Score: Matilda - Harry Styles
Lydia
In what feels like hours but is actually seconds after Patrick left my room, Gloria and Alex rush in, faces pale and eyes wide. I am still standing by the desk, my hands clasped around my throat, breathing heavily and out of rhythm.
Alex rushes up to me and wraps her arms around my shoulders.
"What the fuck was that?" Gloria asks.
Alex walks me to the bed and gently pushes me to sit down. I am still shocked by Patrick's blow-up. He's never hurt me physically before, and he's always been so polished and courteous, saying and doing the right thing. I never expected him to act as he did. It hurts even more because I know I hurt him and a part of me is questioning whether or not I deserved him treating me that way.
I shake my head, trying to chase the absurd thought away.
Get it together, Lydia!
"Are you OK, Lyds?" Alex asks me, gently pushing my hair away from my face. Her gaze falls on my throat and her eyes flash with anger.
"Did that fucker do this to you?" She asks, her hand gently rubbing the side of my throat. I wince at her touch, remembering Patrick's rough grip from merely minutes ago. I get up to my feet and walk to the dresser opposite the bed, and check myself out in the mirror. A perfect print of Patrick's fingers around my throat is branded crimson on my skin.
"Lydia, please, talk to us!" Gloria says, wrapping her arms around her waist.
I go back to the bed and sit down, gripping my head between my hands. A lump is stuck in my throat. I want to talk to Alex and Gloria about what happened, I really do, but, at the same time, the poison in my chest, a mixture of shame, and guilt, and...and even more shame at the relief that Patrick's gone is holding me back.
"Lyds, we are your best mates," Alex says gently. "We were really worried when you bolted last night. And we are really worried now. You can tell us anything, you know that, right?"
I take a deep breath, still feeling my throat a little rough, and exhale deeply.
"I slept with Mark," I say in the end.
"Well, I figured that much myself," Alex says, at the same time as Gloria blurts out:
"You what!?"
Gloria gapes, moving her eyes from Alex to me and then back to Alex.
"You knew about that?" She asks, looking at Alex, accusation and annoyance in her voice. Alex doesn't reply. An awkward silence falls in the room, as the three of us share shy glances.
"For how long has this been going on?" Gloria asks finally.
"We kissed the night we took your mum to the hospital." I decide to spill everything.
"What? And you kept this from me!? I am supposed to be Mark and your best friend, you fucking cunts!" Gloria throws her arms in the air.
"Glo, please, this isn't about you..." Alex says softly. Gloria scoffs but doesn't say anything.
"I know I fucked up..." I continue. "Last night I called him to come pick me up from prom. We went to his house, and, it just happened..."
YOU ARE READING
Never Summer Again
Romance"What are you left with, if you give up everything you think you know, for love?" LYDIA YOUNG hates her life. She's rich, beautiful, and popular, and dates a future lord, but her only wish is to get as far away from it all as possible. And she would...
