The Party Scene Saga: Stories Yet To Unfold

Part 30

Lily

"I can't believe you, Jack." a voice snarled.

"Zack what the fuck am I supposed to do?!" Jack hissed. "I don't want her to do anything stupid. I have to keep an eye on her. I have to protect her..."

"Protect her from what?" Zack snapped, but I could hear a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"Herself."

I gasped; am I really that fucked up? As Jack's bedroom door opened, I snapped my eyes shut. I felt the bed sag a little as somebody sat down. A hand brushed against the side of my face, and I had a hard time trying to stop myself from smiling. Eventually a small smile crept onto my face as I let out a small sigh.

"Morning, sweetie." said a voice I wasn't expecting.

"Joyce." I gasped, sitting up.

"I thought I'd come and check on you." she smiled. "Jack is speaking to...um..."

"I know Zack's here. I heard him." I told her.

"Oh." She said quietly, totally dumbfounded. "Well...breakfast?"

"That'd be wonderful." I fake smiled.

She left the room, shutting the door tightly behind her so I couldn't hear Zack arguing with Jack. But I heard them all right. Zack telling Jack that I don't know what I'm doing. I'm hysterical. Jack telling him he's an asshole. That I can look after myself just fine, but he needed to watch me.

"...Just in case." he murmured.

"Fine." snapped Zack. "But you can't keep her from me forever!"

"No, she can fucking do that herself!" I heard myself scream.

Two sets of feet came pounding along the corridor and two bodies came crashing through the door.

"You heard?" panted Jack.

"It's hard not to when you're yelling so loud!" I shouted back. "Zack, just leave me alone. I know you're hurting too, but I need some time alone. We both need to come to terms with this, and Jack is helping me!"

"But I want to help." he said sadly.

I sighed. "Zacky you're making me worse. I'd love to sit down and be normal with you, but I can't. When I look at you I just see them and it fucking kills me all over again. Maybe we can be normal again, given a little bit of time, but not right now, okay?"

"I understand." he mumbled.

Zack didn't sound convincing at all; he was only saying it so I wouldn't yell. As he went to leave the room, I noticed something. Something that made my stomach churn. His left wrist was all bandaged up again, with a fairly fresh bloodstain on it. I closed my eyes for a second, severely disappointed in him. When Jack went to the bathroom, I ran downstairs after Zack and followed him out the front door.

"Zack?" I called after him.

"What now?" he grumbled, turning back.

"I...I...I..." I stuttered.

"So done with you, Lily." He tutted.

I finally found the courage to say it. "I can see the bandage, Zack." I said coolly as he turned away again.

Zack froze. "I have no idea what you're talking about." he told me, the lying tone obvious in his voice.

"Left wrist? I can fucking see it." I snapped, coming up behind him. "I'm not stupid." I reached forwards and pulled his shirt sleeve up. "No idea what I'm talking about, huh?"

He wouldn't look at me. In fact he barely moved his gaze from the floor as he wrenched his wrist away and walked off. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. Zack wasn't worth my tears anymore - I realised that when he said he was done with me. He wasn't worth anything to me anymore. That sounds harsh, I know, but it's true. I turned on my heels and went back to Jack's room. He gave me a concerned look as I slumped down on the bed, falling back and staring aimlessly at the ceiling.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

"I'm fine, sweetie." I told him, not really sounding fine at all. "If Zack wants to continue bringing himself down he can do. Mark can do all the worrying now."

"How can you just cut him off like this?" sighed Jack.

I felt my eyes suddenly fill with tears. "I know it sounds awful," I began. "But even thinking about Zack is torture right now. He hasn't done anything wrong but I can't help but hate him. He has a family. He belongs to somebody, and I don't have that."

"You have me." he smiled, hugging me from the side.

"I know I do." I smiled back, kissing his nose. "But I can't call my mom any time I like. I can't just go to my dad's house whenever I feel like it. When Mark and Carla told us, I couldn't help but flip. Maybe I'd have reacted better if they'd told us sooner, but I can't have a relationship with any of them, Jack. It'd be awful if I even tried. They lied to me, Jack, for a very long time."

"Give it time, and it'll be a lot less awful." he nodded.

"I hope you're right." I sighed.

I really hope he's right. I miss Zack already and it's only been a few days. It's killing me to do this to him, but its killing me to be near him too. I lay back down again just as Joyce came back with breakfast for both of us. She made a point of staying to talk to Jack and conveniently leaving just as I started eating. Obviously Mark called to say I might not eat. Cindy might've too, considering I only ate 1 meal in the week I stayed at Lisa's. I need to get away from them all, just be my own person. I need to be away from prying parents, with just the people I trust.