Page 39 of Discord
For the first time this summer, my heart didnotskip a beat at his text. My Brandon-induced, lust haze broke abruptly, shattering into a million pieces. The one emotion I had tucked away since my fallout with Milo returned like a tornado—Guilt. The summer had muddled my perception, distracted by Brandon’s allure. I forgot it would destroy Milo if he found out about my nocturnal activities with Brandon. My compulsions took away what Milo wanted most in life, and now he was suffering alone hundreds of miles away. It suddenly seemed unfair for me to get exactly what I wanted most in life after destroyinghis.
Brandon
Things had gottenout of hand. Preposterously so.
Books were scattered over my coffee table. Two different digital tablets covered my work desk. Mia’s recent hypothesis glared back from the dining table.
What drove me insane was Mia’s delusional claim to have an organizational system because she knew which pile she had dumped her items on. “I know exactly where it is.” She’d point at a heaping mound as if it were self-explanatory. The method to her madness stumped me.
Sharing my space with Mia was hardly a cakewalk. She had zero understanding of personal space or privacy. The girl had never knocked on a door in her life. She snooped through my personal shit without any regard and eavesdropped on my phone calls. I couldn’t even think near Mia because she always figured shit out in a creepily efficient fashion. At this point, I was positive she had developed a technology to infiltrate my mind, seeing that she had taken up residence in every square inch of it. She also lived outside of it, too, embedded deep into every facet.
However, those weren’t the most frustrating problems with Mia.
No.
What I found more troublesome were the times when she wasn’t around to do those things to annoy me. Like fucking now.
Mia had been weirdly distracted as of late. Something had been lurking in her mind, and it wasn’t just about the damn book she brought up during our arguments. She had been distant as hell. While at her parents’, she seemed awfully evasive and quiet, and I couldn’t uncover the reason for it without an audience. No matter how many of her items I hijacked, she hadn’t come by my apartment either.
I pulled my phone out.
Brandon: Where are you?
Mia: Home.
I glared at the text.
Brandon: Not true. Unless you’re invisible or hiding.
Mia: Did you check under the bed?
I sighed, unamused.
Brandon: Where are you?
Mia: MY home.
Brandon: When will you get here… To MY home?
Mia: Can’t come over today.
I clenched my teeth.
Brandon: Why?
Mia: Raven wanted to meet up later about college stuff. Sorry.
Something parallel to panic gripped my mind. This bond with her family constantly perched up like an incessant threat, making my scalp prickle with the recognition that sooner or later, I’d have to play my hand to make her stay permanently.
I glanced at my empty apartment. Perhaps I should rejoice in the reprieve. Move my shit out of the Sinclair home and tidy up my apartment to my taste. Enjoy the quiet for once.
Instead, the sight made my chest tight, and the quiet only served to boil something dark inside me. I had to fix whatever led me back to my previously organized life. I couldn’t return to this life again because, let’s face it, I preferred the chaos.
Brandon: I’m coming over.
* * *
Mia
