Chapter 2. "Coin Suckers"
O L I V I A.
I sniffle and let out pitiful sobs in a rather low voice. Derek sighs on the other end of the phone.
"Why are you doing this to me, Derek? why do you hurt me like this?" I speak softly, barely audible.
"Look Liv, I'm patient with you, I swear I am, but I hate it when you cry about everything. It's not that bad, calm down." He tries to reassure me by feigning coldness, but concern seeps into his sentence.
I'm starting to get frustrated, and I'm afraid the emotion will turn to anger. It's taking too long to soften him up and make him give in, usually he should be down by now, but there's something on his mind that's keeping him from fully concentrating and I'm running out of tears.
I have to resort to the last thing I have left.
"Unhappy bastard," I yell at him.
"Honey, be thankful that I'm not throwing you out of my life, I repeat, it's not that big of a deal."
"You're not kicking me out of your life, but you are kicking me out of your home, right? and it hasn't even been a week since you said you loved me" I spit resentfully.
"and I do, but I already said I can get you a job. You can't stay in my flat anymore."
"And what the hell do I need a fucking job for if I have you?" I frown and switch hands with the pay phone because I'm starting to get tired.
"The job is going to help you get out of your privileged bubble, darling, you need it. It's about time someone showed you that you can't have what you want without doing anything, and if that person is going to be me, then so be it.
"without doing anything? is this a reproach?" I growl "I don't know if you forgot but I worked at the bank, I didn't spend my time lazing around."
"Is it fair to arrange papers for the amount of luxuries you had? No."
"Are you doing this for your dad or for yourself?"
Sighs.
"Look honey, I have to go" evades the question "tell me where you're staying and I'll send you a cell phone to stay in touch."
I dictate the hotel and room number and wipe my nose with one hand. I feel upset, but that's because of me, he's right and I hate it that way.
"It won't take long, be aware that it will arrive in less than 3 hours" he hesitates "I know you don't understand now but I'm doing all this for your own good, my dad just gave me the push I needed to act"
sigh
"I love you." I bring my thumbnail to my mouth and nibble on it, nervous at his response.
"I still love you, take care" and hangs up.
I move the phone away from my ear and place it on the holder of the public booth. I wipe the sweat from my hand on my pajama bottoms.
He loves me, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, in my coin-sucking context it's great because that way I can get more out of him but I admit it scares me and the slight guilt is getting to me.
Derek Harris.
A few years ago, when I was still in high school, in Literature they left a final project essay and it was in a team, and of course, one of the members with whom I got was the lanky, intense and intelligent nerd kid in the room. It was boring, very, very boring, but his parents were flush with money, they basically shit money.
One day, we met at his place, the house was huge and I was shouting at you everywhere how full of luxuries it was, I was so amazed that even when we started work I couldn't take my eyes off everything, Erik had everything what I wanted in life, a good family, luxuries, money, servants, literally his future was already assured, unlike mine, of course, it was very likely that due to lack of money I could not even go to university, instead He didn't have to be overwhelmed by the kind of thoughts that were always going through my head because he would get into a good university without doing anything, without even studying if he wanted to.
He had been born into a cradle of privilege impossible to ignore and the horrible thing was that he knew it, and always tried to empathize with others.
Another couple of times we had meetings in his place, enough to start devising my plan, a plan that in the eyes of many could seem cruel and selfish, but isn't that the easiest way to get out of complex situations? Erik had everything, literally everything, and I never had anything. It bothered me to see how unfair the universe was, without a doubt it had favorites and in any case I hated myself for how evil my day to day turned out to be. I needed to be happy. I never was and the memories where joy overflowed in me were so few that bringing them to mind was complicated.
It hurt, it hurt a lot to see Erik being everything that many people have wanted and did not know how to appreciate it, I wanted what he had, and for my fortune or misfortune there was a fairly easy way to achieve it, to earn even a part of what he had impregnated in his last name: Recognition.
It was simple to tell the truth, I just had to get close to him, become his friend and gradually get into his mind and heart. The task was not complicated by the simple fact that he had a very soft heart and was easy to break down and soften.
I had all the lines fully drawn, I calculated options in case something went outside the perimeters I imposed, possible damage control, abrupt changes in circumstances, reasons to surrender. Everything was perfectly planned. Until he showed up and threw everything away with his stupid existence.
Some time after our essay was due, I stuck to Erik like glue, trying to spend time with him. Making her smile was my privilege, stealing her sighs my mission and opening the way to her heart my longing. I managed to interfere and become her friend until I got her to invite me to her house on her own. That day I felt overflowing with happiness, for a moment I forgot that I lived with my aunt who didn't treat me badly or anything but still hated her presence.
When I entered the mansion I was impressed again, Erik took me to the living room where he invited me to sit while he went for some snacks to spend the afternoon. They rang the bell, and I only remember that I heard footsteps going down the stairs to which I had my back turned, and as if in slow motion, I turned around with a bored and disinterested look, until my eyes met a boy coming down. I opened my mouth in surprise and my eyes widened, unable to digest the image they saw, a tall redhead, about six feet, made his way while looking at his mobile phone with a frown, I couldn't fix it well but since I could tell from where I was that his body was somewhat athletic, judging by the way his shirt molded to his worked torso. He didn't give me a glance, he just went to the front door and that's when I realized that the annoying sound of the doorbell filled the house, the person on the other side seemed impatient because of the way he repeatedly rang. The redhead opened the door and my mouth fell open when a blonde girl pounced on him, colliding her lips with his, without even letting him react.
The girl took his hands and guided them to her butt, pressing, he obediently did so and she ended up pushing her body up to wrap her legs around his torso, he held her so she didn't fall.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I felt the presence of someone next to me and I assumed it was Erik, the person cleared his throat noisily, trying to get the preppy to stop sucking their mouths, to no avail because they didn't even notice.
He tried twice more until he got fed up.
"DEREK!" The aforementioned moved his mouth away from the blonde's and she pouted her lips
"could you stop doing that in the middle of the room?" The redhead I met there, his name was Derek, frowned at what Erik added, "please."
Derek sighed and lowered the blonde, I turned to see Erik and he already had his eyes on me, as if measuring my reaction, I was sure that my face only looked surprised so I gave him a smile, he returned it.
The redhead walked over with the blonde hot on his heels with her gaze fixed on Erik.
"What are you doing here? You're never home," he asked, not sounding rude.
"Ah...I brought a guest." He pointed to me to make his point and took my hand, pulling me to my feet. "This is Olivia, Olivia, this is my brother Derek."
Derek's eyes fell on me and my breath caught, I completely disconnected and was unable to observe anything other than his impressive green eyes. I could see the line of freckles that ran along his cheekbones, freckles usually look cute but they gave him a sensual and attractive touch, his lips were small and thin but so pink that many girls would be envious, his nose It was pointed, the truth is that it looked a bit strange and gave the feeling that it wasn't hers but it was still cute.
Erik shook my arm to get me to react and I snapped back to reality, in which Derek was holding out his hand for me to shake with an amused look, I was so engrossed in checking him out that I didn't notice he was trying to greet me. I blushed, a lot, and that seemed to amuse him more.
I raised my hand awkwardly and circled his, he shook it eagerly.
"Good afternoon Olivia, I hope you enjoy your short stay" he let go of my hand and turned to the blonde who was watching the disinterested scene "introduce yourself" he spoke to her under his breath she frowned denying "don't be rude, introduce yourself" she sighed exhausted and he he smiled big.
The girl took a step forward and extended her hand to me, I took it and saw that she was wearing a ring with a small diamond, along with some bracelets, which gave me the impression that they were gold. She gave my hand two shakes before letting go. "Hello Olivia, I'm Bianca" she smiled and her perfect teeth came out "I'm curious, Italy maybe?"
I gave him a fake smile and nodded. "My grandparents were Italian...just like...my father." I made a face.
"Amazing! My parents are from the country." He raised his arm and leaned on Derek's shoulder. He cleared his throat and took a step back.
"Well, we leave them alone. Carry on with your"with his hand he indicated the bowls of popcorn and sodas sitting on the coffee table "late"
He took Bianca by the hand and they headed for the stairs. I was like stupid watching as they disappeared upstairs.
I knew it there.
There I knew that I was not going to settle for the specimen that Erik represented. I needed more. I wanted more.
The entire time he had watched the blonde, he had felt a dangerously overwhelming emotion: envy. I wanted to have her body, her clothes, her things... her boy. I wanted to be her. As sick as that sounds.
So the change in the plan began, now everything would have to be directed towards Derek, he would continue talking to Erik but only as a friend.
I adapt. Before I started getting close to Derek I watched him for days. I learned his gestures, his way of speaking, the way he dressed, everything. The girls he went out with were always the same: women who gave him free rein to get between their legs, it was great for me, because I was in the same league as them, but seeing that it was always just one night, he never repeated again. I put my brain to work and worked with intuition. They all had a good body, a pretty face, silky hair, they dressed well and most importantly, their personality was quite eloquent, they talked a lot, they laughed loudly, they reflected what they said by moving their hands. I assumed that all those characteristics were what made him run away from commitment, it was possible that he wanted something different, something new in his life, someone who shouted seriousness at him from the first time.
My suspicions were confirmed when Erik invited me to a family party. We were all bored so we sat in the living room and started talking, the companion of one of his cousins was a rather shy brunette, the girl sat next to Derek and I could see how he treated her differently, as if he had more respect for her. That same night, everyone drank too much, but not me, I stayed sober so as not to ruin the plan.
At one point, Derek stepped out onto the balcony, leaning against the railing, looking thoughtful. I approached slowly, I positioned myself next to him and imitated his action, we stayed like that for a few minutes until he broke the silence.
"Do you like the color orange?"I hated it. Instead I replied
"Yes" He came closer to me and gently took my hand. We separated from the railing and turned to face each other.
"I'd like to give you this." He reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out a little Nemo chain. "Only if you want it, of course."
"Is it Nemo's?" I let out a light laugh. He smiled shaking his head
"It's a clown fish"
"He looks like Nemo"
"Nemo is a clown fish" He turned my hand, palm up, and attached the chain. "It's yours." He closed my fingers shutting her inside.
He smiled at me, I smiled at him.
And that's how it all started.
I didn't speak more than necessary, I was shy, reserved, I always tried to wear light colors and demure clothes, I softened my voice, batted my eyelashes and kept my chin down. I pretended to be someone completely different from the real me in order to please him, and I succeeded. I knew I had it from the moment I got out of class earlier than Erik and Derek was outside waiting for me, he took me home and very unsubtly asked if I had something with his brother, obviously I said no. We started dating, nothing formal.
He proposed it, an open relationship, we were together, we were the first option but we still had a free hand to be with more people, although I am almost sure that he believes that this applies more to him.
We've been that way for two years, and it's fine, it suits me, we have a good time and surprisingly I like it. We function together.
Someone touches my shoulder pulling me out of my thoughts and I turn to see the cause, a short and plump lady with a warm smile greets me and tells me that if I can move she wants to use the phone, she startled me and I stumble away.
This morning, after fleeing the dump they call a motel, I wandered the streets aimlessly for a couple of hours, staring at everything in a dramatic way as if for the first time, until I came across a supermarket that I knew perfection, I located myself and remembered that there was a hotel in good condition nearby, I walked to the place and paid for the first available room. I borrowed a charger and started charging my mobile phone. I went out, with my feet hurting, to buy clothes so I wouldn't keep wearing the bloody bank's uniform, while I stopped by for some tacos for breakfast.
When I got back I saw a pay phone right in front of the establishment and the idea of dialing Derek was so intense that I ended up giving in to the impulses.
I wasn't very happy with him. His dad owns the bank and the old man never trusted me at all, he did a little but he still kept an eye on me, mostly because Erik realized my intentions, the bastard widened his eyes, He kicked me out of his life and ran to tell his daddy, also Derek, but he didn't believe anything.
He from the beginning always had the wrong idea when it came to me.
The point here is that yesterday, when the robbery occurred, I gave in to open the box just like that, I didn't resist, I didn't scream, nothing, I just went over, typed in the code and even opened it completely so they could take out the money.
Eliot Davis thought I acted that way because I collaborated with them, a stupid thought because I'm sure he would have done the same thing in my place, come on! a guy pointed a gun at me and they had the few clients who were in the set up as hostages, I did what most would have done if they were in my place.
When the police finished questioning me I went to the apartment I share with Derek but as soon as I tried to open it with my key, it did not give because they had changed the lock. I tried again a couple of times until the door opened and unfortunately it wasn't because of my key, the imposing Eliot was in front of me with a frown and covering the entrance with his body. Derek on the other side told him to let me through and he reluctantly did. They made me sit on the sofa and the oldest took it upon himself to get his theories out in my face in a civilized but cruel way, Derek did nothing, he just looked at the ground the whole time, I was angry with him and I couldn't be blamed, I can be what they want but not a traitor and less if it is something that also affects me, it hurt me to see that he did not trust me or at least the fear he had of his father was greater.
From there they already know a part of what happened when I spoke to him.
I sigh and went across the street to my hotel, I go in and before going up I go to reception to mention that someone will come to see me and let him in.
I go up the elevator, because unlike the other one this one does have one and when I go out I walk down the hall looking at my nails, when I arrive I open it and the first thing I see is the tempting padded bed that makes eyes at me from where I am, I bite my nail doubtful but in the end I end up heading towards her.
I sit down, take off my shoes, take off my uncomfortable skirt and unbutton my blouse, getting rid of it on the spot and leaving me in just panties and a bra. I lift the covers and get between them, sinking into the bed and feeling how my whole body relaxes, gradually falling into unconsciousness.