Vincenzo recalled the last few sleepovers, ones where Amani had popped in at least briefly in the years that they were still friends. When they were freshmen, the first time she saw the boys initiate each other, Vincenzo was on the other end of the process. He was just barely younger than the upperclassmen that were testing him. Because of that, and their compared backgrounds, he had no issue talking back to them, and when he did, he glanced to the corner of the room, and saw Amani’s lips curve into a smile above her book, but he knew she wasn’t reading.
He never thought she would leave that spot in the corner of the sleepover, she went back to it every year. Until one day she didn’t.
“You’re right." He told her. "You always did find it stupid. I just thought you were entertained, the way you never looked away.”
When he began to speak on Arya, Amani’s eyes had wandered around, as if to say, okay? Anyways lmao , “You should probably find better stalkers to do your job then, if that’s what you’ve heard.” She arched a brow-, “Me and your ex were doing everything but picking on each other that day,” At Vincenzo’s suggestion that she picked ups traits from Arya, Amani resisted the urge to snarl, to retort or to say something childish. Instead, she asked, “Perhaps,” She allowed for a pregnant silence to follow. “Do you think Sellenova will fuck those traits into me?” She looked as if she truly considering it."
Hearing the girl talk about his ex, Vincenzo raised his brows. Do you think perhaps Arya will fuck those traits into me? “You want to fuck my ex?” He raised his brows, the surprise audible in his voice as he hadn’t expected Amani and Arya together, much less… how she described it. But that was the only protest he could give before Amani continued.
He growled hearing her joke. Of course she would say that, Vincenzo thought, acknowledging her petty way of making people feel bad. She had chosen to target his hairline, which had once been a funny joke between them, the same way children tend to make fun of their fathers’ beer bellies. It no longer had the same effect. Now, it was just mean, and perhaps he would have taken offense to it if he knew she was aiming for accuracy, but she wasn’t. Her only goal was to do damage, exaggerating the truth until she convinced herself of something else entirely, and forgot Vincenzo was listening at all.
“That’s not how it happened, and you know it,” he reminded her. Junior year, Amani had been one of the first to know about their breakup. Ultimately, it had been a mess. At least it felt like one for him, as everything else did. It was a choice between love and friendship, and although he loved both options, he had more faith in the second, so he ended the relationship. Not Arya.
Though for other reasons, he supposed that what Amani said was right in her own way, because she heard why it ended, but in person she watched it fall apart.
It was not like she could pretend to care about it, though. Since Amani did not care for his then-girlfriend either, she was often too close to him.
“You should pity her because you stole all her boyfriend’s time,”
he called her out, exposing her to her own self. She was not the still-striving, rightfully cruel woman she thought she was. From Vincenzo’s point of view, she was beginning to disfigure into that memory of her true, shameful intentions; greedy, and weak.
“You know, the fact that you cheat on your boyfriend all of the time, doesn’t mean you should pull me closer to you in my sleep,” Vincenzo heaved. “And I don’t know why you’re calling me a bad lay like you never thought about wanting it.”
For once, he felt he could get a reaction out of her, but with the rest of the things that he said, she tried to fake a return to being unimpressed, slapping his hand down before settling the sound of her voice. Vincenzo felt the temperature of his blood rise, furious at how unfazed she was trying to behave. It was like their ending all over again. Countless times, he tried to call her, find her in person, find a way. But she blocked his phone number, and whenever he was around, suddenly she just wasn’t. Calls. And texts. And searches. Nothing. In the Umbra Coven, he could play tough, but when Amani left, she reminded him of what he really was; powerless, waiting for her like he waited for hope as a child.
So he changed the subject, bringing up Azriel because he knew it was a weak spot, but even then her reaction had changed since the last time. It was careless; she brushed him off her shoulder as if he were made of dust.
He scoffed, not shaken by her response, but the dullness of it. But still, he overcompensated, straining his energy as far as he could manage.
“I didn’t hate him,” Vincenzo confirmed. “But I respect him now, I guess,” The man paused, swallowing the anger that had him yearning to shout.
But even if he tried, his throat was dry.
“He never bored you like I did.”
Then a smile cracked on the side of his lip. He had found a bit of sweetness in the truth that bittered him.
“He still has you under his control, too.”
She insulted him once more, explaining why she left so suddenly in terrible apathy. But in the man’s mind, the words were beginning to slur together, swirling around switching places until he couldn’t make out a single one. Slowly, her speech had grown to agonize him, because she kept tracing over his own words like they were nothing. It had been pointless to give her the dress, make a joke out of it because he was the punchline. He knew he was the punchline so before she could finish her sentence, he pumped his fist at his side.
“Are you fucking done?” He shouted, losing any control he had over the situation. Then, he lowered his voice, but he sounded no less upset “Stop acting like you never cared, because I did.”
Hearing her comment on the dress, he looked up and down her body, seeing the thing he had gotten her put into practice. And on his face, it was obvious that he was filled with hatred staring at her silhouette, so much so that he would leave the campus if it meant not having to see it again.
“It’s green,” She had told him, and they finished her sentence in their heads.
At that, he could only bury his face in his hands.
“Why do you think I got it for you?”
@Kristi Amani
Mentioned:
@CerealKiller Aryaaaa