The Shadow's Game

Chapter 7~ Over and Done With

  A moment you'll never remember and a night you'll never forget~Hallelujah by Panic! At the Disco

***

  He looks pissed. Like really pissed. He narrows his eyes at me. Jace saw what happened. But how much? Did he not watch me knee Bryan in the groin?

  "How much did you see?" I finally ask. He doesn't say anything for a minute. I'd rather have him yell at me than have this awkward silence between us.

  "The kiss," he grits out. He grinds his teeth together to show his annoyance. Just my luck. He stopped watching just before I went all Chuck Noris on Bryan's ass.

  I put my hands up to stop him from leaving. "I can explain."

  "Explain what? My girlfriend, who randomly decides to go to a party after I've tried for years to get her to come to one with me, coincidently kisses one of my friends when I'm not looking. It seems pretty self explanatory to me." His words sting. He has a point. I would never go to a party and when I finally decide to I'm caught kissing a guy who isn't my boyfriend. But that's not what happened.

  "No you've got it all wrong! I kneed him in the groin! He forced himself on me!" I plead.I probably sound desperate, but I am. I'm not losing Jace over this because it want my fault.

  He laughs humourlessly. "Do you really think I'll fall for that? Please. I know he's drunk but you aren't. You could have stopped it. But guess what? You didn't." His voice is filled with so much venom it makes me cringe. I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off.

  "You know what's really pathetic Marley?" He spits my name out. "Is the fact that you were so close to getting away with what you two were doing without me even noticing it. If that stupid girl hadn't hit me you two couldn't have gone all the way. I bet you feel pretty damn upset that you got caught."

  Tears formed in my eyes. I refuse to let them fall here in front of all these people. Everyone around us had stopped to tune in to our conversation. The loud techno beat stopped everyone else in the house from hearing it. I wrap my arms around myself, embarrassed.

  "Can we please go somewhere and talk about this? Anywhere but here? I need to tell you exactly what happened because you missed the part where I pushed him off of me," I mumble. He shakes his head furiously.

  "Everything I need to know I've seen," he snaps. He points to me and himself. "We're through you cheating whore."

  I feel my heart break. It feels like someone has taken a knife and stabbed me. I watched with my mouth open as he stormed away. Jace had been my boyfriend for a year and my friend for 5 years. The way he spoke to me made me feel small and worthless. I wish he would let me explain. He didn't want to talk to me and probably never will now. With whatever dignity I have left I push past all the bodies in search of Vicky.

  I finally find her sitting on a random guys lap. He whispers something in her ear and she giggles softly. She turns around so she's straddling his waist. Before this can escalate any further I smack her arm to grab her attention. Her head whips around to face me. Annoyance is evident on her face. I don't care at this point. I just want to go home and she's the one with the car.

  My vision blues with tears and I guess she sees them because she gets off his lap and takes my hand. The boy gives me a glare. I ignore it and let Vicky let me out of the house. She doesn't question me and for that I'm grateful.

  She pushes past people using her shoulders. My hand is locked in hers. It feels like hours before we finally reach her car. Once I'm in the car and know no one can see me I let the tears flow freely. I slowly turn to see Vicky staring intently at me. She brings her arm to my back and rubs it comfortingly.

  "Jace broke up with me," I manage to say while choking back a sob. She gives me a sympathetic look.

  "Let's ditch the party. I haven't had too much to drink. I'll be fine. We can go to my place and talk," she suggests. I nod my head numbly. She leans over and opens the glove compartment to reveal a box of tissues. I reach in front of me and bring a tissue to my eyes dabbing away the wetness beneath them.

  She pulls into her house after several minutes of driving. I trailed behind her as she went into her house. She hastily greeted her parents and explained the situation. They offer me pitiful expressions, but I ignored them. I just want to tell Vicky what happened. Hopefully she'll believe me.

  She takes hold of my hand and guides me to her room. She shuts the door behind her while I make myself comfortable on her bed. I pull the comforter around my body and hug it tight. She sits beside me and wraps her arm around me. I take a deep breath. The tears had stopped a minute ago and I feel exhausted.

  I explain to her how Bryan was drunk and cornered me. How he forced himself on me and I struggled to break free. I told her how Jace had seen only the kiss and broke up with me then and there on the spot. All the while I monitor her expression. It remains the same. Once I finish the story I wait for her patiently. I need advice and she is the best person I can go to.

  Just as I finish my story there is an abrupt knock on her bedroom door. Vicky pushes herself off and opens the door to reveal her step mom with a tray in her hands.On it is a steaming mug. Her step mom walks in and places the tray down on Vicky's nightstand.

  "Victoria Amelia Mason! Have you no manners? When someone is hurting what do you do?" Her step mom scolds. Vicky lowers her head.

  "We offer them a warm beverage," she mumbles. Her mom nods approvingly.

  "Good girl." Her mom turns to me. "Here you go sweetie." She forces the cup into my hand. I cry when the steaming mug burns my skin. Her stepmom, Eva, apologizes and places it back onto the nightstand.

  "Are you okay?" Eva asks me.

  "Yes I'm fine. Just a bad breakup," I say while dabbing at my tears.

  "It's not the end of the world. Your life will go on. You will move on." She tries to help me. She pats my arm and leaves.

  The drink didn't make me feel better but I appreciate the gesture. I give her a small smile and thank her. She returns the smile and leaves closing the door behind her. Vicky crawls back into the bed with me. I pick up the mug from the nightstand and grip it tightly in my hand. The burning sensation from the mug travels throughout my hand, but I don't pay attention to it.

  "I'm so sorry. Bryan is a douche and now you understand why we broke up. I believe you. Now we have to convince Jace," she says.

  I shake my head. "It won't work. He doesn't want to talk to me. And I've already tried to tell him my side. He doesn't listen to me."

  She doesn't reply. I sigh in frustration. She stands up and exits the room leaving me alone and confused. After a few moments she returns holding every Channing Tatum movie she owns in one hand and a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the other. She plops all the stuff on the bed and pops in a disc into the TV across the room. She presses play and lays beside me.

  "Nothing helps with a break up more than Channing Tatum, Ben, and Jerry," she says.

  I feel all the sadness I felt before slowly drift away. I reply, "All my favourite people in one place."

  Thank God for my best friend Vicky. I snuggle into the blankets further and we watch 21 Jump Street and laugh. We managed to eat the entire tub of ice cream. The night goes on and I slowly lose myself to sleep.

***
A/N- I haven't had wifi for 5 days. So I finally have been able to update.
~Mar