Chapter 41 Signals and silences
Chapter 41: Signals and Silences
Allan tried sending Golden a message. He had tried all week but his messages didn't seem to deliver.
He thought to call her, but he didn't know what to say so he hid behind his texts.
Allan: “Hey!”
He waited for a response but nothing. The message didn't even show two ticks.
Then he suddenly realized something.
Did Golden block him?
No it wasn't possible. She wouldn't do tha....
Allan was immediately distracted with a client coming into the parlor.
A beautiful lady had just stepped into the parlor. Her name was Lindsay and she was a student of OCU.
She had come to the tattoo parlor with Trey(he was the guy Allan was with at the mall when he ran into Golden) about a week ago and promised to come back to get a tattoo of her own.
Allan had caught Lindsay checking him out the last time she was there.
She was the Belle of Theater Arts Department and he had hung out with her and her friends a couple of times before.
He knew his guy Trey fancied her so even with her subtle signals, he always played dumb and never acted inappropriately with her.
“Hey Allan” Lindsay called out sweetly as she played with the strap of her bag.
“Hey Lindsay. I assume you are here to be inked?” Allan said as he tried to look to the door for Trey.
“Didn't come with Trey?” he asked.
“He dropped me off. Would be back in an hour to pick me up. So I'm all yours for the next one hour” her voice sounded a little lecherous.
2 hours later...
Allan managed to finish inking Lindsay while enduring her flirting.
She had asked him to draw wings across her waist line. Then she asked him to tattoo a butterfly in between her boobs.
When it was 4 pm, Allan asked Rex if he could leave early and return for the late night shift.
He needed to go pick Octavia and take her to her dance battle.
Nixon Estate...
Golden was contemplating skipping the dance.
All day she had been caught between going and cancelling and just a few minutes to the dance she actually considered cancelling.
In the middle of her dilemma, she heard her phone ring.
“Hey Golden are you here yet?” Octavia asked excitedly.
“Hey girl, I might be running a little late. I got caught up with something.” Golden responded a little loud so Octavia could hear her over the music playing loudly in the background.
“Okay get here as soon as you can. My group is the fifth group and the second group just went on stage” Octavia shouted.
Then the call ended.
“Well I guess we are going after all. Come on, let's get changed. We should get to city center in the next 20 minutes if we hurry.
Hopefully we don't miss her dance” Alex said as she walked in to the closet to get changed.
25 Minutes Later...
They finally got to the theater where the dance battle was happening.
Alex drove fast and managed somehow to avoid running past a stop light.
They got in right on time to see Octavia's group get on stage.
Octavia sighted Golden and waved at her before going to take her place on the stage.
Allan sighted Golden and Alex when they walked in.
He had thought Golden was going to come alone but was surprised to see Alex with her.
Although these days, the two seemed to be joined at hip. Wherever Golden was, Alex wasn't far away.
Allan was somehow hoping he would be able to talk to Golden.
Even if he behaved like he didn't, he actually missed her.
The performance soon started and Alex and Golden watched Octavia dance.
The girl could really dance and it was fun and entertaining.
Her group made it to the next round and they soon went to prepare for the next round.
Allan couldn't take it anymore. His eyes kept drifting towards Golden.
After the first performance, Octavia had stopped to quickly speak to Golden and Alex before hurrying off to join her crew.
Allan used that opportunity to approach Golden.
“Hi Golden, it's been a while.” Allan greeted stroking his neck.
“Hi Allan” Golden said then turned towards Alex “babes please accompany to the restroom would you?”
Alex understood Golden didn't want to speak to Allan. She sensed her shift in emotion and quickly agreed.
“Sure! I'm pressed anyways” she responded.
“Please excuse us.” Golden said and sidestepped Allan to go to the restroom.
Something didn't feel right. Allan felt like Golden was somehow avoiding him.
She didn't even smile when she said hi to him. And the look Alex gave him felt like she was looking at a mortal enemy.
They weren't friends but Alex had at least been cordial with him in the past.
Now he felt like she wanted to vaporize him.
He had seen Golden smile with Octavia just a moment ago but she seemed cold towards him and he wondered why.
Somewhere in London...
Varney seemed somewhat distracted. He kept checking his phone every 10 minutes.
He was at a business dinner. He had just closed a major business deal for Nixon Global Holding in their real estate division.
“Varney are you alright? You've checked your phone three times in the last 10 minutes.” Carol his friend asked.
Carol was once his highschool sweetheart but she was engaged to be married to a billionaire from France.
“I'm fine Carol. Was just checking to see if I got any message from my sister, that's all.” he couldn't tell her he was expecting a message from his sister's friend or he wouldn't hear the end of it.
“How's Golden?” Carol asked.
She knew how close the two were and that Varney would drop everything in a heartbeat if Golden called.
However the distracted look on Varney's face didn't look like it was caused by Golden.
Varney had a look of longing in his eyes. Once upon a time, he used to look at her like that. But she wasn't going to call him out on it.
For now she was just going to play it cool. When the time was right, she would drill it out of him.
They had two weeks so she was going to bid her time...