𝐷𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 ✔️

#36

Aesira

I squeeze the water from my hair before quietly opening the door. I walk in while trying to make as little sound as possible. Shutting the door behind me and scrunched my face hoping that it didn't creek. "Quiet" I mumbled when I heard a little sound.

"Where were you? And why are you soaked?" My eyes popped open and I was suddenly frozen in spot. I closed the door fully and didn't bother turning around. "Aesira," Athena said more sternly.

I squeezed my eyes shut before turning around and looking at her rather annoyed face. "Where were you? And please don't bullshit me, I'm not as dumb as you think" she crossed her arms around her body, closing off herself from me even more, I didn't blame her for not believing me. I kept lying to her and it killed me to do so.

"With Damon," I said honestly, I couldn't keep lying anymore, but I knew I couldn't tell her everything.

"Mr. Perez?...you two?" She raised a brow and dropped her arms to her side. I licked my lips and looked down at my soaked socks. I was drenched in water. Damon offered to give me clothes, practically begged but I knew any later the more suspicious Athena would get. Didn't quite work out though did it?

"No, I mean...I don't know it's complicated, he's really nice to me and always finds a way to make my heart beat faster than usual, not to mention his looks" Athenas face dropped, she was shocked, and I couldn't blame her. It seemed as unreal to me as it did to her.

"How did this happen exactly" her voice was hesitant as if she wasn't sure if she wanted an answer.

"Well he started... taking an interest —I guess you could say— when we started" her eyes went wide. "But I didn't actually give in or anything like that until recently, I kept saying no because... because of you and our job, we couldn't risk it" I defended myself.

"What changed?" She asked again. What did change?

"I just gave up pretending not to, uh I guess find him interesting too" I shrugged and started walking away from the door, her body turned as I walked past her, she squeezed her cardigan tighter around her body, and followed me into my room.

"That's it? You just find him interesting?" She crossed her legs on the edge of my bed while I laid out an outfit for me to change into. "Because the way you explained it makes it sound like much more." Her voice was no longer serious or annoyed. It became calm with a hint of amusement.

I took off the wet shirt and placed it in the bin of dirty clothes before I put on the clean one, "I don't know how I feel" I mumbled and did the same with my pants and socks. She snorted and crocked her head.

"I think you're just afraid to admit it" I rolled my eyes at her words and started braiding my hair to the side.

"I'm not afraid of anything" I scoffed and slipped under the covers of my bed. Athena hopped over and slid in beside me.

"You always used to say that when we were younger, 'I'm not afraid of the dark' 'I'm not afraid of ladybugs'" she joked around. "'I'm not afraid of Dad...'" her little smile faltered and she gripped the blanket bigger and closer.

My face fell and I quickly laid down. Athena followed my actions and faced me with a smile. "And I knew every single time that you were."

"No I wasn't-" I lied again. "-and I'm not now"

"Ok" she knew better than to draw it on. But we both know the truth whether I was too stubborn to admit it. "So have you two...?"

My cheeks became hot, and I tried my best to keep a straight face. Athena's mouth dropped open and she let out a gasp. "And, and you were ok?" Her eyebrows furrowed in a scared manner.

"I was" I nodded and found myself smiling. I never thought of myself to do anything with anyone after what Athena and I  have gone through. It completely turned me off to anyone, and to Athena, men.

"Does he know about-?"

"No" I cute her off, "and he won't know...not now at least, he'll look at me differently, he'll treat me differently" if he found out how broken and used I was, he probably wouldn't even look at me.

"You never know...he could be different," Athena said.

"Maybe"

"Let's get some sleep" I turned my body around just to be wrapped into her arms. "Thank you for telling me the truth" I placed my hands over her arms and closed my eyes knowing that I only told her half of the truth. I wanted her to be safe even if it was lying to her about the dark shit that goes on in this hotel and with the boss.

My eyes fluttered open as the light shined through my eyelids making me see all orange. I placed my hand over my eyes and sat up on my vacant bed. I squinted trying to see if Athena was still here but unfortunately enough she wasn't.

I turn my head over to the little table beside my bed and grabbed my phone. One thirty-five pm. I slept till noon. I see Athena's message along with a few other useless notifications on the lock screen. I quickly open my phone and clicked on her message.

Had to work at one, I'll see you when you start your shift at five -A

I replied with a simple 'ok' and got out of bed. I yawned and my hands rose into a stretch. My arms fell slum as I started walking out of my room, almost immediately after a knock came from the door. Placing the free stands that fell from my braid behind my ears I walked to open the door.

Jace's figure came into view once the for opened and I cursed myself for not ignoring it. "Aesira!" he smiled widely and once again overly overjoyed.

"Jace. Hi," I left the door open and walked back into the room. He followed after me with a presumably joyous smile. I rolled my eyes and made my way to the kitchen. While making food he came up beside me rather closely and nudged my arm.

"Sooo how are you?" he drew out. I nodded my head and moved away from him pretending to grab a cup.

"Good," I said while pouring some water into the glass. I didn't bother asking him the question back.

"Nice nice. What did you do last night?" My eyes snapped in front of me. Water started to flood down my hand and I quickly pulled the class away and turned the water off.

"Hung out with friends," I said and leaned against the counter. He stood on the other side of me and had both of his hands behind of on the island.

"Without me?" he joked with his eyes narrowed. I fake laughed loudly and took a long sip of water. "What did you guys do?" he asked again.

"Just hung, you know" I shrugged and dragged my finger around the rim of the cup. "And you? What do you do?" I really didn't care what he had done last night but if the topic was drawn away from me I'd listen to his uninteresting life.

"Just stayed in my room, so who'd-"

"You know what? I have to get to work I'm already late. Don't want to get the big guys mad" I set the cup down and grabbed both of his shoulders practically hauling him out.

"Oh, I thought y-"

"it's a long shift as well and I'm booked solid for the whole week, you know how that is" I listed him outside into the hall.

"Yeah aha-"

"Bye Jace" I waved and slammed the door shut. I made sure it was locked before walking away with a sigh. "So nosy" I mumbled and walked to the bathroom as my body ached to be washed in a stinging got shower.