Chapter Twenty Five
Xander’s POV
The truck I silent, but I enjoy it. There is no reason for words to be shared, we were both just enjoying the silence because it was a silence in which we were surrounded by each other’s presence.
I jerk slightly when I hear the sound of my phone vibrantly loudly in the cup holder in front of her and I reach out quickly when I see the name, hoping silently that she didn’t see the name.
“Yea.” I say and I hear a sniffle on the other side of the phone.
“Xander, everything is going to shit.” She tells me softly.
“You okay?”
Cassandra and I had a past, but that was all it was, she was a snob, a bitch, and as you could see a total whinner.
“No, my mother was shipped off to rehab because she was caught stealing morphine from the hostpial, lost her job, and now or course my dad runs off on one of his business runs. Which probably aren’t even business runs, he is probably out fucking his secretary like in the movies.” She sighs. “I just need some cheering up, are you busy?”
“Yea I am now but I can always come by later if you wanted.”
“Okay, sounds good. Hanging out with you sounds like something I need.”
“Alright, see you then.”
I hang up quickly, breathing a sigh of relief that I was off the phone and drop it into my lap before turning to look at her slightly.
I can’t help but notice her rigid posture, her head turned directly towards the window.
“You know what, will you just drop me off at my house? I will come by and get my stuff later.”
When she says this my head snaps directly to face her, the words she says catching me off guard totally and I hold my mouth closed so it won’t fall open.
“My road is next, you can just drop me off at the corner.”
I pull over, ready to question her for her sudden outburst but I don’t have the chance, she reaches to the back and grabs her clothes and phone off the dash before getting out of the truck before I can stop her.
I chuckle softly before getting out of the car and walking after her quickly, reaching out to grab her hand and turn her to me.
“Why are you being like this?” I ask her and when she turns around I can see the scowl on her face as she jerks her hand from me.
“It’s nothing, just home sick, I will talk to you later?” she says hastily, proving to me that she lying. She turns on her heels and begins marching down the sidewalk quickly, I don’t walk after her though.
“Cameron, come on” I call after her, staying where I am and she turns around before walking backwards, not slowing her pace as she gets away.
A forced smile appears on her lips coldly before she nods towards my truck, the action throwing confusion at me before she speaks.
“Better not keep Cassandra waiting, she might get impatient.”
She doesn’t say anything more, instead she turns around and walks the rest of the way to her house.
So she was jealous, jealous that Cassandra had called? Or jealous that I was going over there?
Either way I shake my head slightly, knowing I should leave her alone and just go back to my truck.
When I am inside the smell of beach water and salt fills my nose and I grimace before grabbing both the towel under me and the towel from her seat and throw them in the bed of my truck before taking off.
∞
“I just don’t know what to do you know? It gets lonely here without anyone but me and the house keeper.” She sniffles and I nod, standing in the middle of her room as Cassandra sits on her bed shedding tears.
She stops crying after the thirty minutes I have been here before she looks up to me and smiles sadly.
“I bet I look like a mess.”
I shrug and shake my head slightly. If it had been Cameron saying this she would have genuinely meant it, since it was Cassandra saying it, she was just trying to get me to tell her differently. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Cassandra was pretty and half of the guys at the school chased her around, and she knew it.
But Cameron was beautiful and every single guy and girl at school knew it. She didn’t believe it, she didn’t flaunt it, she didn’t know it.
“I heard about you and Cameron.” She whispers and I look down at her.
“What are you talking about? There is no me and Cameron.”
“There is a rumor going around school that you guys are sleeping together.”
“And you believe it?”
“Well it is about Cameron.” She snorts and I shake my head.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I snap, my voice going harsh quickly.
“Nothing.” She says defensively shaking her head when she sees my reaction.
We stand in silence for a moment before she stands and crosses to the middle of the room, she smiles up at me and her hands slide up my chest before she wraps her hands around my neck.
“Remember the good ol’ days when we used to mess around?” she purrs and I laugh.
“Yep.”
“I miss those days.” She says softly before pressing a kiss to my lips, then to my jaw, then to my neck.
“Whoa, listen..” I begin, trying to pull away but she presses another kiss to my lips.
I reach behind me and unlace her arms from around my neck and smile down at her.
“I don’t miss those days, so mind keeping your hands and lips off of me?”
And with that, I walk out of her room and out of the house, leaving her standing in the middle of her empty room gapping after me.
∞
“I’m here.” I call into the house when I walk through the front door and look around. I walk down the hallway, peeking into the kitchen and then the living room, finding my mother and father both sitting on the couch reading books.
The sound of silence booms from upstairs and I remember not seeing Marcus’s truck in the driveway.
“Marcus already back to partying? Guess that almost death incident didn’t phase him.” I say under my breath with irritation.
My mother and father exchange looks before my mother looks to me.
“About an hour ago he came home and grab Cameron’s things and said he was taking them to her.” My mother says with a slight hint of confusion dripping in her voice.
“What?” I ask her but it was more to myself than to her and before she can respond I am walking back towards the door.
“Xander! Please don’t do anything stupid!” she hurries after me but I am already out of the door before she catches up and in my car before she reaches the doorway.
I race to her house, not caring about the stop signs I run or the fact that I am going to fast. I just have to get there, the fact that my brother was there, trying to get her like he did the last time, infuriates me.
I pull up to the curb of her house and when I see his truck parked behind her car, the anger inside me bubbles so powerful I can practically feel my blood pumping out of my skin. My fists are clenched and my jaw tight, all I can think of is them curled up on the couch or doing something else, and it makes me furious.
I knock on the door loudly and wait for a moment. I am about to knock again when I hear the murmur of his voice but I cannot make out what he is saying before the door is pulled open. I see her first but when I see him standing behind her, I am blinded by anger.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I snap and the smug look on his face makes me want nothing more than to slam my face into his cheek.
“Helping the girl you are playing.” He tells me and I cannot stop myself.
I step inside, wanting to watch were I am walking so I don’t shove Cameron aside, but the anger is so blinding I don’t know what I am doing.
“What the fuck did you just say.” I ask him, my voice harsh, my face in his. My adrenaline is pumping through my blood, making my hands shake, not from nervousness of the fight that is about to occur, but the itch, the needing to punch my own brother in the face.
“Did I stutter?” he asks me, his voice just as cold as mine.
The whole room is seeming to blur around us and the only thing I am focused on is him, there are black dots popping up in my vision from my irritation.
“I think you need a correction, she is the girl you played.”
“No, the girl I cheated on, but you little brother, are the guy that is fucking another chick and probably her too.”
I don’t stop it, I throw my fist and it connects hard with his cheek, but this doesn’t stop him. He throws his fist and we battle with trying to hit the hardest, shoves are made, punches are thrown, and blood is shed.
Soon there is a smaller body between us and I am shoved slightly, but I continue to throw my punches until I am shoved back harder.
“Stop it!” she screams, her words breaking into my rampage and I my eyes meet her piercing green ones until she is thrown to the side, her small body connecting with the wall with a thud and the sound of her head smacking against a hanging picture frame makes my stomach churn.
Both she and the picture fall on the floor and glass is slung around the wooden floor from the frame.
She sits up quickly and I watch as she scoots towards the frame and brushes away the glass, ignoring the fact that the sharp glass is probably cutting into her finger tips. A line of blood running down her small face and onto her cheek like a red tear.
Her face is broken when the she lays her eyes on the photo and guilt fills me. I walk to her and put my arm on her shoulder before bending down beside her.
“Cameron?” I ask her softly, concern filling me.
“Both of you please leave.” Her voice is small and broken and something inside me jerks.
“Cameron, please let me clean that up-…” I begin, watching as the blood continues to roll down her skin.
“Get out.” Her voice is firm and I sigh before standing, throwing a daggering glare at my brother and walking out of the door.
I walk to my truck before turning around at the sound of the door shutting.
“Stay the hell away from her.” I demand but he doesn’t listen to me, he ignores me and I watch as he storms to his truck before slamming his fist into the side, the sound of bending metal filling the still air. He runs his hands through his hair and I shake my head before getting in my truck and driving away.
∞
We sit on the hard benches, my stomach empty but spinning, my leg bouncing up and down with nervousness as I think about the fact that I am in the same room as a dead body.
We have been sitting her for about twenty minutes and my hands have been sweaty the entire time. I haven’t seen Cameron yet but some of me doesn’t want to, I don’t want to see the hurt, the pain, and everything she is going to be showing. But I am here for her.
Suddenly there is the sound of footsteps and everyone begins standing and I turn around and find Cameron and a lady I didn’t know walking behind the minister, their arms locked, tears running down both of their faces.
As they take their seats everyone around me and I do the same before the minister climbs to the top of the stage and begins speaking. I don’t listen to what he is saying, instead I flash a gaze once in a while to Cameron. Tears are streaming down her face and I want nothing more than to wipe them away.
Soon I am broken away from my thoughts when Cameron stands and walks to the stage, a piece of paper clutched in her hands.
She is silent for a moment, her small body looking so fragile standing up on the huge stage by herself, her broken face with tears running down her hollow cheeks.
Her eyes move down and a small sob echoes from her mouth and into the microphone, making everyone around her hear it and some more sobs follow.
“My mother had the prettiest smile.” She says softly, making everyone listen intently. “She always loved to laugh and joke around, I remember when I would stay home from school sick she would bring funny movies and we would sit in bed all day and watch them because she always wanted to see me smile.”
She pauses, taking a breath.
“So as we are all here today, and are all crying over her, I imagine she is up there watching us with a smile on her faces, doing stupid and goofy things just to try and make us smile.”
She smiles slightly and many people in the crowd smile also.
“I look out into the crowd and some of the faces is see are either unfamiliar, or are very familiar, in fact, they are so familiar, I cannot help but question their presence because while my mother was with us, they would talk about how she chased her husband away and whisper about her in the store.”
Her eyes land on a person in particular and I follow them, finding them looking at Spencer Sasser, the woman that started every rumor and problem in this town.
“Those people I am talking about, did not know my mother one bit. They did not know that she was strong, confident, and kind. They didn’t know that she would rather herself be sad than to watch anyone else to be.”
Her eyes meet mine and I want her to hold my gaze, but even though it lingers, it soon moves on.
“My mother was my best friend, she was always there, always understanding, but not because she had to be as a mother, but because she wanted to be.”
“And that is why today, not only have I lost my mother, but I have also lost my bestfriend. My everything. And with every step I take, every breath I take, I wonder, why couldn’t things have been different? Why is this happening? But also, with all these things, with every laugh I make, I know I a doing this for my mother, and I know she is up there watching me, smiling at me, and waiting for me.”
“Because you cannot keep friends apart, and friends like me and my mother, can never be separated.”
Her voice is soft and her words are hard to make out and everyone nods before some heads fall and tears stream. My heart thuds and I watch as she walks down the stairs.
The minister ends the funeral and my family and I get in line to embrace the family. I am about three people back when I see her stand and begin walking towards the coffin I just passed.
“Cameron… Cameron honey…” the woman that Cameron walked in with calls softly, her voice hoarse with emotion.
She walks to the edge of the coffin and her hands fall onto the edge but she is silent, frozen. She peers inside hesitantly and her eyes graze the sight.
“Mommy..” she whispers and I take a step forward but my mom places her hand on my arm.
“Let her be sweetheart.” She tells me softly and I look back to Cameron and watch as her hands reaches inside before jerking back quickly, as if she has been burned.
“Mommy, please come back to me. Please.” She cries and I watch as her face breaks, crumbles, and twists into pain. She lets out a scream and falls to the ground, sobs racking her body uncontrollably.
“Please just come back!” she screams, her head falling down so her hair hides her face as she slams her fists into the ground hard, each blow making a thud echo throughout the room. The only sound is her sobbing and blows to the floor. She grabs handfuls of her hair and pulling at it, her sobs becoming breathless and I know she needs to calm down.
I step forward, not giving my mom the chance to stop me and I hurry towards her, wrapping my arms around her tightly. She slams against me as she tries to resist but I hold her tighter and soon she stops and cries into my shirt.
“Sh.” I tell her softly repeatedly.
Soon her crying stops and she pulls away, her eyes meeting mine and the pain, hurt, and heartbreak I see on her face makes my heart stop and stomach clench. She pushes me back slightly and stands to her feet before hurrying from the room, her family calling after her but she doesn’t listen to them.
I follow after her before stepping out onto the parking lot pavement, my eyes searching the parking lot before I find her standing beside his truck and my fists clench, she is crying again and he pulls her to him, holding her there for a moment before pulling away, his mouth moving in words I cannot hear but I see the gesture of him nodding to his truck and he smirks.
She nods before going around the truck and getting into the passenger seat and they leave the parking lot.
∞
It has been about five hours since the funeral and I have spent most of the time driving around. I pull into the parking lot of the beach before reaching under my seat and pulling out the bottle. I grab a piece of paper out of my glove box along with a pen.
Brother,
Girl I care about more than anyone ever,
Who knew you could be at war with this combination.
I scribble the words down before sliding them into the bottle and walking out of the truck and down across the beach. I pull the bottle behind my shoulder and chuck it into the ocean, watching at the waves carry it under and make it disappear. I turn and am about to walk back to my truck when something shinning in the sand catches my eyes and I stop, about to ignore it and just walk to the truck anyways.
But there is something about this item that draws me to it, so I take about three steps forward and stop, the top of a bottle much like the one I just threw, is sticking out of the sand and I bend down and pick it up.
I am about to re-throw it back into the water but the sight of a different kind of paper and handwriting catches my eyes and I open the top and poor the letter into my hand.
Guilt.
That is what I have felt.
Guilt that I did not tell my boyfriend, and then guilt for not understanding why his brother helped me that night.
His brother never thought about anyone but himself. But that night, he had actually thought about someone other than himself. But why did he chose for that person to be me?
He could have helped anyone that night but he helped me. He let ME get away and he got the heat for it.
Why?
I know that handwriting anywhere, from finding her class work in books or on the floor of the hallways.
The words make my heart race and I hold both the letter and bottle tightly before running to my truck, wanting nothing more than to call her.
When I have reached my truck I find that I have three missed calls.
All from my mother.
There are three voicemails but I don’t listen to them, instead I just call her back.
“Xander?” she says, her voice hoarse and worried.
“Yea mom, what’s going on? I got all your calls-..”
“Did you listen to my voicemail?” she asks me, her voice worried and soon it breaks.
“No-….”
“Honey there was a accident…. Marcus and Cameron were in a head on collision, they were both drunk.. they were both not wearing their seatbelts and were ejected-…”
“Where are they now?” I ask her quickly, turning on my car.
“Honey….”
“Where are they mom?” the way her voice cracks makes my heart pound in my ears and the world blacks out for a moment.
“They are at the hospital but Xander..”
“I will see you in a moment mom.”
“Honey… she is gone.. they have been reviving her for the past ten minutes… she isn’t responding…”
And with that one sentence, my heart is burned, ripped, and the world comes crashing down on my shoulders.
I just got back from attending the girl I love mother’s funeral, and now, I will be attending to the funeral of the girl I love.
Ooopppps.
Cliff hanger.... :D
Don't worry, next chapter will be up tonight!
But willy you like it??
- <3 Zoe