Afraid•Niccolo Genoveder Rossi •

ten

|Serena|

TW!!! MENTIONS OF R@PE

Brando waved over at us from across the room. What did he want? "If he says one more thing about you I'm going to finish what I started". Marco grumbles as we walk down to them. Marco put his arm around my shoulders as we walked.

He suddenly got so defensive of me when Niccolo looked over at me. Marco kept me close to him. I could literally feel his pulse because of the lack of distance between us.

"We just want to make some friendly conversation". Brando starts. "Nothing's friendly when it comes to you". Marco snapped, his grip on my shoulder tightening. "I just thought that maybe now would be the perfect time to tell a little story". Brando began.

"Brando-" Niccolo starts. Virgina's ears almost perked in anticipation. She'll do anything to start a rumor. "We all have secrets and I think someone in this circle has a damn good one. Don't they, Niccolo?" Brando says, looking at Niccolo.

Niccolo tensed. "Brando don't ". Niccolo said lowly. "Oh Niccolo, this story must be told". Brando says. Before anyone could say anything, he began talking. "There was this girl, rather beautiful. Dark hair and mesmerizing eyes. She has everyone wrapped around her finger, yet she didn't know that.

She had a rather low self esteem and would do anything to give her virginity -" "Brando!" Niccolo and Marco both yell. Brando smirked. I felt Marco take his arm off me and walk closer to Brando. "She forced a poor guy to have sex with her and she told everyone she got raped!" Brando yelled, as Marco was about to lunge at him. Niccolo and I both jumped to Brando, where I took Marco off him and instead of Niccolo backing off, he punched Brando right in the nose.

I ripped Niccolo off him. My hands stood firm on his shoulders. "that's not what happened that night!" Niccolo exclaimed, turning to me. "You can't let him get away with saying something like that! That is not what happened and you know it!" Niccolo exclaimed, as Virgina took his hand.

"She's a slut!" Brando sneered through his bloody nose that Niccolo gave him. "She was a victim of something horrible that you twisted into something way off!" Marco defends, pure fury and sadness in his voice.

At this point, I was going to cry. "I don't know what you were told about that night, but that information that you have is so far from the truth, but I can't get that through your fucking head so I'm going to leave". I say, my voice cracked.

"Serena-" Niccolo says, sympathy in his voice. "No. Goodbye. Have a nice evening all of you". I say, taking Marco's arm and walking away. "Let's go take a smoke and leave, okay?" Marco says, seeing my eyes that were slightly pink.

I nod, and he pulled me close to him as we walked to the backyard. He looked at me. "You didn't deserve that". Marco says, his hands tracing my face. I nod sadly. He pulled me close and hugged me.

|Niccolo|

She looked like she was gonna cry before she and Marco left. I should've done more than give him a bloody nose. That was so far from the fucking truth. She didn't force anyone to have sex with her. She didn't make up the part about being raped.

Brando had no right to say that.

I needed to find her.

Flashbacks of that night came back. The four of us. Sitting in a circle. Playing a drunken game of truth or dare. Serena being forced to be stuck in a room alone with some random guy who was a dick to her and used to be my friend. Since that night I completely abandoned him.

It wasn't supposed to go that way.
She wants supposed to get hurt.
It was just a simple kiss in the spare bedroom and nothing else.
We didn't think Serena would kiss him.
I thought she would've switched him for somebody else .
Maybe me.
But, either way she didn't deserve the extremity of what that guy pushed such a small thing to be.

|Serena|

I held my tears back as Marco hugged me. He was there that night. He was in the circle.
He used to be Niccolo's friend.
But, since that night he abandoned Niccolo for me because he couldn't stand how Niccolo treated me so he became my friend.

I couldn't have been happier.
He made that night tucked away far back in my memory, and he made life good.
We've been friends for a year and we acted like we've been friends for much longer.

"Do you want a cigarette?" Marco's soft voice asked against my neck. "I'm okay. You can though." I say, as he pulled away from the hug. He took out t a cigarette and lit it.

I found a familiar face in the distance.

|Niccolo|

I saw her face, her features dark against the shadows. There was Marco, smoking a cigarette as they talked. Talked about something deep.

He used to be my friend.
I'm going to admit one thing though.
I'm happy that he chose her when he left me.
She's been better now.

She used to be such a happy person. Somebody who you could count on. She used to have deep blue eyes, but after that night her eyes became an ocean green.

If you look at her close enough you can see the deep blue in the middle.
Who knows such a color could cause trauma.
She had truly gorgeous eyes.
She still does.

And her lips were different then. She had fuller lips, and now they've become thinner and hurt.
She still looked good gorgeous though.
And her eye bags. She never had those.
Until that night.

I walked up to her. "Serena- can we talk?" I ask, seeing Marco tensed up. She looked at Marco then at me. "I guess so". She quietly says, walking next to me as we walked around the perimeter of the house.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" She asks, her tone suggested that she had been fighting tears for quite some time now. I exhale sharply. "About that night".