cardigan [h.s.]

Chapter 59

There is supposed to be light at the end of every tunnel. He just doesn't know if they're even going to make it to the tunnel.

Diana

I can't believe what I'm about to do. I can't believe I called her. In the matter of a few minutes I'm going to be sitting across from the girl who derailed my whole relationship with only a few words.

But, I need to know the truth. I need to know if what Niall told Cornelia was real. If after all these years, Harry didn't actually cheat on me.

The bell above the dorm chimes and I pick my head up to see Benson walking in. She unbuttons her coat as she stands in the doorway scanning the place for me. I put a hand up for her to see me, and when she does, she nods and begins to walk over to me.

My heart threatens to beat out of my chest. Seeing her brings up a lot of memories, none of them good. The latest one being when I saw her back in Eden Falls a couple days ago. Seeing her then really jarred me, and seeing her now still does.

"Hi, Diana," she says when she reaches the table I've been sitting at. She hangs her coat on the back of her chair and sits down.

"Benson," I say back.

Even though the truth rests in her hands and I've asked to meet her here, doesn't mean I'm going to want to be friends with her now. She's still the source of Harry and I not being together anymore. And she still wasn't the nicest person back in high school. But, maybe she's changed. Like Misty. Not now subconscious. I thought we stopped this whole talking to each other thing.

"What a coincidence, right?" Benson chuckles, trying her best to lighten the mood. "You call at the same time that I happen to be in New York."

I don't really care the find out why she's here. At this point in my life, it seems like everyone from my past is in this city. I wouldn't be surprised if Ivy called right now, saying she's standing outside my apartment building. If anything, I'm more surprised she hasn't called or showed up yet. I mean her sister died.

"Let's just skip all the small talk," I reply, getting straight to the point. "And tell me what happened ten years ago, at that party. I want the truth, Benson because it feels like ever since I was kid I've only ever been lied to."

Benson sighs and leans back in her chair, crossing her leg over the other. "I lied," she says.

"Yea, I gathered that."

"That party, the one that was going on after the whole newspaper outed Harry's suicide note. He was there," she starts to explain. "And so was I. He was drunk, trying his best to forget everything that happened. We talked, and then I lead him up the stairs. He was willing, only because he was drunk. We kissed for a couple minutes before he pushed me away and said nothing was going to happen between us, because he was in love with you."

"Then why did you tell me that you two fucked?"

Benson looks down at her fingers, picking at them. "I was jealous and angry, and in love with him too. If I couldn't have him, I didn't want you to have him either. So, I lied to you."

"But the bruise on his hip? How did you know?" I don't know why I'm trying to find a flaw in her story. Maybe it could be so then I had a reason to be angry and upset with Harry all those years. My excuse to hate him for the short period that I did.

"He plays hockey, Diana," Benson quips, "He has bruises all over his body. I just picked an intimate spot and hoped that he would have a bruise there." She shrugs, "It was a lucky guess."

I sit there stunned. This entire time, nothing ever happened between Harry and Benson. A ten year lie built on teenage girl jealousy.

"I thought Harry would have told you all of this-" Benson adds.