Love Songs

Chapter Twenty One

Shay - Wednesday, 2:35am.

I leaned against the doorframe, waiting for her to open it. I knew she wasn't sleeping. That girl never slept.

When she did, I looked her up and down in silence. Her outfit was not too different from mine. She had her vermillion tresses in a clip, with bangs falling out, and like me, was wearing a silk robe and God only knew what underneath it..

I was going to find out.

She eyed me as well, and I couldn't speak. I, Shay Thaller, was at a loss for words in the face of a sexy female. 

"Not exactly the first person I was expecting," she commented, her eyes scrutinizing my face.

I smilled, undoing the belt of my robe and letting it fall open in front of her. "Do you like surprises, Rihannon?"

In answer, she took my face in both hands and ravenously pulled it to hers, stumbling back into the room with me as the door shut behind. I'd forgotten how good it was, kissing her. She didn't kiss the way Jessica kissed, all shy and insecure. Rihannon knew what she wanted and she took it fiercely.

Which was highly preferable to a girl who obviously had no idea what she wanted.

I'd gotten her pinned on the bed and half undressed when she stopped me.

"You taste like vodka," 

"You taste like sexy."

She widened her eyes, obviously because that was the stupidest line ever. "Are you drunk?"

I blinked a few times, before nodding and saying, "Mhm."

"What about your girlfriend?"

"I don't have a girlfriend," I told her. "I never did."

"You know what I'm talking about."

I shrugged, sitting up straight on top of her, my hands on her abdomen. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Jessica Ross?"

I rollled my eyes. "Fuck Jessica Ross."

She laughed, astonished. "You have never been more attractive to me."

___________

Jessica - Wednesday, 12:15pm.

We were all dismissed from dance at normal time, but as I could have anticipated, Rihannon called me back. She was standing casually, confidently against the mirrored wall, looking like the face of evil in a black leotard, black skirt, and black scarf. Leave it to her to try accessorizing with a leotard, but of course I didn't say anything.

"Yes?" I said, really just wanting to leave.

"I'd like to see those turns before we go," she said, smiling weirdly as she spoke. I didn't know why she was wearing that devious, amused expression, but again, I didn't question it.

"Okay," I said, looking at myself in the mirror as I prepared, hoping for the best. I started with a tendu to the front and a rond de jambe to the back.

"So," she said, interrupting me before I began. "Trouble in paradise?"

I got out of the position I'd been standing in. "Excuse me?"

"I heard it's all over between you two."

What was she talking about? "Between who two?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't play this game, Jessica, you never win."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Shay," she said, starting to look confused. "She told me last night that you're history."

"Nothing happened between us," I said, figuring she was just fabricating some petty lie.

She made a yikes face before muttering, "That's some case of denial."

"Rihannon, Shay cares about me," I said firmly, "And nothing changed that."

The words seemed to make her angry, and so she spat, "That's why she's going around hooking up with other girls?"

"She didn't hook up with anyone," I said.

She made a smug face. "I have reason to believe otherwise."

"What, you're saying you hooked up?" I scoffed. "That's pathetic. She doesn't even like you."

"That's not how it seemed last night," she said brightly, ever confident. She began to stride towards me as she illustrated verbally, "When she came to my door in the middle of the night, wearing nothing but lace lingerie, and a pair of black heels..."

I pushed her off of me, daring to get physical because she was beginning to disgust me more than ever.

"God, shut up!"

She put her hands up, playing the martyr as if it wasn't too late. "I'm just telling a story."

"You're just telling a lie."

It had to be a lie. Wasn't it? Even still, I heard my voice quavering with insecurity.

"Mhm," she said slowly, removing her scarf like a snake sliding down her shoulders. "It's all a lie, Jessica."

That's when I saw on the side of her neck, an elliptical crimson bruise that matched mine perfectly.

"Oh my God," I said, tears already forming in my eyes. The tough exterior I'd worked to build melted like ice, and as Shay-confident I'd grown in the past few days, it was all gone. I was back to Jessica-fragile, and  I couldn't help myself.

"Oh, don't cry," she said, almost maternally, in an attempt to condescend. "That's just a game girls play, Jessica. It's time you learned the rules early."

"When will you learn?" I found myself screaming, rivers of tears streaming down my face. "You saw something special, and you just had to tear it all apart!"

"Don't blame this all on me!" she said, suddenly fierce. It was a shock to hear her raise her voice. Usually she operated by drawling and whispering all her remarks, rather than spitting them sharply at me. 

"Why shouldn't I?" I demanded.

"Who showed up at whose door, Jessica? When she was with you, I didn't touch her."

"She didn't want you to!"

"What changed? She's pissed at you."

"You're lying!"

"I don't lie," she said. "I may have said some things you didn't want to hear, but I have never lied to you."

"You've wanted to get between us since day one."

"I remember the story a little differently," she said. "Am I wrong, or did I not get there first?"

"You didn't have what we had," I cried, losing breath. "All you ever had was physical."

She shrugged, losing emotion and getting back to the stoic, weary facade she usually wore.

"Hm," she said. "Looks like all you have, is nothing."

All I could do is look at her and wonder how she could have ever been so heartless.

"I hate you," I said, dripping with anger and pain.

"I'm bothered," she said, rolling her eyes.

I turned for the door, knowing full well I hadn't even done what I'd stayed to do. 

"You should be," I said, not even bothering to look at her. "You're absolutely malicious."

"It's not my fault she chose me, Jessica," she said,  knowing she'd found the perfect words. "You need to grow up."