...
❝He was the poison I was dying to taste on my lips.❞
...
I was a coward.
The coward who wanted to leave behind the wreckage of her life for the man who had tormented her for as long as she could remember. The boy who had spit venom at me gro...
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A DISCONCERTING WEEKEND gave way to another ordinary, soul-sucking Monday where the morning was spent with trigonometry, personal statements, Brönte and Austen, followed by an afternoon at the cosy little pizzeria closest to Blackstone for lunch. Our table was crammed with three baskets of breadsticks and huge boxes of pizza, particularly the two orders of margarita that Lyle had passed off as 'depressing' since he refused to eat absolutely anything meat-free.
"Would you all like anything else?" The waiter, Luke, came to a stand by our table as he passed by.
"We're good, thanks," River said — almost off-handedly — since there was a collective 'no' from the table. His attitude made me frown and before I could open my mouth to ask exactly why that was, the waiter interrupted me to speak.
"If there's anything that you do need, then just give me a shout," he continued, an almost flirtatious smile on his face that seemed to be pointed at Heira.
She gave him an awkward nod in return, the situation made even more uncomfortable for her when Kaiden cleared his throat, wrapping an arm around Heira's shoulder. "There won't be any need for that."
He stared at Luke expectantly, until he nodded stiffly and scuttled off to the next table.
"Was there a necessity to be so off-handed to him?" I broke the tense atmosphere of the table with my question to River.
His jaw tightened, irritated that I was talking to him. "Perhaps you're a little slow but did you not see his perverted behaviour?"
"Your attitude towards him was before he acted like a creep towards Heira."
"He's always been like that, Ishwarya," Lyle replied instead. "He's always been creepy and eyes up women like they're his next meal."
"The last thing men like him deserve is respect," River continued, jaw ticking. "Objectifying women like they only exist for sexual pleasure."
Oh. Wow.
"I'm sorry," I apologised, wanting to be the bigger person and not start another argument because he was right, at the end of the day. "I didn't know."
"Maybe try to get the bigger picture next time before opening your mouth, and stop acting like a saint who needs to get justice for everyone whose even slightly been wronged."
"Oh my God. I said that I didn't know and I apologised for my mistake. Must you start an argument with every small thing?"
"Must you always be everywhere and be right up in my fucking face all the damn time?"
"Can you just do us all a favour and remove that stick up your ass that's so high up in your head that it makes you have a problem with every single thing?"
"Can you do me a favour and shut up?" He hissed. "Your voice grates on my fucking nerves."
