Danny turned around and strode off. But before he had, I had seen the look of ultimate shock on his face. I also saw anger. And a look of betrayal.
I caught sight of the look full of hatred that he shot Isaac with before he left. Suddenly, I was overcome by a surge of anger. What right did my so-called best friend have to get all jealous on me?
“What is your problem?” I demanded, as I ran up to him and grabbed his arm. Isaac was right on my heels.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he mocked, “Except for the part that my best friend is kissing….no…making out with the guy she has got over from.” He didn’t even try to pretend that everything was fine. Not a forced smile, not even a smirk. Nothing. Only his angry eyes boring into me, blazed with fury.
I eyed him back calmly, while racking my brains to think of something that would mollify him. “I don’t know why you’re being so paranoid over this,” I said at last. I had been trying to sound cool, but my words came out soft. Actually, more like quiet with a hard edge to them.
He forced a laugh, “Paranoid? You think I’m being…” his voice drifted off as he chuckled instead. I supposed his laughter was driven off by anger. “Maybe I am,” he looked at me, humour gone from his eyes in a split moment, “Why not? You just lied to me that you didn’t like him, and now where are you? Making out on your bed!” He said the last part rather bitterly, as if he felt like spitting it away from his mouth.
I felt my cheeks go red. What was happening to my usually understanding friend? Where had his unflappability gone? Without his composure, he didn’t look like my friend at all, he looked wild.
“Making out? Making out? That was just a kiss,” I yelled back, “Or is that too hard for you to understand?”
“Yeah, mate,” Isaac came close, “Chill. We were just--”
“What? Thinking of progressing to the next level?” Danny spat furiously, “And you! You keep out of our conversation.”
“Conversation? That sounded more like some kind of battle,” Isaac retorted back coolly, “And why should I keep out? I’m also part of the conver…wait¾no¾battle!”
Danny shoved Isaac away. He turned to me, “Choose, you have to. Now.” He looked at me, eyes troubled.
“I…I don’t know…” I stammered. Scared that he might turn wild again suddenly.
“What is it about him that you like?” he pleaded. His fragile eyes looked like they were about to break any moment. I couldn’t crush him. Not at a time like this. Not now. Not ever…
Then, he leaned over and kissed me.
I pulled away. “No!” I struggled, “Get off! This is wrong….get away from me!”
He didn’t let go. He stiffened for a second, and I thought he might let go of me. Instead, he pulled me in tighter, drawing my head so close that I barely had enough space to breathe, not to mention scream.
He ran his tongue along my teeth, turning a deaf ear to my weak whisper of, “No..”
I wondered why Isaac wasn’t helping me shove him away, but slowly, my thoughts tuned in to the sweet kiss of Danny. His lips were warm, gentle, relaxed. They seemed to fit in just right against mine. But something felt wrong.
This wasn’t right. Why did he have to like me? Love me, even, at a time like this. Everything was fine, Isaac liked me, but now it would be ruined. Why was I relaxing in Danny’s arms? I should be trying to escape, run back to the person I had ever loved, Isaac. Why couldn’t I stop kissing Danny? And was that regret I was feeling? The emotion that was hanging on to my heart as Danny reluctantly withdrew.
Suddenly, I had an immediate notion of hanging on to Danny, touching him, being with him, forgetting everything about anyone else. Only the two of us.
But as I saw Isaac come over to me. One glance was all it took for me to fall over him again. If Danny hadn’t been clinging on to me, I might have fallen over Isaac just then. “Let me go, Danny,” I told him quietly.
“No,” he whispered, “I don’t want you to get hurt any longer.”
“Hurt?” Isaac repeated.
“Yes, hurt, you god damn idiot,” Danny snarled at him, “Hurt. You broke her heart. And now, when she’s just healed, you’re coming to smash it again?”
“I would never…” Isaac murmured, “ Break her heart.”
“Oh, no?” Danny hissed, “You left her hanging there without an answer while you ran back to Australia. She was upset for days! Weeks, maybe!”
“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” Isaac tried to explain. “I was confused. And I didn’t say ‘no’ to her.”
“Oh?” Danny glared, “But you guys agreed to be ‘just friends’, didn’t you? Doesn’t that just sum up everything?”
“Taryn,” Isaac looked at me, “I didn’t mean that. I thought you were the one that fell out of love for me.”
“How would she?” Danny snapped.
“It was her that started the demand to become ‘friends only’,” Isaac explained, “When she did, I guess I just assumed that, well¾”
“I know,” I cut in, “I thought you would think I was obsessed with you if I kept on talking to you, so I guess I raised the ‘let’s be friends’ option.”
“Does that mean you’re willing to forget about that option…?” Isaac asked, his breath coming in raggedly, “And start new?”
I felt Danny’s hands tighten around my arm.
We were all waiting. Even me. I was hoping that some angel would come out and give me the answer. Anything. As long as it would delay the question, at least for the time being.
Isaac moved closer to me. His fingers intertwined with mine. “The choice is all yours,” he said softly.
I couldn’t believe what was happening. This was the question I had dreamed about ever since I saw him. I had already known all along what answer I would give him.
…But, I hadn’t been prepared that a kiss from Danny would change everything. I liked Danny. I didn’t want anything more…..or did I?
I wanted to run away, but I also wanted to solve the whole thing . Right here. Right now.
“Guys, I’m really sorry,” I started, “But I really can’t think of anything right now.”
Isaac looked disappointed, but he smiled patiently, “It’s alright. Take your time.”
“Yeah, take your time, Taryn, you’re gonna need it,” Danny agreed reluctantly.
I nodded. Time to get back to work.
* * *
“Okay, guys,” I called out, “That was great! I think we can consider ourselves finished for today.” I smiled encouragingly at the crew. “But be prepared for the last few days of the shooting, it might really exhaust you.”
I smiled at them one last time, then turned to leave. My merry smile faded as I walked away. It wasn’t hard to be happy when I was hanging with the crew. They were a happy bunch, but once away, my thoughts would drift to Danny and Isaac.
Danny and Isaac. My smiled dimmed a few notches as I thought of them. Well, what that was left of my practically non-existence smile, to be precise.
They used to make me happy whenever I saw them, now, I could only remember the look in their eyes when I requested for more time.
Sad and forlorn. Miserable and desperate. Certainly not an inch of happiness in them.
“Hey, great directing today, Ms Spielberg,” a friendly voice teased.
“Thanks, Jonathan,” I laughed. Then, something seemed to make me backtrack. Wait. Jonathan?
“Jon? I can’t believe it. It’s you!” I exclaimed, far from happy, but acting as if he was my best friend.
“Taryn, it’s you too,” he answered, smiling.
“Yeah, so, how are you?” I questioned.
“Great, seems you are too,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “The movie’s real fun to shoot, and ¾”
“Oh, I didn’t mean the movie,” he interrupted. Then, catching sight of my bewildered expression, he laughed lightly, “You seem to have a few people hanging on your heels, from what I heard in the rumours.”
Rumours? “No way!” I giggled, trying to feign disbelief, “Seriously? What are the stories about?”
“I’ll tell you, but only if you tell me if they’re true in thee first place,” he looked at me cautiously.
“Sure,” I shrugged my shoulders, “They’re not true, of course. I mean, it’s more likely I’ll be chasing a guy then the other way around.”
“So…you are chasing after someone?” Jonathan looked let down.
“No, silly, of course not,” As if I would let him know half of the truth.
“That’s great!” he beamed, “So, the rumours are saying that you kissed a couple of guys in a day, and now you have to make the decision by Friday.”
“What? That’s hilarious,” I chuckled, trying to hide my anxiety. I fake laughed so hard that I nearly missed out on what he said.
“Sorry? Could you repeat that, please?” I asked, keeping my face straight.
“I said, since you’re single right now, and I’m ready, why don’t you be with me?” Jonathan’s eyes were practically shining with hope.
“I’m sorry, Jon,” I said calmly, but inside, I was thinking: why me? Again? “But I’m afraid it won’t work out, I’m not exactly interested in being in a relationship right now.”
“A relationship needs both sides to work it out,” he said slowly, “And if you have the motivation, you would do great as my girlfriend.”
I flinched a bit at the last word, but kept my words firm, “I’m sorry, I’m really not interested.”
“You will be…” he smiled sinisterly, “If you need to.”
I stared at him, confused. This conversation was going weird. “I happened to be nearby your house a few days ago, and I caught sight of you playing around with two extremely ineligible boys. In fact, I even caught two videos of you toying around with them. Now, you wouldn’t want them to be published online, would you. Oh, and did I mention that I also have a voice recording for you inviting a certain boy to ‘spend time together’ in your room?” he smirked, “You’re a clever girl, Taryn, you know where this is leading, don’t you?”
I couldn’t breathe. I was speechless. I knew what his tactic was. It was an old trick that had worked for centuries, even longer, probably.
It was blackmail.
A simple, pure, dark trick. Two syllabus.
Blackmail.
