I didn't take my meds today.
Two days ago Caitlin Adams asked if I was bipolar because I was into her on Monday but by Friday I had figured out that she was too demanding.
But those words, that question... it seeped into my soul and tarnished my tho...
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"What are you doing here?" Arlo shouted at them, he glanced back at me. "You told them! You betrayed me!" I bit into my lower lip nervously, feeling the tangy taste of my own blood. "You fucking bitch! You're just like everybody else... out to get me!"
His perception of reality was so bent and out of his control right now and yet his words were still true. I did betray him.
He tried to fight the hold Liam and Jordan had on his arms. I wasn't sure what he planned to do if and when he got free but I cowered back away from him.
"I trusted you!" He shouted at me. "I trusted you!" His voice became croaky because of how loud he shouted. He launched his legs about, kicking and screaming, trying to break his arms free, like he possessed some kind of human strength. The tears rolled down my face hot and fast.
"You weren't acting like yourself." I defended. "I'm sorry." I wiped my eyes.
"Mo ro pe o nifẹ mi. Mo korira rẹ, iwọ panṣaga!"
(I thought you loved me. I hate you, you whore!)
"Liam." Jordan nodded towards the bathroom and Liam forcefully removed him from the room. Arlo left fighting with all of his strength, shouting profanities at me the whole way.
"Are you okay?" Jordan looked me over. "He didn't... hurt you, did he?" I shook my head, slowly moving myself off the bed. I stood awkwardly and wrapped my arms around myself for comfort. "I'll drive you home."
I could hear Arlo shouting at Liam to let him out of the bathroom, he really laid into Liam verbally and there were a lot of bangs like he was trying to break the door down.
"What about him?" He looked back at the closed door, listening to Arlo swear bloody murder.
"I'll deal with him later. Liam will drive him home once he's calmed down but you're the priority right now so don't worry about him." I nodded and he gestured towards the door so I followed him out.
I sat quietly in the front seat, Arlo's dad didn't attempt to speak to me, he just gripped the steering wheel and focused on the road ahead. I turned my attention to his side profile.
They were so alike, both masculine with strong hands and medium-built athletic bodies. Their expressions and attitudes were almost identical but they also had differences that set them apart.
His dad had a sun-tanned complexion and plenty of freckles. Arlo's skin was a charming shade of toasted brown, with a bronze sheen. It was baby smooth, freckle free and I'm yet to see his cheeks tinge with any other colour besides his natural melamine pigmented skin-tone.
They both had a mop of dark curls on their head, but I think Arlo's was darker than his dad, not quite black but a very dark brown, especially as the sun hit it.
Arlo had his fathers eyes, I think. Whenever they locked onto mine it caused me to have a mini heart attack, or certainly a flutter of something deep down inside. They were soft and kind, even as he shouted aggression at me back in the hotel room. There was only hurt and betrayal in his eyes, not vexation.
"You look alike." I stated, once the mental comparison I made between them both had calmed me down.
"Oh thank god for that." Jordan breathed out. "We didn't get a paternity test done because I like to live spontaneously." He side glanced at me with a smirk. "So it's Fearne, right?" I nodded in confirmation. "Is this the first time you've seen Arlo like this?" I nodded again.
"Is he like this often?" I asked. His hands visually tightened around the steering wheel, if I had been anyone else I wouldn't have noticed but reading the body language of anyone who could be a potential risk to me was my speciality.
"Not often." He answered vaguely. "But often enough." He added more confusion to the mix.
"Why was he behaving like that?" Jordan squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
"That's a conversation you need to have with him." He nodded to himself to strengthen his belief in that statement.
We fell into a thick silence, the air was filled with questions and answers neither of us were willing to speak. He tapped his thumb against the steering wheel and I gazed out of the window, focusing on the cold, wet pile of slush left on the road.
"So..." he didn't take his eyes off the road. "Just out of curiosity how much did he spend on Liams card? ... like ballpark figure."
I blew air through my lips and he sucked in his lower lip, just like Arlo does. "Well the hotel cost a couple of thousand." His dad nodded casually. "The first class flights to Vegas bumped it up to high double figures and then he bought a two bed condo on the strip." Jordan turned to face me with wide eyes and his mouth a little ajar. "I'd say he spent a couple hundred thousand in total."
"Fuck." He cussed. "Definitely over one hundred, are you sure?" He seemed so calm about this. How much money did these people have?
"Easily." He shook his head and seemed disappointed, then he tutted to himself.
"He's going to fucking love that, smug bastard." Jordan mumbled.
"Excuse me?" He glanced at me again.
"Oh, we may have made a small bet." He shrugged one shoulder. "I didn't think he would spend as much as last time, Liam said he would spend more. If I won Liam would pay the full whack." He explained.
"You bet on Arlo's struggle?" His lips twitched into a smirk and my eyebrows raised in surprise.
He side glanced at me again "No of course not, what kind of father do you think I am?" That smirk wasn't going away and I doubted the truth to his denial. He turned back to the road and remained quiet for a short while. "But definitely over one hundred thousand, yeah?"
I rolled my eyes at him "unbelievable" I whispered under my breath.
My stomach rumbled really loudly, reminding me of the baked potato I didn't get to eat. Jordan glanced at me again and arched one brow. I held my tummy to try and shut it up. He reached into the back seat and handed me a wrapped cheese baguette.
"Hold the paper underneath because I don't want loads of crumbs in my car, she's just been serviced." He instructed. I began opening the sandwich gratefully.
"So a few things Fearne" he said, I lingered my full attention on him. "Arlo might not remember today." I felt my whole face frown. "He might do" he counteracted "but he might not." He was literally talking in riddles right now. "I don't know what happened in that hotel room but I'd like to think he wasn't aggressive, overly sexual or made you feel uncomfortable in anyway." He continued driving, there was no playful smirk anymore. He was speaking to me on a serious level. "However, if he did do any of those things it's important for you to hold him accountable, even if he doesn't remember."
"Why wouldn't he remember?" I questioned. "Did he take something?" Jordan shook his head.
"It's not what he took, it's what he didn't take." He pursed his lips and breathed in deeply through his nose.
"Okay..." I answered slowly.
"I'm sorry you got mixed up in this Fearne and I know he would appreciate your discretion. It would really ... uh... upset him if people at school found out what happened today."
He pulled up outside Liams house and before getting out of the car I turned to face him. "Thank you for coming to get me and driving me home." I muttered politely, he nodded in acceptance.
"Thank you for calling me." I took a deep breath and tugged on the door handle to let myself out. I knew once I left the car it was only a matter of time before Liam came home and they decided on my fate, thankfully the essentials were still packed and hidden away ready for my departure.
