Teach Me How to Love Again (Sequel to Dirty Little Secret)

Chapter 67: You Swear to Your Parents That it Will Never Happen Again

*~(The title of this chapter is from Guns for Hand by Twenty One Pilots.)~*

"Gerard, you said you were only gonna have one," I observed.

"Fuck off. I'm in control," he spat.

"No you're not. You're fucking wasted."

"So what?"

I threw my arms up in frustration, causing my elbow to hit my glass of lemonade, so it spilled. It mostly got on my lap, but just a few drops got onto Gerard. This clearly pissed him off.

"Jesus Christ! Can't you do anything right?" he snapped loudly, causing the room to go awkwardly silent as everyone looked at us.

"I-I'm sorry," I apologized timidly. I was humiliated and scared. I grabbed a napkin and attempted to wipe the tiny bit of lemonade off of his shirt, but there really wasn't even enough on his shirt for the napkin so soak up. He had overreacted, but I was still afraid. "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't get wasted," I muttered, suddenly feeling much more brave.

"You can't blame your stupidity on my drinking! It's not my fault you can't do anything right!"

"You're one to talk! You blame me for everything! All you ever do is get wasted! You're a loser, yet you still blame me for it!"

He shot me a death glare and shoved me hard by my shoulders. I wasn't expecting that, so I lost my balance and fell backwards, landing on my back on the floor. It took me a moment to process what happened, then I got up and started crying. Everybody saw this. I couldn't have been more humiliated or terrified. I ran out of the room as fast as I could, avoiding eye contact with everyone and sobbing the entire time.

Eventually, I went outside of the building, then I just sat down on one of the steps outside. I cried and pulled my knees up against my chest. I cried into my knees until I heard a group of footsteps behind me. I looked up just enough to see three pairs of flats approaching me. I figured they were Jennifer, Chantal, and Kristin. They all sat on the step next to me.

"Go away," I mumbled into my knees. I was too embarrassed to be seen right now.

"We're not leaving," I heard Jennifer's voice say.

"I want to be alone," I complained. "I already ruined the reception. Isn't that enough?"

"You didn't ruin the reception! The reception is fine! Plus, you didn't do anything, Gerard did," Chantal said.

"H-he's right. I can't do anything right. I can't even have a baby, or go to a wedding right. Don't lie to me either. I know I ruined this reception. I ruin everything. I'm an idiot."

"Don't let him make you believe that. None of what he said is true. He was so out of line," Kristin said.

I finally lifted my head from my knees, and I realized my dress was all sticky, because I was still covered in lemonade.

"I can't believe he'd do this in front of everyone. I mean, he always gets really angry. He yells at me a lot, so I'm used to that, but it's usually when we're alone, and he's never gotten physical with me like this. But I guess this was my fault. I just lost my balance. He didn't mean to hurt me, I was just stupid. I can't even keep my balance. So fucking stupid," I cried.

"He yells at you a lot? Skylar, you can't keep letting yourself be treated like that," Jennifer said.

"He hasn't done it lately. H-he only does it when he's drunk. He makes me feel so bad about myself, and h-he scares me, b-but that's only when he's drunk. He a-also told me he'd get sober, and he was doing good until now."