|| Haphazard ||

Chapter 6

***

"This wasn't part of the plan." Isabelle added. "I'm taking her with me."

"Well Isabelle, if this wasn't part of the plan before, then it most definitely is now." His voice sounded somehow triumphant.

"I'll have to repeat myself: what do you want from me?" I repeated my previous question.

"You know perfectly well what I want." He smirked.

The next word that left his mouth wasn't what I expected to hear at all.

"You."

***

Saying that I was shocked by his boldness was an euphemism. My mind was racing with different thoughts as my body's reaction was to only stand still, petrified. When reality hit me back I raised my hand once again, ready to slap him with all of my strength. Who does he think he is? That's what I've been asking myself millions of times since I first layed my eyes on him. I don't care about neither what kind of guy he is nor what kind of girls he usually hangs out with, but I'm not one of his little sluts and I refuse myself to let him treat me like this. My hand stopped midair, lightly shaking. I could feel a knot deep down my throat and the tears forming in my eyes, slightly blurring my vision. Pathetic, I know. But I wasn't on the verge of tears because I was sad or feeling humiliated, instead, I was almost crying because of my sudden frustration. I stopped myself from slapping him -against my will- because I thought that it simply wasn't worth it. Even if I had slap him, Matthew wouldn't regret any words and would've probably made fun of the situation. Good thing is -I'll never have to deal with him again. He was easy to avoid since he wasn't in the same University me and Isabelle were or, at least, I've never seen him there and I hope I'll never do.

I stood in front of him, gazing into his deep greyish eyes that showcased a sense of power and almighgtiness. As I had expected, he didn't move an inch, either.

"Isabelle, get me out of here. Now." Secretly, I was glad that my voice hadn't given away how frustrated I was. My tone was firm, just as how wanted it to be.

"Errmm... Yeah, of course." She took my purse and a paper bag with the clothes I was wearing the previous night from the chair that was next to the closet. "C'mon. Let's go." She walked to me and awkwardly stood by my side, waiting for my cue to go.

Without a word, I turned to Andrew and gave him a nod. He instantly nodded back and muttered a 'sorry'.

Isabelle had also prepared a pair of comfortable sneakers so that I didn't have to put on the high heels again. After dressing my jacket I rushed out of the house, followed by her.

"Scarlet, wait!" My roommate shouted, clearly struggling to keep up with my fast pace.

"Not now, Isabelle."

"We need to get things straight, Scarlet. I know how you are -you're hot blooded and I don't want you to do things you might regret later."

"I'm not going to do anything reckless, if that's what you're worrying about."

She kept quiet for a few seconds before speaking up again.

"Okay, but let's do this: I'll take Andrew's car and drive us back to the dorms."

"You go. I'd rather walk for a bit to clear my thoughts."

"Scarlet, I know that everything that happened in the past few hours might've upset you -going to a party where you knew no one but me; someone drugging you; ending up sleeping in that person's bedroom and waking up only to be bothered by that self-centered guy." She sighed. "I understand that you're trying your hardest not to show how unpleased you are and that you're trying to be alone for a while, but I know that you're both physically and mentality exhausted so just get in the car and I'll quietly drive us to the dorms. I won't say a word, I promise."

My stubbornness didn't want me to admit it, but she was right.

All of my body was slightly shaking and I knew it wasn't because of the cold. I stopped and looked at her. "Okay."

That one word made her smile and nod. "I knew you were a reasonable person."

I was expecting her to go back to the house and grab the keys, but instead she put a hand inside of one of her pockets and took the car keys out. Why did she have Andrew's keys? Maybe she asked him, but I didn't see anything...

Probably feeling my curiosity, she responded while opening the driver's door. "This morning after we left you to take your shower, I asked Andrew for his car keys. We were planning on having lunch and then I'd go back with you."

Without any other words we entered the car and made our short trip back to the dorms. I found all this situation quite strange -even more, the way I reacted to it. I was quite calm even after all that ruckus, and that was what surprised me the most. I figured out that if I acted like I didn't care and put everything behind my back, I'd see myself out of all of those problems.

On our way to our room we passed by some of our colleagues and chit chatted for a few minutes out of courtesy before getting into the elevator and let silence take over us.

As soon as I put the keys in the locker, a feeling of serenity involved me -I was finally in my comfort zone. I tiringly stepped into the living room, throwing my things to the closest maple and letting myself sink in the couch. My mind wouldn't let go of the memories, giving me only two options: follow the part of me that wanted to keep replaying the flashbacks and let that get on my nerves or follow the other part that was telling me to just forget about everything for the sake of my sanity. I decided to follow the latter one. Closing my eyes, I found out that it wouldn't be as simple as that. As much as I had decided that I wouldn't do anything about it, the scenes were replaying vividly in my head -specially the one where that Matthew guy told me that we almost went all the way with me after I was drugged. I must confess, I was angry at him but I was even more angry and ashamed of myself. He was right, he didn't force me into anything, I drank it because I wanted to prove him that he was no one to boss me around. But, in the end and without my realization, it was exactly what happened -he controlled me.

I could feel Isabelle's presence even if she was trying not to bother me. She was standing near me, pacing back and forth for what has seemed a couple of minutes now. I opened my eyes and discreetly looked at her -her hands were now entangled in her hair, slightly pushing it.

"What's wrong, Belle?" I asked her. Just the sound of my voice was enough to make her jump like when a cat meets water.

"Oh, Scarlet..." She said and nervously chuckled. "I thought you had fallen asleep."

"No, I was just closing my eyes for a few minutes to cool down." I suspiciously eyed her. "What about you? What is making you so neurotic?"

"It's no-" She was cut off by her cellphone's ringtone.

Just as if she had been waiting for the call for ages, she pretty much flew to the drawer where the cellphone was charging.

"Hello? Yes, it's me." She kept attentively listening to the voice on the other side of the line, nodding her head a few times. "Yes ma'am, I understand. Yes. You have my word ma'am, I'll let her know."

After hanging up, she stood in front of the drawer with a vacant stare, her fingertips rapidly tapping the top of it. It was easy to sense her growing anxiety.

"Is everything alright? Who was that?" I sat up on the couch, worried about her.

"It was Linda." She simply said, turning around to look at me, leaning her back against the drawer and slowly gulping. "She wants to talk to you." Her eyes met mine and she -for some odd reason- looked apologetic.

"Who's Linda?" I furrowed my eyebrows at the unknown name.

Isabelle sighed. "She's Matthew's mother..." She reluctantly said. "And she's coming over."

***

Hello everyone! Back with another chapter!
So now Linda's coming over and next chapter revelations will be made!
Stay tuned

See ya ;)