Why is it so dark where you're not here
It's dangerous how wrecked I am
Save me because I can't get a grip on myself
Listen to my heartbeat
It calls you whenever it wants to
Because within this pitch black darkness
You are shining so brightly
Give me your hand save me save me
I need your love before I fall, fall
BTS
VINCENT
Dad asked me to pick Shanelle up since there was something happening at Carlton High that required his presence. He mentioned something about a group of snobby boys, a nickname he had for the Crown boys. I knew those boys were trouble but I never thought they would do something on Dad's special day or weekend. I had seen two of them during the rehearsal so it must be the other three.
Once I parked the car in the parking lot at the hotel's basement, I went up to the first floor using the lift. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Shanelle, letting her know that I had arrived. Her reply came shortly after,
Still explaining things to Autumn. I'll let you know once it's finished.
The mention of her name brought me back to the scene I had seen earlier and without delay, my chest grew tight. I briefly closed my eyes, convulsively swallowing the lump I had in my throat. I was not ready to meet her. Not because I was hurt, which I was despite not having any right to be hurt or upset considering I was the one who had pushed her away, but because I could not have her see me like this. If she saw how heartbroken I was, she would suspect something was wrong. I was supposed to be cold, heartless, and distant.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the lift and walked towards the ballroom. There was a small living room outside, nearby the window and I sat on the couch. I knew they were inside, I could hear them talking, which was why it was better for me to be out here.
"So that's it? I don't have to plan for a bachelorette party or order strippers?" Her voice. God, how I missed her voice.
I heard my sister laugh. "No, no. Mom doesn't want any of that. She's quite simple-minded. Plus, Dad wouldn't let her near any strippers. He's quite possessive, not that he would admit that."
Both girls laughed then after a while, I heard Autumn ask, "Where's everyone though?" and my sister answered with, "They have left, something happened."
"What is it? What's wrong?" Autumn's voice sounded worried and my heart could not help but flutter a bit.
"Family drama." Shanelle's answer pretty much summed everything up. "My brother showed up and--" she abruptly stopped, almost as if she was caught doing something she was not supposed to. "I have something to do." My sister sounded like she was trying to escape and I wondered what caused the sudden change of heart. "I, uh, I gotta go. Just text me if you have any questions."
I heard loud, fast-paced footsteps and right when I glanced up, I saw my sister practically running through the door. "Hey, Elle!" I called her and she stopped and then turned around.
"Oh, you're here." Relief flooded her feature. "Great. We gotta go."
I frowned. "Why? What happened?"
"Ugh, the the-one-who-shall-not-be-named happened." Shanelle rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. I knew she meant Luke. Since that day during summer break, they had never spoken to each other and my sister sorta ran away from him, which made me think something must have happened during that time. I had tried asking her before but all she said was that he had done something unforgivable. She had not elaborated further and I did not want to push her into talking. "Can we go now?" Her plead stopped my train of thought.
"Yeah." I started to walk alongside her when I suddenly remembered the conversation I had had with Mario. "Wait, Elle, I need to talk to him."
My sister, clearly not anticipating this, stared at me in disbelief. "What?"
"I need to talk to Luke." Damn. Why the timing was never right? I brushed off the locks that fell on my forehead. "Can you wait for a while?"
Shanelle looked like she was going to say no but in the end, she just gave me a small nod. "I'll be waiting in the bar."
"Don't drink too much, Elle," I warned her. "Mom will find out."
She rolled her eyes and shooed me away with a flick of her hand. "She won't if you don't tell her."
I gave her one last look before entering the ballroom, completely unaware that Luke was not alone.
SUMMERS
It is never easy to meet one's ex. Especially not when you ended things on bad terms and definitely not when your heart still aches because of them.
I was not the guy from the movie Jumper nor was I Hermione Granger so yes, there was no way I could zap and transport myself to my room. Maybe I had known him for too long, being with him for too long. That was probably the reason why I could feel him before my eyes caught him walking into the room.
"Luke!" He called out to his friend without looking at me or sparing me one glance. "I need to talk to you."
"Hey, man!" Luke seemed to be surprised and happy that Ty went looking for him. "It's been a long time." He walked towards him and they bro-hugged. "What's up? I was just talking to Autumn about how you guys have been doing in New York." He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled while Ty's eyes were everywhere else but me.
We had ended things badly yet if anything, I should be the one being mad at him. After all, he had been the one who cheated and then left without explanation. Before the whole thing with Phraser started, he had been lying to me about meeting his ex. It was all on him.
Tyler gave a brief nod. Again, to Luke and not me. "Let's go."
"Wait, where are we going?" Luke stared at him then slid his eyes on me before they went back to Tyler, sensing that something was amiss. When Tyler started walking, Luke turned to me and said, "Autumn, are you coming?"
Ty abruptly stopped and glared at Luke. "She's not."
"Guys," Luke put both of his hands up. "What the hell is going on?"
None of us spoke and Tyler was simply staring at the spot between his feet. I hated how awkward the situation was and a part of me felt bad for Luke who accidentally got himself caught in the middle of this so I took a deep breath and tried to be a bigger person. "Ty left me." I watched Ty flinch for a split second before turning back into a statue. "Well, we did break up." I took a few steps towards him until he was within arms' length. "But it does not mean we can't be friends, right?" I desperately tried to look at him, hoping he would turn his face a little or glance up and look me in the eye.
One more minute of silence before he finally tilted his head and turned. His eyes were icy and his stare was cold and distant. "We weren't friends before we started dating. Let's get back to that."
"Dude." Even Luke, who evidently the playboy in their group, did not agree with this.
I put one hand on his shoulder. "Ty, don't be difficult."
His eyes left mine to stare at my hand for two seconds before he shrugged his shoulder and took a step back. My hand dropped to the side of my body but I knew my heart was on the floor. "I don't want to be your friend. Stop wasting your time to convince me otherwise."
"Tyler. What happened to you? Why are you doing this?" My voice sounded desperate but I did not care. I knew I was hurt but I wanted him to understand that just because we ended things, did not mean that we had to hate each other or pretend the other one did not exist. We had lots of common friends, we were doomed to meet each other often and it would be hell for our friends to be in the position Luke was in right now. Moreover, as much as I hated to admit this, I still loved him. And I wanted him in my life even as a friend.
"Autumn." Tyler shook his head and gave out a mocking laugh that pierced my heart. "Don't get desperate. Why don't you go and play with one of your boy toys? Maybe Joe or Ashton? I am sure they're in town this time of the year." He snapped his finger and smiled. "Or maybe even that Phraser guy that you dragged here to replace me."
His words hurt. I saw Luke shove Ty's arm and said another "Dude!" but I was not planning to stay. The tears threatened to fall and the last thing I wanted was for him to see how badly his words had affected me. Walking past him, I tried my best not to run and walked at normal speed.
"Just one foot in front of the other, Autumn, you can do this," I muttered softly to myself. Once I stepped out of the ballroom and out of his sight, my feet started to pick up the pace until I was inside the lift. A few minutes later I found myself staring at the door with my hand curled into a fist. At this point, I was not only hurt but I was also angry. I was angry at him. I lifted my hand and knocked on the door instead of pressing the doorbell.
"In a moment!"
I waited until the door swung open. Even though Phraser just opened the door for me, his eyes were glued to his phone. I glanced at the screen and saw tiny people carrying a gun and frying pans. Seriously, the guys' games were weird. He walked back into the room and sat on the bed. "How's the rehearsal?" asked him without taking his eyes off his phone. When I did not answer, he lifted his face and glanced at me for a brief second. "Is it that bad?"
Phraser said something else but I did not hear it. All I heard was Tyler's words: Don't get desperate. Why don't you go and play with one of your boy toys? Maybe Joe or Ashton? I am sure they're in town this time of the year. Or maybe even that Phraser guy that you dragged here to replace me.
"Phraser." I moved in front of him, putting my body in between his thighs.
He seemed not to notice this. "Yeah?"
I started to get annoyed. It was annoying enough when Tyler had not spared any look at me. Now even Phraser paid more attention to his phone than me. "Could you please pause the game and look at me for a moment?"
"You can't pause PUBG. It is live." His fingers moved quickly on the screen, shooting people and moving his character around.
"Am I that irritating to look at?" I suddenly asked. Maybe I was, maybe that was why Tyler had not even spared me any look.
This seemed to get his attention as he quickly stood. "Are you taking a piss? You're gorgeous." Phraser looked like he was offended that I even asked the question. The look on his face, how he truly thought that I was either crazy or blind made my stomach flutter.
"Look, Autumn," he clenched his jaw, looking like he was having a second thought about what he was going to say but in the end, he opened his mouth again, "I know I have said I love you during," he cleared his throat before continuing, "a few hours ago but don't feel pressured into saying it back to me. I was caught in the moment and the words sorta slipped out."
I did not know what to say. Honestly, I was confused. I could not tell whether he truly meant it or whether it was just one of the thing people said when they were caught in the moment. I had watched tons of movies and read lots of novels where the girl misinterpreted those words into something more. I should not be curious about this, after all, any conversation during sex should not be taken face value. Yet, I wanted to know. Above all, I wanted to hear someone telling me that they loved me. I was craving those words. "Did you mean it?"
His eyes locked with mine as he nodded. "Yes. I do love you."
"Then it's okay." I raised my hand and the instant my hand touched his pectoral muscles, he took a sharp breath. It made me smile. I liked how even my smallest touch could affect him. "Autumn." His breathing was hard.
My hand ran up his chest to his shoulder then snaked its way behind his neck. I rose to the balls of my feet and pressed the length of my body into his. I did not need to urge him any further as he quickly leaned down and our lips met. I heard a thud of his phone dropping to the carpeted floor before I felt his hands reach my bottom and eased me up. My legs automatically wrapped around his waist as my other hand cupped the side of his face. I deepened the kiss. I opened my mouth a little wider and devoured him with passionate, feeding kisses. I kissed him as if I wanted to eat him up, run my mouth all over him, and find my release.
Against my bottom, I felt his rock-hard erection pocking and teasing me. I squeezed my legs against him and against this hot, tight pressure that started to build between my thighs. For one more time today, I listened to my pants more than my heart or common sense and gave in to the pleasure.
Fully and willingly.
© All Rights Reserved 2018 Rosen
a/n: I would like to say THANK YOU for being patient with me and my bad-timing headache. It has been hell and I could only hope it will go away completely tomorrow. I am feeling a tad better after a whole day resting (thank you to those who sent wishes for me and my paper in the comment section, ILYSM). I finally managed to update this chapter and it is by far the LONGEST chapter with 3.7K words in total. Phew~! I will try to update more often but I cannot promise you when. Just know that I am working on it. Have a great week, my angels! I will see you again in the next update! Oh, please tell me what you think of Phraser / Autumn / Tyler in the comments! I am also wondering if anyone is curious about Shanella x Lucas. If yes, well, their book is on my other account austenative (yes, I did just shamelessly advertise my other book lol) loads of pizza, Agatha x
p.s. I seriously think no one is reading this book anymore lol the reads hardly increase each day but for those who stay, THANK YOU ❤️