'Friends With Benefits'

"Stop that! It hurts!"

"Go out with me."

"Of course not!"

"Keep it low people!" My sister yelled from behind my room door, discouraging Tanya from further pulling my hair.

"So, what are your plans for today?" Tanya asked as she scooted away from me.

"It's not much of a busy day, seeing it's work-free day for me." I fell back and my head landed on a soft pillow.

"I have an idea."

Shopping? Bad idea. Even though I didn't express my thoughts, I simply closed my eyes and acted like I didn't hear her.

"I'm gonna say this anyways... Why don't we look up some amazing houses, one of my friends suggested a couple of them to me. What do you say?"

I shot her a glance that relayed my gratitude. Why hadn't I thought of getting myself a house? In as much as I loved being around my mom and sister, this was something I had to do for myself and Tamara needed to too.

"I could never have thought about that until later, thanks for your suggestion." I sat upright and reached for Tanya's hand.

"That's what friends are for." She gave me a brilliant smile and tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

...

' I'm in love with the shape of you! '

I yelled wildly, singing along with Ed Sheeran. Well, he wasn't literally seated next to me or anything, it was just his song playing on Tanya's car radio. Tamara gave me a dirty look when my right hand accidentally landed on her face. We had managed to convince her to come along with us but she was really grumpy because she had to forfeit a time alone with Michael.

"You're such a noisemaker." She grumbled and moved closer to the door to escape my hand once again.

"Why you gonna be so ruuude, don't you know I'm human tooooo!" I jerked up and down in the car seat not minding the fact that my head hit the roof multiple times.

"Stop singing!"

"I'm gonna marry him anyway!"

"I'll throw you out of the car!"

"It's been a long day without you Tanya" I sang to lure Tanya's attention to me. Her eyes had been transfixed on the road right from the time she started the car engine. Alice told me sometime that her mom had died in a fatal car accident right before her eyes and so, she developed this phobia for driving although whenever she did, she was extra careful.

"Why are you so noisy today?" Tanya asked in amusement but her eyes did not wander away from the road.

"Why can't I be happy?"

"Shut up!" Tamara and Tanya yelled simultaneously causing me to cringe.

"Fine, I give up, but the both of you are too serious for your own good."

"Look who's talking." Tamara mumbled and peered out through the window.

"Come on girls why are you both so grumpy today? Tamara here misses Mike and you Tanya..."

"Florence, shut up!!!"

I sighed and reclined in the car seat. Tamara gave me her signature wink and returned to gaze at the pedestrians as the car sped past them.

After thirty minutes of steady driving, we arrived at a small but beautiful bungalow. We all climbed out and waited for Tanya to lock the car. She signaled us to follow her as she took confident steps towards the house covered in yellow paint.

I wondered if this was the house she told me about or if it belonged to the friend she spoke of.

She knocked on the door and it was flung open just seconds after her fist left its surface. The rapid opening of the door caught us off guard because we hadn't expected anyone to open up so fast.

"Hey Tanya!" A tall, lanky guy with chestnut hair and brown eyes looked at us in admiration.

"Tommy!" Tanya exclaimed and gave him a tight embrace. Tamara and I exchanged glances as they moved a little distance from us and discussed in whispers. When they concluded their discussion, they came back to stand with us.

"Tamara, Florence meet Tommy, Tommy, Florence the friend I've always ranted about and her sister Tamara."

"It's nice to make an acquaintance with two beautiful ladies, come in please." Tommy's gaze flickered from me to my sister and lingered on her longer than necessary. Tamara ignored him and walked straight into the house with Tanya.

After a couple of hours, with the help of Tam and Tanya, I settled on a duplex located somewhere in Manhattan. After bargaining on the price with Tommy, we agreed upon a day I would go to see the house.

When I slept later in the night, I slept with the pleasant feeling of accomplishment.

📆
📥📥📥

Good morning jewel, I know I was forbidden to communicate with you, but I couldn't stay without knowing you're safe. Florence, I can't stay a day longer without seeing your beautiful face. I'm addicted to you.

Philipxx

A small smile made its way to my face accompanied with a feeling of fuzziness.

Philip has never sent me a romantic text like this, he only sent me texts about normal things like my well-being, or where he wants us to meet up for a friendly chat, so receiving a text from him further confused me.

Was he trying to fool me into choosing him over his brother or was he genuine?

Thinking about the number of months I've known Philip reassured me of his sincerity. Even though we weren't best of friends while I was still working at Nicholas Corporation, there was one thing about Philip, his words were constant. He never said a word which was different from what he'd do next.

He was really mean to me then, yes, but he never lied to me about anything unlike Peter who left me for Maya and returned with a lame excuse of not knowing what he was doing.

I had to make a choice if I'm to retain my sanity.

After switching off my phone display, I climbed out of my messy bed and marched to the bathroom. I washed my face with a steady stream of water and brushed my teeth when I was done.

Curious about what Tamara and Mom were doing, I headed downstairs. I paused in my descent down the stairs when I heard Sebastian's voice mingling with Tamara's.

What is he doing here?

I looked myself over to see if I was decent enough to appear before him.

My grey pajamas covered all my vital areas sufficiently. My eyes fell on my bunny eared slippers and stayed there. I imagine how he'd react when he saw me like this.

After summoning confidence, I walked steadily till I appeared before Sebastian and Tamara. Sebastian's eyes raked over my body in amusement and his lips produced a toothy grin.

"Good morning sleepy head." My sister said.

"Look who's talking."

I sat down on the sofa next to Seb and fixed my eyes on him. I studied his white T-shirt draped over his black casual trouser which complimented his look this morning.

"Since she's down already, I might just head back up and resume my vital sleep." Tamara rose and started walking away when the sudden need to annoy her came over me.

"Lazybones."

She paused and turned to me with an evil smile.

"You're so dead, dear sister." She turned around and resumed walking. My eyes followed her till she disappeared up the stairs, then they returned to Sebastian. I blushed when I realized that he had been staring at me.

"I came to visit you, I hope you don't mind."

"I don't at all, thanks for stopping by."

Even though I was happy to see Seb, thoughts about choosing Philip and Peter weighed me down.

"You look depressed, what's wrong?"

I stared at him for a while. "I'm fine, I'm happy aren't I?"

"Your happiness is forced, it's so obvious."

Seb was an addition to the people that understood every of my emotions, but his understanding was deeper than the others. I could bet on anything that Tamara didn't know anything about the state of my mind when I stepped in.

"I didn't expect anyone to notice because I carefully concealed it, how did you know?"

Seb smiled and leaned towards me. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

"Tell me." I insisted.

"If you insist, go get dressed then."

"Why?"

"You want to know how I understand your hidden emotions, that's why." He leaned dangerously close to me till I could feel his soft breath on my neck.

His proximity rather than the reason he stated made me jump to my feet.

"Alright, I'm going to get dressed." I marched to the stairway without looking back.

"Don't wear anything fancy because you're going to get wet."

*ahem* *achoo*

*laughs*

What do you think about Florence decision to purchase a new house? Is it too early?

Do you like this Tommy guy? I don't either. We could start a hate club about all the characters we don't like, what do you say about that? 😁😁😁

What do you think about Sebastian's speech?

What are they going to do?

How do you see this chapter?

To all those who has never left my side on this journey, thank you! thank you!! thank you!!!

Stay chill (as Candice would write)

Tris.