HOUSE OF THORNS : EPISODE 21 – 30
HOUSE OF THORNS
Episode 22
“So Vince, for how long have you known that I like Valerie? For how long have I been swimming with my back fully in full glare when I thought I was swimming stealthily under water?” Leonard asked his friend.
“That’s not what I asked buddy. Don’t try to get evasive with me. What happened that night? What wrong move did you make that’s got her running away from you so badly?” Vince asked, determined to get Leonard spill the truth.
“But what can I say? I really do don’t kwow why she’s been trying to avoid me since that day. I felt we were good the next morning when I went back to her room to speak with her” Leonard complained, his brows creasing.
“How about you tell me what you told her that morning” Vince proposed, looking at his friend intently to study his body language. And from what he saw so far, Leonard was as confused about what had gone wrong with Valerie, as he was.
Leonard repeated what he had told Valerie, word for word. He didn’t fail to tell him why he had to tell her what he told her, he was trying to avoid getting his friends think so poorly of him
“You haven’t treated her like you care for her. The best bet here is that she’s feeling unwanted, and doing her best to stay away from you because she must have believed that you’re rooting for your wife.
I must applaud you though for doing your best to stay away from something you want so bad, because of your concern for people you call friends” Vince told him.
“That said Leo, you need to do something to redeem this situation. The Valerie I know is waiting to get off this vacation, and she’d totally shut you out with activities. You have to let her know that you have let go of Vivian. She needs to know that you like her, as much as you do” Vince advised
“Thanks Vince. You don’t know how much this means to me. You don’t know how free my spirit feels now to know that I haven’t been betraying my friends by nursing the feelings I have for Valerie. You can count on me to know what to do to make her okay” Leonard said, feeling exhilarated.
The two friends talked some more before they went back to the game room where Valerie and Tricia were playing excitedly. Valerie was cackling delightedly as she won her sister yet again.
“You should buy me a treat sis. This is the third time in a row I’m beating you in this game” she told Tricia who was looking so bad, after the loss.
“You’re just being lucky Val, don’t make it sound you play snookers better than me” Tricia smirked, picking up her stick again.
“Oh sis, please let the spirit of sportsmanship reign okay? You know I do this better than you. And if I have to play a thousand times again tonight, I’ll still win you effortlessly” she told her sister, laughing at how serious her sister was appearing.
“Are you going to buy me the ice cream or I treat you to another round of cruel thrashing?” Valerie asked her big sister.
“Why don’t I buy the ice cream and save my boss from the thrashing” Leonard proposed as he walked to her sides. Valerie stiffened as soon as she saw who had spoken.
Her heart was thudding heavily as he walked closer, and something about the way he kept inching closer to her than night, almost as if he was mistaking her for Vivian, made her feel butterflies in her belly. He was looking strangely happy and free.
And when he did get to her sides, he walked behind her, standing as close and sure as Vince was standing behind Tricia.
“Don’t flatter yourself Valerie. The only reason you’ve been able to defeat the CEO is because she’d been playing while thinking about me. But with me here by her side, I bet you don’t stand a chance” Vince boasted.
“Well, We’ll see about that” Valerie said as the game began once again. She hit the black ball, potting a stripe ball. This meant that she’d be on the stripe balls while her sister will be on the plain balls.
Tricia was beaming with smiles as she kept potting the plain balls as she wanted. Valerie was looking very pained to see how the game was going. “Why the he1l did Leonard come here?” she thought
Valerie was distracted, and for good reasons too. Leonard was breathing over her shoulder as he kept telling her what to do, but he ended up making her miss targets.
She was practically playing against two people, because Vince was actually holding Tricia’s hands, guiding her whenever it was her turn to strike the balls.
Poor Valerie! She was losing, and fast! Leonard was posing a major problem to her with his presence. Even though she had told herself countless number of times to focus on the game, she kept imagining him behind her, and the possibility of her getting a poke in her bottom, each time she bent down to strike a hit.
“Common Valerie, you can’t miss this. You can’t let the CEOs win us” he said, pairing himself with Valerie voluntarily and everyone except Valerie was laughing hysterically.
Valerie smiled uneasily, swung again, and as she’d been doing since Leonard got into the room, she missed again, to the delight of Tricia.
Looking at the keyball, Tricia struck again and successfully secured another potting, leaving her with just one ball and Valerie having all six balls left, with the only one she potted at the beginning, being the only one she had so far potted.
When it was Valerie’s turn to hit again, she almost lost her breathe as she felt Leonard’s hand over hers. “Here, let me help you” He told her as he held her hand, steadying it enough to get her pot a ball, and successfully placing another stripe ball between Tricia’s only remaining ball and her keyball.
Vince looked up at Leonard and scowled. “And you had to do that right?” he asked Leonard who was laughing happily at his success.
Vince bent down as he looked for angle to make his move. He needed to get Tricia’s keyball boycott the hurdle Leonard had smartly created for her.
He made his move, but Tricia’s keyball, still managed to hit Valerie’s stripped ball, resulting to a fowl; and Valerie got two free strikes.
Valerie was still trying to understand what the two men were doing when Leonard pulled her hands in his again, as he helped her make the two strikes.
And as before, the two strikes were successful, cleanly potting two balls again. Tricia frowned as she saw what was playing out. She didn’t like what was going on.
The game she was already winning was now slipping out of her hands all thanks to Leonard. “And I would have thought this game was between Valerie and I? Would you guys please stay off?” she said, trying to sound very serious”
“True, let the girls do their thing Leonard” Vince said, supporting Tricia happily because he knew Tricia had just one ball left against the two Valerie had.
Leonard made to speak, but Valerie beat him to it. “Its true, we should be allowed to do our thing. So would you two please step aside and watch from the sidelines?” she proposed
Leonard laughed painfully, but joined Vince who had already moved to the side of he snooker board. He stood opposite Vince, but made sure he had a clear view of Valerie’s face.
Tricia was very confident she’d win. She was already having an upper hand, so with the much confidence she had, she hit the keyball, this time unfortunately, her ball missed it’s target and she ended up potting the black ball.
“Urgh!” Vince screamed as the black ball rolled slowly into the right pocket. Valerie jumped up in happiness, not knowing when she ran into Leonard’s open arms in celebration.
Tricia had potted the black ball when she still had one plain ball on the board. And the implication was that she had lost the game to Valerie.
Leonard lifted a surprised Valerie into the air as he congratulated her for winning. “Congratulations champ. I know your sister won’t be so pleased to buy you that ice cream” he began.
“She only won by luck Leonard, what would Tricia be paying for” Vince responded immediately.
“I knew you’d say that! But not to worry Valerie, tonight, I’ll be buying you that ice cream and more” he told her, winking fl!rtatiously at her.
Valerie opened her mouth to talk, she wanted to turn down the offer, to tell him she needed to rest, but Tricia was already asking her to bring her some on their way back.
“Don’t worry my lady, we already had plans for us to be alone tonight, remember? You won’t miss the ice cream if you think about what I’ve promised to give you” he told her, giving her a meaningful look and Tricia giggled like a school girl
And so, hand in hand, Valerie and Leonard stepped out of the game house, heading to the Coldstone stand. Valerie tried severally to pull her hands from his hold, but he wasn’t going to let that happen. He wasn’t willing to give her the chance to run!
No, not when he could already visualize her sitting between his thighs, kssing him lovingly!
HOUSE OF THORNS : EPISODE 21 – 30
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