She slides into her jeans, buttoning them closed. They accentuate her curves perfectly. With several rips around her thigh and knee, her tanned skin is clear through the jeans. She adjusts her white ribbed top slightly, moving it further up so that more of her toned stomach is visible. Over the past few days, her bruises have healed significantly. The bruise on her side is still visible, and it is purple as ever, but she does not care. She wears it like a badge. The ones on her face, she dabs concealer over.
She sorts through her closet one more time. She pulls out a Varsity Jacket. Eric's jacket. It hangs over her frame, but with her outfit, she is able to pull it off. She tightens the laces of her black Air Forces, staring at her outfit one last time. She has Parker's jacket, Eric's jacket, her freshman year boyfriend's jacket. It's a collection she refuses to let go of. It is perfect. Her lips are glossed with a darker lipstick she tends to use for special occasions. She uses it to be bold, to stand out, and today is the day.
She opens her room door, peering down the hallway. It is empty, without a sign of her mother. She does not need her mother's opinion on her outfit today. She will advise Alexis to cover up her bruise, and Alexis will outright refuse. She takes the stairs slowly, tucking her phone into her back pocket. As soon as she reaches the front door, she looks around one last time before she slams the door closed. The car is already waiting at her door when she steps out, and the owner honks. Bella. Her dealer. She's gotten everything from her from weed to the harder drugs from Bella. Bella had offered to drive her, insisting it was her pleasure.
Alexis thinks it has to do with the protection Alexis conveniently offers her, "Thanks for the ride" She mutters as soon as she enters the car, and she pulls out her phone, typing uselessly. She doesn't really enjoy replying to her texts. Replying to several texts. Daniel and Bella are two of the only people she can ever put up with at her school. They enjoy getting high together, and they often spend hours in this haze-like phase where none of them can think. She prefers silence, and she has no interest in ever talking to them. They do not care about her, or her status. All they care about is her silence and the atmosphere they all create together.
"Yeah, no problem" Bella replies as she revs the engine of her blue 1998 Cadillac, smiling at Alexis. Alexis offers her own smile, but it doesn't quite meet her eyes.
She has no idea what is about to happen. She hates not feeling as if she is in absolute control 100% of the time. So she paints on a smile and leans against Bella's leather seats. It takes only a few minutes to reach Blair's house. The gorgeous white house is made of marble, and you can not even see the end of it. It sprawls across a huge estate, and the the huge steel doors are already opened. Bella hands her something, and she sighs deeply.
She turns her gaze slowly to Bella, a smile on her face, "Thanks" She quickly says to Bella, not wishing to spend any extra time around Bella if it is not necessary. She tucks her gloss in Eric's varsity jacket pocket, along with her phone. She slowly makes her way down the lawn, staring at the various people loitering on it. Someone is throwing up behind the bush, and she chuckles. She knows Blair's parents will not appreciate that. She proceeds towards the door, pushing them open slightly. The house smells of sweat, and the neon lights flash throughout it.
She smells a mix of beer and weed in the air, and she takes a deep breathe as she process into the massive amount of people that have gathered in the hallway of Blair's house. She pushes through throngs, receiving a few looks here and there. People notice her wherever she turns. It is huge, and she skirts towards where she knows the kitchen is. As soon as she has a drink in hand, she proceeds towards the huge backyard.
She peers up to see Blair and Parker, sitting calmly together. He is sipping a bottle of beer, and he looks bored. Eric and Lena are beside them, calmly talking. Eric, similarly looks bored, and he slips away quickly. She does not see any of the others on the usual vantage spot for the Royals, and she suspects they may be spread out around the entire house. She calms herself, taking a few deep breathes.
She pauses beside the doorway, taking one foot out, "Why the hell did you invite her?" She overhears a voice asking as she nears the balcony, and she stiffens as she stops, pressing herself to the door. She recognizes the voice. Lena. Her irritating voice.
"I think that's the first time we've agreed," Parker's sleek voice emerges.
Alexis's lip curls upward slightly. Interesting. "Because she always has a seat at our table" She hears Blair's voice snidely reply, and then silence. Lena seems to not have a response, because she storms out of the room, down the hallway in the direction opposite to the one Alexis is currently in. She smirks.
She slams open the door seconds later, smiling at Blair, who offers her a wary gaze. She is dressed simply too, in ripped jeans a cropped top, and she is examining Alexis slowly. Her rage always seems to build up as she spots Parker and his smug smile. "Thanks for the invitation" She breezily says, examining the table of wines. Blair does not reply, instead, scoffing.
"Is that Eric's jacket?" Parker's voice cuts in, and she stiffens. His voice is cold and detached, and as his eyes gaze at her, he plays with his beer bottle, his fingers wrapping around it casually.
"Would you rather I wear yours?" She sweetly asks as she picks a wine, not meeting his gaze as she these words leave her mouth. She knows is slowly stretching her limits but she barely cares. She has nothing left to lose by burning her bonds.
His gaze burns into her face, her skin burning slowly, "I would burn my jacket before offering it to you" he replies without hesitation, and she does not bother responding. Parker is not her target tonight, she was just wondering what they had been up through, and according to what she was seeing, not much. The same endless routine of boring each other to death and tearing each other apart. She wonders when they'll see it as the destructive cycle that is is.
She had long ago decided that Eric was her first target. She lazily smiles at Blair, "Thank you for the wine" She says, grabbing the most expensive wine from the side, and Blair says something as she leaves to her, but she does not hear it. She slams the balcony door closed. Parker's smug smile and his face had annoyed her, the same as always. But she didn't have energy to deal with two people at once.
She strides down the hallway, slowly increasing her speed. "Sick bruise" She hears someone mutter from the side, and she smiles. That is exactly what she wanted to hear. She touches it tenderly, and she realizes that is not healed. It is still as bad as before, maybe even worse. She ignores that thought, instead, walking in the same direction she had seen Lena go. To her surprise, she hears Eric's voice within seconds. He sounds upset, bitter, and most of all, exhausted.
She locates the source. The bathroom several feet away from her. She stares around, noticing the door right beside it. She opens it, shutting the room door slowly. She then presses her body against the door connecting the room to the bathroom, locking it slowly. She makes sure that it is slow enough that nobody on the other side will hear it.
She then presses her ear to the door, attempting to overhear the conversation.
She sucks in a breathe, carefully pressing her ear closer, "What the fuck do you want?" A voice harshly asks, and she recognizes it as Eric within seconds. She cannot stop the smile on her face. She has hit the jackpot quickly.
A deep shuddering breathe, "Nothing," a voice replies, and it is small. Something she has never heard from Lena, "I just wanted to ask if you were okay" She is surprised at the bitter laugh that leaves his lips at that, starting a little.
"You don't care if I am okay. All you ever do is leech off me. Eric this, Eric that" She hears him say, and his voice is filled with malice. She hears a sob at these words, and someone slams something into the ground. Glass shatters. She breathes. "You know, for once, you could just live your own life. Without me" Harsh and brutal. Alexis can barely believe this. Another sob, and another shattering noise.
A sniff, "Stop" Lena's watery voice says, clearly moving away from Eric, and Eric seems to remember himself at these words. He slams his hands into the door at this. She hears Lena breathe in, a mixture of a sigh and a sob. Her throat wells up with pity, despite herself.
"I don't like you. In fact, this is it. Me and you? We are done. You may have believed we were friends but honestly Lena, we are not friends. We have never been friends," She hears another sob and another, but Eric continues. He does not pause even for a second. He's clearly wanted this off his chest for a while. "I put up with you because I had no choice. When I first met you in sophomore year you were so pathetic. I was kind to you because I was sorry for you. And as the year progressed, you made me feel guilty. As if I owed something to you"
Another sob.
She hears someone take a deep breathe and she presumes it is Eric by the way he speaks seconds after that. "This is the end. You are no longer a Royal. In fact, I was the only thing keeping you in the group. Nobody else likes you" He's driving the stake in, the anger is voice roaring through the surface.
"Eric, I love you," Lena's voice breaks through and Alexis sighs.
The slamming of the door leads to another round of Lena's tears, and she hears Eric's footsteps down the hallway, to the end, and down the stairs. She hears sob after sob. A women broken. She had no idea. She has watched them for two years, and she could have never imagined. She had no idea that was how Eric felt. She had honestly believed they were closest of friends and that they loved each other and understood each other. Eric has played the role of the perfect golden boy but clearly, that's far from how he feels. It's time for her to finally get to the bottom of Eric's secrets.
She drops herself from the door, unlocking the door to reveal Lena, who is sobbing, wiping at her tears pitifully. She drops beside her. And for minutes, they sit in silence.
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