"tell me that you're fucking lying. this makes no sense," grayson yelled.
here we were, sitting in tammi's living room. there was so much pent up anger, so much tension.
the things that tammi said really didn't make sense. especially her first statement.
"there never was a baby."
grayson was absolutely livid. "why would you fucking pretend that there was a baby, then? are you crazy?"
ethan and i shared a look. we had no idea what to do, except for listen.
tammi sighed, and crossed her legs. "here's the truth. i've been friends with lina for a long time, she was kind of like... my ginger."
ginger, sweetie, i'm so sorry...
i cut my eyes at her. "don't ever compare her to ginger, ever. take that back."
"you're right, my bad. um, anyways... i was completely aware that lina and ethan had been in a long term relationship. i mean, we've all known each other since sixth grade, except for masen."
grayson tilted his head. "what's your point?"
she smoothed out her skirt, and sighed. "lina never stopped obsessing over ethan. she still wanted to be with him. keep in mind that she knew holden too, but that will come up later. when lina found out that grayson had reached out to me, she decided to map out a whole plan."
wait a second...
i could feel ethan reaching for my hand. i took it, and intertwined my fingers with his.
tammi coughed. "i decided to go with it, because... she has dirt on me, lots and lots of dirt. when we were dating, it started out as a game. the thing is, i really did start to catch feelings for you, but that wasn't part of the plan. lina told me that she had been selling drugs for a while, and that she had a cute buyer that she thought i would be interested in."
she's talking about holden.
it was silent for a few moments. "his name was holden, he usually bought coke from lina. he talked about you nonstop, masen. i was complaining to lina about you, and she put two and two together. lina realized that YOU were the girl that had taken her place. she decided that if she couldn't be happy... then neither could you. her attitude was contagious, and it kind of spread to me as well. anything you did, i had to top it. everybody loves you, masen. you were all grayson talked about, all holden talked about. this part.... i'm really fucking ashamed of. holden told me that he was suicidal, and that he needed me... but he was so high that he thought i was you. i wanted you to hurt, i wanted him to hurt... so when he bought coke from lina the day before he died, i didn't tell her not to give it to him. i told her to throw in a little extra, actually."
i could feel hot tears burning my eyes.
she could have kept him alive.
i took a shaky breath. "so basically, this was just... this was a game to you and lina? a game that cost my friend his fucking life?"
tammi couldn't look me in the eye. "um, yeah. but... it gets worse, i'm sorry. i really did start to fall for grayson, but the thing is... he likes you, masen. he really likes you, it's really fucking obvious. i got so jealous, that i decided to do something that would really hurt the both of you. to hurt masen, i copied holden's handwriting, and wrote a fake note... it was really fucked up, i have the real note if you want... um, and for grayson... i posted that picture. i just..."
tammi took a note out of her pocket, and handed it to me. "this is the real note, i'm so sorry. i'll make a video explaining everything, and i'll upload it. i pro–"
i took a deep breath, and stood up. "i can't be here, anymore." i was about to walk out of the door, when i realized that i STILL COULDN'T DRIVE. "f-fuck," i wiped my eyes, and kept my head down.
everybody was concerned, it was written all over their faces. ethan and grayson's faces were laced with sadness and disappointment.
ethan and grayson both got up at the same time. "don't touch her, grayson. i can take care of my own fiancé."
the room went from unbearably hot, to straight up freezing.
ethan wrapped his arms around me, and ran his hands up and down my back. "baby," he whispered. "i'm really fucking sorry."
i shook my head, and wiped a stray tear away. "this isn't your fault, and honestly.. it isn't grayson's either." i broke out of ethan's embrace, and made my way over to tammi.
i wasn't thinking straight. i slapped tammi across the face, and i smacked her hard. i felt ashamed when i saw the bright red mark on her cheek, but... it's not like she didn't deserve it. "you don't fucking know me, tammi. you don't. you have no idea how many people i have lost, you have no idea what it's like to be me."
she looked as if she had seen a ghost.
i was so mad, i completely forgot that ethan and grayson were in the room. "you killed holden. sure, he made the choice to snort the coke... but you didn't even attempt to help him, you didn't tell anybody about his problem. now, tammi, he's dead. he's in the fucking ground, six feet under. maybe if you weren't so creepy and selfish, he would still be here. he fucking told you that he was suicidal, and you know what you did? you sat there, and enabled his drug habit. you ignored his cries for help."
there were tears running down her cheeks. "w-why do you even care? he broke your nose."
i scoffed. "you wanna know why i care? i care because i actually have a heart. he was my best friend, for the longest time. he was somebody's son, somebody's brother. that all means nothing to you though, it's obvious." i tucked my hair behind my ears, and laughed angrily. "don't cry tammi, you did this to yourself. you got what you wanted, congratulations. actually, i'm not sure if you got what you wanted. did you want to end up bitter and alone? if you did, then i think that you're doing amazing, sweetie. so here's what you're gonna do. you're going to apologize to all of ethan and grayson's fans, and you're going to turn yourself and lina in to the police, before i do."
i got up, and ran a hand through my hair. "you really tried to ruin my life, but guess what? you haven't seen the last of me, asshole. maybe you'll get the attention that you deserve, when you're in jail."
**
a/n: I LIKED WRITING THIS CHAPTER!! i've never really showcased masen's sassier side, so this was pretty exciting ngl. i think that the story is going to be wrapping up soon, but i have tons of surprises in store!! YAY
