Gold

Chapter 23

~Jess' POV~

After I left the party I drove home quickly; maybe going through some red lights, but that was the last thing on my mind. I collapsed onto my bed and cried for hours. Although it was hard to stand at Scarlett's and watch her heart get torn apart, I am glad I did. If I left before Jayden, goodness knows what he might have done. If he had the anger to throw a plate, it could have been worse. I know how angry he could get. My back was evidence. The last thing I needed was for him to hurt her or do anything else stupid.

I ran a deep and hot bath to calm myself down and to wash the foundation off of my back. It came off pretty easily which was good. It was awkward enough putting it on, I don't really know how I did it. My arms bending in all directions trying to cover up the red/green bruises. I must have looked so weird.

I got an early night and woke up surprisingly late the next morning too, around 12pm. I know it's late, but it was so good to get a long nights sleep after all of these summer shows. I didn't bother with breakfast... lunch. I wasn't hungry. However I was ravenous by teatime. I emptied a lot of ingredients from my cupboards and whipped up a mouth-watering soup. Listening to music, I got into my running kit and went on a 5 mile run. It cleared my head and made me feel a lot better. Sweat was covering my forehead when I made it home, so I jumped into the shower to wash. I was happier when I had something to take my mind off of yesterday, so I tried to keep myself very busy.

Holly surprised me by coming around. I tried to avoid the subject of yesterday, but Holly was curious as to what went down. ''Jess, I know you're trying to steer clear of the topic of yesterday, but I need to know. One minute you were all happy and then you went to talk to Jayden, before disappearing. Out with it.'' Holly ordered.

''It's a long story, but here it goes! Well basically, I caught Jayden cheating on Scarlett a couple of times,'' Holly gasped ''I know. Let me finish the story before saying anything else. I warned him off the first time I caught him, but he pushed me against a bathroom wall and now I have bruises covering my back. A caught him a second time at Westfields and he refused to break up with Scarlett. I talked to him about it yesterday, but Scarlett overheard and found out everything. She dumped Jayden, but was disappointed in me because I could have told her sooner. There, done.'' I said it rather rapidly, if I went into too much detail or spent too long explaining it, I know I'd just end up in more tears.

Holly gritted her teeth, becoming angrier by the minute. ''WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU? Did I hear that correctly?!'' she flipped.

''Holly, calm down, I'm fine.''

''CALM?! HE CAN'T GET AWAY WITH THAT!''

''Holly, seriously. It's happened and it's done. He's out of the picture and I don't want to think about him any more. He isn't worth it, ok. Can you respect that, please?'' I asked.

''Fine. But if I see that boy again, I am not being held responsible for my actions.'' she grunted.

''Thank you. What should I do about Scarlett though, Hols?'' My face fell.

''I understand where she's coming from, but I think that she could be overreacting. You're both in the wrong. But it's pretty clear that you both want to forget about it and just be friends. Well, I don't know about Scarlett, but you do, I would if I was in your position, and you and Scarlett are too close for him to ruin anything.''

''Hmm.'' I agreed with her.

At that moment in time, my phone buzzed and it was the one person that I wanted it to be, her. 

Scarlett had invited me over. Was this good or bad? I hoped that it would be to resolve this problem. I hate not being around her, let alone arguing. Whenever we quarrelled, it would only last a minute before we both completely regret anything said and hug it out. I wished this could be sorted out that easily. Why do things have to get so out of control? Honestly, this was all Jayden's fault. He couldn't be a proper gentleman and love Scarlett and only Scarlett, could he?!