Tainted • Lil Xan

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They say that seeing your ex again sometimes triggers memories, wanted or unwanted. Just seeing them again makes you remember things you may not want to remember. The minute Penelope's eyes connected with Diego's, she knew she needed to get away. The memory of the video he had sent her was fresh on her mind and she hated it so much.

The image of his face was clear in her head. He had changed, a lot. He had gotten another face tattoo since she had last seen him. The word "You" had been added to his collection of tattoos. His jawline had become more defined and he had grown a couple more inches since she had last saw him, which was two years ago when she met up with him for lunch. Penelope had only looked at him for what felt like a second. Putting her hand on her chest, Penelope took some deep breaths. The sound of the door opening behind her startled Penelope, she needed to move out of the way and let the person walk past her. The staircase of the apartment building was grey and reminded her of one at a parking garage.

"Penelope." The person said and for a minute Penelope froze, he had said her name again. His voice was different, he didn't sound the same. Or had she forgotten how his voice sounded like? Taking a deep breath Penelope turned around to face him. She didn't know what to say. What was she suppose to say?

"Can we talk?" Diego asked her and Penelope looked at him, confused. Why did he want to talk? What was there to say? "Sorry for sending you that video, I'm an asshole"? She instantly shook her head, no way was she talking to him. She couldn't do this, she couldn't look at him without thinking about that goddamn video.

Diego took a step forward, stretching his hand out to touch Penelope's face. He needed her to look at him. It was breaking him that she couldn't even make eye contact. Penelope took a quick step back, he shouldn't touch her. Why was he even trying to touch her?

"Leave me alone, please." Penelope pleaded as she started to walk down another flight of stairs, she could only hope that her car was close by. Diego was quick on her tail as she walked down the steps. He needed to talk to her and just apologize for what he did.

"No, I'm not going to leave you alone. I want to talk to you! Why won't you talk to me!" Diego yelled at her and Penelope suddenly stopped walking as she turned around to face him. She couldn't believe he was being serious! Did he really think he deserved her undivided attention? He wasn't worth it at all.

"You can't be fucking serious! Why won't I talk to you!? You know damn well why I want nothing to do with you!" Penelope yelled back she took a step forward and poked Diego right on the chest. She was getting angry and it wasn't the dry type of anger, she was going to start tearing up and she hated it.

She didn't want him to think she was crying over him. Diego looked hurt as he rubbed his chest where Penelope had poked him. "That's what I want to talk about Lupe!" Diego replied back and Penelope shook her head. A hurt expression on her face at the mention of her nickname.

"Do not call me that, you have no right." Penelope whispered as she let out a deep breath, she needed to calm down. She was beyond angry right now. How dare he. "You're a piece of shit! You know that?" Penelope yelled again and she was glad this was happening now instead of Saturday. How embarrassing would it have been if this happened on Saturday instead of today?

"You don't get to talk to me! I look at you..and I'm just disgusted with you." Penelope's words cut Diego deep and he knew he deserved it. "I've managed perfectly fine without you in my life the last two years, let's keep that going." Penelope added a few seconds later. Letting the words sink into Diego's head. Why was she giving him the time of day?