TWO

RILEY

My entire body was aching, I felt sore all over. I groaned as a ray of light hit my face. My eyes fluttered open. I yawned, rising from the bed and relaxing my body against the bed stand.

“Wait….A bed?” I muttered, all forms of dizziness clearing from my eyes instantly.

“It's morning,” I mumbled aloud.

“How…how come. I was having rum with Nathan just now and…” 

My mind went blank. I couldn't recall anything.

Rummaging my head for answers as to how I ended up here, my eyes drank in the appearance of the room. It wasn't my room or one of the rooms at home. It was….

“A hotel room.”

“Oh, lord,” I mumbled, clutching onto the sheets wrapped around my chest.

“Wait, sheets?”

“Wasn't I in an overflowing gown at the bar?”

I instantly stared down at myself. Lifting the sheet and slowly peeking down my body.

“God! I was naked.”

“Did Nathan and I do it last night?” I muttered.

I couldn't recall anything, my memory was blank and all I could recall was downing shots of rum.

Someone groaned right next to me, making my eyes move in its direction.

“Who are you?” I asked, sliding off the bed and getting defensive.

The person had been covered by the sheets the entire time, making him appear like a pillow.

Moving further away from the person, the entire sheets that had covered him slid off and his face was revealed.

It was Nathan and worst he was of all, he was naked and staring right at me!

At that moment the events of the previous night flashed through my mind.

How I got drunk, how I threw myself at him, how I confessed my wants, feelings and everything to him. How he stared at me, I could recall the love in his eyes. How he eased me off my clothing, how he pampered and cleaned me up after the deed last night. I could recall the warm kiss he placed on my forehead that coaxed me to sleep.

My cheeks instantly heat up.

“Can you stop staring at me like that?” Nathan’s voice resonated, pulling me off memory lane.

He was now in his bursars and staring at me.

“Nathan, we….” I stuttered not knowing what to say or where to begin.

“Last night, we…” I blushed profusely.

“Fuck it, Riley, you're a 24 years old woman, why do you keep stuttering,” I scolded myself.

“Riley, if you have something to say, say it now. I have a flight to catch,” Nathan said, sounding irritated?

“Nah, I was just overthinking things.”

“Areweanitemnow?” I said in one breath.

He stared at me like I'd lost my mind.

“What are we now, Nathan?” I asked, looking down at the floor and drawing invisible lines with my foot.

“Human beings, Riley. We are both humans,” he answered rather sarcastically.

I smiled, loving his humour.

“I mean, we made love last night. Aren't you going to ask me out now…”

“Sex, we had sex, just casual sex. People have sex all the time, Riley.”

My jaw dropped at his statement. My palms got sweaty and my eyes tickled, tears threatening to spill.

“Nathan, you…”

“Why act like this? it wasn't like you were a virgin or something. Seeing the way you carry yourself up and your overly Christian dressing, I thought you'd be a virgin, turns out you're much more experienced than me…”

“I gave you my all last night….”

“Yeah, you threw yourself at me,” he cut me off. “ Honestly, never in a million years did I think you're this loose. Just a few glasses of rum got you talking about how you masturbate with my photos. You disgust me, Riley…”

“I disgust you, yet you…”

“I only wanted to fulfill one of your fantasies, nothing more than that, you should be thankful for that.” 

Every word proceeding from him was nonchalant and pricked me like needles.

“Bastard.” This was the only word that came from me.

“Whore,” he countered.

He suddenly broke into a laugh

“Wait, did you really think I'd go out with someone like you? Just take a good look at yourself, dirty, you wear overflowing gowns and you work with darned chemicals. I doubt any reasonable guy would ever want to have anything to do with you…”

“Enough,” I cut him off.

“Get out,” I growled at him.

“This might be your brother's hotel, but this room is under my name right now, so find your darned overflowing dress and get your slutty self out of my presence,” he pointed towards the door.

Shame, embarrassment, self-hate, name any negative emotion, I was feeling it all. Walking over to the spot where my clothes were lying felt like a long walk of shame. I picked up my dress, not bothering to look around for my panties or bra. Slipping my dress on, I grabbed my shoes.

“You don't expect me to dispose these, do you?” His voice sounded.

The voice that once sent shivers down my spine, that voice that once made my core pulsate, now made me want to puke.

I didn't turn back. I pulled the door open and walked away with my head bowed. 

“How did I end up like this?”

I'm a rich affluent woman, men should be falling at my feet for God's sake, why should I always get hurt like this? I own a renowned pharmaceutical company and was doing pretty great myself. Even though I couldn't compare to Nathan in terms of wealth, I was pretty well off and didn't deserve this. It is true that my dress sense is kind of off, but then shouldn't we all wear what we are comfortable with? I wasn’t one to show my body in the name of fashion and was very comfortable with just clothes that didn't reveal my body parts. When did that become a crime? I had no answer to this.

Flagging down a cab outside the hotel, I gazed at it, knowing that this one building would hunt me for long. There and then, I made a resolution never to step foot into the hotel or anywhere near it ever again.

“30 Tilas Street,” I gave the cab driver my house address. 

Perhaps it was time for me to move out of my brother's home where I've lived my whole life and live by myself. He'd probably be against it, but I was doing this for myself and my sanity. I would stay somewhere, where I wouldn't run into Nathan or anyone related to him, and then I needed my personal space too to get over today’s incident.

“Life goes on, Riley, it always does.”