Or So You Thought

The Time is Now

Sorry it tooks so long guys. 17 credit courses are kicking my tail. Anyway, I hope I did you all well with the wait! Much love xxx

Brian POV

"Where the fuck is the elevator?!" I say, banging on the hard metal doors. I need a distraction. Anything to escape the sound of my heart falling apart. Melvin asked her to be his girlfriend... And she.. accepted. If I wasn't so destroyed inside, I'd surely throw up. "Dude. Let's talk, okay?" I hear Seth. I know he knows but I have a task at hand. "I'm beating his ass Seth. Just let me do that, please" I respond. If I didn't need to do it before, I definitely need to do it now. "Brian, you're not going to-" No. "Ari, if you knew what was good for you, you will shut the hell up!" I yell. Every emotion, every attachment, every grip she had on me had vanished. Now all I feel is rage. As the elevator finally dinged and the doors open, who is the little motherfucker on the inside? Mr. Melvin Zalowski himself. Perfect. "I came to talk to Ari but I suppose I can come at another time" he says, innocently. If you ever learn to walk again, maybe you can. "You bastard!" I say before hurling myself towards him. I hear a shriek from Ari before my mind completely blacksout on me. I make sure that my fist connects to his face. I get one really good hit in before I feel Seth's callused hands on my forearms. He's holding them in a way that I can't hit Melvin anymore. When my vison finally returns, Seth is still holding my arms, Ari is by Melvin's side, holding his glasses (of course), & Melvin is on the floor, holding his face. Ari looks up at me with this face like I had ran over her dog.. TWICE! "Brian, what is WRONG WITH YOU?" she yells. "Wrong with me?? What the hell is wrong with you?! Melvin, you better her the truth right now or I swear to God, I will kick you in the fucking neck" I say in all seriousness. I may have calmed down but I'm still blood boilingly livid. He rolls over to look at me "I have no idea what you are talking about" Oh you don't, do you? I prepare myself to kick him while he was down when I feel a grip on the collar of my shirt "Cool down, Jet Lee" Seth says to me. "Why couldn't you just listen to me & leave him alone?" Ari asks. Do I smell hipocracy? She has the audacity. "Why couldn't-YOU?! What about me?! None of this would've happened had you listened to me!" "Don't you dare blame this on me! If you hadbeen honest with me, we wouldn't stand where we do" Well she had me there. But, she has skeletons in her closet too. "Look, I know you have problems with listening to me. But, if you dont listen to me again, you better perk up your ears now. I'm tired okay? Mentally, physically, emotionally. Our relationship, whatever we're calling it, is on edge & its getting ready for fall in the waters. So, if there something that you need to tell me, you need to tell me right now. Okay? Anything you got. The time is now.. Because once I walk away, I'm walking away for real" I said. I waited for her to say something, anything. But she didnt. She just sat there, helping Melvin. "Well." I added before I walked away to the room. It was over. Whatever chance we had of ever having anything was gone.She just threw it all away. And nothing hurt worse.

Ari POV

What the hell? I had nothing to say to him. Why is he the one that gets to walk away? Ugh! My head hurts. It's been hurting since I met this guy. I do need to talk to him though. I guess I should've said that. MAN, I feel stupid! I didn't think that all of this chaos would occur between us just because I was dating Melvin. I need to end it. I can't have all of this hostility, not now. I just can't handle it at the moment. "Melvin, I need to tell you something" I say. I really hope I'm doing the right thing. "Yes Ari?" He asks as he slowly sits up in pain "This is painful. I don't think I could've taken much more of that" he adds on. PLEASE be doing the right thing. "Uh... Don't get mad BUT, I think we should stop "us", just for right now" I sputter out. "Wait, are you taking his side?" he akss angrily. So much venom in his voice. "What is this sides shit with you two? No. I'm just saying that he is my friend. I have to- I need- I have my reasons. Point is, we can still go to homecoming together if you want. I'm really so sorry. I just can't deal with all of this right now. You do understand, right?" I ask. He's a nice guy but I can't have Brian going around trying to inflict bodily harm on him everytime he sees him, just cause he feels like he can. That's a problem, for everyone. "Sure. That's better than nothing at all I suppose" he says, slowly rising to his feet. I struggle to do the same, feeling a large weight still on my shoulders. Brian. "This may not be the best time to ask but I'll go for it. Why do you & Brian hate each other so much?" I need to know. It's killing me that I don't. "I don't know for sure why he hates me. But, I'll tell my reason. Middle school, I really liked this girl named Cassie Porter. I fell for her the moment she walked through the school doors. Brian & I were best friends at the time so I told him about my secret crush. He told me that he was friends with her best friend & that he would "put me on". He lied. He slowly got closer & closer to Cassie until one day, he asked her out. I overheard him on my way to her locker with flowers. Of course, she said yes, who wouldn't? I never knew a pain to be so quick & forceful. Had I the mind to do it, I would've cried right then & there. But I didn't. I just dropped the flowers & ran away. Turns out he just used her. Dropped her after 3 days for a girl with a bigger chest. She never onced looked my way again. THAT'S why I hate him" Now I knew. After all of this time, I finally know why they are the way the are. & I. AM. PISSED! "Look I've got to go fix this up but we'll talk" he says before pushing the floor number on the elevator wall. "Oh yeah sure. I get it. See ya" I say stepping off the elevator as it closed. I turned around to see Seth looking at me. I forgot about him. "Ari? You don't acutally bel-" Seth starts but I cut him, headed towards a certain someone's door. "Seth, is the room open" I ask, marching down the hall. "Yes but you need to calm down" he coaxes me but it's too late. I swing open the bedroom door. "You HEARTLESS PANTY-JUMPER!" I yell. "Excuse me, what?" Brian sits up in his bed. Fuck amends.

"You heard me! How could you do that to Melvin? He was your best friend & he loved Cassie!" I yell. I have never been disgusted with Brian so much in my life. "I don't know what ludacris shit he fed to you & you ate, but as far as I'm concerned, we aren't cool. So, GTFuck up out my room" he replies to me. "I've been trying to tell her that-" Seth throws in before Brian cuts him off. Poor Seth. people are always cutting him off. Oh, wait... "Don't explain shit to her. We tried our best, man. Let her fuck her nerd & ruin her life, all on her own" Brian adds on. "Are you drunk?" I ask. "Fuck you care" he replies before reaching under his bed, taking another swig of what looks like vodka. "Brian put that down" I advise. "No! Don't try to tell me shit now. You had your chance *swig* You know I was going to ask you to the dance. I still want to in fact. But I'm pissed so I'm not" he says, swinging the bottle around in his hand. "I'll leave this one to ya'll" Seth says before exiting the room. "Brian just give me the bottle so we can talk" I say before stepping towards him. "If you take this from me, you better be getting drunk with me" he replies before adding "In fact if you drop Melvin & go to the dance with me, you can have the rest of what's in here". Well, that's about 1/5 of a bottle. But, I can't do that to Melvin. Then again, I would much rather go with Brian. Decisions... "Fine. I'll tell Melvin that I'm going with you, okay? Now, give me the bottle" I reply. "I'm so serious Ari. If I find out you're lying, I will cry about this. In front of you. You will cry too because it will be so ugly & your eyes will burn" Even when he's drunk, he's still stupidly charming. Well, this time he is. "Fine Brian" I agree before his phone rings on the desk I stood by. "Can you answer that? I'm enibriated." He asks. "Sure I guess" I say before picking up the phone & sliding it to answer. "Hello?" I greet. "Hi, this is Cassie Porter. Is Brian there?" she asks. Cassie Porter? Why would she be calling Brian? "He is but he's unavailable at the moment. Do you need me to relay something?" I bet I sound like a secretary but I'm curious. "Can you tell him white corsages instead?" Corsages? That doesn't make any sense. "I'm sorry?" I pretend to be confused. I know exactly what she said. "White corsages for homecoming instead of red ones. See, he messed up with me awhile ago & he's making it up to me now. He asked to the homecoming a few hours ago & we agreed on red but I think white corsages would look better. Could you let him know please?" Oh girl, you don't know what you just did. "Yeah. I'll definitely let him know. Thanks for calling" I reply before ending the call. I gently place the phone down, making sure I don't wake up Sleeping Brian... Yet. I walk slowly to the end of bed where his head lay. I bent down real close to his ear before screaming in it. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he yells, jumping up from his bed. "Why are you ALWAYS lying to me?!!" I yell back. He stops & cocks his head to the side. "What are you talking about?" he asks. Is he insanely drunk or does he honestly think I'm just that stupid? "You know exactly what I'm talking about you fucking liar! Cassie called," I said, walking back over to where the phone lay before picking it up. "she said WHITE corsages instead of RED for HOMECOMING!" I scream before chucking the phone towards him. He missed it by a centimeter because he ducked. "I-I... Ari, I'm-" "Brian, I swear if you tell me you're sorry, I'll kill you. Okay? Stop it. Stop LYING TO ME!" I want to but I refuse to let myself cry. At least, not in front of him. I hope Britt isn't in the room when I get back. I honestly need that time alone. "I didn't. Well, I did but I honestly want to go with you". I don't know where it came from but I explode. "Fuck you! I don't care what you want anymore. To think I was almost getting ready to give up a nice date like Melvin for you. The thought alone makes me want to laugh now. I- I can't stand you. I despise you. I honestly want to curse the ground you walk on. If you were on fire, I don't think I'd use my own spit if it could put you out. Don't you ever EVER speak to me again" I say before I dart towards the door. "I-" he mutters out as I open the door & step out. "EVER!" I yell before I slam it shut. I can't wait for the elevator right now so I decide to go down to the other end of the hall towards the stairs. On the way, I see Seth. "Hey Ari. You guys good now?" he asks. "No! He can suck my left nut because I'm done with him! Do you know he just asked me to homecoming? But, not before asking Cassie Porter first!" I belt out. "Oh my God, really? I didn't know. That is terrible" Seth replies. I cock my head to the side. Seth never says 'oh my God' unless hes hididng-Oh my God. "You knew, didn't you?" I ask. He stays quiet for a moment. He's caught. "How could you do that to me? How could you let him do that?" I can't help but let the tears I held in freely fall. "Please don't cry Ari. Look, yes: I knew about Cassie but, I swear on everything, I didn't know he was going to ask you anyway. I know I lied by knowledge but I promise you, I'm not lying about that. I really didn't know. Please believe me on that" he pleads. I just shake my head & continue my walk towards my dorm. I believe him but that doesn't excuse the fact that he knew about Cassie & let it go on. They both lied to me. Well, if Seth knew, Riley & Adam had to have known too. This is all too much. This wasn't how college was supposed to go. I can't believe the time I'm having at this place right now. So much crap has happened to me & it's not even close to midterm time yet. How many weeks unitl I can go home?