Slate | ✓

TEN | ATHENA

"How do you say something like that to another person?" I fume. My voice echoes off the bathroom tiles, competing with the sound of running water. "Schizo?" My mouth twists in disgust—a feeling that settles into my stomach as the adrenaline starts to wane. "Fuck you."

Ella shuts the tap off and folds a piece of paper towel into a perfect square."Stay still, Athena." She gently takes my hand, which throbs bright red, and blots my blistering skin with the cool, wet towel. "I don't think they're supposed to make tea this hot."

I hadn't realized the cup was still in my grip when it folded into a fist.

"This is ridiculous." The back of my throat becomes pinched. "It's not like I was the one even fucking cheating! You don't see Dante being shamed for shit." I hiss at Ella and retract my hand as she presses the towel to a particularly sensitive spot. "Fuck, this hurts."

She's about to snap back at me, but stops when she looks up to meet my eyes. "You're crying," Ella says, astounded by her observation.

"No, I'm not." My hand jumps to my face in time to catch the first tear escaping out the corner of my eye.

Ella deflates and leans against the wall beside me. The back of her head reflects in the mirror. "Do you want to talk about it?" Her easy familiarity irks me.

"You didn't even say anything." I try to work through the emotion quickening in my airway. My voice grates against the blockage. "If she said something about me, fine, but she said shit about Will, and you didn't say a fucking word."

"Well, I didn't really have much of a chance to say anything." Ella wrings the paper in her grip. "Look, Will doesn't need defending. People shouldn't pick out the certain parts of him— or you, for that matter. Besides, since when do you care about what people say about him?"

I can't stop the tears, and my mascara begins to run. "Can you just go? I can do this myself." I flex my burnt hand, feeling the painful stretch of skin. "I don't know why you keep rushing back in whenever you think you can. I don't need you."

"Oh, yeah, sorry, I almost forgot about your ego for a second." Ella slaps the wet towel down into the sink. It reminds me of a ball of mucus and I don't want to look at it. I don't really want to look at Ella either because, like me, she does not back down. "Is it fun playing lone wolf or something? Because I would really like to know where this is coming from."

"I'm not playing anything." I try to salvage a clean line of eyeliner with the edge of my nail. "I have friends. That just doesn't include you anymore."

"Yeah, alright," Ella slowly nods. "Surround yourself with people who don't care and just indulge you no matter what. See how far that gets you." Her jaw clenches. "I've never not been straight with you, so I'm not about to stop now. You've been acting like a fucking mess, Athena."

"Just go." It emerges more pleading than I would like. "Run back to Patti."

"No."

"What do you want from me?" I whip around to face her. I'm somehow both drained of emotion and overcome by it. "Validation? I don't care for your fake martyrdom act, I really don't."

"I don't want anything from you." I hate how calm she is. I hate our reflections in the mirror. My face looks swollen, and a ring of red surrounds the grey of my eyes. "I just want you to tell me what's wrong." It's the worst possible thing she could have said.

My expression crumbles."Listen," I say, my voice not losing any of its spite, even as the words struggle around a rising sob. "You left. In my experience, people who leave should stay fucking gone."