Maribelle. Only my mom calls me that.

It felt like a dream that he was here in front of me. We had only had one conversation my entire life, but I knew that it was him. And that one conversation was enough to remind me,

I don't like him.

"It's Elle," I corrected him.

He crossed his arms. His muscles flexed as he did that, and I fought to keep my eyes off of them. My brown eyes locked with his green ones, and they looked me up and down slowly.

"Is Cross your alias or something?" I asked him. "Did you go into witness protection?"

"I'm not surprised that you remember me. I must've left quite the impression on you."

My eyebrows lowered. I poked his chest, "You called me a bitch."

"Cause you were being a bitch," he stated matter of factly.

My jaw dropped. I crossed my arms back at him, mimicking his body language, "Maybe you're the bitch, Nico."

"Don't call me Nico," he demanded. His tone of voice made me feel nervous for a moment, darkness seeping into it.

But I pulled up my big girl pants and didn't let my face show it. I tested his patience, "Nico."

His dark green eyes rolled. He took a step back, taking his slightly scary presence with him. His back faced me as he turned around and picked up a clipboard that was inside his bag.

He handed it to me, "You gotta fill this shit out first."

I took it from him while asking, "What is it?"

"Just some questions you have to answer and a waiver you have to sign."

"Why do I need to sign a waiver?"

"So you don't sue me if your ass dies."

I moved my eyes from the paper to look back at him. I was expecting him to elaborate, but instead, he was just holding a pen out for me to take.

I rolled my eyes and took it. While I slid the pen along the paper, answering the questions and signing it at the bottom, I asked him, "Why'd you move? Were you scared of me?"

I was expecting him to give a sarcastic response back, but instead, he was tense. He took the clipboard back from me and said aggressively, "Don't worry about it."

I shifted my weight from foot to foot. My question seemed to upset him; so I didn't press any further.

His dark eyebrows scrunched as he read what I wrote. I pursed my lips while he read out loud, "You put that your height is 420 and your weight is 69."

"Yep."

He let out a soft sigh. He put the clipboard back in his bag before walking over to a blue mat. He didn't tell me to follow him, which I found rude, but I jogged to catch up to him.

He stood on the mat, and I stood across from him. I had to tilt my head up to look at him, trying to figure out his height. I'm 5'1, so by the difference in our heights, I assumed he was around 6'2.

"How tall are you?" I asked.

"6'2."

I nodded my head, but quickly stopped, "Don't lie. I'd say you're 5'10 on a good day."

"And I'd say you're 4'11," he made the same joke back.

I let out a sigh. His sarcastic demeanor changed a little bit as he asked, "So, what made you decide to take a self-defense class?"

I tensed at the question. I never planned on telling anybody why. I'm sure he has also heard so many more valid reasons than mine, so I bit my tongue.

"To kick the ass of assholes like you," I half lied.

"You know how to throw a punch?"

I shook my head no.

He walked around me, my back pressing against the front of his body as he adjusted how I was standing. He used his hands to change my stance, making the hairs on the back of my neck rise. While he did this, he spoke, "Your fists are useful, but they're not your only assets. You also have your knees, elbows, even teeth if needed."

"You want me to bite somebody?" my eyebrows raised.

"If somebody is hurting you, it could be your only option," he said in my ear while adjusting my shoulders.

He walked back over to be standing in front of me. He looked down at me, "Good. Now, punch my chest."

"Seriously?"

He nodded.

Don't need to tell me twice.

I threw my fist into his hard chest, a small grunt coming out of my mouth as I did so. His face didn't shift, telling me that I didn't hurt him. He shrugged, "You need to use more power from your legs. Try again."

I did what he said, punching his chest once again.

He nodded, "Better."

"Your turn, try and punch me now," I told him, wanting to practice dodging punches.

He looked at me like I was crazy, "You couldn't dodge a punch from me, Elle. Let's just focus on the basics today, this session is shorter than usual."

"I could totally dodge it," I told him, even though I knew there was a good chance I couldn't. "Come on, hit me."

"I'm not hitting you."

"Pussy."

His eyebrows raised at my insult, "Really? What are we, nine?"

"My insults were different at nine, you should know that," I told him, suppressing my laughter as I remembered his face when I threw the ball at him.

He nodded, "Yea, you're right. They've somehow gotten worse."

"You know what?" I crossed my arms. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, Nico."

"Yea?"

"Yea. Fight me, 1v1. Right now," I said while getting into what I assumed was a fighter's stance.

His eyes looked me up and down, "You're not fucking serious."

"I'm dead serious, buddy."

His hand rubbed his jawline for a moment while he shook his head. He nodded slightly, "Okay, fine."

He got ready, still standing across from me. He kept his hands up and knees bent, ready for whatever I was going to do.

I tried to throw a punch at him, but he easily dodged it.

He kept his eyes on me, scanning me at all times. After trying to throw another punch and watching him dodge it with ease, I realized that he was able to tell what I was going to do before I was going to do it, as if he had been in a million fights before.

I tried to throw a punch for the third time but gasped when he grabbed onto my arms and turned me around.

His arms wrapped around mine, pinning them behind my back.

I struggled to get out of his grip, thinking of what I could do to get him to release me.

"Ow," I said, acting like he was hurting me.

His arms instantly me as he asked, "Did I hurt you?"

I turned around, landing a punch against his jaw. His face barely moved, but I smiled to myself anyway, ignoring the slight pain in my arm from his hard jaw.

I moved closer to him, trying to use my legs to make him lose his balance.

His leg went around mine, as he flipped me onto my back. I fell onto the mat, my back hitting it, but he put his hand on the back of my head to stop it from getting hurt.

His body laid on top of mine, some of his black hair falling onto his forehead as his eyes stared into mine. My breathing was heavy from our basically wrestling match, and I squirmed underneath his body in an attempt to get free.

I huffed when I realized I couldn't. I told him, "I couldn't sue you even if my head did crack open."

"I know. Just saving you the embarrassment from it cracking open and revealing that nothing is in there," he replied, making my eyebrows lower.

"Asshole."

"Bitch."

"Motherfucker."

"Bitch."

"Loser."

"Bitch."

I tried squirming out from under him again. This time, he finally moved, and let me stand up. He grabbed my hand and helped me to my feet, my lungs breathing easier without the feeling of his body pressed against mine.

I patted my slightly ruffled clothing. The sound of the door opening made me turn my attention to a blonde guy that entered the room, "Oh, my bad Cross. Didn't know you had anybody in here."

"Our session just finished, so you can stay," he replied to the guy standing in the doorway.

"How do I pay?" I asked Nico.

He grabbed his black bag off of the ground, slinging it over his shoulder. He told me, "Cash at the front desk."

"I don't have any cash on me," I told him, choosing to leave out the part that it was stolen. "Can I use my card?"

"Machines down for the week," he replied as if he didn't care.

"Then how am I supposed to pay?"

"Not really my problem," he glanced at the clock. "Figure it out yourself."

My mouth hung open as he walked past me.

I scoffed as I watched him exit the room, although the smell of his cologne still lingered in the air. The blonde man approached me, giving me a smile.

"I'm Sin," he introduced.

"Elle," I introduced back. "Do you know if there's a way that I can pay for my session with Nico using a card?"

His brown eyebrows lowered, "Nico?"

"Yea."

"Do you mean Cross? Is Nico his first name?" he replied, making my head tilt slightly. Do these people seriously not know his name?

I nodded my head, making a slight 'hm' noise come out of his throat. As I stared at him, I looked at his tattoos, too. Unlike Nicos, Sins tattoos were colorful. He had green, purple, and red tattoos covering both of his arms and going up his neck.

He noticed me staring and smiled, "You like them? I've done most of them myself."

"Really?" I asked, feeling impressed. They looked like they were drawn by professional tattoo artists.

"Yea, Cross and I own a tattoo parlor downtown. We work part-time here, and part-time there," he told me, making me feel surprised. I never expected Nico to be artistic. "Hey, he's gonna be there tonight. You could pay him there if you aren't busy."

He reached his hand out and said, "I'll put the address in your phone."

"Thank you," I smiled at him.

Since I'm not planning on becoming friends with Nico, maybe Sin will become my friend.

I walked out of the building, wishing that I would've brought a water bottle with how warm it was outside. I turned the air conditioning on the second I got into the car, driving home as fast as I could to get into my cold room.

I wasn't surprised to see that both of my parent's cars weren't in the driveway. They both work insane hours, and as grateful as I am for that, I wished they were home more.

I parked Romeos car in the driveway before entering my house, checking the calendar to make sure that I didn't work tonight.

I smiled seeing that I didn't. I didn't mind woring, it was just at my grandparents' flower shop. But with needing to sneak out to pay for my training session tonight, I couldn't exactly have work.

I walked up the stairs, heading for Rio's room. I could hear him playing video games as I reached the top step, laughing as I heard him yell at his friend Kyle to 'blow a billion dicks.'

I knocked before turning his doorknob, making him lower the headset to be around his neck. I asked him, "You wanna go get ice cream with me later?"

He nodded his head, "Yea, just come get me whenever."

I shut his door as I headed to my room. I would ask Romeo to come with us, but he works a full-time job. Even though it's summer for Rio and I, Romeo doesn't get a break.

Worry fills me knowing that after August, I'm going to have to decide on what I want to go with my life. The reason why I purposefully did a horrible presentation yesterday was because I didn't want them to accept me.

I don't know what I want to do with my life.

I flopped down onto my bed, deciding that this was the perfect time to start watching a new TV show. One episode turned into two, then three, then four, and before I knew it, I had finished the entire first season and the sky was dark.

I blinked harshly. It literally feels like I just time traveled.

I stood up off of my bed, stretching as I did so. I grabbed a casual white dress and oversized light blue jean jacket, changing into them before walking over to Rio's room.

"Kyle, you fucking suck! Do you suck dick as good as you suck at COD?!" Rio's voice yelled through the door.

I knocked once again before entering, and he shut his computer off the second it was fully open. He stood up and sighed, "Thank fuck. I was looking for a reason to stop playing."

I laughed while heading downstairs with him. Romeo was already sleeping for work in the morning, so I knew that he'd be okay with me taking his car.

I gave Rio control of what music played as I drove us to the ice cream shop, the arm air blowing our hair around.

Rio screamed his lungs out to 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' as if his life depended on it. I let him pretend he was a rockstar for the entire drive, happy that he was back to his normal self.

Whenever I would visit him in rehab, he always seemed like an empty shell of himself. But now, he was back to the normal Rio.

I parked outside of the shop, the line being pretty long since it was always busier in summer. We walked in together, and even though there were a bunch of men around, I didn't feel afraid. Even at 17, Rio is still nearly 6 feet. Romeo is only about an inch taller than him, so they'll probably end at the same height.

All three of us have brown hair and brown eyes, but Rio and Romeo have slightly tanner skin than me.

We ordered our ice cream once it was time, and I tapped my fingers against my thigh while praying that Rio brought his wallet.

"I didn't bring my wallet," I glanced at Rio, the worker waiting for us to pay after handing us the ice cream.

He shrugged while licking his mint chocolate chip ice cream, "So?"

"So, pay for me," I hit his chest slightly.

He rolled his eyes but paid the girl working for our ice cream.

I smiled at her as we exited the ice cream store, standing outside while we ate it.

We told me about how bad Kyle is at video games while we ate quickly before it started to droop down the cone.

I nearly jumped when a man started limping towards us, slurring his words, "You guys have a dollar to spare?"

I gulped, remembering yesterday. But then my nerves shifted to worry, noticing that this guy smelt like alcohol and weed. Rio stays away from every single drug, even those, so that he doesn't get tempted to relapse.

"No. Fuck off," he replied to the wrinkled man, and he walked away without putting up a fight.

I smiled while I finished my ice cream. I'm so proud of him.

Once we were done, we got back into the car. He sang along to a different rock song this time, and I let him have his moment.

I pulled into the driveway, and Rio immediately unbuckled his seatbelt. He gave me the side-eye after noticing that I wasn't unbuckling mine, and asked, "Aren't you coming back inside?"

"You know you're my favorite brother, right Rio?" I spoke in an overly sweet tone.

"What are you about to ask of me?" he asked, knowing that I was about to ask a favor.

I told him, "I need to go and see somebody quickly, but I'll be back soon. Do you promise you won't tell Romeo? He'll ask me a bunch of questions about it."

He bit the inside of his lips while he thought.

"Only under one condition," he told me.

"Name it."

"You have to take me to get a tattoo next month," he told me, making my eyes widen.

"You're 17, Rio. You need to be 18."

He patted his pocket, "I got a fake ID."

My jaw dropped. I started, "Maybe next year-"

"Then be prepared for a Romeo interrogation tomorrow," he raised his hands.

I watched as he started to get out of the car, a sigh escaping my lips.

I called out, "Wait!"

He turned around with a smirk on his face. He knew he won.

I told him sternly, "It can't be anything stupid, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed. "Then my lips are sealed."

He shut his car door, and I watched him while he walked back inside. I took a deep breath, leaning my head back against the headrest for a moment.

Now it was time to go and see Nico.