A Little Too Dark

A Tipsy Phone Call.

Lorenzo never came back to her apartment again that day. He brought back her car personally. He asked Aaron to come to the parking lot, only for the poor guy to bring Andrea the keys back before he left with his boss. Lorenzo didn't call or messaged her again and for many reasons, it bothered her. She liked him – there was no longer any doubt about it in her mind. One of the prominent reasons was the fact that he never came back up to see how she was doing. It bothered her that he didn't tell her how he will make sure that Martin doesn't come after her or her family. It bothered her that she didn't get to talk to him about Aaron – Andrea doesn't want that poor fellow to lose his job only because she asked him to stay for a cup of coffee and he agreed. And, it certainly bothered her that Lorenzo never drank the tea he asked for.

After Lorenzo left, Andrea didn't throw the cup of tea away – she let it sit on the dingy counter and let it get cold. She made Aaron the coffee she promised him and engaged with him in a small conversation – all this time glancing towards the cold cup of tea. But when Lorenzo called Aaron at the parking lot before sending him up to give her the car keys, she knew Lorenzo Vigorito will not be setting his foot again in her apartment – at least not for the day. That is when Andrea finally threw the tea away.

She thought a lot during the other hours of the day. She doesn't want to stay silent. She wanted to file a complaint against Martin for assaulting her. She knows what the consequences can be. She knows that there are chances that no one will believe her. She knows that there will be people who would try to call it an affair instead of an assault, but when she recalls all the vile words that came out of Martin's mouth – she shivers in disgust and anger. She made herself believe that it will be worth it – that she is willing to go through all the pain to make sure that Martin gets punished for getting his hands on her.

Andrea hasn't spoken about it to anyone yet – but she will do it – maybe not tonight, but tomorrow – she will be talking about it to her sister. Tonight, she is willing to forget everything and for that, she decided to come to the club with her friends like it was planned.

The loud music was blaring within the club. Normally she hates the idea of crowded places, loud music, scintillating lights, drunken people dancing, sweating, throwing up, or possibly having sex in some corner, but for the night – she didn't mind them. For tonight, these were her distractions – like right now, Andrea was sitting in one of the tiny booths leaning against the cold leather behind her, while Caleb, Erin, and Quinn were dancing on the floor. Erin was dancing with Caleb while Quinn, who was initially dancing alone was now swinging her hips in sync with a very good-looking stranger. Caleb laughed about something Erin said to him before his twinkling eyes fell on her. He waved his hand to ask Andrea to come and join them, but like before she softly smiled at him and shook her head.

Andrea was on her second drink and she was already feeling a bit tipsy – she doesn't plan on drinking more. She didn't want to get drunk – Andrea was an ugly drunk. She blew her cheeks out as she roamed around the club when she felt the couch dip as someone sat beside her. Andrea lazily turned her head to see Rose sophisticatedly sitting beside her with a smirk on her face. Andrea completely forgot she will be coming as well. Andrea groaned and rolled her eyes, "Urgh, Not today, Rose – I am not in the mood," She told her off before Rose even said or did anything.

"Oh, what caused Andrea's mood to go so sour?" Rose spoke, her voice held a hint of mockery in it. Andrea wasn't in the mood to get into bickering so she simply rolled her eyes and completely ignored her. Her eyes went everywhere but to the girl sitting beside her. She let out a loud groan when she felt a finger poking her side.

"I don't want to talk about it," She grumpily replied while she kept her eyes off Rose.

Rose huffed, "Fine,"