Chapter 15 #2
“Come sit, yeah?” I offered. “Get warm with a blanket. I’ll make you something hot to drink.”
She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak but her jaw was chattering so hard that it took a moment for her words to come out clearly.
“What’s taking so long?” Jae’s voice echoed down the hall.
“C-c-c-can I t-t-ta-take a show-er-er?”
“Yeah,” I nodded, ignoring Jae and the fact that she wasn’t answering my question. “Are sure you’re alright? Nothing happened? You’re really pale. Are you sick?”
“F-fine,” she managed to get out, forcing a smile that was faker than the plant on the entry table she looked at when she answered.
“It’s Shiloh,” I called back to answer Jae who shouted my name when I never responded previously. “Not the pizza—”
Just as I spoke the doorbell rang, sending Shiloh stumbling closer to me.
“That will be the pizza delivery,” I explained.
“I’ll handle it,” Jae said from behind me, causing me to flinch. I hadn’t heard him join the small entryway space. I moved aside, no longer blocking his view of Shiloh and he sucked in a breath. “Holy shit, what happened?”
I saw him motion to his eyes and her body stiffened defensively, which only made her look even more helpless because her body was still shivering uncontrollably.
I elbowed Jae in the side and awkwardly attempted to change the subject. “We weren’t sure if you were still coming, but we ordered enough for you too. If you don’t like any of the toppings just pick ‘em off.”
“Yeah, there’s plenty of pizza,” Jae chimed in. “Now, move your asses aside before the delivery guy spits in our food.”
Jae shooed us out of the way, and I motioned for Shiloh to follow me up the stairs. I showed her where the clean towels were in the bathroom and asked if she needed anything else before leaving her to it.
I shook my head to myself as I thought about Shiloh’s appearance. What the hell happened? Was that her boyfriend that dropped her off? Did they get into a fight? She could have called me and…Shoot. I forgot she doesn’t have a phone.
I grumbled to myself about how she better not fall in the shower and hit her head as I walked into the kitchen to meet Jae and our pizza.
“That was unexpected,” he said through a mouthful of food. “What the heck happened?”
I looked up, shaking away my thoughts.
“Yeah. I dunno,” I mused as I grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite, leaning over the box. “She looks like she’s been crying and maybe sick.”
“Really? I was going to say she kinda looked like she was high. She was super slow with her speech and literally shaking like she was coming off something. And her eyes were hella red, well, actually…they kinda look a bird was trying to peck her eyeballs out.” He glanced at me sidelong, pausing mid bite. “Don’t tell her I said that.”
I hummed in thought, nodding my head as I considered Jae’s theory about her being high, not about the bird.
“I dunno, her eyes looked like how she described them after her allergy. She literally said she looked like she got maced whenever she cried. And I think that was her boyfriend’s car I saw drop her off. Maybe they got into a fight or something.”
Jae clicked his tongue absentmindedly as he opened a can of soda.
“He’s probably her drug dealer.”
I rolled my eyes and reached over to slap the back of his head. “Shut up, you dip. What’s your fixation on her taking drugs?”
“I dunno, man,” he shrugged casually, slurping some soda. “I just get vibes. And tonight, I’m getting vibes she’s high as fuck or something.”
“You really haven’t learned your lesson after the tampon fiasco.” I deadpanned.
He groaned, waving his hand dismissively at me since he was chewing.
“I really don’t like this Adrian guy,” he said when he had swallowed. “I mean, he looks like he’s ten years older than us. What they hell is a grown-ass fucking man doing with a high school student? It’s weird. Really weird.”
“I agree. I don’t like him at all,” I said, my lip curling with distaste.
“Of course you don’t, you’ve got a crush,” Jae laughed.
“Shut up, dip. You know that’s not the only reason why.
It’s pervy and weird and feels wrong. And now Shiloh shows up acting weird…
” I trailed off and we sat in silence, eating our pizza as my mind raced with possible explanations for Shiloh’s bizarre behavior.
I didn’t want to believe that she was doing drugs, but Jae’s theory didn’t feel too far off.
“I’ll ask her about it before we start the show,” I said after a while. “And I think I should do it alone.”
I dropped my crust onto Jae’s plate knowing he would eat it for me and dusted my hands off over the sink before deciding I should just wash them.
I eyed the clock on the microwave and chewed my lip.
I knew girls took long showers, but it’d been nearly thirty minutes.
I needed to check on her, make sure she hadn’t passed out or something.
“What do you mean ‘alone’?” He deepened his voice dramatically, puffing out his chest.
“Well, you know what happened the last time we asked her something. She felt attacked. So, it’s better if only one of us talks to her.”
He squinted his eyes at me, looking me up and down. “And, what makes you think your blunt mouth is the best person to do that?”
I scoffed and threw the kitchen towel at him.
“Because she’s spent more time with me, so it’ll probably be easier. You do know we’ve spent like every single day together this week, right?”
I picked my cuticle out of habit, flicking my eyes to judge Jae’s reaction. He had a shit-eating grin on his face, pizza sauce covering his teeth. I grimaced and gave him the finger.
“Okay then…lover boy,” he smirked.
I crossed the room and punched his shoulder playfully, looking down the hall to make sure that Shiloh didn’t accidentally overhear his lame comment. I jumped at the sight of my mom walking towards us, focusing on her phone.
She looked up with a smile. “Oh good, the pizza’s here. I thought I heard the doorbell.” Her smile fell and she looked between Jae and I. “Wait if you’re both here, who’s in the shower?”
“Shiloh,” Jae and I answered.
“Oh,” my mom nodded her head slowly, probably wondering why she was showering at our house. “Did she just arrive?”
“Uh, yeah. Right when the pizza came.”
She nodded again with a smile, “Well don’t finish the pizza without her.”
“We won’t,” we said in unison.
My mom passed through into the kitchen flicking on the kettle to make tea. Jae tapped my arm to get my attention.
“In all seriousness, you’re gonna tell me whatever she says, right?” He looked at me like he was genuinely worried about Shiloh. Despite his jokes, we both knew something was wrong.
“Obv—” I turned my head toward the hall, straining my ears. “Did you hear that?”
Jae scrunched up his face as if that would help him hear better and our eyes met when we heard the faint yell of my name from upstairs. Shit!
“Coming!” I shouted as I rushed upstairs.
I gripped the banister, nearly tripping over the last step as I saw Shiloh standing in the bathroom doorway clutching a towel around her body.
I was expecting her to make some sarcastic comment or tell me off, but she just stared blankly at me.
I tried to school my expression but couldn’t help my gaze from taking in her exposed skin.
Her face and chest were flushed red from the shower, drawing attention to small circular scars scattered across her collarbones.
Be cool, Enoch. Be. Cool.
My eyes followed her movements as she switched the hands that were holding her towel to her body, revealing a tattoo in the crook of her arm.
Damn, why does knowing she has a tattoo make her even more attractive?
“What-what’s up?” I asked, diverting my gaze to her eyes.
I was relieved to see that they were significantly less swollen and red after her long shower.
“Um, my clothes got wet. Can I borrow something?” She pushed the dark red strands of wet hair that were sticking to her arms onto her back.
“Of course, just a second, I’ll bring you something,” I smiled, turning on my heel before I found myself staring at her body for longer than necessary.
I bugged my eyes out in shock as I walked across the hall to my room, my mind swirling. Damn, she’s really beautiful, especially with her hair all wet and…She has a tattoo?
But those scars…holy shit…those were definitely burns, cigarette burns.
How the hell did that happen? Was she abused as a kid or something? Or was that from her boyfriend? Oh fuck, if that motherfucker is abusing her, I am going to chop his dick off.
Shit balls. Is that why she was acting weird, just now? Did he do something to her? It was a weird request to ask to shower. Oh my God.
Oh my God. If she was…and I just let her shower…No. No. It’s fine. Stop overreacting, Nox.
Before I could go down a rabbit hole, I grabbed a pair of sweats and a shirt from my dresser. I was at my door when I turned around and grabbed a pair of boxers, the really soft ones I only wore to bed, just in case she needed some sort of underwear too.
I let out a deep breath and put a smile on my face as I left my room. Shiloh was still in the doorway of the bathroom, only now she was leaning against the door frame. She gave me a genuine smile as she grabbed them and stepped back to close the door.
I let out a breath and ran my hands through my hair.
Do I talk to her now? What if she gets pissed at me and tries to leave or something?
Stop being a pussy, Nox. Just ask.
‘Hey so I noticed your eyes were red—’
No, no.
‘Jae thinks you got attacked by a bird but I’m assuming your eyes are like that ‘cause you were cr—’