More - A.M.

Chapter Eight

"Look at him," I scoffed, eyeing my boyfriend from across the parking lot.

"I told you he's an ass," Austin responds, looking with me.

"I can't believe him," I say as I watch him drape his arm around the girl next to him.

It's after school, and Austin and I were just about to head out to his house, but I spotted Tyler and his friends with these girls, so we've been spying on them for the past couple minutes.

"He's been awfully flirty with her."

"It's like he forgot he has a girlfriend or something," I say, now watching the girl laugh at something he's said.

"Ella, you're going to confront him, right?" Austin asks.

I sigh, "Yes, Austin, i'll talk to him." I look back over to them and notice that his friends are leaving. The girls follow except for the one Tyler was talking to; she hangs back for a while and they continue to talk. As soon as she makes the move to leave, i'm on my way to Tyler. "Wait for me in the car," I yell over my shoulder at Austin.

"Tyler!" I shout, earning me a panicked look from him.

"Call me again okay," she calls back to him before actually leaving.

That almost made me stop dead in my tracks, but instead it just fueled my fire.

"Again? You've been calling her?" I spit out before he can even attempt a sentence.

"Yes, but she's just my friend, I swear," he throws his hands up in defense.

"Oh, she's just your friend?" I asked, completely unconvinced.

"Yes! I've only been talking to her because she really likes a friend of mine, and she wanted my help with him," he explains.

"Why should I believe that, Tyler?" I crossed my arms and sent a glare his way.

"Because i'm your boyfriend. Don't you trust me?" He pleads.

"How am I supposed to believe that she's just your friend when five minutes ago you two were flirting and being all touchy-feely?" I fired at him.

"The same way I believe you when you tell me that nothing ever happens between you and Austin, who supposedly is 'just your friend.'" He fires right back.

I scoffed, offended. " He is just my friend, and you know that! Why are you even bringing this up? That's not what we're talking about right now."

"Look," he takes a step closer to me, getting in my face, "I'm sorry that you can't handle the fact that I have female friends."

"I don't care about that!" I practically screamed. "I care that you didn't tell me about it. And, you know what, that's not even what hurts me. What hurts, is that you say she's just a friend, but you're all touchy-feely with her, draping your arm around her shoulders. I'm your freaking girlfriend and I can barely get you to hold my hand; it's like you're embarrassed of me or something. And what hurts even more is that you call some random girl the minute she asks you to, but you won't call me. You never call me, even though you tell me every day that you will."

"You know i'm always busy!" He yells back. "Sometimes I just forget."

"Every night?! You forget every night?" I can feel the tears stinging my eyes, but I won't let them fall. "You know what, just forget it. Just go be with your friends or something. They've always been more important, anyways." I turn my back towards him and start walking back to Austin's car.

"You're overreacting."

"Just leave me alone, Tyler," I whispered.

By the time I get back to the car, the tears had already fallen. I tried to wipe them away and stop myself from crying, but it was no use. I was hurt. He'd hurt me again.

"What the hell happened?" Austin asks as soon as I got in the passenger seat. I shook my head, signaling that I didn't have the desire to discuss it. "I swear, i'll kick his ass."

"Don't do anything. Please, you'll just make it worse," I sniffled.

"Let's just get back to my place," he suggested. I nodded my head in agreement.

As soon as we got inside his house he turned to me and asked, "Stairs?"

I still wasn't quite ready to talk about it, but I couldn't refuse our silly tradition. I followed him to the stairs and sat on the steps. I told Austin everything that happened and everything that Tyler and I said to each other.

"Well, that just pisses me off," Austin muttered.

"How do you think I felt," I said through tears.

"I know, El." He looks down at me and wipes a falling tear from off my cheek. "You know, it hurts me to see you like this all the time. You deserve someone that'll treat you right."

"I know," I whispered. "I've just loved him so long and we've been together for years. I mean, it'd be hard to let go of that. And, believe it or not, it's not always all bad. We've actually had a lot of good times, and I do love him. Things have just been different lately."

"Ella, you deserve to be happy though. Genuinely happy. I feel like he doesn't do that for you anymore."

I sighed, holding my head in my hands. "What am I gonna do?" I asked, more to myself than to him. I was having a lot of mixed feelings about Tyler and I's relationship lately.

"Don't ask me because you already know what i'll say. I've been saying it for months," he says.

"This is so messed up." A tear flowed down my cheek again.

Austin scooted closer to me and threw an arm around my shoulder. "It'll pass," he assured. "You'll figure out what the right choice to make is."

"What if I don't?" I ask.

"Then we'll get through it. I'll be there for you like I always am and we'll get through it," he smiles down at me and it forces me to crack a small smile back.

"You're too good to me sometimes," I laugh.

"Yeah, well, what are best friends for." He laughs too.

I just look back at him and think to myself, what would I do without this kid?

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a/n:

so how are you guys liking this story so far? good, bad, boring? let me know! :)

--m