Zodiac

Thirty - Nine

     I bawled my fists up and pounded them against the cold metal object. My vision was blurred by the tears, but I could see the worried look on Peej's face as the door opened.

     "Dan..?" He grabbed my hands and pulled me in. I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged as tight as possible. "Dan holy shit what happened?"

   "H-He cheated!" I stammered.

   "Phil did?" He asked. I nodded. "With who..?"

   "C-C-Chris-!" I yelled. "He cheated with Chris!"

   Peej pulled away, stepping far back and looking at me. Now he's in tears. "What..? Wait.. No.. What-" He turned and walked past his parents that sat down on the sofa baffled at what they seen. He walked past them and down the hall, into his room. There was screaming, and then Chris came out, a red hand print on his cheek. He walked past me, heading outside. Peej ran after him. I followed and closed the door behind me, Peej was at the edge of the stairs, at our spot, and was yelling. I walked to him slowly to see him not yelling at Chris nor at Phil, but at them both. They were both toppled onto the floor fisting pounding against each other.

   "Phil!" I screamed, running at them to stop it. Peej grabbed me just in time and pulled me back. "Let me go I need to help!"

   "What the hell is going on here!" Camille came running down the stairs and pulled Chris off of Phil, the helped him stand. He had a busted lip, and a gash on his forehead. Chris had a nose bleed and a bruised eye.

   "What the hell is going on!" Camille yelled.

   "He lied to Dan!" Phil yelled at Chris. "I'll fucking kill you for this!"

   "I lied?" Chris forced a laugh. "You've been lying this whole fucking time, Lester."

   "Someone better explain now!" Camille crossed her arms. "All of you upstairs and on the sofa. Now."

   "But -"

   "No Dan. Now."

   And so we did.

     I sat the farthest from everyone, on the singular chair closest to the door. Phil sat next to Peej, who sat next to me, and Chris near the end.

   "Someone needs to start talking." She finally said. Camille stood in front of us, hands on hips.

   "Chris told Dan that I cheated on him." Phil said. "I didn't. Chris tried getting to me but that didn't work as I told him to fuck off."

   "What about what happened at the party?" Chris spat. "Does he know?"

   "Yes I fucking know!" I yelled.

   "You did this, then?" Peej asked, looking over at Chris. His response was to lean back and just look out the window.

   I scoffed. "Typical fucking fuckboy."

   "Oh like your boyfriend?" Chris mocked.

   "Who the shit says he's still my boyfriend?" I asked. Phil glanced at me.

   "I think you boys need to leave." Camille spoke up. "All of you." Her eyes were on Phil. He looked like he swallowed a rock. I watched them as they all stood and left.

   "Call me tonight okay?" Peej said as he stood. I nodded, pulling my knees up to my chest and hugging them. I closed my eyes, burying my head down in them.

   "Baby.. You have school next week, you need to get rested up and ready, okay?" Camille gently touched my shoulder.

   "Yeah I know," I lifted my head. It was Wednesday, I had school Monday. I wasn't ready. "I'll get on that right now, I think."

   "I love you, Dan." She called out before I opened my bedroom door.

   I turned, looking at her. "I love you too, Camille." She pressed her lips together and turned, heading into the small kitchen. I closed my bedroom door behind me and instantly felt the ping of tears. There were black roses in an imperial purple vase on my end table next to my bed. There was a card, and my phone.

   Dan <3

   God I'm so happy you're home. I have so much to tell you that's happened, and so much I've planned for us! Firstly I want to say I hope your little camp trip was good, I hated you not being here. I painted over your art wall... Hope that was okay? You said I could draw good galaxies so.. I made you one.

  

            I love you a lot,
                            Phil xxx

My eyes looked across the room at my art wall, it was now painted over a solid black with a huge spiral galaxy hugging the void. The galaxy was red and blue, our two favorite colors. I set down the card and stripped, then laid down in bed and squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe the tears wouldn't come if my lids were closed, maybe they'd think this body was no longer functioning and they should move on to the next person. But one thing was for sure.

   God I was tired.

   I was so goddamn tired.