I Broke You

Chapter 12

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"You can never make the same mistake twice. The second time you make it, it is no longer a mistake, it is a choice." -Lauren Conrad

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The party starts is just starting, but Teddy's house is forty minutes away. If we want to get home early, we really should be leaving soon. Rusty said he would be a little late to come and pick us up, but we've been waiting longer than usual.

"Need some help with the makeup?", Katie asks.

I shake my head no, I'm happily surprised how it turned out. I have black eyeliner circling my eyes and the fake eyelashes nearly touch my brows. I'm wearing a bright red lipstick which accents my white teeth. My body is covered in a dark bronzer and my nails are painted black.

"You look hot!"

I smile back at her. We are both dressed in our clothes we bought at the mall. I curled her hair and mine is up in an up-do with the bandana headband I bought.

"Thanks, love. You look stunning yourself." And she does in my red stilettos. Her butterfly tattoo is visible under the crochet top, making me a tad bit jealous of it. I still remember the day she showed it to me clear in my mind.

It was right after we turned fifteen, and she went to New York to spend the summer with her aunt. She had just married a "gothic redneck with a thing for strippers and baseball", but her parents reluctantly let her go. When she came back, she was inked. Apparently that redneck had a dream of opening a tattoo parlor and wanted to practice on somebody.

"Are you excited?" she asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Yep" I tell her. She made me bring out my bazillion candles and already spread rose petals all over my bed, making a heart shape with them. The massage oil lays on my dresser, next to the condoms she insisted on bringing. I'm just praying mom or dad doesn't walk in.

Maybe after I've been with Rusty again and her with Brennan, I'll fully move past this rock in the road. Boulder is more like it.

"RUSTY'S HERE, finally!"

I look out my window to see him coming up the drive. I shove the lipstick into my clutch and we meet him outside. "Hey, babe", I tell him.

His mouth is wide open. "You look really good, Emma".

We jump into the back seat. "How'd you get out tonight?"

"We almost didn't. You pulled into my driveway! But I told them Katie needed some company." Katie and I start laughing. He looks at us like we're freaks; he doesn't know about our little lie yesterday.

"Teddy is psyched we're coming", he says. Teddy is his cousin whom is throwing the party. We've met a few times in the last year and he's pretty cool. He's the drummer in "The Limit", Rusty is the backup singer slash guitarist, and another guy, Alex, is the lead. They are actually really good for a high school band.

"Yeah?", says Katie. "Is Brennan going to be there?"

He waggles his eyebrows at me in the rear view mirror. On the outside I laugh, in the inside I sink. "Of course, why? Does Katie like him?", he chuckles" I love how he's talking like we're in middle school, but it would be better if it wasn't about Bren.

She glares at me, her eyes burning into mine. "You told him?"

Rusty and I both start laughing. "No, I figured it out on my own" he says, sarcasm clear in his voice. She just huffs.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, but it's not the awkward kind of quiet that I'm used to. It's nice to sit in a car with these two.

"Can I have a smoke?", She asks after a few minutes. It interrupts my moment. She hasn't touched a cigarette since giving it up a year ago. She was addicted from the time we were 13.