Thin Lines

Bar

Xela

A knock hit my door, Weston, I thought, "come in" I yelled out, straightening myself.

"Well look who it is" Denny walks in. I immediately get up, embracing him in a hug. To my surprise, Denny had grown a lot, it was weird seeing him as a man rather than the boy he was when we met.

"Is-

I'm cut off when I see my Dad walk in, I hug him as well.

"I've been so worried about you" Dad says, I step away, giving him a weak smile.

It feels good to see them again, almost like things are as they were, but they're not.

"I didn't know you guys were coming with Ryder" I said, I'm not shocked at all that Ryder kept this from me.

"We got in earlier today" Denny explains. "So you're working for Mr Black now?"

I nod, "Not bad right?" I say, sitting down in my leather seat. "So you've been here? All these years?" Dad asks, looking around like he is inspecting my office.

I clear my throat, "I've worked here for the past year and a half" I tell him, "Before that I worked at a small coffee shop on fifth street" technically I wasn't lying, despite me leaving out the whole psycho boyfriend and tortured part.

"So you saw Ryder...?" Denny asks.

"When I said you could look around, I didn't mean talking about me with her" suddenly Ryder was at my door, looking at me like he truly hated me.

Dad and Denny walk towards the door, I sat silently and glared at Ryder, "We have a meeting in ten, but we can catch up tonight yeah?" Denny asks, ignoring Ryder's eye roll and exaggerative exhale.

"What's tonight?" I ask.

"Were going out to one of Westons bars tonight, you should come" Denny says, a big smile on his face. "I might, thanks" I smile at him, then say bye.

I sit in the silence of my office for a few seconds after the door closed behind them. "I might?!" I repeated myself, putting my hands on my face and closing my eyes. I put my head on my desk, wishing I could go back to how things were a week ago, just going through the same motions every day with no feelings whatsoever.

Ryder

"Why would you invite her?!" I snap at Denny, glaring at Xela who is talking to some girl across the bar. I'm pretty sure I've seen that girl with Weston before. Music is blasting, but I keep my voice low.

"You can't hate her forever" Blake argued, sipping his beer.

"For murdering my father? Yes I absolutely can" I nearly yell at him.

"Have you ever thought for one second why she killed him?" Denny added, making me want to punch him.

"Why would a what, ten year old want to kill a grown ass man?"

I couldn't listen to this anymore, so I just got up and left, I went outside to get some air.

My head was pounding, and I wasn't sure if it was because of what Denny said, or because what he said made sense.

"Need air already?" A female voice said, belonging to Xela. I rolled my eyes, and tried to ignore her as she strolled up next to me.

She wore a short green dress that had long sleeves, and hugged her body perfectly. She barely had any makeup on, and her silver hair was in a half up half down with braids.

"What do you want" I say, not wanting to bother with her. Today in the office when I saw her with Denny and Nikos, I could tell she was genuinely happy to see them.

I could tell she was making an effort to talk to me, even the other day when she walked me to my car, but I couldn't even open up my mind to the possibility of not hating her.

Denny's words kept coming back to me, kept poking at my mind until I just had enough.

"Why did you kill him?" I ask her, point blank.

She blinks, caught off guard, then sighs, "I didn't want to" she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She opened her mouth to talk, then froze, "I should go." She tried to walk back inside but I caught her arm.

"Why can't you just fucking tell me so I can at least know why?!" I demanded. She just shook her head. I slid my hand from her upper arm down to her forearm, and pulled her closer to me, she winced, pulling her arm back.

"I have to go, really." She pulled on her sleeve and left, disappearing back into the club.

I didn't grab her arm hard at all. Maybe I did? It didn't feel like I had, I mean I would know if I did, right?

Why do I even care?! She killed the one person that was always there for me, and I hate her.

My dad may not have been the best person, but he defended me from my mom, and didn't leave my side when she was shipped off.

I groaned and went back into the club, wanting anything to distract me from everything.

I started with alcohol, despite Blake telling me to slow down. I could still see Xela across the bar, with that one girl. Our eyes met and she gave me a worried look when I downed a beer, then turned and asked for another one.

"Ryder we have work tomorrow" Denny told me, telling the bar tender to cut me off. "I'm fine" I say, just feeling a little tipsy.

I get up from my seat, seeking out someone that can help me, help occupy my mind. That's when I spotted this brunette who was eyeing me. I was about to approach her when Weston walked in the front, looking worried.

I thought he was going to come to me, so I tried to make myself a little more sober, but to my surprise he walked up to Xela and that girl.

He mumbled something to them that I couldn't hear, then Xela's face went white as a ghost.

The other girl looked confused, but Weston just left again, the two of them right behind him.

"What was that about?" I ask Denny, completely forgetting about the brunette.

He shrugs, "Xela looked terrified" Blake says.

"We can ask her tomorrow." Denny sighs, standing up, "For now we have to get you home" he pays me on the shoulder.

The rest of the night I couldn't stop thinking about what Weston could have possibly said to Xela, where they could be right now.

I should have gone for the brunette.