Watermelon Sugar

Clarissa carried all the groceries and headed back home to her friends. On her way in, their loud scream more than startled her.

"Surprise!" They both screamed in unison. Eve was a slender fair-skinned lady with big brown eyes and the shortest of their crew. Sana was the tallest with lovely brown eyes and black puffy natural hair she styled into pretty hairstyles. Clarissa was sometimes jealous she didn't share her half African genes as Sana so she could enjoy half her divine beauty. Though she always got the compliment of having the prettiest lips and sweet remarks on her long chestnut brown hair, also the most curvy one among them, Clarissa suddenly envied how her friends all had money to take care of themselves.

"Surprise?" She looked around and saw a giant cake on the table with expensive looking wine bottles around the cake. Balloon designs and fancy lightnings decorated the living room with a big poster bragging of the words: congratulations, on bold fine prints. Picture of the three of them was pasted next to the congratulation note, an old picture of when they were still in college in their first year.

"Yes!" Eve blurted out. "We are so happy to have you here, Clarissa. You know, we've been trying to send your ass out for two days now but you just wouldn't leave the house."

"Until you volunteered this evening to fetch supper ingredients. That's when we were able to plan this." Sana added.

Clarissa just stared in shock. "Why are you doing this?" She seemed surprised by her own voice; it was filled with bitterness and sadness. "Shouldn't you both be mocking me right now? It's fine, you can do that. If only I listened to you back then, I mean look at you all. You're so great and I'm still so useless."

They put the poster down and walked forward to meet Clarissa. Sana was the oldest so she acted like the mother in the group. "That's not fair, Rissa. I don't like it."

"Yea, that's true." Eve said. "We love you, and will always support you no matter what. How can you say that to our faces?"

Clarissa bursted out into tears. "I'm sorry, okay! It's just that, I have been suffering all this while! And where were you girls? I couldn't leave because I was too ashamed to accept that you were right about him being wrong for me. For eleven years, I've wasted my life with this man!"

Both friends moved closer and pulled Clarissa into their warmth. It was a group hug that sent comfort to Clarissa's soul. She cried more as regret filled her lungs. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should have listened to you. I'm sorry." Regret of ever betraying her own friends for love. Love that turned out to be bitter and hurtful. 

After they had settled down, Eve dugged a knife into the cake and began to help herself. "Can't you slow down, Eve?" Sana frowned.

"What?" Cake was stuffed in her mouth as she asked. "You know I've been hungry."

"You're always hungry, Eve. I still don't know why you're not fat." Sana teased.

Clarissa smiled. They were really still the same. Sana poured them a glass of wine and they all cheered to their friendship. 

"By the way," Eve said, gulping down her wine content and quickly refiling her glass, ignoring the stern look on Sana's face. "Congratulations on your Master degree program once again." 

Clarissa smiled. "Thanks." If only she would be allowed to work and make money after all of her hard work. How dare Desdra sabotage her chance at the company??

"I know this guy, his name is Tony. I figure you would want to work at a firm like Smithons Motors, or maybe--"

Clarissa cut her off. "Or? There is no 'or.' Smithons Motor is my dream company." She sighed. "But alas, Desdra has sabotaged my chances now."

"What? How dare her?" Sana barked out. "Wait, aren't you hitting on one of the staff there? That hiring manager guy."

"Hitting on him?" Eve cried out looking offended. "You just imagine that I am sleeping with every guy I meet, right?" She frowned and Sana rolled her eyes. Eve always had an effect for men, especially married men. They always wanted to date her and spend their money on her, and she gladly accepted. "But thanks to that, I do know a guy. His name is Tony. I can talk to him to get you back on your track."

Clarissa frowned. She was trying not to get too excited. "Back on my track? You mean like to help me..." She didn't need to complete it. Eve was pretty influential. If she truly knew a guy, she could help her get in just as she had promised. "Can you really do that?"

Eve nodded. "Wait, lemme do that right now." She put a full spoon of cake in her mouth and got up to grab her phone. Just after one phone call, she hung up and asked Clarissa to check her mail. "I've commanded that he had better sent a mail to you at once, else, we won't be going on that dinner. And he is still working so he says he would do that now." Eve explained. 

With a positive mind, Clarissa went through her mails and sadly, found no new messages. She was about to announce after refreshing countless times when she saw a message constructed from 'Smithons Motors'. Jumping up in joy, she announced. The happiness in her eyes was quickly spread as her friends congratulated her. 

It still felt like a dream to her. So she would later get the job??

"I have a proposal, while we're at this." Sana said. She was a big time nurse at a famous hospital and would love for Clarissa to go for a complete check up soon, despite Clarissa insisting that she had done several tests more than twice with the same result. "It can't hurt to try from a different hospital. All your tests have been conducted at Jared's family hospital. And I do not trust those Santiagos." 

Clarissa finally agreed and they went on cheering. Eve promised that their weekend would be a fun girl trip to the mall with therapy session of shopping and makeover, with her sponsoring everything, with Sana teasing her of being a daddy's girl and spending daddy's money. They all laughed and cheered until Clarissa's phone rang, cutting them off.

Eve was the first to grunt. "Is it still Jared? Why does he keep calling you!"

"Don't pick it, not yet." Sana said in her motherly tone to her. Clarissa had indeed been avoiding his calls and messages the past two days! But maybe Sana was right. 

"Is 'watermelon sugar' still your favorite Harry Style song?" Clarissa's question rose a loud cheer from her friends as they all jumped up and began singing the same wrong lyrics to the song, sipping their wine and eating cake. They had a lot of catching up to do. 

Monday morning came in a breeze as Clarissa was styled and dressed up by her friends with the best cooperate gown Clarissa had ever owned, along with red bottom heels that matched her outfit so nice. Her brown hair was wrapped in a neat bun with decent amount of makeup accentuating her beautiful face. She was all set and proud of herself as she stared at the mirror. 

Eve had dropped her off on her way to work while Sana was still at home as she would be working a night shift that day. The ride to work was so comfortable in a beast car that Eve owned. With lots of cheering, she dropped her off and went her own way.

Clarissa heaved in a deep sigh and silently muttered comforting words to herself. The big giant name of the company was not hard to miss at all. She found her way in and couldn't help but grin at every thing and everyone she met, still finding it hard to believe she would be working at a firm like that.

At the reception, the lady at the counter had asked her politely to wait while she confirmed her job application and Clarissa waited patiently. A slender lady with heavy makeup on her face approached her. Two other ladies were behind her. 

Clarissa jumped to her feet, staring in shock. How could she had completely forgotten that Desdra worked at the same company too??

"What in the world are you doing here??" Desdra asked out of complete surprise.

"What do you mean?" Clarissa stood tall. She had no reason to keep being friendly to Desdra again. She was no longer her sister in law. "It's my first day at work."

"Ha! Work?" Desdra scoffed. The look on her face became so intense now as she began to realize that Clarissa might have been pretty serious. "Work? But how...!"