Promiscuous (Who's the slut?)

Chapter Twenty Four

My head was throbbing like hell. It didn't feel heavenly at all. God... where am I? I tried to get up only to find myself falling headfast on the bed. I winced.

"So the princess is already awake, huh?"

"What am I doing here?" I glinted my eyes in suspicion. Riel laughed at me.

"I thought I'm already dead." I pinched my arm hard and it seemed so real. Yeah, silly me.

Riel scowled. "I won't let it happen... I promise you that." It warmed my heart to hear that from somebody who cares for me a great deal. I hadn't noticed a pair of eyes observing me from across the corner. I looked around.

All the painful memories came crushing down on me. My head hurt, my heart ached. I sighed. "How did you..." I put my arm across my eyes to keep from crying out.

"Lucy found you..." Riel barely said that. I gulped. Lucy found me? In the middle of the rain and my misery?

"In front of her house... you fainted." I turned to gape at her. She met my eyes boldly. I was checking for the wound she'd caused me, all there was left was a day old scar. Nothing more. She cleared her throat.

"Why didn't you just knock?" She said softly. I missed her, though maybe subconsciously she was the only friend I'd ever had that's why my feet led me to her.

"Pumpkin, you got me worried sick. I thought you were with Rave, what happened? Did he hurt you?" Riel's jaw flexed in anger. He held my arm inadvertently crushing my wrist with his grasp.

"Riel, stop it. You're hurting me." He let go of my arms remorsefully and hugged me without a word. He was damned worried, I could still sense the tension in his body.

Why not Riel? My head says that he's the right one. But my heart tells me otherwise.

"If only I had known..." He was blaming himself now. I flashed him a toothy grin trying to ease the burden off him. It was difficult to pretend.

"I'm okay... thank you." I whispered solemnly.

He nodded. He stood up. "You're not going anywhere near him again, I swear I would have done..." He sighed. "I'll cook for us." He patted my cheek and walked out of the room.

Riel's condo. I frowned, if I were found in front of Lucy's house why am I here? Not there?

"I called him. Well, he was in a panic. He wanted you here." She said as if... sensing my doubts.

"I see..." I said as if I really understood. The truth was, I wasn't able to take in what was going on around me. Coincidences... I'd talked to Brix last night about Lucy, and now I was facing her.

"Marie Claire..." She sat beside me but didn't meet my eyes. She took my hand. I'd like to snatch it out of her grasp. Very unforgiving of me. "I... I decided to... break it off with..."

It was difficult for her. But I didn't help her to make this ordeal easier. This was her own dilemma, let her stand on her own two feet.

"With Brix..." She bit her lower lip from trembling. She was trying hard not to let her emotions overcome her. Love sucks Lucy... you can't have everything.

"Why?" She stood up. I was staring at a beautiful Lucy and not the Lucy the loser she once had been. Now I could conclude that she had also been a victim, struggling to fit in. She stucked her hands on both sides of her pockets.

She smiled ruefully. "Because... I can't be somebody else to be loved." My heart went out to her.

"I don't have to be you..." That phrase was uttered silently in the stillness of the room. So softly that I thought it was just a gush of the wind.