✓ 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐞

11 | joshing around

I lied. I had no idea what I was going to do about Sao. He was so stuck on Noah that it was hard to do anything without it getting past him.

When I leave the bedroom, I find him in the kitchen. I sit down on the couch and wait until Noah leaves until I could talk to Sao. By what Noah said earlier, I wasn't going to be the only one here anymore, therefore, he needs to fix his act before he hurts someone.

After the 10-minute mark after Noah leaves, I approach Sao from where he still was in the kitchen. He wasn't doing anything but drawing with water on the marble tile.

"There's going to be another girl coming," I say plainly to him, getting straight to the point.

"Great," He mumbles, "I'm so happy."

"That means you have to stop acting like a lunatic and start being nicer to us. Just because you've known Noah the longest, which, shouldn't be a good thing, you still have to recognize that he gives all of us attention."

He doesn't make eye contact.

"You need to understand why we are here. We are here because he took us, Sao. And he's successfully kept us here. You know how he's done it. Attention."

"If you're so know-it-all, then why don't you leave already."

I hum. He's got a point.

"Because I'm not ready yet."

He scoffs, "Mkay."

I couldn't get anything through him. I suppose if it happens again, he'll just have to face the consequences. I won't even help him.

-

It was all day until the door finally was opened. I was in the kitchen with Sao making dinner for ourselves and it was the first time we'd actually done anything without Sao trying to kill me.

"Hide!" I whisper yell, immediately ducking under the counters.

He rolls his eyes before squatting down next to me, "This is so stupid," he whispers.

I shush him and we go silent. I hear the girl's voice; she was laughing, and her words were slurred. She's either drunk or infatuated.

Their conversation wasn't important enough for me to narrate, so let's just skip to the part where Noah comes behind the counters and finds us.

He doesn't say anything, instead actually directs the conversation away from the kitchen, making sure she stayed in the living room.

When he did enter, he actually choked on his words, but he picked it back up again, then started making her yet another drink.

She sounded annoying, and I hope I didn't sound like that to Sao. Maybe that's why he hates me so much. Or maybe he actually is just jealous. Either way, I don't like her.

It wasn't long until she was on the floor just like everyone who's passed through here. This time, I think she actually just blacked out, like Noah did nothing unless maybe roofie her, but if he did nothing, that's kind of embarrassing for her.

He starts laughing as soon as I hear the thump; Sao stands up first, "I don't want her."

He groans, his smile disappearing, "I don't care. I'm keeping her. That's why I didn't physically make her unconscious, I wanted her to at least have some brain left."

Man what the fuck. He hit me with a goddamn pan.

I stand up next, then walk around the counter. It's like I was numb to these things now. Whatever he's doing to these girls doesn't affect me anymore, and really, isn't any of my business.

"I'll help you bring her down!" Sao says, running around the counter.

"It's okay. She's light enough for me to carry."

He stops, pouting, "Well I'm coming down anyways."

He shrugs, then scoops up the girl in his arms.

I stay in the kitchen, continuing to cook dinner. I had pasta boiling in a pot and now I was figuring out how to make that meat sauce stuff. I don't think I've ever cooked dinner in my life.

When Sao and Noah came back up the stairs, I was pretty much done, so I strained the pasta then turned down the heat on the sauce.

"Smells delish," Noah says as he comes into the kitchen. Cringe.

I turn around and smile nervously, "I tried. I don't know if it's any good."

He grabs a pinch of spaghetti from the strainer, then dangles it over his mouth before lowering it down.

"A little overcooked. Did you salt the water?"

"Uh. No?"

He shakes his head, "Most important part."

"Whatever. Next time."

He grins then calls Sao in. I suppose the other girl won't be joining us.

-

As we finish dinner, we clean up, then we all migrate down into the basement to mutually check on the girl.

She was awake and she looked angry.

"You son of a bitch!" She screams as we come down the stairs, "Let me out of these chains!"

I wanted to laugh, but I controlled myself. Sao immediately started giggling. I hit his arm, shushing him with a smile on my face.

"My darling Neso. Good morning!"

She kicks her legs, but she only looks stupid with her arms behind her back. I'm not sure what she was doing. Noah was standing 5 feet away from her, her wrists were chained up; she was just struggling for no reason at this point.

She starts crying, and Noah groans dramatically, "Stop crying. You're just as whiny as Larissa."

"What the fuck!"

He laughs, "I'm just joshing with you. You're the best."

I squint my eyes at him, offended.

"Anyways," He sings as he turns back toward Neso, "I am planning on keeping you, so congratulations!"

Her jaw drops, and I watch as I tear slides in, "Who are you?"

"Noah, of course, daur!"

"Are you going to kill me? Who are these people?"

"Idiot. I just said I was keeping you so no, I'm not killing you. Unless you want to, but that would be about two weeks of wasted work, so I don't recommend it."

She falls silent.

"Oh and this is Sao and Larissa," He says, rotations his body to each of us with his hand out, "They're the best."

She stares, silent, then suddenly starts crying again. What a piece of work.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Cause you're pretty. Obviously."

She sniffs, "Thanks."

Sao and I burst out laughing. We could not hold it in anymore.

"Ugh, you guys are being so rude! Go upstairs."

"Okay okay!" I laugh, snickering up the stairs with Sao.

When we enter the room, we break down again.

"She's so unironically funny!" He says through his breathless laughs, "I would definitely keep her too just for entertainment."

"You are so mean!" I yelp, "Absolutely wicked."

This was the first time I was really laughing since I've gotten here and I'm glad it was with Sao.