ROUGE

CONFRONTATION

THEA'S POV

After the very awkward ride back home, I just wanted to be alone. I wanted time to process everything. Praying that Lila wasn't home, I entered the apartment and let out a sigh of relief seeing it empty. Walking straight to the bathroom, I removed all my clothes and started the shower.

Even though I just had a shower, I needed another one. My mind needed another one. My thoughts wandered to everything Xander said. Everything that we did and everything that was wrong with what was happening.

Just a few weeks back, my life was just monotonous and now, there is blood, bullets and everything else that shouldn't exist. I just wanted to make sense of everything. Everything that's happened.

After a long shower, I walked back into my room, and without caring about clothes, I slipped into my blanket and let darkness consume. And for the first time in a while the darkness wasn't out of pain or fear.

TIME SKIP

I thought sleep would fix things, mostly fix the whole Xander situation but I was wrong. I woke up with more questions than I had when I went to sleep.

Did Xander like me? There is no way he could. He did hurt the guy who hurt me and wanted me to move to a safer place because he shot someone (which by the way is still a big shock and a question mark in my head) I still couldn't figure him out.

If Xander had a book, the cover would be plain black. No one would actually figure out what is in the book unless they actually open it. And to open the book one would need an immense amount of courage and strength because once you realise who he is, only strength is what will help you survive.

Putting an oversized hoodie on me, I walked to the kitchen only to be freaked out by a shadow looming near the fridge. I felt my heart picking up pace and my hands starting to sweat.

"Li...la?" I was unsure but prayed it was her

"Oh hi honey" LILA. Thank god. Taking in a sigh of relief, I almost ran to her and hugged her as tight as I could.

"What's wrong Thea? I am sorry I wasn't around. We got a major lead in the case and that's why I have been busy" Lila said guilt evident as daylight in her voice. Unwrapping myself from her, I looked at her to see if she was safe. Not seeing any visible signs of pain I felt a huge rock from my shoulder fall. I now wanted to scream,

'No, I am not fine. I almost got raped last night and I am emotionally exhausted' but I settled for

"Yeah I am fine"

"You sure honey. You know you can always tell me anything. I am your best friend right" I simply nodded, not sure if I could control myself from not saying anything.

"Okay then. I saw you sleeping so I didn't want to disturb you but since you are awake, I am making myself some pasta, you want some?" I again just nodded.

After the pasta was cooked and served, Lila and I sat in a comfortable silence. However my mind was far from quiet. It was chaos. I had a million questions. Who was the guy Xander asked Lila to leave and what was this case that her and Xander both seemed to have tangled themselves with.

"Something is bothering you, Thea. I know that look. So why don't you tell me what it is?" Lila nudged.

"I don't want you to be mad at me" I whispered, scared that if I asked about her case which she very clearly told me was confidential she would be mad. I asked her the week after Lila picked me up from that restaurant Xander dropped me at. She said she can't say and I should not ask anything else. It doesn't concern me and I should just forget about it.