𝐌 𝐈 𝐃 𝐍 𝐈 𝐆 𝐇 𝐓

7| 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯

/𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥/

𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗

☾

After about two full weeks, Alexander and James had finally returned to school and Nina would not stop talking about the party James would be throwing that night. It was a celebration for winning their first official football game of the season.

"You should come, Corvina," James smiled at me and Nina nodded her head in agreement.

"Absolutely not." Alexander leaned over and glared at James. In response, James leaned back in his seat with a smirk on his face, like he thought Alexander's reaction was amusing.

"You don't speak for her," Nina rolled her eyes and then looked at me, "Do you want to go?"

I thought about it for a moment and my mind went over all the pros and cons.

Less time with Mike-good.

More time with Nina and friends-good.

Annoying Alexander after his outbursts in the parking lot and his weird actions at the football game- very good.

I nodded my head and Nina smiled at me.

"You should come over after school and we can hang out beforehand,"

I smiled.

It was really nice to have a friend.

"Sure," I agreed.

"It's not your scene, Corey," Alexander brought his face close to my ear and backed away a little bit.

"And you know me so well?"

"Probably better than you do."

The bell rang and I ignored his comment.

"You okay?" Nina asked me. We were walking to her car and I guess she noticed my mood. Alexander had a way of affecting me. He made me nervous and excited at the same time and I didn't really know how to process it.

"Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind."

She put her key in the ignition, "Alexander?"

My head snapped over to look at her and she laughed. "It's not hard to tell that there is some tension between you too."

"I don't know if I'd call it tension," I said, slumping back into the seat.

She shrugged her shoulders, "He's just a very domineering person. He was raised to be a leader..." her lips pursed for a second before she continued, "you know, large family business type stuff."

"What type of business?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"I guess you could say agriculture?...and communications?" She didn't sound very sure but I just assumed Alexander didn't really like talking about it and that's why she didn't know one-hundred percent.

Still, it sounded stressful; just being born into a career path you didn't get to choose sounded awful. I could understand why he'd be a little stressed but it still gave him no right to take it out on other people. Or try and control what I do.

"It sounds like he has a lot on his plate," I said.

"Yeah.... Don't feel too bad for him though. He's really good at what he does. Even though he's an asshole sometimes."

We pulled into her driveway and walked inside. Damien walked out, fully clothed this time, thank god. He smiled at me, "Nina's friend you're back!"

I ran a hand through my hair, "yeah..."

"Good. She needs at least one friend," he mockingly smiled at Nina who just rolled her eyes and pinched his arm.

"Hey, that hurt," he winced and rubbed the spot where she pinched him.

"Good."

She looked at me, "my room is upstairs."

Nina led me to her room and she immediately plopped onto her bed. Her walls were white as was her bedding but all the furniture itself was black. And she had a lot of plants.

The time went by pretty quickly from doing homework and making stupid jokes to watching a few episodes of Twin Peaks. By the time it was seven, she finally decided that we should start getting ready.

It didn't take us too long as Nina simply put on a tight red silk slip dress and she let me pick something out from her closet. After about ten minutes of just staring at the mass amount of dresses she had I picked up a black velvet one. It was a little too loose on me but it still fit pretty well and it went with the silver chain necklace I also wore.

My makeup was the same as I usually did it, mascara, concealer, brows, eyeliner and highlighter.

"My dad's trying to handle it."

Alexander's voice hit me like a ton of bricks as we walked down the stairs. I had hoped to just get to the party without him and avoid him once we were there.

"And he's doing a great job, but there are new people here who, if they were targeted, wouldn't be able to protect themselves." I heard James reply.

Are they talking about the business Nina mentioned?

It sounds like they're going through something pretty serious right now.

We I reluctantly followed Nina into the living room where they were sitting.

"Everything okay?" she walked up to James.

"Yeah," he brought his lips to her ear and mutter something I couldn't hear but when he pulled away Nina's eyes flicked to mine worriedly. Before I could question it I felt a sharp prod on my shoulder.

I mumbled an 'ow' and looked to my left where Alexander was towering over me, looking down at me in distaste. What was his problem?

"What is that?" He referred to the dress I was wearing.

Before I responded I studied his outfit. A white graphic hoodie covered his broad chest and shoulders and black jeans rested on his legs. A blue denim jacket was unbuttoned over his hoodie and his oversized sasquatch feet were clad in crisp white Nike air forces.

"Doesn't she look amazing," Nina gushed.

"She looks cold," he deadpanned.

I didn't argue. I was a little cold and once we were outside it would be endgame for me.

"Alright guys, don't wanna be late to my own party," James said trying to break the tension that was between us. He stood up and wrapped his arms around Nina's waist, guiding her out of the house and where I assumed was his car.

Before I could follow him, I felt a coarse fabric being placed over my shoulders.

"You'll get sick with nothing over it," Alexander said softly.

"Thanks," I replied quietly and bit the inside of my cheek.

The soft look was then quickly replaced by a smirk.

"Come on, Corey. We're gonna be late."