Afterlight ✔️

chapter seven

— Chloe Romano

"What are you trying to say?" I questioned, feeling my own chest rise and fall. "You do things around here that you don't even want to do?"

"Don't worry about it." He mumbled, staring straight into my eyes. "Look," He clutched my right shoulder, standing to the left of me. "It's dark out. It's too dangerous for you to be around here, even with me by your side."

He lost me a long time ago, I didn't understand what he's trying to say, here. Sometimes, he seemed like he cared about my well being, but was it all an act?

"Okay." I said in my tired voice.

I couldn't wait to get back to the house and go to sleep, I exhausted from all that happened for the past four days. Being kidnapped, having to live with a criminal who didn't even notice who he was dealing with. My body ached and my feet hurt from the sharpness of the glass. Justin lead me over to the car and held the passenger door open for me, allowing me to get in, and closed it. He then walked around to the driver's side and put the key into the ignition, closing his door as well. The roar of the old engine rang through my ears as he took off.

"That was one of the nicest things I had done for a girl, Julia," He said, turning the steering wheel sharply to the left, feeling my body move along with it in the same direction. "Remember this day."

The nicest thing he has done?

I actually believed him with no hesitation. Although, I appreciated him trying to make me feel better, I believed that he should treated girls with respect. Everything he has done prior to fixing my foot up after the glass incident were the moves of a misogynistic asshole. If Justin wasn't going to respect me, how did he expect for me to do the same for him?

It was pitch dark out, there wasn't really anyone else on the streets which gave Justin the power to speed through them with no problem. At the rate he was going, I was surprised he hadn't been caught by the cops. Within minutes, we had arrived to his house and I got out to walk down the path in front of the house, hearing dogs barking in the distance and crickets. I peered to my left to see Justin running in front of me to open the door for me. I walked past him, into the house.

"What are you gonna do, tonight?" He questioned, closing the door behind him. He went into the kitchen to drop his car keys on the counter next to the fridge. I looked at the floor to see small pieces of glass, shattered in the one spot I dropped the cup.

"I'm gonna go to sleep." I yawned.

"Well, I'm going to hop into the shower." He veered over to the stairs. "I'll see you in the morning, Julia."

He started to walk up the stairs, bringing his legs up one by one. He was almost stomping and dragging himself up there, appearing exhausted. After seeing him disappear fully, I slipped my boots off one by one and neatly aligned them to the couch. I peeled off my shirt and shorts to find myself in my favorite dark purple pajamas, feeling more comfortable than before. The last two days, I had to sleep in my dirty and sweaty clothes, so I was glad I could sleep in my pajamas again. I took the canadian flag blanket off the coffee table, plopped down on the couch, threw the blanket over me, and closed my eyes to fall into a deep sleep.

*   *   *

— Jay Bieber

I stripped down into the bareness of my body to hop into a steaming hot shower, feeling the water go down my back. It felt so nice after a long day of robbing, dealing with bastards like Jett, and helping Julia gather her thoughts together.