Don't Look Down

ninteen: don't need you to fight my battles

When he lowers his hand and opens his eyes, they're firm, his demeanor controlled. "Go to your room and shut the door."

Yeah. Like's that's going to happen.

"I already have a mother who wants to control me. I don't need a substitute when she's not around."

"I'm not controlling you." The snarled whisper accompanies the step he takes in my direction.

"I'm protecting you."

"From what?"

"I'm growing impatient," a feminine voice from the other side of the door calls out.

My eyes widen and my nose scrunches in distaste. I have no clue who this woman is, but if Seth's on high-alert under the threat of her presence, I already grasp she's bad news. Still, bad news or not, she's just a woman. How much harm can she cause?

"You're protecting me from her?" I ask incredulously.

"She's more lethal than you think."

"Fine. If she is, I'll deal with it. I'm not going anywhere and I'm not leaving you alone if that girl's from your past." I cross my arms over my chest. "I'm your first friend so I understand you don't know how this works, but friends back each other up."

Instead of welcoming my support, Seth's eyes narrow. "I don't need you to fight my battles."

"I know that, but at least let me stand behind you as you fight your own."

His eyes soften at my words and appreciation unfurls in the upward curve of his lips. It dawns on me how significant my backing might truly mean to him.

"I've been pretty courteous up until this point, but I'm five seconds away from picking the lock and letting myself in," the female yells.

Seth looks at the door and then back at me. "You're gonna hear things about me you're not gonna like." He's nervous, and this time I'm unsure whether it's the things I'm about to learn or the person who's about to disclose the information.

I still refuse to retreat. He's done things and I'm aware the man standing before me probably differs from the version this other girl knows, but no matter what she reveals, my opinion won't sway.

"I'm still not going anywhere."

He nods, turning to open the door, but as his hand lands on the handle, he spins back around. "Don't take offense to anything I say." I'm not given the opportunity to respond before he turns the handle and a woman emerges through the entryway.

My heart sinks. Ribbons of mahogany hair wind down and around the woman's face, stopping at the brim of her butt. Her ice blue eyes are coated beneath an excessive amount of smoky shadow and eye-liner, but she somehow avoids looking superficial. There's a red kiss mark on her tattered white t-shirt, exposing her thin waist and belly button ring; her ripped black jeans fit her like a glove. And the leather Alaricet she's wearing only accentuates the whole rock vibe she has going on.

She's a walking innuendo for sex, straight off a magazine cover. The girl puts Marsha to shame.

She sashays into the apartment-yes, actually sashays-and with the help of her red pumps, I'm sure her butt looks phenomenal. That's confirmed as she turns back around to Seth and says, "It didn't take you long to replace me, did it?"

I instantly place her as Seth's ex- roommate-the one who got attached. I recognize the yearning in her eyes as they trail down his chest and, ultimately, his crotch. Then again, she's not trying hard to conceal it.

The heart is a fragile thing and despite my best attempts at maintaining a strict emotional detachment from Seth, a fissure forms in mine at the chirp of her voice, letting me know how monstrously I've failed. I'm not one for feeling inferior, but with her standing only a few feet away, the inferiority is punching hard.