Zack was so desperate, he wished he had wings to fly all the way back to Wiltspoon.
Josh chuckled. “I couldn’t pass up on the chance. Only Serena can bring the anxiousness out of you.”
Zack had always remained stoic in the face of adversity.
To get Zack restless was not something Josh could see every day.
“They’re at Neon Nights. They arrived half an hour ago. Jasmine and her young brother are with Serena.”
Zack frowned. “How old is Jasmine’s brother?”
Why did Jasmine have so many brothers? Although Shawn was her cousin, they shared a sibling-like relationship. Shawn only knew Serena and got the hots for Serena through her best friend, Jasmine.
Zack did not want another love rival to come along.
“About three to four years younger than Jasmine. He’s at a legal age. Why do you ask? This is something I should be concerned about since I can win over her brother to accept me as his future brother-in-law.
“Oh, I get it. You asked because of Shawn. You’re wary of Jasmine’s younger male family members.”
Zack uttered peevishly, “You can’t understand how I feel since you don’t have love rivals.”
Josh replied, “The way you say it…”
He was at a loss for words.
“Neon Nights? I think the owner of the bar is the head of your household.”
The bar had a mixture of good and bad crowd, but it was a great place to get word on the latest.
“Yeah. It’s one of my brother’s businesses. That’s how I was able to find out this quickly. By now, I guess Serena must have had at least six glasses of alcohol. How’s her alcohol tolerance? Can she hold her liquor?”
Zack solemnly uttered, “I’m heading back right now.”
He then hung up on Josh.
Josh stared at the disconnected phone and mumbled to himself with a smile, “I finally get to see him squirm.”
Putting his phone into his pocket, Josh picked up his car keys and headed out the door. He was going to Neon Nights.
He wanted to chance an encounter with Jasmine to see if he had the privilege to drive her home.
Serena was still at Neon Nights.
“How many have I had?”
Serena counted the empty glasses. “Jas, I think I can have a few more. Strange. I would usually sleep like a log after two bottles of beer, but I don’t feel anything after taking a few glasses now. I want to get wasted. At least I’ll get to sleep until morning light.
“Jas, did you order me fake alcohol?”
Jasmine replied, “Neon Nights is the biggest and most luxurious bar in Wiltspoon. The customers here are of certain social standing. Not everybody can afford this place.
“How could the place sell fake alcohol? You have a lot on your mind. You’ll only feel the kick from this sort of liquor later. You might feel nothing now, but the alcohol will hit you hard later. You’ll be knocked out until tomorrow afternoon.
“Still, you should stop now. Your sister will yell at you when she finds out.”
Although the sisters were close, Liberty would not hesitate to give Serena a piece of her mind when the latter did something wrong.
Jasmine had the pleasure of witnessing Liberty lay it down on Serena. The way Liberty came at Serena was fiercer than Jasmine’s mom toward herself.
Serena replied reluctantly, “I’ll stop after a couple more drinks.”
Jasmine sighed. “Two more drinks, and you’ll be knocked out cold.”
“I’m still sober. Another couple of drinks won’t make me drunk.”
“You should quit while you’re at it.
“We came here to have a drink or two. Too much is not good for you.”
Serena stared at her eerily.
Jasmine fell silent for a moment before getting up to leave. She reminded her brother to watch Serena.
A while later, Jasmine returned with a pen, papers, and a glass of wine in hand.
“This is your last drink. I asked for a few sheets of paper for you to draw on.”
“Jas, Serena’s drunk. Can she still draw?”
Serena claimed that she was sober but the truth was, she was drunk.
Instead of answering his brother’s question, Jasmine handed the pen and papers to Serena. Serena took the stuff and started drawing on the paper without taking the drink.
First, she drew a ball.
Drake was speechless.
It was not hard to draw a circle in a drunken state. Drake believed it was a no-brainer.
Serena then drew a lake with way too many wavy lines along the shore. Following that, she portrayed a -person standing before the lake.
Drake watched with amazement.
“Does Serena like to draw after she gets drunk, Jas?”
Jasmine nodded her head. “Give her a pen and paper when she wants to rant but can’t. She’ll let it all out through her doodles.”
Drake was lost for words.
Some people were plain weird.
It was a good thing Jasmine knew Serena well because Drake would not be able to figure her out.
Serena put a lot of thought into drawing the silhouette of a person.
Jasmine did not need to get close to guess Serena was drawing Zack.
Drawn by curiosity, Drake watched as Serena doodled on the paper.
Serena portrayed the upper half of Zack’s body on the paper. Once she was done, she took a look and added a heart to his chest. Nevertheless, she penciled the heart rather tiny.
Putting down the pen, she grabbed her untouched wine and admired her artwork while sipping it.
Serena believed she brought the character to life as she was not usually good at portraits.
Picking the paper up for a look, Jasmine praised, “You’ve reached a breakthrough at drawing portraits, Seren. The drawing is very lifelike. You brought out Mr. York’s callous eyes and deadpan face. It’s like I’m looking at a photograph.”
She knew that her best friend was able to breathe life into a portrait of Zack because Serena had apter 6:30 fallen in love with him.
“Jas, did Serena draw a river or a lake? What’s with the wavy lines?”
Tilting her head, Jasmine looked at her brother. “Are you blind? Can’t you tell whether it’s a river or a lake? “Serena portrayed everything well, but you can’t tell the difference. You should cut down your time on computer games. They’re not good for your eyes. Get Mom to buy you supplements.”
Drake grabbed the drawing from his sister and mumbled, “It’s too small for a lake and too short to be a river. I really can’t tell whether it’s a river or a lake.”.
“Look at the ripple-like lines against the shore. What happens when you have water and dirt? What does it become?”
“You’ll get soil with a slimy texture.”
“That’s right, slime.”
“So the ball… Slimeball?”
Drake lifted his head and stared at Serena. The latter was busy drinking her wine while Jasmine kept to herself.
He looked at Zack’s portrait, finally getting the message hidden within. However, Drake wondered who the man was.
Serena-called the man a slimeball.
“Is that you, Ms. Sox?” a voice interrupted the trio.
Jasmine and her brother turned their heads toward the source of the voice.
Serena calmly drank her wine as though she did not see Josh.
“Mr. Bucham?”
Jasmine was surprised to find Josh here.
Josh explained, “I got together with a few buddies to let loose here since it’s the weekend. I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Ms. Sox.
“Do you mind if I sit here?”
Jasmine replied with a smile, “Well, you already sat down. Are you waiting for your friends?”
She saw that he was alone.
Josh sat down and said hello to Serena. Serena merely bobbed her head as an acknowledgment to his greeting.
“My friends have left.”
Looking at the drawing, Josh asked Jasmine, “Who drew this? Can I have a closer look?”
With Jasmine’s eyes turning to her best friend, Josh got an idea of the artist behind the artwork. Serena went on drinking without a word. Taking it as a no, Josh did not pick the drawing up, but he was still able to get a good look at it.
He could tell that it was a portrait of Zack.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.