I bounce on the balls of my toes, agitated. My body on an autopilot of mechanical repetition. Hit, jab, uppercut, dodge, repeat. It usually shuts everything else out, but it doesn’t tonight. I needed the distraction like I needed air to survive.
Rory was back.
I couldn’t deny that fact anymore, much as I tried to do. She was here, and I was hollow.
Different from the girl that summer, no less engaging. She’d always been naturally thin but now she had slight curves on her thin hips and narrow waist.
Her once too pudgy cheeks now sit high on her face, right below those pearly silver-gray eyes. Tinted in a smokiness that wasn’t there before. That smart little fucking mouth below.
She carried an edge with her like the fogginess had lifted from her vision. The world not black and white anymore. A hardness settling in its place.
Rory shielded herself well but I recognized familiarity when I saw it.
“That bitch,” Finn seethes, slamming his phone down. Scratching at his forehead with his thumb and pinky fingers in agitation. “I can’t believe her.”
Eli squats, grunting. The barbell dropping back into place before he picks it up, starting again.
Finn spouts off in the meantime. “I could barely hear myself think, let alone talk with how loud the music was.” Oblivious as usual. Eli sucks on his cheek, shooting a glare at his back.
His diminutive gesture not going unnoticed at school. Cutting between Rory and I like he was being honorable. To what, a month’s long friendship at most?
Finn and I had been friends with him foryears. His loyalty owed to us, not her.
Angling his head, Finn side-eyes Eli, shooting him a look, pointing a finger in annoyance to the ceiling. Blowing out air, Eli relents, grabbing for his phone. My ears rejoice.
Finn, unaware of the looks Eli had been shooting at his back the entire time, sits down unconcerned. Guess we were all going to be cranky tonight.
Fine by me.
I look down at the same time Finn picks his phone up, wincing. Dumbass cracked the screen. Not like he couldn’t afford a new one. I just found it humorous that he had another thing to complain about.
First his sister coming back, then his car, and now this. Finn is having a great month.
Reddish-brown stains tint the bag in a scattered pattern like an abstract painting. A hard-clenched hand instead of a brush, my choice of utensil.
My chest rattles, scissor punch. Comatose, that’s how I wanted to feel.
“I rushed having the starlight ceiling installed for the bash this weekend,” Finn grumbles.
“Let me guess. You wanted to fuck while under the stars,” I deadpan, knowing how Finn’s polluted head works. He’d do just about anything if it resulted in him getting laid.
I would never understand why he tried so hard; girls threw themselves at him constantly. The power associated with his last name, same as mine.
A coveted trophy. A status symbol of wealth. That’s what we were. While Finn had his fill, I was more selective. Girls constantly available, any one of their faceless personas did the job, but I was picky.
I liked obedience, not a prattler.
“All gone to waste,” he mumbles under his breath.
“I’m sure you’ll still find someone who’ll get your dick wet,” Eli drawls out, coming over. “Didn’t you get blue balled last year in the woods?”
I snort. That wasn’t his fault. The girl’s supposed boyfriend, interrupting, finding her after she was gone too long. Finn dick deep railing her against a tree.
A slow smile crosses his face, recalling.
“It’s amazing how you’ve never had an STD. You’re a walking billboard for one.”
Finn shrugs unapologetically. “You know what they say about abstinence.”