Serpent's Deceit (Entry 020)

 

I do not know what exactly is more concerning. The fact that I just let him do whatever he has wanted to do with me, or the fact that his action is not exactly disgusting to me. There is no denying the fact that what he has done is sexual. And it should be termed as sexual harassment as well since I have not consented to do that clearly. But I do not think I exactly mind what he has done.

If anything, I feel curious. I feel this terrible urge to know how far he could go. I have a feeling that he has wanted to go further, but something has stopped him. I want to know what it is, and I want to know how far he is willing to go if there is no barrier.

What am I even thinking? What is wrong with me? I have a boyfriend, for God's sake!

Shaking away the ridiculous thoughts from my head, I pull out the box and examine it again. What could possibly be inside it? Should I open it now? What if it's a sensor bomb? Once I open it, the whole house will blow out.

It sounds ridiculous, but not impossible for him to do. 

It is probably not a good choice to open it here, but my curiosity gets the best of me. I click it open.

And nothing happens. So, what is inside is a Tulip with a stem, if I simply say it. But it is not a real flower. Is it an artificial one? Simply, yes. But I do not think it is merely a flower either. Because the stem looks too odd to be called a stem at all. 

I touch the petals. They are velvety soft and smooth. They do—

“Ah, T!” Noah barks out of nowhere, making me jump out of my skin and causing the box to almost drop to the ground. I catch it just in time and let out a sigh of relief to see that it is all right.

I turn my head in his direction with a glare. From where does he appear every time?

His eyes go to the box in my hand, and they light up with excitement. “What's that?” He moves forward to see it closely. I close my palm and turn my hand down, partially hiding it. 

“A gift. None of your business. What do you want?” I say flatly, still annoyed at his sudden appearance. He, however, does not seem to mind me. At my question, he perks up again, clapping his hands once.

“Right. I'm here to take you to the poolside.” With that announcement, he grabs my other hand and starts running towards the back door.

“What the—Noah, stop! Slow down at least!” And he pays no heed to me. He almost drags me with him. He is basically running. How the hell am I supposed to keep up with him? 

We reach the poolside area. The area is nothing like the inside of the house. It is in full party mode, the exact scenario of what you'd expect in a high school party. The whole area is crammed with teenagers. Loud music is blasting through the speakers. People are chatting, giggling, drinking, jumping into the water, splashing water and making out. There is a sort of makeshift bar at one corner. Noah takes me there. 

“Let me make you a drink only the birthday girl can drink,” he announces excitedly before grabbing a few bottles to drop the liquid from them into one of the plastic cups everyone is drinking from. I squint at his action, trying to figure out what he is mixing there. But he is so fast that my eyes cannot keep up. 

“What are you making? Poison?” I ask, failing for the fifth time and then giving up. No matter what I say, I trust him. He is not someone who will give me a drink to harm me. He is my friend after all.

He places a plastic lid on it and shakes vigorously, flashing me his teeth. “Nah, I'm the only one giving you a drink. So if it contains poison and you die, the only suspect will be me.”

He hands me the cup after the shake is done. I nod, taking it. “Makes sense.”

Opening the lid, I peek inside the cup. The liquid has bubbles in it, coming to the surface occasionally. Other than that, it is clear and has no smell either. Whatever he has mixed, soda is in there. Alcohol? I cannot tell.

“By the way, have you seen J?” He asks me, examining the crowd before glancing at me. I shake my head. “I was lost until you came.”

Alfie has reached me before him, but he does not need to know that. I take a sip of the drink. It is blatant. No taste, no smell. What am I even drinking?

“Have you seen Dax? I was looking for him.” I suddenly remember that I have been looking for him. Following Noah's action, I run my eyes over the crowd as well. No sign of Dax.

“Uh, nope. Haven't seen him.” He sips from his drink as we start walking to the pool. This side is more crowded. There are so many people in the pool. I think I see some of our friends there too.

Noah suddenly turns to me, walking backwards. His eyes hold a mischievous look in them. I furrow my brow at him. “What?”

I know that look. It is not a good sign. He is planning something troublesome. He grins at me. “The curse is getting lifted soon.”

My frown deepens in confusion. “What curse?”

“The curse of staying single.” His free hand comes up to his face and covers the lower part of it. I do not know what the purpose of it is. He tilts his head back with that half grin peeking through his fingers. 

Weird behaviour. But not exactly weird for him. I take a sip of my drink and stick my tongue out in disgust. It is the worst drink I have ever drunk. He does not mind me as he continues, “I got a crush on your friend.”

My friend. Not our friend. Is he talking about Ray? But she is taken.

“And I won't waste my chance this time overthinking,” he adds when I am still processing the information. I look up at him and feel the world spinning for a second. The feeling vanishes as quickly as it has come. What is going on? Am I just overstimulated or….

“So I'm about to head off now. But before that—” I look up at him for the second time to see why he has stopped abruptly, only to get cut off again. He pushes me backwards, and I lose my footing. 

Splash!

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

It is not that I hate water or that I have a phobia related to it. In fact, I love swimming and being in water. But the fact that Noah has done that out of nowhere and that it is most likely a prank is infuriating me. 

I rise to the surface, pulling my upper body out of the water. My hair is ruined, sticking to my face like strings and threads. I do not even want to guess the condition of my makeup. Water is running down from everywhere. I rub it from my face to get back my eyesight and then push back the wet hair locks away from my face. I tilt my head up to glare at Noah and possibly strangle him. But he has already run off. 

“You alright, Tulip?” 

I get a shiver suddenly. I cannot tell if it is from the voice or the cold water. Nonetheless, I turn around to face the owner of the voice.

Brown eyes, glowing from the bluish light of the pool, are staring back at me. They reflect their usual warmth as always. Rick is sitting on the edge of the pool, soaking his feet in water, at least one foot away from me. He is also shirtless like the rest of the boys here, with Hawaii shorts low at his hips. His toned body seems to have a glow in the pool light, just like his eyes. I look away.

“I'm good. Thanks.” I start to drift away when he calls for me. 

“You can come up and sit here if you want.” I look back to find him patting the space beside him and then extending a hand to me. Sitting over there does not sound bad. The water is colder than I have expected. But I am not sitting beside him.

I find the metal steps on his other side. Drifting over there, I pull myself up beside the steps. Water drips down from everywhere. The air making contact with the water on my skin makes me shiver in the cold. I wring my hair and glance up at Rick to find him chuckling.

Is he laughing because I am shivering from the cold?

The thought makes me annoyed. I scowl at him. “What's so funny?”

He mumbles something to himself before glancing at me and tilting his head. “Why did you sit over there?”

Interesting question. More amusing is that he is the one asking it. I turn my head to the front to stare at the blue water. “I just wanted to.”

I hear a splash in the next second. By the time I turn my head to see what has happened, he has already crossed the distance and is now floating before my knees. The sudden realisation makes me scoot back a little, though I do not pull my legs out of the water. 

He checks that. Well, what he actually does is check me out first, then check where I start protesting, or if I protest at all when he comes closer. I do not. 

He is now much nearer, my toes brushing his chest occasionally underwater, his face inches away from my knees. He is glancing up at me with that glow still in his eyes. They look somewhat reckless now. Or is it just my thoughts?

I feel my head swirling. My face starts feeling hot. 

I think what Noah has given me contained alcohol. And that is what is working right now. 

“You won't be able to listen to me if I sit so far away. So I moved closer. I hope you don't mind?” His voice is above a whisper. And even with all the noises around us, I somehow hear it. And I do not answer. 

Because of the alcohol. That bitch is working all of a sudden and so fast that I am losing my mind.

When I stay silent, he takes that as a sign of consent. He moves to the side this time, placing an arm over the tiled floor I am sitting on, much closer to my hips. He grins at me. “Now we're comfortable.”

He…. resembles a puppy somehow.

I shake my head to get rid of the weird thought, and the dizziness starts clouding my mind. I am not exactly good with alcohol. So whatever Noah has given me, even if it is light, it hits me straight.

“What did you want to talk about?” I ask after the dizziness subsides a little. He shrugs. “I don't know. Something. Anything. I just want to talk to you.”

After all these years of no contact? Good.

I stay silent. I have nothing to say to him. It might be better if I just get up and go away from here. But I am not feeling quite good. Also, I cannot see any of my friends anymore. So, staying here seems like a better option.

While racking my brain to come up with a topic to talk about, I remember Ray's warning from before. Is Rick aware of whatever is going on with her? Should I ask him that?

“What…do you think about Ray's coming back?” I phrase the question in a way that goes with a neutral ground. But after saying it out loud, I realise how stupid it sounds.

He probably feels that too because he looks confused. “What would I think about that?”

I shrug, waving my hands vaguely. “You know, like overall? How's she? About how much she has changed and all?”

What happens after I ask that question is that his dazed gaze finally shifts from me, and he falls into deep thought. After around a minute, he looks back, seemingly coming up with an answer. Looking at his eyes again, it suddenly hits me that he might be drunk too, more than me. 

“I, honestly, didn't think of anything. The fact that my baby sister came back to me meant everything. I think ……I was just content with that,” he pauses, thinking for a moment. “But now that I think about it, you got a point. She definitely changed. And…..well, I don't know how to describe it exactly, but, yeah, she changed.”

“Right?” I exclaim, feeling excited all of a sudden that I am not the only one being paranoid. The feeling of inclusivity has me perked up all of a sudden. “Like, you know, how she is saying random things and like, you can't match her vibe in a way and—”

“Tulip?” He calls me in a way that makes me pause. I find him staring at me with a different look this time, a look that hits you straight in the heart. My heart sinks as I reply meekly, “Yes?”

I think I already know what he is about to say even before he opens his mouth. Still, the words somehow make me feel cold. “Why couldn’t it be me?”

I take a breath. It is becoming hard to stare into his eyes. He is suddenly looking so sad, so broken that it makes my heart tighten. I realise all of a sudden that he has not moved on.

“I don’t think you need me to answer that.” I do not want to embarrass you or break you any more than I already have.

He has a different opinion, it seems. “I think I may need it. Maybe after hearing from your mouth directly, I will finally be able to move on.”

I do not know what to say. He already knows the reason. I say just that, “I told you already. I couldn’t see you as anything other than a friend. Besides, there was already someone else in my life.”

I do not think my words have done him any good like he has claimed. If anything, it seems to trigger something in him. He stands straight underwater. The look in his eyes turns sharper, more serious. 

“That boyfriend of yours. Why, Tulip? Why did you love him and not me?” He grabs my hand all of a sudden. I jerk up, trying to snatch it back from him. It is not working. He is holding on to my hand with all his might.

“I think…..you are drunk. And you need water. Let me get you,” I say as calmly as I can to get him to release my hand. It does not work either. He brings my hand to his face. With a desperate tone, he almost begs, “No, don’t leave me again.”

The next thing he does has me scarred for life. Within the blink of an eye, his hand lurches forward, coming up behind my neck and pulling me forward. Then, he presses his lips against mine. 

It happens so abruptly that it takes me a second to realise what is happening. When I get it, my hands instinctively come up and push him with all my might. He looks at me with glazed eyes filled with emotions and confusion. I slap him so hard, the sound seems to echo for a mile. After that, I get up from there and leave the place without a second thought.