"breathe a little bit, beautiful, you're all out of breath."
Disconnected from the present, Twitch is haunted by his parents memories, the guilt coursing through his veins as he unconsciously holds the key to the freak accident that killed his pare...
"Where did you disappear off to last night?!" Jade screamed when Tahlia made a sad little walk of shame back to Jade's place.
"Um..." Tahlia began, unsure how to begin.
"Oh my GOD. You totally had a one night stand. You have the just-fucked hair. Oh my god." Jade said, her eyes widening dramatically and Tahlia found herself laughing even though she felt unclean and really, really pissed. "So how was it? Wait, better yet, was he hot?"
Tahlia laughed. "Yeah, he was hot as hell. He has the weirdest name though: Twitch." When she mentioned the name, Jade's eyebrows shot up. "Careful, your eyebrows are trying to escape there."
"Did you just say Twitch?" Jade asked and she surveyed Tahlia up and down. When Tahlia nodded, Jade looked impressed. "How did you manage to crack the Ice God? He's normally so aloof and what a dingbat he is, jeez. The rudest jerk I've ever met."
Tahlia groaned. "I'm with you on that. We spent the whole night together and he opened up to me and stuff and I thought we'd get to hang out again and he was so lovely and sweet and then, bam! Gone. Poof. It's like this other guy just replaced him and he threw me out of his apartment."
"Not literally!" She added, hastily as Jade made an angry noise that sounded like a cross between a belch and a growl.
"What do you mean he opened up to you? Like, you guys just talked?" Jade asked, her hands on her hips. She looked disappointed.
"No!" Tahlia said and felt embarrassed. Oh well, nothing could beat today mornings embarrassment anyway. "We shagged, um, f-fucked each other. Then, we just talked. His real name is Marcus."
She decided that that's all she'd share with Jade. Something about the whole conversation with Marcus/ Twitch had been so intimate, so private that she felt if she spoke about it out loud, the magic of the night would break.
"Forget him, he's known to be a rude ass bitch anyway. Besides, I'm your tour guide today!" Jade said and clapped her hands together.
"Where are we going?" Tahlia asked, laughing.
"Wherever the wind blows us! No but really, where do you wanna go first?"
"I have to see the Statue of Liberty. I mean, come on, the symbol of America! It's a must that I go there."
"Alright, give me ten minutes and I'll meet you outside." Jade said as she rushed into her messy room.
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Jade and Tahlia sank into two plushy chairs at a cafe, exhausted.
"Man, I'm beat." Jade said as she closed her eyes and settled down quite comfortably in the cushiony chair.
"Maybe, I shouldn't have targeted all the tourist sites for today." Tahlia murmured as she chugged down the water offered by a timid-looking waiter.
"You think?!" Jade screeched, her eyes still closed as she pressed the cool glass of water on her forehead.
"I didn't hear you complaining when I suggested place after place to go. You seemed pretty excited then..."
"Shut up, that was just the goodness of my heart talking. I'm too tired to smack your face now so could you please hush-hush?" Jade said, finally drinking the cool water.
Before Tahlia could reply, the waiter was back as he shyly handed out the menus. "Would you like anything else to drink?"
According to Tahlia's plan, she could only afford to spend a few dollars a day so that she'd have enough money till she reached home, back to London. She still had no idea how much money Jade would be expecting as payment for Tahlia to be lodging at her place. If this meant starving herself a bit, then so be it.
"No, thank-" She began but Jade cut her off sharply.
"Are you crazy?! Get me three iced coca colas and make sure they're ultra chilled!"
Jade was looking behind Tahlia, with interest. "Don't look now but a super hot girl is staring daggers at you from the table to your side. I'm straight but that girl makes me feel slightly gay."
Tahlia immediately turned despite Jade's hisses. Jade was right. This girl was beautiful. Silky brown hair cascaded down her shoulders and she was wearing an expensive looking white blouse. Her green eyes were narrowed down at Tahlia making Tahlia feel self-conscious. There was something in her stare that didn't feel particularly friendly.
Tahlia shivered slightly and turned back to Jade who was ogling the unfriendly stranger. "How is her hair so smooth?" Jade asked. "I wonder what conditioner she uses..."
Before Tahlia could reply, the hot girl made her way over. She towered over the two and Jade's mouth flopped open.
"Twitch's new bedroom conquest, I presume? I'm Erica." Her voice sounded exotic, a slight lilt in her pronunciation that made Tahlia wonder where she was originally from and she smelled so good like freshly baked cookies and something tangy, spicy.
"T-t-tahlia." She stammered and then mentally shook herself. You're better than this. "It was just a one night stand. Didn't mean anything." She continued, more confidently.
This girl intimidated the crap outta her. Erica turned towards Jade.
"Leave us. I need to speak to her," Here, Erica jutted her chin towards Tahlia. "Alone."
Jade stared between the two of them before she slowly got up, grabbing her water glass and left.
"You're a cute little thing, aren't you?" Erica began and smiled. "I can see your charm. Pretty smile, easy laughter. I see why Twitch would be interested."
Oh my god. Was this girl jealous of her? Tahlia wanted to laugh. She looked gorgeous, seemed intelligent enough and she smelled like cookies. How could stupid little Tahlia compete with that?
She crossed her arms, refusing to be intimidated. "Is this the part where you tell me to back off your man or you'll ruin my life?"
Erica gave a dry chuckle but she didn't look very amused. "Quite the opposite actually." She leaned forward, her green eyes narrowing at Tahlia.
