INDIGO (RISE OF CRIMSON)

CHAPTER 6

Liya had a horrible time. The house was packed mostly with people several years older than her.

 Aya and Anna got lost in the crowd as soon as they entered the house and her rear end was already grabbed at least a dozen times in less than an hour. She was feeling very exposed in the dress and humiliated at being treated like a piece of meat,tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled to fight them back while looking for Anna. 

She saw Aya through the crowd giggling and surrounded by at least five young men who were utterly captivated by her beauty. She watched her for a moment contemplating interrupting so they could leave, but couldn’t’ bring herself to ruin Aya’s evening just because she was miserable. When she found a hole in the mob she made her way outside a smile on her face as the cool breeze gently washed over her,she found her way to the back of the house facing the beach. 

A well lit large deck had surrounded the back of the house with a staircase leading down to the sandy surface. The crowd had managed to spill out onto the deck and the beach but it was sparser than in the house, so she made her way down the half dozen stairs. Her heels instantly sunk into the loose surface so she bent over and removed her shoes. The cool grains felt wonderful between her toes.

 Surprisingly enough it lifted her spirits a little bit. She looked around and found a shady area next to the steps that the glow from the lights of the house didn’t reach and sat down. The sounds of the waves washing up on shore filtered through the thumping noise of the music every now and then. She leaned back on her hands, stretched out her legs and was quite content to stay there for the next few hours until Anna and Aya were ready to go home.

The next hour passed quite slowly, especially with the hub of partiers that were unable to hold their liquor and make their way to the beach to vomit. 

She screwed up her face in disgust, not understanding why people did that to their bodies. It must be different when you don’t grow up with an alcoholic in the family, she thought. In between the vomiting guests, were couples looking for privacy or daring groups running down to the beach to skinny dip whipping off their clothes as they ran. It just made her inch closer to the shadows of the stairs hoping that no one saw her. Something bounced off her shoulder and she reached up to brush it off feeling nothing and soon forgot about it. If this is what Aya and Anna’s idea of fun was, they would never drag her out again, she silently promised to herself. She felt so out of place because she couldn’t see why and event like this would be enjoyable. Again, she felt as though she was an outsider. However, she had to give it to Aya and Anna, they tried.

Sighing she tried her best to concentrate on other things, like the cool feel of the sand between her fingers, the crashing of the waves on the shore and never too far from her thoughts, how many papers she had due by the end of the month.

Sometime later, she glimpsed a familiar pair of legs through the rails of the banister as they made their way down the stairs and stood at the bottom twisting side to side slightly as if looking for someone. It was Anna. Liya stood up and called her.

When Anna turned and saw her, instant relief flooded her worried expression as she marched toward her. “Liya, have you been here the whole time? I was really worried when I couldn’t find you.”

Liya shrugged feeling silly. She wasn’t having a good time and Anna practically found her cowering in the shadows.

She studied her for a moment, and then curtly nodded, “We’re going home.”

“No.” She protested, “I don’t want to ruin your fun.”

Anna smiled, “Leave it to you to worry about us. Don’t feel bad, I’m ready to go. There’s always another party like this in the near future. We’ll leave together. Aya’s checking upstairs for you. So we’ll find her and tell her we’re leaving. She can come if she wants.”

Liya nodded relieved.

Aya decided to stay after all, but Anna and Liya left in a cab. 

The cab drove slowly through the suburban city and every violet coloured light they passed by seemed to remind her of someone.

She felt like she had seen him before, he had this strong resemblance to someone she knew but she couldn't pinpoint it.

She couldn't even explain how she felt when she met his stare, maybe she was overthinking because this was the first time a man was showing interest in her but she couldn't just forget about the incident.

Thirty minutes later the cab slowly pulled infront of their hostel.

Liya was elated to be back in the safe confines of her room where she wouldn’t be mauled by strangers. She stripped off her clothes deliberately avoiding the mirrors, used the bathroom and brushed her teeth before she pulled on a large t-shirt and crawled into bed. 

Violet Crimson eyes haunted her dreams.