The Art of Unopulence

18 | dazed

I drop my head forward, finding it too heavy to hold up straight. My untied hair falls in front of my face like a curtain as I struggle to keep my eyes open while I try to free my hands.

With a soft, pained grunt, I try to tilt my face sideways and shake it out of the way but it stubbornly stays in my eyes and tickles my nose and ears.

Nathaniel hisses to himself under his breath, standing up to get something from his closet.

A few seconds later I feel the cool tip of another needle pricking my arm. I don't even have the energy to see if it's the antidote or something else entirely, and protest if need be.

Nathaniel helps me sit up, my wrists still tied behind my back, as the injected liquid works it's way through my circulatory system before going back to perch gracefully on the edge of his bed frame.

"I apologize for letting extra venom enter you body, Ariya." He says solemnly, glancing at his fingers apologetically, "It happened by mistake while you were struggling against me. You must believe that I really did not mean for that to happen."

The corners of my mouth twist into a sneer in response.

"I never pegged you to be a straight faced liar." I half laugh, tilting my face to the side as I stare into Nathaniel's unyielding eyes, "And honestly, lying is such a huge turn off."

He opens his mouth to respond but closes it almost immediately, quietly swallowing back whatever he wants to say and clasps his hands together in his lap.

"I'm supposed to be smart. And self sufficient. Because apparently it's highly illegal to be intelligent and sexy and get the best of everything handed over to me, right? And having everything means that I'm not allowed to have problems. I'm supposed to sit straight and look pretty while I fucking save the world everyone else mopes over their sorry lives, because I have fucking everything that everyone so conveniently thinks they don't." I laugh airily, the swimming venom and antidote in my bloodstream making me delirious.

Nathaniel listens intently, his mask of sincerity is so convincing that I forget the rest of my enraged rant. It's hard to believe that I was naive enough to actually think of him as a friend.

"I'm sorry Ariya. I —"

"Famous last words. Of course you are sorry that you got caught." I scoff, cutting him off rudely, "Or maybe it's that spectacular hickey you're sporting on your neck. I bet it's your first one so it has to be the best you've ever had since you have no other experience to compare it to."

Nathaniel stiffens, shifting his legs slightly as his clasped fingers dig into the outside of his palms.

I'm vomiting words now- saying everything that crosses my mind without taking a single moment to filter my thoughts. I know that, but I can't bring myself to stop now.

"Here I thought that you actually liked spending time with me although you had no real choice. And trust me, it is lovely to live in your own deluded reality. I was fucking cross eyed about everything you did behind my tinted outlook, to the point where I thought you farted rainbows and unicorns. Little did I know that you were taking advantage of my desperate need to feel wanted by someone else!"