My Living Nightmare

“So this is your room, dear. Your and Sean’s rooms are linked through the bathroom, so when you ever use it be careful to lock both doors. Tory’s room is the one opposite yours, and Jamie’s is opposite Sean’s. Well, I should be leaving you to get unpacking. Just call if you need any help.”

Christine had just walked me through my new room and explained some things to me. Like that bathroom thingy. She left, saying that if I needed her for anything, she’d be in the garden.

The room was amazing. If I had only one word to say to sum it up that word would be ‘wow’.
It was painted cherry red and had a midnight black carpet. On the right, in the middle and against the wall, was the bed, queen sized, with a red and black theme and loads of pillows. The desk was right under the curved window, which opened up to the huge backyard and garden. If my eyes have not deceived me, there was a pool down there.

On the opposite side from the bed was a flat screen TV and DVD-Player.

The massive walk- in closet was on the right corner, and not only did it have shelves for shoes, racks upon racks for dresses, draws for clothes and underwear and enormous floor length mirrors, but also a dressing table, complete with a jewelry box and make-up bag (That I would never ever use). Talk about extravagance.

The bathroom was on the left side of the room. I’m not going to bore you with a long description of what kind of toilet they installed and whatnot so I’m just going to sum it up for you in three words; marble, spacious, and bathroom-like.

I walked over to my bags, which seemed to have materialized out of nowhere, and began unpacking.
Two hours later I finally finished making the room my own. All that was left to do was plug in my computer and stereo.

Tossing my last bag at the back of the closet I surveyed my work. The room looked more like my old room back home, except much, much neater. For now, anyway.

An hour and a half later, I was sitting on the floor in the shower, under a torrent of scalding water. Back against the slightly icy wall, arms wrapped around my legs with my head resting on my knees, I thought about all the crappy things that happened since I was called to my father’s office yesterday. This was the first time, since my little bubble of ignorance had been burst, that I had really sat down and absorbed it all. It all seemed so unreal, surreal even. I mean, two days ago I was, well, single. And then, in the time frame of 24-hours, I had gone from single straight into engaged, without my even having a say in all this.

For the first time in a very long time I let my guard down and allowed the tears I had been keeping back to finally spill. I didn’t know where the tears began and the shower water ended.

After a few minutes I got up, turned off the faucet and wrapped myself up in the towel that I had thrown over the shower door.

“Hello, beautiful.”

I froze, shocked. I had been careful to lock both doors as Christine had told me to. And another thing, that wasn’t Sean who spoke.

Slowly, I pulled open the shower door with one hand, the other holding the towel around me.
The face in front of me was totally hot- though it had nothing on Sean.

See, you do like him.

I do not; I’m just stating a fact.

Excuses, excuses…

Oh, shut it, this isn’t the time for this.

Fine.

He reminded me vaguely of Drew Seeley, brown hair and eyes-

Oh, so it’s not the time to talk about Sean, but it is the time to talk about some random hot guy who might kill you.

Stop being so melodramatic!

“What the hell are you doing in here?” I yelled.

The fact that I was being rude couldn’t be helped. I mean, being cornered in a bathroom wasn’t exactly the best situation to be in, especially when the only thing separating you from complete nakedness was a towel.

“Oh, feisty, I like.”

Cocky idiot; he reminded me of those jocks at school.

Wait, what’s he doing?

“Get away from me.”

He stepped into the shower, backing me up against the wall.

Well, aren’t I in a bit of a predicament?

Since my hands were occupied, I did the only thing I could. I screamed. I screamed long and hard. I’m not proud of it, and if you recount this tale to anyone, I swear I will hunt you down.

And that’s when Sean burst through the door.

“What’s going on? Why was I hearing screaming? Alex- what the hell are you doing in here, Taylor?”
“Erm… well, you see-”

“Taylor here tried to kiss me,” I said, annoyed.

“He tried what? And you didn’t even try to stop him?”

Oh, excuse me. Does screaming ‘Get away from me’ not come under the heading of trying to stop him?

I sent him darts with my eyes, aiming straight for his heart.

“I was only joking,” Taylor held up his hands timidly. “You know I wasn’t really going to do it.”

“Yeah, well, one day your messing with girls is going to get you killed,” Sean said, his voice somewhat threatening.

“Excuse me,” I said icily. Taylor moved out of the way. I stepped out of the shower, holding the towel around me tightly. I walked past Sean, out of the bathroom and into my room. I slammed the door behind me leaned against it. I could hear Sean yelling in the bathroom.

“You tried to kiss my fiancé! Are you nuts or something?”

So he told his friends.

“Sean, you know me! I wasn’t really going to kiss her; it’s just my way of saying ‘hi, nice to meet you’.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” I mumbled to myself.

I straightened up, and walked over to the closet. I chose a black skinny jeans, a pair of ankle converse, red top and a white jacket that stopped at my midriff. I went to the drawers and took out the usual women necessities; a bra and a pair of panties. And other monthly necessities.
I dried myself off and slid into my clothes. Then I sat in front of the dressing table and plugged the hairdryer into the power socket.

Sean must be bipolar, I thought as I blew my hair. Seriously, it’s not like I invited the guy in. Come to think of it, how did he get in? The door was locked, there was no one in the bathroom when I went in, and I’m sure as hell don’t think he could have appeared out of thin air.

So where did he come from? It left me baffled and how he-

“Well, sometimes I go out by myself and I look across the water, and I think of all the things that you’re doing and in my head I paint a picture, since-”

“Hello?” I answered my phone that was lying on the table in front of me.

“Hi, Alex, this is Sapphire speaking, your supposed best friend. I’m calling after just visiting your house, or should I say old house? I’ve just had a chat with Cam, and she’s told me some very interesting things. Care to explain?”

I was toast.

“Saph, I know you’re mad, but-”

“Mad? Mad doesn’t cut it. Try enraged. Furious, livid even. You seriously have to get over this trust thing. I’m your best friend and look how I have to find out. It’s-”

“It’s what, Sapphire? What? I’m the one who has to get married. Yes, I know I should’ve called you but I needed time! Wouldn’t you if you found out you were engaged?”

She was silent on the other side of the line.

I shouldn’t have gone off on her like that; she was right after all, I should have at least called her.

“I’m-” Sapphire began before I interjected.

“- sorry. Best buds?”

“Of course… are you by the airport or something?” she asked, completely random and out of the blue.

“What? No. Why?”

“It just sounds like it.”

And that’s when I realized that the whole time that I’ve been on the phone I had still been drying my hair unconsciously.

“You’d never guess what I’ve been doing the whole time!”

“What? Burning the house- mom I’m on the phone! What do you mean; I can call her back later? How do you even know its Alex? But mom-! Alex, I’ll call you back later.”

Laughing, I ended the call and fluffed up my now dry hair. Sapphire’s calls were always interrupted and her house was always full. Once, I had dinner there, and it was like there was an army over. I felt so out of place, but at the same time content. The only time my house was bustling with life was when dad was entertaining clients.

I got up, straightened everything on the dressing table, and picked up the towel lying on the floor. And just like that my happy mood diminished. I remembered why I was so irritated, and I had an idea for revenge.

Not even bothering to go knock on his door, I walked straight into Sean’s room through the bathroom.
His room looked almost exactly like mine, though the color scheme was different. His room was dark blue and gray. Sitting in front of the TV were four guys playing video games. Sean was resting on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. And the man of the hour, Taylor, was standing in front of a black beanie chair, doing nothing. That’s right, nothing.

No one had noticed me, so I took hold of the bathroom door handle and slammed it shut. It closed with a bang.

Finally, I had their attention.

I made my way over to Taylor, feeling rather than seeing five pairs of eyes trained on me.
Stopping just an inch away from of him, I leant forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. His Adam’s apple bulged and his eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head. Leaning in closer, I made as if I were about to kiss him, and, like the predictable teenage male he was, he fell for it and closed his eyes. That was all I needed. Tightening my grip around his neck I pulled him close and kneed him where the sun don’t shine. I hooked my foot around his ankles and swept him off his feet. He landed on the floor with a thud and groaned in pain.

“If you ever try to kiss me again, even if it is your signature hello, I will cut you head off with a butter knife. Understand?”

He nodded feebly.

The room was silent. Then, without warning, the four guys in front of the TV started laughing.
“You sure showed him,” one that looked loosely like Taylor said. “I’m Skylar, and that’s my little brother you beat up.”

“Alex,” I said, nodding.

“I’m Jake,” a guy with red hair said. He looked like the bad boy of the group, dressed in a band T and black jeans.

“Zach,” the blonde, blue-eyed, surfer-looking guy said.

“Seth,” said a guy with wavy brown hair. He looked tall. And that was saying something since he was sitting on the floor.

I nodded to each of them respectively, and then turned to face Taylor, who was getting to his feet, embarrassed, but not angry.

“How did you get into the bathroom?”

“Sean gave us all spare keys to every room on this floor, except Tory’s and Jaime's. I suppose you want it now?” he asked.

Is it just me, or did he look a little sad at the mention of not having a key for Tory’s room?

“You supposed right. Collect them for me, please,” I told him.

Obediently he went around and started collecting keys, all of which I slipped onto my keychain and put it in my back pocket once they were all together.

No, it’s not strange to walk around with a keychain; you never know when moments such as this might arise.

Paranoid.

“Thanks.”

“So, can we start all over again?” Taylor asked hopefully.

I thought about it for a second. Taylor didn’t seem all that bad. He was perverted, yes, and cocky, but other than that he was okay.

Oh, come on! You had what; two seconds of conversation with a guy that just tried to kiss you in your own bathroom and you’re already deciding that his decent?

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

I nodded and shook his outstretched hand.

“So what are you guys playing?” I asked the boys in front of the TV.

“Burnout,” Seth answered.

“Ooh, can I play?” I loved Burnout. It was the only game I could play; apparently I was good at crashing cars.

“Sure, you can take Zach’s place, he’s useless.”

“Hey!” Zach hit Seth on the head.

“Ouch! Denial isn't just a river in Egypt…”

“I totally kicked your butt!”

I was jumping up and down on the bed, doing my happy dance. I had just beaten the guys for the fifth time in a row.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” Seth said.

“Yeah, we went easy on you,” Skylar said, lying through his teeth.

“Cause you’re a girl,” Jake whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Idiot.

“Sexist pigs,” I yelled.

“We are not!” they shouted in unison, which was way beyond creepy.

“Actually, Jake is,” Skylar said, jumping on his back. And falling flat on his face, having missed Jake’s back by a mile.

It was weird, I rarely felt so comfortable in other’s company, but with these guys… it felt like I’ve known them my whole life when in fact it was only a few hours.

The only problem with the picture was the fact that Sean hadn’t spoken to me once. Oh, he had spoken to Skylar and Jake, Seth and Zach, even Taylor, but not me. Once again Sean was blaming me for something that clearly wasn’t my fault. Jerk.

Suddenly my head started pounding with a vengeance and I felt feverish. I felt dizzy and nauseous, and my stomach started cramping like hell. I collapsed with a moan.

“Alexandria, what’s wrong?” Sean rushed over to my side, along with everyone else.

Oh, so now he speaks to me.