It's late when I step out of the shower, the towel wrapped around me. Everyone's retreated to their own rooms but when I step out, Everest's not here. I don't know how we're gonna spend the night together with this ongoing tension. We're too close to conceding.
I want him. But I also won't lose.
I dress myself in a silk chemise and quietly step out of our room. I walk down the hallway until I'm in the lounge, nobody here. Pizza boxes still lie scattered but there's no sign of him.
"He's at the gym."
I startle, spinning around to see Luca Hernandez. He's in the kitchen area, leaning against a counter with a cigarette perched between his lips. He just got a heart transplant, did he not? He probably shouldn't inhale nicotine.
He's so menacing. Just by standing there, alone in the middle of the night. Every feature of his dark, brooding and sharp.
"Again?" I clear my throat, standing awkwardly in the centre of the room.
He shrugs.
"Where is it? The gym?" I ask.
"Twelfth floor." Luca responds and eyes me, skeptically, "It's just the gym. Can you not wait?"
I slink back slightly, not having expected the bitterness to his tone. In an instant, he's made me feel stupid. I wish I could snap back but he still intimidates me, and nerves still consume me easily.
I don't know what to say so I just look away, about to walk back towards the bedrooms.
"Why Everest?"
I turn around to Luca, my eyebrows furrowed, "What?"
"Why him?" He perches his elbows on the counter in front of him, "Simple question."
"I don't have to answer to you." I give him my back again. I don't know what his problem is with me and Ev, but I don't care for it. He'd apologised for being a dick to me a while ago. It was pointless.
"You wanna know what I see?" He speaks again and I stop walking, "I see a pretty rich girl that's been in a golden cage her whole life. And there's Everest, whose everything your opposite. He's your rebellion, your little moment of freedom that you'll use to pass your time."
I turn around to him and irritation boils in my stomach. I stare back at his dark features when he tilts his head and continues, "And then you'll probably marry a rich prick like Delaney."
"Don't speak about me like you know me." I say strongly, the mention of Dean inciting something so harsh, so consuming in my stomach.
"Am I wrong, then?" Luca asks, standing straight again.
"You're presumptuous. And ignorant. I don't know you well but I didn't think you stupid enough to believe outward appearances." I say, angrier, "I don't know what your deal is but I'm not something you can walk all over. I won't be."
"Because nobody ever says no to you, princess?" He says calmly.
"Because I have been walked all over my whole life." I step closer and I don't cower. Anger burns through my blood. I'm sick of being treated like I'm nothing and I won't be anymore, "I have known pain, and hurt and I might not brood all day and night, like you do. I might not beat punching bags and leave everyone behind but that doesn't make me any less than you."
"Why him?" He reiterates.
"Fuck off." I seethe back. Ugh, I want to scream. What is his deal? Why am I so angry? He's Everest's best friend. A part of me doesn't want him to disapprove, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
My eyebrows scrunch in confusion.
Now, after everything I've said, he starts to smile.
A small one that barely could pass of as a smile. It takes me a moment of staring back at him in utter confusion to realise what he was doing. It was on purpose? He was testing me, analysing me.
"I never believe outward appearances." He says.
"What- why are you smiling?" I look between his eyes, so confused.
He turns back to pick up a lighter, burning the end of his cigarette, "I've protected Everest my entire life. Whether he likes it or not, I won't let anybody hurt him. That includes you."
"So-" I shake my head, perplexed, "You don't have a problem?"
Luca doesn't even look to me as he speaks, so easily careless as he takes a drag, "You don't hurt him, I don't hate you. It's as simple as that. I don't give a shit about any of the rest of it."
"So you call me a priss princess? You know, there are nicer ways to go about things." I huff.
"I can't be nice when Dean Delaney's fucking involved." He tips his head back to smoke, eyes on me. I realise that's why he gives so much of a shit. Dean's hurt both of them enough throughout their childhood, obviously creating trust issues.
For all he knows, I'm just another gateway for Dean to ruin Everest. It makes sense now, his behaviour and hesitance.
"Plus, you're a ball of fucking anxiety. You wouldn't have spoken to me otherwise." He adds.
I accuse, clearing my throat, "Yeah, I would have."
He sends me a look. I flush and look away because he's right and I don't like that he's right. I understand him, even if the golden cage comment kinda made me upset. If the situations were reversed, if I felt the need to protect somebody, I'd be the same. Probably not in the same way but me and Luca will never be similar.
"You...don't hate me then?" I make sure.
"I respect you." He responds simply.
"Because I told you to fuck off? It was rude of me." My cheeks flush again.
He shakes his head at me like I'm something amusing, "It was necessary. I was being a prick. And no, not because you swore, god forbid." Sarcasm seeps of him as takes a deeper drag, "You know pain like us."
He walks past me now without sparing me a glance, "That's why I respect you. The gym's on the twelfth floor but you need the key card. It's on the counter."
He's gone before I can say thank you. He's such a cryptic, dark person. He's undecipherable and it's clear that he's built himself to be that way, so clearly guarded. The only person who probably truly knows that guy, will always only be Ria.
I find the keycard and slip out of the apartment. The only person who's ever truly known me, and I'm torn between wanting to kill him for leaving me on edge, and kiss him because I miss him.
***
Everest always has a way of catching me. It's been that way since the very beginning. I rub at my arms through the silk chemise, having arrived a few minutes ago. I'm watching through the glass and I'm not sure how he knew I was here.
He's not looked at me but I can see the small smirk that pulls at his lips as he lifts the weight, his torso straining. He pumps his arms, lifting and falling, lifting and falling. Veins bulge from his skin and I follow the length of them, to the bulge of his muscles and god, I can't. I push open the door until I'm inside.
