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Glory blinked as an apple wedge soared over her shoulder and turned around.
"Really, guys?" she said. "Really? You've reduced yourselves to throwing health food at me?" She paused for a moment, as if debating whether or not to continued. "I guess that explains a lot about your performance in gym class." |
Selena, still chewing on her apple, pointed at her friend, rather lazily. "It was her. Not me. And gym is pointless."
"Selenaaaaa!" the girl whined. |
"What are you, six?" Glory asked. She shook her head. "Never mind. You probably are." She sighed. "And before you decide to give yourself more wrinkles glaring at me, I put up a token argument about Viktor skipping the rest of the day." She shrugged. "So it's not my fault."
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Something about Selena seemed slightly...off? For lack of a better word...
"I don't care. He can do what he wants." She was sneaking her cell phone under the table, texting someone with a worried look on her face. "Asshole doesn't care about me." |
"Uh huh," Glory replied, "and that's why you've been trying to impress him lately. Right, that makes perfect sense. Whatever, that's your deal." She raised an eyebrow when she saw Selena's phone under the table. "Interesting... We have the same model phone, just in different colors."
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"I've been trying to save what we have, not impress him," Selena replied in a low grumble, still texting. Whatever the subject of the texting was must really be upsetting, because her hands were shaking. "I caught him cheating on me last night, after he left work. And he doesn't know I did, yet."
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"Really?" Glory asked, now interested. Viktor had said he was never interested in Selena, so how could they have had anything? Pulling over a chair from a neighboring table, Glory sat down, though she made sure that she could get up quickly if she had to. "I heard a... different story." Meaning that now she would ask around and cross-reference to find the facts. There were three sides to every story, after all... His, hers, and the truth.
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"Before you even say anything, yes, we are, or rather were, together," Selena said at once, eyes still on her phone. "Things have been falling apart for the past three weeks. I'd suspected he'd been cheating for longer than that, even. I just had no proof. Until yesterday."
She paused in her texting and pulled up a picture, then slid the phone across the table. It showed Viktor in the arms of an unfamiliar male. A very intimidating-looking one, at that...he looked like he was almost seven feet tall! http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/o...g?t=1270172952 |
Glory looked at the picture for a few moments before biting her lip.
"You're going to hate me for this..." She paused. "Well, more than you already do. But he's kind of hot." But Glory could tell, even from the picture, that he wouldn't be her type at all. Not like Léan was... She blinked and pushed that thought away. Definitely not the kind of thoughts to be having in school. |
Selena arched an eyebrow before taking her phone back.
"Uh...actually, I agree with you. He is hot." She eyed the picture for a moment. "I think I've seen him before. He's a bouncer at a popular nightclub here, down the street from the Vittorio's restaurant. Probably rightfully so...he's like a giant gorilla. A very attractive gorilla, mind you, but still a gorilla..." She sounded a bit calmer than before, and she rested her head on the table. "I do not know what to do. I like Viktor. He used to like me. I don't know what happened..." |
"Well..." Glory started, a bit hesitantly. She might dislike Selena, but that was no reason to actively try to hurt her, not like this. "I managed to get Viktor to actually talk, you would be amazed at what two days of carving a block of wood will do, and he kept saying that he just found you annoying. Which, you know, kind of makes sense because you really are kind of a bitch to everyone, but still..."
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Selena didn't lift her head from the table.
"I'm well aware that I'm a bitch. I'm no goody-goody. Goody-goodies get taken advantage of and hurt. I don't," she offered, half-heartedly. "I've never been nasty to him. I've never been annoying, as far as I know, to him. I really don't know what set him off..." |
"Hey, don't look at me," Glory said, holding her hands up. "I'm definitely no expert in good relationships. I never even had one to watch growing up. I'm lucky I turned out as well as I did."
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Selena lifted her head again, digging into her apple for a moment. When she swallowed, she sighed. "I don't want to confront him about it. He has a temper, and I have a feeling he's going to lose it. And we'll end up fighting. And he may end up hurting me. I've heard about his temper. He's hit women before. It isn't really his fault that his temper is so bad...he just can't control it. Medicine...therapy...he's tried it all. Nothing has worked. If he gets angry enough...that's just it."
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"That's when you introduce your knee to his crotch," Glory said, only half joking. She shrugged. "I can't say much more than that. Again, no significant male figure in my upbringing."
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Selena sighed, scratching the back of her head. "Believe me, I've considered that before," she offered, half-amused. "No, I was thinking more along the lines of attacking the source without attacking the source. Finding the other guy and talking to him. If I've done something to tick Viktor off, then surely he would have told him..."
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"As good a plan as any, I guess," Glory said. "So... when did we become civil again?"
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Selena picked at her food with very little interest. "I'm not really in the mood for arguments today...I just want it to be over with..."
She still looked somewhat lost. She must have had really, really have deep feelings for Viktor--otherwise, she wouldn't have reacted like she did. |
"I did try to warn you that your karma was going to bite you in the ass," Glory offered. "I just didn't think it would be so soon." Getting up, Glory went and got herself an apple and a cookie, just to have something to tide her over until she got home. Then she sat back down.
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Selena grumbled, then glanced at her friend. "Could you excuse us for a moment?" The girl immediately scuttled off. Selena turned back to Glory, looking tired, and a little older than she was.
"How in the hell was I supposed to react, when I saw what he was?" she demanded, sourly. "Was I expecting it? No. Was it normal? No. What was I supposed to do--go for a lovely swim? I didn't know if he was dangerous, or poisonous, or anything! And I certainly wasn't expecting it! I was afraid! It's why I reacted how I did, and it's why I never came back. I'm still afraid!" Her voice was quiet, but serious. |
"Then you're more of a pansy than I thought," Glory said flatly. "I spent the whole summer in the water with them. He camped out on my couch for the last two days, because his brother and brother-in-law are hanging around, literally in my back yard." She gave Selena a pointed look. "Call me crazy, but I don't see what you're so afraid of. And really," she added, "if he were dangerous, wouldn't you have figured it out by then?"
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Selena had been about to retort, but then she stopped, a shocked look on her face. "There's more than one...?"
She shook that off, then grumbled. "I'm a skeptic. About everything. I don't believe in ghosts, or anything paranormal or mystical. So he scared me. I'm still afraid. I'm afraid of anything that isn't how it's supposed to be. I don't know anything about...them. And I was too afraid to return and ask. So what? It is how it is. It wasn't meant to be." |
"And how do you know that things AREN'T the way they're supposed to be?" Glory countered. "I mean, really, Selena, I spent all summer out there. They messed with my eyes to make it so I could see underwater without feeling like my eyes were going to burn out of my head, you know? I mean, sure, his brother acts like a squirrel on crack most of the time, but..." She shook her head. "It's not really a feeling I can explain. It's just... It's amazing."
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Selena still looked unnerved by just the current topic. She hadn't talked about it with anyone, at all.
"I just want my life to be simple. I don't...I don't want anything supernatural...mystical...whatever, in my life...I just want it to be normal. I reacted badly. But that was because I was afraid. I'm still afraid, all right? I don't regret leaving him. I'm sorry about how I reacted. It was fear-based and nothing more. But that's that, and that's the end of it. I don't want anything to do with him or his friends. I really don't." She did sound honestly afraid... |
"Then that's your loss," Glory replied. "People like us, we're special. There was an old woman I was friends with, back when I lived with my aunt... She said that strange things would be drawn to me, like moths to a flame, and she was right. I've just learned to accept them. I mean, how hard is it to wrap your mind around the supernatural when you spend your childhood trying to keep lost souls out of your bedroom?" Granted, it had only been one or two, and Glory had been thirteen at the time, but it was just to prove her point. She still tried to convince herself that she had just been seeing things.
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