8. Sienna
eight
Sienna
I give up.
Never in my near twenty-one years of existence have I ever given up on something, but I give up. My throat feels like sandpaper and my chest burns from overworking my heart.
Is this what death feels like? It fucking sucks if it is.
“Wait, Sienna, what are you doing? We need to run that move again!” The psychopath Daisy exclaims as I crawl across the dance floor towards my water bottle.
I don’t know if it’s a caffeine addiction or just her nature, but the girl is scary—and I thought I was scary when it came to dancing. We’ve been practicing nonstop for over two hours, and she has yet to take a water break.
Our dance isn’t rigorous in terms of speed and agility, but it is very technical and demanding on the body.
We’ve chosen to do a lyrical ballet duet.
The work is supposed to simulate a black and white swan with each mirroring one another, but my dance partner is a nutcase who doesn’t know what the meaning of a break is.
“I’m getting water before I die from heat exhaustion,” I throw back at her, gulping half of my bottle down in mere seconds.
Daisy chuckles quietly at my response, taking a seat beside me, doing the same. We sit in silence for a few minutes with me trying to catch my breath and her…po ndering. I guess.
Other than the few times we’ve talked in class, I know little to nothing about the red haired girl beside me. So, in honor of trying to make friends at this new school, I speak up.
“Are you going to the football game tonight? I hear it’s going to be a good season opener,” I say with a smile, lying through my teeth. I haven’t heard a thing about this game other than the fact that my cousin is playing and so is his sexy best friend, Tatum.
What's up with my cousins having attractive friends? First Jace, then Tatum, and now Denver…they’re all freaking beautiful.
“Oh no…I only date hockey players. Besides, football games are like a frat boy’s wet dream, and frat guys aren’t my type.” Daisy shrugs, pulling two bottles of light pink tinted water out from her bag.
That's not weird at all…
I understand only dating one type of male, but only dating hockey guys seems a little odd.
My brows furrow slightly as I take Daisy in. She seems so calm and collected, and not at all like she danced for two hours straight. She must feel my gaze on her because she smiles at me, handing me one of the bottles of water.
“Here, drink this. It has electrolytes in it! It’s how I stay so active during our practices.”
Taking the bottle, I give her a small smile and throw it into my bag.
“Ready to get back to it?”
“She has to be doing hard drugs…” I mumble as I step into the apartment, my legs feeling like al dente noodles as I trudge inside.
Georgia, like the hyper sorcerous she is, materializes in front of me out of thin air .
“Who’s on drugs? Did you take any?” she asks, her head tilted like a confused puppy as she pops a green grape into her mouth.
I’d think the scene of her standing in front of me smacking on grapes was comical had my body not been completely eviscerated just twenty minutes ago.
“No? Why would I—”
“Do you hear that?” Georgia cuts me off, holding her hand up.
Did this bitch just— Wait .
My ears perk up, the faint sound of sniffling and muffled sobs quietly sound out through the apartment. Eyeing one another carefully, Georgia and I make our way to the hall where our rooms are.
My heart drops as the cries grow louder.
“Is she sick? Did she get hurt?” My words are like vomit, tumbling out of my mouth uncontrollably as Georgia frowns at me, shaking her head.
She doesn’t give me the time to think of a game plan for this situation. No, instead, Georgia Adams grabs the knob of Cleo’s door, saunters into the room, and snatches the covers off of my cousin's back.
My heart cracks and falls out of my chest at the sight below me, my cousin—one of the strongest people I know—lies in a fetal position, hugging her knees to her chest as she sobs quietly.
“Cleo…” I breathe her name, my body moving on its own as I take a seat beside her on the bed with Georgia doing the same on her other side.
My brain feels as if it’s on autopilot as I listen to what's been going on with her. I’d noticed she wasn’t like her old self and has been distant, but I’d never suspected this.
Someone’s been threatening and stalking her for months and she’s just now speaking out about it.
I swear I’m going to kill everyone who ever dared to think badly about her, let alone threaten her. They’ve been texting her nonstop and it’s sickening. If I had it my way, I’d go real life COD on their asses and blow everyone up.
Too much?
Sorry …
By the time we get to the game, everyone's spirits are up. Cleo’s started to feel better, Denver’s with us, and Georgia’s had a margarita. I drank a little bit of those electrolytes that Daisy gave me earlier, and now my energy is through the roof.
We’re sitting in center field, near the fifty-yard line, on the edge of our seats watching the boys get obliterated. Ryan was cocky in our cousins’ group chat about how he and the guys would win, but it’s not looking too good for them with this game.
The energy in the arena shifts just as Denver complains about the game being boring, and my spine straightens as a chill runs down it.
“Funny to see you here, Coach.” Minty breath against my ears sends shivers across my body as Jace backs away from me.
“I didn’t know they let crazy people on school campuses…” I roll my eyes as Jace looks me up and down, cataloging me in his brain.
My body thrums to life as I watch him analyze me carefully. My skin warms as his eyes caress the bare parts of it that my cropped shirt doesn’t cover.
“Guess you can say I’m the exception.” He shrugs, leaning back and spreading his legs wide.
My mouth salivates as he gets comfortable in his seat, his eyes never leaving my own.
“More like the rule…”
We stare at each other in complete silence, and I don’t realize my friends are going back and forth with his friends until Jace interjects and Georgia groans.
She’d said before we left that she wanted a drama free night to watch “her man” in action. Her man being Ryan, though I don’t think he knows that.
“Oh, fuck me sideways, why are you here? Don’t you have some girl to paint or something?” Georgia asks loudly before whispering as her eyes flicker to the left, catching on Delilah and Derek—whom I hadn’t realized were here—before falling back on Jace.
Why is Derek here? And what girl? Was the girl from the first day of classes really his girl—
Jace rolls his eyes. “Did Halloween come early, or have my nightmares come true, peach? ”
I grimace as Georgia scowls—she’s mildly allergic to peaches.
The two of them go at it, but I tune them out as my stomach gurgles and my head spins. Has Georgia known all along about Jace’s girlfriend? And if she did, why hadn’t she told me?
By halftime, my mouth feels cottony and my stomach is queasy. I don’t know what I ate, but it obviously disagrees with my body.
My skin is hot, and I don’t know if it’s because it’s too many bodies around me or because I’m coming down with something.
The feeling of my curls being moved to the side and a cooling, wet sensation being rubbed against the nape of my neck brings me mild relief.
I groan as a cool feeling flows through my skin.
“You feeling alright?” Jace’s gruff voice is soft as he rubs circles against my neck, the cool sensation slowly fading to his fingertips.
Is he rubbing me down? At a football game, no less?
“No, stop touching me…” I bite, my body craving to get closer to him even though my brain refuses.
Continuing down that road with Jace would only lead to two things: failure and regrets. Two very, very disappointing things that I don’t see for my future self any time soon.
As the game progresses, my skin grows clammier, and by the time the game is done, I’m hot all over.
What the hell is happening to me?
“You coming to the bar tonight?” Blake asks Derek, who’s been awfully quiet all night as he declines, gesturing to his sleeping daughter.
I can feel eyes watching my every move as I wipe a bead of sweat from my forehead.
“What about you guys? Sienna, you coming?” Cleo asks, turning to face me, and it’s then that I realize I’d been zoning out .
“Huh…?”
“She’s not, she’s going home and getting some rest.” Jace cuts in for me, and I don’t know if I want to thank him for saying what my mouth wouldn’t or scold him for speaking for me.
“What?! No, it’s the first game of the season!” Georgia groans, butting into the conversation.
“I don’t know, G. I don’t feel too good,” I mumble, holding a hand to my aching stomach as Georgia’s frown deepens.
“Fine…Hey, DILF, can you take her home? We live in the RiverView complex, but I drove here.” My eyes widen as Georgia calls out to Derek, my nemesis .
Nemesis may be a strong word, but he’s up there on my list right next to my former mentor at NYU and toe socks.
I look at each and every person around me before my eyes land on his .
If a person could hold a storm in their eyes, then Jace’s holds a wildfire.
His eyes are brimming with heat and anger as his jaw clenches.
I watch him as he folds his arms across his chest and my stomach churns.
I don’t know if it’s from sickness or because of attraction, but I want him to say something… anything.
I want him to take me home, not this asshole.
Just when he’s about to open his mouth, Derek cuts in.
“Of course, I’ll take her home.”
My heart falls. I don’t know what I had expected—Jace isn’t my knight in shining armor. Why would he give up his Saturday night at a bar just to take me home?
The car ride with Derek is silent and uncomfortable with him and I sitting in silence while Delilah sleeps.
It isn’t until we get close enough to my apartment that he makes the first move and initiates a conversation.
“How long have you known Jace?” he asks. His eyes are on the road, but I can feel him looking at me through his peripheral vision. My head snaps to my left and I stare at him.
“What? It’s not every day that my closest friend stares at me like I’ve committed treason…you two hookup or something?”
“God, you’re unbearable,” I groan quietly .
The first time he’s spoken to me since the recital and he’s asking if Jace and I have had sex? Typical ogre male mentality…
“You can just drop me off here,” I offer as we get to the street light five minutes away from the apartment. Derek cracks a hearty laugh.
“I’m not letting you out the car at a random light—Shit, Deli’s hair.” He curses under his breath after quickly turning to look at the sleeping toddler in the back seat, snuggled into her stuffed lion.
I smile at the sight of Delilah’s adorable sleeping form before my eyes widen, taking in the sight of her hair. When he’d put her in her car seat back at the stadium, it’d been in two long ponytails.
Now, her hair resembles a bird's nest, messy and tangled. When we pull up to my apartment, I waste zero time, hoping out of the car and gently pulling Delilah to be able to access her head while letting her sleep.
My nannies would always put two braids in my hair as a kid, and since that's the only style that I know how to do on another person, I do it to Delilah's hair in no time.
Derek watches silently as I finish the last braid before deciding to open his big fat mouth, spoiling my mood.
“Thanks, but she’s not your kid.”
My spine stiffens at his words, but I don’t falter. I’ve had enough of his attitude, and though I want to repay his coldness with an attitude, I choose kindness.
“Oh, shut the hell up and take the help.”
That was kind enough. My phone pings as I gather my things and I check it quickly.
Aric
Can’t wait for tomorrow!!!
Fucking hell…
“Fuck, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Derek apologizes softly, reaching out for my arm as I snatch it away, backing up from him .
What’s up with people trying to touch me these days?
My annoyance flares to an all-time high as I think over how shitty this week has been.
I need a shower and seven freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, STAT.
Turning to Derek, I exhale a deep breath. “Have a nice night, Derek.”