ROMAN
The drive back into the city was quiet as fuck. I swipe my hands across my face, trying to chase away the drowsiness that comes from hours of swimming. For me, it was more a sport I had to be good at than something I did for fun.
"What's your class schedule for tomorrow?" I ask Aella.
She straightens her dress with a scoff, "Surely, you do not believe I would tell you."
"I have other ways to get it, I was just giving you a chance to tell me yourself." I say.
"I don't have any classes tomorrow, just work." She eventually responds in anger.
I don't bother responding to her lies, I knew for sure she had classes and I wonder what she hoped to achieve with those lies.
My phone vibrates from the pocket of my jeans and I take it out only to see a message from my shitty friends.
"Eyes on the road." Aella practically screams in my ears.
I look at her and notice her near panic expression and I wonder what that's all about. When I had read her files, there was no mention of anxiety disorders or panic attacks.
"Are you okay?" I ask after some time.
"Yes I am, I'm sorry I screamed at you. It's just that I lost my mom in a car accident that could easily have been avoided if the other driver had been more careful." She says in way of explanation.
I nod reassuringly, not bothering to tell her I already knew about her mom's death.
I pull to stop in front of her dorm building and she scrambles out of the car, "no goodbye kiss?"
"You wish." She says with a glare as she storms off into her building and I can't help but laugh. I've not had this much fun in days.
I make my way back to my apartment outside the school grounds. I didn't bother praying for privacy, knowing the kind of friends I had.
I park my car and get on the elevator which takes me directly to my apartment and I'm immediately hit with an oozing smell.
Damn. My apartment was ruined. It seemed my friends had thrown a party here again, after I warned them not to.
I move towards the bodies clustered on the floor and on the couch and I shake them, waking them up roughly and shoving them out of my apartment. When it's just me and my friends, I turn towards them with a full glare.
"What?" Logan asks with a smirk.
I take off my jacket angrily, "how hard is it to not throw a party at my apartment, huh?"
"You have homes, how about you do it at your own places?" I ask angrily.
"But yours is bigger." Travis says in a whiny tone.
I don't bother responding as I storm off into the room to change.
Travis snickers, "the pussy must not be as sweet as we thought."
"What the fuck did you just say?" I ask grabbing my baseball bat from the floor and moving dangerously close to him.
"Woah, woah, chill out, he's just joking." Logan says while coming in between me and Travis.
"That was no joke, he did that to rile me up." I say through gritted teeth.
"Look man, when have we not made fun of Aella?" Travis asked with a confused look on his face.
"Keep her name out of your fucking mouth!." I say with a rapidly rising temper.
"You know what?" Logan asks, "we will leave right now, and come back later when you've calmed down."
He grabs Travis on the arms and moves him out of the house not once taking his eyes off me.
After they leave I fall flat on the couch already regretting my outburst. I didn't make it a habit of mine to fall for every single girl that comes my way. Fuck.
I spring up from the couch, swearing to myself I wasn't falling for anybody.
All the time I spent watching her and digging up her history has me feeling like I know her too well, which is what has made me develop these feelings of attachment towards her.
I nod to myself again, assuring myself that it was still all a game.
I try to distract myself for a few hours by doing school work, but I eventually give up and give in to my inner urge to watch her. I pull up the camera feed I had the security guy at her dorm install in her room, and I spend the remaining hours of my day watching her do the most mundane things.
I drag my sorry ass out of the bed and call an Uber, which takes me to a bar where I fully intend to drown my feelings.
AELLA
"You sneaky bitch!" Ashley screams in my ears.
"Can you please tone it down?" I ask drily.
"No I can't." She says squealing, "you hung out with 'the Roman Montgomery' and you are telling me to tone it down?" She continues with a scoff.
A banging sound comes from the room beside us and we both pause before rushing towards the wall. We place our ears on the wall and I almost topple over with what I hear.
Apparently our next door neighbour was having wild sex with a dude named 'Travis'.
'Harder Travis' she moans.
I lean away from the wall with the speed of one set on fire, "I could've lived happily without hearing that."
"Well, not all of us are prudes like you." Ashley says with a knowing look.
"Back to my situation, what do I do about Roman?, it doesn't seem like he would be leaving me alone any time from now." I ask.
"Speaking of your problem, could that be Travis, Roman's friend?" Ashley asks with a wide eyed expression.
"Isn't he supposed to be dating Keisha?" I ask, referring to Kylie's close friend.
"Well yeah and that's obviously not Keisha he's fucking." She fills in.
I flop down on my bed with a groan, "this is exactly why I do not want to be involved with Roman."
"I mean if his friends are cheating, that doesn't mean he's the same." Ashley says in a convincing tone.
"I don't care if he's a cheating scumbag, I just want to be left alone, I don't have the time to be worrying about him, I have enough on my plate as it is." I respond.
"Uhh… Aella?" Ashley calls from her spot on her bed.
I raise my head up, "What…?"
She passes me her phone without saying a word. I glare at the device and almost slam it on the wall when I take a good look at the picture and the video which starts playing when I swipe right.
In the photo, Roman has his hands covering the breast of a girl I've never seen before and he captioned the post 'dinner'.
As for the video, it was obviously someone else who had helped him make it. Him and the same girl were dry humping the hell out of themselves.
"It feels so good to know I was right." I say drily.
"Well that's good, catastrophe successfully avoided, we need to make a toast." She says in a sad tone.
"Look, I don't know what his game plan was, but I'm not sticking around to find out." I say reassuringly.
I don't know why most of the emotions I'm feeling right now are confusing. I feel very disappointed and let down, I mean, didn't that day at the lake mean anything to him?. I guess I would never know.
"I had wished he wasn't like the stories, that he was something different or at least he was going yo try to be for you." Ashley says.
"Yeah right, get your head out of the cloud, when have those people ever settled for girls like us, we are nothing more than a quick fuck to them." I say with venom directed at the injustice of our world.
"We need to stop this pity party and go out and have some actual fun." Ashley says while nodding her head like she has come up with the best plans imaginable.
For the first time I don't I don't refute and just go with the flow, "clubbing won't be so bad."
Ashley's jaw hangs open "Holy shit, you actually agreed."
"Well yeah, it's not like I have anything too special going on for me right now." I respond.
"I though I would have to drag you out of the room by your hair kicking and screaming." Ashely says.
I get up from my bed already thinking of what to wear, "Now you're just plain exaggerating."
We dress in silence and thank God not an uncomfortable one.
"I bet Lucy is having the time of her life right now." Ashely says while locking our door, referring to our next door neighbour who was earlier having her brains banged out.
My response is interrupted by the opening of Lucy's door.
"Well well well, look who it is." Travis says with a sneer.
Ashley looks at me with a strange expression, probably wondering how I knew Travis and what my altercation was with him.
Travis shoulders past me almost knocking me to the ground, "Teasing slut."
"You know what, I think it's better if we stay in and binge watch some rom com movies till we pass out from exhaustion." Ashley says probably unnerved by the confrontation.
"Yes, let's do that." I readily agree moving back into our room and thanking the good heavens I hadn't put in much effort while dressing.
AELLA I barge into the kitchen of the restaurant I'm working at and fling the half-filled tray on the counter. 'I wonder why the customers today were being extra bitchy and insensitive.' "Is everything okay?" Greg the restaurant's chef asks. "She said the egg was too salty." I respond angrily referring to one of our customers."It's a paprika-fried egg, it's supposed to be salty." He says while filling up another tray. I grab the tray and move towards the door, "Yeah, tell that to her." "Chicken and fries coming right up." I say with forced cheerfulness to my newest customer. After serving, I look at the clock and notice its time for my thirty minute break and I don't hesitate in heading out the back with a burger. I sit down on the back porch and groan into my hands at the unreleased tension in my lower back. Last night had been too much, we had watched movies and drunk a cheap bottle of tequila until we literally passed out. And then I had to wake up early this morning for my
CHAPTER SIX "Sip that slowly, because that will be your last glass for the night." Roman says, interrupting my line of thought. I glare at him and gulp down my drink at record speed, feeling lightheaded at my little act of defiance.I smile again at yet another faceless stranger I know I will never see again. After Roman had forcefully taken me for the primping required to attend an event of this magnitude, he took me back to his car and gave me a tablet which contained valid, strong and convincing reasons why I should attend his stupid ball without making any fuss. I had seen tons of pictures of both my dad, my stepmother, and my step-siblings. In those pictures, they were doing the most mundane things, like walking to the park, hanging out with friends, and even sleeping. There were also pictures of my friend Ashley, both in the dorm and at home. The message was very clear, and he didn't have to say anything more. It was clear that if he wanted to hurt them, he would've.While
"Just one instruction, Aella, just one. Don't get drunk, just that, but you still couldn't keep to it." Roman says with a clenched jaw. I look at him. Like really looked at him. I observe his features, tightened by anger, and can't help comparing him to a fallen angel. I lean all my weight on him, not particularly concerned about how crazy I might look. "It's not her fault, I got the drink and forced it down her throat." Georgia says, slurring on the words. "Noooo, that's not true, I was a willing participant." I manage to squeeze out in my drunken state. "And trust me, princess, you will pay for it." Roman interrupts."Why do you always have to be a killjoy? Who gave you the right to tell me whether or not to drink?" I ask angrily, probably jumbling all the words due to alcohol influence. "No one." "Absolutely no one gave me any right, I took it for myself." Roman says, "And the sooner you understand that, the better it will be for you." "Why can't you just be like every other
After we had successfully gotten rid of most of the flowers, keeping just a few, Ashley refused to let me go to my classes without telling her all the details of the ball. I told her everything that happened but kept some details to myself, mostly my conversations with Roman. I didn't know whether she would appreciate his arrogant and highhanded nature. "So what? Are you guys like dating now?" Ashley asks me. "No, we are not." I say strongly. Ashley packs her stuff into her drawer before turning back to me, "But he's called you his girlfriend on countless occasions." "And yet, he still hasn't asked me out. Heck, we've barely even gone on a date, excluding the ball." I say to Ashley. "Would it be so bad to date him?" Ashley asks me. I'm quiet for a few minutes, pondering my answer. No. It wouldn't be so bad to date him. Beneath the bad boy exterior lies a very caring young man, which I won't stick around long enough to acclimatize myself with. I flop back on the bed, not concern
Roman rushes towards us, and with his hands on the professor's collar, he violently pulls him off me and starts pummelling his face. He throws well-landed punch after well-landed punch and ignores my pleas for him to stop."How dare you?" "How dare you touch what's mine?" Roman asks the professor in between choking and squeezing the life out of him. "I'm sorry, I didn't know she was with you!" The professor says while clawing at Roman's hands around his neck. One look at him and I knew for sure that if Roman didn't stop now, he was hoping to have a murder on his hands.The professor's face was a mixture of blood, snot and tears. His screams resounded in the hall, and soon students rushed in, watching from the sidelines. "Roman please I'm begging you, I'm begging you to stop." I say desperately while carefully tugging at his shirt. Rather than respond, he shrugs me off and continues punching the professor, only with reduced intensity. After what seemed like years but could only be
"Don't answer that." Roman says to me as he gets off the bed and heads towards his mother. "There is a lock on my door for a reason mom." "What do you mean by that? There's a strange girl in your room, and no one is saying anything." His mom says in a stern tone. "Come on, mom. Let's talk outside." Roman says before pulling his mom out of the room and locking the door behind him. Left to my own devices, I have a lot if time on my hands and I decide to use it to explore Roman's room cum lair. I limp off the bed and search the drawers, finding absolutely nothing in there. Now that I pay good attention, I notice that most of the room is just plain bare without any trace of personal possessions. Further exploring proves this theory to be right, apart from basic items like clothing and shoes as well as a first aid kit, the room seemed very bare. However what it lacked in personal items, it made up for with its sheer grandiose. A floor to ceiling window took up one entire side of the
'On your knees princess.' The order keeps replaying in my head as I scramble to kneel up in the bed. "Hands up." He orders. When I obey, he slowly pulls his shirt off me leaving me bare to his hungry eyes. "Fuck." He says while running his hands through his hair in almost frustration. I fight the urge to shield my less-than-adequate breast with my arms. I move to cover up while blushing furiously but Roman stops me with a hand on my wrist. "Don't ever cover yourself from me, because you're fuckung perfect." Roman says forcefully as if he truly believes that if he says it forcefully enough, maybe I will believe it. Roman leans down to my face level and places kisses just on the side of my lips, teasing me till I'm hungry and willing to beg just to experience the feeling of having his lips on mine. After a moan of frustration, he finally gives me what I want, only it's too much for me to handle. With a firm hand on my jaw, he forces his tongue through the meagre barrier that is my
I wake up with a pounding headache and a fresh bruise in the shape of a fist on my left cheek. I look around the dimly lit basement and feel a sense of deja vu wash all over me. I haven't been here since I was sixteen, too many traumatising events keeping me away from this room. I would rather risk the wrath of my stepmother than step into this moment, but look at me right now, lying on the same floor with no way to leave. I get up from the floor and almost fall back down from the bout of dizziness that hits me. I lean on the wall until I'm strong enough to move towards the door. "Please open the door!" I scream while banging on the door, almost bursting into tears when, after a few minutes, nobody responds. I feel around my back pocket for my phone, and when I find it, I almost die from relief. When I take it out, however, my mood turns sour at the total lack of network, almost as if my dad had installed a cellphone jammer in this room. I turn on my phone light and look around th