Her Narcissist

"Do Not Disturb"

eileah

"Thanks babes," Ana smiled over at Chad. He had a bandaid on his forehead where a tree branch had scrapped his skin, but at least he had the lesser of the injuries. Ana had gotten the second worst of the injuries: she had a lot of scrapes on her legs and a busted lip from falling over the fence.

I had a bullet graze me and crazy stitches all over. I guess my arm hadn't gotten cut after all. "No problem," he smiled down over her as she laid on my couch and he fed her blueberries.

"Has Laja answered back yet?" Ana asked me, a concerned expression on her face. I had tried calling her as soon as I woke up today, but she hasn't responded back yet, and morning was nearly over. Surprisingly, Ana hadn't been as sour about Laja as I had thought she would be. And Chad too. They were actually pressuring me to check in on her and make sure that she was okay.

It actually made me wonder if the way I felt right now was incredibly selfish. Yeah, the news report had informed us that there weren't any deaths last night, but Laja could still be somewhere shot or hurt for all I know. I just still can't shake the feeling of anger and hurt I feel when I think of her and all that she's caused.

"No," I say, standing up in my pj's to distract myself from Ana's questions. "She might not have seen your first call. Call again, Eileah." Why did Ana have to start being softer about Laja when I was finally starting to be wary of her?

"I'm sure she's fine," I shrug, busying myself with a simple sandwich. "But what if she's not?" Ana repeated for the fifteenth time today. "Fine, I will," I threw my packet of cheese down on the counter, getting it out of the fridge. Chad looked up at me, his innocent doe-like eyes following my angry movements. "If she doesn't want to continue things with this girl, you shouldn't force her," he whispered to Ana.

Of course, boys were horrible at whispering, so I heard him. "Right," I immediately agree, throwing my hands up. "I'm not asking you to ride her strap. Or to continue the budding feelings y'all have for each other, best friend," Ana said slowly, "I'm just asking you to check on a fellow human being. Laja might not be dead or shot or whatever, but this all had to be a lot." Ana sat up on the couch, taking the blueberry container from her man. "I've heard a lot of shit about Laja. That's true. But I've also seen a change in her, more noticeably when she's around you. I think she can change, Eileah. Be a better person. Just check on her. That's all I'm asking." Ana shakily stood up, "And if you won't, give me her number or whatever, and I'll do it myself."

"You never liked her before," I shrugged, still not seeing through my anger. Everything with Laja had to be drama filled. Why couldn't the person I like be regular and sweet and kind?

Wait.

I paused from my sandwich making, holding my head down and gripping the counter. "We can both go check on her. Just...give me a moment."

"Okay," Ana said quietly, going back to sit down.

"Okay," I agreed, sighing.

Once we were dressed and loaded up on pain killers, Chad took Ana and I to Laja's, hoping that she was there at the moment. I didn't know how I felt about seeing Laja again after last night, but I knew Ana wouldn't let me turn back now and Chad was already half way there via my GPS.

"I'm gonna go in and talk to Laja first," Ana announced as we pulled into the apartment's parking lot. "Why?" I ask almost immediately, then wish I could take my response back. If Ana wanted to talk to Laja, so what? I felt anxious and irritated all over again. Last night had left my emotions all over the place, but I'm sure that's just a normal response to something as traumatic as my experience with North and the party-gone-wrong.

Besides, Ana was the one who wanted to check in on Laja, why should I be surprised by the idea of her going in to talk to her? Because you're jealous.

I turned my head away from her, glad that Ana hadn't seemed to hear me, judging by her lack of response. Chad pulled into a parking space and pulled out his phone, apparently not interested in what we all had going on. If I were him, I'd be suspicious that my girlfriend was going up to a stud's house alone that wrecked my party.

I stop, frowning to myself. Ana is my friend, I shouldn't be thinking things like this. Besides, my feelings for Laja are fading away. I'm starting to realize that we're just not cut from the same cloth. She seems to be heading in her own little direction.
And being overprotective over his girlfriend (how temporary their relationship may be) might just not be Chad's thing. And it usually isn't even my thing either, so why all of this with Laja?

"Eileah."

I look up, from the backseat, and see Ana turning around to give me a concerned look. "If you want to go in with me...or go in first, that's fine Eileah," she said after a moment. I didn't realize she had been watching me so I blush. "No, I- No, it's fine," I stutter, trying to focus on a random girl in ASS shorts walking up the stairs leading to Laja's level.

"Eileah," Ana repeated softly.

Chad looked up this time, looking between us two in the mirror. "I- Yeah, I'm coming then," I agree, sighing. Ana applies some lip gloss then opens her door. I follow after her up the stairs, awkwardly looking anywhere else but her butt, a bad habit I had when I walked behind people going up the stairs.

"What did you wanna talk to her about?" I ask despite a furious debate with myself in my head.

"Just letting her know that Chad and I are cool with her and that other folks might blame her for what went down last night, but we don't," Ana shrugged. She pulled up her jeans a bit then knocked on the door. I felt a bit of irritation again but swept it away.

"Hello," Laja answered the door, everything about her distraught.

She left the door open without bothering to tell us to come in or not. The floor was soggy and I gasped soundlessly as I took in the damage her apartment had taken. You would have thought a hurricane had swept through, but no, it must've been her ex's or whatever she called them.

"Laja," Ana said softly, going over to her on the couch and sitting down. She started talking to her lowly, hand resting comfortably on Laja's shoulder then moving to her thigh to give it a squeeze. I didn't realize I had been staring hard until Ana looked up and asked me to make Laja something to drink.

I thawed my frozen body out and walked into the kitchen, trying to distract my mind from fury. Ana's just being nice and I'm just doing too much. My mind is hectic after being shot.

Everything's fine.

I find one of the only drinks left (a Coke), and bring the carbonated drink back to Laja. "Hey," I say awkwardly. She looks up at me, eyes empty and devoid of any other emotion besides that. "Thanks."

I battle my feelings inside. Do I feel bad for her after all she's done? The way she acts: she's finally getting a taste of her own medicine!

But it makes my heart ache to see her like-

"Nobody deserves this, Eileah," Ana says sternly, her expression unreadable as she looks up at me, like she can read my thoughts.

"I wasn't-

"You were," Ana cuts me off, eyes darting protectively to Laja. I frown, not bothering to hide it. What was this sudden change towards Laja about? And why did it have to happen now?