HER || 18+ (Monsters #2) || Sequel to THEM

33 - Swollen

There is too much rage inside of me for me to stay still, but I long to stay still.

- V (me)
. . .

OLIVIA

Unsaid things lingered between us. I had seen the newly added scars on them, yet I hesitated every time I wanted to bring the up. I didn't want another month of them ignoring me.

So, I went to my classes and threw myself headfirst into my work as they handled something they didn't tell me about. I didn't ask, either.

I sat down beside Daisy who was playing some game on her phone. She lifted her large eyes to my face and then frowned. "'Sup?"

I looked at the screen of her phone, at the glaringly vibrant colors of the game. "Nothing."

"That 'nothing' had like a million undertones." She switched her phone off and grabbed a cheap wine bottle from under her bed. "So, what's up?"

I sighed. "Relationship stuff."

She frowned. "You wanna talk about it?"

I shrugged, rubbing my jaw like they did too many times. "Do you think it's okay to be... hesitant in a relationship?" I asked. "To keep yourself from asking something, from saying something."

She poured me a glass of wine. "I think hesitance goes away with time. No one is ever ready to spill their guts outs, so you cannot really ask them that. You gotta do it slowly. You know, like an oil painting."

"Let it dry before another coat."

"Yeah," she said. "Ask some stuff, wait for them to get used to the fact that they shared something, and then ask more."

"That makes sense," I mumbled. "You're awfully good at giving relationship advice, and I have seen you run away from people who even look at you too long."

She grimaced as she sipped her wine. "Relationships are a...lot of work. I've got too much work to do. And this place isn't cheap."

"I thought your parents were paying for the tuition?"

"They were, now they aren't," she said, looking a little worried. "They're just...being assholes because of some stuff they found out. That's why I have been working too much. They're not going to pay for the next semester. They want me to return to America."

I ran my hands on my thighs. "The almighty Dalton family."

"A family of idiots with their assholes filled with money."

"That painted an ugly picture."

She laughed. "I'm almost done with the money for the next semester. Just a few more jobs." She lay down on her bed, looking at the ceiling. "Sweet freedom."

I laid down next to her after setting the wine glass aside. "I felt like that when I stopped taking money from my mom."

"You're paying for this yourself?"

I grimaced. "My...boyfriends are."

"No shame in that. From what I know, they can buy this whole damned place."

"Don't give them ideas."

She giggled. "I like this feeling," she said quietly, after a while. "It's almost peaceful."

"It is," I whispered. "The faint chatter from the hallway. The whisper of the window. Your phone miraculously on silence."

"Hey! I run a business there!"

I smiled. "I know. I follow you."

"Wait." She sat up. "You have an Instagram account? I would have seen your name."