done with this, I turned back to Laura. “Are you done wasting our time? It’s not…. ”

And her plan actually worked.