The Taste of Silver | Fortune's Fool #2

26 | a jilted groom

A few minutes later, I turned off the shower and supported her up and out of the shower. "Hey, hold onto me for a second." Her feeble hand wrapped around my arm, the bulky emrald ring looking way too large for her boney finger.  Silently, I helped her into fresh clothing, drying off her hair, which had stuck to her forehead, with a towel and lifting her into bed.

As I expected, there was a pick-and-mix of chemicals on the coffee table. No alcohol thankfully.

At least she hadn't mixed.

After drying off and getting changed, I lifted the duvet and silently slipped in besides her. For a good forty-five minutes, I laid there staring at the ceiling until eventually, I nodded off too.

---

I was lacing up my white trainers. "We need to talk about yesterday."

Talisa paused for a second from applying her lipstick before shrugging her shoulders, eyes still looking at the mirror. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Are you really gonna fucking do this?" I said blandly, lifting my head briefly to give her a glance.

She still didn't look at me but from her reflection, I could see her 'try me' face.

Standing up, I folded my arms and leant against the wall, watching her. "Lisa."

"Nothing happened," her eyes flashed dangerously, as she finally looked at me. More like glared.

"Lisa."

"I'm not doing this, Gabriel."

"Lisa."

"What?" she hissed in annoyance, slamming the lid back onto her lipstick.

I stared at her for a few beats. "We're talking about this."

"Don't fucking push me, Gabriel. I'm not in the mood."

"Talisa."

Her hair that had been straightened yesterday had gone curly again after the shower. "Oh, for fucks sake! I invited you here because I wanted to have fun and chill. Not be babysat like a two year old. You're the last person I expected this from. Calm the hell down. Everything's fine."

Hastily, she grabbed her handbag from thecorner of the room, swinging it over her shoulder and walking to the door. "I'm gonna go get some breakfast. Are you coming?"

I laughed bitterly. "Fine. But we're not done with this."

She rolled her eyes as I followed her out the door towards the dining hall where a buffet had been laid out. Fruits, pastries, food I'd never seen before, teas, coffees. The full set. I was almost certain they were taking requests too. I followed her along the table, bundling whatever looked interesting onto my plate.

"No more drama. I'd done with clearing up your shit for today."

"Got it," Talisa said dryly.

We sat down at the table and a few second later, she mumbled quietly in my ear. "And I'm sorry. About yesterday evening. Or this morning if it was after midnight. Whatever you want to call it."

She was wriggling about uncomfortably in her seat, refusing to meet my eye as I smirked. "What was that? A bit louder please. It's ever so noisy in here."

It was almost silent.

Before I could add anything, she elbowed me sharply in the rib. "Asshole."

And with that, things were back to normal. I couldn't deny it; Talisa was a bitch but true to her word nonetheless. She didn't kick up a fuss for the rest of the day. Even the next day was peaceful if you ignored Talisa continually flipping off Max whenever his back was turned. And pushing him off a small hill which everyone agreed to be tame for her.