Twinfestation

Trust no bitch. Whoever said that knew what they were talking about. 'Cause all my friends are currently in the act of being bitches. And none of them are worthy of any trust.

My point is obvious; Trust. No. Bitch.

"Ash, I don't wanna go in." Clinging to his arm and trying to resist texting David simultaneously, I flinched away from anything that I felt come close. Guys, girls, and all the bugs that were just mindlessly attracted to the bright light on the dark street. "I forgot to take my medicine and I'm fleeing light headed."

"You are feeling light headed because you're scared of going into a gay spot." Ash chuckled down at me, rumbling through my body. "And all you ate today was penis shaped candy."

"What if I pass out? What if I pass out and someone kidnaps me and rapes me? Ash, what if I get locked up, bound, gaged, raped, become a sex slave, and never ever see my kitten again!?"

He looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure your kitten will survive, Silvester."

"Oh, you know where I'm going! Where's Salem and Hayden?" Somehow, me and Ash had ended up riding in Layla's car. I hadn't spotted Say since he went to find Hayden and it was a bit unnerving. Not only because I was being dragged into a gay club, but just because I haven't seen him too much the past few days. That alone set off a little alarm somewhere inside me, like something immediately went wrong when he wasn't there.

But I was working on being independent, I couldn't be asking or worrying about stuff like that. I needed to find a way to disable that alarm.

"Hayden's not here." Ash told me.

"What? Is he coming later?"

Ash shook his head, a smile with a uneasy tone on his lips, almost sad. "He's not coming."

"What? Why? I thou-" At that moment, a cult of flying insects launched themselves my way, scrapping against my freezing arms and frostbitten nose. My mouth clamped shut, along with my eyes, unfortunately just stretching my nose and making a bigger target. When I felt a tickle, I grabbed Ash's black T-shirt and smushed my face to his chest, rubbing back and forth to stop the bug induced itch.

"Come on." Ash said after awhile of rubbing my back and shooing away demons. "They're gone."

"All of them?" I mumbled into his chest.

"All of them." After a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart, I pulled away and we found everyone to make our way inside.



Inside was terrifyingly impressive, dauntingly new. The lighting was dim but still light enough to make out faces, crowded but still room to move, loud but quiet enough to hear people talking.... if you shouted. Not that there was anyone talking to me, everyone immediately running separate ways or, if you were Salem or Ash, being dragged off by a random man. Somehow, I found myself sitting with Ani, who was staring intently at Johna dancing with Layla and looking as if she was ready to stride over and rip them away from each other.

"Don't you dare leave me at this table alone." I ordered as I took hold of Ani's sleeve.

"This is a bar." She informed me matter-of-factly. "And I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back, find Ash or someone."

"Anita!" After she didn't turned back, I swiveled the stool around and gripped the glass I was drinking out off. I'm not sure what was in it since Ani gave it to me, probably some sort of watered down alcohol, but I finished it off with one more gulp.

Now that it was empty, I realized just how much I had to pee. Too scared to stand and walk around on my own, I sat there with my legs crossed, probably looking like a extremely flamboyant loner. Even compared to the 'men' in here. I mean, seriously? I understand wanting to look kind of cute, but booty shorts and ponytails is a bit overboard.

The longer Ani took, the more self conscious I felt, thinking that someone would notice how long I've been sitting alone. Since she obviously wasn't coming back anytime soon, I drank what was left in her cup against my better judgment. Needless to say, her's wasn't watered down. Suddenly, I got jittery and began to feel tingling up my arms and neck. Too busy shoving my hands threw my shirt to extract imaginary bugs, I hadn't noticed the figure that had moved next to me until my stool turned the slightest bit.

"Hey there." The tall blond man said. With tan skin, messy hair, muscular arms, and a dazzling smile he was the epitome of a lifeguard off duty.

"Can I buy you a drink?" He asked.

"Actually, I really have to tinkle." I laughed, not really registering or caring how retarded, naive, or childish it sounded. "So that's probably not the best idea for me right now."

He gave off a little laugh and a straight smile, taking my hand and pulling me off of the stool. "I'll show you where the restroom is."

Without thinking twice, I followed him and peed so long I was surprised it was still night when I finished. I washed my hands and fixed my shirt and hair in the mirror, realizing they were almost the same shade of white.

Not long after, I found myself dancing with the blond man and a few other unknown faces. Though I stumbled a bit, to which I blame the shoes, whenever I looked up there was a face smiling down at me.

A hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me away and towards the bar again. "How about that drink?" The blond man asked.

"Sure! Oh, but nothing alcoholic please." I laughed. "I'm not the strongest drinker."

He smiled down at me again, this time a bit more devilishly. Instead of taking this as a warning, I thought about how smiles like that always make someone look hotter, no matter who or what the gender. Evil looked good on everyone.

The drink was an odd shade of almost red, the smell getting to me for a moment. It wasn't alcoholic, but whatever it was made me go lightheaded.

"Are you okay?" The blond man asked.

"Yeah." I nodded after I regained myself. "Sorry, I'm anemic, I get lightheaded easily. Plus I haven't eaten much today."

"Ah. Drink up, you'll feel better."

We talked as we drank, him smiling at me a straight white grin the whole time. Though he had lied and the drink did nothing to make me feel better as far as my lightheadedness went, I was feeling as if a sudden burden had been lifter off my shoulders. One I've never realized was there before.

"So," He leaned closer to me, the dazzling smile not having lost any effect. "How abo-"

Before he had a chance to say anything more, Salem had turned my stool out to face him. A wave of natural relief flooded over me at the sight of him and his matching black T-shirt and hair.

"Nichan!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands around his waist. "Where have you been? You could have at least called, ya know?"

"Yeah yeah." Say wrapped his arm around my shoulders but didn't smile, only looked at the blond man I'd been talking to. Without another word, the man put up his hands and walked away.

"Come on, Silver." Say said when I looked up at him questionably. "Dance with me?"

"My pleasure." I giggled. Back on the floor, more unrecognizable faces moved close to me but none made any contact like the last time. None except for Say that was.

A hour or so later, I had my legs wrapped around Say as he gave me a piggyback ride to the car. A little after that our entourage was sitting in IHOP, looking happily tired and smelling slightly of beer and a whore house.

Since we were out of that place, I felt it acceptable to start texting David again. Though Salem gave me that look every time I got my phone out, I ignored him and went right ahead. I think he knew who I was texting and, for some reason, he didn't really like David all that much. Even though he'd only met the guy once.

The buttons seemed harder to press for some reason as if someone had ripped them out and put them back in the wrong places. The L where the J should have gone and the F button popping up as P for some reason. It would have taken me a hour to send a message if I hadn't felt the sudden urge to vomit.

"He's gonna blow." Ani announced.

"Your mom's gonna blow!" Shouted Layla.

Without hesitation, Ash grabbed my arm and pulled me out of my chair, dragging me across the restaurant, to the restaurant, and through the correctly labeled door. I felt like one of the many pictures I'd criticized and complained about online with Say, complaining about how stupid people who get dunk are and how they deserved to spew out their guts in a public toilet. After actually being put in the situation, my opinion still didn't change.

Too lightheaded to stand up without wavering, Ash let go of my hair and wrapped a arm around my waist, pulling me out of the stall and hoisting me onto the counter. I met his eyes with the intention to smile, but the mixture of unpleasant emotions on his face discouraged me.

"What's wrong?" I crocked out through a raw throat.

Ash gave me a indescribable look before he tilted my chin up to him and started wiping my face with a wet paper towel. "How much did you drink?"

I shrugged the slightest, the movement not ending up being much despite my tremendous effort. "Whatever people gave me."

Ash looked at me in disbelief then sighed right as my phone vibrated in my pocket. "Do not even think about it." He ordered, catching my hand before it reached it's destination.

"What's wrong?" I asked him again.

"Silvester, you've been texting him since he left your house. I think you can wait until morning to text him back." After a moment he let go of my wrist and added. "Do you really like that kid that much?"

"What? No, I haven't known him a week. I'm not even sure I like him." I answered quick, not wanting to keep that expression on his face. It made my chest contract in the most painful way, especially mixed with the hard time I was already having breathing.

"Silvester I don't care if you don't tell me everything. Just don't lie to me."

"But I wasn't lying." At that moment, the door opened and a elderly man walked in. Ash smiled politely at him when he glanced our way, scooting me off the counter and supporting my weight when my legs started to wobble. He didn't say anything else as we walked to the table, wouldn't even meet my eyes the rest of the night.

I itched to say something to him, but every time I opened my mouth Salem would shove food in it. Every time I moved my hands to gain his attention, Salem shot me a look with the assumption that I was reaching for my phone he had placed in the middle of the table.

"I'm going to get your pills out of the car." Salem told me as he pushed himself up. "You haven't taken them in forever, that's probably not a good idea."

"I'll come with you." I shot up so fast I smacked my leg against the table, vibrating the whole thing. It's not that I was really eager to take my pills, I'd somehow gotten out of it for quite awhile and wasn't complaining, but I couldn't stand sitting at the table for much longer with Ash ignoring me and that expression hiding under his skin.

We barely got out of the restaurant when Say turned to me and asked. "What's wrong?"

I shrugged, not bothering to try to lie to him. It had been a long night, I didn't need to waist my energy on anything right now, I was already a bit lightheaded and unstable on my feet. Trying to be independent could hold off for awhile. "I think I did something to Ash, but I don't know what. He seems mad at me and I don't know why."

Abruptly, he stopped walking and just stared down at me, as if I'd just some something so completely and utterly stupid that words could not even describe.

"What?" I asked, freezing in stance and body temperature.

"Silvester, you just spent hours dancing with random guys at a club while Ash looked for you. Then once you leave, you text David instead of talking to him. When he took you to the bathroom, I bet you were still texting David and didn't think twice about the guy who was standing there watching you vomit. Not to mention the fact that you let yourself get drunk. He lives with two alcoholics and a sister on her way to being once, I doubt he enjoyed seeing you like that." He sighed, shook his head, and started walking again. "Not that any of us did."

At baby snail speed, I crept along behind him in silence, not even complaining about taking my pills and taking them dry. He was right, I hadn't thought of any of that. I hadn't thought of anything outside of the fact that someone besides my brother, my mom, a obligated Ash, and a brain damaged Alan had called me cute and seemed like they meant it.. But was it so bad that I enjoyed getting a nice feeling from someone besides my brother for once, even if it meant giving others a bad one. If it put a look like that on Ash's face, yes. It was.

Point: Just because someone was nice to me didn't mean that I could be such a jerk to everyone else.

The rest of dinner was strangely quite to me. Despite the others chattering around me, Ash's muteness and Say's previous words had beaten the sound and color out of everything. It all just seamed like a pencil drawn picture, before the artist got around to coloring it. It probably didn't help that Say's words carried a bit of a bitter tone that was rare when he talked to me. As if something vile had been injected into his blood earlier that day and the last remnants of it was just seeping out. I didn't like it, but I didn't dare say anything.

Once we got to the hotel, I stole away to the bathroom and took a unnecessary amount of time in the shower, only managing to make myself lightheaded again with the steam from the shower. When I gathered the courage to get out and face Ash, who I shared a bed with the whole trip, I was paralyzed to find him and Salem zipping up a suitcase.

"Hey." Say half-assed a smile.

"Hey nichan." I said in the quietest, most innocent voice I could manage, as to not set off anything that boiled beneath his surface. "Why are you packing Ash's stuff?"

"We're trading rooms for the night." Ash let me know, emotionless and adverting all eye contact. "Hope you don't mind."

"No, I just-" He was out of the room before I could finish the sentence, either ignoring me or not having heard me. I prayed it was the latter, though I doubted it the way Conner and and the other boy we shared a room with looked up from their game of hearts.

"I'm just going to go to bed." I mumbled as I crawled under the blankets, covered my head, and curled into a ball around my pillow. After I heard the bathroom door close, I reached out a hand and grabbed my phone, hearing the unmistakable chuckle that somehow held as much a accent as his voice.

"He is at it again." Conner said in a low voice.

Sliding open my phone, I didn't bother to retort and tried not to think on it for too long. Though it had been a long day, I could tell that just like every other night I wouldn't be able to go to sleep for awhile. It wasn't worth it to try. So, yeah, I was going to completely disregard everything that Say had said and text David. Why? Because I was tired and felt lonely and I just wanted a distraction. Besides, I didn't want to go to the club anyway, I wanted to stay here and play checkers or something. I wouldn't be feeling like this if we'd just stayed. But maybe that was just an excuse.

To my dismay, David went to sleep not long after and I was left to freeze under the blankets. Soon Say came back and not long after the others two boys decided to go to sleep too, so there would be no talking of any kind. Not that there was anything to talk about, the reason for Salem being here had nothing to do with me and I didn't feel like I had the right to ask.

I scooted back until my back was connected with his, goosebumps popping up from the warmth and fear that he might push me away or tell me to move. Luckily, he didn't.