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Just when I thought I had everything together, it fell back apart. Nini, the girl I loved, she was leaving me.
When she told me just an hour ago, I didn't know what to say. I'm so happy for her obviously, I mean, I've heard about that school and it's a big deal. Only the best of the best get in, so I can't say I'm surprised Nini did. I just wish that I'd known she was going. And the fact that she's leaving later on tomorrow... well, today, I guess, was worse.
At midnight we stayed upstairs away from everyone and once the clock changed on our phones, we had our midnight kiss. It was nice, just being away from everyone. Just the two of us. It hurt knowing that it wouldn't be like this ever again, or at least not for a long time.
Now we're sitting by the back door downstairs. A bunch of people are in the backyard, but it's freezing out there. I tried to enjoy the party, but I just had a lot on my mind. I was just about to ask Nini if she wanted to dip when I saw Elizabeth running outside in the backyard behind a group of girls who I'd never seen her with before.
She was laughing like crazy, and swaying back and forth. I bet she'd been drinking. But that wouldn't make sense. Ellie doesn't drink, ever. She's the one who volunteers to be designated driver. What is she doing?
In my peripherals, I see Percy walking out to the door.
"Hey, man," I stopped him. "What's Elizabeth doing?"
He cut his eyes at me. "Having fun? I don't know. It's a fucking party. Chill."
"Don't talk to him like that." Nini says. "Did she have anything to drink?"
"The hell are you two questioning me about my girlfriend for?"
"Just answer the question." Nini said in annoyance.
"Well, yeah. She had a few shots and a beer and got fucking wasted. Light weight." He rolls his eyes and laughs a little, but I don't see anything funny. This is just so not like Ellie at all, and she's been acting out of character for a week straight and now I'm really worried. I can tell Nini feels the same through a shared glance. We ignore Percy and go out in the backyard by the pool where everyone is.
A bunch of people were out there swimming with nothing on except underwear. I glanced around a bit before I found Elizabeth on the pool deck, talking to a bunch of people, her words slurring. She gestures to the pool and pulls her shirt off.
Nini must've spotted her at the same time I did, because she ran over and started talking to her. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I saw Elizabeth push her off and try to join in with everyone in the pool.
"Come on, Elizabeth," I said as I walked over to them. "We should probably go."
"No! Stop it! Why can't you just let me have fun?" She argues. She's swaying around on her feet, and Percy was right. She's completely wasted.
"You're gonna regret this in the morning," Nini reasons.
"Hey, leave her alone!" I turn around and there's Percy.
"No way, she's trying to get in the pool when first of all it's freezing and second of all she drank too much. We're leaving." Nini argues.
"You can't make her leave, she can do whatever the hell she wants. You two don't control her."
I furrow my brows. "What is wrong with you, man? That's your girlfriend. You should be the one getting her out of here!"
"Don't tell me what I should do."
"Well why don't you just do the right thing!" Nini screams. At this point, a small crowd of people had gathered, watching.
I walk closer to Elizabeth. "Come on Ellie, please just let us take you home." I whisper.
She sighs. "O-kaaaayyyy."
Nini tells her to put her shirt back on although that didn't make barely a difference, it was so small she was still probably freezing. I take my jacket off and drape it around her shoulders as Nini and I lead her back to the car. Percy stays back, watching, his arms crossed over his chest.
"You're gonna regret this, Bowen." He calls out.
Oh my fucking god. That guy is such a dick.
Once we get back to the car, Nini drives while I stay in the back with Ellie. She's not talking my head off like I thought she would be. She's so quiet normally that I thought she would go crazy while being drunk, but no. She just sat there in silence until she started crying quietly.
"W-why can't I be like those other g-girls," she stutters. "They're all s-so confident and pretty and I'm just... me. And I thought if I acted like them Percy wouldn't be so mad at me. He was annoyed with me, I could tell. So I tried I really did."
"Liz, just because he was mad at you one time doesn't mean he wants you to be someone else," Nini reasons, shooting me a glare through the mirror, telling me that I need to do something about her crying. But I don't know what to do. I'm not good with tears. And all these years I've known Ellie, I only saw her cry once when she broke her arm on my skateboard.
One time, us and Big Red were at my house and were playing hide and seek tag in second grade. Big Red found us hiding in the front yard and got mad because we cheated by going outside, and Ellie let it slip that it was my idea and so he pushed me on the ground and I ended up scraping my knee and crying. Ellie immediately went inside and came back with a first aid kit and cleaned up the cut and put a band aid on and everything, then let me have the last cherry popsicle. She always knew what to do to make someone feel better, but I didn't know how to help her.
"He does though! That's exactly what he wants! That's why he cheated on me with some pretty blonde girl girl from the ski trip!"
Nini and I exchange a look. I ask her with my eyes, "did you know about this?" She shook her head. This is the first time I've heard about it.
When Nini pulls up in our neighborhood, she asks if I need her help with Ellie but I decline. I bring her inside, her mom wasn't home of course. She never is.
I help her into bed and make sure she sleeps on her side. I was nervous about leaving her here alone, so I grabbed a blanket from the hall closet and slept on the chair. I'm really worried about her. And I can't believe she didn't tell anyone about Percy cheating on the ski trip, what a douche. I can't believe he would do that to her.
