Beware The Water

Trapped

Lux laid curled up on Nadia's couch. She brought her knees close into her chest and let out hushed cries in order not to disturb her. Nadia's house was small and cozy. Slightly worn out beige carpet covered the floors and there was a center piece on the coffee table consisting of small green succulents on a wicker tray and a glass vase filled up with water. Off to the side of the lidded vase were two short glass cups and two coasters. Nadia must not have had many guests, Lux thought to herself.

Nadia sat down on the floor and rested her back against the couch. The Baijiu bottle in hand was placed on the table with a thud and two glasses clinked together as Nadia brought them close to the edge. "Drink?" She offered, already with the second goblet filled halfway before Lux could turn down the liquor.

Lux took the glass to be polite and wiped her tears. The strong, clear liquid stared back at her where she saw her pink nose and puffy eyes in the reflection. Nadia's loud gulp made her look up and see the woman pouring herself a second glass. "I know what it's like to hate what he does." Nadia spoke softly while bringing the Baijiu up to her lips for a sip. "The specifics are different cuz I'm his big sister and you're his girlfriend but, he doesn't mean to hurt us. When you're a protector like Shorter is, sometimes a few stray bullets make their way past him. That's the life." She said before throwing her head back and swallowing another gulp. "He's trying his best for me and you."

Lux smacked her tongue and huffed, "If there's one thing I learned about Shorter that I hate, it's that he doesn't think, and does stuff he doesn't mean, and apologizes for it later. But I can't forgive him for this." Nadia stared back at Lux who was holding her glass tight with both hands. "I told myself that if he ever betrayed me that I'd walk away."

"This wasn't his fault." Nadia made another excuse for her brother. It came as second nature for her to defend Shorter and talk herself into thinking that he was innocent. He was all she had and nothing he did could make her see him in a bad light. She wasn't trying to be insensitive towards Lux, but being this far into accepting Shorter's mafia life, what else was she supposed to do? "He didn't ask for this."

"Yeah but he still did it. And he kept it a secret from me." Lux raised her voice, "He looked me in the eyes and would say he loved me all while-" her tightening throat made Lux stop mid sentence and take deep breath to compose herself. The strong liquor sang out to her in an alluring way, loud enough to where she took the first sip of alcohol in her life. Her lips puckered at the fermented taste and it hurt her stomach as it burned going down her chest. She didn't know how Nadia downed it so easily and went for seconds and thirds. Perhaps it wasn't the taste that Nadia liked. It could have been the numbing feeling in her head that Lux was now feeling after forcing herself to finish the glass in one swig. Nadia poured her another round. "I should have known with the way he's been acting weird." Lux threw the liquor back, making sure to avoid her tongue and held her stomach which felt warm and sloshy from the inside.

"He owned up to it on his own. You finding out any other way would have been worse."

"That's not the point. He should stop himself before thinking of doing anything like this." Lux held out her glass for another glass which Nadia poured, topping it off with more than the previous servings.

"And here you are." Nadia leaned her head back into the cushion, "He broke your heart and you're still with one foot in the door. You're here with me because you're angry and hurt, but once those feelings settle you'll go back because you love him." Her words were soft and non judgmental. In fact, they sounded personal. "You'll always forgive Shorter for the bad things he does and he'll always try to make it up to you. Tell you not to worry. Have you see only his good side. You can't fix him, Lux. Believe me, I've tried." Nadia's voice broke. "I've tried protecting him from so much but he gets pulled down this dark and unforgiving path that I can't follow him down. I will say this though. He's his happiest when talking about you. I've never seen him smile so hard when saying how his life is so much better with you in it. I remember when-"