With a Stranger // Taylor Zakhar Perez

12: Fixing The Mess

My impulsive decisions exploded right in front of me as I've witnessed Jacob submerging beneath the surface. Taylor, soaked wet in his white polo, didn't stop with one hit and continued to pull Jacob from the water. Joel, the Lee Flynn, who just got to site also splurged himself into the pool to be the barrier for the two.

"What the hell guys!" Joel's voice cracked the silence from all the splashes of water, and pushed both of them to different sides.

"Really? You wanna lay my girl?" Taylor furiously screamed at Jacob.

"Your girl? Haha. You call her 'your girl' after letting her witness how you ate my ex's lips right in front of many people?"  When Jacob replied, it created a lot more fuss in my brain. Ex? Who, Joey?

"So this isn't about you being a gentleman? You're using Lara as a revenge for that act! It's about Joey!" So Jacob and Joey really had a thing.

"C'mon guys, let's talk it out when you're all sober." Joel tried to move towards Jacob but he was too mad to be halted.

"No! Nobody's leaving this pool until we all fix our issues!" The Taylor I've known isn't really what I'm seeing right now. It's a wilder side of him, a vehement one. "She's drunk! You're taking advantage of her!"

"I saw her being treated like trash. I witnessed how she quenched her pain with all those bottles of beer and liquor she had taken. And now, you act as if you care?" I don't know what to feel in this situation. What Elle felt when Noah and Marco were fighting over her, can't suppress the current scenario. 

I wanted to stop Taylor from screaming, but my head hurts and I feel like any moment now, my body's gonna give up.

"I went after her!"

"Oh you did? Really? Cause if you have, we won't be having this conversation!" Both sides were unstoppable and the heat just keeps on flaring up. 

You made it worse. You could have just went back to the apartment or the beach house. 

I know. Stop making me feel guilty cause I already am. I feel like I'm drowning in my own stupidity and shame.

"I wanna go home." Soft spoken, I tried to be heard by Taylor. I don't care what Joel or Jacob would think, I just wanna lay in bed and forget that everything today has ever happened.

With my plea, no one has responded. I can't look at Taylor, neither Jacob. I know both of them are mad and I am just too caught up in shame to move any part of me. My head anchored down and my eyes had no choice but to contemplate upon the waters that guarded my chest.

"This isn't about Joey, man. It's about you being a douchebag." Before Jacob could even leave the pool, Joel cut loose of his grip from his hand  and Taylor pulled Jacob's legs back to the water for another wave of punch.

The two became invincible and Joel kept on trying to grabbed them away from each other. Water came splashing all around and none of us was dry.

"It has always been about Joey!" I screamed at the top of my lungs while I stare at them, with tears gushing down my face. The air that I'm breathing became thinner and I could feel my lungs tighten, but I tried to maintain my balance as much as possible while I remained challenged by the cold waters.

"No, Lara. It's about you, and your stupid unexplainable behavior with Jacob." Taylor sounded firm yet his eyes became weary, as if I was talking to the love of my life.

"So how do you explain your behavior towards Joey? For sure that's not part of your job. And definitely that's not how you promote your movie. You allowed my eyes to witness how you kissed her! How do you expect me to react?" My nerves were shaking because of the liquor in my system yet I managed to say every word I needed to say. The water has been keeping me more sober than I was before this incident happened.