Something's gotta give soon;

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

Something's gotta give soon
Or I'm gonna lose it
Substance abusing
And never come down

“Well, I suppose I’ll hear back from you after I drop dead from the hypothermia.” Audrey snapped at the staff member as the door to the student housing office slammed shut just inches away from her face. “Fuck!”

She dug her sweaty hands into the fur-lined pockets of her coat, her face flushing as her body adjusted to the non subzero temperature of the common area. The heating in her dorm room had been on the fritz for weeks, but maintenance had been slow with the repair, which was completely unrelated to Audrey referring to them as “the help.”

With very little meat on her bones, she was extremely susceptible to the cold, so in an attempt to combat the impending frostbite she had taken to dressing like she was about to scale an arctic glacier. Admittedly, the girl looked pretty silly sporting furry snow boots around the dormitory.

“It’s not like I’m asking for an engineer in thermodynamics...” she grumbled under her breath, wiggling her scrawny arms out of her thick peacoat, afterward tossing the wooly garment over the back of the cushy sofa in the center of the room. “I just need one fucking mechanic…” she continued ranting to herself, assuming the room was empty as she unbuttoned the pair of skinny jeans she had layered over her leggings which were, in turn, concealing a pair of knit tights. It was still November.

“Jesus Christ, don’t tell me that on top of all this shit, my thighs are getting fatter…” she moaned, letting herself fall into the embrace of the sofa with her jeans partially peeled off, stuck around mid-thigh as she hit her head repeatedly against a pillow, “Whhhyyyy?”

[Deleted]

The room was, in fact, not as empty as Audrey thought. Actually, Oriel had come down from upstairs just in time to hear some rant about hypothermia.

It was true that it was getting colder, enough that even Oriel had to wear something more than a thin sweater to venture outside, but the inside of the dorms was a very comfortable 67 degrees fahrenheit. Hell, Oriel could’ve stood for it to go lower than that, hence why he roamed around the dormitories in a black tank and jeans, exposing his arms to the “frigid” air.

Oriel had come down for a drink. An orange juice. He was sick of water and needed something sweet on his tongue that wasn’t going to clog his arteries. Though his giant box of danishes had already long been emptied.

With a raised eyebrow, Oriel watched the skinny blonde toss her jacket about then start to strip out of her pants. He kept one eye on her while he put a dollar into the notoriously fickle drink/soda machine and pressed the button for his drink of choice. Hot damn! It worked! Now Oriel didn’t have to pitch a bitch fit at the blasted thing.

Cracking the lid open, Oriel crossed over towards the girl laying and whining pathetically with her butt hanging out of her pants(she had leggings on underneath, but that was beside the point). “Don’t know what you’re complaining ‘bout, but pretty sure the rest’ve us’re ‘ppreciating that mega-wide lump you're exposing there.” He took a drink of his orange juice and sent her a wink. “Sexy.” Oriel continued to drink.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

Audrey continued her seemingly hopeless wriggling, cursing herself for donning so many layers, and then cursing the maintenance staff for ignoring her requests to repair the heating system in her room. None of this would have happened if they had sent up a mechanic to fix the damn thing. And if she thought that things couldn’t be any worse, she heard the pop and clack of a can opening, alerting her that she was not alone in this humiliation.

Her face flushed a deeper red as she averted eye contact with the intruding teen; the dancer did not embarrass easily, but a shortcut to effectively slicing up her insides was to make any comment related to her size. She felt a heavy knot develop in her throat, but she swallowed hard, pushing it down to die in her chest. Getting your pants stuck with your butt half-out was embarrassing enough, crying would make it far worse.

“Excuse me…” she began, icy eyes narrowed, her expression pointed and sour, “Did you just refer to my ass as a ‘Mega-wide lump?’ Is that your special bridge-and-tunnel way of calling me fat?” In vain, she continued to pull at her jeans, although they appeared unwilling to budge over the multiple layers of leggings and tights, “Fuck you, asshole. You’re a real piece of shit.”

[Deleted]

Oriel recognized this flailing princess. Another one from the dance team. Another one of those stuck up ones, obviously from money, and who had years of expensive lessons to learn their “talent”. Those kind pissed him off the most, usually. But nope, not this time! Oriel was not going to let his bias against the filthy rich and snooty get in the way of him actually being a reasonable individual…!

Yeah, maybe not…and besides, this chick made it too easy. There’s no way he was going to pass this one up.

Oriel snarked. “Hey, haven’t you heard? Lumps’re in these day.” He made no effort to hide his leering of her very shapely ass. Still too skinny for his taste though. “’Specially in the backdoor regions.” Oriel curved his hands in front of him, as if to be groping over her two bubbly cheeks from afar. “Mmm, yeah, feed me some of that cellulite.” He ran his tongue over the top edge of his teeth, then growled like a sexy beast.

He paid no mind to her insults. Because, seriously, was that the best she could do? In Oriel’s professional asshole opinion, if you’re going to insult someone, at least be creative about it.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

The knot in her throat returned, now doubled in size, threatening to choke out any chance at breath. Hers lips quivered, tear ducts beginning to fill as she tilted her head back, forcing her eyes shut as she refused to allow any water to escape. It wasn’t the objectification that got to her, the aggressive vulgarity of the boy’s statements, but just the words “mega-wide” and “cellulite” ringing in her ears like an oncoming siren.

She recognized him from practice, but instead of his handsome boyish face, she only saw her mother, with cold blue eyes just like her own and a dour tight-lipped frown. She could feel her aging hands pinching her malnourished hips and thighs, tongue clucking against the roof of her mouth, an expression of unadulterated disapproval. “Audrey, dear, you should consider cutting out those carbs; you look like a fat pig stuffed in that leotard.”

She wouldn’t react beyond darting her eyes to the kitchen tile, offering a meek “Yes, mother…” before returning to the barre. But this boy wasn’t her mother, and Audrey was no longer that helpless little girl. Her hurt transformed into rage as she gripped the waist of her jeans and pulled with ferocity, uncaring as she literally tore them off her body, the sounds of denim ripping as they split straight down the central seam.

She was out for blood, her dancer’s feet easily stepping from the abandoned pants as she moved, positioning herself directly before the offending teen. Her voice was unsteady, shaking as hot tears fell recklessly down the flushed canvas of her cheeks, “You… Do not… Ever…” her modest chest rose and fell rapidly, her breathing shallow with adrenaline, “EVER get to speak to me like that.”

Audrey didn’t wait for a reply, her body moving instinctively before her thoughts could keep up, her arm wound back before she brought it forward, slapping the boy hard in the face with an open palm.

[Deleted]

When she got up…Oriel grinned, a low cackle starting to escape in huffs, quick and short. He watched her rip off her jeans completely, taking some amusement in her little striptease and almost(almost) disappointed that not more came off. Oriel didn’t move when she approached. He simply stared down at her with an evil smile, interested in seeing what she did next.

Oriel lurched back, bending slightly to the side when her palm connected with the side of his face. It stung, of course, but considering some of the other shit he’d been through - fights, pummels, and beat-downs - it was practically nothing. Still…

His smile widened slowly and he just as slowly straightened himself out, fixing his eyes on the too skinny girl. “Like what?” he challenged. A snort came from his nose. “By the way, thank you.” Oriel flit his eyes down, as if he just noticed his fly was open. Then he moved them back up to the blonde, smiling something evil. “I was wondering how I was s’pposed to get that up.”

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

Audrey seemed more startled than Oriel; she had never slapped someone before, and she didn’t feel particularly good about it. A pale pink lingered on the right side of his face, dissipating rather quickly into his olive complexion. Audrey prided herself on her ability to practice restraint, how she masterfully controlled each and every aspect of her life… Clearly, things were beginning to change.

“Like what?” she parroted in disbelief, bringing the knit sleeve of her sweater to the corners of her eyes, wiping away the residual wetness of her tears and managing to smear mascara down the hollows of her cheeks. “Like I’m some pathetic child you can humiliate for sport.”

She drew closer, her expression righteously indignant, and just as she was about to open her mouth, Oriel muttered an unexpected “thank you;” her gaze followed his.

First she saw her own hips, a pale stretch of skin exposed where her low-slung leggings didn’t meet the hem of her sweater, sharp pelvic bones standing prominent against the thin cotton. Then, in a dangerously close proximity, she witnessed the boy’s raised flag centimeters away from her own vulnerable flesh.

“What the fuck.” She paused for a moment, making a futile attempt to process the teen’s arousal.

“First you refer to my ass as ‘mega-wide,’” she began, her words hot with fury, pale eyes no longer tearing but rather burning in rage, “and then you talk about how you want to eat the cellulite off my fat ass,” she bit her lower-lip, hands clenched into fists with her nails digging into the padding of her palms, “And now you have a hard-on?!”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” She shoved his shoulder, albeit pathetically considering he didn’t budge; these outbursts of physical aggression were completely uncharacteristic. Somehow this boy managed to arouse a palpable rage in her that she had never before experienced.

[Deleted]

“Hmph. If ain’t a child…then why do you go out of your way to act like one?” Not like Oriel could talk. He still acted like a child, frequently. Actually, teasing little girls was pretty childish, wasn’t it? What would an adult have done in this situation…?

Oriel couldn’t even imagine. In his opinion, adults reacted to people like this bitch-princess in two ways: either put with them and gave them what they whined for, or ignored them completely, as if they didn’t even exist. There was no in-between.

Therefore, in Oriel’s personal opinion, the best thing to do was point out exactly why she was being a fucking nuisance and that shedding a couple bratty tears wasn’t going to solve shit. That’s all he was doing, honest!

He was just…having a little fun in the process. Why not? She’s the one who set herself up for it. And she deserved it for being such a fucking brat. Maybe a little humiliation will help her get over herself? Or not.

Oriel sneered. “Ain’t my fault. It likes what it likes.” He leaned in closer, raising his nose at her haughtily. “Should take it as a compliment. Means you can get a guy going through other means…even if you ain’t got the best sex appeal.” Oriel wasn’t picky by a long shot, but if he had to choose, he disliked skinny chicks like this. Was like fucking a skeleton, and, while Oriel had more than his fair share of kinks, Oriel wasn’t into necrophelia.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

Audrey could feel her teeth raking against one another, her jaw beginning to vibrate as she clenched her mouth too tight; who the fuck did this misogynistic pig think he was? He acted so entitled, as if her body was some public domain he had the right to provide commentary on. Someone needed to put him back into his place.

“I’m the child? You’re the only who can’t even control what’s between your legs!”

She took a full step back, feeling uncomfortable as she became hyperaware of the lack of space between them. Audrey was used to physical intimacy, both as a performer and as someone who was romantically active, but this level of sexual provocation was foreign to her. Retrospectively, she regretted slapping the boy in the face.

She spoke with vitriol, her hand making a quick motion downward, “I don’t give a shit what “it” likes.” Her breath was hot and fast, voice rasping slightly before she snapped, “And insulting my “sexual appeal,” really? One, make up your mind, decide if I’m some fat chick you have some messed up fetish for or if you’re repulsed by me. Preferably, you feel repulsion.”

Audrey took a deep breath before running out of air, “And two, I wouldn’t touch that putrid thing even if I had the plague and it was the only antidote.”

[Deleted]

If she didn’t want people to make public commentary on her body, then she shouldn’t be parading it around like she was. In public. It was practically a strip-tease she was giving him(and everyone else) there on the couch. And people thought Oriel was shameless.

Oriel snorted his disdain. “And somehow my lack of control gives you permission to whine like a fucking entitled brat-bitch. Like things’re gonna magically go your way just ‘cause you kicked and screamed loud enough.” It was these types that annoyed Oriel the worst. They wouldn’t survive a day in the life he grew up with. Not that he knew her at all, but that little display from before was all he needed to.

Oriel shoved a finger in his nose as she rattled on and waved her hands around like somebody cared. “Uh-huh, now remind me of the part that said I wanted you to touch it. Granted, I ain’t picky, but…” He pulled out a crusty and flicked it in her direction. A classic move, he thought. Oriel cackled softly and sent a wicked grin up to the girl. “News flash, Princess, the world don’t revolve around you. I got better things to stick it in than an emaciated ho like you.”

Whatever happened to changing for the better, Oriel? Obviously, that’d gone on the backburner, the way he was escalating like this. Oh, well…too late now, try again tomorrow. Wasn’t like a “sorry” could fix this anyway...

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

Audrey tugged at the hem of her sweater, self-conscious of her exposed midriff, her fingers pulling the purposefully tattered cashmere down past her hips. She didn’t want to feel vulnerable, but any commentary about her body took her back to those dark corners of internalized guilt and shame. Before she could delve further into a loop of traumatic recollection, Oriel pulled her back in his established pattern of debasement.

“Asking you to stop treating me like some object for you to humiliate does not make me an ‘entitled brat-bitch.’” Audrey realized this argument was escalating without purpose, and there was no use in attempting to reason with this guy; he was too bull-headed to see any point of view other than his own.

She prepared to walk away as he slung more insults in her direction; at this point nothing Oriel could say would damage her any further. However, Audrey didn’t account for the actions he could commit rather than just the words he could speak…

“Are you serious?!” Audrey screamed bloody murder, shaking out her long flaxen hair, acting as it had been infested with a nest of hatching spiders. Without thinking she stormed toward the couch, reaching for her abandoned purse and pulling out a lukewarm bottle.

The dancer rushed him, twisting off the plastic cap at expert speed and reaching her arm up over his shoulder, proceeding to pour the contents of condensed day old strawberry Ensure over his head, hair, and face. Audrey didn’t bother shaking the bottle, her expression ripe with satisfaction as she watched bloated calorie-dense globs of pink goo sinking across his stupid handsome face.

“Enjoy my 4:00 snack! You can have my 8:00 too if you’re still hungry, it’s chocolate.”

Maybe she was breaking her treatment plan, but fuck it, there was no way she was downing any nutrient-heavy slop after that cellulite commentary. Sure, he also just called her emaciated, but that was irrelevant now… Seeing that crap embed into his hair was by far more important than any scheduled meal.

[Deleted]

“No, but stripping down in the middle of the common room like it’s your own personal dressing room does,” he snapped, the amusement suddenly lost from his eyes. “Other people might want to use this room without listening to your whining while you lie across the couch with your ass hanging out.” Ah-ha, he thought. So that’s why he was irritated. Well, he knew it from before, but saying it out loud, that straightforward…it was weird. And not something he was used to. Jokes and shaming were his usual M.O..

And look where that got him. Oriel could have moved. Maybe a small part of him thought he deserved it too. Well, it’s not like it mattered. Oriel wiped the goo from his eyes and licked it from his fingers. He kept his smirk and glared down at her. “Is that the best you got? Seriously?” he scoffed, continuing to wipe and lick the goo from his face. “What’d you think you’re going to accomplish? Send me screaming and crying? I’ve literally lived in shit before, and you think a little diet shake in my (gorgeous) hair is going to do something?” Oriel shook his head. “More proof that your just a fucking brat.”

After all, only a brat like her would see ruining something like clothes or hair as something disastrous. A mild inconvenience for Oriel. Though he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t irritated that he had to go wash his hair. Again.

Oriel glared down at her. “You know, some guys might like that spoiled act of yours, but for everyone else, it’s just a fucking nuisance. And that ain’t got nothing to do with how big or tight your ass is, by the way.” Maybe he should’ve just started with this? Would it have mattered? Oriel was certain that she wouldn’t get it no matter what, so why not teach her a lesson in his own way? And have fun with it?

And so went his rationalizations.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

“By “stripping” do you mean taking off my jacket and a pair of jeans… because you realize if I were “stripping” I would at least be down to my lingerie, when in reality I’m still wearing a shirt, a sweater, tights, and leggings… Not exactly something anyone would want to shove bills in my thong over.”

Audrey sighed, irritated at both feeling the need to explain herself and being reminded that her room was practically at zero degrees Celsius, “And the only reason I was wearing an inordinate amount of clothing in the first place was because I’m in here to wait to speak to the housing staff about a malfunctioning heater.” She knew she didn’t owe him an explanation, but Audrey frustrated easily when she felt misunderstood.

“Yes, that is the best I have; I fully expected that pouring Ensure on your head, which by the way is not a diet drink but rather weight gain in a bottle, would be the worst experience of your life.” This boy was going to be the end of her, she knew this argument was running in circles, but Audrey usually wasn’t the type to back down, “Because when you flicked a booger at me, it was more than just a disgusting nuisance, it was the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to me. My life has just been so fucking charmed up until this moment, and that little curd of your mucus just ruined it. Like being starved in a closet or having tubes shoved up my nose to stop my organs from shutting down, nothing compared to that fucking snot you threw at me.”

After ending her sarcastic rage-fueled rant, Audrey went to her purse grabbed a wad of napkins, embarrassed after offering any details about her upbringing; she wasn’t the type to feel comfortable exposing her history. She gritted her teeth and tried to still herself, realizing that despite how much this kid hated her, they probably had more similarities than differences; assholes aren’t created in a vacuum.

“I don’t care what guys like.” She huffed under her breath, taking a napkin and slowly moving to wipe some strawberry goo off his cheek, folding it inside out before gently continuing to dab it off the other side of his face; he could stop her if he wanted to.

“Being treated like shit doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to treat other people like shit; and I would know, because I treat a lot of people like shit.”

[Deleted]

The explanation she gave at least…explained some things. But it still wasn’t exactly the core of the matter. It sounded like excuses still. Words to give herself permission to act like an infant throwing a tantrum when she couldn’t get her way. “So. You’d be okay if I just took my pants off right here, so long as I was wearing tights?” He could have that arranged if she wanted.

Though now he was just quibbling.

And who was the child here?

Oriel’s next insult was met with a rant so long that Oriel wondered if the girl ever actually breathed during it. The utter sarcasm, however, was making Oriel’s smile grow and grow as he became more and more amused. Wow, this girl sure had spirit. And Oriel had to admit, he liked that. And that made him hate her just a tiny bit less. Oriel was on the verge of starting a giggle-fit when those last couple lines poured from her mouth. His expression shifted ever so slightly as a long buried memory threatened to surface. He quickly shoved it back down where it belonged and resumed his amused grin. “Nice lungs you got there,” he said when she was finished. “With breath-control like that, you could join the Metropolitan Opera.” He chuckled.

Oriel made no move to stop her when she started to wipe down his face, instead just putting his hands in his pockets and letting her do what she will. “Mmm,” he agreed. “Yeah, I’m…still working on that one.” Obviously. “Good fight though. Should do it again sometime.” Oriel sent her an eerily pleasant smile.

“I’ll buy you another one,” he said after another moment.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

There is a clear distinction between wearing a pair of leggings and only wearing tights… Audrey protested silently, not wishing to further any argument now that the conflict was settling down. What qualifies as pants versus undergarments was a petty thing to quibble over anyway.

“Why thank you, although I’d prefer the New York Ballet Company over the Metropolitan Opera.” She returned a smirk, “Although, fun fact, I was actually kicked out of the children’s church choir because after hearing me sing they thought I had strep throat—I didn’t.” The blonde chuckled a bit, still amused by her own musical incompetence… People always assumed that when you were a dancer, you were also a singer and an actor; in Audrey’s case, this was the furthest from the truth.

As she threw away the soiled goopy napkin, she pulled a few others and them to Oriel; she didn’t want to look like some mother lion cleaning up her cub, he could do the rest of it himself.

“I think I’m good on fights for awhile—That was the first time I’ve ever slapped someone...” Audrey admitted sheepishly, remembering her ripped jeans on the floor and picking them up, folding them up neatly and returning to the sofa.

“And don’t worry about that, I have two 24-packs upstairs, I have to drink four of them a day.” She groaned, moving over so that there was room on the sofa for the both of them, “Hence why my ass no longer fits into these.” She picked up the pants a little sadly, still embarrassed from earlier, but also pissed that her butt had ravaged one of her favorite pairs of jeans.