Chapter 70 - Bryan Or Matt?

Bryan was standing outside the guest bedroom which Sonia was using with his hand raised mid-air as though he was trying to knock. Ever since Sonia disappeared inside the bedroom after she had her breakfast she was yet to come out, and it was almost 5 PM already. Was that how she worked? Or was she sleeping? He wondered. 

Not that he liked her anyway, but even her unwelcome presence was presence too, and better than the absence and loneliness in the house. He had tried keeping himself busy with one of her books as he had done before, but it seemed like since his brain was aware that the author of the book was around, his brain didn't want to pay attention to anything in the book. 

Thankfully the sound of his front door being opened informed him that Matt was around. He quickly hurried away from there. Sonia could stay there for as long as she liked, that was her business. As long as he now had company, all was well with his world again. 

"Where is she?" Matt whispered immediately Bryan stepped into the living room to welcome him. 

"She is in one of the guest bedrooms, let's go to the poolside," Bryan whispered back as he followed Matt into the other spare bedroom and they dropped his luggage there. 

After leaving his luggage in the bedroom they headed for the poolside, where they both sat down on the recliner chairs there, with straw hats over their head to shield them from the rays of the evening sun, and a glass of wine in their hands. 

"So come on, give me all the details of everything that happened between you both since she arrived," Matt suggested as he sipped from his wine. 

"Nothing much. She asked me to take her to my favorite fun place, and I took her to S & G..."

"You did? But that isn't your favorite fun place. As a matter of fact, you avoid that place because you don't want the reputation that goes with it, so why did you... Oh! Unless you wanted to scare her?" Matt asked in amusement when it finally occurred to him, "Did it work?"

"Unfortunately, it happens to be her favorite fun place," Bryan said with a wry smile which made Matt hoot with laughter, and some of the wine in his glass spilled on the gray-colored shirt he was wearing.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Matt said as he dropped his glass on the table between them and kept laughing. 

"I kid you not. That witch is just not anything a normal person should be. Anyway, I found out the club wasn't really as evil as people made it sound... Their strippers are extra sexy and give a very good show," Bryan said with a grin. 

"You mean she allowed you to do all of that?" Matt asked, his mouth agape. 

"Allowed? She actually invited the strippers herself. I told you she isn't normal, didn't I?" Bryan asked, and Matt whistled in confusion. 

"Isn't she just every man's dream woman? I really want to meet her now," he said with an impressed smile on his face. 

"Every man's dream woman? I don't know about every man, but I do know she is nothing like mine," Bryan said confidently as he nursed his glass of wine. 

"Come on, quit pretending. I'm very sure a part of you is intrigued by her. You are only annoyed that her presence in your life is making things difficult for you," Matt pointed out with a grin. 

Bryan decided to change the subject and ignore what Matt said, "I need you to do me a favor, will you?" Bryan said making Matt cock a brow.

"I know this might sound crazy, but don't say no outrightly until you think about it..."

"NO!" Matt said with a shake of his head. 

"Huh?" Bryan asked in confusion, wondering why he was saying no when he was yet to hear what he wanted to say. 

"You heard me. I've given you the answer already. The fact that you think it might sound crazy, means it is actually crazy and that is a big red flag. I'm not thinking about it," Matt said stubbornly as he picked up his glass of wine and sipped from it again. 

"You should at least hear what it is first," Bryan hissed at him. 

"Since I know it's going to sound crazy, and I won't do it, there's no point in listening to anything about it. I'm hungry now, what do you have in the kitchen?" Matt asked as he stood up ready to return inside the house. 

"How can you call yourself my best friend if you can't even hear me out or do me this favor?" Bryan asked in annoyance.

"You're the one who announced to the world that we were best friends. I didn't so that emotional blackmail won't fly," Matt said as he kept walking while Bryan followed him. 

"There is no food, you'll have to order for something," Bryan said grudgingly making Matt stop in his track to look at Bryan.

"Are you starving your guest?" 

"It's not like I invited her, but she's the one starving me. You won't believe she prepared breakfast for just herself this morning," Bryan said incredulously. 

"I would do the same if I was in her shoes," Matt said with a tsk, before walking away with both hands dipped in his pocket. 

Once they opened the screen door and walked inside the house, Sonia walked out of the kitchen with an apron draped around her neck, and a radiant smile on her face, "Hello Matt!" She greeted as she stepped forward to embrace him, making Bryan narrow his eyes. What was she up to?

"WOW! You look so stunning in person that I'm about to go blind," Matt said, raising his hands to cover his eyes. 

Sonia giggled at that, "Save the flattery for someone else. I'm sorry I wasn't out to welcome you when you got here. I had no idea you were here already. I was very busy until I remembered he mentioned something about you coming over, so I came out to fix something dinner," Sonia explained, making Matt turn to glare at Bryan, before taking Sonia's hands in his and raising it to his lips. 

"My loyalty is to you, my queen," Matt said, and Sonia giggled some more, while Bryan scowled at the traitor he called his friend. 

"You know, I was coming inside to find something to eat, but since you're trying to fix something already, just tell me what I can do. That way we can get to know each other while we cook," Matt suggested, and Sonia nodded eagerly as she intertwined her arm with his and they both walked to the kitchen like they've been best friends forever. 

"So tell me something, did he invite you over to help him kick me out?" Sonia asked, for Matt's ears only.

Matt looked down at her, surprised that she had put the dots together so quickly, "Why would you think that?" He asked, trying to sound like he was shocked because of the absurdity of her question. 

"Come on, Matt, don't insult me," Sonia said, looking at him with a wide smile. 

It was obvious to him that Sonia was more intelligent than they were giving her credit for, so he chuckled instead, "What if he did?" 

"Take a good look at me, Matt, do I look like the type to be kicked out? You shouldn't waste your time plotting any nonsense with him. I'm the writer amongst us three, and you both are the actors, don't you think you should leave all the plotting to me?" Sonia asked with a confident smile. 

Now Matt felt really sorry for his best friend. It was obvious Bryan had bitten more than he could chew, and unfortunately, he had no one to blame for his folly, "Why are you doing this?" Matt asked Sonia curiously as she moved away from him to set everything she needed to fix dinner.

"I don't think I can trust you with such information yet. But what I can assure you is that I do not have any evil intentions towards your friend. So let's all live together peacefully, for the time being, okay?" Sonia asked with an outstretched hand.

"Fair enough," Matt said as he shook her hand, "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'm really hungry, what I can do?" He asked, and soon they both got busy with preparing dinner and getting to know each other. 

Bryan who was seated in the living room gritted his teeth each time he heard either of them laugh out loud. He had been happy that Matt was going to be here to keep him company, but he seemed to be enjoying his time with Sonia a little too much. He cocked his head when something occurred to him, was it possible that this was part of Matt's plan to get Sonia off him? Maybe he could also utilize the situation and get pictures of them, that way he would have evidence to show that Sonia was flirting with his friend. 

He picked up his phone and just as he was about to stand up and head to the kitchen, his phone beeped with an Instagram notification message, and he opened it to see that Sonia had once again tagged him to some photos. 

A sigh escaped from his lips when he saw the pictures of Sonia and Matt who was also now wearing a similar apron with Sonia, standing beside each other with Sonia's hand on Matt's waist, and goofy smiles on their faces. 

The caption was actually what made him sigh, "Both best friends are so adorable that I'm having a hard time sticking to just Bryan, I think I might be falling for Matt. Who is your favorite? Bryan or Matt?"

He checked the comments and threw his phone on the couch when he saw so many "Awwws" with hearts. 

She was definitely a witch.. There was no convincing him otherwise.