She had no memory of what happened last night nor did she want to because thinking felt like an arrow pierced her head over and over again.
She groaned, using her pillow to cover her head. Maya's party was awesome but she drank the party away. The minute her throat burned after having a taste of a margarita, she ordered every special drink the club had to offer.
Anything to wash the pain away. Anything to get those damned whiskey eyes that were utterly destroyed. Anything at all, even if it meant waking up with elephants marching on her head.
Fuck. The last thing she wanted was to go anywhere on a Sunday afternoon. "Shit! Shit!" She rolled over in shock and fell to the floor with her duvet. "Shit!" She stood up, but the duvet made her trip again. She was supposed to meet with the girls and Louisa too.
She checked the time and saw it was ten minutes past 1 pm. The meeting was meant to be by 2 pm. Talk about being late. Oliver would have scolded her to death if she showed up late to his class.
Oliver. Her heart cracked when she thought about him. He would have prepared a hangover soup for her if she had called him. Why didn't he break in when he saw her messy state? Was he drawing the line now that she had caught him? So he suddenly had morals. This made her irritated.
"Louisa! Fuck Louisa! We're so fucking late!" she barged into her friend's room but paused when she saw her friend reading a book on the balcony, seated.
"Why are you yelling, Kay?" The one thing Louisa hated was being interrupted when she was reading.
"Have you forgotten that we are meant to meet with Rory, Blaire, Asher, and Siao today!?"
"By three in the afternoon. I wanted to wake you up but you came home drunker than usual yesterday so I decided to let you sleep in. And did you actually think the girls would actually show up early?"
"Well…." when she put it like that, Kay calmed down a bit.
"Do you remember who brought me back home last night?" She asked Loui.
"Oh, yeah, a very nice cab guy. He said someone paid for you to get home safely, probably Maya." Kayla nodded but it didn't add up. Maya was just as drunk as her but she had a boyfriend so he would drop her home but who paid for her cab?
Everything felt shallow and dark to her today. Even dressing up that was the highlight of her day felt like work, so she opted for something simple. A blue baseball cap, a white oversized shirt that was tucked in only at the front black jeans, and white sneakers.
Her hair was in a messy bun under the cap. Kayla drove them to the lounge where they were supposed to meet. The car ride was silent because Kayla was in her head and Louisa was reading. Sometimes she would gasp, cuss under her breath, and giggle. Kayla shook her head.
The only books she had read that made her unable to do anything else were 'The Circular Pyramid' and Dramonie fan fics. It was safe to say she had read every fan fic about them ever made.
"Loui, we're here. Let's go." she tapped her bestie. "Are the others here?" Her question was impatient.
"I dunno, lemme ask." Kayla brought out her phone and texted on the group chat.
[Kaylaluv]: yo, anyone here
[sleepingbeauty]: I'm going 2 be a little bit late but I'll be dere soon <3
[blaireisbusy]: also gonna be late. See ya bitches!
[siao'shouse]: I have a last minute shoot so i'll catch up later. Love u!
"They are all going to be late! Like what the fuck?" Kayla pursed her lips.
Louisa clicked her tongue. Then, a beep sounded from Kayla's phone.
[ashonfire]: u can cum in, I'm here.
"Asher is here," she frowned. Asher and Oliver were close. Something bitter tasted in her mouth. "Why don't you go in then, Kay?"
"What do you mean by me? What about you? Aren't you going in?" Kayla narrowed her eyes.
"I can't read in front of other people! And I'm getting to the part where they are almost going to kill each other!"
"Are you fucking kidding me!? I'm not going in there alone!"
"Why not? Asher is our friend, not a crazy person!"
"But I don't wanna go!" she whined and Loui rolled her eyes. "Lemme just finish this chapter and I'll come to meet you. Why are you suddenly afraid of Asher?"
The question made her shoulders tense, she put her hair behind her ear, adjusting her cap, "Who says I'm afraid of her?" She unbuckled her seatbelt, grabbed her purse, and left the car.
She didn't want to meet with Asher because of Oliver. If they were close and she and Oliver had done some very questionable things wasn't she the third party? They never said they were dating explicitly but the fact that he was close to another woman made her unsettled for some reason.
'I don't care. He's evil and an asshole. He stalked me and planted cameras in my home invading my privacy therefore he is the devil in carnage.' She reminded herself but another voice had a different view.
'He kept you safe when you were drunk, comforted you, and was there when you needed him the most. He made a mistake but did you even listen to why?'
She didn't want to rationalize what he did. She wasn't supposed to care but it weighed on her heart.
"Hey!" Asher waved enthusiastically while Kayla smiled weakly.
"Loui is in the car and she's gonna enter when the rest arrive," Kayla informed her taking the seat far from her, subconsciously.
The lounge was another of Tyler's properties. There were many private lounges in the bar and the one Siao booked was the best, after all, she was his girlfriend.
There were two arched sofas and a circular glass table in between them. She sat opposite Asher.
"Do you want something to drink, Kay?"
"Do they have boba tea?"
"I don't know. I'll ask the waiter. Like it's so cool! We can ring the bell and they'll attend to us!" She beamed, her expression animated. It reminded her of Rosa.
Asher rang the bell, her hands shaking with excitement. A waiter came in and they both ordered their drinks with Kay ordering a Spanish latte for Louisa and Coke for Rory. Asher ordered whiskey on the rocks for herself and Siao.
Kay sipped her tea, her eyes darting to Asher's feet. She let out a sharp but low gasp. Asher's feet were smaller than hers.
"What's your shoe size, Asher?" The question left her lips before she knew it.
"I'm sorry what?" Asher blinked.
"Um, I was just asking what size you are," she chuckled nervously.
"Oh. Female, size eight."
But Kayla was a size ten, so why did Oliver say he bought the sneakers for Asher if that wasn't her size? Did it mean he bought the shoe specifically for her? Warmth flooded in her chest.
"I heard you and Oliver are um you know close." Her eyes glanced at the table, her pale face reflecting in the glass. She didn't know why the medication she found on the web made her more tired after she had done the day's activities.
Normally she shouldn't be drinking but she liked it. She couldn't do a lot of things but they wouldn't take that away from her.
Asher didn't find anything suspicious in her statement and laughed, "Oh I see. He's your professor so you want to find out how to please him."
"No, I don't!" Pleasing his sounded weird, and the tips of her ears turned red.
"Yeah, we are very close. Super tight." It was like a stone was sinking in Kayla's stomach. How close were they?
"He's like the brother I never had. No, he is my brother." Asher's gaze became soft, the smile homely.
"Really? Your brother?"
"Did you think we were dating!? Me and Oliver dating!? That is crazy talk! Like Oliver can date any woman let alone touch them!" Amusement twinkled in her eyes. She never viewed Oliver that way. The way they bonded was something no one understood. When you bonded over pain and loss it was too intimate for anything else.
She breathed in relief and the room felt less suffocating. "Do you mind me asking, why Oliver doesn't touch women, if that's okay?" But he touched her, her body and soul. He had never done the same for anyone else. Right now, she floated on cloud nine.
Asher's hold on the cup tightened as she replied lightly, "No one knows why. He never talks about his mother- shit!" Asher winced.
Kayla leaned in, her eyes zeroing in on Asher. "His mother? What do you mean by that? What did his mother do to him?" Her heart pounded in her chest. 'She wanted something I didn't want to give'. He told her that day in his house. Fuck she should have asked.
"Forget I said anything, Kay. I don't know shit, and so do you!"
"You can't tell me to forget that something like that! What fucking happened with his mother!?"
Asher sighed, rubbing her forehead, and kept her cup on the table. "I can't tell you shit, Kay. But on the outside Oliver seems cold and detached but deep down he has a lot of trauma that he doesn't tell anyone not even his closest friend, so please don't say anything to him, please?" she licked her lips, "I know you and Oliver don't get along but don't use it against him. Oliver means the world to me and he's been through a lot so I don't want him to get hurt."
She could understand that. "I would never do that to him. Never." What she said stunned both women.
"You like him, don't you?" Asher leaned back in her seat. She wanted to deny but Asher spoke again, "You'll say that you hate and can't stand him but I saw that he touched you at the resort. It's not my business to say anything but Oliver saved me from an orphanage where bad things happened to stubborn children, so he's a good person, no matter what you think about him."
To that, Kayla had no response. "Whatever is going on between you two is between the both of you but don't hurt him, Kayla or I'll come for you." There was no real smile in her eyes. It was chilling. Now she knew why Asher was part of the 'Big Six' even though she was four years older than her.
The air in the room became tense until the door opened and the other girls strolled in.
"Hey!" However Asher and Kayla didn't seem to notice them. She didn't want to hurt Oliver but she already did.
It didn't remedy his behavior but she was willing to give him a chance to explain since he gave her a chance when he touched her. Now the thing with his mother was the most intriguing part for her. What happened to him? What did he have to suffer to become like this?