Eli's Pov
Do you know what pure bad luck is?
Meeting a hot crazy guy you apparently have a past with. A past you did not remember at all. So many things had happened the past few years and it was like my brain forgot all the painful parts because I had no recollection of anything beyond the last 2years. Then again, it was probably for the best. Whatever happened must have been so horrific that my mind cave in and wiped it all away.
The crazy part of everything was how at peace I was knowing I would never remember any of it.
And talking about crazy, there was Trevon. I was convinced that he had made up every so-called history we have. To be fair, Rich and Crazy was a thing and for good reason!
There was a whole show about Crazy Rich Asians if that wasn't proof enough. Just a reminder that it wasn't far from the truth. Money gave people power and that power sometimes made them crazy and obsessive.
I shook my head in disbelief,
"I hope I never see him again", I repeated the phrase like a mantra, like a pledge. Like a recitation that would somehow stop me from ever crossing paths with him again before he became a real nemesis.
"I really need to stay away from him"
There was no reason to get involved with him even if he is hot and alluring. He is trouble in every sense of the word.
Besides, I like girls, I have always liked them and will forever like them. Add that to the fact that I have a girlfriend and he was clearly off limits. It wasn't something I should even allow to live rent free in my mind.
Speaking of girlfriends, a merely of the first time I met Elena flashed inside my head. That 4th day of August, it was raining when my old rundown car broke down on the interstate in the middle of the night.
I'd called towing services and they kept dallying for some reason. By the time the guy finally appeared to do his job, I was already drenched and impatient.
Then he'd charged me extra because of the crazy weather, like I could control that.
Lessons were learnt tha day and the most important out of them was to buy a new car.
Whilst contemplating my miserable state, I remember a red lambho pulling over and Elena offering me a ride. I had thought we were strangers but she'd assured me that we were in a class together.
Business Ethics. I would honestly not know because I didn't have popularity, money, or friends in college.
And to think that she even paid any attention to me overwhelmed me.
And then we had become friends.
2 months after that embarrassing situation, we had officially started dating. Now that I think about it, the friends I have now were because of her. She loved me and gave me a life outside of the lonely, quiet life I. Had.
Even now, she had promised to get me a job.
Something better than what I currently had, something that would hopefully keep me far away from people like Trevon.
I was genuinely excited to crawl back into the shadows I crawled out of. No drunk customers or sinful looking men. Just peaceful days.
The interview for the position was in a couple of days so I'd taken some time off my pastime driving to focus on preparing for it.
I glanced at the 6messages I'd sent earlier and felt uneasy. She had read them obviously and it would have been great if she texted me back though. Anything.
I really wanted to know where she was and how she was doing. How she was. I cared about her more than anything. To be honest, she did tell me she would be busy these next few weeks. But then again, a text was barely 3secs out of her time.
Elisha! Stop being inconsiderate, I chided myself. But I could t help the feeling of hopelessness, pain and doubts that filled my heart so I made up excuses.
My girlfriend wasn't just anyone. She was a heiress and a very busy person. She is Elena Stilinski. Somehow, it helped to ease the pain and doubts a little.
Now that I think about, I wonder why she had asked me out first.
It was probably the most sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. And that's why I loved her so much. She fell for me first. At my most vulnerable moment.
She was an angel. My anchor.
Suddenly, my phone lit up with a notification and I frowned at the screen.
It was a follow request from instagram.
Kinda weird. Considering only close people knew about my socials. It was also private.
@Not.Romeo
What a weird name. But it made my regular SavagEli seem kinda bland, although he had spent a massive amount of time to curate that name. Coming up with something that greatly sounded like savagely. He was proud of it.
I looked at the profile. There was something about it that made me want to snoop. It was a black cat with heterochromia. What a beautiful kitten, I thought to myself.
And before I knew it, I'd clicked on accept.
Like a pandora box, I saw people I may know listed in a section underneath the profile.
@Serial.Coder
@YourYna
@StillElena
@ByBlaze
@Amy_ing
Just strangers. The only person I knew was StillElena because I followed her. What was even stranger was the fact she followed every other individual on the list including Not.Romeo.
Deciding not to dwell on it, I dropped the phone on my bed and headed into the bathroom.
A bath always made me feel relaxed. As I stripped down to my briefs, I couldn't help but stare at the tattoo on my shoulder blade. It was a snake coiled on the right collarbone like a branch. And underneath that, the words: Forever yours, RTL. There was another one, on my right butt cheek. It was a date: x/ x4/xx15 and then the words Claimed.
Then there was the tiny sparrows dotted around my right ankle. Every tattoo felt like history. A history I had no recollection of. As I stared at myself, I felt exposed. An overwhelming feeling of being under someone's scrutiny and a familiar feeling of staring at myself in the mirror while whispers of sweet nothings filled my ears.
The image was so vivid and lewd that it surprised me. I scoffed at myself for entertaining such thoughts before steeping underneath the hot water.
I let it drown all my doubts, fears and questions.
By the time, I dropped in bed, I was super exhausted from overthinking.
My phone lit up instanting and I picked it up to see 5messages from Not.Romeo
"Hey, I'm Romeo"
Psycho. He calls himself Not.Romeo but is literally named Romeo, I thought sarcastically.
" I think you have an interesting username, it reminds me of someone I used to know" Weirdo, usernames are mostly not actual names and how would it remind of a person you knew if I don't have anything on the profile other than a tan Pomeranian puppy.
"Is your name Eli? And are you a boy or a girl?
Dimwit. Did it matter I thought. Eli was usually a boy's name. Did this person just have poor conversation skills or were they from outer space?. I was genuinely curious.
"Do you want to play Truth/Dare? With a stranger who genuinely finds your profile curious?"
Now why would I want to do that? With a stranger? In the midst of the absurdity, there was something else that I couldn't deny. Curiousity. It was sharp and vivid, almost like this person knew my every weakness and was using it to get the upper hand.
Yes, he won!
"So truth or dare"
Even though every nerve in my body was creaming at me to not respond, to not play along. I did what every moth attracted to the flame would do.
"Truth"