94Devil In Disguise
Free the Dancing Llamas
Chapter 9: Dear monkey up in heaven, grant me my sanity, give me the fortitude to ignore he with the vanity.
"Hey super skank," Peyton shouted on the other end of the phone. I felt like my ears were going to burst with blood and other gross gooey things. Brain things, maybe. If I had any brains left, that was. I was beginning to doubt its existence considering the fact I'd made a series of really stupid decisions within the last 48 hours.
Oh Lord. I took a deep breath and stuffed my face with the remains of the chocolate bar I kept in my bedside table for emergencies.
This was definitely an emergency.
"How do you know?" I managed between chews. It probably sounded something like 'ergh o ou gree', but at this point in our friendship, Pey was fluent in my language.
"How doesn't everybody know," Peyton replied, "Ann told me, who heard from Janice, who was told by Sam, who saw you and Dante sucking face on the kitchen table. On further enquiry I found out from Anita and Mark that you also striped in a hallway and proved to everyone there that you, my friend, do not have a gag reflex, which I'm told your aforementioned lover enjoyed. And then you disappeared with a certain Mr Preston-Scott into a bedroom and were heard to make disgusting moaning sounds. Presumably doing the horizontal tango. Ann also reported some crying. But I'll need to cross-check with the Lanbrow twins before I can confirm."
Fricking Ann. Everytime.
"Wow." Was all I could manage.
"Yeah. You are a slutty drunk, D. But I'm proud of you. I feel like you've achieved something your parents would be real proud of. Getting down and naked in front of a bunch of people."
"Well I guess that's the silver lining."
"So I guess you like the guy, huh?"
"I don't know Pey. I'm so confused." I replied honestly.
"You're scared."
"Yeah. This is so messed up. It's barely been a month and we've already done the dirty…not to mention the fact he's met my parents."
"I wouldn't be surprised if you two were married by the end of the month," Pey quipped, I could hear her snorting in the background.
"Don't even joke about that, we're going too fast, I'm losing control. I didn't think it would be like this."
"Such is young love!" I could hear Pey sigh dramatically over the phone.
"Honestly, I love you and all," I rolled my eyes, "But I'm beginning to wonder about you. I feel like you should be more outraged and concerned for my wellbeing."
"I am, D." Pey quietly replied, "To be honest, I think he's going to do you a world of good."
A world of good? It was like everything she was hearing was coming out at the opposite in her brain. Something was not working. Maybe she'd been replaced by a robot, and couldn't actually process human speech.
I'm not saying robots are capable of that, but they probably are.
"Seriously? Are you not listening to anything I say?"
"D, up until this point in your life, what have you actually done? Your grades are bordering on below average, you don't really have any activities, or friends besides me," Pey sighed, "You don't even really know where you're headed in your future. And guess what? With Dante, you seem to be caring a whole lot more, you seem happier, more focused."
"Happier? Focused? The only think I'm focused on is dancing in a rain of Satan's blood." I quipped, trying to hide the hurt from her words. They seemed to dig up a painful loneliness swelling around my stomach, dipping up to my throat.
"Dahlia," Pey said finally, "You need to sort your head out. I can only do so much for you."
With that, she hung up.
Well Monkeys up in heaven, this was turning out to be the worst, most shit-tastic day of my mother-ducking life. I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about what Peyton has said.
I couldn't stop the nagging feeling of confusion and sadness. The confusion over that fact that she might have been right.
I was starting to feel happier, more energetic, less automated. Reality seemed so much closer. And if she was right about that, maybe she was right about everything else, too.
I was starting to wish my friend were a robot. That way I could've programmed her not to be such an annoying, know-it-all, smartass.
As night finally came, after what seemed like the longest day of my life, I tried closing my eyes and sleeping. Except all I could do was stare at my phone like a manic, waiting for a sign of something.
At the back of my mind, that something was more of a somebody. Even though I'd continuously told Dante to stay out of my life, I knew I wanted him to talk to me. I wasn't so sure what about. Probably the fact we'd done the dirty, the deal, and every other messed up thing which had happened in the last few weeks. A small part of me, I would not admit, was just to see if he was still ok, to ask about what his sister had said. I knew I couldn't do that, because that meant I'd started to care. Getting back to the plan was turning out to be a whole lot harder than I'd thought.
A week seemed to fly by. Aside from the occasion text, I didn't see or hear from Dante. Life was coming through for me. Well, I was hoping it would, because for some reason I couldn't sleep, no matter what I tried I'd get a few hours a night at the most. It was really starting to wear me down. By Thursday, I was so sleep deprived I cried because they'd stopped serving the super chilli cheese tacos, leaving my taco options on campus quite limited.
Just as I'd managed to fall asleep that night a frantic knocking was coming from my door. I jumped up from my bed, startled, but ready to face the axe-wielding murderer who was probably waiting to chop me up into little bits, on the other side of the door. I stole a look at my Spongebob clock; two forty-three in the morning.
Whoever was on the other side of the door, psychopath or not, was about to face my fury. As soon as I opening the door, a large form came barrelling in, slamming the door behind it. I momentarily blinded myself, switching the main light on, trying to get a look at my intruder. As my eyes adjusted, I saw the familiar face of Dante.
Surprise, surprise.
"It's almost three in the morning," I mumbled, trying to smooth my hair from my face, but it wasn't budging, "What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep, I haven't been able to since the other night. I know I said that I'd give you space but I can't sleep without you." He whispered, wide eyed, grabbing my shoulders and shaking them.
"Well you can't stay here."
"Please, I have a med assessment at eight. If I don't sleep I'm going to fail."
"Not my problem," I replied, trying to push him to the door. Except he didn't move.
"I won't try to fuck you, I swear to the high and mighty I will keep my boner and raging hormones away from you," he said moving towards my bed, ignoring my protests and attempts to get him to leave.
I don't know why I'd bothered to waste the energy. I was too tired to deal with any of it because this really was starting to be the most ridiculous and frustrating week ever. I may or may not have started crying. Again. Boy, was I crying a whole lot these days. Soon, I was sure; I'd run out of tears.
I stood at my bed, in my daggy pyjamas and socks, tears and snot running down my face. I could feel my pride fleeing out the door, probably to New Zealand – to run wild with the sheep.
"Babe," I could feel his stupid, warm arms come around my waist, his head burying into my chest, "I'm sorry. I can't sleep and I really need to pass this assessment. I promise you I won't be too much of a bother. You're tired, I'm tired, let's be tired together and sleep."
He tucked me into the bed, turned off the lights and joined me.
I didn't feel much like saying anything, after my little display of crazy, and just sort of watched him move around and touch little bits around my room, before sliding into the sheets with me.
Just like that, my weeklong insomnia was cured. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.
When I woke up it was nine-thirty in the morning, and as he'd promised Dante was gone and hadn't bothered me.
So it was strange that I was a whole lot of pissed off. I didn't stop to think. I grabbed a shirt, I grabbed some jeans and shoes and marched out of my room and down towards the campus.
He was going to pay for being rude and annoying and leaving me without so much as a kiss. No, scratch that, a thank you. I didn't want his kisses, or anything except for his damn gratitude for putting up with him.
Before I knew it, I was outside of his tutorial room. I wasn't sure how I'd gotten there but I think I might have hissed at one of his friends for his whereabouts.
A warning tingle vibrated at the back of my head, and before I could reason with myself I barged in the room, shouting, "Motherfucker!"
As the profanity slipped from my mouth, I realised I'd just walked into an assessment room full of stressed-out students and one very annoyed examiner.
"Sorry," I whispered, desperately trying to find Dante, but I couldn't spot him, " I'm looking for the medical prac room."
The examiner marched angrily towards me, grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room, shutting the door behind us.
"There are over twenty prac rooms in this building," the examiner hissed, "How dare you just waltz in, interrupting an exam."
"Sorry," I squeaked, flames rupturing all over my face, "I'm so sorry, I'm looking for a friend, he… has my tablets and I need them." I lied, trying not to seem like a crazy person.
The examiner didn't seem to buy it, "You can wait another ten minutes for your friend. Don't you dare ever interrupt an assessment again."
With that, she marched back into the room.
I wondered if I could get a brain transplant while I was in the medical building.
After my debacle, I traipsed down to a cafeteria, and got myself a tragically horrid salad and water.
"You came looking for me, you sexy little psycho." I could feel his breath tingling, caressing the back of my neck and along side my ear. Shivers ran up and down my body, tightening the base of my stomach, a sudden longing bursting down my core.
I wheezed, water spraying out of my mouth, some of it trapped in my throat.
"Nope. Don't know what you're talking about it."
"Well," Dante actually sat next to me, his large hand coming to gently pat me on my back, "Now that I can finally speak to you, I wanted to ask you a favour."
My glassy eyes pinned to him, a look of horror passing over my face, "A favour? How can you even ask that?"
"I know, I know!" Dante laughed, his handsome face softened briefly, a hand coming up to gently tug one of my curls, "You never wear your hair like this. I love it."
"I forgot to fix it up this morning," I blurted, my eyes lingering on his distractingly nice lips. I mean, who had full, perfect lips like that? It just wasn't natural. Lips that seemed to always be saying something to me, even if words weren't coming out of them.
"My mother has an art exhibition opening. I need you to come."
"No way." I snapped, dragging my eyes back to my sad salad.
"Hey sweets, you made a deal. You date me; I get you close to Lover boy. And guess what, the dating thing includes coming to my crap with me. It won't be too bad. There'll be food and alcohol and I'll even throw in a nice dress."
"But Alec won't be there," I sighed, "So there's no point in me going."
"Sure there is, you keep your half of the deal and I keep mine. I promise you the next party we go to…I'll get you your man." He seemed distracted then, concerned and annoyed.
"Fine," I replied, stuffing a tomato in my mouth, "Just keep your hands to yourself, keep your distance like you promised."
"It's a deal," Dante held his hand out, waiting for me to shake it. It seemed that I was making a lot of deals lately. None of them were turning out right. As soon as I shook his hand, he pulled me forward and stuck his tongue into my mouth.
I reeled back, annoyed, aroused and panting.
"I'll see you Saturday evening at yours." He laughed, pulling away from the table, he turned back before leaving, "I'll bring the dress, but um…do something with your hair and face."
He gestured towards my person. All I could do was stare in horror. No snappy reply, no outraged cry. Nothing. I knew that once again I'd fallen into another deal that I was going to regret. Nothing seemed to be going as I'd planned. Not only had I fallen for another deal, but I had to meet his family, which definitely included his parents. Great, wonderful, fantastic.
A/N: Sorry for the lateness of the chapter. It was absolutely horrible to write. Transition chapters always are! Although kinda boring, this chapter is necessary to put the rest of this story forward.
Thank you to all the beautiful reviewers and readers. Your support keeps me going!
FTDL