Unexpected Connection

CHAPTER 4

    "You don't have to do this!!" I shout over the noise of what is going on, I try to pull him back by his hands. It's not working, he's stronger, way stronger than I am. We are in an underground fight club, I have never been here before, it is so rowdy and loud. The heat is out of this world, it smells of sweat, blood and other bodily fluids. I hold on to Ian, if I let go, I might actually get lost, no joke, that is to show how much crowd is in here. I cannot believe this is where Ian brought me to in the middle of the night.

    "But you said you would bet on me anytime, didn't you?" Ian asks and I nod. "Then go bet on me. I've got this" he says winking at me, he hands me a roll of cash before getting into the ring, it is just a red circle drawn on the floor. I give up trying to changing his mind so instead I go ahead and bet on him. I don't want him to do it but I trust him so I put the whole bundle of cash down. He better wins or I'm going to kill him myself. I stand in the front having a front roll view of the game. Ian's opponent swings a few blows but Ian is able to dodge the blows and then throws a punch at the bad guy which lands, let's call his opponent the bad guy. The bad guy takes a step back but doesn't fall over. The bad guy then throws a punch which lands on Ian's face, I wince as if I am the one who gets hit, that is gonna hurt. The bad guy uses the opportunity he created and throws Ian on the floor and begins punching him. No!

    "Get up" I shout at Ian. Some people are cheering the bad guy. "You've got this, get up" I repeat and after a minute Ian gets up. 

    "You've got this" I tell Ian when he looks at me. He smiles and throws a punch at the bad guy, you can clearly hear a bone c***k in his face, the guy staggers and falls. 

    "Yes!" I cheer with some other people. Ian now uses that opportunity and beats the guy till all I can see is blood where the bad guys face should be.

The game is called, Ian wins.

I begin clapping and cheering when he is announced the winner. I run towards him, hugging him. He winces when I hold him.

    "Sorry".

    "I told you I would win" he says with a smirk obviously very proud of himself.

    "I didn't doubt you" I say truthfully.

    "That's got to be hurting" I say pointing to the new shiner he is sporting. He bring is hand to his face and I notice his hands, it is bruised, cut and b****y. There are cuts on his body too.

    "Let me see your hands" I say grabbing his hands.

    "It's fine" he says.

    "No, it's not. You need to see the doctor, you do not want your injuries to be infected" I say after letting go of his hands. I cannot imagine my hands like that, I would be in so much pain, for sure.

    "No hospitals. They would question where I got the injuries from and how it happened. If they find out it's from underground fight, all hell will break loose, the police would have to get involved, we do not want that, do you understand?" he asks and I nod. I understand but we still have to do something.

    "What about a vet or is there a first aid kit?" I ask and Ian looks at me weird.

    "There's a vet not far from here" he answers.

    "Let's go" I tell him and we leave the warehouse but not before we collect our winnings. 

    "I cannot believe you bet the whole thing, what if I had lost?" Ian asks as we collect our winnings. 

    "I would have killed you but I believed in you" I tell him.

    "Believed?" he asks as we make our way through the crowd. A new fight is starting.

    "Believe" I say and drag him out. We drive to the animal hospital on Ian's bike. He parks at the back of the vet building in an alley.

    "What now, we can't just go in. Maybe we wait for them to close before going in" he says. "Besides I am fine, we do not have to do this" he adds.

    "I have an idea" I tell him. 

I walk to the back door and take the pins from my hair that are always on me in case of an emergency like now. I crouch by the door and I using the pins, I unlock the door, I hear it click. You might call it breaking and entry but let's not. I stand up and turn the handle, the door opens. I look back to Ian and gesture at him to come.

    "You surprise me" he says coming up to me. "Here's another reason I like you" he adds high fiving me. We sneak into the vet, we can hear people talking in the front part of the hospital, probably the doctor and a nurse. It is maybe past two in the morning, the clock on the wall confirms that.

    "I just hope the animals don't sense us" I say as we find the back closet and entered closing the door quietly. The animals didn't make any fuss and that made me happy. I am also happy that this is one of those clinics where they do not lock up their medicals. We take the necessary things from the closet like gauze, bandage, alcohol, methylated cream, and others before quietly leaving. We walkout the door and close it gently behind us. I just hope they do not have any security cameras or better still, do not know that something is missing.

Outside by his bike, I tell Ian to sit on it. I place everything we took on the motorcycle and begin treating him. I gently remove the shirt he had put on, there is a cut on his ribs. I gently put my hand across his ribs.

    "It is not broken" I tell him.

    "I know that" he says looking at me. I put some alcohol on cotton wool and clean the wound, he winces at the suddenness of it.

    "Sorry". I say pausing.

    "It's fine" he says and I continue cleaning it gently. I am applying the methylated cream on it when I see a huge scar run down the side of his ribs. Without thinking, I trace my thumb over it and Ian shivers a little. 

    "What happened" I ask about the scar, it doesn't look like he got it from fighting. He looks away. 

'I guess he doesn't want to talk about it'

I bandage the new wound and wrap the gauze around him. I can feel his eyes back on me watching me. I also clean his knuckles, they are b****y and there are tiny cuts on them, I take his hand in mine and start cleaning them slowly.

    "We can go now" Ian says and moves.

    "Not yet" I say and hit his stomach

    "Ow" he says laughing. I take his jaw in my hand and turn his face to me. We make eye contact and just stare at each other with my hand still on his face. His hazel green eyes, a contrast to my green and blue ones. I lick my drying lips and Ian breaks eye contact looking at my tongue go over my lips. It breaks me out my trance. I take his jaw and begin to clean the cut, we make eye contact again as I gently rub the cream on the cut inadvertently tracing my finger across his jaw line. I place the bandage on it and kiss it. 

'Why did you that, Liliana. What is wrong with you'

Ian laughs at the gesture.

    "Thanks" he says.

    "Anytime" I reply. "Make sure to ice your eyes" I tell him.

It is really late so he drops me at home. He parks at his place and we walk to my house. The night is quiet and peaceful.

    "Thanks for the night" I say as we walk down to my house.

    "No problem, I'm just happy you had fun" he says smiling and I return the smile. "About the scar.... " he starts and I cut him off.

    "No need to explain, you can tell me when you feel up to it and are ready. Just know I am here for you even though we just met" I tell him smiling. I don't want to force anything he's not ready to tell out of him.

    "Thank you" he says so quietly I almost didn't hear it.

    "I hope you really had fun tonight" he says when we reach my balcony.

    "Are you kidding me? I got to see you get beat up" I say laughing. 

    "Hey" he says folding his arms causing me to laugh more. 

    "I really did enjoy my night. Thanks" I tell him and he smiles. I climb the ladder up and look down when I am on my balcony. He is looking up at me. I wave at him and he waves back.

    "Good night" I whisper. He smiles and runs towards his home. I changed back into my pajamas and lay in bed.

    "Lily, is that you?" I hear Asher whisper as his head pops up by my door.

    "Yes" I answer and I hear him sigh deeply walking in.

    "I was getting scared when you wouldn't get back home" he says climbing my bed. "Am I an only child now? Where did she get buried? Would I never see her again? Those are the thoughts that were going through my mind". 

    "You are crazy" I say jabbing him and he laughs.

    "So where did you go?" he asks excitedly.

    "A fight club" I tell him.

    "No way, really?".

    "Yes, the place was dingy though" I tell him.

    "So do you like Ian?" he asks out of nowhere.

    "Where did that come from?" I ask ignoring the question.

    "You had no problem following him out at night, we do not know him that well, he could have been a serial killer for all you know".

    "He wasn't" I say with a smug smile but I know Asher is right. I should have been careful but there is just something about Ian that makes me want to throw caution to the wind. 

    "Thanks for not ratting me out".

    "You didn't rat me out when I went out the other night with my guys" Asher says with a smile. I remember that day and how much I  laughed when I heard him say it's a boy's night. Boy's night, still funny. 

    "Hailey called" he says after a while. Just the mention of that name and I go stiff. I hate that she has this effect on me, I think what I need is to pay back for what she did to me. Maybe that way, I would loose the effect on me. 

    "What did she say?"

    "Something about wanting to talk"

    "Nope, not interested" 

    "Thought so, that is what I told her"

***

It's a new day... A new dawn and I have to be at school

I wake up before my alarm again, I hit the snooze button when it finally rings before getting off my bed. I play music on my Bluetooth speaker and lay my bed.

Today is going to be a productive day for me. I will make sure of it.

I do my morning ritual of going to check the house next door. I know that a person lives in that house now and this might be construed as snooping or light stalking but  you know 'Tomato Potato' . Binoculars in hand, I walk onto my balcony. I look through the whole grounds, my eyes land on the warehouse at the back. I am curious as to what is there. I am going to find out. I turn back towards the house and see Ian on his balcony, looking at me. How did he know I am out here? That is because this part of your day is predictable.

I smile and wave at Ian not knowing what else to do, we are just staring at each other like creeps. He picks up the notepad he left on the small table on his balcony. Ian and I have gotten so close this past few weeks, he comes over to my place a lot and has dinner with my family just like Eli does when he doesn't have a girlfriend.

'Hi' he writes.

'Hey' I reply.

'Want to go to school together?' 

"Sure'

'I'd pick you up in an hour'

'Come over now'

'Why'

'Breakfast' I tell him and he smiles 

I go back into my room and into my closet. I push some clothes aside and reveal a small panel in the wall. I go through the opening and come out in Asher's closet. We made that entrance between our rooms when we were younger and our parents were not home for the weekend. We first tried to do it ourselves following YouTube but that went to the crappers. We finally hired someone to do it for us. Out of his closet and into his room, I jump on Asher's bed waking him up in the process. 

    "Arrgg!!" Asher mutters falling off the bed. "Why me?"

    "Wake up" I say laughing. 

    "Leave me" he says still on the floor.

    "WAKE UP!!!" I shout and he jumps up.

    "I'm up" he shouts and groans.

I get off his bed and walk to his room door, I look back at him, smile evilly and leave the room with the door ajar. I laugh evilly to myself and go to my room.

    "I hate you, Liliana" I hear Asher shout after me and I laugh.

I walk to my room and go shower. I love my bathroom, it's one of my favorite places in this house. How do I describe it to you? Hold on, let me try.

When you enter my bathroom, on the opposite end of the door is my tub, there are a couple stairs that lead you up to my tub, it's perfect. There is a huge window on that wall but the blinds in here are pretty thick for privacy. The shower is to the left with the toilet beside while the floating sink with mirrors is on the right. The floor and wall is white marble with pink patterns. The mirror as beautiful lights surrounding it giving you the ultimate reflection. I think I did a good job describing.

I go into the shower and have my bath, then to my closet. Would I have to describe my closet? Here goes: The shelves are white with glass doors on each panel, I organize my clothes in colors and type. Like all blue jeans, all black jeans, all white tops together, white gowns together, brown shorts. I hope that made sense. My vanity is also here, there is a seat in front of the mirror and led lights around the mirror glass. The accent color is rose gold. 

Ring Ring

I pick my phone up and see its a text from Hailey.

Talk to me, I love Brad and he loves me, why can you not be happy for me. Shouldn't my happiness bring you joy if you are my friend. You didn't have to change so much as a method of rebelling against Brad and I's relationship - H

Wow, wow, wow. Wow. Why did I read that, what was I expecting. The witch. I should be happy for her? Her happiness came from stealing mine and she wants me to be happy? It's all my fault. Why did I have to change so much? I look at my reflection in the full standing mirror, I look and feel so different from who I used to be. I used to be bubbly, lovely and social. Hung out with friends, had social activities to do but now I have turn to the wallpaper of my school, I stay hidden and in the dark, I avoid social gatherings and I am always home. 

When did I become so boring?  

It's because I changed that Hailey and Brad are always pestering me, they think they ruined me and it is because I let them. I shouldn't have allowed those people change and direct my life. If I didn't catch them together, I would still be a social butterfly and so even when I know what they did, I am still going to be a social butterfly, they would not dictate the pattern of my life. I think it's time for a change.

I have to show Brad and Hailey that I am still me, The real Liliana did not go anywhere, she's just resting. 

Rest time is over, Lily.

I change into a black sports b*a with a cream barely-there sweater and black pleated skater skirts. I pair it with my cream sneakers. I put on perfume, makeup (not my usual bland makeup), jewelry (bangles, necklace, earrings, five on one ear and three on the other and my anklet). I pack my hair into a tight bun and leave the closet. I make my way downstairs, sliding down the railings. 

    "Hey" I greet when I get to the kitchen. My whole family is here including Ian. He got here earlier than I thought. Everyone is backing me.

    "Did you slide down again?" mum asks still backing me. 

    "She so did" Ash says.

    "Good mor-" my dad starts but stops when he sees me. "Wow. Is that you Lily?" he says complimenting me. Everyone turns back and just stare at me.

    "Sis" Asher says smiling. "You look..."

    "Hot" Ian says smirking. The confidence of that guy.

    "Woah Lily, my baby is back. We were so worried about you" mum says hugging me. "You look so good"

    "Thanks" I say hugging her back

    "I am so happy you've decided to go back to how you were before the whole betrayal thing happened" Dad says hugging me.

    "Yea, I thought it's about time" I say smiling.

    "Is that how she used to be?" I hear Ian whisper to Ash.

    "She dressed like this and had an character to go with it" Asher answers and hugs me. 

I am happy everyone is happy, it's time I stop letting those liars dictate my life. After breakfast, during which I felt Ian's eyes on me the whole time, we say goodbye to our parents and we all drive out the gate. Ian brought his jeep, I sit in front with him while Asher seats at the back. 

    "You look really good" Ian whispers to me. He didn't have to, Asher is using his air pods listening to music and chatting people up on his phone. He is not with us mentally.

    "Thanks" I say smiling. I feel really good too.

We arrive at school and my mood instantly becomes sour, Hailey, Heather and the third H, I forget her name, are standing by Heathers car. Ian parks the car and Asher is the first one out.

    "I'd see you in class" he says through my window and pecks my cheek.

I carry my backpack over my shoulder and exit the vehicle. Ian and I walk towards the school together. My school is so small for a university but then they only teach Business and Computer. We are walking towards the classes when Heather and her girls walk up to us.

    "Hi, Lily. You look good" Hailey says with a smile.

    "Lily?" Heather asks shocked at my new old look.

    "It is Liliana to you" I correct them.

    "Whatever" she says and flicks her hair. "Anyway, Ian, wanna hang out after school? I know something we can do" she says, "it involves less clothing" she adds and winks. I gag dramatically and Ian laughs placing his hands on my shoulder. 

    "What was that? Are you asking him to sleep with you, Heather?" I ask staring her down. "And here I thought you were a bit classy and dignified but I should have known seeing as you are friends with her" I say looking her and Hailey up and down and scoffing. They all just stare at me surprised, even Ian, but instead he has a smirk on. 

With his hand still on my shoulder, we walk into the school.