ISLA~
She was staring at me as if that was going to change the fact that the dude almost recognized her. I glanced over at him.
He was also staring, mid-twenties. Phone halfway out of his pocket. And a look on his face that hinged either excitement or disbelief.
Maybe it was a bad idea taking her out, what was I really thinking?.
All this just to prove that I wasn't boring, and she didn't even look like she was having fun. If this wasn't fun, what was?.
I leaned back slightly, looking relaxed and unbothered. I was though, this man was just disturbing my meal. I finally looked at him.
"That's not her" I said ending the conversation already.
He blinked. "Uh no, I'm pretty sure -"
"You're not," I cut in calmly "You're looking at someone who's been mistaken for her twice already this week."
A perfectly delivered lie with no room for questions. He was still staring though and Elara just sat there like a robot who'd been caught doing something it wasn't programmed to do.
"If you're going to stare," I began, "at least be subtle about it." I turned back to Elara "Or better yet, don't." I added. "You wouldn't like if I stared at your girlfriend like that now would you"
Something about my tone changed and she seemed as surprised as I was.
He laughed awkwardly and I returned my focus back to him. What fan even takes this long to draw a freaking conclusion.
"Yeah, no, sorry. She just looks a lot like her"
"Mhm." He lingered for a second longer. Then walked off.
"That's it?" She asked. "That's how you handle that?"
I shrugged picking up my cutlery again. "Most people don't want to be wrong in public. You just give them an easier option."
"And your best word of choice was girlfriend?" she picked up her glass of water, finally acting normal.
"What? don't I look good enough for you"
"Are you gay?" She asked surprised.
"Isn't that obvious"
"How the hell are you okay saying that out loud" she looked around.
"You really must have lived in a suppressed environment, I leaned closer to the table " now let me educate you on what sexual orientation means"
"I'm 24, the fuck" I chuckled. Was it ever this easy to make conversations.
She still looked a bit uncomfortable though, she kept looking back at a table that was too loud it was annoying.
"Everything okay?"
"I just..." She looked at her food "its nothing"
"We can go if you want"
"I said I'm fine"
"You don't look..."
She dropped her cutlery. "If you want to go say so don't push it on me"
Suddenly getting rude, now that was new.
We didn't talk the rest of dinner and it was already dark by the time we were done. We flew back to Hazan that night, I didn't want risking her being recognized.
She didn't look too pleased but didn't disagree too. By the time we got back to her penthouse she was already long gone in her slumber.
Ben took her in while I fought sleeping off on the steering as I drove back to my apartment.
---
I slept in, it was already to six in the evening when I got up and I didn't feel like doing a single thing, except I had to.
I needed her to talk before I let the lawyers see her and at this point that felt almost impossible. If she was this hard to get through. Then they'd easily draw a conclusion in court if she chooses to also stay mute there.
By the time I arrived at the penthouse it was already pass seven. Inside I saw two of her assigned security, Ben and Sandre. Hanging around.
Halfway to her door, I stopped. She was singing.
I stood there listening. She groaned and started again. Paused for a while then continued from where she left off. I caught words like betrayal, breath, apart.
"Shit!" It went quiet then a sharp sound, an object maybe crashing into the wall followed.
Then the door flew open. She froze when she saw me. I took in her look first.
Oversized hoodie, sleep shorts, glasses she yanked off her immediately as she noticed my stare and her hair was a mess too.
"Good evening, Ms. Jones" I said stepping back to give her space.
"You're early." Sarcastic much.
I glanced at my wristwatch. "I'm late" she's been rude since yesterday for some kind of reason and I couldn't fathom why.
Not like it bothered me but cut me some slack here. I was the one who was working her butt off just to please you.
She walked past me and I followed behind her. I had prepared the snacks today on the dining. She went there first and sat. I took the seat opposite her and dropped some files in between us.
She held my gaze as she chewed on her food, then picked up one of the files before looking away. She had put on her glasses again to read, she looked different with them.
"Have you really forgiven me?" she asked suddenly.
"For what?"
"All you homophobic bitches are something else" she mimicked me as she opened a can of soda, she took a mouthful then faced me. Right, I now know where most of my irritation came from.
"I over reacted a bit too much, really it's nothing" I lied.
She scanned the files and I noticed as we conversed, she had her inhaler with her today, good. I didn't want someone dying on me. I had too much on my plate at the moment.
"Your lawyer will be here tomorrow" I said. "Before that, I need clarity, no half truths."
She nodded. Her fingers gripping the soda can.
"The girl in the video, I know she wasn't just your best friend." I leaned back on my chair "No one is gonna buy that" I had crossed fingers we'd get somewhere today. The whole suspense was driving me crazy.
If I said I wasn't interested in what may have gone down that night, then I'd be lying.
Elara lowered the can of soda. "She was… more" she said quietly "But not publicly and not officially. Friends with benefits I guess. I couldn't come out, not with how strict of a home I came from."
I didn't interrupt.
"She was tired of hiding" she continued "The night of the incident she told me she was done. Said she'd been seeing someone else." she paused then looked at me "A man. She said she wanted a real life, I mean what did she mean by that?" she smiled sadly.
"She drank something she brought from home. That I know because nothing at the party was spiked. There were no drugs, and after the autopsy was out, it turned out she had overdosed" she trailed off.
"Correct me if I'm wrong" I said, she gave a nod "You think that what killed her was what she drank from home?"
"Probably" she answered.
"Who did it belong to?" I asked "You?" she stared at me for a while. It didn't make sense that she'd tell me about a mysterious drink if she was the one who had it but lying could be an escape to certain things.
"You don't trust me, do you?"
"I don't need to trust you to help you, I just need the truth Elara". She got up looking pissed.
"That's exactly what I was telling you and you won't even hear me out" she stormed out of the house. Okay maybe I was still annoyed about what she said and was not being very professional at the moment.
I went after her and found her standing by the pool and staring into the water.
"When someone's speaking, you don't walk away" I approached her slowly.
"Don't pull that elder nonsense," she shot back. "Three years doesn't make you wiser" fair.
"So what are you doing? Planning to jump in?" I knew from her file and my research that she couldn't swim.
"And there you go again assuming things" she turned fully toward me. "You said to trust you when you can't even do same" her voice cracked.
"I left her alive" she said suddenly."We had a quarrel and I pushed her. She was drunk and unsteady, but she was breathing" she shook her head tears streaming down her face "I wouldn't have walked away if she wasn't"
People did break down when overwhelmed with feelings, I was slightly bothered though. Was I ever bothered about anything, NO.
Like she said she was twenty-four and not a child. If she'd just package her feelings, I'd be on my way home.
"I was angry." she looked frustrated. I must have gone too far though"But I didn't kill her, I…"
"Elara!!" she lost her footing, I reached for her hand but missed. With a splash, the water swallowed her and I jumped in immediately. The cold hit fast, grabbing her by the shoulder, I surfaced.
Her body shook from the cold as she tried to calm her breathing and her arms wrapped around my neck tightly pulling me down. I swallowed shutting my brain up.
"Do not let go" she said with her face buried in my shoulders. "Fuck I don't want to feel this way." her voice was barely audible now.
"You good?" I asked, adjusting my hold on her waist.
"I can't swim" she answered looking up now.
"I…"I met her eyes and all my sense of reasoning left me "know". I couldn't help but stare into them. I didn't like how close she was and I didn't like that my body reacted to her touch. Stupid hormones, this was not the time.
But this sight right now was... beautiful.
Her brown eyes caught the light, shining even brighter and I blurted out before I could stop myself.
"You have... really, pretty eyes" She blinked a few times then opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Ben.
"Are you two okay?" he asked rushing toward the pool. He helped her out and she rushed inside immediately. Leaving me in the cold already regretting what I had said.
"What the fuck was that?" I asked myself as I got out of the pool. Just now, it felt like my brain was forced stop from reasoning logically.
I looked at the stars. She did say she pushed her, that was new information. One I didn't exactly need.
"Alright Isla, time to leave"