~~~~~~~~~~
Kale
Bradley is pissed. I fucked up, I know that.
I should've told her that I was throwing a party.
"Dude, Bray is not very happy with you right now." Damon shakes his head, exhaling loudly.
I groan. "I know. I wanted to tell her, but I also wanted to throw this party. I feel like I've been out of the loop, you know?" The way that Damon looked at me nearly made me apologize to him.
"Really? Your popularity was more important than the best girl you could ever have. Seriously, dude. Grow the fuck up." He said to me, leaving me speechless, as we walked into the garage, grabbing the coolers for the party.
He's always been right there next to me through all the hookups and never once has he ever acted this way.
But, Bradley isn't just a hookup. She's much more than that. And I did feel guilty. I felt bad for lying to her and I feel like shit because she's mad at me because of it.
"I'm not worried about popularity." Is all I could manage to say. I walk in front of him quickly trying to make up for the lack of words.
"I don't know what you're worried about man, but I hope for her sake and yours, it's her. She's like a sister to me, and I'll be damned if I sit here and watch you break her heart." He tells me, setting the cooler on the patio out back.
I stay silent, because he's right and I can't argue with that. But, then the silence got really weird, so I ask him a question. "What were you and Bradley talking about?"
He just shrugged. "I just needed to tell her something."
"What was it?" Fuck, I sound nosy as hell.
He gave me a weird look. "Just wanted to talk. This isn't about you still being jealous, is it?" He stood up straighter.
"No. Just was curious, don't think about it too hard. Damn." He just laughs and shakes his head.
"You're fucking weird, dude."
~~~~~~~~~~
My house is full. There were so many people here it was hard to breathe.
"This party is insane!" Some random guy says, high-fiving me as he walks by. I chuckle, turning around to grab my drink that I set on that table.
Then, I heard the voice of the most annoying person to ever live. "Kale! Hey, babe!" I bite my lip to avoid groaning, then I turn around slowly.
"What do you want?"
She grabs the drink out of my hand, placing it right back to where it was before. "That was a dumb question, silly. I want you." She trails her finger down my chest. I take her hand and remove it from my body.
"Don't touch me."
She glares at me. "Is that Bradley?" She points to the stairs, and truth be told it was. Just as I was about to leave Brittany, she hands my drink back to me. "I'll get you eventually."
I take my drink out of her hand and take a large gulp of it, hoping to erase this entire conversation from my mind.
I walk around the house looking for Bradley, asking people if they saw her, but I start to realize they're all incoherent.
All, of a sudden I get really dizzy and I couldn't for the life of me walk in a straight line. I suddenly hear the voice of someone familiar, but I couldn't figure out who it was.
"Bradley?" I murmur.
"Not quite." The voice says. Then, they grab my arm and I feel my body moving upwards, but it felt like that I couldn't control myself, so I just followed their lead. "We made it." The voice tells me.
"Where are we?" I ask it.
"Your room, babe. You said you wanted to be with me."
"Bradley? Is that you?" I ask the voice again.
"No, silly. It's Britt." I knew that name, and I also knew that I didn't want her, but I couldn't move. It felt like all the strength in my body left me and all I saw was a silhouette with blonde hair hovering above me.
"No," I told her, but my voice seemed slurred. "I don't. . ."
"Yes, Kale. You do." She seemed to be smiling.
I started to panic internally when I feel her take my belt off and yank my jeans down. I didn't know what to do as she pulled off the shirt I was wearing and grabbed the top of my boxers.
I felt tears in my eyes, finally realized what was happening. "Don't, please." My voice came out soft.
This time she didn't reply, but I heard the door open.
"What the actual fuck is going on here?"
"Help." I tell the voice, glad that someone walked in.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bradley
"Help." His voice came out soft, softer than I've ever heard it. I almost paused.
"Get off of him, bitch!" I walk towards the bed, pushing her away, ignoring the flash of vagina that showed when I did so.
I look towards Kale and my heart immediately skipped a beat and my breath caught in my throat.
He looked completely out of it. "Kale?" As I turn my full attention on him, she leaves the room.
"I didn't want to." He told me. "She took them off."
My eyebrows furrowed, confused about what he was talking about, so I sat next to him.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I felt dizzy at first, " He told me, dosing off a little bit. "And she brought me up here," His voice cracked and I could feel my heart beat quicken. "She took them off and she was on me, and you came in." His voice sounded thick, and I could tell he was close to tears. My heart broke, when I finally realized what happened.
The next emotion I felt was anger. An anger that I've never felt before. And for a second I thought about my father and what my uncle told me, that we all had a darkness in us. And he was right, we do, but I know I can control it. Though, I decided that this time I wouldn't.
I stood up from the bed, leaning over to place a hand on his cheek. "I will be right back." I grab his comforter throwing it over his body before leaving the room. I bump into Damon in the hallway as he was leaving my room.
"Shit, sorry Bray - what's wrong?" He asked, I'm sure the anger on my face was very apparent.
I ignored him and made my way down the stairs, in search of one person and one person only. The longer it took to find her, the more angered I got. It seemed that I could find everyone except for her. I found Jess, Justin, Lucas, and Damon has been trailing me since we bumped into each other, even Collin was following.
I spotted a familiar face in the large group of people and made a beeline for her. "Where's Brittany?" I asked the girl. I didn't know who she was, all I knew is that she followed Brittany around like a lost puppy. I watched as she gulped and pointed outside.
I made my way to the back yard and saw her immediately. By the time she saw me it was too late, she didn't have time to say one word before I grabbed her by her bra strap and threw her on the ground, throwing my fist into her face.
There was a crowd around us in seconds.
"You think it's okay?" I ask her. "Doing what you did to him? Does that make you feel good about yourself?" I punch her in the jaw. I watch as she looks at me with blood coating her mouth. Then, I punch her again.
After the third punch I get pulled off of her by Justin. "Calm down, Bradley." I hear Jess' voice tell me. But, I couldn't. They don't know what she did.
"I'm going to sue you!" She shouts at me after a couple people help her up.
"Do it! We'll take you to court for something much worse." And I watch as her eyes grow wide. I yank myself out of Justin's hold and walk over to her. "I suggest you get out of here before I lose it completely." She looks at me with fear in her eyes, before storming off the other way.
Once she was out of my sight I run to the kitchen and grab two waters and some bread and make my way back to Kale's room as quickly as possible. I lock his door behind me. He was rolled on his side.
"Hey, I'm back." I spoke softly.
"Bradley?" He seemed unsure.
"Yes, it's me. I'm here." I tell him, sitting beside him.
"I didn't want to." He tells me, I frowned.
"I know, I know." I place the waters and bread on his nightstand and walk over to his dresser, grabbing some sweatpants.
I pull the comforter from off of him and slide his boxers back up and pull his sweatpants over them, without looking of course. Once, I finished I crawled onto his bed from the other side and lifted his torso, with a little help from him and sat behind him, letting him lean on me.
"I'm sorry."
I shake my head immediately. "Not your fault." I run my hands through his hair.
"I don't know how I feel." He admits.
"It's okay. You're still under whatever drug she used, but let it out. I'm here." I reassure him. And it was like my words were the trigger he needed. I felt his body shake as he started to cry. His sobs were the only sound in the room, and my heart split in two all over again. I pulled him closer to my chest, holding him as he broke down. And it sucked, watching him break in front of my eyes and there was no way I could help.
~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up to movement. I squinted my eyes, adjusting to the light. When I could finally see I saw Kale moving around his room. I could tell he was freshly showered. I looked at the nightstand to see the waters and bread gone.
"Hey." I spoke softly. "How are you feeling?"
"No."
I look at him confused. "What?"
"I don't want to talk about it." He says shortly, looking at me with an expression that I couldn't make out.
"You don't want to talk abou-"
"No. I don't. Stop." He cuts me off. "Please."
I take a deep breath and nod my head. "Alright." I pull myself off of his bed and stretch. "Well, I'm going to go clean up. I'm sure downstairs is a mess."
As I step outside of his door he calls my name.
"Brad." I stop walking. "You're hands." I look down at my hands confused and realize they were still covered in blood and now bruised.
"Oh." I didn't know what to say. "I'll clean them up, don't worry." Then, I make my way downstairs.
"Bray! What the hell was that last night?" Damon was the first to speak. I stay silent. "Bradley?"
"It's not my place, Damon." I tell him, aware that everyone was watching us.
"It seemed to be when you beat the fuck out of Brittany." He shot back. "Those bruises look like they hurt."
I pause. "It was only my business for a few minutes." I say. He sighed, but got the hint that my lips were sealed.
"Anyways, you come down to help clean up the house?" Jess asks.
I nod with a frown on my face. "Unfortunately."
"Well, then." Lucas claps his hands together. "Let's get started."
~~~~~~~~~~
Two hours. It took all of us two hours to clean this house, and I'm exhausted.
Kale never came downstairs. He stayed locked in his room for the day, not speaking to any one of us.
I wish I could understand what he was going through to help him, and I wish he would talk about it, but I can't force him. Everyone left, and the Ryder's won't be back for another two days, so it's just Kale and I, in this huge house. And he doesn't want to talk. Awesome.
I sigh and make my way upstairs to shower and relax.
I treated myself to a long shower and when I got out of there I put on a face mask. I felt like I needed to take a deep breath and relax.
Then, I got bored very quickly and it seemed as if the universe was on my side today because I got a face time call from Damon. I answered after a couple rings, so I didn't seem obvious.
"You saw me nearly two ours ago. You already miss me?" Was the first thing I said.
"You wish. I just wanted to talk to you about. . .you know." He clears his throat.
"You know you can say it, right? I'm alone." I reassure him, by shoving headphones into my ears.
"I don't know where to start." He sighs. And I shrug, placing my phone on my vanity, sitting in my chair.
"From the beginning."
He nods and readjusts himself on his bed. He was now laying on his back and the camera was leaning on something, and he was looking at the ceiling. "So, you brought him into the room, right? It was kind of weird at first. He apologized for kissing me and was going to walk out of your room." He paused. "But, I grabbed his arm and I kissed him, bruh. I kissed him again! Me, I started it." He threw his hands over his face and groaned.
"Aw, cute. What else?" I lean closer, intrigued.
"We made out. Fuck, Bray. I sound like a puss."
"No, you sound like a guy who has a massive crush." I tell him, honestly. "I know you're in a weird situation, but you like him. It's obvious. And you're scared, which is understandable, but none of us will look at you any differently. I say go for it and try it out. If it's not for you, then it's not, but at least you know."
He nods. "Yeah, that's true." Then, he inhales deeply. "I'm gonna go. I need to think." I nod.
"Okay. I'll talk to you later. Love you, D."
"Love you too, Bray." Then, he hung up.
I take out my headphones, laying them on my vanity, and walk towards my bed, exhausted from the night before and cleaning today. I plug my phone into the charger and finally lay on my bed.
Then, I fell into a dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~
Hello! I know this chapter was long past due and I hope that I can try to update more often. This chapter was very interesting for me to write and I hope you all enjoyed it. I was given the idea by leehemingway. This was out of my comfort zone and I really appreciated the inspiration. If anyone else has any let me know anytime!