Salty Licorice

Chapter 51

Liz's POV

For the last week I've been staying at Leo's house, avoiding everyone except him and Danny. Leo's has been trying to get me to answer the many many phone calls and texts from both Marisa and Avery.

I'm sitting in his bathroom on the toilet with the lid down holding my phone, listening to one of the many voicemails left from Avery and Marisa.

"Hey, um, I get you don't wanna talk and that's cool. But there's more to the story than what Emily might have told you. Just don't jump too quickly to hate, we, I never wanted to hurt you. Trust that please, I'm still the same as before," Marisa's voice sounds through my speaker.

That's the last one she left me three days ago, I've listened to it about 20 times already. I slide my finger down and hit the next voicemail.

"Lizzie, I'm sorry," Avery's voice whispers through the phone. You can hear the breath she took. "I'm just gonna stop calling you, just um yeah I'll uh leave you alone like you want now. Sorry. Goodbye."

I sit and replay Avery's seeing as this one is from today and this was the first I've heard of it. I didn't think that Avery's voice could sound like that, sound so weak and defeated. Marisa's voice always carried the same pitch in her tone, a calm monotone cadence. But Avery's has always been expressive, whether it be excitement to determination and challenging to anger or frustration. But that goodbye sounded so broken and finite. Never has she ever sounded defeated, that just wasn't in her nature. It makes me question, why would she be defeated if the game was exactly how Emily explained it, then she would have beat Emily. I don't think she would be this upset over losing to Marisa. Even when she'd lose a Volleyball match she was never defeated, only determined to never let it happen again, to never make the same mistakes again. So why now.

I get up from my seat and walk back into Leo's room seeing him and Danny play video games. Normally I'd join but I just don't feel up to trying at the moment so I lay on Leo's bed looking at his ceiling where a pride flag is pinned.

"Why would they lie to me?" I ask aloud, surprising myself.

"Like I said, they didn't lie per say just elected to withhold information," Leo says distractedly.

"So lying by omission. Cause that's way better," I groan. "But why would they play with me like some toy? It felt so real to me."

"Their dicks," Danny mutters.

"Why can't they just leave me alone and stop calling me," I whine as I bury my head in my pillow.

"You'd have to talk to them to find out," Leo reminds.

"I'm just so mad at them, I just wish they could feel how I feel," I groan.

"What did you say?" Leo pauses the game making Danny glare at him in frustration.

"I wish they could feel how I feel?" I slowly ask, sitting up looking at him.

"So like revenge?" Leo grins devilishly. "Cause I'm all down for a little revenge."

"How?" I ask dumbly.

"Play their game but better," Leo says. "Don't let them think they can just use you and you'll be okay with it. You can't tell me that over all this time they have not revealed secrets that you can use against them."

"I mean, like what, cause I'm not just gonna go around school showing off their dirty laundry?" I deadpan.

"No no, not those kinds of secrets. Like stuff that turns them on, or stuff that pisses them off." Leo gets up from his beanbag chair and sits across from me on the mattress.