Nate

**Today**


"It's actually pretty nice. Totally her style, full of red details. I just didn’t expect Isabela to drop into the room where I spent two months doing a graffiti of Little Red Riding Hood. And she even brought a damn cat. How did she manage to bring this furry ball without anyone noticing? And it’s rubbing against my jeans like it adores me.
I watch her sleep. So angelic, lying on her back, wearing a dark silk nightgown with white lace edges. I know the damn names of various fabrics, thanks to my sister, who studies Fashion. Her annoying rants about it have drilled into my mind.
Her face is clean, no makeup, with my sweet Isabela’s expression exposed. The face identical to the little girl I abandoned. Clear. No armor, no shadow of visible thorns.
I light a cigarette, my hand trembling with anger. When the smoke blows out of my nose, the cat gets scared and runs away from me, hiding inside the wardrobe. Better stay away, you won’t like what I’m about to do to your owner!
Before I got here, I had a meltdown and wrecked my entire room in a fit of rage. Not even the window glass survived. It happened because I felt this intense anger taking over me, and I only made it to my dorm room before the overwhelming need to destroy things consumed me. In those moments, not even the meds I take for my disorder help me control it. And after there was nothing left in my room to break, I breathed, threw myself under the shower, and took an ice-cold bath, as if the water could cool my dark thoughts, ease the load of hate making me lose control. When I could breathe without wanting to punch something, I slowly walked here, dodging Fabi at the dorm entrance. She was surprised to see me there, but I wasn’t there for her. She tried to ask me about the rumors she’d been hearing about Isabela and me. I didn’t have time for her stupid jealousy or for her to act like a girlfriend, overwhelming me with senseless demands. And I’m pissed as hell, in a way she’s never seen. If I had stopped to say something to Fabiana at that moment, I would’ve broken her heart in a very, very bad way. I would’ve harshly reminded her that we’re just sleeping together, throwing in her face that it’s just sex, and yelling at her not to forget that.
I’m a jerk. I know that very well. Fabi just hasn’t realized it yet, but I don’t want to end things now. I like her boobs.
Isabela shifts in bed, and the movement of her body brings me back to reality. I spent weeks painting my dog on the wall of the recreation area, and then the bitch next to me went and wrote a huge ‘fuck you’ right over it, ruining my graffiti. If you want to make me lose it, just mess with my work. And she’s done it twice in the last few days.
There you go, the side effect of teaching this snake to use the venom I knew she was capable of! After all, anyone can create defenses, but Isabela was too much of a goody-two-shoes when I met her, never fighting back against insults, bullying, nothing. I wanted her to learn to protect herself from people, and now she not only does that but strikes back. And, unlike what I thought, I’m not proud of these defenses, because so far, Isabela’s only turned them against me.
So what if I spray-painted an insult on her door? I didn’t write any lies. She should’ve swallowed her indignation like I did for years about the mess she caused in my life.
I wish I didn’t feel so much anger, but it’s uncontrollable. Looking at her stirs up everything inside me. It’s like it misaligns my cells and switches everything around. But the result isn’t good. She manages to turn me into an even bigger mess.
I want her gone, damn it! To leave, stay away from me, but she’s a real piece of work, and it looks like she really wants a fight. She has way more guts than that sweet face lets on, the one she usually hides with excessive makeup. This new Isabela is the opposite of the teenager I met. Sharp as the tip of a knife. But while she’s just that, I can be a steamroller.
She won’t last!
I hope she doesn’t!
Isabela keeps sleeping peacefully, with one arm carelessly resting above her head. The nightgown is slightly raised above her hips, revealing black lace panties contrasting with her overly pale skin. I take the chance to focus on the countless black tattoos covering her body. There’s a hideous smiling sun on her left leg, high up on her thigh. A scary skull profile decorates her right thigh, a heart wrapped in barbed wire sits just above her ankle, and many other drawings cover that leg. She really likes tattoos. What excites me most about her new look is that belly button piercing. It’s not showing, but it’s outlined under her clothes.
I’m hard!"

"Full of desire from seeing her like this, beautiful and vulnerable, but I’m also eager for her to wake up so I can torment her. But I’m not going to rush her. I can wait patiently all day to see her reaction when she finds me here.
She wanted to screw me over. And she did, twice. Now, she’ll get screwed to learn, to realize who she’s dealing with.
The way she moves is like a feline, purring as she stretches while waking up. She didn’t take as long as I thought to wake up. She blinks lazily, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds. When she sits up, still sleepy, her eyes widen as she spots me. Then she blinks, and blinks... and blinks. Like she can’t believe what she’s seeing.
'Good morning, snitch!' I greet her, sitting on the edge of her bed, balancing my rollercoaster of emotions to keep from losing it and doing something stupid.
I force myself to keep a calm appearance, smiling as I take another long drag from my cigarette.
'How did you get in here, huh?' she asks, rubbing her eyes with both hands.
She seems calmer than I expected. However, by the way her spine is straight, how she presses her lips after speaking, or how her chest rises and falls anxiously, I know she’s scared.
Great! Feel scared, Little Sun!
'You won’t believe me if I say I can get in and out of anywhere around here...' I say, standing up and putting out the cigarette on the mirror of the bedroom door. I stare at my reflection, and I can almost see a demon staring back at me, dressed in black jeans and a hoodie. I toss the butt into a random corner, just to piss her off, and I don’t even need to look at the bitch to know she’s angry because she’s huffing. I wander around the room, then stop in front of a white shelf full of books, mostly romance novels with shirtless men on the covers. 'Still reading smutty little books?'
I turn toward her, and her sleep-rumpled face almost manages to stir something in me, but it’s overshadowed by anger. When she sees my fierce eyes scanning her panties, she pulls down her nightgown with a scowl.
'And you, still only open your mouth for obvious remarks?' she mocks in a sharp tone.
I step back when she stands up, just to give her the false sense that I’m not going to approach. I watch Isabela walk over to the cigarette butt I threw. She bends down to pick it up. I react instinctively, quickly, and stop in the exact position so that her round, perfect ass brushes against my hard length as she stands. I hear the way she gasps, but I don’t grab her like I want to. I just roll my hips so she can feel the mess she causes in me just by breathing in the same room as me. My cock throbs with the perverse fire that my desire for her ignites in it."