Maden
I walked out of the door. Dad had called me because he had found out about the state of my car. I remember how difficult it was for me to coax Brad into not telling dad about my dodge. I had promised him that I'd fix that huge dent on my own. Who knew dad would go about for his routine audit today and discover my car in the back workshop.
Keying the ignition, I started my old car and left for the workshop.
Dad was already waiting beside my car when I reached there.
"Come here, darling." The smile Ian Maden aka my dad flashed was nowhere near pleasant. The usual crinkle he had near his eyes when he smiled genuinely was absent.
I gulped audibly and walked towards him. The car was almost repaired with only the painting job left. But Dad has been way too experienced in the automobiles field as he had been a mechanic before raising all these workshops around Detroit.
"How did this happen?" His voice was calm. I don't remember him raising his voice at me ever. Recalling the number of times he has smacked Ilian's head and butt, I'd be honest to say that he isn't a very peaceful person. But with me, he's always been patient.
"I...somebody rammed into the car..." Half truth.
"At what speed was that bastard driving?" He bent down beside trunk of my car and inspected it. "Brad told me, you brought this here weeks ago. And in a very bad shape." The workers in the workshop stared at us. Dad sure was creating a scene.
I bit my lower lip in nervousness and nodded.
"Why did you not tell me about this, Sylvia?" Dad stood up.
Staring down at the floor, I refrained from replying.
"I can tell this is some serious damage, small dents don't take weeks to get done." He sighed. "I regret giving this much freedom to you."
I was sure that my lip was bleeding, with all the nibbling I was doing on it. My throat was constricting due to unshed tears. I've never heard Dad saying this to me or Ilian.
"I'm sorry, dad." I managed to utter. "I won't do this again and I'll also finish with the repairs soon."
Dad kept his hands on my shoulder and said, "I don't care about the repairs or this damned car. I care about you. We care about you."
My eyes began to water as my throat constricted further.
"You must not forget that you have people waiting for back at home. People who can't imagine their lives without you. I know you're not telling me the truth, but I'll not pester you for it. Whatever you do, just come back to us...safe."
I nodded and bit my lower lip to prevent from crying.
"Now, go back home. I'll ask Brad to finish your car and send it home."
At home, I was idle. Janet was not picking up her phone and there was no response from her since last night. I had called up, Martha, her housekeeper, who told me she was unwell.
I had no idea as to what happened after Janet left with Adrian, Dante and Alejandro. Phillip's party was stupid and so was the dare Adrian gave to Janet. I shouldn't have trusted them one bit and should've accompanied Janet. Those three boys are nothing but trouble.
Trouble.
For the last few days, whenever I thought of trouble only one name surfaced to my mind.
Alejandro Bautista.
Alejandro wasn't just an overly attractive guy with a Mexican heritage. He always had this aura around him that made me uncomfortable. No guy had made me feel uncomfortable in my own skin as much as him. Last night, after the party, I felt guilty. I had slapped him really hard just for a dare and I never cared to understand why he had hit me with a soccer ball.
But the things he said today made all that guilt wash away and a whole new level of awkwardness to take its place. First, his presence created my team's girls to go berserk. Then, he blatantly said he wanted to kiss me.
Was this guys ever serious?
I hopped up to my room after grabbing a packet of potato chips from the kitchen. The chips helped me with stress. I tore the packet and popped a chip in my mouth. As the crunchy texture melted in my mouth, I recalled the afternoon's incident.
I remember how hot my face had gotten at Alejandro's confession. My tongue along with my throat had gone dry. I've never heard those words from any guy, ever. And no wonder, my body had given such a scary reaction when I actually heard them. I had turned into a rock. My eyes couldn't look at anything except for Alejandro. The way his adam's apple bobbed just after he realised what he had said had made me gulp harder.
I had stared at his lips for long after that. But somehow the functional part of my brain had told me not think about such things.
"Fuck off!" I had said and left.
And now I was sat in my room, fidgeting as to why I did that. The image of his lips have sort of imprinted itself in my mind, probably long back. My conscious mind has been applauding me for my decision while, my unconscious mind, the storehouse of desires as they call it, has been cursing me for not kissing the hell out of Alejandro.
Who am I kidding? Alejandro was one hot piece of ass. Being sexually attracted to him proved how straight I was. Any girl would've killed to be in my place, hell they would've even agreed to getting rid of the body.
"Ugh!" I was seconds away from ripping my hair off. Alejandro always managed to get a rise out of me. "What is wrong with you, Sylvia?! Get that stupid brat out of your head!"
Then I heard a knock on my door.
"Sylvia?" Hannah peeked in before I gave her the permission to enter. "You okay?"
I released an exaggerated sigh and got off my bed. "Yeah. Just a little stressed, that's it."
What? A little? Lying bitch.
"I'll just get a coffee." I put a pair of sandals on my feet and grabbed my wallet from the bedside drawer.
"I can make you coffee at home." Hannah offered.
"Thanks, Hannah. But you know I go to Mary's when I am not in the right mind."
"Oh, yes. Sure, go ahead then. I hope you come back in a good mood." Hannah ruffled my hair once and then left my room.
Since, my Dodge was out for repair, I had to drive my oldie. The Honda, I had was really not that bad. It was Ilian's car first. He had driven it for a few months and the moment he got through Harvard, mother gifted him a Kia.
The drive to Mary's coffee shop was smooth, except for a few rugged thoughts of Alejandro.
Mother was the one who introduced me to Mary's. She had been a regular there during her college days. The first time she took me there was after I had suffered a panic attack. I was nine then. Since that day, Mary's latte has been my ultimate stress buster.
I parked my car in a parking lot a few blocks away from the shop. I was about cross the road when the pedestrian light turned red. While I stood and waited, I saw a guy walking backwards from across the road.
He was literally walking backwards on a road. I, honestly had never seen someone with so much passion for dying. I tried to zoom in and realised that the idiot was on his phone. How can someone be this oblivious to their surroundings?
All of a sudden, there was loud honking and screeching of tires. A car was speeding towards him.
"Hey!" I felt my heart beat faster than ever before as I made a dash towards him. My feet moved on their own. "Get away!"
Before the car could reach him, our bodies collided. I regretted not analysing how much force I had used to run fast as my body went down with his. Amidst the screeching tires and shouts of people, my body somehow twisted around and I fell on my back with the stupid stranger on top of me.
The speed with which I had hit him propelled us to roll and then I felt my head go numb. I had hit something really hard but I felt nothing.
In that moment, I felt nothing. My vision was blurry all of a sudden, yet I saw his face. A face, I could recognise even in a crowd of millions.
"God!" I muttered. "Why do I keep imagining him everywhere?"
I blinked furiously. My head was messing with me, my eyes were trying to shut down on their own.
It is a dream.
It is a dream.
He's not here.
My head repeated it over and over. Yes, he was probably a dream. I could say whatever I wanted to him because it was just a dream.
"Sylvia?" He said. He seemed worried about me. His voice seemed so real, as if he was really talking to me at that point.
The Alejandro of my dreams seems so good.
I sighed to myself. My body still felt numb, so I decided all of it was a dream. I stared at the Alejandro in my dream.
He seemed so real.
I smiled at him or at least tried to. I tried to look and capture every single feature of the dream Alejandro's face before my eyes began to power down.
There was one thing, I wanted to say to the real Alejandro but god knows I'd never be able to. But I said it to the Alejandro who had graced my dream.
"Kiss me."
And it was a lot later that I found out, I had said that to the only Alejandro who existed in my life- the real Alejandro.
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[Edited: 02.12.2020]
Why is Syl so silly?
Guys, just in case you didn't know, head injuries can make you delusional.
Love,
Isha