by Nora Cobb
“You found my note. So do you want to discuss it?” she asks with an edge in her voice.
“I’d like to talk about the property stolen from my desk. How did you know about that?”
Talia grimaces. She was expecting a different question. “Analytical thinking, and a lucky guess. The woman teaches a class called Video on the Move, and she likes to collect trophies.”
“That is a smart guess,” I reply. “And I’m guessing you want more than an A when you graduate.”
She takes a drag off her cigarette and smirks at me, then blows the smoke into my face. Talia looks so pleased with herself. I hope she remembers this day when she comes tumbling down.
“I already paid for my diploma,” she says, taking another drag, “What I need is for you to do as I say.”
Chapter Eleven
Vicki
I cut class today to work on my videos in the student center. I’m in school for art, not conjugating verbs. The festival is rescheduled for after graduation. We have time, but not much.
“I want stills for my book.” Luna leans over my shoulder and stares at the screen.
“Is Ghia okay with you being out this late?” I ask.
Luna scoffs. “She’s pissed with my mom for turning her into a babysitter. She’s not going to stay home all day to make sure that I don’t leave. I’d rather deal with the assholes than die of boredom at home.”
Someone tries the door of the screening room, but we locked it. The kid taps on the frosted glass, and an outline of a head appears in the window.
“They’re not coming in here,” I whisper in a dismissive tone.
Luna sits down beside me and pushes her sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose.
I glance over. “Don’t worry, Luna.”
She shrugs. “My scandal is on the back page now. But they still stare as if there’s more to tell. How’s Chase?”
I sigh deeply until it turns into a groan. “At his brother’s. And more people are coming forward. In some ways, it’s good, and in some ways, it’s bad.”
Marcy’s condition is leaking out in bits and pieces, but it hasn’t been linked to Chase or me yet. The strings are tenuous and slowly coming together.
Luna places her hands in between her knees, and her legs bounce. “I never want to mention it again. I was out of it, but that only makes it scarier.”
Someone taps on the door again. We barely look over until the lock clicks, and the door begins to open.
“Shit. Someone has the key.” I glare at the door and get ready to hurt someone’s feelings until they decide to leave. Silas strolls in, shuts the door, and bolts the inside lock.
“Hey, Luna.” He walks over to her chair and presses a kiss against her temple. Luna’s posture relaxes as she leans into Silas to give him a quick hug. They’re not that close, but they know they’ll always socialize in the same circles.
“I better get going.” Luna puts on her baseball cap. “Ghia gives me a long lead, but if I’m not back before she is…”
“I’ll walk you to your car,” offers Silas.
She shakes her head. “People turn to look at you. You’re a beacon of attention. Jagan gave me a parking pass for the employee lots. I can slip out the back door.”
Luna shouldn’t have to hide for something that wasn’t her fault, but she takes it in stride as she leaves the room with dark glasses in place and her chin tilted high. Silas walks over to the door and locks it again. He sits down in Luna’s seat and watches me work on my editing program.
“We have to talk,” he says, out of nowhere.
“Those are the shittiest words you could say to anyone,” I reply.
Silas frowns. “Sorry to ruin your world, sunshine, but I’m about to shitstorm on your day.”
I sigh. “I have all this to do. Fuck you. I only gave you another chance because you’re hot.”
Silas laughs at my teasing but continues to watch the screen. He only holds back when he is maneuvering, but he seems to be hesitating instead.
“Can I guess?” I ask, “More gossip?”
“They’re yanking the skeletons out of every closet.” He frowns. “The focus is off us today, but it will be back on us again probably by tomorrow. I’m afraid I’m next.”
I stop typing. “Are you ready?”
“My family isn’t,” he replies, “but I’m done with being used. They think I should take it and deal with anybody who can afford to pay and play. I’m old enough to know better.”
“I didn’t tell.”
“I know, baby.” His hand brushes over mine, and then he places it on the armrest.
I don’t feel reassured by his actions, and I sit there squeezing my index finger, not daring to touch the keyboard. I’m caught in a limbo of caring but not knowing what to do.
He continues, “Rhys told Talia weeks ago. He claims I kicked him out, and he had to go stay with Theo.”
I’m not getting anything done, and I don’t want Silas to think I’m not listening. I close my laptop and give him all my attention. “He’s a wimp. Theo could do better.”
“I don’t care what Theo or Rhys do,” he says.
Silas bends his head and closes his eyes as if he’s praying. I place my hand on his back and rub it in gentle strokes. His cotton shirt is smooth under my fingers. The muscles in his back are so tense that I’m not sure if I’m helping or not.
“Chase told me what happened to you in the basement,” he says, “but you already know we talk to each other.”
I don’t want to talk about it. I understand how Luna feels—talking about it makes it happen over and over again. I just want to hurry over this topic. He glances over, and I nod. “It’s okay,” I tell him.
Silas looks at me as if I’m insensitive, and my heart leaps into my mouth. “It’s not okay,” he hisses as if it’s my fault. “It’s wrong, and I’m not sad she’s in the hospital. I would’ve put her there myself, so she should consider herself lucky.”
I take my hand off his back quickly, and he rises as if the weight of my hand had been keeping him down. His rage is growing into an entity all its own.
“She better not wake up,” he growls, staring at me with hateful eyes.
“Don’t wish a person dead,” I whisper, leaning back.
“Why not?” he challenges me.
I speak slowly. Choosing words I hope will convince him. “If she dies, Chase and I might be in serious trouble. It’s selfish not to give a shit about her. But we need her to be okay. Rage isn’t going to help us win this fight.”
His tone softens. “Vicki, if you knew what people have done to me. People who should’ve known better. People who should’ve been looking out for me.”
He rubs his face, and we sit in silence, waiting for something to say.
Silas sits back in the chair and sighs. “Dom says you want all three of us.”
Fuck. I just got flung out of the frying pan, and I’m heading for the fire. I fidget. I want to deny it or put it off, but why deny what I want? I’ll only want it but not have it.
“It’s true, but I don’t want to talk now,” I reply, “It’s better if we’re all together.”
“Let me see what you’ve got.” Silas points at the laptop.
I’m nervous to show him my work. We all talk and share our opinions on other people’s work, but none of us have put ourselves on the line. I’ve heard Chase play a million times, but I’ve only seen glimpses of his films. I’ve never seen Dom’s or Silas’.
I swallow hard, and I’d rather admit to some of the other stupid shit I’ve done instead. Like the time I ate a box of Oreos and washed it down with grape soda while binging Silas’ old series on Netflix. And that was just last week.
I don’t think about it a minute longer. I open my laptop, hit play, and watch his reaction from the corner of my eye. At first, his mouth is pressed into a thin line, and then it gradually lifts until his emotions reach his eyes.
Silas glances over at me. “You’re talen
ted and beautiful. What a pleasant surprise.”
I shove his arm, and he tilts the other way as he smiles. Silas rarely shows his temper, and it worries me. He conceals how he feels because he was taught as a boy that it wasn’t professional to throw a temper tantrum on the set. I wonder what else they told that little boy he couldn’t do.
“Are you sure you could handle three?” he whispers. “I would be more than enough.”
My cheeks flame, but I answer him in a calm voice. “I need them as much as I need you.”
“And what do you need me for?”
I can tell by his tone that it isn’t a come-on. Silas needs a serious answer, and I have one for him. “Your strength and passion, and how you fit your fist into a velvet glove.”
“We need to talk,” he says again.
I roll my eyes. “All of us together.”
But Silas persists. “I’m not sure how they are going to feel.”
“How do you feel?” I ask.
Silas looks down at his hand and flexes it as he thinks. “I have to hear what they say. I’m having a hard time thinking about anyone but myself.” He looks at me. “I’m being honest and selfish too.”
I touch a file, and a JPG comes up on the screen. It’s an image of me dressed as Snow White with white flowers in my hair. Scripted words are written across my image.
Shattered into imperfection, and somehow the jagged and broken edges fit so perfectly that we are made to be together.
I take his hand and hold it still. “I look at this and think about us.”
Chapter Twelve
Vicki
We decide to live together and wait for the worst to happen. It’s coming—the end as the gossip seeps out and changes our worlds. Even if nothing terrible happens, graduation is fast approaching, and one day, we’ll drive away from Redwood and never return.
We stay together in one suite, protecting each other from the kids they once shoved around. Walking together to our classes, eating together at lunch; we always know where the others are. We are never apart. We watch each other’s backs. And it’s a test to see if we can stay together. If they can be mine as much as I want to be theirs.
After five days, it sucks. Silas and I return from film studies, where Mr. Carroll decided to show an old black-and-white film. I love the classics, but some movies don’t stand up over time. It may have been innovative seventy years ago, but now it’s mind-numbing and overwrought. Anyway, we walk in, and the suite looks like the overflowing dumpster by Goodwill. What the fuck is this? The three little piggies?
Chase has claimed the couch, and he’s going on his third day in the same sweats. Dom is in the refrigerator again. He stands there with the door open and eats out of it like a buffet. And Silas. He dresses neat, but the second he steps inside the door—his bag, his keys, his shoes, his crap are piled on a kitchen chair. I’m a slob, but I’m a clean one.
“This place is a shithole!” I shout. “It’s too dirty for the devil to live in.”
Three sets of eyes stare back at me. Dom can’t decide whether to chew or to talk, so he does both. “Welcome to cohabitation, Li’l Vicki. Three times the mess, and no one’s having fun.”
Silas yawns. “You’ve lived with men. You act surprised.”
“They didn’t live like this,” I complain.
“Your problem is Netflix,” Chase continues to watch his laptop, “And no chill.”
My eyes narrow on him. “Are you doing this on purpose? Are you being slobs so I’ll crack?” That shuts them up. “This isn’t about pulling together and surviving. I’ve known each of you too long. I know when I’m being played.”
“Are you playing with us?” asks Silas.
I’m on the spot, thinking I should’ve stopped while I had the chance. I told them what I want, but maybe I can’t handle it. Perhaps I shouldn’t be making this demand. Dom pulls me close with his peanut butter breath.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” he says, “you’re thinking too hard.”
“I can’t choose,” I blurt out, pulling away. “I don’t want to choose. It’s impossible to tell me I can only love one of you.” My cheeks heat up because I screamed the word love a little too loud.
“Love is something we really haven’t discussed,” says Silas in a thoughtful tone. “I thought about it plenty of times.” He looks at me. “But we come back up before we dive too deep.”
“I love all of you, and I can’t separate it,” I try to explain myself again, “Maybe I replaced my addiction with love, but now I have to have it. And to me, that means all of you.”
Chase sits up and switches off the streaming. “What’s coming in my life—not many people will understand, but I know the three of you will.”
Silas nods. “The pettiness and the rivalry. I could shelve it if we all did.”
Dom looks at me. “I guess that means you are the glue, kiddo.”
“Funny way of putting it,” I sigh, “but I guess I am.” I am too scared to look up, but I do feel love being aimed in my direction. The feeling is potent, but I still feel unsure. The storms are coming, and we have already felt a few drops. I want us to make it through.
“So how does it work?” laughs Dom. “Do we take turns or one at a time?”
I roll my eyes. “You only think about sex.”
“Actually, I was talking about the bathroom.” He looks down the hallway, frowning. “Maybe we need a schedule?”
My face heats up, and I’ve had enough of expressing my feelings for now. I rush out of the room and slam my bedroom door shut. I hear laughter as I push my face into my pillow and scream. Why did I think this could work with three men with egos?
There is tapping on my door, and I debate shouting, “Fuck off!” But instead I say a meek, “Come in.” Dom walks in and sits on the bed beside me.
“I’m tired of being nice,” I warn him, “I don’t know what to do or say to make this work.”
“It’s okay,” says Dom.
“Don’t lie to me.” I slap his thigh. “If this experiment fails, it fails.”
I lie on my back and close my eyes, pretending graduation is over, and my life is doing what I want it to do. Dom brushes my hair off my cheeks.
“Your cheeks are pink from yelling at me,” he tells me.
I giggle, and he leans in to kiss my lips like a prince in a film. His kiss deepens as he holds my head in his hands. I start to float away as he moans softly against my lips. No matter how often we kiss, it’s like the first one again.
“They’re in here making out.” Chase walks into the room and sits down by the desk.
“Are you going to watch?” asks Dom.
“You’re not doing it right,” says Chase. He sits on the bed and reaches for me. He pulls me off the bed and onto his lap. I cling to his hard arms, and he kisses me like he has to do it, and he’ll do it right. I pull back and blink until my eyes stay open.
“Nice but lame.” Silas walks into the room. “But Vicki sighs when I kiss her.”
“It’s not a contest,” Dom scowls.
“If it were, I’d already have won,” says Silas.
I climb off Chase’s lap and stand away from the bed. “That’s what I’m talking about,” I scold them, “If you loved me, you’d respect each other.”
Silas reaches for me. “They can ponder that while we kiss.”
Silas presses his lips softly against mine, and then he tilts his head and goes in for the kill. Passion rises as his mouth takes mine and won’t let go. I cling to him as he tugs me against his muscular chest. My foot lifts off the floor, and I almost fall down. I sigh when he pulls away.
“Nice,” Silas smirks, pleased with himself.
“Earlier, I was talking about sex,” admits Dom, “I don’t mind walking into the bathroom when you’re in it, Vicki. But how are we going to work this out?”
We can’t go to the lake every time we want to, and I can’t call Troy for advice. Maybe, Natalie. No, too weird. I have to figure this ou
t, or no matter how much we want to be together, this will be the dealbreaker. The teasing is getting to me because it’s true. I want more than a kiss.
I look around my bedroom nervously and decide against suggesting we strip down to our underwear under the overhead light. Under the boat was so organic; it just happened. I give myself a mental poke. I want to be a director, so I’ll direct our love scene. We need some candles, wine, sexy music, and a lot of trust.