HERO
"H. I need to talk to you."
I shake my head, stuffing my phone in my pocket. "Don't, my man. I don't want to hear it."
"You need to."
With a sigh, I turn to him. "I get it, you don't like how this happened, but we're good. Things have changed." I don't say it out loud, Thompson is by us, and nobody else needs to know we started off as a lie.
"I know things have changed, that's why you need to hear me out."
I shake my head and turn around, ready to walk and find the girls.
"Sophomore year, two times."
Tension wraps around my shoulder blades, locking me in place as I replay Felix's rushed words.
It takes several seconds, but slowly, I look behind me, my body shifting until I'm fully facing my best friend.
"What?"
Thompson falls a few feet back, rubbing at the nape of his neck, and my eyes dart back to Felix.
He hangs his head, taking in a deep breath before he stands tall to meet my glare. "I've been trying to tell you."
My pulse hums in my ears, my steps like heavy lead as I force a foot forward. "You think this shit's funny?"
"Trust me, H. I know it's fucked up."
I shake my head, denying what he's saying. "What are you tryin' to do? Why you fuckin' with me?"
He holds my gaze, my best fucking friend. The only person who knows the truth about everything in my life. My dad, my mom, Andrew. Josephine.
Josephine.
I lunge at his ass.
JOSEPHINE
"Get over to the truck, now, but don't run or security will follow you."
I look over my shoulder, my smile fading when I recognize the seriousness of Thompson's face.
He glares. "Take your friends with you."
I glance to Cassie nodding my chin and walk as calmly as I can toward our area, the girls a few feet behind.
It's dark, but I manage to see between the trucks as I grow closer, and I gasp.
Hero and Felix are fighting, their bodies slamming into the bumper of Felix's truck and rolling off onto the small patch of grass in front of it.
Or more, Hero is fighting while Felix more or less allows him to toss him around.
"Oh my god! Hero, stop!" Kathrine hisses, her wide eyes flying to mine as she rushes forward. "Josephine, what the hell?!" She glances back.
Oh my god... shit.
This isn't happening, not tonight.
Not after we finally got to spend some alone time together as a real couple, away from all the fake.
Away from everyone.
Thompson is suddenly grabbing Kathrine by the sweater and tugging her back. "Nu-hu. You're not gettin' hurt, girl."
"Then stop them!" She starts to cry.
Thompson glances past her, wincing when Hero lifts Felix from the ground, punching him square in the jaw, not the slightest attempt to block it.
Thompson looks to Kathrine . "He's got it comin' and he knows it. Leave them. I'll step in if it gets nasty."
Hero nails him in the gut and Felix groans, stumbling around and slamming into the side mirror a foot from where Thompson stands.
Kathrine screams again, gaining Felix's attention.
Concern lines his eyes and he lifts his hands to Hero, stepping toward the fence to put some space between them.
"That's enough. You're scaring the girls--"
"Don't," Hero seethes, shoving at him again, his shoulder hitting the metal wiring. "Talk about her like she's yours to worry about and I'll break your fucking hand, quarterback."
"Hero, what's your problem?!" Kathrine fights to get past Thompson again, but he holds her still.
"Say it. Right now, to my fucking face, Felix." Hero creeps closer to him.
Felix's eyes fly my way before going back to Hero's, pleading. "Come on, man."
"You were man enough to do it, not man enough to say it out loud?"
Felix only shakes his head, leaning against the fence, blood dripping from his lip.
"Don't act like you aren't proud, asshole. Say it!" Hero's jaw flexes repeatedly, but I can't see his face. "Now, Felix."
Felix's eyes are solemn, regret slipping over him. "All right," Felix relents. "J and--"
"Enough of the nickname! It's one letter, motherfucker!"
Felix sighs, at a loss.
There is no calming Hero or hoping he calms himself.
All Felix can do is lay it out and all I can do is hope we don't end as quickly as we began.
Felix does as he's asked. "Josephine and I slept together, but it was a long time ago."
"Fuck, man." Hero's hands fly from him, sliding over his head and folding behind his neck.
He blows a harsh breath into the air, and my lungs feel the loss.
"How was I supposed to tell you? You've--"
"Wanted her since before you had her and told you all about it?" he shouts. "Yeah, I fuckin' have."
Whoa, what?!
"It was two years ago, and yes, I should have told you when it happened, but you stopped talking to her after everything with your dad, and the threat from--"
"Watch it," Hero warns.
Felix's body sags, and he tries to reason with him. "I didn't know she was still inside you, man, and I didn't realize where the two of you were headed. I thought you dancing with Scarlett would have-"
He cuts off, his eyes darting to Kathrine and then back to me.
"No." Hero shakes his head, running his hands through his hair. "Are you for real, man?"
"H," he says quietly, walking toward him. "It's not-"
"Not what?" Hero shouts, punching into the crossed metal of the fence on the side of Felix's head. "Not what I think? Then why would my best fuckin' friend purposely go behind my back and try to fuck what I had going by inserting drama between us? And this on top of the bullshit you just stood here and fuckin' told me? Let's hear it, asshole. How the fuck is it I'm supposed to take this?"
"Felix..." Kathrine starts forward, and this time Thompson moves to the side. "What's he talking about?"
Felix's face grows taut. "I asked Josephine's dance coach to switch us, make Hero her partner and me Josephine's for the practice part. I knew she'd agree or might have already planned to do it herself." Felix glances from Kathrine to Hero. "I was only trying to speed up the inevitable."
"Inevitable?" Hero laughs, but there isn't a hint of humor in it. "That's my girl-"
"She wasn't!" Felix explodes. "That's the thing you kept forgetting, H!"
Kathrine gasps as my body stiffens.
What the hell?
The fall of Hero's shoulders is instant and everyone is quiet a long moment.
"That what this is about?" Hero pushes. "I asked you, point blank. You said no, was that a lie? You want my girl? Or am I supposed to say you want her again?" he spits harshly.
"I can't do this," Kathrine cries and runs off, Mandy and Cassie following behind her.
"Kathrine !"
"Kathrine don't leave! It's not how it sounds!" Felix shouts urgently. "Fuck!"
Hero scoffs, slapping a coffee cup off the edge of the truck, and glares at the sky.
Kathrine running off is where Felix draws his line.
He scowls, taking a small step toward Hero who stands just as tall. "I don't want to fight with you, man, I love you and I'm fucking sorry. I wish I could take it back, but I can't. I know I deserve everything you've got to throw at me right now, trust me, I get that, but the shit you're saying is way off base, and I can't stand here and take it because it's fucking with my relationship. My real relationship," he broaches.
My mouth drops open.
He knew this was fake?
"I can't allow that, so I'm going after my girl." Felix takes a few slow steps away before breaking out in a full run.
Thompson clamps a hand on my shoulder and walks off next and soon it's just me and Hero.
Hero drops his forearms on the hood of his truck and hangs his head between them. "Go away, Josephine. I can't look at you right now."
"That's not fair."
"I don't care. Go."
"Just like that? You don't want to talk about this, ask questions? Explain how he knows this was fake?"
Hero scoffs, then lifts his head. His face is blank, eyes hardly open. "Don't even. And what kind of questions, Jo? 'Cause I'm not interested in the positions you fucked my best friend in, or how long it lasted, or where it took place." He blinks carelessly. "You were right, a fake boyfriend doesn't need to know a damn thing. You do you, J." He pushes off the hood, and steps toward me, but only so he can glide by. "I think I'll find Sandra. Take that hall pass you offered before."
"No you won't." A heavy pressure weighs in my chest, and I spin to face him. "You won't because you know you'll lose me if you do."
His lip curls. "What makes you think I care?"
"H... stop," I whisper. "We're past this - no more tug of war. I want you and you know it. So just... stop."
His face is a picture of rage, but there's anguish in his eyes. "You fucked Felix."
"A long time ago."
"And you never felt the need to tell me this?"
"I didn't think about it!" flies from me, and a wave of nausea rolls in behind it. "When we talked about my not being a virgin, I thought you were mocking me, using it as a way to talk crap or something. I figured he had told you after it happened. I had no clue he kept it to himself until later."
"And still, not a fuckin' word about it, huh?"
Damn it!
Anxiety builds in my gut.
I have nothing but the truth and it's a pathetic one.
"I didn't think about it," I say quietly. "I get it's messed up, and I'm sorry, but I... I just ... didn't think about it."
He shakes his head. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that."
"Don't push me away over something that happened before we did. How was I supposed to know we'd be standing here two years later?"
"You were supposed to come clean when you finally woke up and realized I wanted you." His anger dissipates as he pushes against me, his fingers lifting to brush across my cheek. "You were supposed to be mine and only mine."
"I am."
"But he had you first."
"So have me last."
His lips hit my ear. "I'm walking away, Josephine. Let me."
Sensing there's no other choice at the moment, I do.