This Love Was Out of Control - (v.f.)

XIII.

“You can’t avoid civilization forever!” Danielle sighs, hearing another glass-to-rock collision. Bethany and Jessica are standing outside her house, throwing pebbles at her window. “I don’t know what happened, but you’re telling us on the way to school!”
 
Danielle walks out of the house, carrying her school stuff and an uneaten bagel. Bethany and Jess cheer, running up to hug her.
 
“Why have you been hiding away?” asks Bethany, sliding into the passenger seat of the Impala. Danielle shakes her head, starting the car. “You can’t just avoid our calls and then not tell us! Did something happen with Vic? He’s been weird too, and Mike won’t tell us what’s going on.”
 
“I slept with him,” Danielle says quietly; so quietly that Bethany almost doesn’t hear her. But she does, and her eyes almost bug out of her head.
 
“Oh my God.”
 
“I slept with him, and he left.” Danielle says through gritted teeth. Jess reaches up from the backseat and places a hand on her shoulder.
 
“He’s a dicklicker,” says Bethany, and Danielle cracks a smile at her crass declaration. “No, for real. I know you care about him a lot, and I thought he cared about you too. You don’t just leave someone after having sex, Jesus Christ. Please tell me he wasn’t your first.”
 
Danielle bit her lip and her eyes welled up, which was conformation enough for Bethany.
 
“I’m gonna kill the fucker.” Danielle pulled into a parking spot, already trying to stop Bethany.
 
“It’s not worth it, Bethany—“
 
“Yes it is! He took your virginity, Danielle, and then he treated it like a one-night stand. He doesn’t deserve to get away with this.” At that precise moment, Vic’s Sedan pulls into the student lot. Bethany stalks towards him, anger practically radiating off of her.
 
“Fuentes!” Both brothers look up, and it’s obvious that Vic hasn’t done too well in the past few days either. His eyes sport dark circles from lack of sleep, and his usual cocky stance is gone; replaced by an almost timid demeanor.
 
“You motherfucker,” Bethany says, spitting from gritted teeth. “You are so lucky that Danielle isn’t a bitch, because if anyone did to me what you did to her, he’d be a lot worse for wear. I hope you feel really fucking guilty for making her cry. Go fuck yourself.” Danielle walks up, taking Bethany’s arm and trying to drag her away; she avoids looking at Vic the entire time.
 
“Come on,” says Jess firmly, being a lot less gentle than Danielle. Bethany stalks away, throwing Vic dirty looks until he’s no longer in sight.
 
“Thanks,” says Danielle. Bethany grins and gives her a one-armed hug as they walk down the hallway.
 
“We’ve got your back,” she says as they sit down in their first-period class. Danielle’s day passed in a relatively uneventful manner, save for the awkward glances she kept receiving from Tony and Jaime. When she got to study hall, she hesitated in front of the door, considering ditching solely to avoid Vic. But she gathers just enough courage to walk through the door and sit in her assigned seat next to Vic.
 
Vic makes no effort to hide his longing stares at Danielle. Although he knows he messed up, he can’t help it. She reads intently the entire period, making a point of not looking up. Mike finally can’t stand it and asks to go to the library, motioning for Danielle to follow. She reluctantly gets up and has the same request, meeting Mike at one of the back tables in the library.
 
“What do you want?” she asks, crossing her arms defensively. Mike pauses before speaking, trying to get his thoughts together.
 
“I know what Vic did to you. I know it was really fucked up what he did, and I know you’re hurt. But you have to understand that Vic hasn’t had good experiences with girls in the past. It’s hard for him to trust girlfriends or whatever you guys were. A lot of them have used him and trust me when I say when he cares, he really cares. I can tell he cares about you, Danielle. He just doesn’t know how to trust you yet.”
 
Danielle is silent for a minute, processing Mike’s words.
 
“I trusted Vic, why couldn’t he do the same for me?”
 
“Like I said, he’s been hurt.”
 
“Well honestly, everyone has their own problems. Sorry to be blunt but I’m not exactly dancing on rainbows either. He was selfish, and he hurt me and disrespected me. I’m not going to let you make excuses for him.”
 
Mike looks shocked at her outburst, her soft-spoken ways seemingly out the window. She looks up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly to prevent her tears from spilling. She refuses to let Mike see her cry; to let him see just how much Vic’s actions really affected her.
 
“He needs to prove to me that he truly regrets what he did; and he needs to prove to me that he actually cares about me like I thought he did and apparently does. Then maybe I would consider giving him a second chance. But he’s not getting off easy.” Danielle stands and walks away, leaving Mike to mull over her words.
 
The bell rings, and Mike walks beside Vic, getting into the passenger side.
 
“Vic, I talked to Danielle about what happened.” Vic’s hands tense on the wheel, and he clenches his jaw.
 
“What did she say?”
 
“She’s pissed. She’s really hurt and she says in you prove to her that you care about her and regret what you did, you might get another chance. I think she might be easy on you though, I told her that you’ve had issues with girls and stuff—“
 
“You what?” Vic asks, eyes blazing and voice dangerously low.
 
“I told her that you have trust issues because of the past and—“
 
“Fucking Christ Mike, why did you tell her that?!” Vic shouts, slamming a hand on the wheel angrily. Mike flinches.
 
“Because she gave you her trust and you fucking shattered it; she deserves to know why.” Vic rolls his eyes in frustration.
 
“That was something for me to tell, not you,” he snarls through gritted teeth.
 
“We both know you wouldn’t have. You’re too scared, because God forbid Vic Fuentes be vulnerable, right? You’re the big bad heartbreaker in a rock band, how would everyone react if they knew you’re actually a good guy?” Vic pulls sharply into the driveway and throws his door open. Before he gets out, he turns to Mike.
 
“Leave the talking to the big kids, Mike. I don’t need my fucking little brother burning bridges for me.” He slams his car door closed, storming into the Fuentes house and straight into his room.