I've Never Cried

Chapter Thirty - "Selena was a Mystery"

"I've Never Cried"

Chapter Thirty

'Selena was a Mystery'

Scene...

One week later

Joe's POV

"She hasn't come back since the day she found out," Selena said, popping a piece of gum on the other end of the receiver. This was the first conversation that she and I had since the incident, and I'd only agreed to speak to her after she'd called me nearly twenty times. I kept Selena's frequent calling a secret, however, so that I could avoid any speculation on Nick's end. It was easy to do, considering Nick had been avoiding me since the day he'd knocked me unconscious.

I leaned back in my chair, one arm across my chest, and responded,

"She needs her distance. I'm sure she's just as angry as Nick was when I told him, and he punched me in the face. Who knows how she feels about you." I rolled my eyes as I spoke. This conversation was just to humor Selena, so I half-assed it. Nothing in me actually thought that Demi would get violent with her now ex-best friend. But then again, she had gotten violent with me.

"Maybe you're right," Selena responded. "I don't think I could take Demi in a fight. She's a lot stronger than she looks." Oh, I knew that. The way that she shoved me so many times that day with so much force, and how she'd slapped me so hard that her palm mark stayed on me for two days, basically proved it. I missed her though; terribly. Every part of me was aching; my stomach permanently entangled in knots.

I heard Selena take a breath, and a long pause followed. Then she said,

"Do you think she'll ever forgive me?"

"No." I responded, flatly. "You did all of this on purpose." She scoffed then, attempting to deny it.

"Joe, it was hardly like that-,"

"It was exactly like that." I interrupted, anger in my voice. I leaned forward then, my elbows on my knees and my phone still on my ear. "Are you ever going to own up to that? Why me?" In the silence that followed, I knew I wouldn't be getting a straight answer out of her.

 I tried again, "You knew how much I loved her, and how much I still love her. You saw how happy we were together. Why would you intentionally try and ruin it? What have I ever done to you?" My voice was angrier then, but I didn't yell at her. I just waited until I heard the line go dead.

I chucked my phone at the wall opposite me, and combed my fingers through my hair in frustration. I knew it was wrong to put all of the blame on Selena, but something just wasn't adding up, here.

How could she have known that I was going to come speak to her that day about breaking up with Nick? How could she have been so comfortable with seducing me right then and there in her living room, knowing all the while that Demi could've walked in at any moment?

The choices I made were impulsive, and I take responsibility for my moment of weakness. But the choices Selena made seemed planned and strategical. It just didn't make any sense.

If she did plan this, she would have been prepared to lose Demi's friendship, and lose Nick as well. Maybe that was why she ended things with him, but I just couldn't accept the idea that she'd risk all of this just to have a night with me.

Selena was a mystery that I'd gotten caught up in. But no matter what came of us remaining in contact after my affair, I knew I'd need her help to get Demi back. Selena was all I had left of Demi, and I didn't plan on losing her too.

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JJDL