Double Trouble || Jack and Finn Harries (Watty Awards 2013)

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Finn’s POV

Elizabeth was winding up, like an angry bull on restraints. Just one little cut of the string and she was about to go flying towards Zoe. Neither Jack nor Zoe said a word; both were observing Elizabeth’s reaction attentively.

“Is everything alright...” I asked slowly, approaching the situation as if I actually were in the presence of a raging bull. But as soon as the words had slipped out of my mouth, it was as though I had released her restraints for she went charging in Zoe’s direction.

“You little whore!” Elizabeth yelled menacingly at her. I quickly reacted, grabbing Elizabeth by the waist and pulling her back.

“I’m the whore?” Zoe yelled back, and I soon realized that Jack and I were stuck in the middle of a cat fight. “You’re the one who is lying every time you take a breath!”

Now it was Jack’s turn to restrain Zoe from throwing herself onto Elizabeth. Even though we both tried our best to keeping them apart, they were still slapping each other furiously.

“Looks like your plan backfired” I yelled at Jack over the screaming of the girls.

He let out a heavy sigh as he continued to hold Zoe back. “What do we do now?”

At that moment then I realized that a small crowd had begun to form. Women and men who were coming out of their respective bathrooms stood around the fighting ring instead of returning to their tables to finish their meals. One girl looked awfully familiar. She was in the front of the crowd, her eyes full of excitement as she watched Zoe and Elizabeth pull each other’s hair.

“Jack, isn’t that the girl who spilled the wine on Zoe?”

Jack peered over his shoulder and look back at me, “Sure looks like it to me.”

The girl was still enjoying the show, her eyes twinkled with delight. “You” I said to her, “Get in between them.”

“Oh no way, “she replied shaking her head, “I would get shredded alive if I came between them. Why don’t you just get between them yourself?”

I let out an annoyed sigh. This was getting just a tad annoying and I knew the girl was right. It was time to stop this fight and finally confront Elizabeth. I signaled to Jack to let go of Zoe just as I let go of Elizabeth. Before they could start throwing themselves on each other, both Jack and I got in between them, our backs to each other.

“Okay it’s time to stop.” Jack said facing Elizabeth. I faced Zoe and I told her the same. Both girls immediately went silent and lower their arms.

Jack and I got out from between them and both let out a sigh of relief.

Both girls were panting, both of them trying to catch their breaths. Zoe glared at Elizabeth, but Elizabeth didn’t return the stare. Instead her eyes were fixated of Jack, staring at him with such aggression and intensity.

“You.” She snarled at him, “How dare you cheat on me with her.” She spit out the words with such disgust as if they tasted like vinegar in her mouth.

Jack was gobsmacked; I could tell just by the way he stared back at her, his mouth open in disbelief.

I was the one to interject, “Excuse me? You’re mad at him for dating Zoe? What about yourself?”

Instead of finally admitting what she had done, she persisted with more anger than before. She never once looked towards me while she spoke; she kept her attention on my brother, poking his chest with her finger as she spoke. “Oh shut up Finn. You don’t know anything.”

I had finally had enough with this two-timer. She was getting on my last nerve and I wasn’t going to let her get off the hook that easily.

“Oh trust me we know a lot more than you think.” I barked back at her.

She let out a menacing laugh. “Oh spare me the smart act, Finn.”

“God can you ever stop lying!” I yelled at her in frustration, “Look we know that you’ve been pretending to be two people- we know that you used us-just for once in your life can you just be honest!”

She said nothing; she just kept her jaw clenched shut so I continue to speak.

“Zoe had tried to tell us, but we were naive at the time, we were under your spell that you had cast on us, making us believe that we had found true love.” As I spoke my temper began to cool down.

Jack however, hadn’t had his turn yet in the heated argument, so after he had finally recovered from her earlier accusation, he joined into the argument with equal intensity.

 “Do you take us for two idiotic blokes? Trying to sleep with both of us behind our backs without any of us finding out?”

 “No, no of course not!” she yelled back at Jack, “I would never do that-”

“Really? Because it seems to me you already have,” Jack spat back at her, “You think you have us wrapped around your little finger, and that we would do anything for you. Well I’m sorry Elizabeth but you just can’t go around in life deceiving people and turning them into your little puppets to suit your own needs.”

Her eyes remained fixated on the wall behind us. She wouldn’t look at either of us directly in the eye because if she would look at us it would admit defeat.  

We had finally broken her.

I let out a sigh, “It’s over Elizabeth; we’re done being some little pawns in your chess game.”

She stared at us both, her eyes bewildered with what she was seeing. She started to back away as if she had finally realized that all her lies she had built up over time were slowly disintegrating into the air above us. Her mouth remained opened but she said no word as if she was trying to think of more lies to cover up the truth but nothing was coming to her.

She continued to back away slowly, so much so that her back bumped into Zoe. She turned around to come face to face with Zoe. Zoe eyes burn into hers, but Elizabeth’s eyes remained in dismayed.  Zoe knew that we had won this battle and though Zoe was considerably shorter than Elizabeth, she stood taller and more confidently than Elizabeth did.

Elizabeth no longer felt authoritative but rather weak and frightened. 

The crowd had thinned out now that Zoe and Elizabeth we’re no longer fighting. I nudged Jack and we both knew it was over. We walked past Elizabeth, who remained frozen in time as Jack grabbed Zoe’s hand. Jack and Zoe proceeded towards the door of the restaurant. Before following them, I turned around towards Elizabeth one last time.

 She stood with no posture, her shoulders slumped and her knees buckling. Her face wasn’t its usual confident self. Her lips usually full and drawn up in a smile were now curled downwards. Her eyes were glassy; it was like looking into the eyes of a fake doll, nothing but emptiness. Her yellow dress seemed to have lost the colour that went with her cheerful personality. I was finally staring at the true Elizabeth, the one that hid beyond the mask that she had created with her lies. A single tear rolled down her reddened cheek. 

“Goodbye Elizabeth,” I said my voice barely audible. I turned around and made my way towards the doors of the restaurant, where Jack and Zoe were awaiting me.

That was the last time I ever saw Elizabeth.