The Innocent ↝ ÉLITE ¹

TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Everything changes

          KNOCKING ON SAMUEL'S front door, Arlo waited, tapping her foot on the ground. The door flung open to reveal Nano, his eyes wide in alert. He relaxed when he saw who it was, but the displeasure on his face still remained as he glowered down at her. "What do you want?"

"For people like you to stay away from underage girls." Arlo fired.

"Let her in, Nano." Samuel called and the girl peered in to see the boy sat at a table, holding a cloth to the back of his neck.

Nano glared at Arlo one last time before he moved aside to let the girl in. As he did, she glanced around the apartment and her eyes widened at the mess and destruction that was in front of her.

"What happened?" She questioned.

Samuel jerked his head to the direction of his room. "My room. Come on."

Arlo followed Samuel only for Pilar to poke her head out of the kitchen and force a smile as she waved at the teenage girl. Arlo returned the smile and wave before she walked into Samuel's room, the boy shutting the door behind him.

"I'm sorry Guzmán showed up like that the other day." Arlo sighed. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

Samuel shook his head. "No. No, he didn't."

Arlo nodded before she licked her lips and sat on his bed. "And I'm sorry. I knew Marina was cheating on you, I didn't know who with, but I should have told you. I just thought it would've been better if it came from her. I'm sorry, Samu."

"That's why you were avoiding me?" Samuel questioned.

"Yeah. I couldn't look you in the eyes." Arlo exhaled. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Samuel mumbled. "It would've been better if it came from her. But I'm glad that I know. Weirdly enough, it's all thanks to Guzmán."

Arlo chortled. "Yeah, that is weird."

The boy sat down next to her. "Have you spoken to her?"

"No. We're still not on good terms, but I will."

"Why would you?"

Arlo shrugged. "Even after everything she's done, I still care about her and her world has probably collapsed on her. I guess, I just wanna see if she's okay. How long until I talk to her is the question. How are you doing?"

"My brothers an asshole." Samuel hissed. "And you know what the worst part in all this is, is that I'm not even surprised that he did what he did."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Arlo whispered. "So, what happened to your apartment and your head?"

"Do you know about the watches?" The boy inquired and Arlo nodded. "Someone was looking for the one my brother kept. I guess I came in early during their search and someone hit me from behind."

"Carla's father." Arlo solved with a hiss. "What a douchebag. I've always hated him. He knows no boundaries."

"It doesn't matter now. At least they got what they wanted and my brother can be out of here soon. I can't look at him anymore. Every time I do, I wanna take a page out of Guzmán's book and hit him with a fucking bat." When Arlo didn't say anything, Samuel raised an eyebrow. "What? No 'violence isn't the answer' speech?"

The girl shook her head, her lips pursed slightly. "Nope. Though, it isn't. I'm working on the lectures."

"This is weird. I weirdly miss them."