Runaway Man

Chapter 31: Choices

Chapter 31: Choices

Advice had always been sacred to me but right now, I needed it like I needed to breathe. It was physically one of my essentials in life and I was so grateful for it, especially from a caring best friend like Diana. 

She told me to follow my heart and although I thought that saying was overrated, it made complete sense. If you followed your brain, you will do what you think is the best decision whereas if you go with your heart, you will do what you feel. Feelings were treasured more than thoughts when it came to stuff like this.

Problem was, what did my heart think? Maybe my thoughts were getting in the way of what I felt or perhaps I just didn't know deep down. What I really needed was to be drunk in a room with both of them and see who I fell into. Surely, it would be the one I liked more. Right?

Or should I just forget about them both?

Really, nothing can ever impacted my life so much before. I never let a man take control of me. It could have been a mixture of being afraid or whatever but, part of me was telling me to go with one of them. Obviously, I couldn’t have them both. If I were to have one, I would have to lose the other.

Sighing, I peered down at my new phone and noticed that I had a text message from Joey five minutes ago:

Meet me outside your house now. IT’S URGENT ! x

Rolling my eyes, I shut it and made my way home. The thing was with him, he always knew that no matter what he said I would obey it. It kind of made me feel vulnerable but at the same time, I liked knowing that he knew what I was like. It was relaxing to know that someone knew what I wanted as much as I did. Even so, I wondered why he was there. Did he have a purpose? Was he going to continue his story from the other day? I hoped so. I was still lacking key information, like why he turned up to Diana’s party uninvited.

I turned around the corner and gasped. Joey was there, a black t-shirt stretching across his defined body but as I got closer I realised that... Mason was there too. My eyes caught a glimpse of Joey's fingers locked around his wrist firmly, suggesting that he'd been brought there by force. Slowly, I wandered my way over to them and both eyes fell on me.

Mason's chocolate eyes showed that he was in pain whereas Joey's diluted pupils were down to business.

I waved.

Joey barked when I edged towards the fence, "Florence, come here." Scared, I moved closer to the two. Out of all the places he had to talk to me, it had to be in front of my house. My parents better not have been spying on me because I doubted that me talking to two unfamiliar teenage boys was amazing for them. For some reason, they'd always been strict on me and dating, which was why I avoided it usually. Not like I was doing anything right now anyway. I just knew they'd get the wrong impression.... like they always did.

"What?"

He cleared his throat as Mason straddled in his grip, avoiding exchanging any glances with me, "We're here to talk about... you know." I winced. I supposed that he was on about Mason being the runaway man, seeing as that was the only thing on my mind.  Suddenly, I felt a rush of anger. But it wasn't for Joey like it normally was... it was Mason?

"About what?" I pressed on. 

"Mason, he needs to own up, doesn't he?" Joey's eyes flickered onto his best friend. Folding my arms, I tapped my foot.

"I think he should've done that months ago," I scoffed, "It's too late now." 

"It's never too late." His voice didn't even have a hint of humour in it. It was dead serious and I hated it. There was something I didn't understand about it all: it was the fact that Joey had brought Mason to me about it. I wasn't involved. If anything, Joey should've been the one trying to convince him. Not me.

"Why did you drag me in?"

Joey nibbled on his bottom lip, releasing Mason from his hold, but still keeping a close eye on him, "Because he won't listen to me, but if he were to hear it from you, maybe he would. No one else knows about it so it’s either you or no one." There was desperation laced in his voice and it didn't take an idiot to realise it. But of course, he only told me recently. I wouldn’t have guessed it otherwise, really. At least that meant he could trust me and that his story wasn’t a complete lie.

"It doesn't matter anymore, Joey. That's the past."

"Ya, you heard her," Mason's bushy eyebrows were furrowed. Since I'd got here, that was the first thing he'd said. Both boys were over-confident in their own way but Mason, he was acting a lot differently to how I thought he was. Maybe I had misjudged him. Maybe he'd been hidden under a mask for too long and I was too stupid to see behind his masquerade. As was Joey, he didn't seem that bad. Although, I knew it was best not to fall into any more traps so easily. From now on, I promised myself to have more awareness.

"Look, I just want this over and done with. Her f*cking school's reputation is ruined and what, you don't care? You saw them booing at the game. It's affecting loads of people's education, just because you wanted to beat some dude up? Who cares?! It shows that people like you won’t succeed in anything!" Joey shouted. In a second, his face turned from its tanned colour to a red and his fists were shaking. He held his hand up, ready to swing a punch. Naturally, I jumped in the way to separate them.

He backed off, dropping his arms to his sides. By the looks of it, he seemed to be beating himself up over it. I'd be out of the school in a few years anyway so it didn't bother me that much. People would forget but he wouldn't. I could see how distressed he really was over everything. It was as if he blamed himself for Mason’s mistake.

A silence filled the air and I broke it, "Why don't you just tell your dad? He’s a police officer so he could sort it out?" It seemed obvious. His dad could officially sort it out but there was something holding him back. Joey shoved his hand into his jeans and Mason waited, a half smirk forming on his face.

"Because, I promised that I wouldn't." Mentally, I face palmed. He promised he wouldn't so he wasn't going to. That was the most stupid thing ever! Unless, there was more to it that he couldn't explain. Mason let out a small chuckle but when I looked at him, he pursed his lips shut.

I coughed, “I should just go there and report it myself then.” I wouldn’t though. I knew I wouldn’t. This was a threat and with a bit of black mail, progress would be made.

Another voice entered the realm, "People break promises to suit them, idiots." All three heads flicked to my front door to face a freckled face, which was covered by a sandy mop. A vest top covered his torso and Dirk frowned.

"Who's he?" 

I slapped Joey and Mason around the head. My brother, obviously, had heard the entire conversation or at least some of it. He wasn't in the slightest bit amused and most importantly, neither was I. Annoyingly, he was rather protective over me and the fact that I was talking about a major issue that involved the police with these lads didn't seem like a good idea. I knew his limits and it wasn’t a good idea to test them.

"Do you two mind?" Dirk pointed at them accusingly, "If you're done harassing my sister, you can go away." 

"Dirk-"

"Flo," he rudely interrupted, "Dinner's on the table so these two can clear off. I don’t know how they are but if they set foot here again, I’ll make sure that they know me well." Whilst he cracked his knuckles, I blew outwards... embarrassing. At least, he was a lot more clothed than he usually was. Because of this troublesome pair, I'd probably have to have yet another tiring conversation with either Dirk or my parents. Or both. If they heard it, then maybe the rest of the entire street did. So much for it being a massive secret, eh? What made it even more frustrating was that no progress was made either on the situation so we all lost out this time around.

Shooting daggers at my brother, Joey tore his body from my fence and dragged Mason away with him. There was no point arguing so it was the safest move. This wouldn't be the last of the matter though, I knew it. If anything, this was just the beginning.

Once they were out of sight, I chewed on my bottom lip and Dirk wrapped his arm around my shoulders protectively.

“You sure are getting into the wrong crowd.” He mumbled as he went inside. With a huge sigh, I followed after him. I was but I was trapped in it like a vortex. Impossible to leave, even if I tried to.