FOURTEEN: HOT. SO HOT.
FOURTEEN: HOT. SO HOT.
FOURTEEN: HOT. SO HOT.
The first thing Juliet did when she woke up the following morning was to peep outside.
And luckily for her, the black car was no longer in sight.
The relief washed over her and followed her all the way to school. But the minute she took a sharp turn to head towards her faculty, the relief washed away.
She couldn’t explain it but she could feel eyes on her. She felt like she was suddenly being followed and no matter how many times she turned around to meet absolutely no one behind her, she still wasn’t relieved.
The feeling didn’t fade away when she got into classes and tried her best to focus on whatever the professor had to say and definitely didn’t fade Wale suddenly appeared behind her when classes were over, startling her.
“Jesus,” she almost screamed as she jumped to meet him standing behind her. His expression flickered, a range of excitement and worry quickly on display. “How long have you been there?”
“Less than a minute,” he looked apologetic. “I’m sorry, did I startle you?”
“No,” she tried to smile, his apologetic face filling her with guilt. “I’m sorry, no, you didn’t. it’s just that I kinda have a lot on my mind.”
“The same ‘a lot’ that made it hard for you to sleep yesterday?” his eyes were now filled with worry. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Obviously, not here,” he quickly added. “I mean, not while we’re standing in the middle of-”
“I’m fine, Wale,” she lied. “And I did end up getting enough sleep yesterday.”
The latter wasn’t a lie though, Wale slowly nodding his head as he walked behind her. Feeling his eyes on her, her grip on her bag tightened and before he could utter another word, she beat him to it.
“You owe me lunch, remember?”
“Of course, I remember,” he doubled his steps to match her pace, catching up to her in no time. “You’re free right now, yeah? Now tell me if you have anywhere in particular you’d like to go. my treat.”
“Anywhere in campus is fine,” she shrugged. “It’s just lunch, right?”
“Right,” he snapped his fingers then put his arms around her. “Alright I’ll take you to the best spot in campus then!”
They got to his preferred location and less than fifteen minutes in, Juliet was tempted to ask what he meant by ‘best spot’. They served decent burgers and milkshake so frozen Juliet could feel her teeth going numb with every sip. But that wasn’t the highlight- the amount of lovers in it was.
It could pass as a lovers haven, with more display of PDA than coffee cups. The sight felt unusual, especially since Juliet had spent her first few years in college barely living like a normal student.
“Woah,” the sight of a couple kissing forced her to immediately take another sip of her milkshake. Feeling her jaw shudder, she closed her eyes, the memory of her kissing Xavier immediately assaulting her. “Oh, God.”
“Are you okay?” Wale noticed her shudder and turned in the direction she was looking. “Are you uncomfortable?”
“What? No, I’m not,” she shook her head then licked her lips. Her tongue was cold unlike his which managed to be hot, cold and warm all at the same time. “No, I’m perfectly fine.”
“I don’t know why people feel like Slurp is the perfect place to makeout,” he shook his head and rested back in his seat as he grabbed his drink. “Makes it hard for people like me who come here mainly because of their chocolate milkshake to defend ourselves.”
“You don’t have to defend yourself,” she managed a chuckle. “And it’s okay. People kissing isn’t a big deal anyways.”
“Kissing isn’t a big deal?” Juliet immediately regretted her words. “So you could kiss someone who technically isn’t your boyfriend?”
She immediately choked on her milkshake, the icy rush hitting her head in a brief brain freeze. She watched Wale quickly reach for napkins and hand it over, his eyes widened with worry.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I am,” she let out a cold exhale, wiping the corners of her mouth. “Yeah, thank you, sorry.”
“Was my question too direct?” he looked apologetic but his curiosity was yet to fade away. “Did it make you uncomfortable?”
“No of course not,” her laughter couldn’t be more fake even if she tried. “It’s not an uncomfortable question. Of course, not. I wouldn’t kiss someone who isn’t my boyfriend.”
It was a lie. Followed by another lie. But what choice did she have? Admit she kissed a man who she barely knew, wasn’t her boyfriend and for some reason couldn’t stop thinking about it?
“Do you have a boyfriend though?”
She didn’t choke this time. Just curled her lips until she was sure she could confidently say no and hope he wouldn’t ask any more questions that reminded her of Xavier.
Luckily for her, his questions came to an halt as his phone suddenly rang, Wale taking a break to pick the call. She could barely make up the words that left his mouth as he spoke but by the time he was done, his words made sense again.
“I’m so sorry, Juliet, i have to leave,” he was already on his feet. “Something urgent came up right now.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” she joined him on his feet quickly, the site of another couple kissing almost making her nauseous. “Thank you for the meal. Really.”
“Should I drive you home?”
“Huh? Drive me?”
“Yeah, with my car,” he let out an awkward chuckle. “Oh, I’m guessing you didn’t know I have a car.”
“No, I didn’t,” her mind was working fast. “But it’s fine. You don’t have to drive me home. I can find my way home myself thank you.”
“I guess so,” he scratched the back of his neck. “Right, you have your own chauffeur right? He’s going to come pick you up, right?”
Her mouth fell open but no words came out.
“Yeah, I saw him pick you up was it twice?” he continued with another awkward chuckle. “I guess that’s why you were always so quiet and mysterious. What are you? The daughter of the president? Or the lover of a secret mafia boss? Is that why you’ve always avoided the spotlight? I promise I didn’t approach you because of your family’s wealth. I might not look the part but I promise I’m not a gold digger.”
His tone was light, implying that he was joking but Juliet couldn’t bring herself to laugh. Not even to smile. Nothing was funny or amusing at the slightest.
“Um, It’s not-”
“It’s okay, your highness, I understand,” more jokes she couldn’t follow. He laughed lightly and then bowed, raising his head to pat her on the shoulder. “I gotta go now. I’ll text you at night. Bye.”
Her response was mumbled, his wink catching her off guard for a second. She watched him leave then slowly turned around, immediately feeling eyes on herself again.
“Crap.”
She didn’t look back though. Not until she got home and had to confirm if the black car was back- luckily, it wasn’t.
She stripped off her clothes and climbed into bed, shutting her eyes in an almost rehearsed sequence. A heavy sigh escaped her lips and then a lighter one, Juliet doing her best to keep her mind as empty as possible.
Her phone buzzed by her side but she didn’t open her eyes. It had to a text from Wale. She now received normal text messages like people her age. Her life was back to normal.
She now had normal bills to pay- her phone bills, electricity, gas, food, school supplies. Not hospital bills or debts that could cost her an organ.
“Right, I now need a job.”
She shut her eyes tighter, trying to remember how she resigned from her old job. She still had a good reputation though so she could easily get new part time jobs. Maybe not as much as she used to but just enough to cover her daily expenses like food.
“Food,” she mumbled. She could now feel sleep making its way to her but her mind was still active as she tried to calculate her new round of expenses. “Mhm, what’s that smell?”
She hadn’t cooked in days so she had no reason to turn on the cooker. But for some reason she could smell food. Or was it gas? The smell of burning meat?
“Ugh,” she groaned as she turned in her bed. “Can these neighbors choose another day to burn their meat?”
She pulled the blanket over her head, trying to block it out. But the smell only grew stronger. Hotter. It crawled into her lungs, heavy enough to make her chest tighten.
Her eyes stung. And then she coughed. Not once but twice, sleep slipping away completely.
With a frustrated sigh, she shoved the covers aside and pushed herself upright, blinking against the haze as she finally opened her eyes.
And froze.
The air above her ceiling was no longer white. It was dark- smudged with rolling smoke that curled and twisted like something alive. Heat pressed against her skin, sudden and suffocating, making sweat break out along her spine.
Her gaze snapped to the corner of the room. There was no meat. No grill. No pan. No burnt dinner drifting in from a careless neighbor.
But fire.
Not a spark. Not a flicker.
But fire. With flames so violent, she was certain all it was going to take was a few minutes before everything- her room, the building, her life- was reduced to nothing but ash.