Imperfect

Fifteen - Alyssa:

Days passed.

I remained hidden in my room for as much time as possible. Avoiding Cal and his attempts to talk or take my mind off things. He encouraged me to eat breakfast every morning and I ignored him, snatching a small bowl of fruit from the fridge and then returning to my room without a word. He brought me lunch that I didn't acknowledge, let alone bother to eat, he proposed we go on walks or shopping trips or whatever else I wanted to do but still, I didn't speak to him or even look at him.

I couldn't. Not after what I'd told him. I didn't know what possessed to me to do it. I was tired and scared and sad and the words tumbled out of me before I could stop myself.

And since then, I couldn't look him in the eye, couldn't deign to talk to him. I knew as soon as I did, I'd fall apart all over again and it was a lot easier to avoid him than be friends with him.

It wasn't until a few days later that he hammered on my bedroom door. "Lys!" I flinched at the sound of his huge fists against the wood. If he hit any harder, it would splinter and he'd owe me a new bedroom door.

My stomach fluttered as I approached and peeled it open, morphing my features into a look of neutrality. "What?"

If my tone affected him, he didn't show it. And he certainly didn't bother to acknowledge it. "We're going out."

I frowned back at him. "No thanks."

"I wasn't asking Lys," he snapped back, harsher than he'd spoken to me over the last few days. Any traces of sympathy had vanished and instead, he looked at me like he couldn't stand me once again. For some reason, that made me smile.

"I'm not going anywhere so unless you intend to drag me, you may as well give up."

I slammed the door in his face for good measure and heard him sigh. "Fine," he said with a huff and my smile widened. "You'll just have to risk staying here alone then while I go to the mall."

My stomach felt like it dropped and flipped at the same time. I wasn't sure what terrified me more, being left alone and at risk of Ryan finding me, or missing out on a shopping trip. I could practically hear the smirk on his face as he stayed on the other side of the door, knowing he'd won.

"I'll be five minutes," I told him with a scowl.

I made him wait and over half an hour later, I descended the stairs to find him, Noah, Elliot and Ben all gathered by the elevator. I couldn't help but curl my lip at the sight of them all. One was bad enough but all of them, they were intolerable. "Ready to go?" Cal asked.

I eyed the others for a moment. Cal had the least money of the group. Ben was a boxer and a fairly well known one at that. The press reported on him as much as they could but he never liked the limelight and did his best to hide from the cameras for whatever reason. Elliot's family were fairly wealthy, living nearby, also in the Upper East Side. His father owned a media empire and Elliot worked there whenever his father got sick of him spending too much money. Noah's grandfather was a senator and his father was preparing to take over the role any day now. It was Noah's legacy to do the same. And yet, none of them acted like they had the entire world at their fingertips. They didn't work the way Ethan did, didn't look down at the rest of the world from their positions at the top like Ryan had. They just enjoyed the freedoms of having money.

"Try and hide your disgust, princess," Elliot grumbled. Over the years, they'd all adopted Cal's nickname for me, much to my annoyance. If I was royalty, I certainly wouldn't settle for princess when the title of queen held so much more power and influence.

I shot him a look. "This is the best I can do," I told him before brushing past him and entering the elevator. They all shared an exasperated look before joining me.