"Not even a kiss?"
“ I don't like to swap spit. Now try to keep your hot temper in check and allow our relationship to grow a little at a time, starting with a purely platonic relationship," he said, before leaving.
"Tell me I'm dreaming," I murmured, confused, after closing the door.
"Isn't he super cool?" Sighed Felicity dreamily.
"Don't tell me you like that madman?" I blurted out in shock.
“ In high school, he, Easton, Ryo and Logan were the most wanted by the school. There were those who had lost their heads for Ryo or Logan, but I only had eyes for Ant. He didn't even know I existed, but I still dreamed about him. Now infatuation is a little past me, but Ant is still my favorite, because Logan is too perfect for me, Easton too crazy and Ryo too surly and enigmatic. "
"You are not well," I whispered, annoyed. It was unthinkable for me to try something for a guy like that, even if he had above average looks.
“ But you don't have to worry, Alice. I am no longer in love with him. I am glad you are together. "
"We’re together? Didn’t you hear him? He doesn't even want to touch or kiss me. "
"I understand you. I would suffer too ... “
"What did you understand? I don't care if he doesn't kiss me. I wouldn't even want it. I'm just saying you can't ask a girl to go with you and then tell her you want a long-distance relationship," I said angrily.
"Unless dear Easton asks him to," Kira interjected with the wise air that always distinguished her.
"Sure! Easton! That miserable! This Ant story is definitely his idea! It's all a false scene,” I understood immediately, calling myself a fool for not having understood immediately.
"What a pity," whispered Felicity in a low voice, earning my dirty look.
"Will you make him pay for it?" Kira asked me.
"Obviously!" I hissed furiously.
21
EASTON
I would never have admitted it, but I was amazed at how quickly the news spread that Ant and Alice were together.
Ryo had lost the bet because Ant had managed to do everything by the evening.
"Do you have a magic wand?" Ryo asked shocked.
"Yes, but I am also intelligent, and I know how to use social networks better than you," Ant had replied, bursting out laughing.
That evening we had fun in our usual place in the lounge, when at one point I saw Alice coming towards us.
I moved my drink to the side when I saw her look.
Her dress was so short that her breasts protruded from the neckline at the top and the black lace of her bra was visible, and at the bottom it barely covered her bottom.
Her legs were covered in a pair of fishnet tights and she wore black shoes with remarkably high heels.
I knew her wardrobe and I knew that until a few days ago she did not own those clothes.
I looked her in the face. She was so made up that she was unrecognizable, and her hair was tied in a completely unmade bun.
"My beloved Pikachu, I missed you!" Alice began, throwing herself on Ant's lap and winding her arms around his neck.
I put my hands in my hair.
Alice had just committed three serious crimes, according to Ant's beliefs.
One. She had given him a nickname and had screamed it in a public place. Ant could not stand romantic expressions in front of others.
Two. She had called him Pikachu. He hated Pokémon.
Three. She had sat on his lap. He hated clingy girls.
I looked him in the face. His eyes gave off sparks.
"Get her off me before I kill her!" he seemed to want to say.
"You're heavy," he managed to say, pushing her away.
"That's not a nice thing to say to your girlfriend," she scolded him good-naturedly.
"It was just an observation. If you want, I can also tell you how much you weigh. Let's see, fifty kilos? Fifty-two, isn't it? “
“ Ok, ok, you win. I'm leaving.” She fidgeted uneasily at hearing her weight. "I just came to say hello and see how my stepbrother is doing," she added, sitting down next to me, and resting her head on my stiff shoulder.
Feeling her warmth made me feel bad; it brought to the surface everything I had shared with her during those months. I inhaled the scent of her hair and skin.
I miss you, Alice. I miss you so much.
"I can find a boyfriend all by myself," she whispered in my ear before getting up and walking away.
“ Ryo, you're even sexier tonight. See you around," she blew in a soft voice, running a hand over my friend's arm to stir him up.
I wanted to get up and take her hand away from Ryo, but I had to restrain myself. This was just to provoke me, and I didn't have to give in, even though inside me I felt a storm sweeping away all the lucidity to which I clung desperately.
"You are off limits to me, otherwise I would have already fucked you," he replied.
"I do so like rough, vulgar men," she teased him, finally leaving.
"Do you think I have no finesse?" Ryo asked. "Mine was a compliment."
"You are a pig. You need to fix yourself up,” Logan replied, though he knew, like all of us, that Ryo's exaggerated attitudes were often just a diversion to hide something else.
***
ALICE
"Would you like to go out with me?" I asked Chris, driven by the desire to show Easton that he was too independent and too confident of me, and I would not let him command or intimidate him.
"Aren't you with Ant anymore?" he replied cautiously.
"Ant? I didn't know that we were still together," I reflected aloud, wondering how I had managed not to notice the continuation of my fake relationship with Ant.
Of course, I don't even see or hear it!
Apparently, any advice from Felicity who boasted that she knew Ant well hadn't worked to keep him away. And to think that my friend was convinced that calling him Pokémon in front of him would earn me his hatred for the rest of my life.
"So, he says on Tinder."
“ I am sure that if I went on the social networks, I would have a better chance of meeting my ghost boyfriend than in reality. Seriously, we broke up a long time ago, I reassured him.
“ What about Easton? I don't think it would go down well with him if I got closer to you. I still remember the punch he gave me."
"He's just an over-apprehensive half-brother, but now we've made it clear that he no longer has to interfere in my private and professional life," I replied, stifling the knot I felt in my throat at the memory of the evening I sat next to him. I had also placed my head on his shoulder.
Feeling his skin, his scent and his warmth had been an attack on my mental tranquility.
The truth was that I missed him so much and that I would have given anything for a kiss But I had forced myself to stay away from him because it was precisely that incessant need for him that made me suffer so much, since he was not in love with me.
This is why I had waited for Chris to go to the coffee machine in the editorial office to approach him and ask him out.
I wasn't interested in being with him, but I needed to have fun and get to know other guys and other ways of relating to them that didn't make me feel bad or mad at me.
I needed normalcy. Simple and boring normality.
"Okay, let's go out. There is a photo exhibition of a close friend of mine nearby. Do you feel like going to see it tonight? I get out around six. We could have a bite to eat and go straight to the gallery," he proposed.
"I’d love to!" I replied, looking at the time. My work shift was over. I had plenty of time to take the bus, go back to the dormitory and change with the help of my two friends.
I immediately sent Felicity a message. She was particularly good at choosing the best look for going out. Too bad she didn't do the same thing when it came to her. She was so conditioned by those few extra pounds that she always wore loose shapeless pants and sweaters.
When I got to my room, I managed to calm down.
All the way I had done nothing but wonder if I had done the right thing to ask Chris to go out and I felt an insane sense of guilt.
"Kira will fix your hair in one of her perfect high chignons, while I will take care of your make-up after you put this on," Felicity greeted me enthusiastically, offering me a fiery red dress that reached above my knee.
"Can I refuse?"
"No, darling. You have to shine tonight, so I chose something that will not go unnoticed. I want you to become the object of desire of everyone present at the art gallery," Felicity asserted firmly.
"Okay," I murmured uneasily, unable to assert myself in the face of her determination.
"Felicity, I'll do the same thing for you later," Kira provoked.
"What do I have to do with it?" she was immediately frightened.
“ Let's have a drink. The two of us. Sunglasses."
"Why?" Screamed Felicity insecure.
“ You have to overcome your shyness and show everyone how beautiful and special you are. By the end of the year, I want you to find yourself a boy who loves you and makes your heartbeat."
"No, no, no, no!" Felicity stirred immediately with an anxious look.
"I won't take no for an answer," Kira silenced her, laughing under her mustache.
"You'll have fun," I tried to calm her down.
“ I have nothing to wear! And I am embarrassed! I can't flirt. "
"Then start making up Alice, and we’ll go shopping afterwards," Kira decided to help our friend.
"Can you do it?" I murmured worriedly, noticing Felicity's shaking hand as she applied my eyeliner. The idea of going shopping scared her to death.
"Maybe it's better if I just stick to eyeshadow," she understood, taking a brush.
In the end, despite the initial difficulties, I managed to look flawless.
I looked in the mirror. I was sexy and seductive, but also elegant and refined.
I took a black clutch with glitter and a coat and put on shoes of the same color and with very high heels.
I could already imagine the pain I would have in my feet as I walked through the gallery.
Suddenly, I received a message. It was Chris waiting for me below.
"Good luck," Kira and Felicity said, excited for me.
Trying not to make noise in the heels, I walked on tiptoe until I passed Easton's room.
I arrived quietly on the ground floor, but just as I was about to go out through a study room, I found Easton with his three friends.
I immediately looked away and hurried to the exit.
I also tried to get walk on my toes so as not to attract attention in heels, but a few seconds later I heard Easton's thundering and scornful voice behind me.
"Where the fuck are you going dressed like that?"
"I have a date," I replied, turning around, and pretending a confidence that I didn't have in front of his fiery gaze.
"You're with Ant," he reminded me, pointing to his friend who was approaching us.
“ You're right, Easton. Ant, I'm leaving you. It was nice while it lasted, but our relationship is too demanding for me. You are too demanding and clingy," I said, covering my sarcasm with laughter.
"I don’t care. We are still together,” Ant replied, prompted by Easton's nod.
"Okay, then just so you know I'm going to cheat on you with another," I resolved with a shrug and started walking towards the exit.
"You're not going anywhere!" Easton tried to stop me, grabbing my arm.
"You can't stop me. I do what I want,” I snapped angrily, struggling to free myself.
"I won't let you," he blurted out, determined to win.
I burst into bitter laughter. “You won't let me? Who are you to forbid me from dating another guy? One who cares about me and wants to be with me. For real. Not like someone else who pretends to hold on to me but then unloads me as soon as he feels that things are getting too serious," I exploded, pointing my finger at him and poking him repeatedly in the chest to vent the anger, disappointment and pain I felt when he left.
"Alice, I ..." he whispered, grabbing me by the wrists and pushing me towards his chest.
His scent again ...
I felt tears starting to flow.
I don't want him to see me cry! He doesn't deserve my tears!
“ It's over, Easton. I've stopped wanting to feel bad for you,” I said, trying to regain control and finally freeing myself from his grip. "I have a life waiting for me out there."
"Please don't do this. Don't go,” he pleaded unexpectedly.
I looked him in the face and the despair I read in his gaze hit me like a punch in the stomach.
I had never seen him so vulnerable.
I wanted to hug him, kiss him, tell him that I was his and that I loved him, but then his words in the laundry came back to me and I stopped.
"I have to go. Goodbye!” I left, turning around and almost running out of the dormitory.
Only the cold evening air made me regain some lucidity.
I was out of breath as if I had not breathed for several minutes.
"Are you all right?" Chris asked as he approached.
No.
"Fine. So where are we going?” I answered with a fake smile.
I wanted to spend a pleasant evening and have fun, but the meeting with Easton had troubled me too much to make me hungry or want to go out or talk.
I got in the car with the knowledge that that evening would be horrible because I would never be able to forget Easton's words and his eyes full of despair.
22
EASTON
"Calm down, please," Ryo tried to stop me.
I had punched the wall so hard that I had injured my knuckles. Maybe I had even broken some bones.
"Calm down?! Alice has been going out for three days with that photographer from the newspaper where she does the internship. The internship that I got her. I'm just a poor asshole!”
"They go out together, they don't fuck!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yep. I can tell a satisfied woman from one who hasn't enjoyed herself for a while. I bet Alice is still a virgin."
"For how long, huh?"
“ I don't know, but if that's what you're worried about, go back to her. I don't know what that girl did to you, but whatever it is between you scares me. It went too far into you and now you can no longer live or think without her in the middle. Easton, you're my best friend and I've known you for years, but lately I don't recognize you anymore. "
"I don't know what's going on," I confessed, shattered. It had been days since I had been able to sleep, think, study, have fun ...
I was obsessed with Alice. Obsessed with her smile that I needed like oxygen, her freckles that I wanted to kiss and touch until I got drunk on them, her green eyes that scrambled my insides, her hands on my naked body, her kisses, her moans when I let her enjoy ...
God, she's killing me!
“ I want her back, Ryo. I want Alice back. I ... I need her," I confessed, exhausted.
"Christ, Easton, I don't know how to help you. I just hope I never end up like you!” He only managed to answer me. I knew he would do anything to help me, but I was asking him for something he could never give me, since he refused love and attachment to another person as much as I did.
At one point, I heard the sound of heels coming down the corridor.
Alice!
I swung the door open and found her in front of me.
"Are you going to hit the sidewalks tonight?" I insulted her immediately. After that first evening ended with photos of her with Chris at an exhibition, on Instagram, I had decided to adopt the tactic I knew best, that of the asshole.
The previous evening, I had shown myself out flirting with a girl, but she had not turned a hair while that evening I tried with the offenses.
"Yes, do you mind getting up? I have a dozen clients waiting for me,” she laughed irritably, her eyes flashing with anger.
"Leave her alone!" int
ruded Felicity, her new friend who had elected herself her bodyguard.
"You don't tell me what to do, clear?" I hissed threateningly, stealing the milkshake from her hand.
"Give it back!"
"Here," I said, removing the cap and throwing the drink that hit the girls and Alice, soaking them with strawberry milkshake.
"You're a bastard!" Alice was furious.
"Thanks for the compliment. Now go ahead. Your customers are waiting for you. "
"You can't go out like this," Felicity whispered, unable to clean her dress and hair with a stupid handkerchief.
“ I’ll take a quick shower. Meanwhile, go find Chris and take him to my room. Thanks to Easton, I will move my date to my room. I'll just have to find something for us to do since we won't be able to go to the theater as planned," Alice replied, looking at me with her usual defiant expression.
When I realized what my actions had don, I felt like a real idiot.
"He can't be here. He doesn't go to our university," I tried to stop her.
"It does not matter. You were the one who taught me to care about the rules, remember?” Alice raised the bar, proud to have put me in crisis.
***
ALICE
When I got back to my room, I quickly put on a suit, before taking what I needed for a shower, while Felicity went to Chris to warn him that I was forced to cancel the date.
"What happened?" Kira asked me in that cold, almost contemptuous tone that she had used with me in the past two days.
Things had changed between us since I had told her about how the first night with Chris ended with me in tears, venting with him on how much the situation with Easton made me suffer.
"Easton begs you to stay and you go with Chris anyway?" She was angry that time, looking at me like I was a horrible person.
Then I had vented the day before after finding Easton in the arms of another student.
“ Look who’s preaching! You are the one who is dating another, trying to make him jealous! I did not make you such a devious and immoral person, capable of making fun of the feelings of that poor boy who had the misfortune to meet you and who is dating you with the idea that you will forget the boy you are in love with. Not to mention Easton ... Don't you see how he looks at you when you meet in the cafeteria or in the hallway? It is impossible not to notice how destroyed he is by pain. He is in pieces and it's your fault! “Kira had scolded me, making me lose my temper.
Broken Rules (Love Storm series Book 2) Page 15