The nerve of her. The nerve! She had no right, no right, whatsoever, to interfere with my business!
My fury fuels my steps as I storm away from Emma, but it drains away as soon as I've escaped her line of vision. I instantly slump against the wall and I rest my forehead on the rough surface, breathing in and out in measured whooshes, just like my father told me to do if I ever felt like 'that' again.
In... Out... In—
My breathing falters when I hear a pair of footsteps approach. "Hey, Lex, what's wrong?" You.
"Nothing."
He scoffs and hooks his arm around my shoulders, drawing me close to his side. Like bait to a fisher. "C'mon, don't take me for an idiot, I've know you too long for that bullshit. What happened?"
"Nothing," I stress, and I make it a point to extricate myself from his grip. You. You're what happened.
"Lexie, is it something that I've done?"
Yes. "No."
Matt sighs heavily and pulls me to his chest again into a tight hug. My body tenses as I inhale his cologne and the orange he's just eaten. He's always liked oranges. "If anything's wrong, if you're ever feeling like... like that, you can tell me, okay. I promise, I'll be there for you."
Will you? "You will?"
"I will. I love you, babe. You know that, right?"
"Mmhm." I know that I'm supposed to say it back to him, but I can only hear Josh, only hear Emma.
"Aggressive? Violent? Disrespectful? Alex, you can make excuses all you want for him, but the facts still remain standing."
"Matt's a bad influence on you, and he's hurting you, and you don't deserve him, and you shouldn't be coerced to do anything!"
"Alex, he raped you!"
Rape.
Rape.
Somehow, the same word echoes in my head, over and over. It wasn't rape though... it was me who followed him up those stairs, it was me who kissed him and who was kissed, and it was me that undressed and unbuttoned his jeans. Me. How could it be rape if it was consensual? I said yes, didn't I?...except I didn't. I never said anything...
"Alex?"
I look at him and realise that I've been standing, stock-still in his embrace. I force a smile. "I love you too."
Matt's face splits into a dazzling smile that transforms his face, and he leans down to meet my lips.
I never said anything. Why didn't I say anything?
YOU ARE READING
How to Save a Life
Short Story"Life is like a rollercoaster that you just can't wait to get off." Alex is suicidal. Alex is depressed. This much is true. When Emma finds her crying in the girls' toilets, she tries to help, but she makes a fatal mistake in telling her friends. Wo...
