Bleed, Patch, And Keep Moving - An Apex Legends Story

Chapter 90 - The Gala Event

"So?" She was standing in front of him waiting for him to answer. "Si." He didn't even realize what he was agreeing to at this point. She smiled and took him by the hand, dragging him out of her room and down the stairs. But really she wasn't dragging him anywhere, he would follow her to ends of the world if it meant that he could be with her. He was pleasantly surprised when they stopped in front of the liquor cabinet.

"Che I don't want to drink alone. It's so boring." Ajay popped the lock off of the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of unopened vodka. "Who said ya were drinkin alone Silva." Octavio gave her a confused look, "Che, you drinking?" He took the bottle from her and opened it, "You hate this shit." She grabbed the bottle and took a long drink. Her face scrunched up with a weird look overtaking it as the vodka burned all the way down. He laughed and took the bottle from her, taking a drink.

She watched him. "How do ya drink that shit without it burnin?" He shrugged and handed her the bottle, "Practice." Ajay took another long drink and tried not to make any faces; she was only semi successful on the not making faces part. Octavio laughed and took the bottle, "I don't hate this Che." He took a drink of the vodka and looked at the bottle before handing it to her. "The rest is yours."

She took the bottle and drank what was left. Her face felt warm but it wasn't from the vodka, she felt Octavio's hand on her ass. She lost her words for a moment as she grew warm and wet between her legs. She set the bottle down on the nearby table and stepped away from him, "Silva..." She swallowed hard, "We should get going." He smiled at her, "Yeah. We gotta go piss off the folks." He watched her face briefly before she turned towards the door, "Che?"

Ajay stopped in her tracks but she didn't turned around, her face was too red. "Silva are ya coming?" Octavio rubbed the back of his neck. He wanted to tell her about his feelings for her but he really didn't know how to put what he wanted to say into words. He also didn't want to put their friendship on the fringe again. He sighed as feared her rejection and didn't want to risk their friendship at this point, "Nothing." He followed her to the door, "Let's get going."

It wasn't long before they made it to the Bonsai Plaza where gala was being held. For Ajay and Octavio the gala was just a bunch of useless antiques, sculptures, and artwork. Ajay had been to so many of these events that she had lost count. Her parents forced her to go and since she lived with them she really had no choice. She was always allowed to bring someone but he parents never liked her choice because it was always Octavio Silva.

Silva was always her plus one to everything and she was always his plus one to everything as well. She was always his camera man, or woman, for all of his videos. She was also his accomplice for all of his little side missions. They were always together in the thick of things. If there was ever any trouble on Olympus, it was usually Octavio and Ajay as the driving force behind it.

Ajay didn't ever hear her parents outright say they hated Octavio but she could feel her parent's disgust towards her best friend. Octavio was the one person she was not willing to give up or bargain about with her parents. So often her parents just let Octavio hang around. Even though they would try to separate them at times.

Ajay and Octavio entered the gala arm in arm. She put a fake smile on her face, which was pretty easy with all the vodka in her system. She greeted a few people before her mother grabbed her by the arm, "Hi Octavio. May I have a word with my daughter?" Octavio shrugged and Cherisse pulled Ajay into a private room where Darion, her father, was waiting. Cherisse closed the door behind her, still clutching Ajay's arm. She pulled Ajay in front of her, "What the hell is your problem?" Cherisse hissed at her.

Ajay stared at her but didn't say a word as her mother continued to speak, "You look like a whore." Darion touched Ajay's hair, "This is no way for any daughter of mine to be dressed." Ajay stared at her mother as she pulled her arm away from her, "I look fine. Why don ya worry more about profitin from the war and less about what I'm wearin." Darion sighed and dropped his hand from her hair. "I am going to go keep an eye out for that Loba character. Can't be too careful with the valuables nowadays." Cherisse nodded as Darion left, closing the door behind him.

"I don't know what has gotten into you tonight." Cherisse was inches from Ajay's face as she spoke to her. Ajay shrugged, "It's not just tonight. It has been like this for a long time." Cherisse grabbed Ajay by the back of the head and pulled her by her hair to force her gaze to hers, "Have you been drinking?" Ajay smiled and blew a breath of air into her mother's face before she spoke, "Yah." Cherisse frowned, "It's that Silva kid. I swear."

Ajay interrupted her, "It's not Silva. He's the only one that gives a shit about me." Cherisse slapped Ajay across the face with her other hand, "Don't you talk to me like that." Ajay continued to laugh, "It don matter what I do. Ya gonna do what ya gonna do and we ain't gonna agree." Cherisse slapped Ajay again and pushed her to the floor, "Watch your tone with me." Cherisse straightened her dress out, "You need to go home before you embarrass our family." Ajay sat on the floor with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth as Cherisse left. She sat there for a while until Octavio came in.

A look of concern washed over his face Octavio's face when he found Ajay sitting on the floor. He knew that Ajay had it bad with her parents but he never knew it how bad it really was. He helped her to her feet, "Che?" She stared at the ground. "It's okay Silva." She forced herself to smile as her eyes met his. He frowned and gently wiped the blood from her busted bottom lip. He took her by the hand and led her to a back service elevator. It didn't take too long before the elevator doors opened and they got in. Octavio pressed the button to get them to the roof top.