Page 52 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“I guess that’s the dark side to dating famous attractive men.” Yasmine chuckled. “I feel bad bitching about Adam, and at the same time… he doesn’t even know what flowers I picked for the wedding because he didn’t have time. But somehow he had time to dream up some stupid treasure hunt.”
“That’s rough. He’s coming tomorrow?”
“With his entire family. And he won’t have time to take care of anything then, either, because his mum will be there, and this man loves his mum.”
“I guess there’s that!”
They both laughed. Talking about wedding troubles made Zoe feel better about Tom. All couples had rough patches, after all.
“You know, I always thought that weddings were so straightforward. You just find someone you love and then you marry them.” Zoe looked up at the sky. “I’d never imagined how complicated it could get.”
“Same. It’s supposed to be the most beautiful day of your life. But that’s, like, the least it can be. It’s so much work!”
Zoe nodded silently. She’d never imagined that Yasmine was going through the same questioning as she was. Everything looked so perfect from the outside.
“Have you ever had second thoughts?”
“About marrying Adam?” Yasmine looked straight at Zoe, a hint of worry in her eyes. “Have you ever had second thoughts about marrying Tom?”
They looked at each other for a moment.
“We got it!” Shouts came from the field on their left. Leila and Sarah appeared, carrying a small wooden crate.
“Well, we got there first but they beat us to it.” Julie was trailing behind them, pouting.
“How can you be there first but still be beaten to it?” Sarah asked.
“That’s what you did. You should know.” Alice gave them a pointed look.
“You were fast. Zoe and I were still deciphering the first direction.” Yasmine nodded towards Zoe.
“So what’s inside the box?” Zoe was having a hard time switching from the intense conversation they had earlier to light-hearted small talk. Her blood was still pumping in her ears.
“I don’t know, but it’s got some weight. Let’s open it back at the house.” Leila suggested before walking towards the yard. Yasmine followed closely, hounding her two cousins with questions about the treasure hunt’s directions.
“Have you seen Maria and Marion?” Alice asked Zoe.
“We barely made it out of the yard, you’re the only people we’ve seen.”
“This is how people get murdered in movies all the time.” Julie frowned. “Getting lost in the countryside at night…”
“Don’t worry Julie, there’s a statistical chance that they’re not the ones getting murdered but the ones doing the actualmurdering.” Alice smirked. “I’ll call them.” She took her phone out and walked away, leaving Julie and Zoe to follow.
“That would be an interesting twist…”
“Do you think about anything else other than horror movies?” Zoe shot her an unimpressed look.
“Yes.” Julie looked offended. “I have a huge diversity of thoughts.”
“Like what?”
“Uh…” She rubbed her neck. “Sometimes I also think about cute girls.” Julie said, staring straight at Zoe.
Julie’s blue eyes were sparkling against the violet evening of a sun that had just set. Zoe shivered.
“I mean, other cute girls.” Julie added, probably noticing the change of expression on Zoe’s face. “Not that I mean you’re not cute… I mean you are but you know what I mean. Anyway, let’s go see what that treasure is all about.” Julie turned and stiffly walked towards the house.
Zoe trailed behind, having a hard time matching Julie’s speed. She wished for a second that they could’ve spent more time, alone, on this road - just like yesterday - but she shook the thought away.
