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MYLA VELLA

Carter and Zack find me chatting away to some random people, telling me that Remy and Emily have been looking for me everywhere. To be honest I didn't even know I'd gone missing, I just started to flow through the party and enjoy what it felt like to be a teenager.

The alcohol hadn't fully worn off, if anything I felt more tipsy than I did before. "Where you been Myla?" Carter asks as I snap my head towards him.

"Hey guys!" I smile brightly, moving away from the group of people next to me.

"Woah," Zack holds his hands up to grab my shoulders. "Are you high?"

"No!" I say in defence instantly.

"Your eyes are just so bloodshot," he comments as he bends his knees and takes a good look at my face.

"I accidentally had a few drinks," my shoulders shrug.

Carter laughs, slapping his hand down onto Zack's back. "Accidentally?" He sounds highly amused. "How is that even remotely possible?"

My eyes close for a split second before I exhale a deep breath I didn't know I was holding. "You know what, it's a long story." I wave my hand in front of my face. It wasn't a long story, I just didn't want to waste my energy on something that was so irrelevant to the situation because I was enjoying how I was feeling. That's what mattered the most.

"Let's go find the girls," Zack tilts his head in the direction of the kitchen. "They've been looking for you."

I nod my head, my feet charging over to the kitchen like I was on a conveyor belt. Alcohol was a strange drug, substance, whatever you want to call it.

Emily and Remy stand in the kitchen, next to Jake who's on his phone. Remy glances over in our direction and does a double take. "Where have you been?" She shouts and comes rushing to my side.

"Chill," I smile at her. "I'm good, just been chatting to people."

Her blue eyes don't settle, her motherly instincts taking over. She definitely was in charge of the group, making sure everyone got home safe and no one gets spiked. She really cared and I couldn't help hug her tightly, pushing her body back slightly. She seems startled at first but she relaxes and hugs me back.

"I know what some people can be like," she mumbles into my hair. "I didn't want you to get caught up in the middle of something."

I pull back from her and let my fingers grip onto her shoulders. "Thanks for caring about me," I say quietly.

"Always," she smiles back at me before looping an arm around my shoulder and walking back to Emily and Jake. Having now been met with Carter and Zack, we all chat away.

They do more shots and I sit back and watch, not wanting to drink more purposely or overdo it. The guys chant as Carter chugs down a huge bottle of cider, the smell enough to make me vomit.

"Are you okay?" Jake asks from beside me.

My eyes lighting up as I twist to his direction, my red hair flying around in a perfect circle. "Hmmm?" I respond.

Jake inspects me for a moment, his arms folded across his chest as he sucks down onto his bottom lip. "You're acting strange," he comments.

"Yeah, and?"

"Have you taken something?" He questions, narrowing his eyes at me suspiciously.

My eyes roll up and around. "Why do you guys think I've taken drugs?" I say, my voice demanding.

"Because you're acting weird," he states simply.

"I drunk some of the punch, alright?" I shoot back before leaning on the counter next to him.

He glances down at me, never before realising my height compared to him. My shoulders resting half way down his arms.

"On purpose?" He asks sounding surprised.

I hang my head slightly and look up to him, my lashes touching my eyebrows. "You really think I'd drink it on purpose?"

Jake shrugs. "I dunno, might have wanted to let loose."

"Agreed, I'm definitely loose,"

A laugh leaves Jake's chest as his head bows over slightly, his hands clutching onto his arms. My face completely blank as I watch him keel over in hysterics. "Man," he shakes his head, a smile plastered across his face. "You definitely should not say that."

"Well for the record I ain't talking about my vagina," I say honestly as I hold up one hand.

Jake continues to chuckle away, slapping one of his hands to his head. "You should drink more often," he turns to me, his facial expressions a lot softer than before. "You're funny."

"I'm funny all the time," I huff out as I throw my arms across my chest tightly. "You just don't know it cause we never hang out."

"Maybe," he hums.

Neither of us say anything, the loud thumping music and the sound of chatter made my skin crawl. Has it always been this loud?

"This party sucks," he comments after a few moments.

"Yeah," I say as I peer around the kitchen. "I'm hungry."

Only now had I realised that severe hunger had taken over and I no longer cared about the drink. A strong desire for cheesy fries and a burger with Mayo and a full fat coke.

"Same, I'm fucking starving," Jake stretches out before rubbing his stomach.

I wondered how much longer everyone wanted to stay but as I glance over at the others, they seemed like they were set to stay here for hours. Chugging more drinks and more shots. When would it end? The answer; never, clearly.

"Might go grab some food," Jake says before letting out a tiny yawn. His head cranks to me, his eyes settling on mine. "Wanna come?"

"Yes," I say instantly, boldly. "Yes I fucking do."

"Let's bounce," he says before stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets.

"Should we say bye?" I question as we walk past the others, not one of them realising that we had left.

"Na," he shakes his head as we approach the front door. "They'll ask a million and one questions, I'll text them later and let them know where we went."

"Okay," I say as we pass through people and out the door. "Where we going? Do you know any good places?"

"The best places," Jake states as we join on the pathway.

"Can we run there?" I ask, my energy vibrating around my body.

Jake seems startled by my question. "You-you want to run there?" He asks to clarify.

"I'm hungry and I want to get this alcohol out of my system," I breathe out. "When will things stop being slightly blurry? I'm concerned I need glasses now."

He looks at me for a split moment, his head shaking in only what I could call as amusement. "You really are something when you're drunk," he says as we head towards town.

"Do you not drink much?" I question as I try my best to keep up with him and his long legs.

"I prefer to smoke," he tells me. "Drinking can be messy, I don't always like myself when I drink. Sometimes I get aggy and I'm rude to people. So I prefer to drink a bit and then smoke after."

"You been smoking tonight?"

Jake's head shakes. "Na, my weed guy was out of town so couldn't pick up."

"Oh," I say shortly.

The journey is filled with mostly ridiculous chatter from myself, I've never known to talk to much but I physically couldn't stop. It was like I needed to get it out of me before I consumed the biggest meal on Earth.

We grab food from a takeaway shop only five minutes from our house. I ordered the biggest load of cheesy fries and a burger, in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it all but I liked the option of it being there.

Jake and I both speed-walk back to the house before our food gets cold. When I see the house in sight and Oakley sitting on the patio steps, I start running to him. Carrying these limbs was a lot harder than when sober, I was literally carrying dead weight on my ankles.

"Oakley!" I shout before clutching him around my arm and holding him to my chest.

He meows up to me and leans over to sniff the bag of food I have in my other hand. "Not for you." I say.

Jake's eyebrow is flexed towards me but he doesn't say anything, removing his keys from his pocket and opening the door for us. Bringing Oakley into the house for the first time, his eyes beaming around the room.

"You know your dad is going to kill you," Jake says before throwing his bag of food down onto the table.

I shrug not caring as I let Oakley down to the floor, he walks slowly up to things and gives them a light sniff. Jake takes two plates down from the cupboards and we load them with all our yummy foods, we collapse down onto the couches, instantly digging into the greasy but delicious junk.

I didn't want to seem rude but I couldn't help but watch as Jake shovels in the biggest burger I've ever seen into his mouth, the cheese and the sauce dripping down the sides. He catches me and chews on his food. "Like you're gonna look any better," he mumbles, mouth full of burger.

My head nods in agreement as the bottom of my lip curves upwards. Grabbing my smaller burger and taking a big bite, tomatoes and mayo slipping out. I didn't care what I looked like because it tasted like heaven and I wanted to enjoy this moment.

"Is drunk eating a thing?" I question as I reach for more cheesy fries.

Jake stares back at me like I'm an alien. "Of course it is," he says as he clamps his mouth around the burger again.

My shoulders raise. "Well I wouldn't know, would I?"

Jake finishes off all his food within ten minutes, after ten minutes there was still half of my burger. Most fries eaten but I had surprised myself. "Good?" Jake questions as he sucks his thumb into his mouth.

I hum in satisfaction. "The best,"

"Agreed."

My eyes dart for Oakley who had decided to sleep on one of the dining room chairs, curled up into the tiniest ball. I wanted to burst, my teeth grinding together at the cuteness.

"Can I ask you something?" Jake says out of the blue.

Turning my attention back to him and blinking rapidly. "Sure," I encourage.

This would definitely be a first.

"I mean it's totally none of my business but I keep thinking about it," he says before scratching the back of his head, whatever he's about to say clearly controversial or rude.

"What is it?"

Jake's eyes settle on mine once again. "You don't have to answer, I'm just curious." He confirms, his voice low but steady. "Why was Aria saying what she did about your arms?"

And there is it. Inhaling a long deep breath, leaning forward on the couch. My hands running down my thighs from the unnoticed sweaty palms.

"I'm sorry if that's completely invading your privacy and I get if you wouldn't want to tell me," Jake says again. "I'm just curious and I can't help it. I'm nosy."

I wanted to smile, at least he was being honest and not sugar coating it or trying to beat around the bush. Genuinely being straight up about it and I admired that about him. Pushing myself up from the couch and standing directly in front of him. His eyes looking back at me, his feet shuffling along the floor.

For some reason I don't even think twice about what I'm going to do because I've never really told anyone about it before, unless they were my therapist or my counsellor. My fingers begin to fumble with the buttons on my boiler suit, knowing that I couldn't roll up the denim on my arms. The material far too tight to go past my forearm.

As I reach the last button on my suit, Jake sits back and observes but his face washed blankly. Not that he was expecting a lap dance or anything but I could tell that he definitely wasn't expecting this.

Pulling my suit down off my shoulders and my arms out of the sleeves, the skin on my arms and chest completely on show. Not once did he stare at my bra or my breasts, his eyes lay firmly on my damaged skin.

I hold out my arms to give him a closer look, the skin red and raised, parts wrinkled and parts slightly sizzled. "They're burn scars," I tell him.

Jake takes in every little detail which raises me in slight anxiety but I push it away, remembering that this is who I am and I cannot change.

"What happened?" Jake asks as he reaches out to clasp the base of my wrist.

"It's long winded," I say quietly.

"I'm listening," he says instantly as he looks up at me, interest in his eyes.

Releasing a sigh from my lungs and nodding at him. "Well when I was younger and used to live with my birth mother, she was a big druggy. Apparently she always had a new guy around, I was quite young to understand but I remember parts."

"How old were you?"

"Six."

Jake's eyes remain wide and nods for me to continue. "My mom had a record of mental disorders, schizophrenia was the forefront of her life."

I clear my throat not realising how taxing this felt on my feelings, my throat slightly closing up. "She had this boyfriend at the time or whatever, they're both shooting up heroin or crack." Pausing to rub my eyes. "They both were paranoid and thought I was a spy or from hell or something I have no idea. So the guy convinced my mom to handcuff me to the radiator and burn the house down."

His lips part at my words but doesn't say anything. "And that's exactly what they did, luckily my arms and my chest were the only things to be burnt. I mean I'm lucky to be alive at all, I breathed in so much smoke."

"Holy fuck Myla," Jake breathes out.

"Yeah," I half smile awkwardly. "It's so fucked."

"I'm sorry that happened to you,"

"No, don't apologise." I say as I fold my arms back into my boiler suit and continue to do up the buttons. "I don't want sympathy, honestly I hate it. Which is why I don't tell anyone or let my arms be on show because I can't be asked for the questions."

"You shouldn't hide them," he says firmly. "They're nothing to be embarrassed of."

"I'm not embarrassed," I state. "I just prefer no questions and no stares."

Jake pushes his lips out slightly as he nods, resting his arm on the back of the couch. "Ignore Aria man," he breathes out, irritated by what she had said. "If I were you, I would have punched her twice as hard."

Cracking a smile, at least someone could agree with me on that one. "Sorry I just randomly got naked," I say realising that's the most anyone has seen me undressed, not since my screenings for the hospital when I was little.

Jake shrugs like it didn't effect him. "I didn't mind," he smiles back at me.

"Perv," I joke lightly.

"Hey," he holds up his hands in defence. "I tried my best not to look but they were kind of there."

We both chuckle before the air settling in silence. "I'm gonna go to bed," I say to him as I collect my plate and rubbish. "Tonight was interesting."

"Agreed," he replies as he follows my lead.

Placing my food packages in the bin, collecting Oakley in my arms and walking towards the stairs. "Goodnight Jake," I say, my eyes burning red from the lack of sleep and alcohol.

"Goodnight," he responds. "I hope your head doesn't hurt too much tomorrow."

"Oh god," I groan out as I look up at the ceiling. "Dial 911 if you hear me scream in the morning."

He flashes me a smile. "Noted."

. . .

Hello my loves! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you did don't forget to vote and comment!

We finally found out why Myla hides her arms! Was it what you expected?

If you want to read ahead chapters 14-15 are on Patreon, link is in my Wattpad bio. Chapter 16 will be uploaded to Patreon on Wednesday!

Hope everyone is good!

See you guys soon, Sav x

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