Page 71 of Awestruck at Dusk
Jordan jumped up from the bed like a warrior ready to strike and covered himself with his hands, but I guess his hands weren’t big enough. And he realized that too because he took a pillow and covered himself with it. Yeah, I planned to offer that pillow to him as a souvenir. It was definitely going to be a memorable event.
“Hey, man,” he said to Tobias, his face blank. He then turned to look at Cecile, who remained in place, half her body under the sheets, her arms hugging a pillow. She didn’t do as much as open her eyes and stared at the scene before her. She glanced at me, and I pleaded for forgiveness with my eyes.
She raised her brow and pulled herself up, tugging the sheet with her. She rolled the sheet sloppily around her body as she got out of bed and wandered off to the bathroom. Jordan and Tobias followed Cecile’s movements with predatorial gazes. She then shut the door with a loud thud behind her.
I stepped away from the scene and leaned my back against the wall beside the guest room’s door.
“What can I do for you?” Jordan finally said to Tobias. I could only see Tobias’s profile from where I stood, his teeth almost bearing.
“How about you get the fuck out and let me talk to her,” he replied to Jordan. “Seems to me like you’re done.”
“Not exactly,” I heard him say, followed by a deep, short laugh. “But how aboutyoustep out and let me throw some clothes on so you can tell me what’s your fucking problem.”
Tobias was like a tiger about to pounce on Jordan. And even though they were the same height, Jordan was massive, broad, mighty, whereas Tobias was all muscle too, but lean and long.
“Get dressed,” Tobias ordered, throwing a shirt he picked up from the floor at him. “And no, I’m not stepping out.”
“Suit yourself,” Jordan replied. I ran to the kitchen to retrieve my phone. I needed reinforcements. I couldn’t allow them to get into a fight. Not when Cecile would be caught up in the middle of it.
The easiest and fastest solution would’ve been to call William and have him put the fire out. But I couldn’t make myself look at him. Not even if his presence was necessary here. And I didn’t want to involve Aaron, who could single-handedly take care of the situation before anyone could even know what hit them.
This episode couldn’t be reported. I had enough on my plate with my father as it was. The last thing I needed was to get Cecile and Tobias blacklisted.
I imagined Lily and Joel had probably stayed up late last night because that’s how they rolled, and Joel was a heavy sleeper and a late riser, Lily always complained. But he was my only hope.
Luckily, Lily took the call with a raspy voice after a couple of rings.
“Lily. I need Joel down here. Now.”
“What’s wrong?” Her voice sounded alert now.
“Tobias came looking for Cecile, and Jordan’s here so …”
“Shit. Baby. Baby, wake up. Joel!” I heard a groan through the phone. “I’ll send him over.” She ended the call, and I walked back out to see what was happening.
Jordan was dressed now, thank God. And Cecile hadn’t stepped out of the bathroom yet. I stood a safe distance away. And I would’ve escaped to my bedroom and seek cover, but the only reason I didn’t was that Cecile was still in there.
“How could you?” Tobias said to Jordan with the deepest frown of disappointment. “I pulled you aside yesterday. I told youeverything. You said you’d find a way to slip away from her. What in the actual fuck, man?”
“Well, tough shit because I like her too. A lot. And I asked her about you, and she said you weren’t exclusive and that she’d been clear to you about it. What did you want me to do?”
“To show some respect.”
“Respect,” Jordan scoffed. “I’ve known you for years, Tobias. Don’t throw this next-level bullshit at me about being so self-righteous and shit. You would’ve done the same. Isn’t that how you ended up sleeping together in the first place? You—not respecting the fact that she was some other guy’s girl. That’s fucking worse than this because right now, Cecile’s single, and she has a right to choose who to share her bed with. It’s not like you can claim her or some shit like that because you feel like youlike her morethan I do.”
“Thatguy,” Tobias said, pointing at the bathroom door where Cecile was, “wasn’t my friend, you idiot.”
Jordan stared at Tobias as he ran his tongue through his teeth. I mean, Tobias had a point there, and I guess Jordan saw it too, but he seemed like the proud kind of guy who wouldn’t just dip his chin and fold over his hands.
“You’re just trying to turn things around and make this aboutmewhen you’re this piece-of-shit-friend who can’t keep his dick in his pants,” Tobias continued.
Joel showed himself in, surveying the situation. Tobias acknowledged him and shook his head, glancing my way. He then shot some rough words in Joel’s direction, who replied something back in a similar tone. All in Swedish, of course.
Tobias looked away and returned his focus to Jordan. Joel nodded once my way, and I immediately felt more at ease. But I was stressed about Tobias’s flight. You know that awful feeling you get when you’re late for the airport? I couldn’t help but feel that anxiety in my gut, even if Tobias didn’t seem to care about the time.
I heard Cecile walking out of the bathroom, so I stood behind Tobias and saw her hair dripping wet over her shoulder, a towel securely wrapped around her slim silhouette.
She then squatted in front of her suitcase, grabbed a few clothing items, and returned to the bathroom. We were all ghosts, spectrums, non-existent. She was living in a different dimension from us.
