Perfectly Imperfect 1

20- I Didn't Know

KAYLA:

I walked back home, slightly damp, sticky, lonely and... ashamed. Despite everything I yelled at Cal, he was still there for me, I mused. And then there was Lizzie. Lizzie, the head cheerleader, my ex-friend. I knew she was too good to be true... but then, I did yell at her, didn't I? And I did insult her party! So, I sorta deserved what I got today, didn't I?

Reaching the door, I unzipped my bag to look for the key, when all of a sudden it swung open on its own accord. Startled, I looked up into the creased face of Ivan.

"What are you doing here? I thought your classes end at 6 today!"

Wordlessly, Ivan held up his phone for me to see. I frowned.

"What?"

"Read it," he said simply, observing me.

My heart thumped suddenly; I had a feeling this wasn't going to be good. Reaching out for the phone, I started to read the text message Cal had sent me. Before I had even finished reading, tears were already prickling in my eyes. Ivan tried to pull me into a hug, but he flinched when he touched my shirt.

"Good god, why are you wet?" He made a face. "And sticky?"

I kept quiet, my eyes still focused on his phone. Rereading Cal's text message again and again, until the letters scrambled and made no sense. Gently, Ivan pried his phone away from my shaking hands.

"Elle, go upstairs and take a shower. When you're ready, we'll talk, okay?"

Mutely, I nodded, and climbed the stairs up to my room, my legs feeling like lead.

---

"So, you wanna tell me what happened?" Ivan asked, his arms wrapped around me, my head on his chest. We were sitting on my bed, and the hot chocolate he had prepared emitted a delicious, comforting scent. 

I shook my head, choking on my tears. Ivan stroked my hair, sighing.

"Okay fine, I'll try to piece things together. You went to the party two nights ago, saw Cal getting drunk, completely flipped out, and lashed out at him yesterday. Am I correct?"

I didn't say anything.

"Yeah, I suppose that was what happened." I could hear him smirking. "High school drama, really. You guys are such babies."

I remained quiet, not saying anything. Ivan sighed.

"And now you feel bad because you think you overreacted. You want to apologize to him but you can't, 'coz essentially, you are right, but if you don't apologize, you'll lose him as a friend."

I pulled myself away from Ivan's embrace.