C3 Chapter Three

"easy, Matt, I'll be at the party" said Bianca Rizzo, as she conversed with her boyfriend, Matt on the phone. across her, sat Allegra and Kimberly who both feasted on her with their eyes, waiting for what she'll say next, if they could be of any help with her conversation.

"okay, I'll get off the phone now, I've got to meet up with Spencer and Grant" said Matt to Bianca

"alright, see you at the party " She replied and was about to hang up

"I love you!" Matt interjected

"Same" said Bianca and got a glare from the both of her friends.

"wait right there! I need you to say it" Matt pushed and she rolled her eyes, was it always necessary to reply a declaration of love when you're in a relationship? most times, she didn't deem it necessary to always declare love, she was someone who acted more than she spoke.

But if Matt insisted...

"okay, Matt, I love you too. happy now?"

"Babe that sounded really insincere " Matt complained

"say it like you mean it"

Bianca rolled her eyes again. he was back to his typical 'say it like you mean it' form of persuasion. he said that to her all the time and anytime he did, she found herself proving to him that she meant what she said. sometimes she'd get pissed because he wouldn't believe her when she said certain stuff. she wasn't going to give in this time around, he could think whatever he wished.

"don't you have somewhere to be, Matt?" her friends scowled at her again, when she said that.

"Bianca?" he called her, still expecting

"I'll get off the phone now, bye Matt" she said, quickly and disconnected the line

"what the hell, Bianca?" Allegra exclaimed

"Same? what's Same? who says 'same' after someone declares their love?" Kimberly asked

"she doesn't love him "Allegra said to Kim "do you, Bianca?"

Bianca exhaled

"y'all are being so dramatic"

she said to them

"aren't we allowed to be, after we just witnessed you blow Matt off?" Allegra said

"Matt and I are good. these things happen every now and then"

they both stared at her in disbelief

"tell us, Bianca, do you love Matt?" Allegra asked

truth be told, she loved Matt. she cared for him and enjoyed his company. Matt's jovial nature was what sustained their relationship. they dated for over seven months since she met him.

But Bianca knew deep down, love wasn't enough. their relationship lacked a spark. she'd never felt fireworks with Matt. She didn't know how to explain what she meant. she just wanted to wake up one morning and decide to love him fiercely, do spontaneous stuff with him and wish a day would never end. But then, it wasn't that case with Matt. it was more of a regular, safe, sweet kind of relationship.

"I do love Matt, although I don't know why on earth you'd ask me that" she answered Allegra

"do you?" Allegra teased

"stop it, Allegra...." she trailed off when her phone beeped, meaning a message had entered. she immediately checked the message.

it was from Lorenzo and it said

'sorry it took this long to reply. I'm at work and right now, I see this gemstone and all I can think about is you'

the second one said

'its crazy how a gemstone makes me think about you, don't you think?'

her cheeks immediately flushed and she felt unusual heat. she began to fan herself with her hands.

"wow! who's that, Bianca?" Kimberly asked.

When she opened the message, she became oblivious to the fact that two people were seated across her because Lorenzo always had a way of grabbing her attention.

she smiled as she typed

'focus on what you're doing at work. don't let me distract you'

then she sent it.

"who's message is making you grin?" Kimberly asked

"if it isn't her online, fantasy boyfriend, then who is it?" said Allegra, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"Lorenzo?" Kimberly asked

"the one and only" Allegra replied "has Matt found out you're cheating on him?"

"Allegra!" both Bianca and Kim chorused

"what" said Allegra, deadpan. "isn't that what you're doing?"

Bianca sighed. this wasn't the first time her she was accused by her friends, they always misunderstood her relationship with Lorenzo.

she and Lorenzo met online through a social media app and they struck off as good friends. she began chatting with him at an emotionally low point in her life, where she'd faced betrayal and loneliness. Lorenzo was also going through shit at that time so it was easy for them to grant each other emotional support. Most times, Bianca would anticipate meeting him because they've been chatting for four years without actually seeing eachother.

The main thing that made her bond with him was his origin. he was from Sicily just like her. Although they came from different hometowns, she still felt really good to know someone who was from Sicily.

To be honest, she didn't know how she felt about Lorenzo. Just like the bodily reaction his flirty text message gave her, she felt really different with him.

She was able to bare out some secrets about herself to him because she hadn't met him and wasn't sure if she would and she felt her secrets was safe with someone she hadn't met than someone she knew.

"hello!" Kim waved at her to grab her attention "back down to earth, princess!"

Bianca rolled her eyes, a habit she became fond of.

"Lorenzo and I are merely online friends" she said for the thousandth time. she didn't know how many times she was going to say it before they believed her.

"blah! blah! cliché" Allegra yawned

Bianca frowned at her.

"that effect his message had on you wasn't exactly friend zone-ish" Kim muttered under her breath

"I heard you" said Bianca

Allegra suddenly left where she sat and then sat next to Bianca.

"Look" Allegra turned to her "there are so many guys who'd want to hang with and around you, even Matt, your perfect boyfriend. why do you concern yourself with a guy you haven't seen before?"

"it's just, Lorenzo ---" she started but Kim cut her off

"Liam asked me to hook him up, just yesterday"

"who's Liam?" Bianca asked. she didn't know she had so many male fans.

"the guy from the liberal arts faculty, brunet, he's a jock too. remember?"

"nope" said Bianca

"is he good looking?" Allegra leaned in

"Maybe"

"back to what we were saying Bianca" Allegra continued. "you have a bunch of male admirers, even Hailey from our faculty has a crush on you. so why Lorenzo?"

"why do they all like me?" she deviated "I mean I'm like y'all "

"nope! you've got it all wrong there. you're one hot ass Italian lady" Allegra hyped "I mean even if I am Italian, I'm no match for you"

Bianca's cheeks flushed red

"what's she's trying to say is, ditch Lorenzo. Block his number. he'll do you no good " said Kim

"I should just block him out of the blues? without a reason?"

that was never going to happen, Bianca thought. she was yet to find out what she and Lorenzo had between them. she really wanted to schedule a meeting for them but she wasn't sure if she could because Lorenzo seemed to be a busy guy.

Allegra sighed deeply

"Girl," she said to Bianca. "you need a heavy reality check because you're going no where with that guy"

That wasn't for them to decide. she didn't even know where she was heading to with him. were they going to keep chatting forever? or was he going to take a bold step and make out time to visit her from his busy schedule?

"okay Bianca what if.... just what if you and this Lorenzo guy meet and he turns out to be ugly. Like very ugly" Kimberly teased, then she and Allegra burst out, laughing at Bianca's expense.

"what then is poor Bianca going to do?" Allegra mocked, in a singsong tone.

"I highly doubt that" Bianca began. " I mean, he's Italian"

"that doesn't guarantee his good looks. not all of them are gorgeous" Allegra countered

"Lorenzo is good looking. I'm ninety eight percent sure"

"oh! how are you sure? because you're psychic?" Kim mocked

"y'all know I don't settle for less. I just know that he's good looking. I can feel it"

Bianca proudly said. she'd never dated a guy who wasn't gorgeous since the genesis of her love life.

"we know you don't settle for less " Allegra cooed "but Lorenzo might be an exception. he might be not be as good looking as you think and you'll end up dating an ugly guy"

"when you talk about ugly, do you also mean Dominic Harper?" it was Bianca's turn to tease.

Dominic was currently dating Allegra. she'd admit, he was smitten by her at first but later gave up on her and went over to Allegra.

At first, Allegra was skeptical about him hitting on her, but later succumbed to his charms. 'cute Californian guys are more of my thing', Allegra had once said to her.

"Dominic is good looking" Allegra defended

"he's not, to me"

"Take that back!" said Allegra, feigning rage

"I won't" Bianca giggled

"Girls" Kimberly called, raising her phone. "the party begins at 7pm, which gives us...." she trailed off as she checked the time. "about an hour and fifteen minutes to get ready"

They all quit bantering and got ready for the party.