The Truth About Her

04 | Toska

Toska.

 (n.) A dull ache of the soul, a sick pining, a spiritual anguish.

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HELLO?" SHE ANSWERS, CONFUSED as to why he's calling her.

"You know, the offer's still up," Cai speaks. "We're leaving in two hours. There's plenty of time for you to get up from that bed, shower, and prepare a bag with your bikini and all those things girls need." Oceana knows he only wants to tease her and that Cai must have an evil grin right now.

"What makes you think I'm still in bed and that I haven't showered?" She arches an eyebrow, taking a glance at the commercial on the screen.

"I don't know. It helps me to think that you're one dirty person with no hygiene," Cai laughs. "That's not the point. I'm a very persistent man. Once I waited five hours at school for a girl to tell me if she wanted to give me a kiss."

Oceana laughs. "What?"

"She told me that if I wanted a kiss from her, I'd have to wait five hours in the park," Cai explains.

"And did she kiss you?"

"No," Cai says sadly. "She said she didn't like me. Imagine how hard that was for an eleven-year-old."

"Cai, I appreciate it, but –"

He cuts her off. "No buts. There's only one answer, and you know it," he jokes. "I'm kidding. It's all right. I just thought it was worth the try. Talk to you later, bye," Cai says.

Oceana wants to slap herself. "Fine, I'll go." She can imagine the winning grin on his face, which it's weird.

"Awesome. We will gather at my friend's house since he rented an SUV for all of us to be together. So, I'll pick you up around 1:30 PM, and we'll go together to his house. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, sure," Oceana nods, already having doubts.

"Great, see you soon," Cai hangs up. Cue for Oceana to get ready and prepare her things.

And she gets up, rushes to her room, and takes a bag out of her closet to fill it with the essential things she may need. She showers and dresses up with colored baggy shorts and a knit crop top, a fedora, and some aviators for a nice flair. No makeup because it'll wash away with the water anyways. She checks the time and sees she's got thirty minutes left, so Oceana sits in the TV room, watching the end of some movie.

When she hears the sound of a honk, Oceana rushes out of the TV room with her bag in hand and runs downstairs to the main door. Where she walks out of the house, closing the door behind her. She sees Cai standing on the sidewalk, with his back resting against the car. He's wearing a white shirt with dark blue shorts, canvas shoes, a pair of sunglasses hanging from his shirt, and a dark baseball cap on his head. He looks good, and the tattoos make him look better. Oceana has to admit it.

"You have a cute belly button," he says when they're standing close enough.

Out of all the reactions that could've manifested on her face, she chooses the one most expected from Oceana Hemmings: an eye roll. It makes Cai laugh, and the following words that slip off her mouth cause him to laugh even harder. "Definitely the weirdest compliment I've received in my entire life."

They get in the car, and Cai shoots her a playful smile before starting to drive. She starts to feel a bit anxious, though. Biting her bottom lip, her eyes turn to look out the window as dubious thoughts fill her head. It's been long since the last time she went out with someone aside from Gregg. And maybe, if it were just Cai, she wouldn't feel so nervous; there'll be people she doesn't know. What if they don't like her? Or worse, what if she doesn't like them? That'd be a very uncomfortable situation to be in.

And indeed, the situation turns out to be something not quite good, as they park in front of the house with potted plants on the porch and paint of a light gray color on the walls. Oceana's heart fastens, her hands dying to grab the wheel and return the same way they arrived. And it all worsens when she sees Theo Hutchens walk out of the main door, right before Freya Wayne comes out a second later.

"Everything alright?" Cai asks with a frown. "You look pale. I mean, paler than usual," he chuckles lightly.

His comment helps her feel less tense. Her shoulders relax as she presses her lips together, trying to hide a smile. But the need to run is still present as the sun and the clouds on that day of spring. "You're friends with Theo Hutchens?"

Cai hesitates for a second, and Oceana can already feel her blood starting to boil up. "Okay, look, before you say anything, let me explain."

He makes a pause, clearly expecting her to agree to listen, and she nods for his sake or else she'll end up saying every curse word and insult she can come up with. "Okay."

"Last night, when you and those girls argued outside the club, I had no idea they were Theo's friends. I literally met them an hour ago, after I called you, which means I couldn't do anything about it, and uninviting you wasn't an option," he says coolly, and seeing she's still processing his words, adds, "everything will be just fine. Besides, you're with me. You don't need to talk to them or anything. You can hang out with Theo and me."

At that, she lets out a bitter laugh.

Cai furrows her eyebrows, looking through the windshield at the boy and girl standing outside the house, and when he glances back at Oceana, he asks, "how do you know Theo, though?"

"He's my ex-boyfriend," Oceana answers simply. And thanks to every deity there is, for the fact that Cai doesn't ask anything about it.

"Oh," he mutters. "I can take you back home if you want."

"No, I said I'd go to the beach with you, so I'm going," she says, and when he nods, she pushes it all away, all the fear and scared thoughts, to the most recondite part of her head, and takes all the strength on her being to get out of the car once Cai opens the door for her.

The first one to see her is Freya. Her eyes got a little wide when they meet Oceana's, as her body goes rigid but quickly gets back to normal in a matter of seconds. Her elbow nudges Theo in a gentle but not very subtle way, and he, too, turns to look in the direction where Cai and Oceana are standing. His reaction isn't exactly like Freya's, he seems a bit surprised, yes, but then he smiles softly and comes closer.

"Oceana?" Theo utters her name with surprise but greets her with a quick hug. His eyes dart from her to Cai and then back at her again. "Glad to know you're joining us."

"You'll see, it's going to be fun," Freya responds this time before offering Oceana a smile and touching her arm gently. Oceana completely hates this. She wants to go home because things are only going to get worse once Willow and Lyla come.

But who could've imagined that Cai's friend was her ex-boyfriend?