Ares

Chapter 24 || Maybe it's a cruel joke on me.

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"I'm laughing, I'm crying, It feels like I'm dying."
- Pity Party, Melanie Martinez
{Cover: Landon Austin f.t. Madeleine Queen}

Grace peeled her eyelids apart and squinted at the sunlit balls of tissue littering the coffee table, a small pillow clutched to her chest. The words Network Media Player faded to and fro across the flat screen, a mournful apparition trapped in its own web. Ares flashed through her sleepy mind, caught up in her web. His smile made her knees tremble. Like the time they were watching movies on the couch - this couch - and Grace noticed a spider meandering across the coffee table. After inhaling sharply and pressing into the cushions as far as she could go, Ares sprang into action. Carefully, he wrapped that black legged bugger into a wad of toilet paper and proceeded to chase her around the apartment with it, Grace laughing and shrieking, the floor shaking Adrianeath their weight.

She wrestled free of the cocoon of blankets strangling her body and swung her heavy legs to the floor. The smell of stale wine drifting from the glass in front of her awoke a dull thud behind her right eye. She glanced at the large wall clock and groaned. Early afternoon, but what day she couldn't say as they all blended from one to the next.

The kitchen floor was cold beneath her bare feet, the water from the fridge cool against her tongue. Grace chugged it down with greedy gulps, leaning against the counter as a frozen ice pick punctured her frontal lobe. She set the bottle down and made a beeline for the bathroom, refusing to look at herself in the mirror no matter how many chances she got. She could feel the puffy bags Adrianeath her eyes without the mirror's help.

When she came back out, she stopped in the living room and put her hands on her hips, studying the nest she had created over the last two days. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup wrappers and chip bags covered the coffee table and floor, fanning the flames of sorrow in the pit of her stomach. She scratched at some chocolate squished into her leggings and noticed a wine stain in the shape of a mouse on the carpet around her feet. Grace gave up on the chocolate and buried her face in her hands. Ares's face bobbed to the surface and she immediately pushed him back down, refusing to go there for at least the next ten minutes.

Her phone vibrated on the weathered coffee table. She rushed over and snatched it, wincing when she saw Sydney's name. Grace hit ignore and checked to see if Ares had called or texted. A groan rattled loose from somewhere deep down inside. Nothing. She returned the cell to the coffee table and turned off the TV. Grace stood there in silence, looking out the window and reminding herself she had another nine minutes left to not think about him. A loud knock on the door made her gasp. Her eyes scoured the messy room, not knowing where to begin first. Another knock convinced her it was too late so Grace padded over to the front door, knowing it was Sydney.

Adrian stared back through the peephole like he could see inside. He leaned forward, his big eye blinking at her. She took a step back and surveyed her wrinkled t-shirt and chocolate stained leggings, swearing under her breath.

"Come on, Ev, I heard the floorboards creak. I know you're in there."

"No, I'm not," she replied, smoothing her hair.

Adrian stood there without moving, a heavy stillness slipping through the crack Adrianeath the door like a cold morning fog.

Grace rolled her eyes, knowing he wouldn't go away, and opened the door.

Adrian's handsome face soured. "Good God, are you okay?" he said, barging inside.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, shutting the door behind him.