Broken

• Chapter 84 •

I stare at myself in the mirror of Aya's car, I hope I'm doing Wonder Woman half the justice she deserves with this costume. At least my bruises have faded, and I don't have to worry about covering anything up with make-up. But I do. Because Aya has forced me to style my hair differently and put make-up on.

"This is so cute!" she exclaims as we park and step into some club Kate rented out for the night.

"Ugh, where is he?" Aya whines as she checks her phone.

"Who?"

"My ex," she says, eyes roaming around the club.

I frown, "The weirdo who's like twice your age? You still talk to him? What happened to Dustin?"

She rolls her eyes, "He is not twice my age! Clem, I told you. Dustin doesn't give me enough attention. So I ended that!"

I sigh, "Okay... So are you back together or what? Isn't he too old for high-school parties?"

She snorts, "No he's immature as fuck. But he has a good dick, we're just fucking around. Nothing serious."

I laugh and shake my head at her, "I thought you said you were a virgin!"

She shrugs, "I lied. Just didn't know whether or not you were like Hana and would make a big deal out of it." Her eyes light up when she looks over to the bar, "There he is!"

I follow her gaze, and she's pointing to a man wearing a full-on Santa costume. If that doesn't scream pedophile, I don't know what does. I press my lips into a thin line as we make our way to the bar.

"Santa? Seriously?" Aya groans as we approach him.

He laughs, and it sends a thousand goosebumps flying across my body. A chill runs down my spine, and I automatically do not like this man.

"It's sexy, okay?"

My heart hammers inside my ribcage as he bickers with Aya about whether or not his Santa costume is flattering. I've heard his voice before, I know I have. But I can't pinpoint where.

"Who's this?"

I'm assuming he's talking about me, but I can't tell. Because he's wearing sunglasses. Indoors. At night.

"This is my friend who is taken so back off," Aya narrows her eyes at him.

He laughs some more, and my skin crawls. I don't understand why I'm getting such terrible vibes from this stranger. Everything about him is making me uncomfortable, and I don't know why.

"Have I seen you somewhere?" he asks.

My heart sinks, so we have met. But where? I clear my throat, "No. I don't think so."

"Because I could've sworn you were in my dreams last night," he laughs. Or maybe not. Maybe he's just a fuckboy, and that's what's setting me off about him.

"Um... Okay. I'm gonna go find my boyfriend, now," I tell Aya, feeling the need to get away from this creep as soon as possible.

"What's your name, beautiful?" he stops me.

I clench my jaw and step away from him, "Clementine. Back off."

The man stays silent for a while, his smug smile is wiped off his face. My heart thud thud thuds in my chest as he studies me. I begin panicking because I can't tell if he actually is staring at me or not.

"Sorry, just go. He's an asshole when he's drunk," Aya tells me.

An uneasy feeling builds in my stomach. I feel as though the answer as to who he is is screaming inside my brain, and it's so obvious, but I can't come to it. I shake my head, suddenly needing a drink... Or five.

___________________

"Wow."

I frown when I look at Adrien's choice of costume. Is he... He's wearing drag.

"Um? You too, princess?" I snort. Why is he standing with Kate and Ashton? I don't dare look at Ashton, I just ignore him and provide all my attention to Adrien.

He shrugs sheepishly, "Dustin and I lost a bet to Arin."

"What was the bet?" I glance at Arin, who's standing with Ashu a few meters away from us.

"We bet Akshatha wouldn't say yes if he asked her out," he shrugs.

Aw, he finally asked her out. They're cute together.

Ashu hears Adrien and narrows her eyes at Arin, "Excuse me? So you asked me out because of a bet?"

Arin looks panicked, "No! That was just a bonus, seeing those pricks wearing ridiculous costumes. I was meaning to ask you out for a long time..."

Ashu studies him skeptically, and he looks like he's about to shit his pants.

"It's true, Ashu!" Adrien tells her, "Arin's totally whipped."

I break into a smile when Arin blushes and Ashu's face softens, "Is that true..?" she asks him timidly.

"Maybe..." Arin rubs the back of his neck nervously.

"Aww! That is SO cute!" Kate claps her hands together.

Adrien turns to me, "Anyway. Clementine, would you do me the honors of accompanying me to the bar for a drink?"

Weird way to phrase it. I cringe slightly but nod anyway, that's where I was heading before I bumped into them, "Yeah. Sure."

Adrien pushes past Ashton and Kate towards the bar, Ashton has his jaw clenched. He doesn't look happy. But then again, he never does.

"By the way, I love your costume!" Kate tells me as I begin following Adrien.

I stop in my tracks, feeling like I'm forced to compliment her back, now. "Oh, um thanks. You too, you look..." I take a moment to look at her costume.

She's a playboy bunny.

Dear God. I press my lips into a thin line, my brain cannot come up with one fucking compliment.

Like a high-end prostitute. Like a basic white girl. Like a—

"Like a bunny," is the brilliant compliment that decides to come out of my mouth.

Ashton snorts, then coughs to recover. Kate rolls her eyes, and I can tell it's time for me to leave. "Uhm. I gotta go, now... See ya," I dart past them and make my way to Adrien, who has already started drinking without me.