Imagination

Hey!

Guess what? I'm back. For better and for worse, I suppose. :-)This one story I began writing a while ago and I think I had one chapter out but I've since rewritten this and here it is now.

Tell me what you think and maybe I'll post more.

Thank you.

- Lia.

****

Sitting in front of the mirror and running the powder brush across my forehead I examined my eyes; they looked somehow tired and kinda weepy no matter how I tried to make them look okay. I blended up the eyeliner around my eyes and added some white eye shadow to the inner corners of my eyes and after making the conscious decision of not being able to make myself look any better I stood up and walked over to my wardrobe. I knew it wasn’t too cold outside so I could wear pretty much anything I wanted. Finally I ended up pulling a black, short dress out of my wardrobe. I put the dress on and searched for a wide shiny belt and put it around my waist. I put on black high heels and brushed few black crystal decorations into my hair. I thought about putting on a black necklace my father had given me for my birthday a couple of years ago but decided not to, instead I searched for a long pearl necklace I had hiding in the back of the box where I stored all my jewellery. I never felt like wearing anything dad had given me when I was going to a nightclub. I took my handbag with me and grabbed a warm but good-looking sweater with me before exiting my room, walking down the stairs and out of the house.

I walked the way over to the nightclub I wanted to go to. Few drunken men passed me by on my way and I saw how they turned to look at me and I heard how they talked about me. But I didn’t turn to look at them. I had learned not to care about that kind of men. The nightclub wasn’t far, just about twenty minute walk, but on a Friday night that short of a walk was long enough to show you what kind of creeps crawled out of their hiding places when the human side of Los Angeles was laid to rest for a night. One block away from the nightclub I noticed two girls and three guys sitting on one bench, one girl being so wasted she could barely talk. I walked towards them but before I was even next to them one of the guys began shouting, he stood up and rushed to me, he wrapped his arms around my waist and as he lifted me up he spun around for few times. I laughed at his playful gesture and told him to stop the screaming or I would be deaf for the rest of my life.

“Katrina, you are my sunshine!” The guy, Billy, exclaimed as he let me down and landed a kiss on my cheek. I laughed at him and he wrapped his arm around my neck and began leading me towards the bench where the rest were sitting. All of them were from my school. Billy had been my good friend since the kindergarten times in the UK. The guy with black hair and the darkest brown eyes I had ever seen was Kade who I had met about five years ago when he had offered me a cigarette and I told him I didn’t smoke but I ended up smoking the cigarette after our conversation that didn’t end until in the morning hours. Gabriel was my father’s friend’s son and I had known him for my whole life, he had even been my boyfriend on the first grade and we hadn’t broken up until on the second grade – overall our relationship had been wonderful but we just hadn’t felt like warming up the old fire later on in our lives. The girl who was completely wasted was Katie, a girl who looked like a model with her long blond hair and thin legs and she was as naive as a naive girl can possibly be – I hadn’t known her for all that long but she was fun to hang out with. My best friend Lily had a long light brown hair with few natural highlights and her green eyes were something magical, she wasn’t too tall (she was still taller than me) and not all that skinny and I loved that chick no matter what – we had known each other for our whole lives, our moms had been best friends, and for as long as I could remember we had been inseparable.

Once Kade had wrapped his arms around Katie cause she wasn’t able to walk on her own we all began making our way towards the nightclub. Billy still held his arm wrapped around my neck and I was about to fall a few times when he kept pushing me. He had always been like that. He had always been pushing me and teasing me and everybody told me he had a crush on me though he had never expressed that to me. Once at the nightclub we all got a little nervous that we might not get in cause Katie was so wasted but we still decided to try. Billy released his hold of me and me and Lily wrapped our arms around each other, she had her arm around my neck and I had my arm around her waist cause she was a bit taller than me. We walked towards the front door and towards the bouncers who looked as scary as they were possibly able to. They gave us few suspicious looks but no-one really cared.

“Good evening, ladies.” The other bouncer said as he looked at Lily and me. He looked at us from our heads to our toes and gave us a wicked smile.

“Good evening.” I replied with a flirty tone in my voice. The other bouncer looked at me with one dirty look on his face so I blinked at him and got him a little confused. He tried to act like he didn’t get confused but I knew he did.

“Wanting to get in?” The other bouncer, not the confused one but the other, asked and looked me in the eyes. I nodded my head with a sweet smile on my face. “Are they with you?” He asked and pointed at Katie, Kade, Billy and Gabriel.

“Yeah, Katie’s just a bit tired but she’ll be okay.” I answered – like that wouldn’t have been the most cliché answer I ever could’ve given him – and the bouncer nodded his head, he opened the door and I gave him a smile. “Thank you.”

“Just make sure your friend will manage.” The bouncer said and we all assured we would look after her. Once inside the nightclub we could see how the dance floor was full of people, there were few men sitting at the bar and I immediately glued my eyes on one dark haired man who was dressed in black tight jeans and purple button-up shirt. I could see he had a long shiny necklace on his neck. I kept glancing at him as we made our way towards the bar to order few drinks. When Lily and me sat at the bar I could see how the man looked at me, I looked at him and his bright blue eyes almost confused me. I gave him one smile and told the bartender what I wanted. While waiting for my drink I kept glancing at him while he kept glancing at me, when I got my drink and me and Lily were about to head over to one table I gave a smile to the man and he gave a smile to me.

“Come on, Katrina, we haven’t even had our drinks and you’re already flirting.” Lily said and punched my side but I just gave her one smile. We sat at the table where everyone else was sitting at.

“Will my sunshine dance with me?” Billy asked with a begging tone in his voice but I shook my head.

“No, I got to keep an eye on the situation.” I said half shouting cause the music was so loud and a guy at the table next to ours was singing along with the song.

“What situation?”

“How you slowly get so wasted you start telling strangers you love them. And when that happens I’d rather not be near you.” I answered with a playful smile on my face and Billy gave me one wink back.

“You just want to check out that man at the bar.” Lily said and in that split second Katie sat straight and looked at the bar.

“What man! Where?” Katie kept asking as I described the man to her. Black tight jeans – he looked really good in those –, purple button-up shirt, shiny necklace, silvery shoes, dark hair – I wasn’t sure whether it was black or just dark brown, it was hard to tell in the atmospheric lighting of the nightclub –, the most gorgeous blue eyes even though I knew Katie couldn’t see his eyes from the distance and… it took that long until Katie realized who I was talking about. “Oh, Katrina, sweetie… You’ll never get close to him.”

“Oh no, you could never get close to him!” I exclaimed and Katie just gave me one worried look.

“He looks old.”

“He looks hot.”

“He’s too old for you.”

“He’s perfect for me.”

“Katrina.”

“Katie.” I said defiantly and took a sip of my drink. “Don’t worry, I’m gonna be fine. A little conversation won’t hurt anyone.” I said, laid few looks towards the man at the bar, gave a smile to my friends and stood up. I walked towards the bar while the man was carefully following my every move. I sat on a bar stool next to him and he gave me a sweet smile.

“May I offer you a drink?” The man asked and I just couldn’t stop staring into his blue eyes.

“Do I look like I’m in a need of a drink?”

“It depends on where you’re looking at it.” He said and looked at me from my head to my toes.

“Oh yeah… what’s the best angle?”

“The best angle is to be polite. May I offer you a drink?”

“Thank you. That’s very kind of you.” I said and when he asked I told him what kind of a drink I wanted to have. He ordered a drink for himself too and after two seconds of looking into his eyes I couldn’t deny how lost I was. In a way I didn’t like. He was making me way too hypnotized. And in a way I loved. He made me feel like I was the only thing he saw in the whole world – and he didn’t even wanna see anything else. I was like a foolish teenage princess who had just gotten a love letter from a prince. I was like a bird that had just learned how to fly. That’s how he made me feel. And with just one look in to my eyes. I might’ve had reasons to be worried but the way he looked at me made me feel way too okay to be able to worry. When we got our drinks he suggested we’d go to a table instead of sitting right there at the bar and I thought it was a good idea so we headed towards a quiet corner table where the lighting was even more atmospheric but there were candles on the table. There was a soft semicircle shaped couch in the corner and on the other side of the table there were couple of chairs. We sat down on the couch. He sat down kinda close to me, still he seemed to be far but he was so close that if he wanted to touch me he wouldn’t have to move. He looked straight into my eyes and I looked straight into his eyes and it felt like all the noise around faded away.

“Have I seen you here before?” He asked with a thoughtful sparkle in his eyes. I shook my head; I probably seemed really thoughtful though I immediately knew the answer.

“That’s one really old line.”

“I know.” He said, giving me an apologetic smile. “And I’m sure I’d remember if I would’ve seen you before.” He said and smiled at me very playfully. “Cole.”

“Katrina.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Katrina.”

“Purely my pleasure, Cole.” I said while looking straight into his eyes. “Does it ever make you feel uncomfortable, like when you’re talking about pleasure with a person you’ve just met? I mean that’s a common thing to say to a person you’ve just met.” I said and Cole burst laughing. He gave me the cutest smile and leaned a bit closer to me.

“If I may specify we weren’t talking about pleasure, we just happened to mention the word.” Cole said with a teasing sparkle in his eyes. I smiled at him and felt like a foolish teenage girl. “How come you just left your friends?” Cole asked and laid few looks towards Kade and Katie who were dancing – or trying to dance, Katie was just barely able to walk when she was so wasted.

“You could’ve just said if my company didn’t please you.” I said sounding as insulted as I possibly could but when Cole gave me a teasing smile I immediately smiled back at him.

“Certainly not what I meant.”

“Why are you here alone?”

“Cause I’m a hermit.”

“You’re not a true hermit when you’re here.” I said with an unimpressed look on my face so Cole shrugged his shoulders and like accidentally placed his other hand on my thigh as he leaned closer to me. Maybe it was all just cause the music was so loud and you really couldn’t hear the other person unless you were speaking right into their ear.

“See, I have this deal with myself that I can come here but I have to come alone. That way I retain my reputation as a hermit but I make sure I won’t go totally crazy with myself.”

“Fair enough deal, I suppose.”

“Would you like to go dancing?” Cole asked and succeeded to surprise me with his question. I looked at the crowded dance floor and shook my head.

“Not really.”

“You don’t need to know how to dance here.”

“I’ve been dancing ballet since I was 3 so I should know a little something about dancing but I don’t enjoy of strangers grabbing me cause the dance floor is so crowded.”

“Maybe that’s just an excuse.” Cole said with a wicked smile on his face.

“I have my suspicions, too.”

“We don’t have to dance if you don’t want to.”

“What are we gonna do then?” I asked half whispering. Cole moved closer to me so his thigh was touching mine, he ran his fingers up my neck and across my cheek and he wiped hair aside from my face while looking straight into my eyes. Then he leaned a little closer and I forgot how to breathe.

“What would you like?” Cole asked whispering and I had no idea what to answer. I only looked into his eyes and felt hypnotized. I took a gentle but determined hold of Cole’s shirt and pulled him closer to me until his lips lingered upon mine. My poor heart was racing so fast I was afraid it would fall out of my chest any second so I tried to think of something to answer but all my wicked lines had disappeared and all that was left was the man right there next to me. Cole touched my chin and lifted my head up a little, he leaned even closer to me and when I wasn’t able to breathe anymore he kissed my lips. I closed my eyes and answered to his kiss that went on until Cole suddenly pulled farther from me. I took few deep breaths in and opened my eyes to see how he was looking straight into my eyes.

“Let’s go get another drink.” He said and I didn’t know how to fight back. We got up and headed towards the bar, we got our drinks and headed back towards the table. We walked towards the corner table, I thought we would sit at the table but instead Cole suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist and pushed me against the wall. I gave him a questioning look and a little surprised smile but instead of explaining his gesture he moved closer to me. He rested his other hand against the wall and held his other hand on my waist, he came real close to me, I could feel his hips against my hips when he stared deep into my eyes. His lips were almost lingering upon mine when I felt how his other hand – the one that had been resting on my waist – began moving towards my back pulling me closer to him as it moved. He moved even closer, I was pushed firmly against the wall when he placed his other hand on my neck and leaned closer until his lips touched mine. I thought my heart was about to stop at the second where he drowned his fingers into my hair and determinedly pressed his lips against mine. I answered to his firm hold by roughly taking a hold of his belt and pulling him as close to me as possible, I pushed my hips against his and in that very moment his lips left mine and a little sigh escaped his lips. I stared deep into his eyes while he stared deep into my eyes.

“What do you say if we get out of here?” Cole whispered with a soft voice – which seemed pretty amusing compared to the firm movements and touches we had been practicing when I had been pushed against the wall.

“You don’t use glamorized words, do you?”

“Why should I?”

“I didn’t say you should.”

“What do you say?”

“I say let’s go.”

----

In the middle of the night either one of us seemed tired – not after a pot of coffee – and somehow to me lying on the bed with Cole seemed way more attractive option than going home. We had been talking about random things for a while, nothing that would matter too much but something that still felt worth of talking about.

“Can I ask you something?” Cole asked as he wiped hair aside from my face and looked deep into my eyes with somehow thoughtful look on his face.

“Go ahead.”

“How old are you?” Cole asked with the most dreaming sparkle in his eyes but I turned my look away.

“I’m...” I began saying as I turned back to face him. I examined the look in his eyes for a moment and as I felt how he ran his fingers through my hair it became clear that I would never be able to tell him the truth. “22.” I said quickly and Cole nodded his head. But it was like he would’ve seen that I was lying when he gave me a questioning look.

“Really?”

“Really.” I answered quickly. Probably a bit too quickly cause Cole sat up and gave me a suspicious look. I sat up as well when he looked at me and a moment later he placed his hand on the back of my neck.

“You’re not fooling me. Tell me the truth.” Cole said and made my heart race. Million things went through my head; different escape plans, curses meant for myself to tell just how stupid I was, promises I would never drink again and lies that I could sell to Cole to get myself out of trouble.

“I think I have to go.” I said and tried to get up but Cole grabbed a hold of my arm and pulled me back down.

“You’re not going anywhere. Tell me the truth, how old are you?” Cole said and looked into my eyes with the most serious look on his face. I turned my look away. My heart was racing so fast it hurt.

“I’m 17.” I whispered carefully. Cole released his hold of me immediately and when I turned to face him the look on his face said more than million words ever could have. He seemed shocked, sad, concerned, scared, disbelieving and everything in the between.

“Oh no…” Cole whispered and pushed some hair aside from his face. “I’m a criminal.”

“No…” I tried to say but Cole interrupted my sentence before I even got started with it.

“Do you have any idea how old I am?” Cole pretty much shouted at me. Suddenly I felt really afraid.

“I don’t care, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Well I happen to care cause you’re a fucking minor!”

“I’m sorry...”

“Do you know this is fucking wrong? A 29-year-old with a minor!” Cole pretty much shouted at me. But I couldn’t blame him, I understood why he reacted like that and I was sure I felt like a bigger criminal than he did.

“I... I thought you knew.”

“How the fuck could’ve I? You were at a nightclub where you’re not supposed to get into unless you’re 21!”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re a minor, a child, do you realize that?” Cole asked half shouting and I just had to turn my look away from him.

“I’m not a child!” I exclaimed desperately while fighting against the fearful tears that were burning my eyes.

“Child or not, you are a minor. You’re not even supposed to hang around at nightclubs, drinking and… how did you even get in there?”

“No-one asked my age.”

“Oh my God...” Cole whispered and sighed deeply. “Do you realize this situation at all?”

“I do, I’m not a complete fool!” I screamed straight at Cole while tears began falling down my cheeks. I was scared and I was feeling so bad because of not telling him the truth in the first place.

“Don’t cry...” Cole whispered softly and tried to touch my shoulder but I moved farther. “You don’t have to cry. Come here.” Cole said and tried to pull me in to his arms but I pushed him away.

“Fuck you! You don’t have to try and be nice, I can just leave and you can go on with your life and everything’s okay, you don’t have to touch me when it’s so repulsive to you!” I screamed as loudly as I was possibly able to scream. I saw how the look on Cole’s face changed from something indescribable to something extremely sad and concerned.

“Now come here.” Cole said determinedly and despite my tries to push him away he pulled me in to his arms. He held me close to him and ran his fingers through my hair. “I’m sorry, I realize I over-reacted. But the only reason why I reacted so is that you are a very young girl, maybe not a child but you’re not an adult either. And a young girl like you should not be drinking, going to nightclubs, leaving from the nightclubs with strange men who are so much older than you... You are a beautiful girl, but you are so young.” Cole whispered quietly but I only pushed him away.

“I don’t need your speeches!”

“What is it that you need?”

“Someone treating me as an adult.”

“Look, Katrina, you can have people treating you as an adult without you having to drink and do all kinds of things you shouldn’t be doing.”

“I’m gonna leave.” I said but before I even got to get up Cole took a hold of my arm.

“I can give you a ride home.”

“I’m not going home.”

“Why not?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Are your parents home?”

“Why the hell would you care?”

“Why wouldn’t I care?”

“Fuck you.” I said and tried to get up but Cole didn’t let me. “Let me go, you already got what you wanted.” I said with the most disgusting tone in my voice. Cole released his hold of me, he sighed deeply and turned his look away.

“I’m not your enemy.” Cole said and turned to face me again. “You can stay here for the night.” Cole said with a caring tone in his voice and for a moment I actually believed that he cared about me. And not only cause I was a minor but he cared about me as a person.

“I don’t want your pity. We both know that the only reason you brought me here in the first place was that you simply wanted to sleep with me. And now you got to sleep with me. This is the part where I leave.”

“If you want people to treat you as an adult maybe you should start acting like one.”

“Who are you to tell me? You don’t know a shit.”

“About what?”

“About anything.”

“I know something’s not right. You wouldn’t be doing this if everything was okay.”

“Maybe I like doing this.”

“Katrina...” Cole sighed half whispering while I was fighting against tears. “Wouldn’t you want someone to love you for who you really are? Wouldn’t you want someone to just hold you and be good to you? Wouldn’t you want that instead of one night things from nightclubs?”

“You’re nothing to tell me all that. Look at yourself.”

“I’ve been 17, too. And I’m not doing this cause I’d love it so much, things just aren’t always so simple.”

“So why do you expect that things would be simple to me?”

“Why aren’t things simple to you?”

“Because...” I said but I suddenly ran out of words. I stared deep into Cole’s eyes for a moment before turning my look away, I looked at the walls and at the carpet on the floor and I bit my lower lip so hard it hurt but I was willing to do everything it took to stop me from beginning to cry. “I’m gonna go home.”

“You just said you’re not going home.”

“It’s none of your business where I’m going!”

“Okay, stop shouting at me!” Cole exclaimed, he sounded somehow angry and it made me feel a little afraid. “I’m not trying to attack you, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I am okay.”

“Then you don’t have to shout at me.” Cole said quietly. At that moment I felt like going over to him, wrapping my arms around him, resting my head against his chest, he could pet my hair, I could tell him I was sorry for shouting at him. And he could make me feel okay. Like a bird who had just learned how to fly.

“I’m gonna leave.” I said as I picked up my dress from the floor and put it on. I searched for the rest of my things and wiped my messy hair aside from my face.

“You can stay here.” Cole said but I shook my head.

“No, I’m gonna go.”

“I’ll give you a ride to... wherever you want.”

“No, thank you.” 

“You can sleep here, it’s so late already.” Cole said until he noticed the way I was looking at him. “And I swear I have no wicked plans.” Cole added and raised his hands like to prove I could rely on his promise.

“I’m just... gonna leave.” I said when Cole got up and came closer to me. He put his other arm around me and placed his other hand on my waist.

“If you think I’ll let you go wandering around LA in the middle of the night you’re wrong. You can stay here, I can go downstairs and sleep on the couch, I’ll make you some coffee in the morning and I’ll give you a ride home.” Cole said softly while he held me close to him. His skin felt warm and I was feeling a little cold.

“What if I wanna leave?”

“Don’t. Do you need another blanket?”

“I’m not staying here.”

“Then you’ll tell me where I can give you a ride to.”

“I don’t want you to give me a ride to anywhere.”

“Okay. Do you want that extra blanket?”

“No.”

“Good night then.” Cole said, landed a tender kiss on my forehead and turned around like ready to leave the room.

“Hey!” I exclaimed and Cole turned around. “I don’t have anything to sleep in.”

“Like… a shirt?” Cole asked as he walked over to his wardrobe and looked through piles of clothes on the shelves. After closing the wardrobe doors he handed me a black t-shirt that was at least ten sizes too big for me and looked at me thoughtfully. “Do you need anything else?”

“No.”

“The bathroom is right next to this room. I’ll be downstairs on the couch if you need anything. That extra blanket for instance.” Cole said and turned around. “Good night.” Cole said and gave me a smile before closing the door behind him.

I was really lost. Standing there in the middle of Cole’s bedroom. But the truth was it was late and I didn’t even wanna go home as long as I smelled like liquor. So I took off my dress and put on Cole’s shirt and sneaked underneath the warm covers. I breathed deeply in and out and closed my eyes. I opened my eyes as soon as I had closed them. I sighed desperately and got up. I sneaked out of the room and down the stairs into the living room where Cole was half lying on the couch and watching TV.

“Cole.” I whispered carefully and he turned around. “I… felt a little cold.”

“I knew you would need the extra blanket.” Cole said, turned off the TV and got up. “Come here for starters.” Cole said and wrapped his arms around me. We walked up the stairs and into the bedroom. There Cole went over to one big drawer and pulled a big blanket out of it. Cole dropped the blanket on the bed and turned to look at me, I was standing a little farther from him, looking lost and afraid and I was shivering. Cole gave me a sweet smile and walked over to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist, lifted me up and carried me over to the bed. And he lay me down very gently. And he pulled the extra blanket over me before crawling to the bed right next to me. He pulled the covers over us and tenderly pulled me into his arms. Cole landed a kiss on my neck and I closed my eyes and fell asleep.