The Pieces of Me

The Least of Your Worries

My alarm rang loudly waking me up from my deep sleep. Sunday went by uneventfully, the day mostly consisted of me watching Netflix and eating an unhealthy amount of junk food. But today I have to go back to school and back to all the drama. I still don't know why Garretts warned me away from Austin, or if its even a valid reason or not. But I'm not the type to sit by and wait for things to unfold. Its time to find some things out for myself. 

Hey will you send me Stella's #

I shoot a quick text to Maya deciding that Stella might have some answers for me given her past with Austin, whatever that may be.

Before to long I get a notification of her reply coming through and I quickly copy and paste the number into a new contact. Saving that interaction for after I've had my coffee.

I quickly get ready for school getting dressed in grey Nike sweats and a cropped black tank, I'm too emotionally exhausted to worry about my outfit today. If it wasn't for the fact that Aliya would socially shun me for it I would've just gone in my pajamas.

~~~~~

Being at school has just made everything more confusing, and catching Garrett stare at me from across the hall every time I stop at my locker definitely isn't helping.  I had read his note after I picked up the mess we'd made in the living room when we worked on the essay. I was so tired last night I forgot to clean up before I went to bed, I honestly don't even remember going to bed, the last thing I remember was watching Garrett typing away at the laptop.

Id printed out our essay in the copy room at lunch, and had Garretts laptop stashed away in my backpack as I walked to Psychology. Id been avoiding both Austin and Garrett all day today but avoiding Garrett wont be an option anymore. 

"Hey I brought your laptop." I say sitting down next to Garrett and slinging my backpack over the chair.

"I was worried you'd forget...sleepyhead," he said with a wide grin plastered across his face, a faint chuckle making its way to my ears. "Thanks."

"What do you mean by that?" I say in mock offense, I place my hand to my heart acting insulted by the comment, although its entirely true. Sleep is by far my favorite hobby.

"Oh nothing." he says turning away, he lifts up his hand to his mouth to cover his fake yawn before winking at me and turning his attention to the front of the class.

~~~~~

After psychology ended and I could say goodbye to that awful assignment I decided to text Stella.

Hey girl, this is Lily, I was wondering is you'd answer some questions for me?

I sent the text as I put my books back in my locker, I'm so glad my free period is the last of the school day so I can leave early every day. I start to walk out to the parking lot and get into my car to head home when a notification dings on my phone. 

What's up?

Stella's reply meant I had to figure out what I was actually going to ask her. I typed out a message multiple times, each time deleting the whole thing and restarting before deciding to just take it head on.

What happened between you and Austin James? 

 Her response could either change everything or leave me in exactly the same place I am right now. And honestly I'm not sure which id rather. 

Meet me at Kate's in an hour, it'll be a long story

I'm guessing this means everything I know is about to be flipped upside down. When a girl like Stella says its a long story you know you're in for a wild ride.

~~~~~

The bell rang as I swung the door open. Stella was waiting for me in a corner booth, she had an iced coffee sitting in front of her, indicating shed been waiting for a little while. 

"Hey, sorry if I made you wait." I say as I sit down, mentally preparing myself for whatever she's about to say.

"Its okay, I got here early, this is kind of hard for me to talk about," She fiddled with her hands and looked down into her lap before meeting my eyes again, "It just still kind of hurts"

"Well I don't want to push you or anything." I say quickly, starting to feel bad that maybe I've hit a nerve a little bit.

"No, I probably need to talk about it." She sat for a moment, obviously trying to gain some composure as she looked like she was near tears. "We started dating sophomore year, and it started great." 

"Austin's the only guy I've ever liked like that, sure I've had plenty of boyfriends, and I'm definitely not innocent, but he was my first and only serious relationship."

"We'd been dating for a couple months, and we'd gone to his junior prom together. But one day we got in a fight, and I don't even remember what it was about, but he also just lost his playoff football game, and he was not in a good place."

" Fast forward to a couple days later we still hadn't talked and I decided to go see him, so I was driving to his house. As I pulled up to the house I saw a car I recognized in his driveway, It was my best friend Amber's, at first I didn't think anything of it because they also were friends, and we'd never let our relationship get between their friendship." 

"So I got out of my car and walked up to his front porch. But as I opened his front door I was met with them both sitting on the couch next to each other," At this point tears started to swell in her eyes and her voice started to get shaky, she grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and started wiping her eyes before continuing her story. " She was sitting on his lap, kissing him! And he was Shirtless!" Her eyes now burned with fury instead of pain as her voice got loud. 

"So we broke up! I ended it!" The tears now fully gone and entirely replaced with anger. " I lost them both!" She screamed at me, " But if you really want to know why everyone hates Austin you should ask Garrett. He may have hurt me, but that's the least of your worries with him."

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to like and comment!

What do you think Austin did to Garrett?