~ 8 years later ~
I woke to the familiar sensation of being
crushed; I wriggled, pushing my shoulder backwards. Rey shifted his weight off
of me slightly. He was spooning me from behind, breathing deeply into the back
of my hair. His heavy arm was draped over me, pinning my arms to my chest, he
was holding my hand tightly, our fingers interlaced, his leg was slung casually
over mine. I could feel the usual morning glory' pushing against the small of
my back.
I quickly silenced my phone alarm and elbowed
him in the stomach. "Six o'clock," I mumbled sleepily, closing my eyes.
"Ten more minutes, Angel. I'm still tired," he
murmured, pulling me tighter to his chest.
"Nope, no ten more minutes. Last time it turned
into another hour, and Swayam nearly caught you in here," I mumbled, elbowing
him in the stomach again.
He moved his arm and pinned my hands down to the
bed near my head, in a praying position. "Just ten more minutes, Angel," he
whined. I sighed and closed my eyes again. There was no arguing with him when
he was like this, I just didn't have the energy this time of the morning to get
into a fight with him. We both drifted back to sleep, instantly.
"Taani, you had better already be up!" my
brother shouted, banging on the door. I jerked up and so did Rey, it was almost
half past seven.
"Er... yeah I'm up already, Swayam," I shouted
back, glancing at Rey who was rubbing his face, looking a bit dazed.
"Good. I'm going to have breakfast. Hurry up
will you. Rey's driving today so be ready to leave in thirty minutes," Swayam
called through the door, before stomping off down the hall.
"Jeez, Angel, why didn't you wake me up?" Rey
accused, frowning.
I looked at him warningly and gave him my best
death glare. "I did, you jerk! You said ten more minutes' then pinned me to
the bed to stop me from elbowing you!" I growled sarcastically, doing a bad
impression of his voice.
He chuckled and pushed me back down on the bed,
pinning my hands above my head and rolling on top of me. "Pinned you to the
bed? Were you dreaming about me again, Angel? I could make that dream come true
for you," he mocked, with his face inches from mine.
"Yeah, you wish! Now get the hell off me, Rey,
and go get ready. You're driving today, apparently," I hissed, nodding to the
window. He sighed and pushed himself off me, pulling on his jeans and t-shirt.
He climbed out of the window, silently, sliding it back down after him. I
walked over and locked it before heading in for the quickest shower ever.
Exactly twenty-six minutes later, I trudged into
the kitchen with a frown, Rey was there leaning casually against the counter,
eating my cereal. Damn it, every morning! His brown hair was messy in his usual
just got out of bed look, which to be honest he did get out of bed and it
looked just like that. All he ever did was run his hands through it a few times
and add a bit of wax.
He looked the same as he did every morning, like
a freaking supermodel. He wore low slung ripped jeans that showed his boxers a
little, and always made the girls swoon. Today he wore a white t-shirt that
showed off his perfect sculpted body, and an orange and grey checked short
sleeve shirt over it, which he wore completely unbuttoned. His blue eyes were
glittering with amusement as he looked at me.
"Running late this morning, Angel?" he asked
with a smirk.
I gave him a drop dead look, making him chuckle.
"Shut up, Rey! Why the hell are you eating my cereal again? Don't you have any
food at home?" I asked, snatching the bowl from his hands and eating the
contents. He just watched me with an amused smile.
Swayam threw me a juice box. "You do look a
little harassed this morning, Taani. Everything OK?" he asked, looking at me a
little concerned.
I glared at Rey again as he started to laugh. Of
course I looked harassed, I had half an hour to get showered and dressed.
"Slept in," I muttered with a defeated sigh.
Swayam had no idea that Rey slept in my room
with me every night, if he did he would go crazy. Swayam was very protective of
me, he always had been, but he had gotten worse since my dad had left when I
was thirteen. Well, I say left, but in reality Swayam and Rey came home early
from hockey one day to see that my father had beaten me senseless, and was trying
to rape me. Swayam had finally snapped, and he and Rey had beaten the crap out
of him, almost killing him in the process. They had thrown him out of the house
and told him that if he ever came back, they would kill him. He never came back
though, that was three years ago.
A little while after that, my mom got a job with
a huge electronics firm, she was the PA to the director and so she travelled a
lot. She was gone twice as much as she was here, so we only saw her for about
one week a month, if that. Swayam was my only supervision, although at times it
was more like I was the one taking care of him.
Rey was also very protective of me, but we still
didn't get on - even though he had literally spent every single night wrapped
around me in my bed for the last eight years. He had snuck back into my room
the following night after seeing me crying again and we had ended up falling
asleep again. After two weeks it had just became a regular thing. It wasn't
something that we ever talked about, I just left my window unlocked and he let
himself in once his parents had checked in on him to make sure he was asleep.
We had never once been caught in eight years. We'd come close a couple of times
though. A couple of years ago, Rey's mom had found his bed empty, but he took
the hit and lied, saying he'd snuck out to a party and stayed at a friend's. No
one suspected he was next door with me.
He still teased me like crazy and annoyed the
life out of me just as much as he did when we were kids, but I always knew he
would be there for me if I needed him. It was like he had a split personality.
By day he would annoy me, making me crazy and angry all the time, and by night
he would be the sweetest boy in the world and would cuddle me, making me feel
safe and secure.
"You're looking hot today, Angel," Rey stated,
with his trademark smirk, looking me up and down slowly, making me squirm.
Yeah, right! My brown hair was still damp
because I didn't have time to dry it because of his stupid ten more minutes'
so I had pulled it back into a messy bun. I had thrown on my dark blue skinny
jeans and red V-neck top and pulled a black hoodie and black converse. I had
added the bare minimum make up, as usual, just a little mascara to make my
grey-green eyes stand out, and some clear lip gloss. I did not look hot.
Freaking asshole! I gave him the finger and walked out to his car. Leaning
against it, angrily, waiting for them to grace me with their presence.
The drive to school was the same as usual, they
sat in the front talking about football and parties, and I sat in the back
listening to my iPod, trying to ignore Rey smirking at me in the mirror. We
pulled in to the school and the car was immediately swamped by people, the same
as every morning. Rey and Swayam were considered hot players' at our school.
They were seniors and every girl's dream, the boys wanted to be friends with
them, and the girls wanted to sleep with them.
Rey laughed as I cringed getting out of the car,
trying to avoid the horde of skanks that banged into me because they were
trying to throw themselves at him. One girl elbowed me on purpose. I looked at
her in her tiny skirt that looked more like a belt and her top that showed her
stomach, and grimaced. Jeez, she is such a ho!
"Holy crap, Tia, did you know you left your
skirt at home?" I asked with mock horror.
She scowled at me and I heard Rey and Swayam
laugh. "Whatev's, you do know that the emo look doesn't work for you, right?"
she spat back.
I just laughed and walked off. It was usual for Tia
and I to have these sorts of comments for each other. She had dated Rey for a
little while, well, if by dating you mean having sex a few times, and then
getting dropped. She still wasn't over it and wanted him back, much to his
disgust.
"That wasn't nice, Angel." Rey laughed, as he
caught up with me and threw an arm around my shoulder. He bent his head close
to mine. "Sorry about this morning," he breathed in my ear, sending shivers
down my spine. I elbowed him in the ribs making him chuckle and pull back. "And
ignore Tia, I think you rock the emo look," he added, with a flirty wink.
Swayam slapped him on the back of the head.
"Dude, that's my little sister!" he scolded angrily, pulling him off me. Rey
just laughed and winked at me again, making me roll my eyes. Rey pulled away
and walked straight up to what looked like his newest lay. He smiled at her
seductively and she blushed as he immediately started flirting with her.
I found my friends who were practically eye
shagging Swayam and Rey with dreamy expressions. "Hey, Purvi, Sohaib, Sarah," I
chirped as I walked up to them.
"Hey, Taani, did you ride in with hot piece of
ass one and two again today?" Purvi asked, staring after my brother as he
walked off.
I laughed and shook my head. "Nope, just plain
old Swayam and Rey same as usual."
Purvi sighed. "How the hell can you be
unaffected by how freaking hot they are? I mean, you're so lucky to live with Swayam!
I would love to watch his hot ass walk around all day," she purred, fanning her
face.
I pretended to gag. "Purvi, that's my brother
and his asshole friend! How on earth can you get past the man-wh**e behaviour?
Both of them are jerks." I shrugged. I didn't get why, but every single girl in
this school was in love with them. Swayam was a great person, but he treated
girls like objects, and Rey, well Rey was just an all-round jerk.
"They are the two best players on the hockey
team and look like sex gods, and I wish I could get past it," she said
suggestively, waggling her eyebrows with a grin, making me laugh. She hooked
her arm through mine and pulled me towards our first class.
School was good, as usual; I was quite popular
due to the fact that my brother and his best friend were the most wanted boys
there. They looked after me of sorts, which basically meant that they warned
all the guys to stay away from me, which actually suited me fine because I
didn't want to date. Most of the girls wanted to be my friends so that they
could get closer to my brother. The girlfriend wannabe's were pretty easy to
see through though, mostly you could tell if they wanted an introduction, by
what kind of clothes they were wearing - if they weren't wearing much then they
were after my brother or Rey.
I loved my classes, I was quite popular amongst
the teachers too because my grades never went below a B. I always did my
homework, and was never tardy; I prided myself on it, though I wasn't a nerd.
At lunchtime I was sat with my friends when I heard the usual whispers and
giggles. Girls started checking their hair and fixing their make-up so I knew
that my brother and his friends were arriving in the canteen. I sighed as Purvi
and Sarah started lusting over them as usual.
"Oh yay, hot piece of ass number one is coming
over!" Sarah giggled, elbowing Purvi in the ribs.
I rolled my eyes as a hand shot out from behind
me stealing a handful of my fries. "Hey, Angel," Rey breathed down my neck.
I slapped his hand as he went to steal some
more. "Rey, for goodness sake! Go buy your own food, you tight ass," I ranted,
annoyed.
He laughed. "Oh you know you want to share with
me," he replied, plopping down next to me on the bench, shoving me over with
his hip.
"Rey, what do you want?" I asked with a sigh,
moving my plate away from him.
He threw his arm around my shoulder. "I just
wanted to visit with my girl. I know you've been missing me not seeing me all
morning, and all," he said cockily.
My friends all sighed and stared at him
longingly. "Will you get your man-wh**e arm off me, Rey, for goodness sake; I
don't want to catch anything!" I scolded, shrugging him off.
He chuckled again. "Don't be like that, Angel. I
just wanted to let you know I'll be driving you home today. Your brother has a
date, so..." he trailed off, smirking at me.
Great, just great! He was driving me home.
Fantastic. He always made the drive home as long as possible just to annoy the
life out of me. Then, he insisted on waiting at my house until my brother came
home, which meant that I had to cook for him too. Damn it, he is so annoying!
"That's great, Rey. Run along now, I'm sure you
have some more STD's to spread around," I said, waving my hand in a buzz off
gesture.
He laughed and kissed me on the cheek as he
stood up. "Pretend all you want, Angel, we both know you'll be wanting me to
sleep with you tonight." He winked at me slyly, giving what he said a double
meaning, and I prayed no one else picked up on it.
"Of course I will, Rey, because I'm so in love
with you." I sighed, rolling my eyes and rubbing my cheek where he kissed me.
"I love you, too." He smirked at me as he walked
off to the same girl from this morning. He slipped his arm around her shoulder,
his dirty, s**tty lips lowered onto hers. I frowned and looked away back to my
friends when he started making out with her in the middle of the canteen.
Purvi and Sarah and half the girls in the canteen
were staring after him lustfully. "Jeez, that guy is so freaking annoying! Why
couldn't my brother choose a nice best friend, someone who isn't an arrogant,
self-obsessed, asshole?" I ranted, throwing my hands up.
"Oh stop whining! Rey Singhania just had his arm
round you and kissed you on the cheek, I would give anything for those sweet
lips to be on me," Sarah said dreamily, making me laugh.
"Whatever. Come on, let's get to our next
class," I suggested as we picked up our trays and headed out.
After school I reluctantly made my way to the
parking lot, where a smirking Rey was leaning against his car waiting for me.
"Hey, beautiful." He winked at me flirtily and opened my door for me.
"Hello, Rey." I climbed into his car, already
annoyed with his flirty ass, if Swayam was here he would have slapped him for
that one.
He climbed in next to me. "So then, Angel, I
just need to stop by the store on the way back." He put the car into drive and
pulled out of the parking lot.
"Great," I mumbled. I decided to look out of my
window and ignore him; I was still annoyed with him for the whole ten more
minutes' thing this morning.
He pulled into the parking lot of the store a
few minutes later. "Come on, Angel," he said, getting out. I just sat there and
crossed my arms over my chest refusing to leave the car. He walked around the
car and opened my door for me. "Come on, Angel," he repeated, holding his hand
out for me.
"It doesn't take two of us to go in, Rey. I'll
wait here," I countered. He reached into the car and picked me up easily,
slinging me over his shoulder, laughing. He kicked the door shut and started
walking towards the store. "Put me the hell down, asshole!" I shouted, slapping
on his back.
He just laughed at my meager attempts to get
down, and continued walking. Once we were in the store he finally set me on my
feet. I looked around, embarrassed, checking to see if anyone saw that, but it
appeared that they didn't. He reached out his hand and tucked some of my loose
hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering on my cheek.
I slapped his hand away from my face and gave
him and looked at him angrily. "That was so embarrassing!" I hissed.
"What's the problem? Most girls would love for
me to do that to them," he replied, shrugging and walking off towards the
magazines.
I stomped my foot, then blushed because I had
just stomped like a child; thankfully Rey wasn't watching otherwise I would
never hear the end of it. He grabbed a sports magazine and a bar of chocolate
and stalked off towards the counter to pay.
I was happily flicking through Teen Vogue when
two boys walked over to me. I stiffened. "Well hello there," one of them
purred. I nodded in acknowledgement, and put the magazine back, walking off
quickly to find Rey.
"Hey, where you going?" the other guy asked,
grabbing my hand.
My heart started to race as I looked around,
frantically. "I'm looking for my boyfriend," I lied, trying to sound confident.
"Boyfriend? I don't see a boyfriend," the other
guy said, sneering at me. "How about we go somewhere and get to know each other
better?" the boy who was holding my hand offered, pulling me towards him
slightly.
I felt sick. Oh God, Rey, help me please! I know
I'm pathetic but I just hate confrontation and I hate people touching me,
especially people I don't know.
"Hey, Angel," Rey said, slinging his arm around
my shoulder and glaring at the two guys who immediately dropped my hand and
took a step back. I moved closer to Rey's side and pressed into him so hard
that it actually hurt. "I hope you guys weren't hitting on my girl," he said
casually, but I could hear the anger in the tone of his voice. Rey has always
been protective of me; one time a boy pushed me over into a puddle when I was
seven, and Rey went straight round to the boy's house and punched him in the
face.
"No way, man. We were just talking, that's all,"
the guy lied, holding up his hands innocently.
"That's good. Come on then, Angel, let's get you
home," Rey said, guiding me towards the door. Once we were outside, he turned
to look at me. "You OK?" he asked, looking at me concerned. I was OK; my heart
had stopped trying to break out of my chest as soon as I heard his voice.
I nodded and smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks,"
I muttered. He opened the car door and waited for me to climb in, before going
around to his side again. Once he was in he tossed something into my lap, I
looked down it was a bar of my favourite chocolate, I couldn't help but smile.
"Thanks, Rey." He was always doing sweet things like buying me candy, it was
just a shame he was such a man-wh**e jerk, otherwise he would probably be a
nice guy.
When I got to my house, I went straight to work
making a lasagna for dinner. Rey hovered around the kitchen behind me, making
me feel violated as he stared at my body. "For goodness sake, Rey, my eyes are
up here!" I cried angrily, pointing to my face.
He laughed. "Wow, you really are in a bad mood
with me today, huh?" he teased, smirking.
"Yeah I am. I can't believe you this morning. I
hate rushing around; I've looked and felt like shit all day," I cried acidly.
"I think you've looked hot all day," he
countered, shrugging.
"Ugh, can you just stop talking to me? I'm not
in the mood." I threw the food in the oven and started to chop up some salad.
"Fine, whatever." He shrugged again and came to
stand next to me, helping me chop up the salad stuff. He was standing so close
to me that I could feel the heat radiating from his body to mine, it was
strangely calming.
"I'm gonna go start my homework. That lasagna
will be done in half an hour; I suppose you're staying for dinner," I stated.
It wasn't a question, I knew he would. I'm not sure whether Swayam asked him to
stay with me when he was out, but Rey always did anyway.
"Sure, seeing as you asked me so nicely." He
smirked.
"I wasn't asking," I growled sarcastically as I
turned to walk off.
He grabbed my hand and stepped closer to me, he
was so close my chest was touching his, I could feel his breath blowing across my
face. "Angel, I'm sorry about this morning, I am. Please stop being all bitchy
to me, it doesn't suit you," he said quietly.
I took a deep breath and sighed. "OK, yeah, I'm
sorry too. I guess I have been a bitch to you," I admitted, trying to look away
from his beautiful sky blue eyes that felt like they were seeing my soul.
"So, am I forgiven?" he asked, smiling.
I liked this Rey, he was the one that looked
after me, he was different when we were on our own. He gave me his adorable
puppy dog face that I just couldn't say no to, and I felt my will to hate him
crumble.
I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I'm
going to do my homework before dinner." I pulled out of his hold and walked
away quickly.
That felt weird being close to him like that, I
could still feel the tingles of electricity flowing through my hand where he
had held it, I could still smell his sweet breath that had blown across my
face. I had no idea what this weird atmosphere was in the kitchen; it was all
just too confusing. I shook my head and pulled out my calculus homework, making
a start on it at least.
After we had eaten dinner in silence, I finished
my homework. It was only eight thirty so Rey decided to put on a movie. He put
on The Final Destination and we sat on the couch watching it. I felt a little
uncomfortable for some reason but I couldn't work out why. I was just sitting
there the same as usual, but something felt off. I kept sneaking little glances
in his direction; he was sitting there watching the movie, one leg folded over
the other, his arm casually slung over the back of my chair.
Neither of us moved until the movie finished. I
stifled a yawn. "I think I'm gonna go to bed, Rey, I'm pretty tired," I
murmured, getting up and stretching like a cat. When I looked back to him, I
noticed that he was watching me intently. I cleared my throat because he was
still staring at me with a strange expression on his face.
"Oh right, yeah OK. I'll just shoot home then
and I'll be back in like thirty minutes," he said, standing up to leave.
I followed him out and locked the door behind
him, a little puzzled. Why was everything so tense and strange between us
tonight? It's was probably just because I was so pissed off at him this morning
it's made things a little awkward.
I changed quickly into a tank top and shorts,
brushed my teeth and hair, then slipped into my bed. The bed felt cold and too
big, just like it did every night. After about twenty minutes or so, I heard my
window slide open and then closed again. Clothes dropped to the floor and then
the bed dipped behind me.
"Hey, you asleep?" he whispered.
"No, not yet," I mumbled.
I lifted my head so he could put one of his arms
under my neck. He pressed his chest right up against my back and wrapped his
other arm around me, throwing his leg over mine. I heard him sigh as I wriggled
to get closer to him, I loved Rey sleeping in with me, the bed didn't feel
right without him there.
"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling his arms
tighter around me and pressing my face into his arm, smelling his beautiful
scent that was like nothing else in the world.
"Nothing, Angel. I'm just tired, that's all," he
mumbled against the back of my head, pressing his lips into my hair.
"OK. Goodnight, Rey," I whispered, kissing his
arm.
"Goodnight, Angel," he replied, kissing the back
of my head.
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