She's My Sleeping Pill

“Oh. I’ll go there later. I’ll just get a cup of coffee.” He stated and went to the cupboard where his usual mug could be found. He visited this place several times a year, whenever Monet was around to the point that he got his favorite cups here. Pouring his cup with black coffee, Thomas looked outside where the helpers hang their laundry. Something had caught his eyes but he wasn’t sure if he was right. “Isn’t that the bedsheet in the room I used last night?”

“You got drunk and puked last night. Miss Monet told us to wash it immediately.”

“Sorry for causing you trouble.”

“Not at all, sir.”

Thomas just nodded faintly and left with his cup of coffee. His headache was bothering him so much added with the stinging scratch marks on his back. [Where did I get these scratch marks?] Thomas asked himself mentally as he walked to the patio where his friends waited for him. “Good morning.”

“Morning, Thomas. Here.” Monet handed him a hangover medicine to take before shifting her attention to Cayenne and continued her conversation with her.

.....

“I feel awful.” Thomas complained and leaned his head on Monet’s shoulder. “Say, did I do something else last night? I got scratches on my back.”

Monet stiffened for a moment and Thomas noticed it but she still denied things flatly. “You just stumbled here and there. No worries. There was no damage to my properties.”

“Hey! You should be worried about me.” Thomas bellowed and bit her shoulder which caused Monet to whack him on his head.

“Why should I? I didn’t tell you to get drunk.”

Watching them squabble back and forth, Cayenne could only smile before shifting her attention to Stefan who kept making circles with his finger on her thigh. “What time is the ceremony? Shall we meet with Savannah and Shein and go together?”

“Sure.”

“Oh, right! You came to receive the awards. Did you guys bring something to wear already? If you want, I can style you for the ceremony.” Monet suggested which shifted the topic. Thankfully, Thomas didn’t notice anything this time.

“Great! That will save us the hassle. The ceremony will be at 6:00 in the evening.” Stefan responded nonchalantly. “Before that, we’ll go meet with Savy and Shein first.”

In the afternoon, as if nothing happened, Monet started looking for clothes that Stefan and Cayenne can use. Thomas also left to finish some of his work that he didn’t do yesterday. Both of them moved on with their life despite the doubts that they both have.

The couple also left to meet with Savannah and Shein. They shopped around and bought some souvenirs for the people they care about.

“I heard that you went to meet with Monet Lhuillier and Thomas Aizenberg.” Savannah stated while picking up some cute bags for Jade. “How are they?”

“They look fine to me. They seemed really close. Have you known them for a long time also?”

“Just about the time that we started to work for Travis. Although, I have heard of their names a long time ago.”

“I didn’t expect that Stefan knew them.”

“Businessmen know almost all of the bigshots in the whole world. Some of them could be rivals and some could be friends.”

“You are right. I was just wondering ... ” they continued to chat while buying things and the boys were also following them with their hands full of the chosen items.

Finally, the ceremony started and the four of them went to attend it. As per his request, Cayenne and Stefan wore a matching outfit for the event. Everyone knew who he was and started making conversations with him and his wife. Since Travis wasn’t around, Stefan felt responsible for Savannah and Shein even though the two of them could properly take care of themselves.

Stefan received three awards and thanked everyone for supporting his business. His speech was short because he didn’t want to take so much time and be away from Cayenne. Savannah and Shein took turn in receiving the awards for Travis as well.

Right after the event, the four of them went back to Monet’s house and had celebratory dinner together.

“I made sure that the photoshoot will be done after this academic year. Thomas and I will be there along with the team who will work with us. We will just let you know of the final date. I will have a meeting with everyone tomorrow about this.” Monet told Cayenne over dinner to make sure that the woman won’t change her mind.

“Got it.”

“Jillyanna will be so happy to hear about this.” Savannah told Cayenne in whisper. “She even bought a copy of InSTYLE journal because of you and Luiz.”

“I didn’t know that.”

The women chatted and didn’t pay attention to the men around them anymore. However, Stefan wasn’t really bothered with it because one of Cayenne’s legs was sitting on his thigh under the table. She didn’t do anything neither did he. It was just there for him to hold and know of her presence close to him since they were sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Monet wanted to annoy him by separating them across the table but she didn’t know what was happening under the furniture.

When their dinner ended, her guests finally left and Monet was left alone to deal with the problem she caused. Going back inside her bedroom, she burst into tears. She remembered what she did and she knew that she couldn’t turn back time no matter how much she regretted doing it.

Slowly, she picked up her things and brought them back to the master’s bedroom where Thomas slept last time when he got drunk.

As long as he wouldn’t realize it and if he did, as long as he pretends nothing happened, she will continue to become his friend.

***

Back in their home, Cayenne frowned with her hands on her hips. She remembered something and she pouted her lips – upset. “You said you’ll show me a picture of those items that I was looking for. Where exactly are they? I can find them myself.”

Stefan scratched the back of his head not knowing what to say right now. Because of his failure to ask Luiz to look for the items, a problem occurred because Cayenne remembered them. “I’ll look for them right now. Just go and shower first. I know I’ve seen it somewhere here.”

“Also, the bag that Jillyanna gave me on my birthday; it’s gone.”

[She’ll fry me soon if I can’t show those things to her.]