Dramatic Summer Love Story

Emotional Roller Coaster

Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster, I was supposed to have the day off today but got called in when another staff called in sick. I'm at the register this time, I like it better than stocking so I'm fine with it. However, I am really tired, I'm pretty sure I have bags under my eyes, I cried a lot yesterday and when I finally had no more tears to cry and I tried to fall asleep I couldn't for a long time, I think I only slept for one or two hours.
There are no customers in the shop right now so I leave the register and go get a Monster, I usually would get myself a Red Bull but it reminds me of the good times with Thomas, I don't think I want that. I pop open the energy drink and make my way back behind the counter, just as I'm walking in the middle of the store the door opens, and inside come Gabe, Thomas, and Martina. They're dragging and pushing Thomas in, for a second I'm frozen in my steps looking at them, their eyes fall onto me and Martina shows disgust on her face, Gabe looks like he doesn't know how to act so his face is flat, Thomas locks eyes with me for a second and he shows a bit pain but then they all walk away into an isle. Like them, I finally move and sit back down in the seat behind the counter.
While the only three customers in the store look around I sit quietly sipping on my drink while waiting anxiously for them to come over to me and pay, I'm not sure what they'll say or how they'll act, I don't know what will happen and that makes me uneasy, I fiddle with things around me and drink my Monster. Maybe I should switch with Caleb who's stocking the shelves, just for them. But I can't think it through or a ton it because just as I start pondering it they come to the register.
Martina goes first, they're all paying separately, I scan her items and tell her the cost, she quickly gives me some money. "I want the change back." She says her words to me are angry and I'm pretty sure she asked for the change specifically because they hate me for hurting Thomas when in reality he hurt me too, but they're on his side so whatever. I give her her change back and she moves to the side for Gabe and his staff.
Gabe says something to me and I nod but barely listen because I'm so aware of Thomas's presence, he's next in line.
"Is that all?" I ask Gabe.
"Yeah, how much?" He asks and I tell him the amount, he's really nice compared to Martina and that I just broke up with his best friend and we're not on the best terms, I think at least, I have yet to find out but I'm going to in a few seconds.
Gabe takes his items away and I start scanning Thomas's things. He tries to avoid my eye contact and does so by hiding his face from me. I tell him how much it is and he looks at me and nods, he's scanning his card and I search his face for any indication of how he's feeling but only find a big bruise around his eye and cheekbone. Shit. I'm stunned, one side of his face is black, blue, and purple, how did it happen. He looks up at me and sees that I saw it, I wasn't going to ask about it but I slip up and spit out the question before I can think about it and talk myself out of it.
Thomas scoffs, "Like you don't know." But once I show complete confusion he takes a second to look at me, he probably notices that I don't know what happened. "Ask your brother, he might know something." His voice is angry and hurt, he picks up his items and leaves the store. I look at Gabe and Martina for some insight but get met with faces telling me I messed up. Fuck me, this shit's horrible, I have never felt this bad after a breakup, and we didn't even date for that long of a time.
I sit behind the register thinking of what he meant the rest of my shift, once I'm finally off I walk home, I put my earphones in and turn my music on, I mumble lyrics while I walk home through the town, cars pass by me, I don't have a headphone in one ear and so when a slow car with pounding music approaches me I turn around because of its rareness. I'm met with a sight of Thomas's car, in it are Martina and Gabe along with Thomas who drives it, when he sees me he presses on the gas a bit so he moves past me quicker, I roll my eyes and continue walking home, the question of what he meant when he said Viktor would know what happened to him bothers me though.
I ponder it on the way home and even though I don't want to believe it I have to acknowledge the possibility that Viktor might have punched Thomas, even after I explicitly told him not to, but maybe I'm wrong and he was just there and saw what happened to Thomas. I however know the truth but I won't assume anything until either of them tells me what happened.
I open the front door and go inside, I yell hello to see if anyone is home, no one answers and so I go downstairs, I see Viktor's stuff sitting on the floor before the stairs letting me know he's coming back later. I should ask him about it, I'll sit him down and ask him politely about it. Deciding on that I go into my room and change clothes, my work clothes are sweaty and disgusting after my shift.
Just as I finish throwing my clothes into the laundry basket the front door opens up and gets shit again, I go to the stairs on my way up to find myself food but almost get run over by Viktor running down the stairs.
"Hey," I say and watch as he picks his stuff up.
"What's up?" He asks and starts going back up the stairs immediately.
"Viktor we need to talk can you sit down for a second with me?" I ask as I run after him.
"I can't right now my friend is waiting for me in the car."
"Okay, well hang on I need to ask you a question," I say even though I could wait and ask him about it later, I want an honest answer and to see his reaction and I want to see it now.
"Okay, what?" Viktor finally slows down and looks at me waiting for the question.
"Did you forget what I said to you yesterday?"
"What?" Viktor is confused and I sigh, that question might not have been the best but whatever.
"Did you do the thing I explicitly told you not to do?" I repeated but made myself more clear this time around.
"You've got to be more specific, you tell me not to do many things so." Viktor picks up his stuff ready to leave as soon as he can.
"Okay fine I will be blunt, did you hit Thomas?"
"What! No?" He answers, it seems legit but my gut says there's something more.
"Do you know what happened to him?"
"No why would I? But I bet he deserved it." The way Viktor said the second part of what he said told me all I needed to know, if he didn't hit him he asked s9meone else to do it which is unlikely so I fucking hit him after I asked him not to, and tried to lie about it. Fuck me, I never should have told him what happened between us.
"Bullshit, you did it yourself." I spit out and he rolls his eyes and denies it before opening the front door and stepping outside. "Viktor, don't lie to me, I'll find out anyway!" I yell in the doorway of the house, he's throwing his shit in the car.
"Fine, I'll be honest because you asked." Viktor opens the passenger seat door. "I fucking punched him, he had it coming and deserved it!" He yells back at me and then gets in the car that drives away leaving me to watch as they drive off, my vision blurs as tears start forming. Fuck! I close the front door and head back inside the tears I can't stop from coming, start making their way down my cheeks.
I walk slowly down the stairs barely seeing anything, I blink the tears away once I reach my room and look for my phone. Why has this happened? I question these last few days while I search my room for my phone to discover it sitting in the bathroom where I left it after coming home from work.
I get my phone and sit down on the floor, for some reason I call Thomas, I don't even think about it I just do it. My mind is blank except for the apologizing I want to do, maybe this is a bad idea but I let the phone ring after a few rings Thomas picks up but it turns out to be someone else on the line.
"Taylor doesn't fucking call again, he doesn't want to talk to you!" Martina says through the line. She hangs up and a sob escapes me. Fuck me. I start full-on crying with wheezing and sobbing along with a stream of nonstop tears falling from my eyes. My hands shake but I text Thomas that I'm sorry. I mean it, I'm sorry for breaking up with him and that Viktor punched him. I'm just so sorry. The last forty-eight hours have been an emotional roller coaster and I'm over it, I wish this wouldn't have gone this way. For a long time, I sit on the floor of the bathroom and just cry.