Not Another Summer Love Story

Chapter 22 - Broken Up

The break up was anything but clean.

In fact, it was worse than I could have ever imagined.

I walked to Maisie's, my backpack slung over one shoulder and my fluffy turquoise slippers hugging my feet. The night was quiet and the smell of rain still clung to the air. The image of Dan and Mallory in the back room still flashed behind my eyes and I was so angry. Angry, because my best friend would be heart broken, and completely and unbearably hurting.

Maisie was my ditsy best friend. She believed in true love, prince charmings and happily-ever-afters. She deserved exactly that.

Instead she was the victim of a coward who cheated. It wasn't fair.

Daniel's car was still on her street. I'd hoped he'd be gone by now, it was late. Surely they wouldn't be inside, I knew Maisie was more secretive than that. She wouldn't argue with him with her family around.

I was planning to let myself in and wait for her in her bedroom when I heard a shout in the distance, carried by the lazy wind.

"I bet this is just what you wanted wasn't it?!"

My head whipped in the direction of Maisie's voice. They weren't far from me, two silhouettes illuminated by a street light a little further down the road. I dropped my bag behind Maisie's violet letter box and tentatively walked further towards them. I was all for giving them privacy, but if they'd been fighting for as long as they must have been then maybe I should be there to step in.

I crouched by a prickly bush, not wanting to awkwardly intervene if they were handling things okay. The leaves rustled and dampened me with the droplets they still held from the rain.

"Maiz," Daniel breathed hoarsely. There'd definitely already been tears shed in this argument. Or maybe he'd been crying this afternoon. "I never wanted to hurt you. All along I couldn't hurt you."

"So instead of leaving me, you thought you'd just go behind my back?" Maisie laughed manically and I realised it had driven her to hysteria. She was pacing wildly along the footpath, back and forth.

"You just kept pushing me away! Every time I try to talk to you, you push me away again. You just hate to deal with my problems, and you're just pissed off when someone else does!"

"How does she deal with your problems?" Maisie said with a sweet sarcasm that made goosebumps erupt on my arm. I'd never seen her like this. Her voice rose even further. "Does she sleep with you? Have you slept with her?"

Silence. Then there was a smack and a cry and I saw Maisie sink to the footpath. She had collapsed and her shoulders were shuddering. I crouched up a little further, ready to intervene.

"Jeez, Maisie, get up. Please."

She swatted his arm away as his figure hunched to help her. "Don't touch me! Don't ever touch me again! You... you monster! You disgusting pig!"

"You know what, maybe you're finally seeing me for who I am. Maybe all of this pretending how perfect I am all of the time has done more harm than good. You didn't want to hear it when I was rejected into university, you just talk about stupid shit all of the time to tune out the real problems going on. You can't ignore it all your freaking life."

My fists tensed a little and I felt an overwhelming surge of violence towards him. The protectiveness I had over my best friend ran deep.

"Maybe you were just a piece of shit all along! Maybe you refused to accept that I saw the best in you, you just felt the need to prove me wrong, right Dan? Sleeping with another girl fixed things, didn't it? Because there is no best in you. You're just pathetic."