8. Getting To Know You
Libra could not believe what she was doing right now, as she took a swig of her beer and grimaced at the taste. She liked wine but anything beyond that was not to her liking, at least not anymore. Prom night changed everything for her and since then she hadn't picked up another glass of alcohol, up until Jack offered her wine. Now, here she was sitting on an ottoman and having a beer with Dillon Holden â life was funny.
Their surroundings made it almost impossible to have a conversation and perhaps that was just as well because Libra had no idea what to say. Her head was slightly slumped down and she stared at her golden skin, smiling inwardly as it reminded her of her father. She looked more like him than her mother, who she suddenly missed terribly, and from any photo that she's seen of her father they even had the same birthmark on their right arm. She glanced at Dillon and wondered about his family life for a second. His parents were prominent figures in North Haven and well outside of it â all she knew was that they were rich and Dillon was spoiled because of it.
But tonight was not meant for judgment, at least not any more of it, so she forced the thought out of her head. As if Dillon had read her mind he suddenly turned his body toward her and leaned in slightly, to speak, her head fully perked and she prepared herself for his words.
"What are you studying here at Columbia College?" He asked with a struggling tone. It was awkward sitting here together because they didn't have much in common.
"Creative Writing," she answered quickly, "what about you?" she asked politely.
"I study Sports Management. I've always wanted to be an agent or involved with management on any level when it comes to soccer. You know Charlie, my friend, he went to North Haven High too and he goes to University over in England. I hope to move there soon someday."
Dillon was a lot more open that she'd thought. Maybe he is serious about proving himself, somehow. Libra reminded herself of Dr. Fine's words and also recalled her hard work on her vision board. If she truly wanted a change she had to be open to it, even if that meant being slightly pleasant to Dillon Holden. After all, nothing had been proven yet and he, just like his old high school crew, was innocent until proven guilty.
She remembered Charlie, Dillon's best friend, and she was impressed to hear that he had made it to university in England. There was a time when she wanted to leave the country and go to university over in Europe; England would have been her first choice, but unfortunately that never happened.
"Do you speak to Charlie often now that he's in England?" She asked. Dillon looked surprised to see her actually participating in the conversation but when his eyebrows shot up and a smile began forming at the corners of his mouth she knew he was pleased.
"I try to talk to him but with the time difference it isn't always easy," he explained and then went on to tell her about how Charlie liked England so far. "What about you though, why are you studying Creative Writing?"
Should I tell him? Libra hadn't spoken about the reason for liking writing to anyone but Dr. Fine and Sophia, she hadn't envisioned talking about this tonight and was slightly taken aback â but then the quote from the vision board appeared in her mind again. 'I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me'
"My father loved books and he would always read to me when I was little," she started, "when he passed away I took care of his books and as I got older I started reading them â and that's how I began writing. I've pretty much known my whole life that I wanted to study Creative Writing, so I could write a book so good that my father would've read it if he could've."
She hadn't realized how personal she had gotten until she saw the look on Dillon's face. His eyes beamed of sympathy for her and she understood that he had no idea about her father's death. Most people in North Haven just assumed that he had left when she was young, because Robert had always been around, but now the cat was out of the bag for real. There wasn't much else to hide from him as she knew what question would come next.
"I'm sorry Libra," Dillon said with sadness in his voice, "can I ask how he passed away?"
"He was murdered when I was 3 years old. It was an armed robbery at the restaurant he was working at â my father Arturo and another cook were both killed. They never caught the guy."
The police hadn't bothered with much of an investigation from what her mother had told her. They had seen a poor Puerto Rican man in a restaurant, in a drug fueled neighborhood, and somehow thought it was an open and shut case.
"Shit that is one messed up story," Dillon said and pinched the bridge of his noise, "I had no idea about your father or that he had...passed away. I always thought that the other guyâ"
"Robert, you mean, yeah he married my mother when I was five years old. Melanie and I aren't real sisters, if you couldn't already tell." She smirked when she said the last part. It was pretty obvious that Melanie wasn't her real sister. While Libra sported black hair, a curvaceous body and full lips Melanie was quite the opposite; banana-blond hair and the stereotypical skinny cheerleader body.
"I figured it must've been something like that. Melanie never said anything about it in high school, she just told everyone you were sisters and that was it." Dillon explained.
That put a broad smile on Libra's face, knowing that Melanie never bothered to tell anybody about their family business. Not once had she ever pressured Libra into talking about her father, unless she wanted to, and most of the time she didn't want to speak about him. Reading his books that he had collected and bought over the years was better than talking â it was remembering him the best way she knew how.
"Anyway, maybe we should talk about something more uplifting," Dillon nervously chuckled and once again they took in their surroundings, "maybe since I told you which floor, at The Arc, I live on you could tell meâ"
Before he could finish two guys ran up to them, both of them eager to speak at once. Libra had seen them enter the party with Dillon earlier and assumed they were looking for their missing friend. She glanced over at Dillon who seemed embarrassed having the two guys hovering over them. It took everything in her to not judge the both of them, but she had an itching feeling she knew their 'type'.
"Sorry to interrupt this," the blond hair guy gestured to her and Dillon, "but we have been looking for you everywhere. We've finally located Rebecca and she's got some sweet friends that are looking to take the party elsewhere. One of the girls spotted you and wanted us to come get you. Come over and meet her!" The desperation in his voice was strong but the one in his eyes were far stronger.
Libra waited for Dillon's response and wondered how he was going to wiggle his way out of this one. He had gone through such trouble in explaining how he wanted to make sure she got the right representation of him â now was the time to prove it.
Dillon quickly got up and moved over to the guys, whispered something to the two of them and then looked back at Libra. She swallowed hard and felt her palms begin to sweat from the curiosity of what Dillon had told them. After 3 minutes of unsubtle whispers back and forth she saw Dillon with his shoulders slumped and shaking his head in a defeated way, and then he turned toward her.
"I need to go help my friends with this...thing, but I will be right back. Please don't go anywhere until I get back." And then he left.
Suddenly the party seemed so big, despite such a tiny apartment. Libra begun feeling like prom night again â that she was in a setting that was unknown and uncontrollable to her. Jack was nowhere to be seen now so she fished her phone out of her purse and quickly typed him a message.
I can't find you anywhere in here. I'm taking a cab back to The Arc now, call me later. And don't worry about me, I will be fine.
She let her eyes rake over the room once more before leaving. She could not see Jack anywhere but she could see Dillon as he was standing in a crowd full of people, mostly girls, with his arm draped around one of the girls. Libra smirked at her suspicions and decided to confirm that she had been right about Dillon Holden all along â he just didn't want to accept it.