Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter Eighty-Seven

-Mikey's POV-

My head thrummed, making my vision go blurry.

"Nothing, it was nothing." Andy stammered, tripping over the words, but I could no longer believe a single word he said.

"You kissed her," I said, the sentence coming out in an eerily calm tone, even though I was anything but – I didn't think I'd been angrier in my life. And to think, just last night, I'd vowed to give him a chance, not overthink everything that he did. I guess I was right all along, but this realization gave me no satisfaction.

"I kissed her cheek, and then she shifted-"

"Listen, Andy," I began, squeezing my eyes shut and rubbing my palms against my forehead. "I don't really feel like listening to lies right now. I saw what I saw, and that's that." Right now, I was seeing red.

"What's going on-" Rye started, pausing both midsentence and midstep as he sensed that something was amiss. Liv had sat up, forehead scrunched in confusion, and Andy began to tremble, anticipating the storm that was coming for him. I stepped closer to him, not wanting to make a big scene in front of Rye, who lingered in the kitchen doorway.

"Look what you did," I hissed. "Think about how much of a mess you've created by doing that."

"I didn't-" But, like I said, I wasn't in the mood to hear any excuses. Almost without thinking, I slapped him, and the sound of it rang throughout the room. I looked down at my hand, which now stung, almost as if I was shocked that I had done it.

"Now, I think that we should all calm down..." Rye said, stepping further into the room, but my rage would not be quenched, not even as Andy crouched down, one hand pressed to his cheek as he began to hyperventilate.

"Really? Because I think that I have every right to be angry." My voice shook with anger. "He-" I pointed at Andy, not even able to bring myself to say his name – "kissed my girlfriend."

"Shouldn't we ask him what happened?"

"I don't care what happened!" I yelled. "I fucking saw what happened with my own two eyes! I don't want to see him again!" Brooklyn began to stir, woken by my voice.

Rye walked all the way over to us, saying "We should think things through before we make any rash decisions," but I tuned him out. The world seemed to shake and sway before me. This wasn't what I'd expected to come back to when I'd gotten out of the shower. I'd thought that we were friends. I'd thought that I could trust him. But oh, how wrong I had been on both ends.

I stood as still as I could, trying to refrain myself from lunging at him, making him feel how I felt. Liv got out of bed and rested her hand on my arm. Her mouth was moving – She was saying something, but I couldn't hear a thing. I watched with a cold disinterest as Andy, who had worked his way into a corner, gasped for air, tears streaming down his face. It was as if somebody had put the world on mute, because the rage that I felt, which had been building up for quite some time now, finally reached its climax and took over everything else. I was sand on the beach, and high tide was striking me over, and over, and over again.

Rye had joined Andy's side, possibly to comfort him – what a betrayal – when a realization hit me.

"You just want attention," I spat, and it was the first thing that I heard over the crashing of the waves. I scrambled for the words in my mind. "All you are, is a fucking son of a bitch, ruining everything, and everyone, just for the fucking attention."

I started to walk over to him, but Liv pulled me back. I broke free of her grasp, but was then confronted by Rye, which gave Andy just enough time to slip away and run out of the room. I was getting ready to chase after him, but the ocean dragged me back to shore, leaving me coughing up water. Just as quickly as it had come, the anger abandoned me, leaving me to face reality by myself.

Rye was telling me to calm down, grasping my arms in case I tried to make another move. Liv was back on the bed, crying. Brooklyn, fully awake now, was pale and holding himself – He was scared. Scared of me, I realized. Looking around at what I had done, I realized that I was, too.