Page 66 of Supernova

God I was lame sometimes.

Thankfully Billie didn’t seem to think so as she grabbed my outstretched hand laughing and I proceeded to lead her out.

After a little pee break, lipstick touch up and a quick mirror selfie, we forged a path through all the people to head back to the dancefloor. My heart sank as I spotted the one person I always dreaded to see. I swear I saw her more here than at the compound.

Sienna sauntered up to me. Her minions standing back near the bar where she came from, watching on with curious gazes.

I attempted to turn around. I was sick of her. She could fuck right off.

“Venus, can we talk?” Her voice had less ice to it than usual. Her question took me by surprise. Making me want to give her the benefit of the doubt. I looked at Billie who appeared equally concerned but did not seem to buy into the nice girl act like I was. Her face remained hard, not cutting Sienna any slack. After the last time I ran into this girl here, I understood why.

So I tried to avoid it. “I hardly think this is the place to talk, Sienna.”

“Let’s go outside then,” she pleaded. “Please.”

The pleading piqued my curiosity. “Fine.”

Billie pulled my arm towards her. “I’m coming,” she stated as she looked pointedly at Sienna, not hiding her distrust.

“It’s okay, Billie. We’ll be civil, won’t we Sienna?” My gaze burned into hers, encouraging her to answer correctly if she really wanted to do this.

She nodded in a way that looked sincere. Billie held her ground for a moment longer before letting go of my arm. “Okay, Vee. We’ll be close if you need us.” I smiled in answer and then gestured to Sienna to lead the way. I may have been giving her a chance but there was no way I was turning my back to the girl.

Leading me outside, Sienna stopped at the end of the club on the corner of a small alleyway. I tried not to over analyse where she’d taken me, instead choosing to be grateful that she didn’t lead us down the actual alleyway itself. At least here we were still on the street. Still out in the open where there would be plenty of witnesses if she tried to attack me.

When she stopped, I crossed my arms and looked at her, waiting for her to begin. When she didn’t immediately start, I did. “Alright, so we’re outside. Now talk.”

She sighed, although her expression didn’t soften. She still had that hard, predatory glance that had always intimidated me. No, the sigh was more like she was annoyed she had to be here and do this.

“Alright, look,” she began. “I’m sorry for being a bitch to you. I guess you don’t really deserve it.”

Was this her version of an apology?

“Gee. Thanks, Sienna.”

She death stared me. “It’s not fun when some new girl comes and steals your man. In fact, it’s quite irritating when stupid guys find pretty new things to entertain themselves with,” she continued, trying to somewhat explain herself. “Yes, Griffin had made it clear that we were always just a bit of fun. But this was always my territory. And things had never fully been off limits with us before you came along. He never fully shut the door. But then suddenly he didn’t want to see me at all anymore. Even when he’d sleep with other girls in the past, which happened often by the way, he still would always come back to me. And yes, we were very on and off, but this felt different. Feels different, I guess.” She crossed her arms defensively. “I just always assumed we’d continue on like that and eventually he’d come to his senses and when he did eventually date, it would be me. It was the logical thing to happen. So when you came along,” her hand gestured towards me lazily as she rolled her eyes, “I got … territorial.” Her fierce brown gaze locked on me. “It’s not often we get new people in the academy, and I didn’t like it. And I hated the attention he immediately gave you … that everyone immediately gave you. I assumed he’d eventually get bored and come back to me. But well … I guess you two are basically dating or whatever. And he’s made it clear that we are fully done.” Her eyes wandered again. “What a waste of time that was.” She muttered the last bit mostly to herself. “But anyway, I had my fun I guess, and he doesn’t deserve me. Any guy would be lucky to have me.” She looked back at me. “So, I’ll leave you alone now. I guess there’s no getting rid of you, so I’ll have to learn to tolerate and ignore your presence.”

I didn’t know what to make of her haphazard apology—or excuse. Whatever it was. But what stuck out was that she had said we were dating and he’d made it clear they were done. Did that mean he told her we were dating?

Sienna was looking at me like she was waiting for a response. I realised I hadn’t said anything yet. I seemed to be doing that a lot these days. Since River, I’d felt the need to overthink everything. The broken trust had made me even more persnickety.

“Thanks, Sienna. I appreciate the … uh … apology? I’ll try not to be offended by that last part,” I somewhat snorted. “I just want you to know that obviously coming into here I had no idea that you two were … well whatever you two were. And I never meant for anything to happen with Griff. That wasn’t my goal. I came here for a purpose, but things that I never expected happened along the way and one thing led to another. I apologise if I hurt you or overstepped or anything.” I was starting to mumble, I could see it in her bored and uncomfortable expression. “I’d never want to hurt another woman. We probably should have had this conversation a lot earlier. I didn’t mean to flaunt anything in front of you. So I’m sorry too.”

She fidgeted uncomfortably like she wasn’t used to being vulnerable with anyone. “Yeah … well … whatever, it’s fine. I’ll stay out of your way and you stay out of mine, okay?”

“Sounds good to me.” A small part of me wished we could be friendly but maybe it was too soon.

“Look, I feel the need to warn you. I wouldn’t get too comfortable with Griffin if I was you,” she added. “He clearly is very capable of throwing a girl away when he gets bored. And he may be trying now, but he doesn’t date. He never has. He won’t be a good boyfriend. He gets bored. So just don’t get your hopes up and don’t be surprised when he’s eventually done with you—” she seemed to drift off.

Her words stung. They were an absolute slap to my face and only fuelled all the doubts and concerns I already had about Griff. About getting hurt and giving him too much of myself. But I couldn’t dwell on them right now because either way, we hadn’t agreed to be anything more than what we currently were. We hadn’t discussed whether or not we were dating. We had left things as friends with benefits. Casual. No strings. So really, I had no right to expect anything else, even if it was seeming to feel like more.

But it was a good reminder to guard my heart.

I heard movement behind us and froze. If Sienna was still talking, I zoned out.

“Sienna, if those are your friends and this is some sort of cliché sneak attack I swear to God–”

“It’s not.” She stilled, cocking her head in a feline motion towards the alleyway. Listening—she was listening.

---