Imagine If....

Eavesdropping Destroyed You... {Pt 1}

You had made your way towards your boyfriend Tony's house to spend the night. The two of you never did much talking while you were there, but it was amazing none to less. Every time you were with Tony, he made you feel beautiful, drop dead gorgeous even. Others may not think a whole of that, but when you've had horrendous body image issues ever since you could remember, it means the world. The only other person to make you feel that way was Mark, your best friend.

It made you feel extra special that Tony, who put the 'hot' in 'hot damn', picked you as his girlfriend. The cliche story of the popular guy picking the ugly ducking came true after all.

You had just arrived outside the door of his house with a smile on your face. You managed to make yourself feel good in a new floral crop top and the black skinny jeans you picked up the other day. The swipe of red lipstick across your lips made you feel confident, bold even.

Raising a hand to the door, you went to knock when you heard Tony talking on the phone with someone. You never were a big fan of eavesdropping, but this time, curiosity got the best of you. One of the many qualities you weren't proud of was always having to know what was going on, even if it didn't concern you. 

You put an ear to the door in order to make out what Tony was saying.

"Of course I'm getting laid tonight dumbass. Y/N's coming over tonight." Usually, you hated cockiness in a guy, but with Tony, it was kind of hot.

"That the only reason I have her around dude, didn't you know that?" The only reason he had you around? You shook your head, maybe you misheard him.

"Let's be honest Blake, there's nothing special about her. She's not even that good looking, might I say even unattractive. If she wasn't so good in bed, I wouldn't keep her around." When you heard those words come out of Tony's mouth, you peeled your ear away from the door. Devastation slowly tore away at you as you stood there on his doorstep.

You couldn't believe he said that. If you hadn't heard it with your own two ears, you never would have thought that it was true. Tony had always made you feel like Cinderella at the ball. Every chance he got, Tony was telling you that you were beautiful and he was glad that you were his girl. You felt stupid that you believed every word he said. There was always a nagging feeling in your stomach, telling you this was too good to be true. You had always brushed those feelings away, telling yourself that it was just the over cautious part of your brain trying to sabotage the best thing that you had going for yourself.

With tears now streaming down your face, you jumped off the doorstep and just started running down the street. All the anger and sadness fueled it as you ran as fast as your feet would carry you, and then some. At this point, you didn't care where you ended up. You just wanted to be as far away from Tony as you could get.

Your heavy breathing caused you to stop in the middle of the sidewalk in front of a park. The tears seemed to be multiplying as they cascaded down your face. Through your teary-eyed vision, you caught sight of a wooden bench right by the entrance.

As soon as you reached the bench, you collapsed onto the bench in tears. Drawing your knees up to your chest, you thought about the past 6 months with Tony. Absolute betrayal ran through your system as you thought back on your times with him. How could have not seen this coming, you asked yourself. You didn't want to admit it, but you knew the answer. No guy, other than Mark, had made you feel important. They never made you feel like you were his top priority. So once you got that, you were willing to do or believe anything to keep that in your life.

With shaky hands, you pulled your phone out of your pocket. Without even thinking about it, you called Mark. He always said to call him if anything happened. Well guess what? Something happened.

It didn't finish the first ring before he picked up the phone. "Hey there, what's up?" Mark asked you in his usual chipper tone.

"Mark, I..." You couldn't even finish your sentence before you let out a sob.

"Woah Y/N, what's going on? Why are you crying?" In an instant, Mark turned into the protective, "I'm going to kick the person who did this you's ass" kind of best friend.

"I was with.. and he had said... was only good for sex.." Was all you managed to say in between tears.

"It's ok sweetheart, everything's fine. Where are you, I'm coming to get you." You heard what sounded like the rustling of keys as he talked to you.

"At the park, down the street from Tony's." You spoke as you took a hand to wipe the tears from your eyes.

"I'm on my way, just stay there and I'll be there shortly." With a short goodbye, Mark had hung up the phone. Knowing Mark, he'd break just about every traffic law to get to you quicker. As you tried to get yourself together, you thought about how strange it was that Mark wasn't beyond pissed that someone hurt you as he normally acted like that whenever someone hurt you. Maybe he just wasn't showing it.

It wasn't long before you saw a familiar looking silver hybrid screech to a stop in front of the park. The drivers side door flew open as Mark practically jumped out of the car. When he rushed over towards you, you took notice of the red flannel awkwardly tucked into the grey sweatpants Mark had on, along with the untied running shoes on his feet. 

When he caught sight of you, his eyes instantly softened. Without any warning, Mark ran to sit next to you on the bench. With his right hand, Mark dragged you across the bench and pulled you onto his lap. You buried your face into the crook of his shoulder, your tears slowly soaking the cotton material. His left arm came around to wrap protectively around your waist while the other started to soothingly stroke your hair.

"Shh, it's ok. Let it all out.." He whispered against your hair. The tears came faster as they seemed to be following his orders. "As long as I'm here, he'll never hurt you again." This is where you took your face out of the crook of his shoulder to look up at him.

"What he said hurt so much because it's true.."

"What are you talking about?" Mark questioned you as he brought the pad of his thumb towards your eyes, slowly wiping the tears away.

"Let's be real. The reason Tony said I was unattractive is because I am. If only a few people said this, I wouldn't believe it, but I have to face the facts! Every guy I have ever gone out with has said that. I'm not going to deny the truth anymore Mark, it's time that I confronted reality. I'm the ugly duckling rather than the beautiful swan." You lowered your eyes, no longer able to look at him.

Mark tucked his index finger underneath your chin and pushed it up forcefully to meet his eyes.

"Listen to me," Mark said sternly. "Tony's a fucking douchebag, he doesn't know half the shit that comes out of his mouth. Don't start thinking that just because all the guys you've dated said you're unattractive, that it's true. Trust me, your best friend, when I say your beauty exceeds all expectations. I have never met a girl that holds half the beauty  you do, and I'm not even talking about what's on the outside. You, Y/N, are truly stunning, inside and out. I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be able to say your my best friend." Mark pressed his lips against your forehead, then lifted his head.

At this point, you had stuck your head back into the crook of his shoulder as he now was rubbing your back. The two of you stayed like this for what seemed like an eternity, when in all actuality it was only a few minutes.

Mark eventually stood up , bringing you with him. He pulled your face away long enough to look into Y/C/E.

"Let's go, there's somewhere I want to take you." You sniffled as you nodded, slowly making your way towards his car. Mark gave you no hint as to where he was going as the two of you got in. The only thing you did notice was the muscle in his jaw grow tense as he stared out the windshield. Anger was finally settling in. Mark didn't get angry often, he was more of a lover than a fighter, but when he did, it was never a good thing.

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I know I left it off on a cliffhanger, I'm sorry! :D Luckily, part 2 is coming up next! I'm sitting on the edge of my seat as I'm writing this, and I know what's going to happen next!!!

~Miranda~