previously on chapter 7...
ivy's pov
"sorry... i- i just feel like someone's watching us, for some reason. i felt like i was being followed me on the way here, actually. maybe it's just a paranoid woman kinda thing... you know how it is for females sometimes." "ah..." ciarán nodded in understanding and patted my back reassuringly. "well, you're safe here now. don't worry about anything, okay?" i nodded, trying my best to ignore the nagging feeling in my chest, and started to strum the opening chords of my song.
it's probably nothing. right?
no one's pov
a pair of haunting eyes watched the pair from the corner of the window in silent fury. with her jacket hood up and face hastily covered up by a cheap bandana she bought at the nearest dollar store, mackenzie continued to observe. sure, she might have looked suspicious, but the streets were empty; no one was there to witness what she was doing.
her blood boiled as she saw ivy and ciaran bantering playfully after he reached out to adjust the guitar for her. i really thought ivy and i could be friends; she seemed nice. little did i know that she's a fucking bitch that's stealing ciarán from me, she thought. ciarán, sweetie. i can't wait to get back with you again after all those years. i'll show you that i'm worlds better than that ivy girl.
ivy's pov
i finished demonstrating my song and gulped in anticipation, grabbing ciarán's redbull and taking a few big gulps . "so... what do you think?" unexpectedly, ciarán leaned forward, his face getting closer and closer as he...
reached for the guitar. "wait, i swear the guitar's a little off. maybe it's just your voice though, i don't know." ciarán chuckled as he twisted the tuning pegs with deft fingers. "oh my god, shut up. is my singing that bad?" he looked up. "nah, i'm just kidding. you sounded great. the song sounds great. " he smiled earnestly.
oh my god he's so cute it's killing me-
scooting over to the computer n his roll-y chair, he gestured at me to get closer, and pointed to a recording mic. "you ready to record that so i can start tinkering around?" nodding, i took a swig from ciarán's can of redbull again nervously. he squinted at me. "nervous? not sure if the caffeine's gonna help." i drummed my fingers on the table. "sorry... i'm not used to recording in front of new people." "ah, i get you. i refused to record in front of my bandmates for like, 3 years until we recorded GINGER. i guess we're both kinda anxious people, huh." i ran my hands through my hair anxiously and positioned myself in front of the mic. "it's alright, i'm ready."
tap, tap.
the tapping sounds were followed by a faint shuffling from the window. catching my attention, i turned my head towards that direction. glancing at ciarán, i asked, "did you hear that?" the tugging feeling in my chest returned, and i thought back to the feeling of getting followed earlier. he blinked and looked at the window. "it's probably nothing; my neighborhood's usually pretty deserted. maybe an animal?"
silently, we both stared at the window for a few more seconds. keeping my eyes glued to the view outside, i could feel my heart hammering in my chest.
why do i feel so unsettled? stop worrying over nothing, ivy-
the top half of a hooded person's face from the corner of the window appeared abruptly, and their partly obscured gaze bore into my eyes.
my blood froze.
"whatever, lets get ba-" ciarán had just started to look away when he glimpsed something in the corner of his eye. doing a double take, his jaw dropped as he saw what ivy saw just now. just as quickly as they appeared, the person popped out of view.
i reached for ciarán's arm shakily, setting the guitar aside. "um... ci. you saw that, right? so there was someone following me? uh, please tell me you didn't see anything..." his blue eyes met mine, and he looked back to the window quietly.
"okay. stay calm, alright? you're gonna be fine, girl. you're safe here; i'll go check it out." he held my hand reassuringly for a moment before walking across the room to the window. i watched as he opened his window and looked around cautiously before sticking his head out, craning his neck to see any signs of disturbance. i wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans while he tuck his head back in and closed the window. "i don't see anything... or anyone. but i saw it too. they've gotta be around somewhere. should i, like... go out to walk around and see?"
i shook my head frantically. "no! no. don't go. stay here. with me." ciarán's face took on a slightly startled expression at my forwardness. "right. okay, i'll do that." i grabbed the redbull and chugged it down. shit, i've probably drank half of his drink already. i should probably stop. taking my own bottle of juice, i drank that down too. putting the bottle down, i put my face in my hands. "oh god, i hope i don't piss myself later if i see that fucking face pop up again."
ciarán remained standing up warily. "did you bump into anyone today? maybe your wet shirt bra situation made some creep decide to follow you." i bit my lip, deep in thought. "no, the only person i bumped into was mothica when she spilled water on me." "oh... right. mackenzie." ciarán stared at me, seemingly in denial, until his took on an expression of mild horror. "oh, god. mackenzie."
"uh. what about her? you can't possibly think she's the crazy stalker right? she seemed really nice earlier today-"
"no. no, she is kinda crazy." he took a deep breath. "when we broke up, she went ballistic; she even wrote a song about me. she leaked older pictures of me in her music video. she tried contacting all my band mates for my location when i moved to texas, and tried contacting me again after i became successful. if she knew that you know me, she would follow you for sure. there's almost no doubt that she's that person at the window just now."
my eyes widened. "no way... she was so friendly when we bumped in to each other. how..." ciarán shook his head. "believe me, she's crazy. she's nice and normal at first, but when things don't go her way, she goes insane. i couldn't deal with her volatile moods especially when i was getting my shit together to move to america for brockhampton. she almost flew to ireland to stop me when i told her, 'cause she thought i was going to abandon her for fame or something. i left her not because of that, but because she was too much to handle for me. i'm sorry you have to deal with this, ivy. i don't know why you had to bump into her, of all people."
ciarán lowered his head and sighed, ruffling his already messy hair. "hey.. there's nothing to be sorry about. we just gotta... uh, power through this situation." i got up and hugged him, his scent of laundry detergent wafting into my nose. "now that we know who it probably is, we can... you know, report her. i don't know, but we'll get through this." he huffed a little, wrapping his arms around me. "wow, you're kinda bad with words." i smacked his back, rolling my eyes. "yeah, i ain't no dom mclennon. but you get my point." we stayed in the embrace for a few seconds before i pulled back, smiling. "that was nice." his cheeks turned rosy ever so slightly. "yeah, it was. so... what do we d-"
ciarán was interrupted by some scratching sounds coming from the direction of the window. our heads snapped towards the sound. a few moments later, the corner of a hooded head bobbed up from the edge of the window.
without thinking, i grabbed the nearest object on the desk beside us and launched it towards the window.
"holy shi-!"
ciarán hollered when i shattered part of his window with a sickening crack. i stared at the thing i used to break his window, adrenaline pumping in my veins. it was an ugly wooden paperweight. who uses those in this day and age? or is it just me that has no papers at home?
i looked back to the outside of the window, seeing a dark figure with familiar clothes run away down the street. "i recognize her clothes... it is mothica. or mackenzie...whatever. i'm really sorry i broke your window, by the way; i don't know what came over me. i guess i was just mad 'cause she had no right to invade your privacy and follow me to your home. i'll pay for the repairs, of course." i looked at ciarán apologetically, and couldn't help but laugh when i saw his look of shock and horror over his window.
"you... you threw my paperweight. and broke my fucking window." he looked at me, wide eyed. "yes, to scare your crazy ex away. i do admit it was not a great way to do so, but i was... not in the greatest state of mind just now. i was scared and angry. i'm really sorry for breaking your shit, ci..." he ran his hand through his hair, still a little shocked. "no it's fine, honestly. it's not a huge crack or anything, and what matters is your safety, not the window. good to see that she ran away after that stunt you pulled."
i sighed, suddenly very exhausted. plopping down onto his bed, i pointed towards the paperweight i threw. "who even uses paperweights in the 21st century where everything's gone digital? old man." ciarán sat down beside me. "i do, okay? i usually write lyrics down with pen and paper unless i'm out in public. there's just something about the old fashioned way of doing things sometimes, ya know?" "hmmm. i guess so. we should probably clean that mess up, huh."
we swept away the bits of glass on the ground underneath the window. he picked the paperweight up and set it back on his table, and we both flopped on the bed again with a sigh.
we sat in a comfortable silence, reflecting on what just happened. suddenly, he got up and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from his desk, scribbling something down quickly. i tiled my head in curiosity. "whatcha writing?" ciarán muttered, "lyrics. suddenly got inspired." "ooh! can i see?" i asked, intrigued. "nope. it'll be a surprise." he finished writing the lyrics down and smirked at me, clicking his pen.
wow. that was kinda hot. um, anyway...
"by the way... where's the bathroom? all that redbull and juice is making me wanna pee." "walk down the hallway and turn left. try not to spray your piss everywhere." i made a face of disgust. "ew, ciarán! i'm not gross like you." getting up, i headed out of his room to relieve my bladder.
ciarán's pov
when ivy left the room, i whipped out my phone to text ian.
ciarán: yo i finished the lyrics for my verse on NST
ian: fuckin finally man, i been asking for it since forever
send it over dawg
ciarán:
big trauma, stone cold stunna
shotgunna, hot like summer
my lover, ain't no sucker
she'll break your windows, that's no fun, uh
ian: dude thats fire, whats the inspo
ciarán: long story, i'll tell u about it tonight
today's been fuckin crazy you're not gonna believe it
ian: can't wait 😏
i heard the door open, and glanced up to see ivy walk back in. she clasped her hands together cheerily. "okay. let's finally do what we were supposed to do today. let's get recording, baby!"
YAY this took me quite a while smh 😪 ik i said last chap that i would update less frequently, but school got cancelled due to a rainstorm so i had a bit of time today to put out something for y'all. try not to expect any more of these surprisingly quick updates next month because i'm going to be bombarded with tests and assignments <3
LOVE YALL ROACHES I'LL ADD YALL IN THE FIC SOON DONT WORRY