Life's Too Short To Even Care At All

Chapter 6

The screams of antagonizing pain hit Emily like a train as she watched the scene unfold before her. Blaine, an ex-warbler, was on the floor, clutching his hands closely to his face while his boyfriend Kurt, another ex-warbler, attempted to comfort him. She had never seen a slushie do that much damage, and had a feeling that there wasn’t just ice and red dye in that cup. She was so paralyzed with shock and fear, that she barely noticed the warblers begin to leave. They were coming straight towards her, and she only just managed to tuck herself behind a pillar. She watched as the group walked away, Sebastian leading them confidently, while Jeff lagged along behind. He risked a glance behind, and Emily saw that his face was contorted into a look of pain and sorrow, and that of longing. She knew he wanted to go comfort Blaine, to apologise for what they had done, but he didn’t. He continued walking until Emily saw one last flash of the Daltons trade mark navy blue and red uniform and they had gone. Emily stayed in her spot until even the screaming stopped, and she figured that she must be alone.

                As she walked towards the Lima Bean, her actions were almost robotic. She tried to make sense of what had happened in her head, but the feelings were all jumbled, as if someone had whisked it up. She ordered one to go cup of coffee and walked back to her car, not even bringing herself to start the engine. She was scared. Very scared. She knew she had to confront Sebastian, she wanted to, but it was a risk going to see him in this temper, especially if she was going to oppose him.

                “Just go,” she told herself out loud, turning the keys in the ignition, and setting off for Dalton. Sebastian would have probably been back for an hour by the time she got there, what with all her waiting around, which would give him a chance to calm down. But as she walked down the long, empty corridors of Dalton, she couldn’t help but tell herself that it wasn’t too late to turn back, to leave and never return.

                Somehow, Emily ended up at Sebastian’s door. She knocked twice, hoping that if she did it very gently, he wouldn’t hear. But it was to no avail, as moments later, the door swung open, and Emily’s scared weak self, grew even smaller. Sebastian towered over her in his rage; she could clearly see he was not happy. His tie was flung across the room, and his expression did not exactly say ‘Come on in’. His face softened however when he saw Emily, but not as much as she would have liked.

                “What are you doing here Em?” he sighed, rubbing his temples with his hand. There would be no loving greetings tonight. Emily walked in slowly as Sebastian shut the door behind her. She fiddled with her fingers nervously as he crossed his arms and stared at her.

                “I saw what you did,” she said quietly, trying not to make it seem like she was angry at him. When he did not respond, she spoke again.

                “I was at the parking lot tonight.”

                “Why?”

                “I didn’t want you to do anything stupid.”

                “How did you know?” Sebastian asked loudly. Emily didn’t have to reply for him to guess who it was. Sebastian’s reaction was immediate. His quick paced footsteps could have woken up the inhabitants of the room below easily.

                “Jeff” he stated, moving ever closer to her.

                “He rang me earlier to say hello, it just came up,” Emily flinched as Sebastian pinned her against the wall.

                “Don’t lie to me Em, he was at yours last night, wasn’t he?” he yelled. When Emily didn’t answer, he pushed again.

                “Wasn’t he?” he repeated, slamming his hand against the wall by her head.

                “I’m sorry Seb,” Em cried as the grip around her wrist tightened once again and he hit her hard in the stomach. The death look he was giving her made her turn away, but he roughly pulled her head around so that she was looking right into his eyes.

                “No, you’re not, you told me you wouldn’t see him again, I only wanted to spend more time with you, and this is how you treat me?” he spat, hitting her once again in her chest. Sebastian let go and watched her fall to the floor in pain. He bent down to eye level and pulled her face up so that she was looking at him.

                “Did you tell him?” he asked surprisingly calmly. Emily knew what the answer was, and she had a feeling Sebastian did too, but she answered with the only one that would keep both her and Jeff out of harm’s way.

                “No.” Sebastian let go of her and stood up, scoffing as he did.

                “Get out,” he spoke, keeping his eyes locked deep into hers. “You can come back when you’ve sorted yourself out.” Emily stood up slowly, feeling a slight pain in her stomach. She rushed out of Sebastian’s room without looking back and ran down the hall, hoping not to be spotted by anyone. Luckily, it was late at night, and she made it to her car without being seen, before breaking down. She had been crying earlier, but the mad tears began to flow when she was alone. She was scared. Very scared, and she had promised Jeff that she would tell him if anything else happened. The problem was she didn’t want to.

She was about to drive out of the car park and back home, when a light tap on the window startled her. Outside her car was a very wet Nick, Jeff’s room-mate. Emily opened the door.

                “I bet some hot chocolate and Niff cuddles will cheer you up,” he smiled. He took Emily’s hand as they walked into the building.

                “How did you know I was in the car park?” Emily questioned, purposefully walking faster outside of Sebastian’s dorm.

                “I was on my way to the kitchen to get some hot chocolate when I saw you leaving. You were crying, what kind of friend would I be if I left you?” he said, as they reached room 226.

                “You got me my hot chocolate yet, Duval,” Jeff questioned as they entered. He was slouched in his chair at the desk, clearly studying for a test or completing some work. His Dalton blazer was placed neatly over the back of his chair, and to relax, he had taken off his tie and rolled up his sleeve. It was only when he swivelled around his chair that he noticed Emily’s presence. He could see immediately that she had been crying, and he knew why. He didn’t say anything in front of Nick though.

                “I found this one in the car park, cheer her up while I get hot chocolate,” Nick said, before walking out and closing the door behind him. As soon as Nick left the room, Jeff launched himself at Emily, pulling her into a tight hug and making soothing noises as she let the tears fall again.

                “You shouldn’t have gone to see him,” Jeff warned, sitting her down onto his lap as he sat on the bed.

                “I had to, I – I just couldn’t believe he would do that… did you know about it?” Emily mumbled between sobs. Jeff shook his head, “No, I didn’t even know about the slushie. Nick did, but he only knew that it was a slushie, he didn’t know it was tampered, I had a word with him anyhow, I think he was just mad at Blaine leaving us for the New Directions.” Emily nodded along. There was a short period of silence before Jeff spoke.

                “What happened?”

                Emily didn’t know why, but she did something she rarely ever did. She did something that she tried not to do on a regular basis. She lied to Jeff.