Throughout my life I can only recall one instance where I felt the urge to hit someone. It was an old landlord of mines back in Boston who insisted that I was shorting her on the rent. Each month she’d accuse me of not paying her fully, in which—to avoid arguing along with eviction and authority involvement—I’d pay her the remaining sum of what I “owed” her. I’d curse her name under my breath and think of countless of ways I wanted to smack that smug little Italian smirk off her face.

Why am I telling you this? Well mostly because another person had now been added to this list. Laurel. She sat in front of me wearing most of my missing clothes; the black skirt that “walked away” with my hoodie Tony gave me. I’m sure if she were to remove my hoodie there would be the blouse I had been searching high and low for. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a neat bun while her steel blues eyes held my stare. She had a smirk on her pink glossed lips that made me clench my hands into hard fists. The need to run fleeted away from me as the urge to hit her settled within my mind. I wasn’t necessarily a violent person, and I only got into a few fights when I was a teenager, but in this moment I felt a fire burning in my veins, begging me to release my clenched fists upon Laurel’s cocky stare.

“You look upset.” She commented in an innocent tone.

She was being saccharinely sweet, making me fume even more. There was nothing that bugged me more that forced oblivion, acting as if she had done nothing wrong. I remained quiet, for I was afraid if I opened my mouth I’d end up yelling causing a big scene to unfold.

“Word on the street is that you are now dating my Antonio.” Laurel added.

I glowered at her and the way she seemed possessive over Tony. He wasn’t an accessory you could call dibs on. He was a human being that could think, talk, and act for himself. I ranted silently to myself as my stare hardened with each passing second.

“I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been your Tony for a long time.” I replied with a clipped tone.

“Don’t be bitter dearie, you’ll only get wrinkles.” She remarked.

My patience ran thin to the point I nearly lunged for her throat.

“What do you want?” I managed to say without reaching over the table and slapping the smirk off her face. I was inwardly calming myself before I make a dumb, ill-fated mistake.

“Antonio of course.” She replied.

I scoffed in response. “Well if he wanted you back I’m sure he would’ve found you sooner or later.” I sneered.

I was being bitter, but it was only because this girl was out to ruin me. I could’ve easily gone to jail from that little stunt she pulled with Hope Services. It was one thing to take clothes from me—I mean sure I’m upset about it, but it’s just clothes. However, the fact that she went out of her way to stage the whole Hope Services debacle just solidified her insanity. Apparently her stay in River Falls hadn’t helped her one bit, for she was clearly off her rocker.

“He’d be with me if you weren’t around.” Laurel snapped back; her voice had an edge to it.

“I’m pretty sure he’d steer clear of your crazy ass.” I remarked while rolling my eyes.

Laurel’s crystal blue eyes grew with a mixture of shock and fury.

“Yeah, I heard of your little trip to the River Falls.” I egged with a smug smile. “Do you feel well rested?” I pressed in hopes that Laurel would make a scene and get 86’d from the place.

Laurel composed herself while clearing her throat. “Well at least I’m not some criminal who will drag Tony down with her.” She replied in a steady voice.

That stung a bit, hitting me right in my insecurities but I held my own; not wavering one bit. I didn’t want her to think she could break me. If I could handle the street life through most of my adolescent years, then dealing with this nutty princess should be a breeze.

“I’m sorry to hear you’ve been misinformed, but I’m no criminal. According to the juries ruling I’m innocent.” I replied with faux kindness.

Laurel looked back at me with a cocked eyebrow, radiating a level of obnoxiousness that almost made me punch her. Her very essence made my skin ignite with fury.

“I’m only gonna say this once more: leave Antonio alone or I’ll make your life a living hell. I promise you this much dearie I’m the last person you want to mess with.” Laurel warned icily.

“You’re wrong there sweetie.” I scoffed. “You’re the first person I want to mess with.” I added with a smirk.

Laurel smiled; her eyes holding my stare before she got up from the booth and walked away from me. She looked back at me once more before walking out of the diner and into the darkness of the early morning. I sighed and slumped in my chair.

Was it smart to fight fire with fire? I could easily go to jail with one bad report and something tells me that Laurel is the type of person who had enough free time to concoct a devious plan that could land me behind bars. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to lose face and I definitely didn’t want to lose Tony.

It was then that Tony walked into the diner. All the anxieties and worrying that encompassed me earlier dissipated in an instant that I walked right up to him and hungrily pressed my lips to his. Tony was taken aback a bit, for his lips moved against mines after a moment passed over us. His hands instinctively cupped my face as he kissed me back. I could hear Darlene giggle to herself at our PDA, but I could care less. These past few days had us both on edge. We’ve been fighting quite a bit that now all I wanted to do was curl against him and just be with him. I wanted to forget about the fact I had community service and that Laurel had just threatened. I just wanted to get lost in Tony’s embrace.

Tony pulled away first, even though I wasn’t ready for our kiss to end. “What was that for?” He asked with a broad smile crossing his lips.

“I love you.” I replied while locking my gaze with his.

Tony furrowed his eyebrows at me, wondering why I was acting like this. “I love you too.” He replied before we took our usual spot in the booth.

---

I was in bed with Tony, sleeping soundly. We hadn’t come home from the diner until the sun was beginning to rise above the horizon, peeking over the darkness that I once called my friend. It was like old times. Tony and I ordered our food and continued asking each other questions, taking turns as we learned new factoids about each other. We’ve played this game enough times that we resorted to asking silly questions, but that was the fun of it. We knew each other’s dark secrets—the ones we kept hidden from anyone—so we could now move onto the lighter questions.

I stirred in my sleep until I was jolted awake by the piercing sound of my car alarm going off. It was ringing obnoxiously loud that I jumped from our bed and scrambled to retrieve the keys from my purse. I quickly raced to the front door, pressing the button on my keys to silence the alarm. It was then that I saw what my car looked like. The windows were smashed and shattered with bright red painted letters spelling out “WHORE” along the driver’s side. From where I stood I could see that my interior was shredded by what seemed to be by the sharp edge of a blade. I gasped at the sight of vandalism.

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked groggily from behind me. I couldn’t speak because I knew who did this, and it made me just wish I punched her instead of being “nice”.

Tony stopped in his tracks when he saw what I was gaping at. My eyes were narrowed with anger.

“What the…?” Tony said letting his sentence trail to a stop. “Who did this?” He asked.

I was hesitant with my next statement. I was afraid to tell Tony who I thought was the culprit, for the last time I brought up Laurel we had an argument. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I also didn’t want Tony to get mad at me again, so I lied.

“No idea.” I answered.

---

“I swear it had to be that psycho ex-girlfriend of his!” I ranted to Mike with a frustrated sigh.

It was now lunch time. Tony had to go into the recording studio with the guys, and since I no longer have a car available I had to tag along. Thankfully Tony let me borrow his car to meet with Cassie for my new hours sheet while swinging by Hopes Services to explain how the other day was my fault. They waved it off, saying it wasn’t a big deal. I was grateful for their easily obtained forgiveness, but it wasn’t them I was worried about receiving forgiveness. I was just worried that the kids would still be upset with me.

When I returned to the studio it was around the time I usually picked up lunch for the guys, and since Mike was finally done with what he needed to record for the day he accompanied me to the Burger Joint to grab lunch.

“Do you have any proof?” Mike pointed out. We were currently in line to order our food.

“No, but last night after you dropped me off she slid into the booth I was in.” I remarked.

Mike’s eyes grew wide. “What’d the she-devil say?” He asked jokingly.

“Basically telling me to stay away from her Antonio, and that she was the last person I should mess with.” I replied while gagging at the end.

“And what’d you say?” Mike pressed.

“In more or less words I told her that she was the first person I wanted to mess with.” I replied with a smug smile.

“Whoa, we got a badass on our hands.” Mike quipped.

I rolled my eyes at him. Ever since my birthday celebration Mike and I became friends. We weren’t that close, but in the current situation I happened to be in I knew I could trust Mike with this. After grabbing our food, we drove back to the studio.

“Did you tell Tony about it?” He asked hesitantly.

“The last time I brought up Laurel Tony sorta flipped out. I don’t want it to happen again.” I replied sheepishly. I felt bad for keeping something like this from Tony, but I had no choice.

“Tony can be an idiot sometimes” Mike admitted before adding “But he’ll be understanding about this. Just give him a chance.” He assured me.

Notes

Here's my somewhat short update. I think I wrote this chapter three different ways, one involving a fighting scene, but I decided against it and went with this. Sorry for not updating sooner, but I was stuck in writers block which sucked ass.

Anyway Mike left earlier this week. If you hadn't read in my other stories that I updated then I'm happy to admit that we're engaged!! :D That goober proposed at the airport before he left and I cried like an idiot, wishing he didn't have to leave. Anyway I thought I let you guys know since you were so understanding about my absence.

Thanks for reading and leave us some comments! (: