The Bad Boy ✔

Chapter Twenty One-It's all a game of Cat and Mouse

The room was plain, but not simple. It had an atmosphere of something modern and which belonged to a guy. Again, I thought about Jace knowing his way around the house and then back to the blue room which we stood in. It seemed so off, as though there was a missing piece of the puzzle that I wasn’t understanding. But then the thought was shoved to the back of my mind when Jace spoke again.

“The bathroom’s that way,” he explained. He was pointing towards a dark, modern looking door. “You can,” he continued with a frown, “wash up and stuff. There should be new toothbrushes and stuff under the sink.”

I stood there for a few seconds, not really understanding Jace’s words. Maybe it was the after-effect of drinking too much alcohol or maybe it was due to the fact that my emotions were on a one-way trip to ‘rocky hills’, but for some reason, I just stood there and stared at Jace. I hated him you know. I think I really hated him.

“Marilyn,” Jace called. He raised an eyebrow. Then with a sigh, “Look just get cleaned up okay? I’ll go get you some water in the meantime.”

He didn’t wait to see if I entered the bathroom, instead, he brushed past me and shut the bedroom door behind him. It was a hollow feeling that swelled up into my chest then. The feeling was horrifyingly familiar as I dragged my feet into the bathroom-just as lavish as the room-and pulled off my boots.

As I rinsed my shoes under the shower, I decided to push out the feelings that were beginning to stir within my mind. I didn’t need to think about my emotions now, I had home to do that. Right now, all I needed to do was to pull myself together and get home before my father had a cow about my lateness.

Just as I had dug out a new toothbrush-surprise, surprise; they were exactly where Jace had told me-I heard the bedroom door open. I thought that Jace was back, shockingly fast, and ignored the knocking on the bathroom door as I brushed my teeth with the burning toothpaste. What was with everything being against me suddenly?

“Marilyn?”

I looked up into the mirror and found my pale reflection staring back at me. But instead of Jace on the other side, it was Mouse who stood there. His eyes were full of concern.

“Yeah?” I replied. I quickly gargled my mouth then turned back to face Mouse.

He looked at my bare feet then back up at me. An unreadable look flashed through his gaze and I wondered what he was doing here. Wasn’t he supposed to be back outside, with the rest of his band members? My thoughts were interrupted as he stepped into the bathroom.

“Where were you?” he asked. “I saw you leave during the performance.”

“Oh you know,” I explained. “Needed to get a drink or two.”

Mouse’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you drunk? And where are your shoes?”

I gestured towards the shower. “Don’t worry, not drunk anymore.”

He frowned. “Guess you’re still too little to handle the drinks then?”

Despite everything, I found myself grinning. Mouse smiled in return.

“So was the music so bad that you had to drown your eardrums out by drinking or was there another reason?” Mouse questioned. I could hear the concern in his voice and I could see it in his eyes. For some reason unknown to me, he actually seemed to care.

“It wasn’t really the song,” I blurted. “More of the meaning behind the words. Seriously, who cares about love?”

My bitter tone surprised even me. Whatever happened to not caring about Jace until I got home?