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ASTRIA'S POV

Finally! I had finished my shift and made it home. I had just opened the door when Lucy attacked me.

"Oh my goodness, Astria! What in the world? You never told me you knew Angelo from Extremes!"

I was confused. Who was this Angelo that Lucy was talking about?

"Girl, don't play dumb with me!" she exclaimed.

She quickly pulled out her phone and showed me pictures of me and some annoying guy at the bar.

"Jeez, why is that on the internet? It's just a photo. Stop worrying about it, Lucy."

"Do you even know who this guy is?" Lucy asked.

"Yep! He's an annoying jerk who comes on too strong, thinks he's God's gift to women, and is a terrible flirt! Who the fuck calls a girl 'baby'? It sounds so lame and old-fashioned," I replied.

Lucy looked at me as if I had said something forbidden. I brushed past her and started unpacking the groceries in the kitchen.

"Astria, look at this," Lucy said, shoving her phone in my face.

I saw some horrifying comments on a post about me.

"The bitch! How dare she try to flirt with my husband?"

"Is she trying to force herself on him?"

"Bitch."

"Witch."

"Such an idiot! To hell with her! She looks fucking ugly!"

Now I was pissed. It was that annoying jerk who had tried to flirt with me, and now there was all this backlash? I wanted to comment on the post, but first, I wanted to see who had made it. It turned out to be a famous blogger named Iris Legion. What did she have to do with all of this?

God, what kind of problems had I gotten myself into? I looked at Lucy and motioned for her to take her phone back.

"So...," I began.

"Just so you know, Lucy, I don't know who that idiot was, but he was the only one flirting, not me! I can't imagine someone being that annoying, and yet I'm the one being trolled? Well, I don't give a fuck anyway. I'm exhausted, and I want to sleep."

Lucy looked at me incredulously, but she knew the conversation was over. My head was pounding, and I desperately needed a good night's rest.

NEXT DAY

ASTRIA'S POV

I woke up to shouts from outside. What the hell was going on?

"Tell her to be really careful, Lucy!"

"We do not want to hurt you, but how could she behave like such a whore?!"

"Where is she?!"

I stepped towards the door and saw Lucy trying to handle a crowd. There were cameras everywhere, and most of the ladies looked angry.

"What's going on, Lucy?"

"Oh, it's just a little disturbance from the neighbors. You shouldn't have bothered coming down. Go back and prepare something," Lucy replied with a sigh.

"A little disturbance?!"

"There you are, you whore!"

"We have come to warn you, stay the hell away from Angelo. He is not yours and will never be. Throwing yourself at him will not score you any points!" one of the women shouted.

Wait, these people were here to tell me to leave that annoying jerk? It should be the other way around! He was the one who was bothering me yesterday. Well, these jobless women needed a reality check.

"So, you all left your warm beds, houses, and workplaces just to tell me to leave someone alone? I have no business with him! There was simply a spill on his shirt due to my clumsiness, and I wanted to clean it up," I said, not giving them a chance to respond. "And whoever took pictures of something so simple is just a creep! For fuck's sake, I don't even know who that weirdo is! He was just a customer at the bar, and I must say, he's really annoying. And about him being yours? Puh-leeze! I know that a good number of you ladies here have boyfriends, if not all of you!"

I looked at the women and noticed my nosy and annoying neighbor, Jenny. I had been looking for a way to get back at her, and now she just made the mistake of calling that annoying jerk hers. Oh, she was going to pay. Thank goodness for the cameras.

"Jenny, you called him yours, huh? Don't you have a boyfriend? You both came here last week for dinner at Lucy's invitation, and now you're out here, proclaiming an unknown guy as yours? Damn, your boyfriend must really hate himself. I feel bad for the poor dude! He's not enough for you, huh?" I paused, seeing the guilt on the ladies' faces. "I would advise you ladies to haul ass and find something better to do. Even the guy you're all making a protest for is an annoying jerk and is probably sleeping off the scotch he had yesterday! Well, if there's nothing else, stay toxic and please, don't have a wonderful day!"

I slammed the door shut and looked at Lucy.

"How did I get dragged into this?" I asked sulking.

"You killed it, girl. But what are you going to do? That probably went viral, and you'll be trolled on the internet for days to come!"

"I really don't care. But I do hope that stupid guy I met yesterday has his own share of misfortune! I lost a good damn hour of sleep dealing with this noise and shit!"

Lucy burst into laughter.

"You never change, do you? You never let stuff like this get to you, and you always find a way to handle it."

"Adaptability is my specialty. It's my day off. I'm going to sleep after breakfast."

"Glutton!"

We laughed, and the peace and calmness returned. The tension from outside was gone.

NARRATOR'S POV

"Angelo, wake the fuck up!"

Angelo jumped up, startled. What the hell was making Troy shout so loud? And did he just hear Damien raise his voice too? What was happening?

"Get your stupid ass down here, buddy, or you're done for!"

He quickly rushed downstairs to find the guys huddled over Helia's phone. He heard a familiar voice coming from it.

"Oh... So you left your warm beds, your houses, and workplaces to tell me to leave a person alone? I have no business with him! There was simply a spill on his shirt due to my clumsiness, and I wanted to clean it up. And whoever took pictures of something really simple is such a creep! For fuck's sake, I don't even know who that weirdo is! He was just a customer at the bar, and I must say, though he's really annoying, and about him being yours? Puh-leeze! I know that a good number of you ladies here have boyfriends, if not all of you!"

That was Astria's voice! The female bartender from yesterday! She was on the news?

He quickly grabbed the phone from Helia, and the guys moved closer to him. They listened to her talk and defend herself against personal attacks. And she looked different in this video, without the goth makeup. Just as he predicted, she was damn beautiful.

"Well, if there's nothing else, stay toxic and please, don't have a wonderful day!"

That last part made Angelo burst into laughter. She was fierce. Last night was not an act.

She managed to turn the tide of the conversation away from herself in such a short period of time?! Troy then raised his voice. "Looks like you've finally found yourself a tough woman this time, Angelo! You should talk to her in person. She's much more interesting."

*****

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Damien was puzzled and stared off into space, lost in his thoughts. ‘I know that face... but where are they from? She seemed really familiar, like someone I knew, but the person I remembered was definitely not this confident or bold. She was more of the quiet type.’ He couldn't take it anymore and snatched the phone from Helia. He quickly rewound to the part where she was speaking and paused.

"She has eyes just like hers, but brighter and more confident." She had a haughty gaze with an "I'm sexy and I know it" aura about her. He began to smile to himself as he thought, seems like my friend took my advice years ago and changed. Of course I recognized this person. It was Astria Monte! "I know who your mystery girl is, Angelo." The room fell silent.

Confused, Angelo asked, "What did Damien just say?"

"I know who your girl is, dude. Well, I used to know. Looks like she took my advice. I can barely recognize her now!" Angelo thought this was crazy. How did Damien know this girl? He couldn't have had a romantic relationship with her. Damien was gay and wasn't the type to flirt around. He avoided conversations with women but was always polite when he spoke to them. "How do you know her?"

"Well, Astria was my high-school classmate, desk mate, and we were in the same college course... until I left. We tried to keep in touch as much as we could, but we lost contact. I can't believe I've found her now. There's so much to catch up on..." Angelo however, saw this as a great opportunity.

"So, give me some information about her!"

"Sorry, dude. I'm not helping you with this one! She's a friend, and a really special one at that. She helped me discover myself and helped me come out! I owe her a lot. Sorry bro, but I'm not going to help you pursue her and then discard her like garbage. She doesn't deserve that."

"Okay, dude. My feelings are hurt. But you do know she's been with a lot of guys, right? Why am I the exception?"

"Not Astria. I can only hope she's not still with her stupid boyfriend, Derrick." Angelo was getting tired of this. Damien had to see that this girl was probably not the same. People change.

"Where did you see her working yesterday?"

"There's a small bar not far from here called Ricky's."

"Thanks."

"So you're not even going to help me?"

"I'll give you some information, though. She has a best friend named Lucy. Before you can even get to Astria, you'll have to get through Lucy, and she can sniff out anyone's intentions towards Astria from a mile away!" Troy then chimed in, "Is Lucy the girl at the door of the house that Astria came out of?"

"I didn't notice that. Let me see." They rewound the video and, sure enough, Damien recognized Lucy. "Damn right, that's her! She's even prettier now, but I bet she's still the banshee she always was."

"Damn, she's attractive, but not my type."

"Don't bother thinking about it, Troy. You're not her type either. From what I remember, she likes outgoing guys to match her outgoing and crazy personality. And last I checked, you're an introvert." Angelo glanced sympathetically at Troy, who had just been insulted by Damien. Truly, he was an introvert and didn't enjoy going out much. The only thing he enjoyed was playing the drums. "Yeah, whatever."

"Forget it, Angelo. I'm not helping you in this case."

"So protective. People change, Damien."

"Yeah, my best friend did change, and I know you can't mess with her now. I'm going somewhere. I'll catch up with you guys later.”