Fools

Part 26

The next morning; cate's p.o.v

I woke up to the sun beaming in my face, Joe and Sydney were still asleep, I'm always the first one up. My alarm clock must've gotten unplugged and I can't find my phone, I looked around and saw Joe's phone next to his side. I grabbed it to see that it was 8:39, it's Saturday so I don't have class today, I pulled down his notifications wall and saw a text.

From; hails <3
'i'm guessing you fell asleep huh? okay well see you.'

Hmm, a normal text but why does he have a heart next to her name? I went into his messages and read the conversations between them.

'you know everytime we hangout we don't just hangout'
'possibly lol, maybe i can set some time aside for you'
'have you decided to tell her yet?'
'you can't keep using that as an excuse, one day she's going to find out with or without you telling her...but it's better to come from you than someone else'
'no one else knows besides ollie'

Tell me what? I felt my heart drop, I feel like I can't breathe. Who was this girl? And what does she know that I don't? I decided to read their previous texts.

'you were so good last night, fuck i need another round'
'i'm think of you, want me to send a pic?'
'ugh can i see you, i need some of what you have'
'how do you feel that good, took me away'

I started to feel sick, I think I'm going to throw up. Is Joe cheating on me? This must be the girl he's cheating on me with. How fucking long has this been going on?? He came to visit me and slept in my bed last night while he was texting another girl? Fuck, I'm so mad. I went over to Sydney's bed.

"Syd, wake up please." I nudged her and all that she did was groan. "Please Syd."
"Ugh, what?" She turned to look at me.
"I think Joe's cheating on me."

That same hour;

We walked to the bench I had called Zoe on, the night of the situation with Scott. I took screenshots on my phone of Joe's texts once I found it and now I'm showing them to Sydney.

"Wow what the fuck. What an actual douche, I can't believe he'd do something like this. Are you okay?"
"I mean not really but at least I'm not crying like a little bitch. I just can't believe he would hide this from me, I'd be a little less upset if he told me the truth." She put her arm around me.
"Guys won't do that Cate, if you never would have looked and found out yourself, he would have left like everything was fine and you would've found out later down the line." I sighed, she was right. "So what are you going to do? Do you wanna hear him out or just leave it?"
"Honestly, I don't feel like talking to him at all right now. I'm so upset, my stomach feels like it's in knots. Everything was going so good for me, I knew it was too good to be true. Something was bound to happen."
"I'm really sorry Cate, guys are so trash. It's not fair that they get to do all the doing while we're the ones hurting. You should come out tonight, let go of the situation and just have fun. Bring Lilah, I'm sure she'd like to come with."
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea right about now, now I'm feeling like I need a drink." We both laughed.
"Hey don't get too ahead of yourself," She laughed again. "Let's just take it slow and see what happens, I won't even drink tonight so I can make sure you have a good time."
"Thanks Syd, I know we haven't hung out much recently but thank you for being here for me during this, I didn't want to bother Lilah. With me and you spending the last 2 years before this together, I feel like you still know me better than anyone else."
"Of course love, I haven't been such a great friend these days but I promise you I'll always be here." We hugged each other tightly. I feel so glad to have Syd back, our friendship is so valuable, I couldn't let it slip away like it has been.

Back at the dorm; joe's p.o.v

I woke up alone in Cate's dorm, her and Sydney were nowhere to be found. I looked at my phone for the time and I noticed my messages with Hailey were open. Shit. She knows. Fuck what am I going to do?? I have to find her. I got up from her bed so quick and headed for the door when her and Sydney had came through.

"Cate I- let me explain."
"Joe, you need to leave. Visting hours are over." Sydney told me, she stood infront of Cate who had this terrible sad look on her face, I knew I hurt her all over again.
"Please just let me talk to her."
"I don't want to talk to you Joe. I have nothing to say. Just leave." It feels like my heart just broke into a million pieces, I couldn't even explain the situation or even attempt to talk to her. Cate doesn't want anything to do with me right now, I better just take what's left of my pride and walk out so I did. They turned around to watch me leave, I tried approaching the door once more before Sydney slammed it into my face. I deserve every inch of this. I should have told her when I had the chance, I knew it would turn out even worse if I never said anything. But now what's left?

Later that night, 9:05pm; cate's p.o.v

"Come on Cate we have to go! Let's see what you look like!!" Sydney squealed, she let me borrow one of her party dresses, it was silk with the lightest shade of pink, spaghetti straps with some netted white tights that I added. My hair was curled with two pink butterfly pins to hold up my frame pieces, I felt confident.
"Okay, here." I walked out of the bathroom and posed for her and Lilah, they both screamed.
"You look so fucking cute!" They both said at the sametime, I laughed.
"So are we ready?" Lilah asked.
"I think we are." I replied.
"Yes bitch, single Cate is out for the night and ready to steal up some men!" Sydney shouted, we all shouted 'woo' and walked out of the dorm with linked arms.

We walked up to the frat house, a bunch of people we're already here, I felt nervous but I swallowed it down and continued walking with the group.

"You ready?" Sydney asked me, we stopped infront of the door.
"Ready as I'll ever be."

We walked in, the music was so loud, people were making out, talking, red solo cups everywhere, a streaker literally ran by us as soon as we walked in, we just laughed.

"Okay, so drinks? I'll be back to fill your needs." Sydney unlinked arms and fell into the crowd. I looked over at Lilah, she smiled at me.
"You look beautiful tonight by the way." I had told her, she grabbed my hand.
"Thank you, I haven't been to a party in so long, I feel like I forgot how to party or dress really." She laughed.
"Well we both look hot, so there's that." I winked.

We found an empty spot to sit and claimed it, I looked around at everyone at the party, thank god I haven't seen Scott yet. I'm going to avoid him at all costs.

"So um, Sydney mentioned earlier that you were single? Did something happen between you and Joe?" Lilah asked, she put her hand on my hand.
"Oh, uh yeah. I went to check his phone for the time when I woke up and I saw conversations of him and this girl, they were seeing each other behind my back." I told her, she had a shocked look on her face.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry love. You found that out today?"
"Yeah." I said lightly, I tried holding back my tears as much as I could, she turned me for a hug.
"I'm here for you." She pulled away and grabbed my hand again. "Um so there was actually something I wanted to tell you and I guess now's kind of the right time. I-" Lilah was cut off by Sydney, she came back with drinks.
"Here you go, and here you go. None for me tonight, it's a promise." She smiled at me. "Sorry, uh did I interupt something?" Lilah pulled her hand off of mine quickly.
"No um, I actually saw one of my friends from my econ class, I'm going to say hi okay? Be right back." Lilah got up and walked over to a group of people, Sydney took her spot.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Yeah." I took a sip of my drink. "You?"
"Yeah, all good." I could tell she wanted a drink of what I had, I laughed.
"Here go ahead, just a little okay?" I told her, she happily took a couple sips and handed it back.
"Thanks, I needed that." I rolled my eyes and smiled. "So was I really not interupting anything? She looked like she was going to say something important."
"No, I don't think so." I looked over to Lilah, she was smiling and laughing, she caught me looking at her, she waved at me. I waved back.
"I see the way you look at her. Do you, you know, have feelings towards her? I mean if you say yes, I might be just a little jealous it wasn't me," She laughed. "But you know, I'd be happy for you."
"I don't think I've actually thought about it in that way, she's beautiful yes and she just gets me. So maybe?"
"Awh shit bitch, go get her. Oop- she's coming back, I'll leave you two. If you guys leave though, text me, I won't drink don't worry, but I hear there's a game of beerpong going on that I might join. Have fun babe." She kissed my cheek then went off.
"Hey um, do you wanna fill up our drinks again and get out of here?" Lilah asked and held out her hand, I took her hand smiled & nodded.
"Yeah, let's."
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