Tori scrambles to get her top back on as Zane stumbles and crashes into a wall trying to walk towards me. The fact that Zane can't even stay on his own two feet shows how drunk he is, but it doesn't make any of this hurt less.
"You two are dating?!" Tori growls as she fixes her corset-style top around her body and shoots Zane an unamused glare.
"No." Zane quickly answers as he pushes off the wall and looks back at her. He's right. We aren't dating.
He has every right to fuck whoever the hell he wants, especially after I turned him down and asked him to wait. I said no, and now he's moving on. I know this is my fault, but my hurt-filled glare turns on him as I watch the blood drain from his face.
"Oll-" he takes a step towards me and stumbles over his own feet.
I can barely breathe and can't keep torturing myself as I watch him slowly make his way to me. With a quick turn on my heels, I run back down the catwalk and soar over the steps. The clutzy clamor of Zane's footfalls sounds out behind me, but I don't look back. Not even when I hear the sound of tumbling and a loud, "Aw, shit!" yell out from behind me. I need to get away. I need to fall into someone who loves me's arms and pour out my pain.
I barely register getting in my car, and if it weren't for the heavy city traffic, I would have gotten home a lot soon than thirty minutes. My makeup is probably a complete mess with the river of tears pouring down my face, but I don't care. I need my daddy, and I pray that he's home. I stumble out of my car and across our patchy lawn before busting through the front door.
"Daddy!" I call out. Please be back from your binge. "Daddy!" my voice catches with a heavy sob, but the house is still dark and just how I left it after Tamarrah walked out on us.
I sprint down the hall, hoping he's already in bed, but I find it empty and the closet door wide open. I notice the landline phone blinking, indicating there's a voice message on it. No one but dad and spam calls leave messages on the archaic system, and an uneasy feeling settles in the pit of my stomach. I click the message button and hear dad's groggy voice carry over the speaker. "Fuck. I hope you get this tonight, baby. I'm not gonna be home. I got into a fight at the bar, and they're keeping me down at the county jail until I sober up. This is my only phone call, so I won't get to talk to you till I get released."
Defeated and alone, I plop down on the side of the bed my dad usually sleeps on and bury my face in my hands. The ache in my chest only grows. It hurts so bad that it doesn't feel like it'll ever be sealed shut again.
What am I going to do? I need someone. Dad in, and I can't call Tamarrah. She left us. My dad's twin, Uncle Colt, is the only face that pops to mind. He lives two hours away, but I know he won't mind if I show up on his doorstep.
With a sniffle, I spring up from my dad's bed and rush into my room, where I grab a duffle bag and start shoving clothes into it. I need a pair of pants and a few tees. I know I won't be down to Uncle colts for long. I don't want to be alone tonight.
As I zip up my bag, my gaze lands on my stuffed bat that Zane won for me months ago. Even though the sight of it brings fresh tears, I still snatch him up anyways. I've slept with the thing energy night since I got it, holding it tight to me and snuggling it as I recalled all the good parts of that night.
Even though Zane didn't want to play the dumb game, he caved for me. The gleam in his eye when he won and hugged my prize. Even the genuine, relaxed smile he had on his face while it was just us.
I shoulder my bag and try to dry up my tears with the corner of the bat's ear. This night has gone to complete shit. Tamarrah left us, Zane finished off whatever goopy remains were left of my heart, dad got arrested, and I'm left in pieces with nowhere to turn but Freecaster.
When I get outside and to my car, I toss the duffle bag in the back seat, place my bat in the passenger side of the car, and buckle him in. I sniffle again and wipe my nose with the sleeve of my jean jacket before I get behind the wheel of the car.
As I pull out of the drive and take off. I quickly hop on the freeway. Even with the tolls, it's the quickest way down to Freecaster. Even though I turn up the radio to drown my thoughts out, my mind drifts back to Zane how he was standing there bare-chested with Tori, one hand on her breast as her perfectly manicured hands were on his belt. Just a few more minutes, and I could have walked in on them fully fucking. My already sore eyes fill with tears again, and the heavy ache returns.
I can't keep letting him hurt me. I thought we were finally going to be good, and this last slap in the face was just too much for me to bear.
"Why?!" I sob out to know one but my stuffed bat. The questions feel like poison within me, and though there's no one here to ask, I have to let them out. I glance down at my bat, who's drooping over his lap belt. "Why can't he love me?!"
When I snap my gaze back up to the road, bright yellow light fills my windshield before a gasp escapes my lips.
I groan as pain wrack my body. Not only does my head feel like it got run over by a bus, but my whole body aches like I've gotten the shit kicked out of me a few times. When I crack my eyes open, regret instantly hits me as blinding light fills my vision.
"Fuck." I hiss and I throw my arms up to shield from the pain. Where the hell am I? The crack of springs sounds like the metal grinding on metal right in my ear, making my head throb even worse. The world tilts in a fog haze as I sit up and blink through all the pain. The familiar poster of my and Ollie's favorite local group, Grunge The Seoul, meets my gaze. The Korean lead singer is screaming into the mic, almost jumping out at me.
I'm home?
I glance around the room, realizing that at some point, I came back here.
But how? I was way too drunk to ride my bake back.
I ease off my bed and wince when my side hurts. Looking down, I realize I'm still in my eans that I wore last night, and dark blueish-purple bruises litter my ribs.
What the fuck happened last night!
I wrack my brain searching for answers, which only makes my head hurt more. A wave of nausea hits me like a ton of bricks, and I bolt for the bathroom, passing dad as he makes breakfast in the kitchen to unload whatever's left in my stomach.
"How ya doing this morning!" Dad's raises voice slaps me as I drive heave into the toilet. He doesn't have to yell, but I know he's doing it to grind in the hangover a little more.
I groan in response and lean back against the tub, waiting for the room to stop spinning. When it does, I pull myself off the floor and wash my face in cool water from the sink before shuffling back out into the kitchen.
"Do you have to yell?" I ask as I sit down at the bar and watch him turn the frying bacon in the pan. Normally the smell of the smoke fatty meat would be a welcoming call, but this morning, it might as well be dog shit in the pan. My nose crinkles as I turn to look at the TV running in the living room.
"YES!" Dad's voice raises higher to get under my skin. I shoot him a glare as he sets a full glass of water in front of me with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Serves you right for drinking so damn much last night. You fell down the goddamn stairs at the base, and I had to drag your scrawny ass home.
So that's what happened to me.
"What happened between you and Ollie?" Dad asks as I pull the glass up to my lips and take a big long drink.
I frown in confusion and shake my head. "Ollie?" Besides, she hasn't talked to me, and the fact that I found out she might be with Creed now, I can't remember.
The last thing I remember was dancing with Tori at the base and drinking, god, so much drinking.
"Yeah, She went running out of base like a bat out of hell with you stumbling after her. You got to the staircase and tumbled down it." Dad goes back to cooking breakfast as I try to put it all together again.
Flashes of Ollie's face in complete and utter pain barge their way into my mind, like a distant bad dream. Shit. She saw me with Tori.
I had changed my mind about sleeping with Tori, but a little too late. Of course, my luck would have it that Ollie would walk in just as I was backing away from her.
Fuck I need to call Ollie. I need to explain it was all a mistake and that I wasn't going to go through with it.
I jump off the stool to cross the living and go back to my room to grab my phone. I dial Ollie's number, but it goes right to voice mail.
I'm going to have to give her a different junker. The fucking phone I gave her only works half the time, that or cut myself short and buy her a new one.
As I walk back into the living room, the news catches my attention. Video of a helicopter cam hovering over the freeway just outside of Mer Harbor. A giant pile of cars can be seen as the new anchor's voice drown on about a drunk driving wreck that happened in the early morning hours. What has me stopped is a hunk of brown metal that looks oddly close to Ollie's rolling turd.
There's no way it's her car, but still, the sight makes me a little sick to my stomach. There are thousands of vehicles like her. So why can't I shake this eerie feeling? Probably because of last night. I need to get hold of her and make things better for us.
'Reports from the county Sheriff Forrest Berkly has stated that one fatality has resulted in last nights accident. Details of the death have yet to be released.'
A shiver runs through me, unable to tear my gaze away from the screen. When my phone buzzes in my hand, I practically jump out of my skin. Confusion rakes over me when I see Tee's name appear on the caller ID. Why the hell is Tee calling me? She never does. The only reason I have her number is because Ollie put it in there.
"Hello?" I hesitantly ask, still watching the TV as it moves to other crushed cars.
"Zane!" Tee's voice sounds strained, frantic, and like she's been crying. The uneasy feeling that the news footage caused only grows.
My knees go weak as I try to tell myself it's nothing. Everything's fine. "What? What is it?"
"She gone, Zane," she blubbers, though what sounds like a mess of tears. "Ollie's gone."
{The End}
😬 Don't forget! I come bearing a gift! I swear! The next chapter will have it, don't be mad at me.