C H A P T E R 2 2
?The best revenge?
Having enough self worth to not seek it and to focus on your growth instead.?
It all started when I sat down with Rebecca, helping her paint and color her coloring book. Everything was going fine but the moment I found my hand reaching to scratch my back again, I knew something was wrong.
Then the torture started.
I probably looked like a demented monkey with the way I couldn't stop scratching my body. It felt like my body was on fire. Every part of my body that was covered by the clothes I had put on itched intensely.
The worst part, I wasn't able to do anything about it. Rebecca had me engaged in a grueling coloring session of her book which she wanted to complete today. Every time I attempted to leave and soothe myself of the torture, she would start crying hysterically and that would force me to stay put.
When I had finally managed to slip out of Rebecca's clutches, Rachael got hold of me and ordered me to call for Antonio immediately because it was supposed to be sibling time and he was still not present.
There were no maids nearby. I protested and even asked if I could go later but she glared at me and demanded I present Antonio before her in less than three minutes.
Huffing, I sprinted in a random direction. I hadn't even bothered to know in which room of this massive mansion he was residing in.
I pulled open doors to locked bedrooms and guest rooms only to shut it again because there was no Antonio in it.
Two minutes had already passed when I came to the aggravating realization that he was not staying in any room downstairs.
I moved upstairs and continued on with the search.
I didn't even know why I searched in conference and store rooms. I guessed the itching really got to me to the extent that I wasn't logically thinking.
Nevertheless, I searched every possible room to look for my brother.
I was positive that I was red on the inside by now, literally.
Finally, I found dear Antonio who was momentarily, unintentionally and unknowingly torturing me. I found him there on his king sized bed, sprawled out on it without a care in the world.
I walked closer and shook him by the shoulder.
"Get up." I said impatiently.
He didn't budge so I shook him harder. "Get up!"
By now I was squirming in my place, trying hard to not let my hands wander off to one of the areas of my body which itched the most to be scratched to relief.
After countless ineffectual attempts at waking Antonio up who slept like a dead person, I finally gave up on doing it politely.
Without having second thoughts, I darted across the room and towards the water kept on the nightstand. Uncovering it, I grabbed it and splashed it on his handsome face.
There was no reaction but after a few seconds, he finally rolled over and away from the wet spot on his bed.
"What do you want?" Came his groggy voice, muffled by the pillow in which he had stuffed his face in.
"Rachael wants you downstairs. Now."
"Yeah, I'll be there," He stated simply, raising his hand up to wave me off but made no attempts to move.
I knew he wasn't going to wake up so I clutched onto his arm and tried to drag him out of bed.
I quickly gave up on it as he just moved about an inch.
My resolve broke and my nails scratched my itching skin which led me to scratching other areas. I was sure I drove blood out from some areas.
Finding no other alternative, I spoke, "She wants you downstairs in the living room because a woman is asking for you. I think she told me her name is Audrey. Audrey Wave."
That worked like magic and Antonio quickly shot out of bed.
"Audrey's here?" He asked, shocked. "She didn't tell me she was coming."
I shrugged. "I guess she wanted to surprise you."
"Oh my God, what? My Audrey is here? I'll be right there." He replied and jumped out of bed, throwing a random shirt which was lying on the ground over his head.
I headed out of his room with him following closely behind.
I knew he would be pissed at me for waking him up by lying about Audrey being here but I couldn't help it. I needed to get to my room as soon as possible and get this fabric off of me which clung to my skin and made it itch.
I ran further upstairs and towards my room. I yanked the door open with a force which would have possibly broken the door but I could care less about it at the moment.
Even before the door closed, I pulled my shirt over my head and carelessly threw it on the floor. Even my bra was starting to make me itch and so I unclipped it and tossed it somewhere behind.
I looked down and like I had expected, my skin had gone red though fortunately I didn't draw out blood.
I turned back only to scream my lungs out.
There he was, propped on his bed, his laptop, phone and various files surrounding him, staring at me with wide eyes.
I gasped, realizing I was half naked and Ethan had seen my bare chest, which he was actually still staring at. I ran towards the shirt I had thrown down and used it to cover whatever I could of my naked chest.
"What are you doing in my room?" I looked around. Oh. "Holy shit, this is your room!" I shrieked and backed away.
He was still sitting there, frozen in his place as my hand searched for the door handle with me pressed to the door. I finally got hold of it and opened it. Once I was out of his room, I raced towards mine and shut myself in it. I heard him shout after me, "That's karma for you!"
I was so stupid! How could I mistake his room for mine? I should've paid better attention to which room I was going into.
I slid down the door of my room, my hand letting go of the shirt. My heart was beating widely in my chest and I was afraid it would pop out.
I was hoping the last encounter would be the last embarrassing one between us. I was wrong. This definitely topped the Ethan-Julie list of embarrassing and awkward encounters.
I crawled towards the bed and dug myself in it.
I never wanted to get out of this room again.
I didn't want to see his handsomely ugly face.
I didn't want to put myself in any maladroit situations with Ethan again.
I wished for the Earth to break apart and devour me.
He had lately been the bane of my existence.
I didn't know when I fell asleep but I was woken up by a knock on the door. I sat up straight, only now realizing that I fell asleep half naked.
There was another knock and I got up from the bed and towards my closet. I pulled another shirt from there and after I was sure it wasn't smeared in itching powder, I pulled it over my head.
Another knock sounded and I assumed it was Olivia.
Wrong.
"Juliet." Ethan said softly, which caused me to stop in my tracks. My breath hitched. He was the last person I wanted to see right now. "Juliet, I know you're in there."
I made no movements that would give my presence and stared at the door hesitantly.
"You should eat. You must be hungry. You didn't even have lunch," He said. By the tone of his voice, it sounded as if it had taken him a lot to say that.
His footsteps faded after a few seconds and I let out a breath. I checked the time and it was six in the evening.
Damn, I had slept for five hours straight. I guessed I was just tired and so sleep caught up to me to make up for waking up early.
I stayed in my room for another hour or so because I was afraid to go out. But finally giving up, I made my way downstairs and thankfully Ethan was not in sight.
"Juliet," someone said behind me and I jumped, startled. It was just Samara.
"Do you want me to fix dinner for you?"
"Yeah, sure. That'd be great, thank you.
" I said. I was pretty hungry as I had skipped lunch.
Another reason for an early dinner was that it would ensure that Ethan and I wouldn't have to force ourselves to a dinner where we would be reminded about what happened these few days every time we looked at each other.
I took a seat at the dining table and rested my head on the table.
Samara came shortly afterwards with my dinner and I thanked her again.
"Where are everybody?" I asked Samara.
"They left for a restaurant a while back."
"And no one asked me to tag along?" I asked incredulously. If I would've been asked I would've refused to go anyway but I was still curious to know if they would actually forget about Juliet.
"No, Rachael ma'am asked Olivia to bring you downstairs but Ethan sir said that he would go and check on you instead.
And he came back after some time and told us you were sleeping and didn't want to go.
He told me to be present around in case you needed anything or wanted dinner," she replied and I just stared at her for a moment.
"Oh, and he asked me to give you this." She said, giving me a lotion tube. "He said it's an anti-itch lotion."
"Oh, okay."
Samara excused herself to go the kitchen to do something while my mind buzzed with several questions. Why would Ethan do that?
As far as I knew, he was an inconsiderate and uncaring wiener.
I eyed the lotion suspiciously. What if it was a trick and not an anti-itch lotion?
But I desperately needed something to soothe the red skin. I doubted he'd do anything else so after carefully examining the tube, I decided to apply it.
After dinner, I just sat aimlessly staring at the TV. The lotion actually helped and a tiny, almost microscopic portion of me was grateful to Ethan for it.
It was after about half an hour after my dinner that everyone returned home. I should've just locked myself in my room.
Olivia came bouncing towards me and literally dragged me to her room which I was actually thankful to her for.
She gushed about her new friendship with Rachael and how she has taught her some makeup tricks and hair styles and things like that. She also told me how the paparazzi had flooded them once they stepped out of their cars to make their way to the restaurant. Thank God I didn't go then.
Olivia remained completely oblivious to my obvious lack of attention to her twaddle once she started on the topic of makeup, dresses and hair again.
I contemplated whether I should tell her or not.
She was my best friend and I never kept anything from her.
But this was different. I didn't want anyone knowing about this.
I knew Ethan wouldn't tell anyone for sure.
And even if he did, he would've had to worry about me telling everyone about that day his towel fell off of his waist.
"Okay, Olivia. I want you to shut up for some time now." I interrupted her in one of her rants about something I hadn't bothered to pay attention to.
She stopped and stared at me. "What? Why?"
I sighed. I should tell her. She would go all "Oh my gosh! Are you serious? Did that really happen?!" on me.
So I told her. I told her how Ethan smeared itching powder onto my clothes and how it itched till my skin was all red. I told her about how I accidentally and very stupidly ran into Ethan's bedroom and stripped myself half naked whilst not knowing that he was there behind me.
Olivia's mouth grazed the ground after I finished telling her. "Oh my gosh! Are you serious? Did that really happen?!" Olivia clamored.
"Yes, it did," I sighed, expecting her to react like that.
"You guys, what is even going on between you two? On other days, you two would be at each other's throats and these days, you two are like, I don't know, showing your half naked selves to each other and then being awkward afterwards. Should I expect you to pop out babies the next time?"
"Shut up."
"This is messed up. You should figure out what you want with him, Julie. Just don't react to him. Show that he doesn't affect you. That's the best kind of revenge you can get."
"I can't!" I cried out. "I'm never going to do that.
That's basically saying that I give up and I can't fight with you anymore.
I'll never do that and give him the satisfaction of winning over me.
I don't want him to feel that I'm tired of these sick pranks even though I am.
I don't want him to think that I couldn't take it anymore and so I gave up and called a peace treaty. "
"Doing that doesn't mean that you're weak, Julie.
Not giving him a reaction will make him think that you aren't bothered by him.
He'll frustrate himself to no end because he wouldn't get any reaction out of you," Olivia said and deep down I knew she was right.
"When you strike him back with another prank, he knows that he can affect you.
Don't give him the satisfaction of seeing you annoyed or troubled because of him. "
"I can't just ignore what he does."
"I never told you to ignore. Sometimes just smiling and moving on is the best kind of revenge."
"I don't want to do that. That, for me isn't the best kind of revenge. If someone has to put a stop to this, it'll be Ethan because I won't be the one to give up first."
Olivia shook her head at me. "You two are so infantile. Grow up, Julie. You two aren't kids anymore so stop acting like one."
"Hey, it was he who started to act all childish with me first. Why don't you go and lecture him about his behavior."
"Whatever. I just told you what you should do. Now it's up to you if you want to do the right thing or not."
"I won't do it. And that's the right thing to do," I said obdurately.
"What happened to you, Julie. You were never like this. Okay, you were like this that one time when we broke into Ashley's house to cut up her dress and stuff, but apart from that one time, you were never like this."
"People change. Especially when surrounded by contemptible people like Ethan, and an unsupportive best friend."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "I'm just advising you on what's best for you but you ostensibly don't want to abide by it."
"And I told you that I'll stop when he'll stop."
"Whatever, just don't get us in trouble because you'll be blamed for it."
"I don't get myself in trouble. I guess trouble just finds me."
"True."
"I'll just go to my room now. Gotta think up a nice retaliation plan," I said, winking at her.
Olivia huffed. "You two are unbelievable."
I blew her a kiss and swiftly closed the door behind me.
On the way to my room, I unfortunately had to pass the living room.
Once I entered the living room, I saw that Rachael, Rebecca and Antonio looked ready to leave. Ethan was silently sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV.
Rachael was putting on a cute pair of Cinderella sandals on Rebecca's feet.
"So you guys are ready to leave?" I asked, making my presence known to them.
Antonio ended the call he was on and turned to glare at me. "Why did you lie to me?"
I looked at him, puzzled. "What? When did I lie to you?"
This seemed to annoy him. "You said Audrey was here this morning but she wasn't. I asked everybody and they said she didn't come to visit. I even called her and she said she didn't fly down here and that she was in the middle of an important photoshoot," he said, waving his phone at me.
Oh. That lie.
"You weren't getting out of bed. I had to do something."
"I agree, it's not Juliet's fault. You couldn't be woken up any other way. And thank, Juliet. Now I know what to say to get him out of bed," Rachael chuckled.
"You two are those evil sisters I never wanted," Antonio grumbled as he motioned for a helper to load his bags into the backseat of his car.
"So you guys are leaving." I stated, ignoring Antonio.
"Yeah, but we'll visit soon. Me with Robert and Antonio with Audrey." Rachael smiled at me and I returned the gesture. "Don't miss us too much. But we will miss you terribly, my baby sister," Rachael said, giving me a hug.
"I won't," Antonio snubbed. "Now come on, we need to go, Rachael. I want to go home."
"Nope, you want to go to Audrey," Rachael said.
He opened his mouth as if to deny but then closed it and shrugged. "Yeah, she's home."
"At least say goodbye to your little sister!" Rachael scolded him and he rolled his eyes.
"We're going to meet in a week or two for her birthday anyways. What's the date again?"
Rachael gasped. "You forgot your own little sister's birth date?! What kind of brother are you?"
"Chill. It's not a big deal. I mean I don't even remember yours. I just know mine, Audrey's and dad's and mum's."
Rachael glared at him. "I hate you, Ant." She turned back to place a kiss on my cheek and with a quick goodbye to Ethan, she left to sit in her car.
Antonio chuckled, staring after Rachael's retreating figure. He walked towards me and pulled me into a hug. "I'll miss you, J."
"You really don't remember when my birthday is?" I murmured into his chest.
He smiled into my hair. "Of course I remember, and Rachael's as well. I just did that to piss her off."
"It worked."
"Thank God."
He pulled away a few moments later and kissed my forehead. "Take care, okay?"
He looked over at Ethan. "Ethan, man. Good bye."
Ethan got up and gave him a half hug.
"See you soon, Antonio."
Something hugged my legs and I looked down to see Rebecca. I picked her up.
"Goodbye, Rebecca." I said, kissing her chubby cheeks.
"Bye bye," she said, not looking at me as she was bust playing with a lock of my hair.
Antonio looked over at us. "Rachael forgot to take her. Again."
"Again?"
"Don't ask. Its not the first time she has forgotten Rebecca."
I chuckled. "Really?"
"Yeah, I better give her back to Rachael. Goodbye."
We bid goodbye to them once Antonio had returned Rebecca to her mother.
With their departure came an air of awkwardness between Ethan and I. He resumed his position at the couch and I felt too weird to do anything. Good thing he had his eyes on the TV and so I was able to slip out of the living room without him saying anything to me.