06 | 𝑀𝑦 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑠𝑒

My tightly curled fist pounded onto the surface of the door eagerly, rapping atop the wood with impatience.

My shoes scuffed against the porch absently while I glanced over my shoulder at the drizzling rain cascading from the awning that I stood under and to the pavement. A lone car surpassed with lambent headlights shining over the flurries of rainfall.

The brown and ivory house was coated in rainwater as it slowly and progressively grew a bit heavier as time passed. The rhythmic tapping of water against the concrete echoed through the block and became a repetitive thrumming tempo inside my head.

I raised my fist again, but before it collided, the door swung inwards and I stared straight ahead at the empty space, slowly tilting my head to lower down to a tiny child.

She wore blonde pigtails with green ribbons on each and a green dress, yellow flaps decorated atop. She even had those plastic heels that said 'Tiana'. Looking to be around six or seven.

"Hi," she greeted softly.

"Hey?" I surveyed inside the house that I recognized. The living room had gray components with a mixture of darker gray on top. "Is Victor here?"

"Vic!" she called into the house. "A pretty girl is here to see you!"

I grinned, children were cute... until they weren't, but this child was sweet. She started walking away from the door, her heels clapping along the laminate flooring as a vibration of steps neared.

"Didn't I say no opening doors?" he offered, ceasing his laughter when he came to a halting stop outside of the threshold.

I muttered sheepishly at his displeasure, "hi, again."

Victor looked back over his shoulder and ordered, "how about you go play with your dolls until your dad comes home?" After moments of the pelting rain being the only noise as she scurried away, Victor questioned, "here to return my clothes?"

"Shit!" I cursed out, slapping a hand over my mouth, even though she wasn't in the room, I still felt bad. "I left that in my locker when I ran away."

"You ran away?" he drew out. "Then, why are you here if not to return my clothes?" he asked, squinting his eyes on me.

I felt his piercing eyes judge me. He looked hot, but that was just a fact, I wasn't really checking him out like I was Saturday morning, I had someone to be preoccupied on, but I knew what Kayla could see in him. He was tall, lean, fit, and had one good-looking smirk that could easily become his weapon.

I didn't want to come off like a bitch, but I deadpanned, "you're an asshole."

He cocked his head to the side. "I guess this isn't you telling me you want to hook up? Shit, go on then?" he urged. I sighed with a faint chortle, but he only stepped further into the house as he informed, "on second thought, her dad will kill me if he realizes that I had the door open with the heat running, so step inside, will ya?" he ordered, less of a question and more of a statement. To be honest, I didn't think it was curtesy either, more of a demand than anything.

I wandered into his home, slipping off the straps of my backpack and placing it by the door as I followed him into the kitchen. The cabinets were a smoke-gray and everything was somewhat of a dull undertone. It was all so bland and grey, and depressing, but I didn't say anything.

I noticed the only color in the room was a gold frame, and inside was a picture of a man, a woman, the younger girl I saw, and Victor. They were at the beach and all looked so happy. Victor looked at least fourteen, but happy.

"Are those your parents?" I asked, then shook my head. "Shit, sorry, that was impulsive. I'm here for a reason," I rambled quickly, trying to smooth over such an intrusive question. I was curious since there were no other pictures in the house, or colors, but Victor's back faced me as he stood before the marble counters.

He glanced at the picture, then looked away.

"Right," I abruptly got back onto the subject, "you suck!"

"I prefer eating out," he admitted casually.

I ignored him, slipping out a bar stool from under the kitchen island and sat myself. "Your words of advice! Didn't work."

He turned around with a scrunched nose and cinched eyebrows, revealing he was making a sandwich, the ingredients sprawled out before him. "What are you--"

"The damsel in distress bullshit!" I clapped my hand over my mouth but he shook his head as if to tell me it didn't matter if his sister overheard from downstairs. "I tried it and wound up looking more like an idiot than anything. Also, you're partners with Penelope for English," I added at the end.

"Urgh," he sighed, folding the sandwich inside of a napkin and sitting himself on the bar stool across from me.

"Oh, stop with the hissy fit," I interrupted, "as I was saying, advice equals shit."

"Fine," he murmured, grabbing a knife and beginning to slice the sandwich into quarter pieces. "You were trying to be damsel in distress, what happened?"

I glanced down at the marble strips of countertop shyly and mumbled, "I almost fell off a minor cliff into a waterfall."

He stopped cutting the sandwich, looked up to me slowly and burst out laughing. "You what?" he asked between spurts of hysterics.

I repeated louder and in surrender, "I almost fell off a minor cliff at Reemont National Park! It would hardly be considered a cliff, like a tiny drop off more likely," I elaborated, meanwhile I knew how far off my estimate of the cliff was. Jay was right, I could've gotten way more hurt than the initial plan.

The creases around his mouth deepened. Clarifying through his chuckles, "I said damsel in distress not death wish." He shook his head the entire time with his fold of ebony hair swaying against his forehead.

I crossed my arms childishly and refuted, "will you stop laughing?" I tried to come off confident and certain, but it sounded more of a plea.

He attempted to stifle the laughter, but managed to choke on the guffaws as they left. "How does one even let that happen?" He wet his lips, regaining his composure... barely able to stop the chuckles.

I rolled my eyes and explained, "I slipped out under the fence but Jay caught me because Liv was talking to my best friend and then Liv said, 'good thing you didn't get hurt, Mia.'" I quoted in my best manly and infomercial voice whilst mocking him all the while.

"First of all," he started with a condescending bite to his words. I knew I was going to receive a lecture of a lifetime, yet his smile didn't fade. "The trick is doing something when he's watching--"

"I didn't know--" I tried defending, but he only resumed as if I hadn't interrupted.

"And second, you don't fall off a fucking cliff. I'm finding this way too funny to be mad at you," he chortled, shaking his head timidly and returning to the sandwich. He cut the last quarter. tossing  the butter knife into the sink, hearing the chime of metal.

"Wow, thanks for that." I stated, "Your advice is shit. Sorry to bother you but that was all." I began to get up and leave when he called me back, opening the fridge and putting the ingredients away.

"My advice isn't shit. I gave you good advice. Nowhere in there did I say 'fall off a fucking cliff,'" he retorted, closing the fridge, announcing through the house, "Bria! Your sandwich is done!"

I waited as she bounded up the carpeted basement steps, no longer wearing heels, and now, clad in a blue Cinderella dress. "Thank you! Can you maybe play Tea Party with me when you're done?" she questioned optimistically, the biggest pout on her lips with enlarged eyes.

My heart melted, but dissipated when Victor tilted his head in debate as if he really didn't want to say 'no' but also didn't want to say 'yes' either. He replied in a questioning tone, "maybe another time?"

She nodded in understanding, her eyes flitting to the ground as she carried the plate with her four pieces of sandwich on it. She started to walk away when Victor suddenly latched to her shoulder, crouching a bit and yanking her into his view in a careful manner.

"I'll be down in twenty," he curtly said with a grin. She smiled as if told all her biggest dreams would come true. She nodded hurriedly, descending the stairs. As if quicker she got down there, the quicker the twenty minutes would go by.

He faced me with a quirked brow. "Thought you were leaving?"

I snapped back to life after realizing I was zoning out, watching their interaction. "Leaving now!" I asserted angrily, starting to march towards the front door before stopping and swinging around, pointing my finger at him. "And now I'm partnered with him for a project!" I started walking a little, pivoting again to see his arms crossed over his chest.

I yelled quietly, "your advice is the worst!" I trekked closer to the exit, but spun around and said, "You won't even believe the embarrassment--"

"Leaving yet?" He wore the biggest smirk and I wanted to slap it off him, it gave me a weird feeling, but I kind of liked seeing it, I knew that much. I understood the hype from it is all I'm saying.

"I'm on my way out now! I can't stand another second being in this house!" I exclaimed. I hesitated to situate my hand on the brass door knob.

"Do you want something?" he finally inquired.

I tensed. I really did need something that I couldn't put my finger on. Without knowing what the yearning was for, I muttered suspiciously, "Noooo."

"You sure about that?" he asked again.

"Hmm..."

"What do you want now?" he pressed, evidently tired.

All that I wanted to admit was that I needed more advice, but my lies... my terrible, terrible--- "Cheese."

Why was that the only thing I could think of? I mean guaranteed, my stomach always growls at the end of a school day, but why did I have to say cheese? I wanted to ask him for more shit advice, but instead with my dumb reply, he only looked as equally as perplexed. He lowly spun around to the fridge and opened the door.

Am I eating cheese at the bad boy's house? Yes, yes I am. And am I mad about it? Not really, no.

He slipped out the package of cheese out, but looked at me the entire time with a worried and skeptical look in his eyes. He tore open the package as I neared and he peeled a square of cheese off. "You're an odd girl, Rhy."

"Don't mention it," I uttered, taking the cheese from him. I sat myself down on one of the bar stools.

"I thought you were leaving? You got your cheese, now go," he declared, but the grin was on his lips faintly, however there was a noticeable, yet vague irritation in his eyes. I knew I should've got going, but I had to stay a little longer.

"I need your help."

"No."

"Please?" I begged. I broke away a corner of the orange slice of cheese and held it out to him. "I'll split some of my cheese--"

"It's my cheese!" he exclaimed, pausing to take in what he told me. He shook his head. "In my house, which you are now kicked out of," he broke down, pointing to the front door.

"Fine," I gave in solemnly, finishing the last bite of cheese before standing up and heading to the door.

I heard him sigh of relief before I pivoted. "One more thing," I started, walking back to the kitchen island in retreat as he groaned. "Sullivan found out that my name isn't Mia and he's been calling me Mia for the last four years and he just found out I have a weird ass name and I don't know what to do."

He rolled his eyes and dryly answered, "Be honest."

"Easier said than done," I rebuked. "You should've been there in class today. It was miserable. What am I supposed to say though!?"

He sat himself on the bar stool again and looked up at me through his eyelashes. "Well," he began, outstretching his arms as if to find the reason. "Why didn't you correct him after four years? You had enough time to do it."

"Because," I shyly asserted, "I would feel bad if I corrected him now, I didn't want him to feel guilty for not knowing my name," I explained, "and by time it became instinctual for him, it became instinctual for me to keep my mouth shut."

Formulating the reply for the first time out loud startled me. I didn't know if I had a reasonable or justifiable response, but it felt good to finally put my emotions to words after all this time I spent trying to brush it off.

"Well, from personal experience, I went on a date with this girl. I remembered her mentioning her name was Lauren, I yelled that out in her house while her parents were sleeping upstairs. Found out after we had sex, her name wasn't Lauren, that was her mom's name." He deviated his eyes from the counter to look up at me as he added, "I've always felt weird about that."

"Wow, you've helped me," I admitted truthfully.

His eyebrows furrowed, looking surprised. "I did?"

"Yeah," I agreed with a few nods. "You made me feel better about myself." I grimaced and started for the door when he pounced from the bar stool, latching onto my wrist and causing me to spin around again. Where his hand firmly placed had this warming sensation that tingled my skin, but I assumed that it was a normal reaction.

Shit, why was my face reddening? Why couldn't I breathe? His brown eyes are intense.

Most brown eyes are intimidating, but he held some magnetic magnitude of a boulder. That or I just made up shit to distract myself from the feeling of hundreds of butterflies that just so happened to make themselves known in my stomach.

He didn't let go of my wrist when he announced, "Just go up to him and explain you were too shy to correct him. You're playing one of the six personalities. Shy and sweet, but you're confident and assertive. You're telling him, 'I felt strange for correcting you.' His response will most likely be confused, but jokingly like he doesn't understand--

"---This hints that you care about him and his feelings though he is probably too stupid to catch on. Guys like it when girls are honest, be upfront about it. Why are you so scared of him?" he vented without stammering once. He squinted his eyelids, trying to figure me out. I felt a fluster coming along my cheeks due to my lack of social-ability.

Nonetheless, claimed, "I'm not scared of him. I just don't want to mess up my chances."

"He's the Golden Boy, probably hasn't done one bad thing in his life. The dude is most likely still a virgin and never had detention once," he assumed with a careless throw of his hand after he released his grip on me.

"He's not a virgin," I defended, but then my voice lowered, "I hope he's not."

"Why?"

"Because I'd like to think he has experience," I revealed and when I snapped my eyes up, I noticed he'd caught his bottom lip between his teeth, eyes of amusement and hunger flickering over me.

Why did I just tell the fuckboy of the school that I want an experienced guy? Shit! Very bad! This was very bad. Abort mission!

"And on that note!" I sang with embarrassment.

"Wait!" he laughed, genuine, breaking character. Though still serious. "You're a virgin who wants a guy with expertise?"

"I'm going!" I hollered with a faint smile as I placed a resistant hand on the door knob.

He slammed his back up against the front door, blocking my exit and causing my hand to fall off. My heart quickened as he looked... happy, somewhat. "Okay, meet me at---"

"I'm not having sex with you!" I cried out.

His face turned mortified, his eyes focused over my shoulder as he hurriedly lectured, "don't listen to that, Cambria!"

As panic filled every part of me, I turned around to face the basement door that remained closed with no little girl. I heard his pent up chuckles and faced him again. "Go fuck yourself."

"Ooh, you're into watching, it's always the ones you never expect," he teased. "Meet me at at the corner of Kimot avenue--"

"Where even is that?"

He ignored me and continued, "you know what, fuck it. I'll pick you up at your house. Next Saturday at two. I'll text you--"

"Text me?"

He slipped his phone from his back pocket and handed it to me. I noticed his ripped black jeans for a moment before I placed in my phone number without question. He explained further, "you're not walking home right now, are you? I didn't see your car when you got here--"

"No, I'm asking a friend," I responded. "I don't have a license." I noticed he didn't say anything, but he stepped away from the door and opened it for me. I started walking along the porch, Victor standing behind me as I shouted over the rain, "Are you going to school tomorrow?"

"That's none of your business, Rhy," he mused from the porch.

I nodded. "You should," was all I said before jogging down the steps. "Thanks for the advice, let's hope it's not shit," I joshed.

"Fuck you! Try not to go cliff diving again, will ya?"

"And you have fun playing princesses!" I yelled as I started leaving the protection of the porch. Rain drenched my tank top and pajama pants, instantly numbing my body and making me shiver. Goosebumps pinched up my arms and biceps while I held onto my backpack.

"Fuck off! And wait!" he cursed, retreating back inside. I pivoted around, my body getting lost in buckets of water, standing in the pelting rain as my hair turned into tight, knotted curls. He jogged back into the entryway while I squinted at his disappearance through the rainwater. He returned with a hoodie. "Give this one back." His jawline was tense as he spoke, lips squished together in a thin line of irritation.

I smiled cheekily, sprinting up the stairs. I didn't really care if it was him or not, though I wished it was Sullivan's--I'm a girl who knows quality and getting a hoodie from any guy, was quality. He had the warmest hoodies and I loved wearing sweatshirts that weren't mine.

When I resurfaced from the pool of cotton, I smiled at him foolishly. Showing him pearly white teeth. He grinned momentarily then laughed, "now leave."

He shoved my shoulder towards the steps and I took the opportunity to leave Vislocky's home. Stealing my second hoodie and second batch of advice.

x