[nobody's_slave]

A few hours later, I was pacing back and forth in my room which was suddenly feeling smaller and smaller. I thought I had a lot of good questions for Liam, but once I started writing them down, most of them sounded silly or dull.

In need of some fresh air, I stepped into a pair of flat shoes, grabbed my notebook and my pen, and decided that sitting on a bench outside would help me come up with some better questions.

To my surprise, the beautiful garden was packed with picnic blankets and the usual quietness had been replaced by laughter and chattering.

'Wow, there are more than twenty people having lunch here.' I thought to myself as I quickly scanned the place, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the idea of getting out of my comfort zone without Liam by my side.

But before I could turn and walk away, a vaguely familiar voice called my name and I froze into place.

"Aria, over here!" Chris - the guy staying in the room next to mine - was waving his hand to catch my attention.

Hoping that I wasn't looking as nervous as I felt, I walked over to the end of the garden where Chris and two women were sitting on a red plaid blanket, hiding away from the sun under a huge willow tree.

"Hi." I waved at them shyly.

"Come on, sit with us," Chris said encouragingly as he moved to the nearest corner of the blanket so I could squeeze in between him and a young redhead.

"Thanks." I smiled appreciatively. "I hope I'm not intruding."

"Of course not," he smiled back. "There's plenty of space and food for everyone."

"I'm Tina." The green-eyed brunette sitting across from me introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Aria." I shook her hand before turning to the redhead.

"Nadia." She said simply and, judging by the look on her face, it was kind of obvious that she didn't want me there.

"I'm not hungry, I'm only staying with you for a couple of minutes." I smiled briefly.

I was hungry, but the idea of getting room service alone was more appealing than eating with someone who was staring daggers in my direction from the moment I sat down, without even knowing me.

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere." Tina smiled mischievously. "I need to know all the details about your first night with Adonis."

Of course they'd seen Liam escorting me to my room earlier. Both girls were in the lounge, cheering on the guys who were playing foosball. That's why they looked so familiar.

"His name is Liam." I tried not to burst out laughing. "And there's not much to tell. We're just getting to know each other." I tried to sound as composed as I could, casually popping a cherry tomato in my mouth, hoping that my cheeks weren't as red as they felt.

I've always been the quiet type, never revealing very personal details - not even to my closest friends - always feeling uncomfortable whenever someone talked about their most embarrassing hangover or their latest hookup.

"Of course there's not much to tell. Isn't she a virgin?" Nadia laughed mockingly. "I bet the poor guy offered to sleep on the floor."

"Wow, I really had no idea that I was some sort of celebrity around here. And I don't think my sex life should be anyone's business." I retorted loud enough to draw stares from the couple sitting across from us. Embarrassed that I let her words get to me, my cheeks started to burn even worse than before.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to offend you." Tina quickly apologized, a tiny hint of red appearing on her pale cheeks. "It's just that you're probably the first virgin who had the guts to come to this place. Plus, you get to be with the hottest guy around here. We were just curious, that's all."

"It's okay." I showed her a crooked smile. "It's just that I'm not used to talking about my private life, especially with people that I don't know."

"We completely understand," Chris said sympathetically. "Right, girls?"

"Yes, of course. You can tell us everything when you're ready." Tina agreed while Nadia just shrugged, her face expressionless.

The next few moments of awkwardness sent us back to eating, this time in silence. Not that I was complaining, but it made me aware of the fact that they were really cheerful when I first spotted them and I was the one ruining their mood.

Lucky for me, Chris knew how to turn things around and asked a random question that I don't even remember, then one thing led to another, and right before I knew, we were chatting and laughing together.

"What's with the notebook?" Tina asked all of a sudden and we all stopped to look at where she was staring.

"Oh, it's... I'm writing down some questions to ask Liam tonight." I blushed slightly and looked down, averting my eyes from their intrusive stares.

"Questions about what?" Christ raised a curious eyebrow.

"I don't know. About... everything." I shrugged awkwardly.

"Oh, I'm intrigued." Tina giggled. "Tell us more." She put down her plate, her attention focused on me only.

"It was his request. We'll play some sort of game, I guess." I said briefly.

"And how is that going so far?" Chris asked curiously, then took a sip of coffee and watched me over the rim of the cup.

"Um... Not as good as I expected." I admitted sincerely.

"Come on, show us what you've got so far," Tina suggested.

"We can help." Chris encouraged me as they both saw my hesitation.

"Okay..." I accepted reluctantly and passed the notebook to Chris who didn't waste a second, his expression conflicted as he began to read the questions out loud.

"What do you enjoy doing in your free time? How would you describe a perfect date? What is your favorite childhood memory? Hm... I'd say these are..."

"Boring," Nadia stated bluntly and we all turned to look at her. "What?" She shrugged unapologetically. "That's my honest opinion and I stand by it."

"I hate to say this, but she has a point." Tina backed her up. "I mean, these are things that you will get to ask him eventually. But I believe that the whole point of this game is to ask him things that you don't usually bring up during daily conversations, so you should probably step up your game."

"Ugh, I am so screwed." I sighed dramatically, letting my head hang in defeat.

They all ignored my whining and came up with endless suggestions.

"Ask him what made you stand up from the other candidates." Chris inquired.

"No, let's put it up like this: ask him what's the sexiest thing about you." Tina corrected, gaining a frown from him.

"But those are different things. Keep both questions." Chris protested.

"Fine." Tina rolled her eyes, then turned to look at me. " Are you writing them down?"

"Yes, yes." I nodded as I keep scribbling in my notebook. "What else?"

"Ask him about his weirdest fantasy." Nadia prompted mischievously.

"What? No!" I shook my head rapidly, both embarrassed and outraged.

"Will he also ask you any questions? If he does, you need to have some uncomfortable options that you can use to your advantage." Chris pointed out, taking her side.

"Damn, I have no idea." I sighed, frustrated. "Fine, I'll write that down too. Anything else?"

"Oh, here's a good one," Tina jumped in enthusiastically. "Ask him about the time he lost his virginity."

At that point, I was probably blushing like a tomato, but I kept writing down every crazy idea they had without questioning it. It wasn't like I had to use all of them anyway. The more questions I got, the merrier to choose from.