Bittersweet Heartstrings

Chapter 10: Confrontations

"Carson! Where were you?" My mom was freaked out, like I had thought. 

Camden had walked me home after Starbucks closed. It was sweet. Maybe he felt sorry for me? He probably wouldn't have even associated with me outside of Starbucks if I hadn't been crying. 

"I was at Starbucks." I mumbled, stepping inside the house.

"Why?" She asked, locking the door behind me.

"I needed a cup of coffee." 

"It only takes two minutes to get a cup of coffee. What else were you doing?"

"I also talked to my friend, Camden. You don't know him."

"Who is he?" She sat down on the couch. I followed suit.

"He's a cashier that works at Starbucks." I kicked off my shoes, tucking my feet beneath me.

"How old is he?" 

"Why does it matter?"

"Just tell me, Carson."

"Nineteen."

"He is too old for you!" She said, eyes bugging out of her head.

I sighed, lifting myself off of the couch. Don't you just love how she assumed that Camden was my boyfriend or something? A sixteen-year old and a nineteen-year old can be friends. Can't they?

Picking up my shoes, I walked to the door and placed them on a rack. Slowly, I walked back to the living room and sat on the couch, turning on the TV to drown out my mother's talking. She got annoyed when I didn't pay attention to her, so I wasn't surprised when she snatched the remote out of my hands and switched off the TV.

"What is your problem Carson?" She snapped. "You've been acting careless and depressed. You skipped tutoring and went out on your own without alerting me. Now, you're ignoring me and being so rude? What the hell happened to you?"

"Declan cheated on me then made it look like I was the one who was cheating! He did that so he could break up with me! Don't ask me why the hell he did it like that, but he did. I don't give a fuck anymore, okay?" I yelled, marching off to my room before my mom could explode over the use of my language. 

On the way home from Starbucks, I had promised myself that I'd be cool and collected if I had to tell my mom anything. Way to go, Carson.

---

I waited a week before I decided to confront Declan. He had to know how much he hurt me. It just wasn't fair that I had to deal with being broken up with, losing my best friend, manipulated, and lied to all at one time. If I could make him feel guilty, I might feel slightly better.

So, during lunch, I walked over to where Declan sat, arm wrapped around an unknown girl. A sick feeling in my stomach made me lose all confidence that I just had, but I marched over to him anyway.

"What do you want, Wynters?" Declan asked in a bored voice, not even glancing at me.

"I know what you did." I said quietly.

"Oh, yeah? And what do you 'know' I did?" He asked, playing with me. I kept a straight face and continued.

"You were cheating on me. That's why you did what you did." I glared at the back of his head.

"And who told you that lie?" He glanced back at me for a moment, a hint of worry in his eyes. 

"Why don't you ask your 'best friend'?" I mocked, referring to Griffin.

"Who?" He asked, confused.

"Griffin," I said, annoyed. "Why don't you ask him how I found out about your little scheme?"