So What?

Chapter 30: Captain America Action Figure.

Chapter 30: Captain America Action Figure.

Popping a piece of gum in my mouth, I stare at the screen in front of me. Miles is showing me something on his laptop. I'm currently at his house. His parents are out of town, and so is his sister. Up until now, I didn't even know he had a sibling.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" I ask him, staring at the laptop. "The monkey with glasses?" I add.

"It's an ape. And also an NFT." He tells me and I nod.

"What's that?" I ask him.

"A Non-Fungible Token. You won't understand anything I say after that, so I'll just stop there." He says and I gasp.

"You really think I'm that dumb?" I say, frowning.

"No, it's just boring tech stuff." He says, running his fingers through his hair.

"Try me." I say, sitting upright.

"Alright, you can sell these collectibles on Ethereum, Bitcoin or-" I hold a hand up to his face.

"You lost me at collectible. And then lost me again at Bitcoin." I say and he laughs.

"You see?" Miles says, laughing with me.

I get off the bed and walk to the dresser. There's a Captain America action figure on it.

"You're into Marvel?" I ask him, surprised.

"Who isn't?" He quips.

"Favorite superhero?" I ask him, folding my arms.

"Thor." He says immediately.

"Says the guy with the Captain America action figure on his dresser." I say, placing the action figure back on the dresser.

"Who's your favorite Marvel character?" He asks and I think for a second.

"Wanda. Clint is close second." I tell him and he stares at me, not convinced.

"Wanda, I can understand, but Barton?" He says, chuckling.

"I had to have a boy option and I wanted to be unique so I chose him. It was either him or Groot." I reveal.

"You are one weird girl." He says, getting off the bed.

"I agree." I tell him, sticking my tongue out at him.

"I'm going to get a bottle of water. Do you want anything?" He asks me.

"A bottle of water will do just fine." I tell him before he walks out of the room.

I start snooping around his room to find anything incriminating or embarrassing to taunt him with. My eyes land on a purple fabric sticking out of his wardrobe.

This is probably a thong.

I open his closet and it falls out, along with a gun. It's a ski mask.

My heart starts beating fast as I look at the items on the floor. It's the exact same ski mask that one of the robbers at the club had on that night.

But it's probably just a coincidence.

Miles walks into the room and with two bottles of water in his hands. He looks at the rifle and mask on the floor and stares at me.

"I can explain." He says, tossing the bottles on the bed.

"Please. 'Cause I'd love to hear this shit." I tell him, folding my arms.

"I and some of my gamer friends made a dumb plan to rob a store. It was this bodega but plans changed and someone suggested that we robbed a strip club instead. Diamond Bar just happened to be the closest spot. I had no idea, you worked there. You told me you worked at a diner. So, when I saw you and Trevor in the locker room showers, I was shocked." Miles says and I shake my head.

"He raped me, Miles. Do you know how fucked up that is? And you guys really hurt a lot of people that night. You shot my friend." I yell at him.

"That was Trevor. He's unhinged. I'm sorry." He tells me. He doesn't sound like he means it.

"You knew all along. You knew that something like this had happened to me. Hell, you saw it all. And the next day you couldn't reach out to me? I thought you were my friend, Miles?" I say, grabbing my purse from the bed.

"Hey, don't leave. I didn't know how to tell you. I couldn't just say, Hey, what's up? I was the guy who walked in on you getting raped in a bathroom stall at the strip club I robbed last night. Sorry about that." He tells me.

"Well, you should have." I say, walking towards his bedroom door. He blocks me.

"Please Jaz, you need to listen to me. I had no idea you worked there." He maintains.

"And that makes it okay? You can't go around shooting innocent people or even hang around people that do that shit. And here I was thinking that the incident in the boys' bathroom was a one-time thing. You're a real monster, Miles. And I mean that. Don't fucking talk to me. Ever." I tell him before pushing past him.

Opening the door, I leave his room. He trails behind me trying to redeem himself with his words, but I block him out. I rush down the stairs and walk out the front door. I feel hands on me and I turn around. I slap Miles across the face. Hard.

"Don't fucking touch me." I say with teary eyes.

"I deserve that." Miles says, staring at me with sad eyes.

"How could you do this to me?" I say, sobbing.

"If I had known what consequences that night would bring, I would have never done it. I would have thrown my gun in a trashcan somewhere and walked away. I was so hung up on doing something unruly and insane that I wasn't thinking about the people I could hurt." He says, his voice breaking.

"Fuck you." I say before I walk off his property.

***

I'm listening to music as I walk into my apartment building. Things are still shaky between my mom and I, so I'll make sure to steer clear of her. And after the day I've just had, I think it's mandatory that I do that. Stepping out of the elevator, I make my way to my apartment and I stop walking when I see who's at my front door.

"Aaron?" I say, surprised.

He looks up from the phone in his hand.

"I've been waiting for a while now.  Thought you didn't live her anymore." He says with that evil smirk of his.

"What do you want?" I ask him, getting annoyed.

"You're bothering my girlfriend, I need you to back off." He says, stepping closer to me. I don't cower, I look at him dead in the eye and stand my ground.

I'm done being afraid of this loser.

"Which one?" I ask, smiling at him.

He charges at me and grabs me by my neck. I put one of my nails in his eye and he lets me go. He hunches over, his palm covering his left eye.

"Don't fucking touch me." I tell him.

"You bitch." He spits as he keeps nursing his eye.

I walk past him and quickly open the door to my apartment. I close the door swiftly as he tries to get in. Leaning against the door, my breath catches in my throat and I start crying.

I'm so fucking overwhelmed right now. This is by far the worst day of my life, and I've been having a lot of those lately.