Vengeance Is a Syn

I glanced at the bedside table’s watch and saw it was only 8:30 am. Since it was a Saturday morning, I was feeling lazy as ever so I just lied on my bed for a few more minutes before heading to the bathroom to take a shower. I dressed up and pulled my hair on a messy ponytail. I went downstairs to have something to eat but changed my mind. I opened the front door and left the house.

I decided to go for a walk on the beach to clear my head. I shoved my hands on my hoodie’s pockets because of the sea breeze and kept walking. Minutes passed and my stomach started to grumble. I faced the sea and closed my eyes, inhaling the beach’s scent until I felt two hands covering my eyes.

I gasped and jumped surprised. I turned around to meet a pair of hypnotizing brown chocolate eyes and a wonderful smile. It was Brian, who was only wearing his black trunks, exposing his toned arms and chest – which, let me tell you, were amazing.

“What are you doing here?”, I asked surprised.

“I was surfing but then I saw you and decided to come here.”, he said.

“Aren’t you cold?”, I asked. I had my hoodie and I was freezing.

“A little. I have my clothes over there.”, he said wrapping his arms around himself after pointing to a backpack and a towel that were laying on the sand. “So… What are you doing here?”

“I just felt like taking a walk in here.”, I answered and he nodded.

“Have you had breakfast already?”, he asked.

I shook my head and he grabbed my hand, making me walk with him to his things.

“Then breakfast is what we will have.”, he said as he put on his hoodie.

You didn’t need to dress the damn hoodie, I was enjoying the view!

What the fuck, Hailey? What the hell are you thinking?

I blushed at my own thoughts and looked down so Brian wouldn’t notice.

“You don’t want to come with me?”, he asked.

“What?”, I asked confused.

“Have breakfast… You didn’t say a thing, so I th-…”

“Of course I’ll go with you!”, I chuckled to hide the embarrassment. “I’m starving!”, I added looking down at my empty stomach.

Brian laughed and put on his sneakers.

He grabbed his backpack and smiled at me. “Let’s go?”

I nodded and we started walking on the beach strip.

“Where do you wanna go?”, Brian asked.

“You can choose. As long as it has food I’m okay with it!”, I said making him chuckle.

“What about this café? It looks good.”, he said pointing to a cozy café.

“Let’s go.”, I smiled.

We walked in and chose a table. We asked for our food and moments later I was finally eating something.

“This is good!”, I muttered as I took another piece of the chocolate cake I ordered to my mouth.

Brian laughed and I realized he heard me. I blushed and tried to hide my shame looking down.

“Why are you ashamed?”, he smirked.

Not the smirk again. Not the smirk!

“I’m not ashamed!”, I replied.

“You’re such a bad liar!”, he chuckled.

“I’m not!”

“You are!”, he said as the smirk grew even wider.

I crossed my arms against my chest and tried to look mad. Brian pouted and looked at me with puppy eyes. If anyone was able to resist those eyes they had no soul!

“Don’t look at me like that!”, I said trying to look mad.

He approached me and pulled his bottom lip out; making him look even more adorable, if that was possible.

“Are you mad at me?”, he asked.

“Hum-hum.”, I nodded my head trying to convince him.

“Okay…”, he said getting back to his chair still pouting.

“You’re gonna stay like that until we leave?”, I asked to which he nodded.

I laughed softly and finished eating. We both paid what we ordered and when we left he was still pouting.

“Aw, come here!”, I laughed as I opened my arms for a hug.

A smile appeared on his face and he put his hands around my waist. I wrapped my arms around his middle and rested my head on his chest.

“You’ve been such a great friend.”, I said as I breathed in his scent that was becoming easier to distinguish each time. I liked it; it was a mix of old spice with a faint touch of cigarettes.

“You deserve it. I know it wasn’t easy for you…”, he said looking down at me but keeping his hold on my waist.

I stood on my tip toes and kissed his cheek.

“I don’t know how you can be so calm about this…”, he said. I looked at him confused and he explained. “You told him you were okay if he started hanging out with a girl that hates you without a reason and you handled the break up so well… I’d be pissed at him!”

“Well… I was wrong. I told you that before.”, I explained.

He let out a sigh and placed a kiss on my forehead.

“Wanna go home?”, he asked.

I nodded and we pulled away from the hug. We walked to my house and I invited him in.

“Come on, let’s go to my room.”, I said as I saw Matt was still sleeping. “We can watch a bit of TV.”

“Okay.”, Brian said and climbed the stairs to my bedroom.

He sat on the small couch I had and I handed him the remote control.

“Do you mind if I put these bags on my closet?”, I asked pointing at the mess that was next to my closet. I had been cleaning things up this week and giving away what I didn’t need, but I still had to put things back on their places.

“No problem.”, Brian said while he searched for a channel that caught his attention.

I started putting each bag into its place, but one of them slipped my hands and fell to the floor revealing what was inside of it.

I kneeled down quickly to pick the things that were now spread all around the bag, because, to be honest, I didn’t want Brian to see them. There they were: my ballet shoes, my black maillot, the stockings, photos from the performances we did when I was little… Memories I didn’t really want to remember.

“Are those your ballet stuff?”, Brian asked amused.

“Huh… Yeah…”, I answered blushing.

“Don’t you miss dancing?”, he suddenly asked.

I looked at the stuff and thought for a while. I danced until I was 15. I definitely loved it when I first joined the dancing school, but I lost that passion as years passed by. It became exhausting. I missed almost every class and I was even ashamed when people asked me to watch the performances or wanted to assist one of the classes. I indeed missed doing some sport, and that kind of dance was something that required a lot of passion, dedication and work, unlike what other people thought – that was one of the main reasons why I supported so much my brother’s band. I knew what he felt about.

“I don’t know… Maybe a bit.”, I simply answered.

“I never saw you dancing…”, Brian said looking at me. “You never let any of us go to your performances. Only Matt.”

“And you’re not going to see it…”, I said as I put the bag on its right place.

Brian pouted and I laughed.

“It’s not fair you always pout whenever I don’t do what you want!”, I chuckled closing my closet’s doors.

“I’m not pouting!”, Brian replied narrowing his eyebrows.

“Of course!”, I said trying not to laugh.

I walked to the couch, sitting on the border that was far away from Brian.

“Why are you sitting so far away?”, Brian asked.

“Because I don’t like to sit next to someone who pouts so I do what he wants!”, I answered shrugging.

“I’m not like that!”, he kinda asked-said.

I laughed and nodded. “Oh yeah, you are!”

He smirked and the second after he was next to me with a devilish grin. He started tickling me again and I was laughing my ass out I nearly fell off the couch again!

“Oh my god, Brian! Stop it!”, I cried as I tried to grab his hands.

“I’m becoming an expert in making you laugh!”, he said with a smirk.

“No, you’re not! It’s not fair you use my weakness!”, I pouted.

He laughed and sat back on the couch smiling. I did the same but was still aware in case he tried to attack me again.

“Relax, I’m not going to do anything!”, he chuckled.

“You never know… How can I trust you?”, I asked.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pushed me next to him. He kissed my temple and smiled. “Just trust me.”

I chuckled and nodded.

We watched TV for some time before a crash came from Matt’s room.

I stood up with fear running through my veins and ran over there. Brian followed me.

I opened the door and both of us looked inside of the room, trying to see what had happened… But it seemed like nothing had occurred on that bedroom.

We entered the bedroom to see Matt lying on his bed with his head buried on a pillow.

“What happened, Mattie?”, I asked sitting next to him.

“We heard a crash coming from here.”, Brian added sitting next to me.

“You’re here?”, Matt asked lifting his head to look at Brian.

“Hum-hum.”, Brian nodded.

I looked at the wall and saw some sort of hole caused by a punch. My gaze travelled down to Matt’s knuckles and I wasn’t surprised to see them sore and red.

“Matt… What the fuck happened for you to start punching the fucking wall?”, I asked. I was beyond pissed! He only acted like this when something really bad happened.

“Val broke up with me.”, he said burying his head again on the pillow.

“Why?”, Brian asked. He was as shocked as I was!

“I don’t know dude. She said I was acting like an asshole!”, Matt’s muffled voice came from the pillow.

“Then what is your ass doing in this house?”, I asked. “Go talk with her!”

“I did that already! She won’t listen to me!”, Matt answered.

“Try again. You guys are meant to be together…”, Brian said. I was surprised to see how much Brian could help someone.

We spent almost an hour trying to convince Matt to get his ass out of the house and talk to his girlfriend.

The rest of the day seemed to take ages to end since Brian went to his house. I liked spending my time with him; I had so much fun when he was close!

The next day I decided to visit my dance school. I thought about what Brian had said the previous day and I felt willingness to revive the old times.

I went to the room where I used to have classes and did some warming up exercises. Minutes later I was already dancing. I only stopped when I felt someone staring at me through the door.

I turned off the music and went over there to see who was trying to spy me.

“What are you doing here!?”, I asked surprised.

Brian rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and stared at the ground trying to find out what to say.

“I… I knew you’d come in here!”, he answered.

“How?”, I cocked my eyebrow.

“Because you always visit some place you miss whenever someone reminds you of it.”, he smirked.

“Is that true?”, I asked in disbelief.

“Yup. You always do that.”, he said matter-of-factly.

I stared at him in shock because I never really noticed that – but he was right. And then reality hit me.

“How long have you been here?”, I asked sheepishly.

“I don’t know. When I arrived you were already deep in that dance and I couldn’t enter the room because that would make you stop… You were moving so gracefully I just had to stop and watch it. You’re amazing, Hailey!”, he said making my cheeks turn as red as a tomato. “You’re fucking perfect, why did you never let us see you!?”

“I… I don’t know…”, I answered. “You could have told me you were here!”

“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise!”, he smirked raising one of his eyebrows.

I crossed my arms against my chest and stared at him with a smile on my lips. “This was a surprise?”

“Well, of course!”, he smiled back.

“You are an asshole! But you’re also adorable which makes me confused!”, I chuckled making him laugh.

“So… You’re not gonna keep dancing?”, he asked.

“Of course not! You’re here!”, I said.

“But you wer-…”

“No!”, I cut him. “No more dancing until the next 60 years of my life!”

“I’ll take that as a promise!”, he smirked.

“Fine!”, I said shaking my head. “Now go away!”

He approached me and grabbed my legs, placing my belly on his shoulder. I grabbed his shirt tightly so I wouldn’t fall and started kicking in the air begging him to let me go.

“I’ll never go away!”, he said laughing like a psycho. Honestly, my friends really liked to behave like some sort of serial killers at times!

“Bri, I beg you! Please put me on the ground!”, I cried.

“Hum… Okay…”, he said as he removed me from his shoulder but kept an hold around my waist. “With one condition.”

I looked up at him. “What is it?”

“You have to give me a kiss.”, he said. “On the cheek of course!”

“You’re a jerk!”, I pouted.

“Wanna go back to my shoulder?”

I shook my head violently and he pointed his cheek at me. “Then kiss it.”

I approached my head to his cheek and a smirk found its way to my lips. I licked his face instead of kissing it and laughed my ass out of his reaction.

“What the fuck, Hailey!?”, he said cleaning his cheek with the back of his hand.

I laughed even more and started running away from him. He started running after me and, since he was unfortunately faster than I was, he ended up wrapping his arms around my own arms and lifting me up from the ground in a gentle way.

“You’re a very mean girl, you know?”, he chuckled next to my ear.

“Hum-hum!”, I answered nodding my head.

He leaned his head down and kissed my cheek softly, sending shivers all over my body.
Suddenly, somebody cleared her throat and I got out of Brian’s embrace blushing. I looked at the door and saw Maria, my teacher, smiling at us.

“Hailey, mi mejor alumna!”, Maria said walking towards me and opening her arms for a hug. “Vas volver a las clases?” (Hailey, my best student! Are you going to get back to classes?)

I chuckled, shaking my head and returning to Brian’s side. “No, sólo estaba recordando los tiempos en que bailaba!”, I answered laughing. (No, I was just remembering the times when I danced)

“Y este es su novio?”, Maria asked smiling and making me blush with embarrassment. (And is this your boyfriend?)

“No, no! Es sólo mi mijor amigo!”, I answered blushing even more. (No, no! He’s just my best friend!)

I glanced at Brian who had the most adorable face on Earth, because he didn’t understand a single word we were saying. I laughed and Maria understood he was feeling a little awkward in there.

“I’m Maria. I used to teach Hailey.”, she introduced herself smiling at Brian.

“I’m Brian. You taught her well, she’s fucking amazing!”, Brian answered smiling at me.

My cheeks turned red again and I smiled sheepishly. What the fuck is wrong with you, Hailey?

“She was the best in her class…”, Maria said with a sad smile. “Well, I’m gonna leave you two alone and get back to my other girls! I hope to see you soon!”

She approached us to give us a hug and then left the room.

“You speak Spanish?”, Brian asked surprised.

“Un poquito, sí!”, I chuckled.

“I didn’t know that!”, he stated.

“You don’t have to know everything…”, I poked my tongue at him.

“Oh, ok… I just thought I was your best friend and all of that… But never mind…”, he added trying to make me feel bad for what I had said previously.

“You idiot!”, I laughed as I walked out of the room.

Brian followed me and I entered the changing room.

“You’re not gonna come into here!”, I said.

“Why not? I wouldn’t mind watching you dress up!”, he smirked.

I looked at him in shock and punched his arm before closing the door.

“You’re an asshole!”, I yelled making him laugh.

“I’ll be waiting for you outside.”

I took a quick shower, put on my clothes and hurried outside.

Brian was leaning on his car’s hood and smoking a cigarette.

“Did I take too long?”, I asked.

“Nope.”, he said as he threw his cigar to the ground.

“So… Where are we going?”, I asked curiously.

“It’s a surprise.”, he smirked. “Let’s get on the car.”