Page 12 of Play Dirty
She should be back soon– I hope.
Then June randomly hooked up with one of the Sirens players, and well, she’s been obsessed since. The problem is that I hate him.
Nicolas Reyes.
Not because I’mjealous— I’m not. My issue is that he doesn’t deserve her. Almost a year later, and I’m still shocked remembering a very tipsy June asking Nico out in front of basically the entire campus.
She looked so happy and in love, while he looked mortified— he eventually said yes, but when he smiled, it didn’t reach his eyes. From that moment on, I knew he was nothing but deceptive. I just wish June could see it. To me, Nicolas is a liar, so full of shit, and maybe that’s why he can’t stand to look me in the eyes.
He always avoids me, and when we do speak, it’s flat— cordial for June’s sake but all above the surface. June twirls a piece of her chestnut hair, sucking her lower lip into her mouth as her fingers dance across the screen. She deserves so much better than whatever Nico can offer her, I’m sure of that.
Letting out a long sigh, I let my body fall into the cloud-like couch in our living room. It’s fall again, and classes start in a couple of days. Vacationing with Asher has my body tight with tension, but it’s expected of me. The hard life of being the daughter of one of the crowned ones. My arms stretch out on each side of the couch, my body sinking further into the plush material, closing my eyes. As I drift off to sleep, I’m struck by a flashback of that moment.
It’s enough to send me jolting upwards, startling June. “Hey, you okay?”
I nod, trying to shake the tremor in my voice. “Yeah, dozed off for a sec.”
“I’m yours for the next four days, Nico has practice.” I try not to roll my eyes at her words, but the annoyance wins. “So four days is all your best friend gets after spending the summer apart?”
June frowns, scrunching her button nose, her brown eyes warm and full of amusement. “And whose fault is that?”
Pointing a finger at my chest, “Not mine.”
Her body relaxes and she smiles, before her gaze drifts to the window. She seems so quiet now, so distant, always spacing out during moments. I know there’s something going on with her; she just won’t tell me what. I don’t want to push it, but it’s consuming her. Slowly, I’ve watched her light fade away, and I’m sure it’s Nico. Snapping my fingers, I try to refocus her. “Earth to June.”
June places her phone on the small table beside the chair. “So four days, what do you want to do?”
“We can go shopping, watch some anime, and eat pizza.”
She laughs. “You want to just relax?”
I roll the tension from my neck, my body screaming with each movement. My muscles are stiff and bruised underneath the clothes I wear. Relaxing is the only thing that sounds remotely pleasing. “Yeah, I do. Just us.”
I lean forward, extending my manicured hand towards her, hoping she doesn’t question the long sleeves in the warm fall weather. Thankfully, the weather has been so inconsistent that it could be overlooked, but not from the person who knows me better than I know myself.
She shrugs and quickly stands. “Well, if that's the case, let’s get back into our routine. Let's get in our PJs and order takeout. There's a new romance I want to show you.”
Romance.
The word causes me to cringe internally, the last thing I want to watch, but whatever makes this easier and makes her happy. I watch as the screen lights up on the table, and curiosity has me creeping and looking at the message that pops up on the screen.
Shockingly, it’s not who I expected… Nico.
Who’s D?
Nothing more, just D and a very private message. No message preview. Which she’s never had before. My brows knit together as I look down the hall. What are you hiding from me?
Five days blew by like leaves falling off a tree…
Today is the first day of school, another day closer to freedom or something similar to freedom; the crowned ones don’t get that. Being part of Delta Kappa Theta means that my life is pretty figured out for me; my husband has already decided how many kids, well, as many as my body and husband allow me. But for one long month after graduation, while I wait for the negotiations of my future marriage, I’ll be free.
Until then, I will continue passing the torch just as my mother passed it on to me. By the end of day four, June left to spend the night at Nico and Thiago's dorm, and I woke up in some random player's bed with a massive hangover and a cloud of regret hovering over my head. Of course, I left before he could realize I was gone. But I brokeone of my rules. Which is to never sleep with any of the Siren’s team players, unless it’s Thiago, but even that stopped abruptly.
I don’t know what happened; he just stopped letting me in, and I stopped looking for a way in and getting under Nico’s skin.
Letting out a sigh, I slip on my boots and take one final look. Nothing out of place, my uniform is perfectly ironed and creased. Not a speck of lint on my black blazer, my white collared shirt is pristine and tailored to perfection. My long blonde hair is curled at the bottom, the waves resting below my breast. My skirt stops right before my knees, short enough to show a little skin but long enough not to break the rules.
I'm an example of what Villalargos can breed.
