17. Archer
Chapter seventeen
Archer
I s that what you think? Because for as long as I can remember, that scared, pathetic little girl was always in need of saving. Want to fight your own battles and play hero for a change, then be my fucking guest.
Sitting at my piano, I sighed and turned the page of my music sheet. My hand itched to play the keys. To make them cry and suffer in a way that would bring my mind peace, but it was useless. Placing my fingers against my temples, I internally groaned as the memory of yesterday continued to replay in my mind.
She wanted me to leave her alone. I did just that. I did what she wanted. But I hurt her in the process. I hurt my princess, and I couldn’t even look at her after I did. I wanted to make her cry. I wanted to see her tears after she pushed me away, and the moment I did, I regretted it. I knew I needed to make things right, but I felt like it was almost too late.
My bedroom door opened, and I listened as the obnoxious sounds of chewing entered my room.
“You know, maybe don’t sit at the piano for three hours straight and play love songs. It may help to forget a lot quicker.”
I sighed as I stood up and looked over at Sterling. “I don’t think you know how hard that is,” I muttered, and his eyebrows lifted almost comically.
“That’s what she—” he began, pointing a finger at me to finish, but I nodded towards the door and said, “Get out.”
He rolled his eyes. “I know you’re just upset that you didn’t catch on and say it first.”
“No, Sterling, I’m upset because you’re a fucking idiot.”
He chuckled as he took a seat at my desk. “But you’re stuck with me.”
I sighed. “Unfortunately, might I add,” I replied, and she came across my mind once again. “She practically begged me to leave her alone, Sterling, and I didn’t make things any better.”
“Her father is most likely making her life a living hell because of your dad. Don’t take this personally, but you’re most likely the last person she’d like to see now.”
“You don’t think I fucking know that?” I raised my voice, and Sterling looked at me and tilted his head.
“Let’s have a civilized conversation, Hulk. We don’t want you smashing everything.”
I closed my eyes, frustrated, and clenched my jaw.
“You’re not helping, Sterling.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment as he stared at the wall in thought.
I sighed as I ran my hand down my face. “I need to apologize.”
He pointed his spoon at me and spoke as his gaze remained fixed. “Don’t,” he muttered, and I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “What if… you listened to her?” he began, and I waited for him to elaborate. “What if you did leave her alone so she could realize she may not want that? It’s like you’re playing hard to get with someone who doesn’t know they want to ‘get’ you yet.”
“Well, then that would lead me nowhere,” I responded, and Sterling rolled his eyes.
“Of course it will. Luca obviously won’t stop bothering her, but the last thing she needs is you, the son of the person who may be currently making her life a living hell, breathing down her neck regularly. Let her come to you.”
“And you think any of that would work?”
“It probably won’t. But your toxic dynamic right now doesn’t work, yet you’ve already kissed her a handful of times. Can’t hurt to try, you know.”
I groaned, thinking about his rather questionable advice. If I kept pursuing Delilah, being overly possessive as I usually was, that would get me nowhere. If I left her alone, I would respect her wishes, but I would absolutely be crushing my own.
With how stubborn my princess was, a simple apology wouldn’t be enough. Maybe I did need to take a step back. It would, unfortunately, give Luca room to swoop in, but I already told him she was off-limits. And if he’d forgotten, I would just have to remind him again.
Walking out of my room as I continued thinking, Sterling followed, and we continued down the stairs silently. I stopped in my tracks as I watched Vivienne hug Stephan as he stood by the door with his bags. She pulled away with a sad smile, which grew a little more when she saw me.
“Oh, Archer, were you coming to bid Stephan goodbye?”
I shook my head. “No, I was on my way to kick Sterling out.”
Sterling scoffed. “I thought you were taking me to the kitchen.”
“What indication could I have possibly given you that would let you know I was taking you to the kitchen? My second sentence said to you today was ‘get out’—” I started, but Vivienne cleared her throat.
“Boys! Please. It’s simply coincidental that you came just in time, Archer, to see Stephan off,” she said with a smile, and I saw through it. The look in her eyes was basically begging me to say something, but the look on Stephan’s face purely told me he was only here still because of her.
“I’ll let you get to it then...” she said again, giving Stephan one last hug before heading somewhere else.
We sat in silence for a while, until Sterling whispered, “God, I feel so uncomfortable right now.”
Feeling that way myself, I couldn’t even blame him.
Stephan stood by the door, emotionless as he looked at me directly, waiting for me to speak.
“I wasn’t aware that you were leaving today,” I muttered, and he sighed.
“You seem to be unaware of many things, Archer. If you didn’t know, I’m doing your job too. If this is supposed to be about us working together as a family, I seem to be the only one making any sacrifices while you get to enjoy what is to come without a care in the world.”
“Our father asked both of us who would much rather go overseas to handle business, and your hand went up as quick as the shit you just spoke came out,” I said.
Sterling coughed as I knew he was doing his best not to laugh.
Stephan chuckled sarcastically. “Whatever happened to us getting our brotherly love back on track?”
“It left the moment you decided to push me away.”
He nodded. “Keep building that anger towards me, and our feelings toward one another will be so mutual that we’ll be as close as two peas in a pod.” He grabbed his bags, and I looked away as he placed his hand on the doorknob.
He paused before turning his head.
“Archer—” he started, but I shook my head.
“Just leave,” I muttered, and there was another slight pause before the front door opened and closed.
Walking into the locker rooms, I dressed in my fencing gear and sighed, holding my helmet in my hand. Yet another one of these absurd extracurricular courses the school wants us to take for diversity . I internally scoffed. Diversity, my ass. I grabbed my saber as Sterling approached me with his helmet in his hand and a fearful expression on his face.
“Can I be your partner, please?” he asked quickly, and I shook my head.
“I don’t think that’s a smart idea.”
He whined childishly in response. “Why not!!”
I shrugged, fixing up the rest of my gear. “I may accidentally kill you.”
He eyed me carefully. “The goal is to score while touching your opponent with the tip of your sword only.”
“Exactly. That means what I have in mind that I want to do to you is meant for another game.”
He looked up to the ceiling and sighed. “Why do you have to be so brutally honest? Do you maybe think that has to do with why a certain someone may not want you to be near them?”
“Sterling, if I were you, I would walk away. You do not want me to play my version of this game with you,” I muttered, annoyed, and he chuckled as he did when I asked.
Closing my locker, I walked out of the room and noticed the coach standing in the middle of the floor. He moved us into groups of two, and I stood, waiting with my helmet as Luca walked up to me with a smug look on his face.
“Well, hello, partner.”
“You know, I actually don’t mind practicing with you. This is the closest I can come to stabbing you within legal reasoning,” I muttered, and he chuckled.
“Oh, Archer, you make me feel special. I’m flattered.”
“Are you really?”
“Well, in all honesty, I could care less, but I was just hoping to set the mood in a friendlier tone.”
I nodded my head. “That’s what I thought.”
We both looked to the man in the spandex who was directing us, and eventually, we were able to begin. Putting on my helmet, Luca did the same, and we stared at each other as the others had already commenced. He started walking towards my left, and I walked opposite him.
“So, Archer, it’s been two weeks. It seems you’ve listened to Delilah’s wishes and stayed away.”
“I’m assuming you did the exact opposite?”
“Archer, you wound me... do you really think so low of me?” he asked, and before I got to speak, he struck me with his sword. His bar turned green, and a point showed up by his name on the scoreboard. “I’ve only mildly bothered her. It isn’t as much fun if you’re not there to be her knight in shining armor.”
“So you admit you enjoy defying my direct order to stay away from her, Crawford?” I asked, and he shrugged.
“In a sense, yes, I do... Playing against you, Archer, my hands are going to get dirty one way or another,” he replied, and I nodded as I caught him off guard and struck him.
He chuckled. “Actually, I’ve come to realize that, in reality, everyone is playing a game. Oddly, it’s like a game of chess. There are just some people who control their board, and others are mere pawns.”
“And you refer to me as a pawn in whose game?” I asked.
His demeanor seemed to shift as he gave me a menacing glare. “Calvin’s, and soon enough... mine ,” he remarked, and I paused momentarily as he tilted his head. If I hadn’t paid attention to what he was saying, I wouldn’t have caught on to his wordplay. I knew my words to him a few weeks ago about my father essentially owning his struck a nerve, but something felt odd.
All of a sudden, he got ready to strike me, but I ducked and rolled to the other side of the mat. He smiled almost wickedly, and the second he was within arms’ reach, I ditched the sword and grabbed him by the collar as I brought him to the ground.
“Now you listen to me, Crawford. I don’t play in anyone’s game, not in my father’s and certainly not in yours. I don’t know if I’ve made it clear or not to you, but I’ll repeat it. Stay out of my business, and you stay the fuck away from Delilah. Do I make myself clear ?”
He smiled cockily and tilted his head. “Crystal.”
I dropped him to the ground and walked out of the gym. Going to the lockers, I took a quick shower and got dressed.
Grabbing my bag, I noticed the other students just getting out of the gym, and I made my way to the exit. Walking down the hall, I stopped in my tracks as Delilah waltzed through the halls alone, most likely heading to one of the girls’ locker rooms with her gym bag on her shoulder.
She turned her head my way and froze almost immediately.
I approached her slowly, and my eyes went down to her lip, which she bit softly, and then back to her eyes.
“Hi, Archer.” She spoke just above a whisper.
“Hello, Delilah,” I said, realizing that many of our encounters started like this.
“I haven’t seen you much in the past couple of weeks..”
“I’ve been busy,” I replied, and I wasn’t lying. While attempting to give her space, I found myself strictly focusing on going to class, attending my extracurriculars, and busying myself at my father’s office.
“Listen, Delilah…” I began, and she gave me her full attention, gazing up at me patiently. “I wanted to apologize for the words I said to you a few weeks ago.”
She gave me a slight shrug and a sad smile. “Not like I’m not used to it or anything,” she muttered, and I couldn’t help the guilt that began to build in my chest. “No hard feelings,” she said softly, but I didn’t say anything.
Because I knew my princess, I knew she was stubborn, headstrong, and often wore her heart on her sleeve. I knew that because when I made her feel terrible, I was the one who forced her to let me hold her, to let me wipe away her tears as I whispered how sorry I was.
I nodded silently in response as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
“So, you just came from practice?” she asked, effectively changing the subject, and I almost let out a smile. Guess talking to Sterling wasn’t a complete waste of time.
“Unfortunately,” I muttered, and she simply rolled her eyes, knowing already how I felt about these kinds of activities the students were forced to take part in.
I wanted to say something more as we stared at one another for another moment or so, but I couldn’t form any more words the longer my eyes lingered on her.
A small blush rose to her cheeks, and I decided to take my leave before I did anything too impulsive.
“Y-you’re leaving?” she asked as I began walking away.
I paused momentarily. “I need to get back to the office… I have a few things to run through with my assistants.”
She said nothing as her eyes looked down, and my jaw clenched slightly. Turning back, I placed a finger under her chin so she would look up at me. Because I was so perceptive of her, I noticed the moment she let out a soft gasp as her face grew even more red.
Why can’t you ever leave me alone?
“ I’m staying away… just like you asked me to, Princess.”
She gulped softly, and I walked away, leaving her in the middle of the hall as I chuckled on the inside. This is going to be fun.