"I will leave while you two are at it."
Arlen bashfully chuckled at my sister's remark while she disappeared through the passage he came out from.
My voice was stuck in my throat of wanting to call after her, as she had promised this wasn't a setup but bait me to who I can call my ex hovering over my wet body.
When he told me it was cold and helped me up, I could feel the burning blood flowing in my cheeks and the goosebumps waking up on my skin.
My head was calculating the whole circumstance of my situation when he rushed to the bench where there was a stack of white towels, and grabbed one, like a gentleman, as I can now discern some couple of modifications over him since the last time we met. For instance, the thin facial hair and better bulgy chest were prominent due to the condition of the wet material that was clinging to his skin.
Don't look!
I mean, he has nothing compared to Leigh. Why would I look?
He tried to swaddle me when he returned; I had caught him contemplating too.
I twirled with an awkward smile that should be polite, but rather, it said, "I can do it."
He nodded and held out the towel instead, and then we stood in uncomfortable silence until he asked, "You must be used to summer in Vegas by now."
"You're looking at a certified resident." I joked, probably weird because my nerves were stirring, but Arlen smiled agreeably, easing my tension.
Silence passed again, with slight shudders escaping my system, as there was the wind blowing softly in the air, and we had both been soaked in a midnight temperature pool.
"No matter how hot this town can get, there's nothing it can do to the night chills. Let's go in. You can wear my t-shirt." He offers, holding out his hand for me to take.
He can't be serious.
Yes, I ended up in his house, which I didn't even understand why and how my sister was still friends with him when Leigh wasn't and why she thought to bring me here in the middle of the night.
Arlen had been an asshole his senior year, practically ganging up with the worst enemy and nearly turning my family's reputation down if he had enough proof. And now he has his hand held out for me? Come on, doesn't he think it's ridiculous?
"I don't bite, Ava. Remember?"
I am trembling from cold; I've acknowledged that. It is why for a moment, I process the whole proposition.
Wearing something of his is wrong, not only for Leigh but for my entire family's dignity. Unlike Lilith, I am not reckless, but if I don't change out of this drenched sweater, I will catch a chill.
However, following into his apartment doesn't sound wise, but not going in would make me seem so naive and timid as though my first year in Vegas, and before the eyes of this college man, I have no idea what his intentions are, that's the last impression I want to make.
So the least I did was shun his hand; I shuffled ahead and distracted my refusal with a joke, "Let's manage the chills; I don't think anyone would agree to have the night heated as the day."
He laughed deeply behind me; I could sense his footsteps following until I halted by the entrance Lilith had passed through voluntarily.
"Please." He smiled simply, like things between us hadn't ended roughly before he left for college.
I swallowed and nodded and did as he had gestured, stepping into his serene and warm home, but it wasn't as quiet as it should be at this time of the night.
There were three boys and my sister reclining on a long couch facing a big telly on the wall, one among the boys was Tyron Bertram, shirtless. Smoke was gusting through his lips and wafting through the atmosphere.
Aren't we supposed to grow up in college? But Tyron had seemed to murder that expectation for me.
Since he had returned, I had only seen him doing unthinkable things he didn't do in high school. It was either fighting and now smoking what only God could know what it is because my head is beginning to spin from inhaling the toxic air in the space.
Now that he was approaching me with a broad smile on his beautiful face and the poisonous smoke I had always fear, I stepped back and bumped into Arlen, whose hand hastily caught me from falling.
"Fuck if it isn't the prettiest girl visiting us. I thought you wouldn't come." Tyron chuckled before his arms rolled around me, separating my foot from the floor.
Over his shoulder, my eyes travelled to my step-sister, who was now drawing in smoke from a pipe some curly haired boy had handed her.
"You let her take that? She doesn't do-" How can I say it without insulting him.
He put me down and smirked down at me when he dipped his head. For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. I began to panic, plotting my escape.
"Is not moly is just hookah, chill." He whispered in my face, but most of the time, he was smiling, so he didn't appear threatening.
His words, however, were rude; I couldn't stop my lips from firing back, "Do you know hookah smokers absorb toxins and cancer-inducing chemicals? Yup, it perish young people." I smirked back, and Arlen chortled behind me as Tyron's face fell from shock before his brows arched in surprise, and I bumped his shoulder and proceeded into the room, ignoring the rest of the boys cursing at me for obstructing the view of the telly.
"Get yourself together," I grumbled at the girl between the strangers she barely knew.
"Would you chill? It's Arlen's house. I have known him since like forever. He is like a brother to us. Only there are no laws that say you can't kiss your brother's friend. Like there is between family, you know." She said while cackling and blowing bulky smoke of something deadly in my face, prompting me to back away and cough from the sudden dryness in my throat and the moisture formed in my eyes from the smoke that ceased a lot of operation in my system.
"Come with me," Arlen said from behind and led me by the small of my back to the kitchen, where he handed me a cup of water and offered me a wet paper towel to clean my face.
In his bedroom, which should be half spacious as mine and had a tv facing the bed bench where I quietly settled, I felt every weight stationing on my shoulders.
Arlen searched through his walk-in closet while I waited, barely patient, with my toes and fingers twitching against the surface they were pressed against.
After a minute, probably, Arlen emerged, slipping a shirt over his bare torso and flashing his muscular body for a couple of seconds before he was fully dressed again.
I quickly diverted my eyes from his direction and looked elsewhere, mentally praying for this beating night to end.
"Here, this would do." He provided a hoodie, and I collected unhurriedly as different thoughts had seized my head. Much was about the rules I had broken in this night, knowing certainly Leigh would disagree with my choices.
Smiling small, I looked down before he added I could change in his closet, and I nodded with my head down.
After I was set and had Lilith's wet sweater in my hand, I walked back in the hoodie that exposed my night shorts and too much of my thighs.
I never wanted to run away from somewhere as I wanted to trickle down the stairs and flee the house.
"I should go." I motioned over the open door, but instead, he straightened from the bed and advanced in my direction, causing my heartbeat to spark disorderly.
Uncomfortable, I smiled and started to step toward the door, but I felt fingers around my arm, stopping me from running, and then a familiar scent that matched the hoodie I was wearing was too notable before he towered over me, crowding me entirely.
"Arlen-"
"I've thought about you randomly when I left-"
No, no, no.
"I have to go." I tried to yank my hand away from his grip, but he grabbed me again before I could escape his room.
"Ava, I couldn't see anyone." He emphasised on my face; he was distraught and expressing so much anguish.
For a brief moment, I stilled as a fraught silence passed between us.
I didn't know what to tell him after an entire year-
"I was wretched at the thought of you." He continued in a disheartened tone.
Paled, I shook my head and implored in a flat tone, "Let me go, Arlen."
"Ava, please." He exhaled a laugh and wet his lip with his tongue. "Let me make it right."
I try to pull out my arm, but he has me captured firmly.
Everything about this was surging anxiety in me, reminding me of an event from weeks ago when two boys had me restraint against the wall. The horror of impuissance had devastated me in my stance; I began to feel burning liquid in the back of my eyes.
Bloody Lilith, she ruined me again.
"LET. ME. GO."
"You cannot have him, Ava. He is your brother. You think Mr. Boyce would let you two destroy his family reputation?"
That wrecking statement had my body completely frozen, my eyes blown out, freeing the confined tears that I had fought to resist for a while.
"I would go. Please let me go." I pleaded emotionlessly, and he did.
His hand let go of mine, but before I could leave the room, he bore my organs with the grave threat that terminated every action in my system. I just halted by the door and stared at the wall opposite me while he tossed heavy words at me,
"I had thought I was delusional for months, considering Leigh could have every girl he wanted; he wouldn't go for his legal sister. But I saw you breaking his sister's car, and he joined. Who does that? He didn't ask; he just followed you like a confused puppy and engaged in a crime he would never commit knowingly, no matter the price it could cost him. It was shocking at first, but then it was clear. I saw you in the parking lot before you got into the car. That's not how he should act with you."
Tears were burning in the back of my eyes when I pushed my feet to turn around and confront the man who basically had my secret in the middle of his palm.
"You saw nothing, don't make nothing into something." My voice cracked; my respiration came with shudders from chills of horror.
His lips drew back in a snarl while he hit me yet with an enormous weapon, "I have it recorded, Ava. He was kissing your fingers for over a minute, and you were doing his face. It's right on my phone. I can show you."
His eyes had lost all those sparkles I used to find beauty in; it was now startling dark, wrenching my heart from its cage.
He was the figure I sighted in the dark that night. He saw us, and now he would ruin us unmercifully.
"How dare you? Why would you do that?" My voice came out croaky in the weakest tone it could ever get to while I searched into his eyes for the justification for his behaviour.
"I wanted to confirm you used me. All that while, I thought we had something, but you were doing it because of him. You made me a tool. You played me for him. I was a joke to you." He angrily snapped, his eyes streaking with rage. His breath was burning against my face.
"That is not true." Until I choked on my breath, I realised the streaming tears dripping from my face.
"Leigh and I were best friends, Ava." He yelled loudly in my face, spitting out on my skin. My eyes automatically squeezed shut as I flinched at his thunder. "Until you came, and now I don't even know the dude anymore. Of course, he had made it. He has a good spot in one of the greatest schools in the country. He might even have a couple of places waiting for him in the NFL, a handsome face you want to kiss always, and I am a wreck; I didn't play the spotlight position in high school because I was busy protecting the ass of the quarterback at the time, and now I don't even know my career, I am undecided." He stormed his feet in his track, his glare ferocious, his breathing agitated.
In-between clogged throat, I faltered, my lips trembling, "You had a good position in the offense unit." He had a good spot a lot would kill for. Why is he blaming Leigh?
"Bodyguarding your lover? Is that the future you wanted for me?" He exhaled a frustrating laugh, startling me.
I don't understand.
"Arlen, what do you want me to say?"
"That you would leave him. That it is over. He can't have everything; he can't steal everything."
No!
"I love him."
I shouldn't be saying that to him; he isn't worth any explanation from me.
He is fuming now, pulling his hair with his fingers and shooting a daggered glare at me from the corner of his dark eyes.
"That's because it is what he does; he stole you when I was so close to having you." He grumbled and barked at the last part, and then he was hurrying over to me, cupping my wet face in his hands while I winced at his touch. "Look, this doesn't have to be a threat or anything. I am just giving you an option." He whispered, calmly this time. Wiping my tears with his thumbs. "Imagine what this video could do to you, your family, to perfect Leigh's career out there when it's in the open? I heard many schools talking about his gifted talent, saying he could be the greatest footballer in future."
I exhaled a laugh that failed miserably, more tears falling down my face.
He is blackmailing me.
"It would be fair if I get one thing from billions of favors ready for him. Don't you think?" Arlen smiled viciously, leaning in and kissing my parted lip.
I should stop him, slap him, push him away. But I have no energy to that.
"I know you were annoying, but I never thought you could get this wicked."
"You wouldn't understand; you live with him. It is only his words that you listen to every day. He has seeded lies and sympathy for himself in your head. How wouldn't you see me as the monster?" He has pulled back after my words hit him, freeing me from his torturing touch.
"Good night Arlen."
I was forcing my slack legs towards the door, begging my bones to carry my stiffened body out of here, when he lay an ultimatum so harsh it exploded acid in every part of me,
"You have two days to decide, or I will have no choice but to crush him and Mr. Boyce's too. Oh, my bad, and Mrs. Boyce. I heard she made quite a status here?" He had mocked behind me, tightening my chest with his cruelty.
I didn't turn or respond. I race down the hall and off the stairs, wiping my eyes before appearing around the rest of the guys.
"It is nice seeing you; tell Leigh we should hang out sometime." Tyron was telling me while downing something from a glass cup.
I was too angry, anguished, and panicked to acknowledge his presence; I pulled my stupid dumb sister who brought all these upon me. If she hadn't bullied me that night, if she hadn't brought me here this night, I wouldn't be living this horror.
"Let's go." I squeaked when she was on her feet, and she cried at the exit, "Stop being boring. This is fun."
Of course, it is. She had been evil to me. My pain had constantly fed her happiness.
This is the version of me she yearns for, a small, timid, and fragile girl who has no voice.