Fire On Fire

You Again

I watch the car drive hastily out of the long driveway, and feel my anger build.

How dare he say it like that, as if we spent the night intimately, is this the thanks i get for helping him?

I turn away from the disappearing car to find both Sebastian and Andy staring at me.

"Well?" he mumbles.

"Well what?" i ask softly, biting the inside of my lower lips.

"What kind of behavior is this Antonella, You are sleeping around now?" he says heatedly.

I look at him, then at Andy's sympathetic face, then i try to side step them to go inside.

It's better not to say anything, to avoid an even bigger confrontation with him today.

"You do not walk away when i am speaking to you" he snaps, grabbing my wrist, and pulling me to stand infront of him.

"You should be ashamed of yourself" he mutters

"Let me go Sebastian" i utter, trying to free my wrist, which he has in a death grip, causing my bracelet to dig into my skin uncomfortably.

"I will not accept this kind of behavior from you in my house, do you understand? You will not act like a cheap tramp in my house, is this how Daniel raised you?" he fumes.

He deliberately mentions my dad's name, knowing how mad it will make me.

"Let me go" i mutter, but it doesn't come out as bravely as i intended.

Instead, he starts to walk inside the house, with my hand still in his.

"Dad, c'mon, we will be late" Andy says, but he ignores him and keeps walking.

We only stop when we stand infront of my mother in the kitchen. One look at him sends the servants darting out of the room.

"What is going on now?" Mom asks in exasperation, standing up.

"Why don't you ask your daughter, Ask her where she spent the night... Because she just came in" he mutters angrily, still not letting my wrist go.

"Go on. Ask her" he prompts, when Mom does nothing but look at me sympathetically.

"Ask her" he repeats.

Mom sighs.

"Where did you spend the night" she asks softly.

I look at her first in anger, then disappointment, why does she always let him step all over her?

"Answer you mother!" he growls.

"Go to hell" i whisper the words.

"Ella! Don't talk to your father like that"

"He is not my father" i scoff.

"Damn right, i would have raised you better than this"

"Dad! we are late" Andy groans.

"....You want to spend your nights out with men you only just met, and come waltzing in here in the morning as if you own the place? If you think you are too grown for my rules, you can get the hell out of my house....Talk some sense into her" he says, looking at my mom when he says the last part, and finally lets my hand go.

Silence usurps his departure.

"What is he talking about, where did you spend the night and with who ?" she asks.

I can't even look at her, she always takes his side and never defends or supports me when it comes to him.

"Ella?"

"Sofia comes in and out of the house whenever she pleases, she stays out late, stays over at a friends house, and sometimes even at her boyfriends house, she brings guys to the house too, and we all know that she even has s*x with them here in this house, and she is a year younger than me..... why do you treat me differently?" i ask.

she opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out.

I shake my head and start heading upstairs to my room, using my other hand to message my now bruised wrist.

I did nothing wrong, nothing different from what Sofia and Andrew do all the time, and yet, different rules apply to me.

Sebastian is always on my case, he is so random and unpredictable in the way he acts towards me, it's both ridiculous and confusing at the same time. And mom just lets him disrespect me.

I wonder why i continue to stay here? i don't need to put up with any of this, but then Dad comes to mind and i remember him telling me to work harder at my relationship with Mom, that i will never get this time back and might end up regretting it later, if I just decide to leave now.

In my bedroom, i lie on the bed and sigh.

I try.

She and my dad divorced when i was twelve years old. She was already leaving with Sebastian even before the divorce was finalized, and me, well, i stayed with my dad and have done so ever since. She and I didn't see each other often after she left, and it become even lesser as the years passed.

But recent events caused me to pursue a closer relationship with her, and dad has been on my case to try and make this work. He does not really know the full extent of how Sebastian treats me, and if he knew, I am sure, he would ask me to leave...

"Ella...can you go swimming with me" Riley, Mom and Sebastian's only child together comes waltzing into my room unannounced.

He is also the other reason I continue to stay here, so I can have a relationship with him. Sofia and Andrew have an older sibling, so they have always had each other, whilest I grew up as an only child, since dad never remarried. So it's really important for me to have a relationship with Riley.

"What did I tell you about coming in without knocking first?" I ask pointedly.

"Sorry" he says and walks out of the room and knocks once, then twice and again.

"Ella!!!" He complains.

"Come in" I chuckle.

"So, can we go swimming now?" he asks again.

"Ain't you supposed to be in school right now?"

"No school today, remember i was sick"

"Uhhm, then you should be in bed resting, not swimming"

" But I feel better now"

"Then you should go to school" I utter and he pouts in response.

"The doctor said i am on bed rest and should only go back to school on Friday" he says cheekily.

"Ahh, i see"

" Now can you take me swimming, please?" he asks again.

" Ok, I will later...I have a couple of things to do right now" I say to him, standing up.

" Aahhh, you won't...everyone is always too busy for me." He frowns.

"That's not true.... don't I spend time with you alot?" I ask.

" You do"

"That's right..and I said I will swim with you later, don't I always keep word?" I ask again.

" You do" he says, this time smiling.

" Ok, now go....I said I will take you later and I will ok?"

" Ok" he grins.

" I give him a kiss on the cheek and he frowns and wipes his cheek.

"Gross...I'm too old for this" he mutters as he walks away.

I smile, watching him leave.

I wonder where Sofia is, but I decide to take a shower first, then find her, then later meet up with Carmen as well.

*

Walking into Sofia's room, I find her sprawled up on the bed in her underwater with Camilla, her best friend in a similar attire.

"Well, you look beat" I chuckle.

"Ohh,.I am sooo hang over..." She complains, earning a laugh from me and Camilla.

"Well, was it worth it?" i ask, referring to her having a huge party in the middle of the week.

"Oohh, sooo worth it..You only turn twenty one once. ..Where did you go anyway, you left for some air and disappeared for the rest of the night altogether" she asks, her eyes closed.

"I tapped out after a while, you know me" I say, smiling and sitting down on the bed with them.

"You are not attending your classes today?" I ask.

"Look at me.....Maybe the afternoon ones....why?"

"No reason....I was going out to meet with Carmen"

"Ohh good, you girls are still here." Mom say, walking into the room suddenly.

"Hai Mom, hello Mrs V" Sofia and Camila say at the same time.

"Your dad left some very important documents that he needs urgently at the office. Can you take them to him?" She says.

" Ohh Mom, I'm in no condition to go anywhere right now" Sofia groans, sitting up straight.

"You see, I told you to hold off your party until the weekend, so you can lazy around all you want afterwards, but no, you just had to have your way...now there are things to do and classes to attend and we agreed you will attend you classes. That was the condition for you to have the party yesterday."

" Well, yesterday was my actual birthday, so it makes sense to have the party on that day, my friends and I can have something abit more low key over the weekend." Sofia responds.

"Another party?" Mom utters.

"Dad agreed" she responds quickly.

"Besides, I will be going to Uni later today anyway, so i'm still keeping to our agreement. I just don't have any classes right now" she lies.

"Whatever, can you take this to your dad...he is waiting for this." Mom continues.

Sofia pouts and looks at me.

"No! I need to be somewhere else right now" I say, standing up.

" Oh c'mon please...you are already going out, you can just take a quick detour, and be off on your way again....pleeease..my head is pounding and I feel like I am dying" Sofia groans, lying flat on her back on the bed again.

"Can't you just send someone else to take them" i turn to Mom.

"It's confidential" Mom say's regrettably.

" Fine...where is Riley, I will go with him" I say, taking the papers from Mom's hand and walking out of the room.

" Ella, wait a minute" Mom says behind me.

" Ella, can i talk to you" She repeats.

" You said this is urgent, so let me be on my way..." I murmur, already walking away.

*

"Look what the cat dragged in..." Aaron Snickers as I walk into one of the smaller conference rooms, after I went home to freshen up and change real quick.

"You are late, again" Nick says under his breath, looking up from his laptop.

"What happened to you?" Aaron asks.

"I should be asking you that..one minute you were there, the next minute I look up, you and Chase where no where to be seen" i mutter, sitting down.

"Tttsssst...oh yeah, sorry....we saw an opening to leave, and we took it." He says.

"Here" Nick mutters, tossing a couple of documents at me.

"We have a deadline on that, how far is that going, I have a meeting about it in an hour and need to give a report" he adds.

I flip through the papers to see what it's about, and look up again, and give him a small brief.

Then his phone rings.

'Hey babe' he says, standing up and walking to the window.

"Listen, what the hell did we drink last night, I nearly blacked out" I ask Aaron.

" What are you talking about, we drunk the usual?" He says, looking up from his laptop with that judgmental expression i know so well.

"Well, something was different, I felt weird and by the end of the night, I couldn't even drive" I say and he look up, giving his full attention and glaring at me.

"No...it wasn't like that, you know I have been watching my liquor...." I say in defense quickly.

There was a period in the not so distance past, when i drank quite carelessly, and it became a problem...it is not one of my proudest moments, and I have been working hard to never be in that mental space again, where I am drinking too much.

"Look, you saw what I took, but suddenly I felt very weird, and was really thirsty and i may have ended taking more alcohol eventually" i confess.

"Well, there you have it. Maybe that's why you almost blacked out..." He says, nonchalantly

I roll my shoulders back and sit back in my chair.

Nevermind.

"Ok, so this afternoon, we have that meeting where we will conduct the power tests and operational improvements with the new aerospace investors, Marco, you got that on lock right?" Nick asks rhetorically.

" Yep" I mumble.

" Good, in the meantime, Aaron, you have that meeting with AVM and you...."

"....Actually, something else came up, and I can't make it... Bret and Cole suddenly freed up some space to meet me, and you know how long we have been waiting for that" Aaron says.

Then they both turn to look at me.

"I have things to do too" I snap.

"Well, I don't care what you do..Just figure it out....Sebastian and his team are waiting." Nick says, walking out.

I lean back against my chair with my hands behind my head, as Aaron looks at me expectantly.

"C'mon man. The finance advisory board is on my case after that....i have a million things to do just this morning, and don't even get me started on the afternoon schedule" he pleads.

"Sounds like you have a problem on your hands" I say cheekily, getting him back for bailing on me last night.

"C'mon, I will owe you one"

" You already owe me a bunch of things you haven't paid me back for yet....besides, the presentation for this afternoon is a big deal, and you know everyone will be around for that..I need to prepare with my guys."I utter.

"C'mon, you can do that s**t in your sleep.....please" he murmurs.

I stand up abruptly.

"The last thing I need today, is to spend my morning playing nice with Sebastian" i mumble.

"You can name your price" he surrenders.

".....What time is the meeting?"

"10:45am"

" Fine"

*

I arrive at AVM Aviation Consultancy, a little earlier than scheduled, and so after announcing my presence, I wait in the waiting area.

Sitting there, I see someone I know, and stand up to greet them, then we walk abit as we talk.

After bidding them goodbye, I turn around lazily, and start walking back to the waiting area.

Then I think I see someone I recognize, walking towards the receptionist, she leans against the desk, one foot touching the floor with the tip of the white sneakers she is wearing. She has paired that with a mid thigh black dress, and a long denim jacket that is the same length as the dress.

I can't really tell if it's her, but then i notice she is with a little boy with her, and i definitely recognize Sebastian's youngest son Riley.

That's her alright.

Antonella. That's her name.

A small smile appears on my face as I approach them.

After talking to the receptionist, the two start walking towards the elevator, and I hear her and the little boy laughing and talking happily about something.

I quicken my steps, and tap her on the shoulder just as she reaches the lift and presses the button.

She turns around.

"Hey you" I murmur.

Her smile drops when she recognises me.

She turns around as if I did not just speak to her, and presses the button again.

I frown and tap her on the shoulder again.

"Mr Bishop, Mr Ventura and the team are ready for you now" says a lady that comes up behind me.

"Alright, thanks" I say, briefly looking at her, then back at Antonella.

"Good morning" I say again, and this time, she reaches for the little boy's hand and clutches it tightly, her face staring at the closed doors like they are the most interesting things in the world.

I smirk.

"I know you know that I am talking to you" I utter.

Just then, the Elevator doors open, and she starts to enter, but I press the button to close them, and hold out my hand to prevent her from going in.

"Hey, you have no right to do that!" She finally speaks, turning to face me, her cheeks red with fury and her chin raised up defiantly.

I take it, she didn't find my actions this morning funny.

I find her expression amusing, and can't help but notice how ridiculously beautiful she looks despite of her obvious anger.

The boy, goes to a different elevator and presses the button.

"Mr Bishop, they are waiting for you" the woman mutters impatiently again.

"Yes, I heard you the first time. One second" I mutter, folding my arms over my chest casually.

"Sebastian doesn't like to be kept waiting" Antonella murmurs.

"Yeah, well, I don't work for Sebastian" I say, holding her gaze.

"Ella, this one is open" The boy shouts, already getting into the elevator next to ours.

She rushes in next to him,.and quickly presses the button for it to close.

"I will see you around" I murmur, stepping to stand infont of them, as the doors start to close.

"I don't think so" she says heatedly, holding my gaze until the doors close.