The Ball - Part Two
"I only got 500 likes on my last Instagram post. What's up with that?"
"It's that concealer you used. I told you it made you look cakey."
"Sergei said I looked fine."
"What do boys know? Your Sergei's as thick as they come. A total himbo. You should've gone for someone softer. Like Oliver."
"You're one to talk. You're dating Tala."
"It is one date. It's not like we're a couple or something and what did you expect me to do when he asked? Turn him down? He's only like one of the most influential people in this whole university!"
Tyson snaps the brooch box shut, casting a glance at the two girls standing and speaking in hushed tones near the counter beside him. He better put the box back, then. He sighs as he trudges toward the bedroom.
"Oh my god, did you see Kai?"
"Kristina is so fucking lucky. She has no idea how good she's got it."
"Like imagine having that as your date."
Tyson frowns as he passes by them. Aren't girls supposed to be more loyal than guys or is that a myth?
He's lost in his thoughts as he sets the box down on the crowded bed. He doesn't hear Julia enter the room.
"Don't go yet," she says, startling him. Tyson spins around and takes a step back when he sees her. Julia smiles. Her glossy platinum hair up in a fancy bun. "Kai has something for you."
She walks further in. Tyson shifts aside as she bends to retrieve a suit still in the wrappers hidden under piles of stuff on the bed. "Here" She holds it out to him.
"I don't want it," he declines immediately, before he's even taken a good look at it.
Julia sighs. "It's a gift," she insists, pushing the suit towards him.
Tyson moves back. "No, it's a noose. I won't take anything from him."
She retracts her arm. "But you worked so hard today. You deserve it." Her big blue kohl-lined eyes stare at him.
"Who thinks that? You or him?" he challenges.
Julia takes a moment to reply. "Both" she whispers. "We both do."
He doesn't believe it for a second. Tyson shakes his head. "No, thank you," he whispers back.
She heaves a sigh, then lays the suit on the mattress, atop Gucci shopping bags and Chanel purses. Tyson curls his fist as he stares at the Hugo Boss label on the hanger of the suit he was offered. "It's six fifty. Ten minutes left. If you don't want to be late, you better go and get ready now," Julia says before leaving.
Tyson takes out his phone and checks his texts.
05:45 Mariam: Don't leave me single out on the dance floor, Tyson.
"He doesn't want it," he hears Julia say to someone as she goes out of the room.
Tyson looks up just in time to see Kai enter.
Oh no
He puts his phone away.
"Don't want the suit?"
"Nope"
He slides his hands into his back pockets, shuffling his feet as Kai comes closer and picks up his gift.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want anything from you. Especially not your charity."
Kai snorts lightly. His teeth show below the mask when his lips part open in a smirk. "It's not charity, Granger."
"Well, whatever it is, I don't want it." Tyson hands him his phone and credit card back, placing them in his outstretched palm. "Can I go now? I'm going to be late."
"You can go," Kai says with a nod, pocketing his things. "But you'll wear this first." He pins the suit against Tyson's chest. The plastic grazes the side of his face.
"I-" Tyson opens his mouth to argue. Kai cuts him short.
"There's no point arguing, Granger. I want you to wear it."
Tyson purses his lips. Glaring.
He closes his hand around the hanger, accepting the suit.
"Good boy" Kai praises, sarcastically, turning to walk out. "Fix him up when he comes out, Hye," he hears him tell the stylist as he closes the door behind him. The lock clicks shut.
He locked him in?
Tyson exhales in outrage, ripping the plastic covers off the suit. A note falls out. 'Спасибо за усердную работу. Вы заслужили мое уважение,' it says in bold black handwriting. Tyson frowns, confused. He should google it. He lays the note down on the bed. He'll google it later. Tyson inspects the suit.
It's monochromatic. The jacket and pants coloured a deep black while the shirt's white, along with the neck scarf and the ruffled cuffs.
He likes it. Kind of.
Tyson holds it up against himself as he looks in the mirror. He could look nice in this.
Some of his anger towards Kai disappear.
Tala and his girl are making out in the backseat of the limo when they arrive.
Kai slaps the back of his head as he gets out of the vehicle.
Julia's date meets her outside the house that is lit up like its the fourth of July. Yellow, blue and white fairy lights strung from the roof to the ground. Romero and his team had left nothing untouched. Not even the trees. Draped in led stars.
Tala groans as he crawls out of the car. "I'm not in the mood to dance anymore. I just want to fuck."
Kai takes in the view of the front lawn. The twinkling swing set. The glittering hedges and lamps lighting the path to the house. "You can fuck later," he drawls to Tala. He sees Tyson at the front door, waiting to go in.
"Wanna double dip with me and Aiko?" Tala whispers in his ear lasciviously, his dirty gaze on Kai's profile.
"No" he says, utterly bored and unfazed.
"Your loss" he sing-songs following Kai's line of sight. He spots Tyson bowing elaborately to a blue-haired girl standing before him, one arm behind his back, one hand held out to her as he glances up. The girl might as well have swooned as she accepts his hand. "Well if it isn't Granger trying his luck with chicks. He definitely got a few tricks up his sleeve. Too bad he can't keep any he finds," he notes with a amused grin as Tyson and his date walk in to the house together, fingers clasped.
Kai walks ahead, Kristina by his side. They trail after him. Most of the students are already inside, but there are cars still arriving.
"What do you mean?" Julia asks, falling into step beside Tala. Lights twinkle behind her.
He draws the wolf mask over his face as he talks. "I mean, of the incredibly small number of girls he's dated - two by the way - one of them left him for someone else and the other was never interested in him at all."
"Oh wow. That must have hurt," says Julia, looking slightly heartbroken for Tyson. "How do you know these things?"
"I just know. It's my job to know."
Julia snorts.
"And that," Tala points out to her, "Is why he's single."
They climb up the front steps, ready to make a grand entrance. The inside of the house is bathed in red and purple lighting. People are already dancing. Pretty dresses gliding over floors as couples spin together. Julia stops at the front door, a step behind Kai whose presence sucks all the attention of the hall as he crosses the doorway. Sergei, Ian, Bryan and their dates follow. Aiko tugs Tala's hand as he waits for Julia's reply. She seems to be coming up with something revolutionary. "Because he doesn't trust people easily anymore," she observes.
He almost claps. "Marvelous, darling. You hit the nail right on the head," Tala praises before breezing past her into the house.
"Can we go in now?" Her date asks meekly beside her. She looks at him like she forgot he was there this whole time.
"Yes! Let's!" She takes his hand and enters the ball, a bejeweled mask encrusted with rubies covering her eyes. People gasp and stare as she makes her way in.
"You smell like Kai," Hilary notes when Tyson joins her at the refreshments table after a round of dancing with Mariam, who's gone to the bathroom.
The macaroon hovers in the air halfway to his mouth when he processes what she said.
"I was eating when you walked up and so I didn't see your face right away, but I thought you were Kai because of how you smelled. You almost gave me a heart attack." She puts a hand on her chest, on the sweetheart neckline of her silver gown. Her hair framing her face in perfect curls. She has a lacy white mask on.
Tyson stuffs the cookie into his mouth as he looks at her.
"I got ready in the same room he did. The suit probably absorbed it."
The soft piano music playing around them slows to a stop. The bass drops all of a sudden. Palé by ROSALÍA starts playing. Cheers go up as the mood of the ball takes a hard turn towards sensual.
"What?" Hilary leans toward him.
Shit. He shouldn't have said that to her. The vibrations are in his throat. His chest.
"I don't think I heard you right. What did you say?"
Tyson swallows. "I said-" He sees Ming-Ming lingering near their table, checking her nails, looking like she has no interest in their business whatsoever. She's definitely eavesdropping on their conversation. "He wears a lot of cologne," he says, choosing his words carefully, stepping closer to Hilary so he doesn't have to shout and give Ming something to post about. "You don't have to be around too long for it to rub off on you." He shrugs.
Hilary looks unconvinced. "Right. I'm going to go dance," she says, excusing herself.
Tyson sighs. He cannot expend anymore energy uselessly. He's already tired as fuck. Tyson grabs a Cherry Vodka Cola from one of the freshmen circulating drinks around the hall and goes to search for Mariam. She's outside the bathroom, laughing and talking with some girl in a lime green dress.
She seems busy so Tyson tells her he's going to get some fresh air. He'll be out on the cliff if she needs him. Mariam nods, smiling. "Okay"
His friends are all on the dancefloor. It's hard to make them out among the swaying couples. Dark suits, bright gowns and glinting masks are all he can see.
Tyson sips on his drink as he climbs up the steps to the first floor for some relief from the music.
He leans against the banister on the landing of the staircase overlooking the hall below. His gaze runs over individual faces. He picks out Kai from the crowd quite easily. There's a bubble of space around him and Kristina people do not dare to cross. Tyson notices when someone finally enters that bubble. Tala. The red wolf mask is unmistakable. He taps Kai on the shoulder and leans to say something in his ear.
Kai immediately steps back from Kristina and turns to follow Tala across the floor.
Where are they going?
Tala and Kai exit the house, cutting to the right.
Tyson frowns. He sets the glass down on the banister and strides toward the window on the far side of the landing. There's a garden adjoining the house. A fountain before it. At first he doesn't see anything unusual, then a figure staggers around the side of the fountain. Another is right behind. Two guys in suits.
One of them throws a punch, knocking the other to the ground.
Tyson cannot discern their identities. The burlier guy kicks the other in the stomach. He seems to be shouting something at him. He continues to attack, climbing on top of him and beating the shit out of the other's jaw.
What the hell?
He notices two more guys entering the scene. Still wearing masks. He recognizes them. Kai wrenches the dude who has gone rabid off of the one struggling on the ground. Holding him back as he tries to get at him again.
Is that Bryan?
The light catches the side of his face, and it is definitely him. Bryan's seething with fury as Kai attempts to calm him down, talking to him, hands braced on the sides of his skull. Tala walks toward the guy on the ground and Tyson thinks he's going to help him, but he spits on his face instead.
A shutter goes off next to him. Tyson jumps when he sees Ming spying through the window beside him. She takes a few more photos.
Tyson rests his shoulder against the glass, staring at her, judging. "Don't you have anything better to do?"
She looks at him with big, bug-like eyes. "No. I don't. And neither do you it seems. Balls are nauseating and casual chitchat sucks the soul out of me."
"Then why are you here?"
"For gossip" Ming raises the phone to his nose. Then takes it away. "Since we're talking, why don't you tell me why you've been sucking a certain Russian nobility's dick?" she asks him slyly. "Hm?"
"That's none of your business."
Ming-Ming smiles at him knowingly. Tyson stares back unperturbed, arms folded over his chest.
She looks away first. "Oh brother, the show's over. I think we missed the ending."
Tyson glances out the window. There's nobody there.
He turns to her again. She smiles widely.
"Isn't life interesting?"
The ball goes on despite the brawl that had taken place outside. Nobody saw or heard a thing except him and Ming apparently. The Blitzkriegs are absent for the remaining of the masquerade. Tyson kills his time sitting around a table with his friends and their dates. Mariam's good company, but he feels no pull towards her.
By the time the ball ends, he's drained of all energy and ready to hit the sack.
He texts Kai he's going home, but Kai tells him to wait for him.
The house is almost empty by one in the morning and Tyson slumps in a chair nursing a cup of coffee, jacket off, neck scarf on his lap. Though the boys aren't home, their dates linger, talking and laughing in the hall.
When the Blitzkriegs come back, Kai's sash missing, Bryan's knuckles bruised and bloody, Kai sends all the girls home. Almost all the girls. Kristina remains. She's drinking by herself on the decorated canopied bed on the grass in the backyard when he finds her, her dress in a mess.
Tala walks into the living room, scrolling through his phone, and curses emphatically when he sees something. "Motherfuck!"
"What?" asks Sergei, loosening his tie and dropping into the couch.
Kai's opening the sliding door at the front of the room leading toward the yard when he hears him. Tyson sits up straight. "What's going on?" asks Kai.
"Pop quiz tomorrow morning!" Tala throws up his arms. "Fucking Daitenji strikes again! He just has to do this to us every time."
"Fuck, no," Sergei begins wailing. Bryan's gone to bed.
"Every single fucking time. There it goes! No slumber for us tonight, boys."
"Tyson" calls Kai. He turns. "Get me a book from the library." He takes out a card from his wallet, flips it around and scribbles something on its back with a pen. Then he hands it to Tyson who stares up at him in shock.
"At this hour?" he asks him.
Kai meets his eyes. "The library's open 24/7."
"No, I mean- I'm tired," he argues.
Kai tongues his cheek. "Your bike's parked right outside."
"It's not mine. It belongs to a friend."
"Regardless," he says turning, "It shouldn't take long." He walks away, sliding the door open and stepping outside. Toward Kristina, who's lying on the bed now. One knee up, bare foot on the white linen.
Tyson stands up, looking discombobulated. Tala falls into the couch as Tyson passes by him, plodding out the room. He glances back once. At the lawn. He sees Kai crawling on top of Kristina.
Urgh
Son of a bitch
The bike takes a minute to start because of the cold weather. When he reaches the library, the staff smiles at him comfortingly. It's a warm sight. He grins back at her at check-out.
He gets back ten minutes later, hopeful he could go home after dropping the book off. Tala and Sergei have begun studying, books and laptops spread all over the low table and the couch. Kai comes back, jacketless, tucking his white shirt in.
"Here" Tyson extends the book towards him. "Can I go?"
Kai reads the cover. Turns it over. Then looks up. "You brought the wrong edition."
There's a beat of silence.
Tyson feels his patience wear thin.
Kai gives the book back to him. "I want the eleventh edition," he says, tone cool, eyes devoid of mercy.
He's aware of Tala and Sergei's attention on him. Kristina walks in from the yard, adjusting her gown. "I'm going home," she says. "I'm exhausted. I'll see you tomorrow." She plants a kiss on Kai's cheek before leaving. Merrily. To her home.
"Okay" Tyson says, dropping his gaze, lips downturned as he goes back. To the library. On Michael's bike. At one thirty in the morning. He'd woken up at six yesterday. He's been awake for almost 21 hours. It's not a big deal.
Not a big deal.
It's not like he's been on his feet since lunch.
Rushing from shop to shop, buying shit, doing shit. And all for what?
For Hilary, his mind supplies, and his anger dies.
Tyson heaves a sigh as he climbs up to the second floor of the library. The staff looks surprised to see him. "What's wrong, honey?" she asks.
He almost cries at the amount of kindness in that one sentence.
"I got the wrong book," he says, voice slightly scratchy with emotion.
"You stay here," she says, "I'll go get it for you."
"Thank you" he tells her gratefully as she rounds the desk.
It rains on the way back.
When Tyson arrives at the Blitzkriegs' house again, the three of them are sitting on the couches, smoking and drinking.
Books shoved aside.
What's going on?
Tyson walks up to the couch dripping wet. "Here" he says, stretching his arm toward Kai who's lounging in the middle of the other two.
He glances up from his phone, then back down. "The quiz has been canceled," he says. "Kids protested."
Tyson goes stock still.
His fingers clench around the book in his hand. Tala and Sergei pay no mind. Kai scrolls through his phone.
A lump constricts his throat.
His nonchalance is insufferable.
Tyson hurls the book at his face. It catches his left cheek. There's an audible thunk as it strikes and falls into his lap. Kai's eyes flash at him.
He tosses the phone aside, getting up. Tyson braces for him to chew him out. He wants a fight. He's had enough. He's almost happy with satisfaction when Kai closes the space between them. Angry. Filled with rage.
Tyson's egging him on in his head. Come on, he thinks, taking a step away from the furniture. Fight me, you bastard.
Tala and Sergei shout.
Tyson doesn't understand what they say.
He's confused for a second.
He gets it when Kai swings.
Blinding pain sears across his head.
His ears ring. His hands almost touch the floor as he staggers sideways.
He'd punched him across his face, brass-like knuckles colliding with his left cheekbone. The force of the hit is so unexpected and disorienting he's unable to immediately fight back.
Or even protect himself.
Kai grabs his shirt collar and hauls him up. Tyson has only long enough to close his own hands uselessly over Kai's, before he flings him backward.
He skids across the room, steps on a stray bottle and trips, falling backwards. His head catches the edge of a glass end table. Hard.
Stars burst across his vision.
No.
No.
The edges of his vision are blurring. Darkness creeping in.
"Get out of here," he hears Kai say, anger barely concealed in his voice, not to him, but to the others in the room. "Now"
The Blitzkriegs leave. Tala and Sergei picking themselves off the couch. Slowly. Sluggishly. Their images split into two. Tyson feels the back of his head with a hand.
Feels something hot trickle down his burning cheek.
They're alone.
Kai rolls up his sleeves.
Alarmed, Tyson tries to get up. Move into a sitting position. He struggles to lift himself, propped on elbows and forearms. The room swims.
He sees Kai walking towards him.
Something in his hand that he can't quite make out.
His heart leaps to his throat.