I'm not an early bird.
So when someone rang the doorbell in the morning, I hid my head under the duvet, ignoring it. But when that someone didn't stop, I started tossing and turning in bed and accidentally hit something.
I didn't think anything of it until someone groaned in pain.
Oh my God, Finn!
"Ouch." He said sleepily.
I quickly opened my eyes and looked at Finn who was massaging a spot on his head. "Oh my god, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
"That's fine. But if you wanted me to go open the door, just say so." He said with humor. "Who bothers this early in the morning?" He uncovered himself and only then did I notice that he was not wearing a T-shirt. When did that happen? He still had it when he went to sleep.
I stared at his back as he walked away, his hair in all directions. He looked good right after he woke up.
I don't even want to know what I look like.
This is probably the best sleep I've had in years. I haven't woken up even once at night, I don't have any pain and I feel full of energy.
I mean, I'll feel full of energy after at least an hour has passed since I got out of bed.
I stretched all over the bed, I know this isn't my bed but I'm going to enjoy it while I can.
I pulled the duvet close to me and took a deep breath. I smelled Finn's shampoo and just sank deeper into it.
"What the..." I heard Finn just after he opened the door.
"Did you just wake up?" A very familiar voice spoke to me. I sat up suddenly as I realized that Adrian was currently outside Finn's apartment.
What the hell is he doing here?
I didn't know what to do. If he sees me in Finn's bed and only in a t-shirt, who knows what he'll think? However, I can't run and hide in the bathroom because he'll see me, so the only thing covering me now is the wall. I just hope he doesn't go in.
"It seems so." Another voice spoke up, this time it was Jeremy. "You look terrible."
Why is he here too?
And then it hit me.
No. No. No. No. No. Don't tell me that right now all five have come to apologize to Finn for what happened at the party. Not now, please God, not now.
"Thank you, I appreciate it. What do you all want?" It was obvious from his voice that he did not like to see them.
But he confirmed my hunch. They are all here.
"We would like to apologize for what happened at the party a few days ago," Stefan spoke up. "Right, Adrian." I can only imagine that his elbow dug into his twin's ribs.
"Yes, we are sorry," Adrian said without any emotion.
"Some of us messed up, but overall we're all sorry. We acted like children. We're all adults, and that's how we should have behaved." Jeremy said. "We're just being careful about who Lexi hangs out with. We want to make sure she's okay."
"Oh really?" Finn snorted. "And what changed your mind?"
"Lincoln said Lexi told you about her mother. That means she trusts you, and if she trusts you, so should we. So again, we're sorry for how we acted and treated you." I just know that Jeremy is standing in front of everyone in that door. Surely this whole thing was his idea.
"Okay," Finn said disinterestedly and I'm pretty sure at least one of my guys is pissed off by it.
"Okay?" And it's Lincoln. Of course, it's him.
"What else do you want to hear from me? You all made up your mind at the party about what kind of person I am. I don't know what this show is, but you're not doing it for me. Let me guess, Lexi is mad at you and you think I'm going to call her right away and I'll say you came to apologize. That's not going to happen. So if you could kindly leave the building now and let me continue to sleep, I'd appreciate it. Have a nice day."
I heard someone put a hand on the door, which I assumed was Finn trying to close it in their faces, but someone stopped him.
"Look, I don't care what you think of us." Adrian began. "But when we say we're sorry, we mean it. We fucked up. We all make mistakes, so why don't you just say something like 'that's fine' and wave it off? We've all learned our lessons and it won't happen again. Now, can we call Lexi and be done with all of this? I have to go to work."
I was waiting for someone to say something and I didn't even realize what Adrian said. Only later did it dawn on me that they wanted to call Lexi, and I am Lexi.
Where is my phone?
Where is my stupid phone?
I started looking for it all around me, but I couldn't see it anywhere.
"You don't have to call her right away. Maybe she's sleeping..." Finn tried to play it off, but all I heard was a "shh" from someone.
I am screwed.
I didn't know if it was better to leave my phone ringing somewhere in the apartment or to go out to them in just a T-shirt.
It all sounded like a bad idea.
The only thing I hoped for was that my cell phone was dead and wouldn't ring.
It started ringing.
And even though everyone was quiet before, there was even more silence.
Oh my god, this is a disaster.
I stood up from the bed with uncertainty.
"Is that Lexi's phone?" Stefan spoke up.
"But how..." Jeremy stopped as I stepped out from behind the wall, six pairs of eyes immediately on me. "Oh." An amused smile appeared on his face.
"You motherf..." Adrian wanted to jump on Finn, but Jeremy and Stefan quickly stopped him.
"Adrian stop it." I walked over to them and pulled Finn closer to me, as he was fine with being jumped at.
"What the hell are you doing here, Lexi? In just a t-shirt?" Lincoln looked at me horrified.
"I think we all know," Luca spoke for the first time.
"You're not helping." I gave him an unpleasant look. "It's not what it looks like, I promise."
"It's not what it looks like? You just got out of his bed wearing his shirt!" Adrian was throwing his hands around while Stefan stood in front of him blocking Finn.
"I needed somewhere to sleep."
"Then you should have called us!" He screamed.
"I called! None of you picked up." I said annoyed that they were trying to blame it on someone other than themselves. "You declined my call." I pointed at Jeremy. "You didn't pick up tall." Now to Luca. "Stefan picked up but didn't hear when I asked him to because you were both working." I pointed at the twins. "And if I called you and told you I didn't want to go home, you'd make a big fuss out of it and probably end up in a fight." I stopped looking at Lincoln. "So yeah, I called Finn and he came and I slept here, sue me." My jaw clenched.
Everyone was quiet and looking at me while I tried calming my breathing.
"Why didn't you want to go home?" Stefan was the first to speak with concern all over his face.
"It doesn't matter." I shook my head.
"Lexi..." Lincoln took a step towards me and Finn, who was behind me, suddenly appeared in front of me, blocking me. "What are you doing?" He frowned. "I don't want to hurt her."
"Are you really that dumb?" Finn spoke up. "You're already hurting her. All of you. Get your shit together. If I'm the one who's supposed to be smart here, you're down to some real shit."
"It's okay Lincoln." Jeremy put a hand on his shoulder. "Finn's right. If Lexi needed us and we weren't there for her, it's only our fault. We're sorry, Lexi." He said looking at me. "Thank you Finn." He looked up at him. "We owe you."
We were all probably waiting to hear what Finn would say. And finally, he was the one who spoke first. "Your apology for the party is accepted. Now get the hell out of my apartment."
They all looked as if they had just been scolded by their mother and slowly began to move away from Finn's apartment.
"Talk to you later Lexi." Jeremy tried to smile and I just nodded.
Finn immediately slammed the door shut when no one was inside and turned to me. His hands quickly found their way to my cheeks. "Are you okay?" He kept looking between my eyes with concern.
"I just hate arguing with them." I shook my head, tired of all the arguing lately. What is happening to us?
"It's going to be okay. They'll come to their senses sooner or later. Do you need a hug?" He smiled, making light of the whole situation.
"I always need a hug." My hands found their way around his naked torso and I hugged him. "I forgot to ask...doesn't it hurt when I hug you?" I remembered his injuries.
"Not worse than not being able to hug you."
I laughed but hoped he was serious. "They were here because of me." I pulled away from him. "I told them if they apologized, I might go camping." I suddenly started to feel guilty. Everything could have been avoided if I had decided then whether to go or not.
"And are you going?"
"I don't know. I don't want to think about it now." I shook my head. "This day is not off to a good start."
"I'll make us breakfast." He said and as if it was completely normal he placed a kiss on my forehead before walking away from me to the kitchen.
I stood there as if frozen. Did that all just happen or am I still asleep?
*****
I came home exhausted. Not physically, but mentally.
I headed straight to my room, passing my father sleeping on the couch. But what surprised me was that the door to my room was wide open. I swear I remember closing them.
Thinking nothing of it, I entered my room. But I stopped before I crossed the threshold.
My clothes were strewn on the floor and bed, as were my books, some even open on the floor. But there was a gray box in the middle of the room, which I had stored deep in the closet.
"Oh no." I immediately ran up to it and started looking for a white envelope. "No, no, no, no." I rummaged through the papers and finally dumped them all on the floor, looking for a single envelope.
It wasn't there.
My eyes filled with tears and I dropped completely to the ground, horrified by what my father had done. And it must have been him, because who else would go to my room?
I stood up, anger coursing through my veins. I grabbed the box from the floor, walked out of the room with a determined step, and headed down the stairs.
When I reached the living room to the sleeping father, I threw the box at him. "Where's the money?" I didn't even give him time to wake up.
He sat up suddenly when a box landed on top of him. "What the hell are you doing?" He tiredly ran his hand over his face.
"The money that was in this box. Where is it?" I pulled the box from him and threw it at his feet.
"I'll get them back." He said, as if it were nothing.
"Poker." I said quietly to myself. "You lost them at poker." My jaw clenched. "That was money to pay off the hospital debt!" I wanted to throw everything in my reach at him. "That was my money!"
"Oh shut up, you're giving me a headache." He reached for a beer bottle from the table, but I got to it earlier and dropped it on the floor.
"You don't have a job, you sit on your ass all day, you don't pay anything, but you take the money that I earned." I dug my finger into my chest. "I need that money back right now!"
"Be careful how you talk to me." He gave me a sharp look.
"You're a wreck." I shook my head in disbelief and saw how anger was boiling in him. "You want to hit me? Fine, but make sure you kill me, because I swear if you don't pay me back today, I'll destroy you."
"Watch your tongue." He stood up slowly.
"I hate you with every ounce of my heart. You deserve to rot in hell for everything you've ever done."
"I gave you everything!" He shouted.
"What did you ever give me?" I shouted back at him. "You took everything from me! My mother, my money, my childhood! Everything!" I shook my head. "I hate you."
I didn't care what he would do to me after this "conversation". Everything is gone. Every penny.
I won't have the money to pay the debt and my mother will have to be kicked out. That means that she would have to come back to live with us, and that is out of the question. I will never let him near her again. Never again.
The last thing I remember is his fist flying towards my face.
So if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a crazy person. And what wonderful thing has occurred to me now? New book.
Someone please kill me, because I'm already planning to finish this book, plus two more in this series, but I've started writing something else entirely. Why not, right? After all, I have a lot of free time. :)
I'm not sure if I should start publishing it because the chapters would come out maybe twice a month or so. But if you are interested, let me know.
PS: the female main character is a serial killer