Monstrous

5

Nile

Autumn had been staring off into the fire and mumbled something so faint that no one could hear her. Stella and Maddie laughed softly at her silence. Not only was I angry, but I felt empathy for Autumn, and I was disgusted by what Stella accused her of.

"You're f*****g bitch.." I hissed angrily in Stella's ear that only she could hear. Stella spun her head around to look at me, she was shocked at my rage. Her lips pressed tightly together and she looked away from me slurping down the remaining vodka in her cup.

"EVERYONE GET THE f**k OUT! NOW!" Autumn's sudden screeching voice pierced everyone's ears and it even woke Hunter up. Jacob and Roxy had tried to relax her but it was no use. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she shot up from the couch and disappeared once she left the living room, Roxy snapped her neck over at Maddie who shrugged coyly

“She lets you into her home and you have the audacity to bring up her past in which you are incorrect. You are sick and immoral!” Maddie did nothing but roll her eyes at Roxy’s lecture. I moved away from Stella and stood up from the ground brushing myself off. The quiet observers of the room had awkwardly watched the scene. Hunter who wanted no part in the drama silently stood up, he gave me a slight nod and left drawing no attention to himself.

“Says the one wearing the f**k ugly wigs. Has anyone told you that those are out of style-” Stella stood up from the ground and stretched. It was like she had no heart. Not only didn’t she get shocked expressions from everyone. She got death glares from Bella and surprisingly Maddie too. Roxy looked at her not being able to speak a word, her bottom lip trembled horrendously as she looked around the room. Everyone had known about Roxy having leukemia. Everyone in this room besides Stella, would sit at her bedside when she spent endless nights in the hospital. A part of me wanted to believe Stella didn’t know that Roxy wearing colorful wigs all the time was supposed to help her feel confident, and a coping mechanism but I feel like she knew and she was just plain evil. Before she could shed any tears Roxy grabbed her bag and jacket from the nearby ground and turned away from the group running towards the front door. Bella of course ran after her screaming her name.

“Why would you f*****g say that?” Maddie who was noticeably upset but boiling with anger turned to Stella and slowly inched closer to her. Stella shrugged and sighed tirelessly, not picking up on Maddie’s anger.

“Relax Maddie, it was supposed to be funny. Lets go back to my place, I made cocktails..” Stella reached for Maddie but she stood there blankly, her hands were trembling and her eye twitched, I don’t think I ever saw her this angry, It was silent me and Jacob looked at each other then back at the two girls who stared at each other.

“I’m going to f*****g kill you..” Maddie hissed, Stella’s eyes opened widely but she had no time to react. No one did, Maddie sent her fist flying across Stella’s cheek and grabbed a hold of her hair. Stella let out a painful scream as Maddie yanked her down to the ground. Maddie pounced on top of her and clawed at her face. Even though Stella was clueless on why Maddie put her hands on her, she brought her fingers to tangle up in Maddie’s red hair and pulled onto it fiercely. As the two girls rolled around on the floor screaming derogatory insults at each other and sending blows to each other’s faces they knocked into the wine glasses and bottles that held alcohol just making a mess. Me and Jacob let the girls engage in their physical quarrel for a few minutes.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Jacob screamed as he grabbed onto Stella who was on top of Maddie bashing her head into the carpet. Jacob’s arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her up into the air. I ran over to Maddie and helped her up from the ground.

“I swear to God, if you ever say s**t about her!" Maddie screaming at a high pitch, stinging my ear in the process. Stella wormed out of Jacob's grasp, I thought she would try again for a round two hut she flipped off Maddie before storming out of the house hollering bloody murder. Jacob looked at me then at Maddie before shaking his head and leaving shortly after.

"You had no business coming here.." I mumbled as I walked over to Adam who was obviously drunk. I hooked my arms underneath his armpits and lifted him up.

"It was supposed to be a harmless joke!" Maddie whined, there was guilt in her voice but there was zero chance of her admitting her faults. My eyes rolled with disgust.

“W-Why is everyone so loud?” Adam who stumbled while bringing himself up from the floor staggered over to me and Maddie. I hadn’t realized how much he had been drinking, but obviously it was a lot. Maddie looked at her brother in utter shame. While she rolled her eyes, Maddie began picking up her things from the floor refusing to see her wrongs.

"I don't feel so good.." Adam groaned as he buried his face into my chest. I ignored his slight discomfort and turned my head to look at Maddie who stood there watching me, not bothering to help me.

"Don't just stand there and do nothing, go start the car and clean u-" I had heard grumbling noises coming from Adam's stomach but I had paid no mind to it, along with the gagging noises that came from his lips. I had ignored all of it until I turned back to focus my attention on him and Adam opened his mouth choking out warm,chunky, weirdly colored throw up onto my chest. The smell was disgusting but the feeling of his throw up sinking through my sweatshirt and t-shirt was even more unbearable. Maddie gasped and stepped back from the scene and although I was tempted on dropping Adam to the ground I held him up while he regurgitated all over me.

"Make sure he doesn't fall asleep on his back, he might choke on his own vomit" Maddie nodded as I began giving her strict orders to prevent Adam potentially dying in his sleep. I had dragged Adam out to his parked car after he passed out in my arms. Maddie was assigned to drive him home, while I stayed behind and cleaned up after the mess we had made. Maddie clenched the steering wheel and I shut the passenger door. There were no more words exchanged between the two of us, I was disappointed in Maddie and I didn't want to hear from her at all. She pressed onto the gas and I watched the car speed into the night.

"We shouldn't have come.." I mumbled to myself. Fortunately Autumn's house was huge, so she wouldn't hear me using her guest bathroom near the living room or me cleaning up quietly. I had taken off the sweatshirt and t-shirt and put them underneath hot water trying to scrub Adam's puke out from the fabric.

"I feel like f*****g s**t, I just should've stayed in bed-" I hissed and as much as I wanted to believe that I didn't, being able to kiss Autumn for that brief moment was fantastic. I was battling whether or not I wanted to be selfish and just have her all to myself. Being able to touch her, to feel her was something I needed, but I meant what I said when I couldn't be involved with her. What Adam had said about how I could like her after making her life a living hell stuck with me completely.

"Why didn't you?" I almost didn't hear her voice over the sound of the water running. I turned the faucet causing the water to stop abruptly and looked up into the mirror. There was so much rage in her eyes along with sadness. Her once soft blue eyes, that were now cold and empty stared at my reflection. Although she wasn't in the best of mood, I couldn't ignore how good she looked. The way she was able to hide all her curves underneath her baggy clothes made me insane as I gripped onto her hips earlier.

"Why is it that you and your little girlfriend take pleasure in humiliating me?" She spat, Autumn was leaning against the doorframe before pushing herself off of it and walking further into the bathroom. The fact that she had a nasty attitude towards me was cute considering I didn't do anything wrong. I simply didn't entertain her. My body was going through hell right now and I wasn't even fully clothed to take her on. I dropped my eyes back down to the shirt drowning in the water as I scrubbed Adam's DNA out from it.

"Stella isn't my girlfriend, and not once tonight did I humiliate you Autumn" I responded in a soft tone. I lifted my shirt from the water and twisted it tightly watching the water fall from the white fabric. Once I brought my attention back onto Autumn, the rage had left her eyes, and she was fully consumed by sadness. It broke my heart, the sight of her upset. I should've done more to defend her, I should've spoken up. My body whipped around and Autumn was trying her best to keep in her tears.

"Just get out of my house please.." She asked in a desperate manner. Not bothering to look me in the eyes, she began to turn away from me but I caught onto her wrist and turned her back to face me. I was tempted to kiss her but the last thing she needed was someone taking advantage of her while she was in this state. What she needed was a friend.

"I'm not leaving you. Friends don't leave other friends to wallow in sadness and potentially kill themselves. If that were to happen on my watch, I would be considered the worst friend to ever exist” It was some kind of silly attempt to make her smile. Autumn looked up at me with a hint of confusion in her eyes. I slid my hand from her wrist and onto her hand gripping onto it tightly.

“I know you said you were doing better, and maybe that’s because I wasn’t around to f**k up your life. But I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone tonight..” Something was wrong with me, there were things I felt for Autumn, that I never felt before, the feeling was weird and foreign. It drawed my closer to her, wanting her in ways I shouldn’t be wanting her. I felt guilty but at the same time being able to feel her warm skin faded some of that guilt away.

“What’s next? Friendship bracelets?” Autumn mocked in a sarcastic tone, but a small faint smirk appeared on her lips. Even though her smirk didn’t mean everything was fixed it made my heart jump around in its ribbed cage.

After Autumn had taken my clothes to her laundry room while I stood in the kitchen. My eyes wandered through the interior, it was nice and modern. My mother would've killed to have a kitchen like this. My hands dragged along the granite countertops as I eyed the spacious kitchen.

"A s-shirt.." Autumn's voice filled the room as she walked up to me clearing her voice, she kept her eyes diverted away from me as she held out the navy blue shirt.

"It's my dad's shirt, he left it behind.." She continued, I took a shirt from her hands and opened it up, it was a short sleeved deep neck shirt. Once I slipped the loose shirt on Autumn brushed past me, running her fingers through her hair. This was definitely going to be an interesting night.

Autumn

Tattoos. Abs. That damned smile. I don't think I could ever point out a time where I was able to see his tattoos up close. The way he was so nonchalant about his body made me realize how much confidence he had and how jealous I was of it. The last thing I wanted my mind to focus on was Nile's body but I couldn't help it, his broad shoulders, his intricate tattoos, his sculpted abs. It was like I was seeing a whole new side of him, but I couldn't ignore the scarring that was apparent on his arm right above the elbow.

"Look at us, who would've thought, the freak and the asshole being in the same room together?" Nile said with a sarcastic chuckle as I began to fumble around the kitchen looking for something to make. I winced at the nickname, he had no idea how much I hated it.

"Could you not call me that?" I spat, my voice sounded cold and stern. Although parts of my mind were occupied by the physique of Nile's body, I was also upset and angered by the chaos. I wanted go be alone but Nile thought it was best to put me on suicide watch. Son of a b***h had some nerve.

"Okay-" Nile said, draining his voice with the playful tone he had seconds ago, I could hear his footsteps behind me shuffling around. A sudden heat engulfed my body and his steady breaths told me that it was Nile

"Autumn.." He finished, teasing a soft whisper into my ear. Before I could react, Nile's body heat disappeared, my body longed for the heat of someone else, anyone really. My body turned sharply around to see him settling down on a stool at the island counter. He extended his arms out over the counter top while admiring the kitchen. I took the time to look at his arms, his left arm was scattered with tattoos, nothing consistent but his right forearm was covered in tattoos. But only one stood out was the opened winged Phoenix on his wrist. It brought me back to when Charlie had shown me the Phoenix toy at the diner, told me that Nile got it for him. I smiled at the sight then at Nile who was clueless on me eyeing him down.

"Charlie had the little toy Phoenix-" I started, Nile brought his wandering eyes to focus on me, he looked down at his tattoo and nodded softly, smiling down at it.

"Yeah, that little rugrat wanted to get a tattoo. He was about to throw a fit when I said no, so I got him a toy instead" recalling the memory had seemed to put him in a trance. He was staring down at the tattoo longingly and I knew that he missed Charlie. His eyes said it all.

"What have you been doing for the last few weeks? Why haven't you been coming to school Nile? And have you even contacted your mom since we last spoke?-" None of it was my business. I knew that, but I couldn't help but ask him and after one question spilled out the others just kept on coming. Nile's face drained of the happiness he was once feeling and annoyance took its place.

"I had s*x with this one girl, I can't say I remember her name-" Nile spat cutting me off completely. My mouth opened but he continued to speak.

"I've been getting drunk out of my mind, going to endless parties, and yes I've been shooting up h****n like there is no tomorrow. I recently had an overdose so yeah, I'm now on withdrawal and I feel like absolute f*****g s**t, but somehow being here with you makes me feel better. I refuse to let Charlie or my mother see the piece of s**t I've become so no I haven't called them and school doesn't interest me anymore. So Autumn, for the love of God please stop asking me questions about my personal life" Nile groaned gently and ran his fingers through his hair pushing it away from his face. So that's up he's been up to. That's why he looks unhealthy and dull. A wave of anger dropped onto me, why the f**k would he be doing drugs? Especially the devil's drug itself! How was he letting himself go?! Did he not care for his own f*****g life?! My mouth opened wanting to lecture him, wanting to scream at him but before the words slipped out, I picked up on the shame and disgust written all over his face. Nile slid his arms off the island counter and folded his hands placing them in between his legs. He was trying to hide himself away from me. From the judgmental world. Maybe the desire I had for Nile was in a platonic way, maybe I was reading my emotions incorrectly. I liked him, but not in the way I thought I did. I pressed my lips shut, swallowed hard, and opened my mouth once again.

"You hungry? As you said, you feel like s**t and you look the part so.. I could make you a bowl of cereal or maybe some soup-" I asked faintly looking around the kitchen. The last thing Nile needed was for me to talk down to him, the last thing he needed was another person screaming and judging him, so instead I decided to be a friend. Nile let out a small chuckle before taking a deep breath and standing up from the stool.

"Yes I'm hungry but it's obvious, from what you offered me, you don't know how to cook so I'll make the meal and you must sit down and be your pretty little self" Nile's assumption was unfortunately correct, but he didn't need to call me out on it, my eyes rolled and I walked around the island counter to sit down on the same stool Nile once sat in as he combed through the cabinets. Even though I couldn't ignore what he had told me, I was glad that in this moment he was okay, I was glad that he felt better when he was around me.

After Nile dedicated his life to making a macaroni and cheese dish, he separated it into two plates and I being a movie fanatic decided to put on something while we ate in the living room, after cleaning it up or trying to after the fight of the year I had missed between Maddie and Stella.

"This movie is so stupid-" Nile said chuckling horrendously. We sat on opposite sides of the sofa that faced the television in the dimly lit room, my neck snapped towards him.

"I'm sorry what? The movie series was great and the book series was ICONIC" I said exaggerating the last word. We were watching the ending scenes of Twilight and while I watched the movie in awe, Nile cackled at every other scene. He was impossible to deal with.

"There is a book series too? Great.." He said sarcastically, he shoved a forkful of macaroni into his mouth while he shook his head. The only person here that was stupid was him, but I'll admit that he can make an amazing dish on mac and cheese.

"The only reason why you like the movie series because you're basically Bella Swan dressed in all black and tragedy" Nile looked at me with a smirk on his lips and my eyes narrowed at him, it felt a bit like the time where my Bella was comparing me to movie Bella, but in a nicer manner.

"Why does everyone say I'm like Bella when I'm not?" A small frustrated laugh escaped my lips and Nile shrugged, filling his mouth again with macaroni.

"No way would I ever fall for a guy like Edward" I argued, Nile immediately raised his eyebrows at me while he chewed obnoxiously. I decided to let him speak his mind and come up with nonsense before opening my mouth.

"Are you sure? Tree boy with no bed sure like the kind of guy you would fall for-" Nile could barely hold back his laugh, he kept his hand a few inches away from his mouth as he drowned himself in laughter. I stared at him with a straight face, there was no way Nile was like this, an annoying jerk. Who happened to have a gleaming smile and a harmonious laugh.

"Well, I guess we have to watch the second movie to find out then huh!?" A huge smirk danced onto my lips as Nile's laughter dimmed and he shot his eyes towards me widening them completely.

"There's more?!" He hollered nervously..

After watching the third film of the Twilight franchise we had paused our mini marathon and went in on a heated debate.

"Bella didn't fall in love with Edward because she had a fetish with vampires! She fell in love with him and who he is, it was the little things he did to show her his humanity even though he is dead! It was Edward doing everything he could to protect her!" I screamed, I had gotten a little passionate about the subject only because Nile pushed me to the edge completely. Nile scoffed with that devilish grin on his face before shaking his head and licking his lips.

"No, Jacob is the one for Bella. Edward is a f*****g weirdo. He left Bella for months! Then expects to walce his way into her life? That part where Jacob tells Edward she's dead was absolutely hilarious and I applaud him for it" I wanted to pull my hair out from hearing him speak. But a part of me knew that he still hadn't watched the ending of the entire franchise which makes this so much more entertainable knowing he'll be proven wrong.

"Bella has no taste, a guy takes you out swinging through trees, family attacks you, leaves you for months, and that God awful dance-" my mouth dropped as he referred to my favorite scene in the first movie. Immediately I cut him off before he could speak ill of that scene.

"Nile Cale don't you dare talk about that scene like it wasn't romantic and as I say again...ICONIC" Nile looked at me with an open mouth, it had looked like he wanted to say something but instead he snatched the remote from my fingertips and stood up from the couch. He exited out of the movie player and went to a music streaming app. My eyes narrowed with confusion as I looked at him then back at the screen.

"I swear girls fall for guys for the most stupid reasons.." He mumbled, I didn't recognize the song he had searched up, once he clicked on it he tossed the remote onto the recliner chair. Once the song started playing I felt my face heat up like it was on fire.

"Everything about that scene was weird and honestly criminal. Come here.." Nile turned away from the screen and reached for my hand, I pulled it back away from him. The song Bella and Edward first danced to fill my living room, it felt like a scene right out of a movie, but instead I felt like utter s**t and nervous down to the core. Nile chuckled at my refusal and instead of respecting my evident wishes of not wanting to get up from the couch Nile bent down and grabbed me by the wrist and lifted me swiftly up from the couch.

I had almost forgotten how tall he was. His hand in mine and his other hand on my lower back respectably. My hand rested on his broad shoulder, looking up at him hurt my neck and my arms having to extend to match his height made it feel like I was putting in a workout.

"This is so stupid.." I whispered softly,the proximity of our bodies made Nile hear my voice loud and clear. He looked down at me and smirked. It was embarrassing to admit that this was my first slow dance with someone.

"You see..nothing romantic" He responded. Our bodies had seemed to know what to do when it came to the music, it was relaxing hearing the melody that calmed all my nerves.

"I'm the probably the least romantic person on this planet. I'm more awkward" A small laugh escaped my lips. Nile's hand squeezed mine tightly, I couldn't ignore the amount of heat my body felt when I stood next to him, his touch was comforting and tender. I became more relaxed and vulnerable in his arms

"Yeah you are awkward, but in a way where it comes off goofy and I don't know-"Nile shrugged looking down at me losing his words, his face became flustered and I figured that he was too embarrassed to actually say the rest.

"Cute.." He finally said, I signed gently and Nile looked taken back from my reaction. Nile smiled at me, propping his eyebrows up.

"You always use that word with me, it's so kid-ish and puerile" I responded. Me and Nile, slowly and informally danced barefoot in the living room. We swayed around the space letting our bodies drown to the soft melody of the music.

"What do you want me to say? That you're f*****g hot" Nile smirked shaking his head at me with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"Autumn you're still a kid. You're young and still so naive about so many things, you grew up blind and privileged until-" Although there was a playfulness in his tone I took offence to what he was saying and my body grew tense once again.

"Until my boyfriend r***d me and I considered it love or my sister's death which is now a mystery.." I spat without much thought. I watched the playfulness leave Nile's face as he continued to look into my eyes. I no longer was entertained by slow dancing with Nile. Now I wanted to crawl into a hole and just die, bringing up my past with someone who used to mock. I snatched my hands away from Nile's grasp before I picked up on any emotions that might’ve filled his eyes at my sudden outburst.

"I don't want to f*****g do this anymore" I mumbled as I turned away from him. My eyes landed on the recliner chair and the remote that sat on it. Once I got a hold of the remote control I turned off the television, silencing the room once again.

"Your clothes should be dry by now. Get home safe and have a nice night-" I could no longer look at Nile and I did everything in my power to conceal my rage and other waves of negative emotions that started to pour in. I quickly walked out of the living room and once in the entry way I ran up the stairs.