Desolate Me

What Makes You Stay?

“That brought up old feelings and before you know it…”

“Stop talking, Ami.”

“Come on, Petey.” She came around the end of the stairs and into my peripheral vision. “Tell the girl the truth.” She leaned against the wall next to us a few feet away. “You’re still a virgin, right? I’m sure your mommy and daddy told you all about the importance of who you give it away to. How you should be in love and it should mean something…” She moved her eyes to look at Peter. “Well, my man here was all that and more. We took each others, you see. And naturally when you talk about the past…”

The ground under our feet started to shake uncontrollably. The neon sign was startled again, I could see it. Maybe he hadn’t told her very much about me.

“Nothing happened,” Peter said, still looking at me. “The way she’s making it sound, nothing happened.”

I searched his face, sampled his emotions. Everything he was saying matched up with what he was feeling. But if what he was portraying to me was true then why was she making it sound like something it wasn’t? And why was he worried before?

“Peter…”

“The two of you have no secrets, right?” she said innocently. “She knows everything about you. Just like me. Right?”

“What the hell is going on?” a heavily accented voice said.

At the sound of Darken’s voice, the earth stopped rumbling. I looked over, completely ignoring Amber or Ami, whatever her name. Darken looked far from happy, if anything, he looked beyond pissed.

“Everything’s fine.”

She turned around and looked at him. “Why hello tall, dark, and cold.” She smiled at him and I could’ve sworn I felt stomach acid bubble up in my throat. “And you are?”

Darken glanced at her briefly, his mild disgust for her making me feel a little better. “Not interested.”

Her face paled and she took a step back from him, which just brought her a little closer to me.

“Jesus,” she snapped. “It was just an innocent question.”

He dismissed her faster than I’d ever seen anyone dismiss another human being. The temperature dropped considerably as he walked over.

“What’s really going on?”

“Nothing,” I said, “really.”

“That’s not what everyone up there is saying.”

I sighed and thunked my head against the stone. “Great.”

“Cass, are you ok?” Peter said softly.

“Yeah because you’re looking a little green, princess. Then again, I would too if I’d just found out my boyfriend kissed someone else.” I could just feel the smug satisfaction roll off her. “He did tell you that part, right?”

I froze where I was standing as did everyone else. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at Peter.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“That’s not what happened,” he said, staring at me. “It’s not.”

“I think…I’m going to throw up.”

Peter moved back to give me some room and I bent over at the waist. I took deep breaths but just ended up making myself dizzier.

“Drama queen much?”

Oh no, no, no. There was no way I was going to let her get away with that one. I came up swinging, moving a little faster than I ever had. My fist connected with her face, completing a beautiful punch that even the guy who did the Tae Bo videos would be proud of.