Don't Stand By Me (COMPLETE) - Chapter 4: Chapter 4

VIOLET
July 31st: 00:25
I really hoped he wasn't having sex in my bed. That was the only thought running through my mind once they had been gone for over twenty minutes. I glanced at Kiara, who smirked and shot me a discreet wink, clearly sharing my thoughts. I rested my head on her shoulder, the buzz of alcohol flitting around my mind gently like a wave. I could feel Brent's presence at my side, all of us facing Cassie who was telling us a story about something I couldn't pay attention to.
I kept staring at her though - she was gorgeous. If I swung that way...well I'd be swinging all over her. Though I doubt I would ever get the chance, given the way Kiara was drooling over her currently. I bet she thought she was being subtle. One thing I had noticed since knowing Kiara is that lesbians were completely oblivious when someone is showing interest in them.
Like now, I knew Kiara was interested in Cassie and those feelings were clearly reciprocated judging by the doe eyes being thrown back and forth. But I guaranteed I would be having a conversation with Kiara soon enough saying that the other girl wasn't interested in her, she was just being friendly, or she was straight. Being a dense lesbian's best friend was genuinely exhausting at times. I smiled to myself, I had gotten the other two together, this would be a piece of cake.
I had always prided myself on being a good match maker. I had set my father up with his last three wives and they all seemed really happy together...until they weren't. It had worked out for the best though as he ended up with his fifth wife, who was also his first wife, my mother.
Another match I was looking to make on this trip was Brent and Kiara. Not in that way, (ew) in a friendship way! Elvis was at least civil with him, but Kiara had some real issues I could not figure out the root of. To be fair to her, when Dixon and Elvis left, they seemed to be deep in conversation, which is something I had never seen them do since they'd known each other. I had tried to eavesdrop but Cassie was keeping my focus with some story she was telling about her graduation and I didn't want to be rude. I made a mental note to ask Kiara about it another time.
It always broke my heart, seeing Kiara be so snippy with Brent when she knew how much he meant to me. I had been nice to each and every one of Kiara's conquests, girlfriends, one night stands. I would make them breakfast, gossip with them, even when they were absolute bitches. Yet she couldn't do the same thing for my long-term boyfriend.
The heat of the fire was suddenly getting to me, I felt itchy and sweaty in my own skin. Seeing all the shirtless men and scantily clad women, my drunken brain managed to come to one conclusion.
"We should go skinny dipping!" I giggled, interrupting whatever Kiara was saying.
"Fuck yeah!" Brent leered, placing a sloppy kiss on my shoulder.
I swatted him away, giggling.
Kiara rolled her eyes, "Rude." But there was no malice in it. She shoved me lightly, "We should wait for the other two, though."
"Where are they?" Cassie looked concerned, glancing around the campsite.
"Fucking." Brent shrugged and I swatted him again.
"Don't be crass!" I couldn't hold back my laughter.
"Ew!" Cassie giggled, hiding her face in Kiara's shoulder.
Well, well, well. When had they gotten so close? I smirked at Kiara who blushed and shook her head at me.
"Dixon and Elvis, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-S-S-S-"
"What's all the giggling about?"
I glanced up to see Dixon and Elvis looking quite not dishevelled. But in a way where you know they put too much effort into their appearance to look inconspicuous. It was oddly adorable. I made eye contact with Elvis and gave him a brief wink. He smirked and shook his head, tugging the collar of his shirt higher. The pair seemed comfortable with each other, not rushing to move from the other's side. Elvis' body was angled slightly towards the other boy, glancing down at him with an expression I couldn't quite place. I couldn't believe I was going to spend the entirety of my graduation trip watching two separate couples fawn over each other while my own relationship was going down the tubes. Kinda pathetic by me really.
That was something I had admitted to myself for the first time about two weeks back, and something I hadn't dared to say aloud, not even to Kiara. I felt guilty constantly for having those thoughts and not doing anything about them. But in all honesty, I was terrified. Brent was the first real relationship I ever had, and I loved him...yeah. I loved him. Definitely. I definitely loved him. But being in love with him was a different story. I enjoyed our time together, sure. But he was immature, he was thoughtless and he was just...such a boy!
That's part of the reason I planned this trip. Not that I would ever tell Elvis and Kiara, but I wanted some time where Brent and I couldn't be distracted or apart, to sit down and really figure out my feelings for him. Glancing over at him now, his dopey drunken smile aimed directly at me, I felt a niggling affection in my chest. It wasn't absolute adoration, but it was definitely something. And I could work with something.
"We were gonna go skinny dipping." Kiara supplied lightly, still giddy from her giggling fit with Cassie.
Elvis raised an eyebrow at her and they seemed to have a conversation just with their facial expressions. I frowned a bit, jealous of the bond they always seemed to have. It was like an exclusive club I was forced to pay a cover charge for but was always a few cents short. Dixon murmured something into Elvis' ear and he gave him a toothy smile. It was weird seeing something more than a bitchy smirk on Elvis' face, but it was sweet.
I fought the urge to gag. Though, glancing at Brent who was in a world of his own with his shirt missing, I wished he would be affectionate like that sometimes. I tried, but it would only last a few seconds before he would get distracted or move away. We never teased or giggled or had stupid conversations about topics that didn't even matter like the world and space and all that. But surely that didn't matter. We loved each other, we didn't need anything else. Except maybe passion. But that wasn't the be all and end all, was it?
"Hello? Earth to Vi?"
My head snapped up to see the entire gang staring at me with varying expressions of concern. I looked to Kiara who tilted her head, silently asking me if I was alright.
"Whoops!" I giggled loudly, trying to appear drunker than I actually was, "Let's go!"
Dixon somehow seemed to know the way, leading the pack with Elvis at his side. It was oddly endearing to watch them interact, bumping hips and sharing murmurs between them, Dixon pointing into the sky every so often. My breath caught in my throat as Dixon turned his head to look at Elvis. The look shining in his eyes made my heart clench. He looked enamoured, and they barely even knew each other. How did that make sense? I glanced up at Brent as we walked, until he looked down at me and gave me a soft smile. I looked deep into his eyes and saw nothing. No sparkle, no adoration, just, well, Brent.
"Hey Vi!" Kiara piped up from behind me, "Don't forget your vlog schedule!"
"Oh you're right!" I pulled my phone from my pocket, "I completely forgot."
"You vlog?" Dixon asked, glancing back over his shoulder, "How's that going?"
"Pretty well!" I shrugged, "I dunno, though. With college finishing up, it's time to figure out what I really wanna do, leave this behind me."
"Any clue what that is?" Cassie chimed in, her and Kiara speeding up to match our steps.
I glanced at Kiara, who was looking at me warmly, "My family want me to be a lawyer, join the family business. It's my degree."
I resisted the urge to sigh. As much as I didn't want to, what choice did I have? My father paid for everything, my entire degree, my lifestyle, how could I turn my back on the one thing he asked of me?
"What do you study?"
"V and I both have just gotten majors in Criminal Justice. And I have a minor in forensics." Kiara boasted.
"Impressive." Cassie smiled softly, giving Kiara a similar look to the one between Dixon and Elvis.
Maybe it was just a gay people thing. Maybe only gay people shared fleeting glances that filled the air with electricity.
"So I'm going to be the next Elle Woods!" I snickered, then sobered, "But if I could choose? I'm not sure, maybe a PI."
Brent snorted, almost to himself.
"What?" I said coldly, body stiff, "You don't think I could do it?"
"I'm just saying, you're a bit ditzy for a detective sweetheart-"
"I'm smarter than you." I replied primly, because it was true.
Yes I was ditzy, but I worked hard and used my strengths to my advantage. While I might not come across as intelligent, if anything that gave me an advantage. I just hated being labelled as stupid, when I knew damn well I was anything but. Being underestimated had its strengths, but it hurt my feelings, especially when it came from Brent. Sometimes he just didn't think before he spoke, and it led to pretty much all of our fights. That was one of the things that drew me to Kiara when we first met. She may not have liked me, but she had never thought of me as stupid.
You're like the smartest person I know, Vee. She had tearfully told me once as we were both drunk and sobbing over a midterm result. Out of all of us, you're the only one I can say with confidence is going to do amazing things.
And I truly believed her.
"Well, shit. Better hide the body, Cass." Dixon joked, breaking the tense silence as we reached the end of the clearing.
I picked up my pace, walking away from Brent and matching my stride with Dixon and Elvis, squishing between them.
I opened up the camera app on my phone, starting the recording, "Good evening my gorgeouses! It's me, your girl Violet Hastings! I am here on the first day of our trip, where we've managed to wrangle up two newbies!" I panned the camera around to everyone, who gave a good natured wave, except Brent, who was busy kicking stones with the tip of his shoe. I resisted the urge to glare at him on camera and instead widened my grin, feeling the strain on my cheeks as I did.
I switched my phone to the back camera, focusing it on the woods in front of us. The clearing opened up to reveal a gorgeous lake spanning miles.
"Woah." Someone exhaled in awe.
"Well here is the gorgeous view we have at our first campsite!"
We gathered together, looking out over the lake. The area was stunning and we walked away from the trees right to the edge of the water. Dixon kicked off his shoes, dipping his toes into the water. We happily embraced the silence of the woods and, for me at least, it was oddly very peaceful. Maybe I should become a park ranger? I could see myself in the little uniform, the wide-brimmed hat. The area was completely empty apart from us, spare for two men facing away from us, deep in conversation across the narrow edge of the pond.
"This is gorgeous!" I chimed, looking at the pond through the camera, "Wow-"
This was the precise moment the man across the pond put a bullet in the other man's skull. The sound boomed and echoed through the peaceful wood, disturbing a flock of birds who were nesting in the trees above. My gaze was fixed on those two men, frozen. The man's body slumped and fell into the water with a loud splash, dyeing the patch of water around him a deep red. I stared at that patch of red, swirling around, growing fainter. Everyone could have already run and left me behind and I wouldn't have even noticed. My breath came slow and everything seemed like that one scene from The Matrix. You would think everyone would start screaming for help, panicking and flailing. Instead we stood infinitely still, wondering what the fuck was going on and who was going to make the first move.
"What the fuck." Elvis breathed, stunning us all out of the spell we had been captured in.
My hands shook as I realised I had caught it on film and I tightened my grip to ensure the phone didn't fall from my hands. The surviving man across the lake spotted it, letting out a yell, likely at the sight of six people filming him, and aimed the gun towards us. His eyes met mine across the pond and I froze at the malice shining through them, even from a distance.
"Fuck!" Brent yelled, backing up, "Run!"
I shoved my phone into my pocket, turning around and trying to keep up. Five bullets went off, flying through the trees. The man was screaming, sloshing through the narrow part of the lake water to get to us. It reached his knees and he flew through it as if it were nothing. As we nearly reached the trees, he appeared from nowhere, grabbing my arm. His fingernails drug into my arm, drawing a hiss of pain from my lips.
"Get OFF me!" I snapped yanking from his grip, but he was strong.
"Give me that fucking phone." He growled, his hot breath wafting across my face.
"Don't fucking touch her!"
Kiara flew forward, barrelling into the man and sending him spiralling back towards the water. They rolled across the ground, kicking and screaming. I genuinely didn't know how Kiara was holding her own, but it was impressive to see. We all ran towards them, yelling various curses trying to break his attention that was solely on Kiara. The man had gained the upper hand, pointing his gun directly at her forehead. My stomach dropped, and without a second thought I moved to jump on top of them, but before I could-
"Stop it!" Brent bellowed, lunging forward and knocking the man off balance.
They toppled into the lake, disappearing beneath the surface. I wailed, running towards Kiara and bundling her up in my arms and weeping. She clung to me, practically vibrating as she was muttering something under her breath. She shook her head, looking up at me.
"I'm fine." She smiled, "We'll have a lot of this to look forward to in our line of work, won't we?"
I couldn't bring myself to laugh at her joke. Elvis kneeled beside us, brushing her hair out of her face. Dixon and Cassie stood alongside us, staring out into the water.
"Guys..." Cassie said, wide-eyed, "They still haven't come up."
We all stared into the water, silent. My heart was pounding in my chest as I begged whatever deity I could think of that he'd come back out. I ignored the knot in my stomach as I realised I hadn't even thought about him once I had Kiara safe and sound. That probably made me a really shitty person but I did not want to dwell on that right now. I wailed as a head breached the surface, dragging the other body slowly out. Brent looked up, eyes wide and manic.
There was definitely something wrong with me because this may have been the most attracted to Brent I had ever been. Maybe he should be a cop...
"Guys..." He began, tossing the other man's body onto the shore, "Do you see who this is?"
We all looked down at the man, getting our first proper glance after all of the chaos. My face paled as I stared into his wide, lifeless eyes. The familiar face I had seen splashed across the papers for years. The man whose father called mine his 'sworn enemy'.
Charles Price, heir to the Price crime family.