THE SECRETS WE KEEP (TAG: lELIA)

[zach]

Zach’s eyes opened. He lay on his back staring up at the white ceiling of his dorm room hanging slightly off the twin size bed his one arm down by his side between his body and the body next to him and his other arm behind his head. Zach turned his head to see Lelia’s dirty blonde hair as she lay next to him on her side facing away from him. Wow, this was new. Lelia went from coming over for a few hours and then leaving, to coming over for a few hours, Zach falling asleep and her not being there when he woke up, to now Zach waking up to find her next to him. They had been doing this for a while now, ever since that first night with the skinny dipping in the fountain. To neither of their surprise, the day after that wasn’t awkward at all. In fact, it was like what they did was natural and didn’t really mean anything. And it didn’t have to mean anything for either of them. No labels and no commitments. Things happened and they moved on. That was that. Although it was still strange having her still laying with him this morning, he really didn’t mind the change. It was nice to have someone to cuddle with. And he found himself actually hoping that this change would stick for Lelia just so he could wake up to her in the morning.

Too bad Lelia had no idea how much she was truly helping him lately. A lot of stuff had happened to him since he had first met Lelia, and being around her had been a release, a way for him to escape for a while. Something to keep his mind off of everything that had been thrown into his life. It was nice to just spend time with someone without that person bringing up his new transformation as a werewolf, Jace’s death, or more crazy supernatural things. It was nice to be spending time with someone who was just….human for a change. It had turned out that almost everyone he had known back in Miami as well as just about everyone he had met here in LA had been keeping secrets. Zach was just sick and tired of them. So getting away from all of that for those couple times a week was fabulous. And it wasn’t like they didn’t have fun when they hung out. She was just able to take his mind off of things. It wasn’t just the sex but just that she was the first person he had known in a long time that could handle him and really relate to him. They just….clicked.

Zach moved slightly in the bed turning on to his side to do just that. His arm lifted to slide his hand down hers. He leaned in closer to press his lips to her bare shoulder. When he did so though, he caught glimpse of something dark along the crease of the inside of her elbow. He peered at it moving his hand the rest of the way down her arm reaching that spot. He gently turned her arm over more to investigate. There on the inside of her arm were injection bruises; ones that he could tell had been used over and over and over again. It had only taken him a few seconds to realize exactly what they were. In high school, he would spend a lot of time with his soccor team after school mostly at parties and such. For the longest time, Zach had no clue that the captain of his team was actually a drug addict. His main drug....heroine. The marks on Lelia’s arms were not marks from getting your blood drawn or something very simple like that. No, they were heroine bruises; bruises that he had never noticed before on her. ”Hmm, so I’m pretty sure those bruises are not from me this time.” Zach said softly.

[lelia]

What started as just hanging out seemed to be maturing, though into what she was uncertain. At first Lelia would come around for a few hours a night, hang out, get laid, and then leave. But there was something about the way that they seemed to click, the way that he was with her that made her start staying later and later. Over time she even stopped caring whether or not his wayward roommate was going to show up and make things awkward for them. Though she was growing maybe a little too comfortable, something she knew in the back of her mind, and it made her uneasy. If she let herself get too comfortable she might do something dumb, like actually fall in love with him. She liked him, that wasn't the problem, the problem was that road was always a complicated dead end. Things were just easier as they were.

Feeling something graze against the inside of her arm, Lelia finally stirred. She was a lazy person by nature, always staying in bed until the last possible moment. Sighing softly, she woke to the kiss on her shoulder, which put a smile on her face. It was a dangerous game they were playing, there was a very thin line beween "Just sex" and comitted to someone. "W-what.." she asked in a tired voice as she finally registered that he was talking to her. Opening her eyes, it took her a moment to get her bearings, to figure out where she was. Never had she actually stayed here before and part of her was a bit alarmed that she did.

"Oh, hey.." she said softly, rolling over to look at him. Though when she realized what he was talking about, she took her arm back from him. She couldn't look at him anymore, not directly, somehow she knew he was either going to ask or figured out what was going on. "Just, don't worry about it. They're nothing, just something stupid, it's not really worth your time." she said, sitting up in the bed now and looking down at him. Her hair looked like a complete mess, like she had been all over the place last night, both in her sleep and not. Glancing around slowly, she could see that once again they made a mess of things in here.

"How long have you been up anyway?" she asked, though her tone sounded pretty edgy, defensive. What else might he have been nosy about? She was paranoid, considering what she had on her at this moment.

[zach]

When Lelia finally caught on to what Zach was saying, she pulled her arm away from him and sat up in the bed seemingly making sure not to make eye contact with him. Zach would remember when he found out Greg was using heroine. Zach had completely walked in on him at a party while he was shooting up. It was not something at all that he had been expecting, and as he waited for Lelia's response, he couldn't help but experience those same feelings all over again. The feeling of confusion, suprise, and frustration all in one. And when Lelia brushed it off as being something stupid and not worth his time, it was more like she was saying its not important and none of his concern which irritated him to no end. But he wasn't the only one. Zach could tell that Lelia herself was also getting a bit irritated by Zach's comments. Her defensive tone said it all as she asked him how long he'd been awake. And of course, like Zach normally did, he said whatever came to mind without thinking which like always wasn't remotely gentle or kind. "Long enough to wonder if sticking yourself with needles is something you do occasionally or a hobby that I just didn't know about." As usual, once the words spewed out of his mouth, he wished he could catch them and pile them back without any problems. But oh no, he was sure that problems would definitely begin to arise. Those were fightin' words there. He had said too much already. But most of the time, the things he said were his true feelings about the situation at hand because he didn't have a filter to sugar coat things before they came out. And even though he and Lelia were just friends who liked to have sex together, it didn't mean that he was going to push the fact that maybe Lelia had a few secrets of her own that he should probably know about aside. Although Lelia wasn't someone Zach was entirely commited to, he still cared about her quite a lot actually. And if he really did believe that this whole thing that they had going on here was just sex with a hint of friendship, he wouldn't have been taking it so seriously. He probably would have said something humorous about the fact that he had heard that needles were bad for people or something equally as stupid funny. But right now, Zach really couldn't shake the feeling of being concerned for Lelia especially having seen what things like that could do to someone through his soccor friend, Greg.

[mooshi]

Thread Summary: As the thread progresses, Lelia continues to be on the defensive as Zach proceeds to push his comments too far. Things erupt. There are many emotions that are expressed through hateful words. Lelia ends up storming out on Zach leaving Zach to figure out what has happened to their relationship.