In your Arms

Chapter Twenty

"I told you to stop picking on her. I told you." Uno kept on repeating the phrase three times already, as if it weren't enough to reprimand Alexander about what happened a moment ago. "I warned you didn't I? But you didn't listen."

Alexander looked at Uno exasperatedly, they were inside Uno's car,the latter was driving and kept scolding him like he was his adolescent son who just bullied some kid at school.

"I know, man. Jeez. Stop it already. It irks me. I know I'm guilty. Stop making me feel so awful." Alexander told his friend trying not to sound irritated.

"So now you say you're guilty? Well it doesn't surprise me, regrets are always felt after you've already done something wrong to another person."

Alexander felt like he was punched in the face. What Uno just said was true.

"I didn't thought it would get out of hand."

"But it did. And it's because you're too stubborn not to listen." Uno pressed him, "I told you to stop picking on her."

"Dude! For the nth time!" Alexander exclaimed and Uno went quiet for awhile. "Besides, she made me drink a glass of water with a teaspoon of salt, slapped me in the face two times, embarrass me in front of my friends, nag me almost everyday, and is always acting high and mighty. How can I not hate her?" Alexander ranted.

"I get it, but she's just a girl." Uno emphasized his last word. "You just don't understand how to deal with them. They only fight back if someone pisses them off first. I know 'coz I have a sister. I mean, they could get really annoying but it's always us guys who make them become like that."

Alexander's the one who went quiet this time. For the second time Uno's words had hit him square jaw in the face. That's one thing he'd always loved about his best friend, Uno never once hesitated to throw at him his frank thoughts and opinions about his narrow mindedness.

"And just so you know, it was Patty who had the idea of putting salt in your water and not Jordin. Patty told me."

Alexander turned sharply at Uno and looked at him with a gaping mouth. "What?!"

"You heard me." Uno answered him casually.

"Why the hell would she do that?!" Alexander looked in disbelief, he wanted to cuss but Uno might literally punch him in the face this time.

"Patty could be a little prankish sometimes, she actually did that to me too. She does pranks at me most of the time, if I'm being such an asshole and she hates it." Uno told him. "There's even this one time when she found me extremely drunk in my room and she caught me because she came over. I thought it was her I was kissing only to realize I'm making out with her chihuahua. It was really gross." Uno shivered as he remembered, his face terribly in disgust.

Alexander couldn't help not to guffaw. "That was crazy!"

"Yeah. She even took a video of it and never kissed me for two weeks."

"Really?" Alexander's eyebrows creased, "And you didn't hate her for that?"

"Well, it was kinda annoying, but she only did that 'coz I've done something wrong. Patty could be a prankster, but I love her. I've changed because of her. She made me a better person. If she's not like the way she is right now, maybe I would be a pain in the ass too. Just like you. If I couldn't tolerate her we wouldn't have lasted for two years. And that's one thing I love about Patty, she could be annoying but she cares." Uno's lips lifted into a smile.

Alexander half smiled at what he heard. He could see that his best friend was really struck by cupid's arrow. And it made him happy, but at the same time it also made him a little envious. He also wanted to have someone who would care for him, just like Patty. Someone who will annoy him but take good care of him at the same time.

"You know what, I think Jordin's like Patty. She's strong and it annoys you, but don't you think she treats you like that because she's concerned about you?"

Alexander scoffed, "Her? Concerned about me? I don't think so. Maybe to Simon, she is." He felt another prickly pain in his chest, it was the second time he did after the moment he saw her painting with Simon in it.

"Come to think of it, you're Simon's brother. And he's important to her. So that makes you important to her as well."

"I dunno, Uno. I've done a lot of awful things to her. Threw trashy words at her. She hates me."

"And that's why were finding her aren't we? So that you can apologize to her and atone for your sins."

"Atone for my sins? You made it sound like I'm totally evil." Alexander punched his friend lightly in the arm.

"So where do we start looking for her?" Uno asked him.

"Take us first to the park, maybe we could find her there."

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Amity bit her lip, Franco was right. Her painting is a mess and it couldn't be saved. She couldn't do anything to undo the damage inflicted on it. All her efforts were useless and it only made her feel a lot hopeless. She felt like crying but the tears didn't came, maybe she was to tired to even cry.

She touched her painting with trembling fingers. How did it end up like this.. She thought to herself. She couldn't even think of anything else.

Then Franco's words echoed in her head. I've always believed in you.. I know you can pull this off.. He had told her before he left. And she suddenly thought of her brother, Andrei, remembering what he had told her when he gave her the necklace, This would take you anywhere..

Amity suddenly felt driven. Those supportive words and her compassion were enough to motivate her and make her stop sulking and not doing anything.

She plugged her MP3 player at a speaker and played "Black Balloon" by The Kills in high volume and it filled the studio. She fixed herself another canvas and put out all the painting materials she would need. Amity had her game face on and determination could be seen on her face as she started to stroke as different colors started to fill the blank canvas.