True Intention

Ch 7- Meeting the girls, the nice ones...

Naomi POV

Once Soren finally convinced me to leave with him, I was surprised that he seemed to be in a hurry, After all that, you'd think he'd want to take his time, because for sure I was retreating to my room the moment we got home. Weird that it was already our home? Thinking there was any sort of we? I'm thinking kinda. He still held my bag though, so I guess he knew he had me as captive as everything in it. I heard voices when we entered... female voices in addition to Enzo and Archer. Ugh.

I'm sure the girls they bother with are alright, but I was a mess. Nobody wanted to be friends with trouble.

The lounge area, living room, whatever you want to call it, was cozy. The place came furnished other than your bedding and personal items, of course. Whoever had decorated had gone with a mission-rustic look. Lots of dark leather with a nice patina, and warm dark oak finishes all over the place, even our rooms. The lamps were metal and stained-glass that was angular and antique-y. The area rugs, throw pillows, and blankets were all Pendleton-style wool in a green heather with bright red, yellow, teal, and cream accent stripes. It was actually a style that balanced well and anyone could live in, male or female. It was a good choice.

It was certainly comfortable, and all the students that stayed in the house knew that any damages were on them, so usually most of the similar dorm houses were quite well-kept. To be fair, those of us that did well enough to qualify for the dorm houses were not the type to party and waste our time, either.

Archer sat in a side chair, elbows on his knees as he leaned forward, just listening as Enzo chatted in his usual lively way. He was sandwiched between two pretty girls wearing... fairygrunge? Somewhere between hippie and Y2K with lots of browns and greens. Something like that. They looked cool, though. The one with red hair and green eyes had long braids to her waist, while the blonde with blue eyes had naturally curly shoulder-length hair. They paused and grinned as I followed Soren, intent on snatching my bag back.

He was so damn tall that he just held it over my head and grinned when I tried to grab it. Argh!

"REN!!" They both shouted as they jumped up and hugged Soren. Well, good thing I wasn't taking his flirting seriously. Archer glanced at me and smirked, as if he could read my insta-jealous vibes. I agree with you buddy, I'm ridiculous for f*****g caring. Sue me. I stuck my tongue out at him, and his mouth dropped open. Oops, guess he saw my tongue ring. Soren was still trying to get away from the girls' excited chatter. Thank God they wanted to keep their arms because the hugs were completely platonic and sisterly.

It was clear they all knew each other well, and got along. All five of them.

Ren was making me nervous as he eyed me over the girls' heads.

"Nao, come here." Soren gestured for me to come closer. I did, giving Archer the stink eye to ensure his silence. He just grinned. Good thing he was a quiet dude. Who was he gonna tell? Oh right, Enzo. s**t. I shrugged it off. Unless they found out about all my other ones, I should be okay. As long as they didn't comment on what I could do with it, we were golden. Wait, what was with calling me Nao? Ugh how was he so irresistible all the damn time? Soren pulled me under his arm, and as much as I want to say it annoyed me, it made me feel happy and at peace wallowing in his scent. A pair of mischievous green eyes and merry blue ones peered at me. "This is Heidi and Stephanie. I know their names make them sound like cheerleaders, but trust me, they are anything but. Heidi is my friend Rylan's little sister, and Steph is her best friend. We kinda became friends by proxy, being the same age as us."

Archer had ordered pizza, and it arrived just minutes after we arrived, and the girls, clearly used to hanging with the guys, helped themselves and chattered about life in the sciences department. According to them, their clothing and makeup was as artistic as they got. Steph joked that even their stick figures needed help, which made Enzo giggle. He was such an oddball.

An hour later, I found myself reluctantly liking the girls a lot as Soren kept my bag hostage. They were cool chicks that hated bullying, lying, and bullshit. Okay, they were exactly the kind of people I'd want to spend my free time with. Soren grinned at me, as if he knew I liked them even though I didn't want to. I inched closer to my bag, hoping to sneak it away and make my escape. Soren was zeroed in on my every move, unfortunately. He just shook his head and laughed silently. My shoulders sagged.

"I've got a great idea, Nao. Why don't you show the girls your room, hmm? Maybe show them some of your portfolio?" Heidi and Steph immediately got excited and dragged me towards the stairs. With one last, longing look at my bag still firmly in Soren's possession, I meekly followed them.

Stubborn, sexy incubus of a man. I swear he was stealing my soul through sensual dreams already.

"Um, I guess you can look around and ask me questions, or whatever. The last female friend I had was when I was eleven." No idea

why I told them the truth, it just slipped out. They both stared at me as tears filled their eyes. That was a pretty unusual reaction, right? I mean, sure we'd been having fun, but we were basically still strangers, no?

"You haven't had a female friend for like, ten years?" Heidi, the redhead, wailed as Steph, the blonde, just patted my shoulder. I was truly mystified by the amount that these girls seemed to care. I'd never seen anything like it before. Not in my family, not from counselors, or any of my peers.

"Well, no, but, it's okay. I'm okay." I tried to reassure them, I mean, I think I'm okay? Did I really miss having friends that much? It was hard to remember. I knew I wanted friends eventually, but it's hard to miss what you don't have, right?

"Honey, I'm not trying to be rude, but you are so not okay." Heidi said sympathetically. "You look just like my brother before he met the boys. Poor Ry, such a sweetheart but just bullied to hell. Hid it because he thought it was troublesome." My shock must have shown on my face because she gave me a knowing look. "Soren is an amazing person, and a better friend. Anyone he says is cool, you can probably trust. Me included." She laughed. "I know you just met us, but Soren is worried that you need a safety net, and he's doing everything he can to build you one. Me and Steph, we're happy to get involved. Don't ever think you're bothering us. If you can, we'd like to hear your story." I sighed heavily. Maybe my therapist was right. Maybe I should try, but I was going to warn them first.

"Before I tell you my story, I just want to warn you. Chances are, getting involved with me is going to drag you through the mud too. Someone is here from my high school that won't hesitate to harass me or anyone I associate with. I didn't know she was coming here, but I'd thought to buy a few outfits just in case I needed to normal out, you know? The problem is, she takes social media bullying to the next level. Just flat-out makes s**t up, on the regular. I could not live with myself if she did anything to people as nice as you two." My eyes were closed, waiting for their response. When I cracked an eye open they were both staring at me with watery eyes, before crushing me in a group hug.

It was almost as nice as a mom hug, I kid you not.

"Honey, you've got Ren on your side. There's nothing a b***h can do on social media he can't turn right back on her. Trust us. We're big girls, though, we can take anything. We promise." As she said it, they both stuck their pinkies out to swear on it. And we did. So, I told them about my move, the bullying, the assault, and Carla. They hugged me a lot and told me it wasn't me with the problem. Honestly, they were the first to say that to me directly. Even my parents and therapist made sure to never take sides. Then they insisted on going through my stuff, finding my stash of goth/Techwear. Steph turned to me, her finger swirling.

"You girl, are the perfect match for Ren, hmm? Don't you think Heidi?" She said excitedly.

"Mmm yes indeedy. Especially since he seems pretty damn interested." Heidi laughed. "Even during the whole Janet fiasco he didn't care like a third as much as he cares about you."

"We've known each other two days." I said skeptically. "And who is Janet?" I was already mad jealous. Sad.

"Yup, exactly." Heidi said. "Love at first sight, I bet you. He's a romantic for all he has a foul mouth. Janet, well, she is his crazy ass ex who was, let's just say, imprudent with her bedroom choices and Soren found out. Obviously, he broke it off. Are you gonna tell them you are only nineteen, though?" I just stared, not sure exactly when I gave that away. She held up my diploma, driver's license, and pointed to the years on them, grinning. "Might wanna hide that a little better. Although, I'm wondering how long Ren can resist running a background check on you."

"A what?" I was stunned.

"Since he mentioned he'd seen some girl harass you, I'd bet he's already started one on her. Carla, or whatever. He never goes in unarmed." Heidi giggled. "You can bet he's trying to wait for you to tell him your story, but it's so hard for him to not look."

"Unarmed?" I questioned.

"Yeah, he'll totally avenge your honor or whatever, whether you ask him to or not." Steph said, rolling her eyes. "Had a drunk guy at a party try to, you know, insist I go upstairs with him. Ren made sure to get me out of there, followed by an all-out electronic assault on his character. I didn't even know his name, yet somehow Ren found him and exposed all of his secrets. Publicly."

"That was pretty impressive." Heidi smirked. "Anyway, Nao. If you can tell us, you can tell Ren and the guys. They are still upset there was a girl they couldn't help in high school. She just refused to do anything. Ended up in some kind of accident and paralyzed. Ren won't let you down honey." She looked at my wall clock and her jaw dropped. "Oh s**t, I have homework. Steph, we gotta book it! I'll send Ren up, okay Nao?" She grinned and they both waved. I tidied up what they had disturbed, stuffing my diploma in the bottom of my suitcase, and my license in the back of my wallet rather than the windowed part of it.

Ren appeared in my door, breathless.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." I said back, but gestured for him to enter. Here goes nothing, I guess. Hopefully, he can see me as more than damaged goods.

I needed that, more than anything else.