Magnetic Collision

Chapter 9

'Come over.'

Those were the only 2 words written in the message that greeted Candice when she woke up. Seeing Lucas write to her that early in the day was extremely uncommon, he rarely requested her presence any earlier than late afternoon. It was only 10 am, she was supposed to head to class quite soon. Normally, she would've ignored him, her studies were top priority after all. But this case was different. He hadn't been in contact for days by then. Candice wondered if it had anything to do with the party, and the escapades that followed it the day after, but that didn't seem like something he would've done. He handle everything with a surprising amount of maturity, so just ditching her because of that was very unlikely. Something different had to have been going on. And because of that, she decided to skip class for the first time in her life.

She had no idea what to even expect when she walked up to the door of his apartment, gathering the courage to knock. The whole taxi ride there she had been completely absorbed into her own thoughts. The thought of simply showing up to his apartment unannounced had certainly crossed her mind in the past few days, probably a lot more than once, but each time, she just disregarded it. It wasn't her place to check on him, or that was how she felt at least. After all, the possibility of him ghosting her for good had been a lingering threat for the entire time they had known each other, and she was well aware of that too. Although, if he did that after spending so much time together, she had to admit she would have been upset. But of course, she would've never told him that.

The sound of shuffling echoed from inside the home, as if someone was struggling not only to open the door, but also to get to it in the first place. That bad feeling in the fit of her stomach increased with every second it took the lock to finally click. Something was definitely wrong. And she was going to find out what it was exactly very, very soon.
"You're late again..." Lucas muttered as they made eye contact. At first glance, Candice wasn't quite sure what was up with him. His cheeks were flushed red, his articulation sounded just off enough to be noticeable, and his eyes appeared dazed. It didn't look as if he was completely there mentally.

"I'm not going to jump at your every whim, I told you already." she stated calmly. He mumbled something inaudible, displeased with her answer before suddenly taking a hold of her arm, using it to drag her inside with an uncoordinated, but still powerful motion. The moment the door closed behind them he had her pinned against it, already attacking her with a demanding kiss. Their teeth clashed together, his movements were completely out of control, like he couldn't command his own body. His breathing was heavy too, like he had just run a mile long race. He wasn't himself.

And that was when the smell of alcohol hit Candice's nose. It wasn't a light hint of it either, it felt like the entire house had been doused in it. She could taste it on his tongue too. She immediately pushed him away, nearly knocking him over, his balance as compromised as the rest of him.

"What the fuck was that for?" he snapped, with a genuine anger in his voice. Despite that, he kept his distance, waiting for a reply.

"It's not even noon and you reek of booze. There is absolutely no way I'm doing anything sexual with you." she told him, her tone cold, and serious as she could manage.

"Oh don't start that with me. We've done while I was drunk before, why does it matter?" he complained, words slurring together ever so slightly.

"I wasn't sober either. We were equally wasted. Neither of us could make coherent decisions, and that lead to a really fucking big mistake. But right now, I am very capable of making decisions. And I say that we're not doing anything." she reiterated, making him roll his eyes in frustration.

"Why the fuck do you need to be so goddamn stuck up all the time? It's fine, this isn't my first rodeo. Just shut up, and go with the flow." he commanded, but Candice stood her ground.