Until you were gone

11. Secrets

Secrets by Tiësto and KSHMR ft. Vassy
~
Then came the 14th of Feb, Valentine's Day. Adam had sent me a rose and I sent him one in return and that was that. The real trouble began when I met up with Hannah from school at the mall.

She was with a few friends who were all very welcoming but, still, I felt out of place. I had only joined her to get out of the house and now I was drifting in the wind.

She informed me that she was going to meet up with a friend of hers, Isaac. Isaac Romero. I knew that name and it brought a rush of guilt to me. I hadn't spoken to him in forever and I was about to see him.

What ended up happening though was that she met him at the entrance to the park beside the mall that we had walked to and the rest of us stayed behind as she went off with him. Apparently they were really good friends and since he didn't have a valentine, they'd chosen to hang out. And so I was left with her friends whom I barely knew. Ty in particular was very welcoming but I'd caught him looking down my shirt when I'd reached down to retie my shoe laces and I wasn't in the mood to deal with his advances.

The two other girls who were with us left with their boyfriends and that left me alone with Ty and another guy whose name I didn't quite catch. As we walked back into the mall I spotted a pop up store for Toys R Us and happily entered to look around. The make shift walls were see through and as I rounded a corner I saw a familiar face, Mini's.

He was a Gemini and so I called him "Mini". It was odd and rather nonsensical but it stuck. What was even weirder was the little name he had for me- "assbutt". Earlier on in our friendship I had begun using the term regularly and he, wanting to stop me, stole my word knowing I'd refuse to use it as an insult thereafter.

I smiled broadly at him and motioned for him to wait there as I exited the make-shift maze of a store. He was at the mall with Aj and a few other friends and I stopped to talk to him for a few moments. Aj said "hi" but not much else. We hugged too.

"Where'd those guys you're here with go to?" Mini questioned.
I spun around, noticing the empty space and replied, "Hmm I have no idea. I don't even have either of their numbers..."
"Good. You can stay with us." Was his response.

Along with Pianos, one of the other regular drinking spots was across the mall at Tariff's and that's exactly where the guys were headed. As we walked Mini and I engaged in some casual conversation, that was until he stopped me, sat me on a bench and demanded that I tell him what was wrong- he'd noticed my sullen mood. I began to explain why I was down in the dumps and how Katey was behaving towards me and when I realized that we'd been sitting there for at least a good five minutes, I suggested that we move the conversation closer to Tariff's before the others came looking for us.

Upon arrival there we headed straight over to the steps alongside the "restaurant", ignoring the stares of those(including Aj) who thought we were going to hook up, and plonked down onto the steps at the very top for some privacy.

"Assbutt, she's not worth your time but if it'll make you feel better I can type a message for you to send to her, I'm good at fixing this stuff. I think you should actually talk about that guy and not skirt around the topic." Mini said as my tale reached its end.
"Are you sure? We haven't spoken in a while, what if she hates me?" Was my reply.
"Then she's an idiot- who could hate you?" He said, taking my cellphone from my limp hands. I didn't object, I trusted him.

In short, my gut feeling to believe in my Mini paid off as Katey replied with an apology of her own which was a huge improvement from her side of things. Just then, Aj popped his head around the corner and looked up at us, surprised to see us actually just talking.

"Uh guys Troy's here, come down and say hi?" He said.
In response we rose from our comfy spots and descended the stairs, my mood significantly improved but my stress levels still reaching for the stars.

I didn't know who Troy was before that day but that didn't stop me from conceding when he begged me to be his fake girlfriend so as to make his ex jealous. He was a fun guy to be around, and, he owed me one so he decided to buy me a drink or a few. I wasn't planning on drinking,mix even told Mini to stop me if I was tempted. Problem was " I deserved this drink" and "I needed this drink". Once again I had found myself drunk but not beyond reasonable thought.

It was when we were sitting against the pillars outside Tariff's that the real trouble began brewing.

When drunk I become inexplicably sexual so when I informed Mini that I "usually use tampons but not todaaayyyy", it was mild. Unfortunately for me the scenario didn't stay innocent and if I'm honest I can't quite recall the little details but soon enough we were tucked away in a hidden corner and as I asked about the girl who liked him he shoved his tongue down my throat as he attempted to shove his hand down my leggings.

No one had ever tried to go that far with me before and I didn't know how to remove myself from the situation. Luckily for me two of his friends interrupted us and were sworn to secrecy for life.

Mini later told me that the girl who liked him, Reagan's cousin, was actually his girlfriend...they were dating secretly because of her brother but were dating nonetheless. I had just unconsciously helped one of my best friends cheat and I couldn't tell a soul.

This was also the day I met Terence for the first time, informally. However, I didn't realize it until he pointed it out a week later, the day Isaac and I officially met.

~

Finally an update! Who knew high school could be so time-consuming smh. Leave a comment and vote please, it would be much appreciated.

xoxo
-T