Vendetta

Chapter 10: Missing You

Dakota

November's Beginning

~~~~

I somehow ended up at The Bistro. I parked a few spaces away from the door. The overhead bell announced my arrival. There was a short line of people ahead of me. While waiting, I glanced around the cafe. There were a few people seated at the booths and tables. Some were seated alone, others chatting it up with their company.

Our eyes met almost instantly and I couldn't help but stare. Her beauty always seemed to awe me and her eyes were mesmerizing. They were deep and chocolate, reminding me of the eyes of a curious doe. They always searched for answers that couldn't be spoken and always held questions that were far from being answered.

The memory of her skin, so smooth it felt like silk running over my fingertips, flashed in my head. Her eyes were so deep and passionate, that I'd voluntarily dive into their depths. With lips so succulent I want nothing but those on me...forever. She sat in the last booth by the window. She had a black hoodie on her long blown-out hair framing her face. Her dark brown eyes bore into mine. I know I had a look of shock etched onto my face. I hadn't expected to run into her. It had been a while. A few months actually since the last time I'd seen her. We hardly even saw each other at school. After the "breakup," I stopped seeing her around the halls for a while. 

Almost like she'd disappeared.

My heart skipped a beat as we held eye contact. I wanted to go to her. Hug her. Ask her what she needs.

Kiss her.

A pale blonde boy walked over to her booth snatching my attention away from her.

He smiled at her and nudged his way beside her in the booth. Saying something to her in what looked to be concern, he looked up.

We made eye contact.

Chris' face hardened as he stared at me. I returned the look before looking away and taking a step towards the serving counter, where the man in front of me had stepped away.

"What can I get for you?" The guy behind the counter eyed me warily. Irritation settled in the pit of my stomach and I had to hold back my snappy response.

"A medium spiced coffee," I demanded. I handed him a ten and told him to keep the change.

Taking care to keep my back to them, I stepped to the side to wait for my drink to be made. Once I was handed my drink, I briskly walked to the door and headed to my car with my head down and my mind on a past that I could never go back to.

I felt her eyes on me. Watching through the window as I headed to my car. I hopped in and quickly pulled off. I could hardly focus on the drive back to campus. I parked my car in the back of the student parking lot. I checked the time.

2:45.

I had close to 20-ish minutes until my next class.

My last class of the day.

"Fuck that. I'm going home." I pulled out and headed home. The drive home was silent as my mind raced almost as fast as my car.

I pulled into the garage at my apartment building, almost on two wheels when I made the turn.

***

I sat on my bed, K Camp playing quietly as I stared up at the ceiling.

Memories of her and her smile flooded my head. Damn, I missed her.

Beside me, my phone vibrated.

A text from Pedro.

Dro: Wya

Kota: Home why?

Dro: Pull up to the gym. I'm here w/lyssa

Kota: Nah not tonight. Headache

Dro: ight

I tossed my phone to the side and rolled away from it. Facing my window, I stared out at the moon. It was almost full, bright, and casting an eerie glow in my room. I closed my eyes. I wanted her out of my head and off my heart. I wanted her to leave me. I need it still. I can't let her go. She left a stain on my heart.

Eventually, I fell asleep. It was a blank sleep. No dreams. No nightmares. Just darkness. It was like death. Or at least what I assumed death to be like. It was a nice feeling.

It was peace.

I woke with a start. My phone was vibrating against the hardwood floor loudly.

I groaned as I pulled myself from my bed and shuffled around my bed to where the annoying buzz was coming from. I snatched my phone off the floor and answered without checking the screen.

"What?"

"Get ready. I'll be there in thirty minutes. He wants us."

"Ight."

Pedro hangs up and I grab a hoodie out of my closet and some sweats out of a drawer. It's quiet in the house, Nicole must not have come home.

In the bathroom I wash my face and brush my teeth quickly, I throw a black durag on my head and head for the door.

***

I pull into the parking spot next to Pedro's car and hop out. Pedro was leaning on the trunk of his car waiting. I clapped hands with him quickly before we made our way to the ally way. I knocked on the large metal door in front of us twice. It swung open. A young-looking kid held the door open. He had a tattoo of a tear under his right eye. He grinned up at us.

"Big bro," He says as we step into the dank hallway.

I dropped a hand atop my head.

"Hey, shorty," We walk past him and down the hall.

The hall was short. In about five paces or so we were at the top of a long flight of stairs. Motion-censored light flickered on as we made our descent. At the end of the stair another short hallway ahead of us. On the dark concrete walls, graffiti, some brightly colored others simple and dark, leads us to the open space where The Cage sat. 

The Cage was quite literally just that. It was a boxing ring lifted a bit higher than usual on cement stilts with a chainlink fence around the entire perimeter.  Large overhead lights flipped on as we walked past, our footsteps loudly echoing.