Tender is the night

For a broken heart

Who will dry your eyes

When it falls apart?

What makes this fragile world go 'round?

Were you ever lost?

Was she ever found?

-Beach House

M A R N I E

Throughout the night Enzo never spoke to me, once in a while he joined someone on the dancefloor and got shitfaced drunk but always ended up sitting beside me.

Now he was almost passed out, still chugging the whiskey. Never once did the rim of the glass miss his lips. Started with 2 buttons undone by now about 2 more had come off. The entire lounge was hot due to so much activity taking place in a matter of hours.

It was scary to me, how much people relied on alcohol to survive. How much people could dance even. I can't imagine being on my feet for 3 whole hours and dancing my entire soul off.

I got up fixing my dress as it had ridden up my thigh, I had a couple of drinks to myself too. Mainly to take off the edge. That's why it scared me, relying on alcohol.

"You're leaving?" Enzo asked, his voice thick and I turned around nodding.

"Yeah the shows over," I said matter-of-factly. He chuckled getting up, stumbling over his feet for a second and my hand flies to steady him out of instinct but I retract.

"What? You won't even help a drunk guy?" He raises a perfectly arched eyebrow and I roll my eyes.

"You didn't need my help, you steadied yourself," I say and he chuckles looking down and shaking his head.

"Smartass." He mumbles and I look around for Art.

"You're not coming to the afterparty?" He asks slurring slightly, I am in awe of how decent he is when he's drunk. Considering he downed half a bottle of vodka and had about another half of whiskey.

"Afterparty? Wasn't this enough?" I ask looking around my eyes wide open as I look around at the people still dancing but by now the band had packed up.

An after-party to a party?

"Silly girl, it's a celebration." He whispered in my ear and I tilt my head in confusion.

"About what?" I ask and he grins pointing to himself.

"We're back in the game." He whispers in my ear again and chills travel down my entire spine.

I do not want to attend the afterparty, but if Art is going then I would beg her not to reconsider if I could, but if she has made up her mind I would go with her.

"I need to go find Arthur," I mutter and he grabs my wrist before I leave his side.

"I'll come with you." He says and I pry my wrist away from him, shooting him a displeased look.

"I'll be fine," I said gritting my teeth and he smiles once again. All I want to do is smack it off his face.

"It's not the safest place for someone like you. I'll come." He says this time standing up straight and never once slurring his words.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Besides you're considered to be safer than them?" I ask folding my hands and staring up at him.

Enzo's eyebrows raised and his face flared in anger, jaw locking as he leaned down towards me but I never backed away.

"Do not ever fucking compare me to these animals again. I am no harm to anyone when I'm drunk." He says and I never break my eye contact. Feeling accomplished that I hit a nerve but I don't think this is the nerve I wanted to hit.

"It's not about their hands being on you, it's the weapons you should be scared of. Some people in here are killers Ms Bennet. You're in Sicily, come on now." He says venom dripping his words, everything in their world scared me.

'Their world' isn't just his, it's Arthur's, Ronan's and everybody I have met after them.

"Now, as I said. I'm coming with you." He says gritting his teeth and I nod slowly.

Maybe I went too far. In any other situation, these words wouldn't have been spoken to me, the information that had just left his lips wouldn't have if I hadn't pushed him so far.

I turn around my hands still folded around my waist but this time not in anger but in anxiousness. I could feel the nerves bubble up as we weaved through the crowd, his hand on the small of my back guiding me to her.

"Vuoi ballare con me?" A guy asked and before I could even reply, Enzo's tattoo clad hands were on his chest pushing him away.

T: dance with me?

"Fuck off." Enzo gritted, the man stumbled the people behind him stumbling too.

The man turned his head up in anger but it all quickly vanished when he saw Enzo, without another word he turned around leaving.

My eyes were wide as I continued looking at him while Enzo pulled me through the crowd.

"There." He mumbled into my ear over the loud music pointing at Art who was speaking to Karl.

Art's frantic eyes met mine and widened when she saw the man towering over me.

"I was looking for you." She says softly, worried already as she walks over to me.

"I'm here now." I shake my head and she nods grasping my hand. I turn my head to look at Enzo grinning at me, I pass him a forced smile that ends up looking more like a wince.

"Thank you," I say nodding and he nods tucking his hands inside his pocket.

"You're welcome." He says dipping his head down slightly as a goodbye, soon he and Karl leave.

"I have questions," I state flatly, looking at her and she swallows nodding slowly.

"What is it?" She leans down until her face is in my view. Her hands grasped my shoulders and I wonder was she actually worried about me.

"Are we going to the after-party?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"I'm not going, everyone else is. Do you want to go?" She asks and I make a horrified face and shake my head.

"That's all?" She asked chuckling and I shake my head.

"No, let's just get to our hotel and then we can continue," I mutter and she nods. We leave without a goodbye.

•

I sigh taking my heels off and feeling my feet touch the cold ground, my feet are so worn out that it feels like I'm walking on uneven ground.

I take off the coat and throw it on a chair, when I say throw it's more like laying it down politely.

I sighed sitting down on the bed in exhaustion and Art walks over towering over my worn-out body. Her hands gently wrap around my neck and tilt my head even higher to look at her.

"Do you want to take a shower?" She asks and I shake my head.

"I'm too tired for that," I whisper and she smiles sadly at me.

"Okay." She whispers before turning around and taking off her clothes, I immediately divert my eyes on the rub under the bed. Admiring the details.

Wow, what a beautiful shade of brown.

"Who's hotel is this?" I ask as I hear her clothes falling on the floor and the zipper on her boot being undone.

"I don't know." She answers after a second and I snort.

"Sure," I mutter before getting up and grabbing my clothes, pulling my dress- if you could even call it that -over my head and slipping my shirt on.

"Why did you ask me that?" Art asks and I shrug before remembering that she had her back turned to me.

"I don't know," I mutter and this time she chuckles.

"You seemed to know shit ton about this hotel," I say, referring to the rooftop, the hatch near the pool, and everything after that.

"My mom got a contract to design and build this place. The hatch was designed because this place used to be a fucking den for illegal activities. When the police used to raid this shit hole they would hide the drugs in those hatches. Concealed from any water damage. It is not used as much." She explains and I pull on my pants before turning around to see her making herself a coffee, her back still turned to me.

Well, she catches on pretty quickly.

I walk over to the large windows and swing my leg over, straddling it as I look out with a sigh. Art walks over as sly as a fox and hands me a cup of coffee.

"Why would I ever need to use it?" I ask and she sips on her coffee before sitting right in front of me, leaning back against the wall like I was.

I look at her for a couple of seconds until I realise she isn't going to answer me. I nod slowly clicking my tongue before taking a sip of the bitter coffee.

"Who is Lorenzo Luciano?" I ask and she tenses.

"He used to be a friend of mine." Her answer is quipped.

"Used to?" I ask and she nods slowly.

"We lost touch after... An incident." She answers cautiously. Almost as if she's scared that she might slip up.

"You did not answer the question. I asked you, Who is Lorenzo Luciano?" I ask and she sighs leaning her head back in frustration.

"Definition of power. That man can turn the entire game with just his presence. He runs a business, import and export. He's a very powerful man, anyone that crosses him is usually found at the bottom of some lake." She answers and I am scared to even fucking blink. I keep my expression tight and never once let on that this information made me shit my pants.

I hope she was joking about the lake part.

Because guess what? I don't know how to swim.

"He mentioned there being 'killers' in the room. What is that supposed to mean?" I ask, as soon as I say those words her eyes snap to mine and her eyebrows furrow. If this were a movie there would be a suspenseful track playing in the background.

"He said what now?" She asks and I nod taking a sip of my coffee.

"It's Sicily." She replies flatly like I was supposed to understand what the fuck happens in Sicily.

You're in Sicily, come on.

His words are a distant echo that I wish I could put a wall in front of.

"He said it wasn't the safest place for people like me. What is that supposed to mean?" I ask never once feeling relieved. Every answer that left her lips had me more on edge.

"I don't know." She answers but I can sense she is lying, I don't mention it.

"Karl knows that something's wrong between me and you guys," I state and she raises an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" She asks leaning forward and I place the cup down. Right between us.

"He said he talked to the manager over the phone about the show yesterday. I said it wasn't me, might be an intern. Turns out it was a trick." I say and her eyebrows do nothing but furrow even more. She leans forward and I sigh.

"He never called. It was a test to see if I was lying." I say and she curses under her breath.

"I need you to stay away from him." She says and I furrow my eyebrows.

"He said he is no harm when he's drunk." I say and she smiles softly at me. Almost sadly, that I didn't understand.

"He didn't mention anything about when he's sober." She states softly and I intake sharply.

"Okay." I whisper and she nods kissing the back of my palm.

"What happened last summer?" I ask softly and her eyes meet mine. She holds the eye contact before looking down and sighing.

"So, we deal drugs, but you knew that right?" She adds quickly and I nod cautiously.

"We got caught. I was going to turn 18 in a month, I went to juvie and Nate spent a night in jail but his parents bailed him out and sent him away. That's all." She answers and I nod slowly.

"Enzo also mentioned-" I start but she interrupts me with a dark chuckle.

"I'm going to kill that fucker." She mutters and I roll my eyes hoping that it was a joke.

"-he said "we're back in the fame". What does that mean?" I ask, I feel stupid asking 'What does this mean?' 'What does that mean?' questions. But honestly, I need answers.

"Nothing that you should worry your pretty head over." She says leaning forward and kissing my forehead.

"You would tell me when something is wrong wouldn't you?" I ask and she leans forwards capturing my lips with her own before whispering a soft 'yes'.

Even though I feel my heart beating so hard, even when I try to not think of what the situation could be, even when I try not to think about the fact that we kissed and I like her, even when I have been proven wrong after thinking I was straight for so many years, I cherish the moment.

Just Arthur and Marnie in a barely lit hotel room, the city lights wandering in through the large windows, illuminating the sides of our faces. Two cups of hot coffee that was now getting cold, the silence like music to a chaotic ear. The sounds of people passing by the room and cars passing by below us were the only thing we could hear, her dark eyes meeting my honey glazed ones. Her skin was a stark contrast to my own, her lips a deep pink and her lashes fluttering with each blink. Our feet tender and heart contempt.

With her, I would listen and never speak, if it meant being able to hear her voice and watch how things excited, scared, elated, enraged, reluctant, disappointed. It would be a greater joy to watch her.