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Epilogue

"He was such an asshole," Katherine chuckled into her margarita.

I hadn't seen her since the funeral. She had needed time to cope with the feeling of emptiness he had left, but when she came back, she came back hard and heavy. She was drinking more than I had ever seen her drink and was hooking up with any guy she could find.

"I mean, he wasn't not an asshole," I shrugged as I took a sip of my drink.

"No," she laughed with a mouthful of chips and salsa, "like, he was a real asshole. I was mad that night, you know?"

"Hmm?" I questioned as I dipped a corn chip in my side of the salsa.

"He called me a bitch or a whore or something," her voice grew heavy and her gaze drifted as she remembered the night. "So I was leaving to go back to my parent's house and he chased me down into the yard and shoved me to the ground," her trance broke and she finished with a shrug, "then started choking me."

Heat flared through me.

"I guess he decided to let go when I didn't move anymore but then he just laughed and went inside. I followed him to see what I did wrong. I was stupid."

"What an asshole."

"Yup," she agreed. "We made up and watched a movie. Then I left and it all went downhill," she ended somberly.

It was quiet for a few moments before she spoke again.

"You know, I was terrified that I was going to get arrested."

"What do you mean?" I asked between sips.

"There were so many drugs in that house. He was an addict and I was stupid enough to go along with whatever he did. We had fucking cocaine in the closet," she half scoffed; half laughed. So not only was he an asshole, but they were still doing drugs? Even after that stupid shit show of a meeting in February?

New anger rose in me and I cut off our friend date early before I said anything I knew I would regret. For the next few weekends, Katherine and I joined Mia, Clay, and Blake for house parties. I watched, weekend after weekend as Katherine drank herself into oblivion. I carried her into my house Saturday after Saturday and held her hair as she vomited in the bushes. The longer I stayed around Katherine, the angrier I became. This was the same girl that had gotten in my face and screamed at me that I was trash after I told her I was raped? This was the same girl that had told Keegan everything wrong I had ever done and had drugs in the house she was supposed to live in with Jordan less than five months later? This was that girl and I was being best friends with her, partying with her like none of that had ever happened?

The anger sat inside of me for months as I watched life drag on. Every time she asked me to hang out, images of her screaming at me with her finger in my face flashed in front of my eyes. I began slowly pulling away from her and by some coincidence, she began pulling away from me. Katherine slowly stopped going to Blake's house parties. She began hanging out with some girls from another church and slowly, she returned to the "too good for you" self-righteous Katherine she had been when Jordan had gotten out of rehab.

~ ~ ~

A few months later, Greyson proposed to Chloe. His proposal was beautiful and I was happy that he had found his happiness in someone as sweet as her. It pained me to know that he would never be "my Greyson" again and that I would never be able to tell him how much I had always loved him. Their wedding was set for October of the next year. As the weeks turned into months, Greyson began asking me to hang out with him and his new fiancé more and more. The grief we felt began healing and as we spent more time together, the feelings I had for him began to return. I knew they were wrong. He was set to get married in just two short months so I shoved them down inside of me and settled it in my mind that everything I'd ever felt was totally one-sided and I had simply imagined everything I'd ever thought he liked about me. After a night of drinking with Greyson, Chloe, and some of their friends, I turned to go home. Chloe went ahead of Greyson to the car and when he was halfway to their car, he stopped and ran back to me. Greyson pulled me into both of his arms and hugged me tight.