Dormant

Chapter 12

Tristian

The low bass of my guitar puts my tense shoulders at ease. My legs are kicked up onto my desk as I lay back into my chair with my eyelids shut. I begin to drag my guitar pick across the strings aggressively when I get a sudden knock on my door.

Seconds later after turning towards my room door, Andy's head pokes through the doorway with a small smile. "You have a visitor."

"Who?" I loosen the grip on my guitar handle and sit up in my desk chair.

A knowing smirk makes its way onto his face, and he slowly steps to the side to reveal a single leg covered in sweats. Even with pants as loose as those, I can already tell it's her with the lean shape of her legs.

"Jesus Christ, you couldn't give me a heads up?" I mouth aggressively at him, gently placing my guitar back in its case and trying my best to tidy up my tornado of a room. I still have some of my boxes placed in the corner, but other than that, the walls are plastered with posters of alternative rock bands, photos I've taken during my free time, and edgy quotes that used to keep me going as a young teen. I don't even want to get into my bed, and the carpet is nearly covered in clothes.

His mischievous cackle echoes down the hall as he leaves, and my bedroom door creaks open just as I usher a pile of clothes under my bed.

"Sorry for showing up unannounced, I don't have your phone number saved. Am I bothering you?" Natasha wraps her arms around her torso, cautiously stepping into my room as her eyes dart around.

"No, I'm just surprised you came over." I subtly slide an empty bag of chips under my bed as I awkwardly stretch my arms into the air. "Why did you come over?"

She avoids eye contact with me as her eyes glaze over the posters on my wall. "My friends...they're all coming back tomorrow. They were thinking of having that do-over soon."

"The do-over of the shitty little dinner party we had?" I snort.

"Yeah." I watch as she observes a pile of polaroid pictures I haven't gone through yet, smirking to herself. "We're thinking about going to a nightclub, having a few drinks and what-not. If you're up to it, of course."

A drink? With her? Absolutely. "Y-Yeah. I don't see why not."

"Okay," She pulls out a small picture from the pile, holding it up as she examines it. "Who's this?"

Although we grew up hating each other, Natasha knows almost every single person I've ever hung out with, except for one. Right as she turns the picture over into my direction, my pulse spikes at the sight of her smile. With straight white teeth and sun kissed tanned skin, it's absolutely ironic that she's always described as an angel, when in my reality she's a spawn of satan.

In the picture I'm struggling to stand up straight, with my cheeks a tinted shade of red as I put on a dazed smile and a beer bottle in hand. Her arm is around me as she squeezes her face into mine for the picture. I still remember the softness of her big curls when they grazed against my arm. At the bottom of the picture, the name 'Danielle' is written in pink sharpie and outlined with a heart.

By the sight of whatever expression I hold, she instantly drops the picture down onto the desk. "Tristian?"

"Y-Yeah." I press into the corner of my eye, rubbing my face in distress. "Fuck, sorry."

"You just completely spaced for like a minute. Are you alright?" She takes a few steps closer, but she's careful not to get too close.

"Yeah, I'm good, alright?" I grab my picture and tear it into two, stuffing it into the small trash can beside my desk.

"Was that.." She trails off in realization. I can see the look of pity on her face and it almost sets me off.

"Yes. Can we just skip past that, please?" I force myself to look into her eyes, regretful of my sudden outburst.

"Yeah." She answers after a few moments of silence. "So, tomorrow? We're meeting up around 7, at that parking lot in front of the campus."

"Great." I force a small smile onto my face and wait until she awkwardly leaves. I don't know if she was expecting any more out of me, but she wasn't going to get it.

I would have to save that for Dr. Mclahen.

***
Just a small one for today :) (wrote this chapter during finals week and this is all that came to mind, more to come of course!!)