Heart Of A Fighter

Hurtful Truths

The ride to Liam's place was unlikely quiet for the two best friends. The only noise to break the silence was J. Cole's song Crooked Smile that were blasting through the speakers.

Liam knew every J. Cole's song word for word. He often bragged about how J. Cole's lyrics were realistically relatable and raw.

Even now he was rapping along, glancing at Lavender from time to time. He even tried to lighten up the mood every now and then with his witty persona, but Lavender remained silent. She was too busy trying to build up the courage to talk to Liam.

To tell him the truth.

When they finally arrived, Lavender felt her heart sinking to the bottom of her foot. She was beyond petrified. Liam opened the door and they stepped in closer to the hurtful truth.

To avoid Liam, Lavender decided to dash into the shower. In the meantime, Liam ordered some Chinese.

Deciding to stall for a few extra moments, she even washed her hair-very slowly that is. She stepped out of the bathtub, slowly drying herself.

Lavender couldn't understand why she was making this such a big deal. No wonder she hated attachments.

She froze when she saw Liam sitting on the bed, hands clasped together on his phone. Lavender looked at the table stand and saw that the Chinese food remained untouched. Usually, he would've already devoured his own and onto hers.

Hesitantly, she sat at the edge of the bed, taking in a deep breath of courage. The movement on the bed quickly got Liam's attention.

He placed his laptop aside and was by her side in no time. "Are you going to tell me something extremely bad that's irreversible to fix? Because you never cry."

"Everyone cries."

Liam rolled his eyes. "Now's not the time."

How could she tell him without him being angry at her?

Besides constantly being seen with different men, Liam never had a reason to be angry with her until now. It was so unpredictable as to how he would react.

How could she calm him down when his anger would be directed at her?

Too many questions soon to be answered.

"Liam, I have something....to....uh tell you."

"Yes Lavender, we've established that already. What is it?" He kept shaking his feet nervously. "Please don't say you're pregnant. You have one more year of college. Don't tell me you jeopardized that for some lame-ass guy, who probably is going to claim that he's not the father."

Lavender shook her head so fast that the towel fell from her head. If this wasn't so serious, she was going to burst out laughing. "Lele, I'm not pregnant."

"Oh," was all he could muster up, putting his head back down. He let out an audible relieved sigh. "Good. Great! Thank goodness!"

"Virgins don't get pregnant," she mumbled, fiddling with her fingers. Liam's head snapped up in bewilderment.

Yes, she expected that. After all, virginity wasn't the first thing that came to anyone's mind when her name was mentioned.

Pride?

No, she didn't expect that at all. Seeing her best friend proud of her brought a smile to her face, but it dropped as quickly as it came. He won't be so proud in a few minutes.

He looked around, confused as can be. "B-b-but how? I thought...." he began, trailing off. She could almost see the clocks clicking in his brain as he tried to make sense of it all.

"Just because I was with all of those guys never meant that I slept with them. That's why I kept telling you not to worry."

"When your best friend has a bad title to her name and is constantly talked about terribly, you have no other choice but to be worried." The worry in his voice was strong.

He punched a guy once in a coffee shop for talking crap about her, and he was willing to do it many times again if Lavender hadn't stopped him.

His head was no longer hung down low. He was looking at Lavender directly in her eyes. "How'd you do it? You know....remain a v-virgin? I'm sorry, it's just weird. We've never gone this deep."

"I understand." Her fingers combed through her damp hair. "It wasn't easy, but I have my ways."

"But why?"

"Look--I had no other choice. My mother died when I was fifteen and my father left us when I was nine. I had to do something to take care of myself and do other stuff, so I just flirted with guys to get what I need even when they called me bad names. Also, I couldn't go into the system. I just couldn't. Being in the foster care was a gamble I wasn't willing to take."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold up, so you were lying to me about your parents this whole time?"

The realization crept in slowly.

He stood up, pacing across the room. He was furious. Lavender gasped, placing her hand over her chest. She never saw him this mad before.

"You know what fucking hurts the most? Is that we've been friends for three and a half fucking years. Best friends that is. You know I would've helped you with anything you needed, yet you chose to do something so stupid. You're looked at as a piece of meat at school every day, Lav. You are not in high school, so you know your reputation will follow you to your grave."

Lavender looked down, ashamed of herself. She knew everything he said was true. There was one thing in life that won't be hidden for long and that was the truth. The truth really does hurt after all.

"I'm fucking out of here," he mumbled, walking out of the room.

His room.

Lavender got up and placed her hand on his shoulder. He shook her hand off as if she was a disease.

"Do not--touch me--right now."