Will to Way, Wilt Away

Chapter 11

Julius texted Shiloh and I the next morning telling us that he had to take Instagram pictures for Aria, so the landscaping was left to us for the day.

"Does Aria have Instagram photoshoots often?" I asked Shiloh, as we sat stood in the middle of the Wasteland eating Egg McMuffins. So much for your fast. One day in and you're Egg McStuffin your face.

"Oh yea," Shiloh said between bites. "That's essentially her job."

"How the hell is that a job?" I asked, while covering my mouth with my hand.

Shiloh, making no effort to hide the food in his mouth, continued chowing down while responding, "So her dad started a chain of women's clothing boutiques, her mom designs the clothes, and Aria models them."

"So her dad is her employer?"

"Yea, her dad literally gives her boatloads of money to model clothing for their website and post Instagram pics of herself wearing the clothes. She has like 250k followers just for being the face of the brand."

This girl really did have everything handed to her. An Ivy League education, an easy job, and the figure of a model.

"What's the brand called?" I asked after swallowing the last bite of my McMuffin.

"Ohhhh, I almost forgot to tell you!" Shiloh shouted. "That's the best part!"

"Huh?"

"Okay, okay, okay," Shiloh said eagerly. "Pretend you're Aria's dad."
"Uh, mkay."

"Now just think about how you can make your daughter's fantabulous life even more fantabulous."

"Dude, I don't know. Buy her a chunk of Texas??"   

"Ughhh, no!" Shiloh whined. "You plaster her freaking name on every one of your storefronts all over the country."

I covered my forehead with my hand. "You're kidding. You're actually kidding."

"Wish I was, but you can purchase high-end fashion pieces online and in an Ariadne's Boutique near you," Shiloh grumbled.

Oddly, even though Aria had the kind of life I dreamed about, I didn't envy her. A part of me expected me to envy her, and maybe even wished that I did, but I didn't. I couldn't. She was one of those people who had everything handed to her. Hell, she could waste an Ivy League education on a degree she would never use. Those were the type of people who died without discovering any purpose in their lives. Because when the world paved roads of gold before each of their footsteps, they never strayed from this gilded avenue to journey down a path that they chose for themselves. I knew I would never have a life as successful as Aria's, but I would rather walk upon my own trail of dirt than mindlessly follow a promenade of opulence that I never earned.

"So that's why you're always on her case," I asked, starting to put the pieces of their friendship together.

"I mean, she's named after a mythological princess. Just think about that for a second," Shiloh said with an are-you-effing-kidding-me expression across his face. "Don't get me wrong. She's a sweetheart, and I love her to pieces. But somebody's gotta give her a hard time 'cause the universe sure as hell won't."

I wasn't sure whether his logic was justified, but I laughed anyway.

"So what about Indi?" I asked, wanting to address his not-so-subtle fangirling over her when I met her two weeks ago.

"Oh! Yes! My! Queen!" Shiloh clapped his hands with each word he spoke.

"Not to question your worship of her, but why exactly is she your queen?"

"Because she's literally the most badass person on the planet," he said.

He still didn't answer my question, so I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to elaborate.

"Okay, she would never tell you any of this because she has zero confidence in herself. But first of all, she worked her ass off to transfer from community college to Vanderbilt. And then she worked her ass off some more to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Vandy. She goes to spin class at 5 AM every single day. Not to mention that she's currently balancing her job with her applications for business school."

"Wow, that is pretty impressive. She's definitely driven," I commented.

"Yea, but she's not just driving a puny little smart car. She's driving one of those ginormous 18 wheelers you see on the highway," Shiloh comically explained.

I began to realize that even though I knew quite a bit about Indi, not a single word of what I knew actually came from Indi herself. I had the impression that she was just overly humble when I first met her, but after hearing about all of her achievements from Shiloh, I started to think that what I initially saw as humility was actually crippling insecurity. She was beautiful, tall, thin, intelligent, and accomplished. But even with all of this, she was not confident. I couldn't fathom why that was, at least not right now.

Shiloh took his jean jacket off as the sun rose higher in the sky.

"Anyway, we better get some work done before I get hungry again. What's the plan for today Boss Lady?" I was surprisingly becoming accustomed to this new title Shiloh gave me. A bully in fourth grade called me ASSpen one time. So this was much better.

"Well, why don't we—"

"Hey, guys!" said a voice from the backdoor of the building.

We both turned our heads to see Indi and Aria walking toward us.

"Uh, what are you guys doing here?" Shiloh asked.

"Why do you mean?" Indi asked back.

"I thought you were doing a photoshoot with Julius, Aria," Shiloh explained.

Aria looked at Indi in confusion and then back at Shiloh. "Uh, well I don't know why he said that?"

"We did go to his apartment before this, but he didn't answer when we knocked," Indi added.

I felt my stomach suddenly sink, followed by a rush of adrenaline surging through every vein in my body. The image of Julius' face from yesterday flashed inside my head, his empty eyes gazing lifelessly into mine. It was the same expression he had when I first met him in the little glass box. Yet, I thought nothing of it.

"We have to go," I said while beelining back inside the building. My hurried walk quickly became a panicked sprint.

Oh my god, how could I think nothing  of it?