I Don't Care if the Necklace Fits! I'd Rather Not be Kidnapped by Immortals!

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I was driving back to the very house that I’d moved away from, just to avoid the memories that were guaranteed to come flooding back once I got inside. I pulled into the driveway and pulled the key out of the ignition. I sat at the wheel, just staring at the house. Then, I took a deep breath and got out of the car. I stepped up to the door and knocked three times. The door opened after a couple seconds.

“Hey. Good to see you. Your hair got really long.” Ari greeted, urging me inside. I smiled at him weakly, playing with the necklace that now felt extremely heavy around my neck.

“It’s good to see you too, Ari… It’s been a while.” I said. He nodded at me and I looked back to my car, realizing that I’d left my bags in the trunk. I planned to camp out here for a while until I could finally get over the grief. If I could face the house full of memories here, then I could probably go back home and deal with my life happily there. But until I faced the facts, I wasn’t going to be the same person I was before.

“So what have you been up to? I haven’t really asked about where you stand in life and all that jazz…” he replied. I grinned at him.

“I’m in college. Doing extremely well, actually. I think I can skip a week and still be okay, though. Everything has been easy… And I don’t see why I can’t still go take my classes while I’m crashing here. But I also have a boyfriend named Ryan. He’s a fucking horndog sometimes.” I explained. He laughed.

“Can you blame him? You’re like 20, and you’re still smokin’ hot. Once a sun, always a sun.” He said, winking at me. I rolled my eyes.

“I hate it. But recently Nuri decided to show up at out door… did you know anything about it?” I asked. Ari’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“No, I didn’t. What did he say? What happened? Where’s he been?” He interrogated.

“He talked about where he’d been and what he’d done…” I paused, debating on whether I should tell him about the incident. “and then he got angry with me and left.” I decided against it.

“Well?” Ari urged on.

“He’s a manwhore.” I stated. Ari laughed airily, and I smiled. I was actually enjoying this. It was a nice conversation, and Ari was really making me feel better about the situation.

“Well since you’re staying here, I figure you’ve got bags in the car?” he inquired. I nodded, and together we went out to my car and carried my bags up to the room where me and Kay used to stay. It was the exact way they left it.

“This is exactly the same as it was when we moved out.” I pointed out.

“Well not exactly. There’s something I’ve forgotten to tell you about…” He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. I raised my eyebrow, considering the possibilities.

“HELP!” A female voice screeched from the room I knew as Kayne’s.

“Oh, chill out. I was hardly even tickling you.” Kayne complained.

“MOLESTATION!” the voice called.

“Yeah… That would be Carsyn. She’s also a sun.” Ari explained. I laughed, smiling.

“Alright. So I have a roommate. Works for me, I guess. Poor girl, being raped by Kayne. Do you guys do the same thing to all the suns? Seriously, it’s ridiculous.” I whined. Ari rolled his eyes at me.

“Carsyn doesn’t warm up to people easily, though. The only people in this house she likes are Kayne and… well she only really likes Kayne. But I come in second and Kavan is last. She hates him.” He explained. I sighed.

“Whatever. I’m an easy person to warm up to. There shouldn’t be a problem. Unless she’s a total bitch. Then I’ll have to knock her pretty little face in.” I replied. Ari shook his head.

“Kayne, can you stop raping Carsyn and get her out here?” Ari called. I pulled at the hem of my shirt. Obviously we had some of the same tastes if she had no changes or anything to make to the room that both me and Kay designed. It can’t be that hard to get someone with the same tastes as you to not hate you. The door soon opened, and Kayne revealed himself to us both. He saw me and his face immediately lit up like fireworks.

“TRIV! OH MY GOD I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN YEARS!” He screamed, embracing me in a bone-crushing hug. I laughed and hugged him back smiling.

“Victrivia Ambrosine is in this house?” I hear yet another familiar voice call. Then the fifth member of our party came in. I hugged Kavan lightly and then took a good look at Carsyn.

Carsyn was an asian girl with short dark hair that was up in pigtails on the top of her head. She wore a Hollister t-shirt with a pair of blue-jeans that looked like they were from Wet Seal. On her feet were a pair of brown Uggs. She was pretty, but she looked to be fifteen years old. She was extremely skinny and very short, and her bra size couldn’t be more than an A cup. Her eyes were a dark brown color and her skin was left without any blemishes that I could see. I looked back at Ari and he looked at me, waiting for me to say something to her.

“Hi, you must be Carsyn. I’m Victrivia. I was the last sun.” I greeted with a large smile.

“You were the bitch that Dylan told me about before he left. Broke Nuri’s heart and went out with some shady kid you found off the streets, then he died and you went all sadistic and left. Yet you never went back to poor Nuri.” She said condescendingly. My mouth fell agape.

“You don’t even know me!” I exclaimed to the puny girl. She glared daggers at me.

“I know that you’re a bitch, you like to play with people’s emotions, and you really like boys, if you catch my drift.” She countered.

“Oh, that’s it! Ari, hold my shit.” I ordered, taking off my necklaces and earrings. I left the ring on. That would hold the special purpose of leaving the engraving I love you, Victrivia on this little bitch’s face. I was in the middle of grabbing her by the collar and bringing her close enough so that I could pull my arm back, but Kavan grabbed me and held me back so that I couldn’t get to the little nuisance.

“So you’re going to level to violence because you can’t come up with a good comeback?” she antagonized.

“My brass knuckles have a comeback for you, you little bitch.” I retorted.

“Ladies, that’s enough!” Kayne exclaimed. “I understand that some of you have some preset resentments toward the other… but you’d better get over it all fast because you have to share that bedroom. Unless one of you want to crash in Nuri’s old room…”

“I’d gladly take up that empty living space in Nuri’s old room, thank-you.” I said, shooting a dirty look in Carsyn’s direction.

“Good ‘cause I was here first.” She countered.

“Technically I was here first. After all, I was the one that designed that room you’re living in. My best friend was the painter that did the artwork on the walls. Gorgeous, isn’t it?” I said in a condescending manner. Carsyn shot me a look of disbelief.

“You’re kidding.” She stated. She couldn’t believe it.

“No, I’m actually quite serious, hunn.” I smirked. She huffed and walked straight into the room me and Kay designed.

“You need to warm up to her.” Ari said, shaking his head. I smiled.

“Who do you think she hates more now—Me or Kavan?” I asked. Kayne laughed, and I was happy to know that this wasn’t really a big deal to him.

“You topped it. He tried making out with her and she didn’t want to. That’s why she hated him. But you invaded the house, and the only place that she can get away from you is a room you designed yourself. She hates you because she can’t win against a twenty-year-old.” Ari explained.

“Haven’t given her the necklace yet, eh?” I called. Kayne’s light mood became hushed.

“She doesn’t know about it yet. So shhh.” He murmured.

“Can I have my jewelry back?” I asked, reaching for my own necklace. I felt like they were rifling through my mind at the moment, figuring out that I almost had sex with Ryan and what really happened when Nuri came over… I paused on that thought looking back at those hands that were unzipping his fly when Ryan was putting together a legit apology for me. When I looked back up, Ari Kayne and Kavan all had their mouths agape. Shit.

“YOU ALMOST HAD SEX WITH NURI!?” Kayne exclaimed.

Shit.

“You told me that all you guys did was talk and that he left angry. You never mentioned sex.” Ari said, more calm than anyone else.

“Are you serious? He’s gonna get into your pants before me?” was all Kavan had to say before he turned on his heel and left.

“Guys, stop. I-I didn’t want to. Well, I don’t want to. And it didn’t actually happen, so why can’t I just shove it in the closet and have you guys be done with it? Please, can’t you just leave it alone?” I begged. I really didn’t want to deal with this, but because I can’t control my own thoughts, I can’t have any secrets. I should have been more careful with what I did around them. This is one thing that I really don’t miss. I stared at Ari , knowing that if any of them were going to set it aside, he would be the first one to agree. He just shook his head smiling.

“Same old Triv.” He said with a grin and walked off. Kayne just stared at me with his mouth open.

“Whatever. Looks like I’m moving into Nuri’s old room.” I stated. I grabbed four of my eight bags and dragged them over to the room that for a year of my life, I dreaded. This room was to become my home. How cliché. I turned around and noticed that Kayne had decided to help me. He, too, had four bags. Yet he was carrying them much easier.

“You could have just used the necklace to get them all in there, you know.” He pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

“Not everything has to be magical, you know.” I replied. He shook his head and left the room for me to unpack. I looked around. I took a deep breath. I sat down the bed and memories came flooding back into my head.

“Oh, really? You’re just saying that because I won.” He countered.

“Yes, really. If it was really about who was the better kisser, I would have demolished you.” I teased.

“Prove it.” He stared at me. I was surprised by the emotion that was behind it. His words willing me to do it. I didn’t hesitate.

Seconds later my lips were crushed against his. I silently thanked god that I was both wearing the necklace, and that Nuri couldn’t read minds. If he had known how much I was enjoying this he would have declared himself the victor.

I stared at my hands again. I couldn’t believe that all this time had just flown by. I looked at the bed. Another memory came into my mind.

“Shhhh, it’s all going to be okay. I promise, you’re fine.” He soothed. Eventually, I’d calmed down enough to talk, but he never asked me why I’d had that breakdown. He just cooed into my ear, telling me that it was all going to be okay, obviously having no idea why I’d been crying. I was glad he didn’t ask again. Eventually, I fell asleep with him holding me like that. I’m not going to lie to you guys, either. Honestly, I loved it.

Why do I have to go through every guy I meet? Really, my life would be so much easier if I’d been a prude my entire life. Boys are so hard to deal with. Especially Nuri. Why did I have to ever meet him? I would probably be living in New York right now, getting doped up and drunk every goddamn day. I thought about it for a minute, and decided that I was actually glad that my life had taken the turn that it did. It was better this way. I was on my way to a Bachelor’s degree in college and I planned on getting a good job. I could do so much more with my life now. I was on to bigger and better things this way, with many more options.

My life is so complicated sometimes. I hate memories. They could rip a girl apart and get her so fucking confused. Especially me, because I was a promiscuous creature. Not like I can help it. I was brought back from my thoughts when my phone rang.

“Hello?” I said into it.

“Baby…” Ryan’s voice rang into the phone.

“Oh, hi. What’s up?” I asked, feeling so guilty.

“I really really like you, Victrivia.” He said. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused.

“I’m aware, otherwise we wouldn’t be together. What’s wrong, Ryan? What’s going on?” I questioned, starting to get concerned.

“I… This is so hard!” he exclaimed. I waited for him to finish. “Well… just forget it. I’ll explain it to you in person, I guess… Do you wanna hang out today?” He offered. I bit my lip, thinking about it. I knew that otherwise this was going to drive me crazy.

“Meet me at the park downtown.” I said.

“Too public.” He shot down. I rolled my eyes.

“Fine. I’ll drive to your apartment. I can get there in twenty minutes.” I proposed. He hesitated on his end.

“Oh… okay. That works.” He decided. I smiled for a minute.

“I’ll see you there, baby.” I said, grinning to myself, waiting for his cute reply that was bound to come. I heard a click, and the line was dead. My jaw dropped. That wasn’t like him. What the hell was going on?