lovely desire

filth

A notification from Valerie pulls my gaze away from my laptop. What did she send me a screenshot of?
I open it and look at a screenshot of Eros' Instagram account. He tagged Sarah in his bio. I open the app to check if she and Amy are just fucking with me or if this is real. And it is.

I text Val.
_______________
Do you think they're in a relationship?"

Ofc. Sarah has him tagged in her bio as well... Sorry girl:(  Wanna talk? hit me up
_______________

I toss my phone to the side and hiss, slamming my eyes shut and pulling my shoulders up when it bounces off the mattress and lands on the floor with a loud tump.
I push my blanket aside and reach down to grab it. Thankfully, the screen's not cracked.

The next day at school, I'm exiting the sports hall because we just finished p.e.. To my surprise, Amy approaches me from behind. "Hey, Mabel." I look at her, surprises. "Hi." "So... How have you been?" she asks awkwardly.

"Well, not that well to be honest with you. But what about you? Matt broke up with you and I didn't even talk to you about it. I'm so sorry. I-" "It's fine," she cuts me off. "He was an asshole anyway. Let's just forget about this stupid fight."
Hope blooms in my heart and by the time she's done speaking, I'm smiling wider than a junkie on his favorite drug.

"Friends?" "Friends."

The best thing about our friendship is that
- no matter what happens - we always get together again. We love each other too much to be angry for longer than a week. And that was exactly what scared the shit out of me. It is now February and I don't think I could have stood another day without her.

"Okay so what are you doing tonight?" Amy asks as we walk across the property, on our way to the main building again. The fresh air is soothing to my muscles but it also makes me freeze, considering I didn't blow dry my hair thoroughly after I showered. There's barely enough time to when we have another lesson right afterwards.

I part my lips to speak but am cut off by a voice I haven't heard in a good while. "She's definitely not coming over!"

Sarah fucking Maniac.

Amy and I turn to our right and in front of us we see Eros with his arm wrapped around Sarah. "Says who?" Amy snaps at her. "Me. Eros and me are going to have a date night and I don't want that stupid brat to ruin it," Sarah cusses with a bitchy tone. It only draws out the image I have of her further.

"Only a brat would say something like that. Too bad Mabel already has a date tonight," says another familiar voice. The person, who the voice belongs to, stands aside me and wraps one arm around me.

I haven't heard that voice in a long time. And this perfume - I know it. But it can't be. Can it? I thought he moved away. What would he be doing in New Jersey again all of a sudden?

A glance to my side only assures my suspicion. It's Aryan Devlin.

My heart skips a beat and I have to force my lunch back down, the shit wanting to make a reappearance up my throat.
Play along.
"Yeah, sorry Sarah," I fake smile at her, sucking my lips between my teeth with a pitiful look masking my face. She looks like she's about to explode. "Come on, let's go," Eros says as he turns around to leave. He looks even angrier. I wonder if he only committed to Sarah to make me jealous.

Not going to fucking work, asshole.

"Eros, baby, wait a minute," I exclaim. "You've got something on your arm," I step closer to Sarah and squint my eyes, pretending to inspect her. "Ah, never mind," I quickly step back and wave my hand. "I thought it was a tick but it's just Sarah."

"Filthy little things, those ticks. They like to cling to people and eat from them until they've had enough. Then they just drop you like a hot potato," I look her straight in the eyes, then turn my gaze to Eros and then step back again. "But hey, don't you worry Eros. They oftentimes leave you a gift. I'd check myself for STDs if I was you," and I end my speech with a wink.

Everyone looks at me in shock. Amy and Aryan seem pretty proud. I turn and put my arm around Amy's shoulders before we walk off.

"What the hell was that?" she whispers, suppressing her laugh. "I'll play her little game if she wants. This time however, she'll lose," I say, feeling like a badass.
"And what the fuck is Aryan doing here?" "I have no idea."