❝     well of course,    ❞       a game quite often played;   often for her own amusement when she’s bored  .  the intention of ever hooking up with any of them was medium to slim  .       ❝     boys aren’t that smart----    i swear i had this tinder boy so confused,  he actually thought we had the same number  .    ❞     for hours on end!   until she grew tired   &   ghosted him,  leaving to wonder  .       ❝     you would think it would be just one boy to fall for it but i’ve been at this since seventh grade and they still have yet to prove me wrong  .    ❞        a sigh with a roll of shoulders   &   that signature marino smirk  .        ❝     guess they’re too busy thinking with the wrong head to know the difference  .    ❞

‘     IT WAS LIKE THIS WHEN I GOT HERE  .          s e r i o u s l y    .     ’

✝     ———-  BLACK AND WHITE PAWNS     placed at opposite sides of an ancient board  ;   a rivalry set in motion long before time allowed for both paths to cross ,     he knows well how the tale goes ,    having been there when it was written .     nature itself dictates their roles  ;   gasoline and fire ,    equally volatile foes  ,   meant for destruction .    mutual  ,     as it was   .     one must fall for the other to rise ,   so it was sealed by the blood shed in battle that once stained this very soil .

a final breath of tobacco exhaled;   he elects to ignore her for a second,  stuffing the cell phone in back pocket  .        ❝     keeping tabs?     ❞      eyes doesn’t even bother reaching hers  .  family home was too familiar,   too much like years before,  everything revolving around one specific wolf  &  it brought a punch to stomach each time;   shame how he’d grown used to it  .    ❝     ——-   whatever blondie  .  since you’re so curious:   smoke break  .  i’d offer you one but i’m selective  .    ❞

❝     you call it self destruction,   i call it entertainment  .    ❞    long before mortals had given it a name,  this was where he thrived in the imbalance of himself;  never was he satisfied   &   the hunger only grew  .         ❝     -------   if you don’t mind,   i have more pressing matters to attend to,  which don’t involve you i’m afraid  .    ❞