I KNEW, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THAT THIS PSYCHOTIC B*TCH WAS going to shoot me if she had to.
I could see it by the look in her eyes.
She didn't—never, cared about me. Not legitimately. This whole entire time, she'd been playing me. I had been just a plan to her. The reason for her romantic failure with the love of my life—the only guy that I've ever been in love with.
"Lydia," I began softly, slowly pushing Michael aside. I didn't want him to fight this battle. It was mine. Though this had to do with him just as much as me, I was the only one she was going to be willing to hurt, "You are my friend"
She scoffed and rolled her eyes, tightening her grip on the gun, but I decided to continue nonetheless.
"You're my best friend," I ignored how Michael tensed beside me, "We've done everything together for the past two years"
"Your point?"
"Has all of that meant nothing to you?" Instead of fear and curiosity and sadness, the feeling that began to gather at the pit of my stomach was anger, "I've told you everything. How much Michael had hurt me, how much I still loved him, how much you meant to me by helping me through it all. Are you really going to stand there and tell me that you would really put a bullet through my head after all of that?" I balled my fists at my sides, looking for something, anything to tell me that she had ever cared about me. That there had been maybe one moment over the past two years that she actually considered me her friend and not her enemy.
But there was nothing.
Nothing.
"You took away the one thing that mattered to me-"
"You took away the one thing that mattered to me!" I cut her off, "And you're still trying to do so! All of this, Lydia. You are doing all of this because of something that I was never in control of to begin with?" I was incredulous now. I couldn't, wouldn't believe that she was this mentally insane, "Are you seriously going to shoot me right now? Because you can't move on from a guy that has never liked you-"
A shot went off.
It was quick, it was loud, and it hit the wall to the left of me, right in between Calum and I. I didn't move.
It was then that I saw it. In her eyes.
She didn't want to shoot me. I was right.
She did enjoy our friendship. I could get through to her.
Michael was back in front of me again, shielding me from Lydia's direct aim of the gun. Almost immediately, she lowered it, not wanting to risk shooting him.
"Move, Michael" she told him, her voice wavering. The gun in her hands shook slightly as she held eye contact with him.
"You're sick" he spat, anger in his words, his body rigid. I could tell that his words hurt her, and I saw her eyes glaze over.
"Don't say that baby-"
"You're a-"I touched his shoulder, silencing his words before he could say them. Lydia watched my every move.
"Don't hurt her" I told him softly, part of me still caring about her. Lydia, whether I knew it was her or not, had been there for me for the second hardest part of my life. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, she was important to me. Just like Michael and Calum were. I didn't want to see her get hurt by Michael's words, because I knew that she had already been going through too much pain.
It hurt me a lot when Michael had begun sleeping with other girls, and it hurt even more when I would catch him doing it in the house that we shared. Lydia had to watch Michael and I together for years, and then watch him with other girls as well, and then with me again. I knew what that felt like.
"Michael," I turned him slightly so that he was looking at me, yet he refused to turn fully, still wanting to shield me from the gun, "I love you, and... I'm sorry that this is happening. I don't regret becoming your friend in kindergarten, and I don't forget becoming your girlfriend even after you punched my cousin" I watched the corners of his mouth tug upwards slightly, his eyes slightly glazed over, but he wasn't crying.
"I regret our break-up, and I regret not being there for you when you might've needed me. And I know that you regret those things to," I was crying. Not full on sobbing, but tears running down my cheeks at a pace fast enough that even wiping them away couldn't stop them. I raised my hand and cupped his left cheek, holding his gaze, "I just.. if something happens to me today, I want you to know that I love you. That I've never stopped loving you, and that I will always love you. Deep down, I think you've always known that there could never be anyone in my life romantically except for you"
My heart was hurting. Hurting in more ways the one could ever know, and I painfully tore my gaze away from the love of my life and to the guy who had been along with us on this crazy ass journey.
"Cal," my voice cracked, and he smiled sadly, "You've been there through everything. All of this. You were there with me when I grew up. You helped me with problems that Michael couldn't, and I understand why you chose him over me when we broke up, and I don't blame you for choosing him over me. If you didn't, then I never would've met..." I trailed off, turning to Lydia.
I had to get through to her.
I had to.
"You were there when I didn't have anyone. And even if you were just playing me from the start, I just want to tell you that I am still grateful," I took a careful step forward, my legs aching still, "I don't regret our friendship. And I know that, somewhere inside of you, you don't either-"
"Shut up!" her voice boomed, the loudness jolting me from the soft moment that I had created.
"Just... just shut. up. Nothing you say to me will make me not do this" she raise the shaky gun in her hands once again, and Michael tugged at my hand, trying to shield me.
"Miley," he spoke for the first time in a while, his voice, urgent and terrified, oddly soothed my nerves. Only he was ever capable of doing that to me, "I-I want you to know that I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you that I love you too. That I've still been in love with you for all this time. Tha-that I-" I kissed him.
I kissed him because I loved him.
He was surprised, no doubt, and he didn't kiss me back immediately when I did. But when his lips finally began to move against mine, everything that we've left unsaid since that night after dinner with his parents came out. I could tell that he had wanted to tell me then that he loved me. And I stopped him before he could because I was afraid of him telling me that. Afraid that he would leave me again.
His lips worked feverently agaisnt mine, desperate and longing for my attention, yet he already had it. I didn't deny him when he tilted my head, guiding it, just like he had the first time we ever kissed, and he gently deepened the kiss.
Calum was still here. Cal and Lydia and I didn't want to put him in danger as she watched us makeout right in front of her. I knew that that must be tearing her apart.
So I pushed at his chest lightly, parting our lips. He went leaned in to kiss me again, no doubt wanting more just like me, but I turned my head and he got the message.
"What do you want me to do, Lydia?" I asked her, seeing her still hold the shaking gun towards me, "What will it take for you to leave us all alo-"
"Jules?"
No one moved.
It was silent.
"Julia?" the same deep voice shouted throughout the quiet household, and I watched as Lydia closed her eyes and whispered out a curse, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Jules, baby, are you here?" he yelled, his footsteps creaking above us, "Your cars out front so I know you're here" his deep chuckle seemed to rumble throughout the household, rattling ever bone inside me.
"Julia? Are you hiding or something sweetheart?" Luke called out again, his voice filled with curiosity as we listened to him walk around the floor above us.
What was he even doing here?
"Lydia," I whispered, not wanting Luke to walk in on the scene down here, "Lydia, Luke loves you. Okay? Luke loves you and he wants to be with you. Why can't you just be with him?" I let the question linger between us, feeling myself tense as she steadied the shaking gun in her hands. She wasn't going to stop this.
"Baby, what are you doing at Calum's house? Are Mike and Miles here too? Are you guys all throwing me a surprise party?" Luke joked, trying to lure her out playfully.
Why did she not want that?
Luke is a great guy, he treats her well, and he loves her. Why is she pinnig after someone who hates her when she has someone perfect for her just upstairs?
"Don't," her voice shook, "Just don't, okay? I've loved Michael practically my whole life. How am I supposed to move on so quickly? He took my virginity, don't you get that? I love him. And I've been waiting for him all my life. I'm not about to give up now"
Without thinking, I grasped Michael's hand in mine, lacing our fingers together and squaring my shoulders.
"Michael. Is. Mine."
"I've wanted to hear you say that for so long" I head Michael whisper from behind me, holding on to my hand tighter. Without taking my eyes off of Lydia, and t he gun that she still had aimed at my head, and I gave Michael's hand a small squeeze, letting him know that I had heard his words.
"Michael and I," I began again, "There's something between us that won't let us love other people, Lydia. Something that means that he's going to always be the one to hold my heart, and I'm going to always have his. Sure, we'll fight, and he'll call me names, and I'll yell at him, and we'll do and say things that we don't really mean. But it's always going to be the two of us to endure those things from each other.
"You," I continued, watching as she began to cry, and I began to cry with her, "You can have that. You have the chance to have that with Luke. He's upstairs. He's here for you, and you can be there for him too. But you can't do that. You can't have Luke, or anyone else for that matter, until you let go of Michael. Until you put down the gun, and you let us all leave"
"Jules! Babe, are you down there?" Luke was making his way towards the entrance to the basement, finished searching for his girlfriend upstairs and on the floor above us. He was coming, "Calum? Michael? Miley?"
"I would think quickly, if I were you," Cal spoke up, his voice a little more calm then it was earlier, "You don't seem to have a lot of time at the moment"
And the three of us waited.
I could feel my heart beat loudly and rapidly in my ears, unable to let itself go unnoticed. A chill ran down my spine and I felt Michael hold my hand tighter. I looked over at Calum and gave him, what I hoped, to be a reassuring smile. He didn't deserve to be included in any of this. He really didn't.
Luke's footsteps grew closer.
Time was running out.
"Cal?" Luke saw Calum first as he descended the stairs, and soon he was on the same level as all of us.
"Michael?" He saw Michael next, and soon, his questioning blue orbs found mine, "Holy shit, Miley? What the f*ck happened to you?" his eyes scanend my dirty and dried bloody clothes, and I then watched as his gaze went to where we were all facing.
His emotions played out in his eyes.
First was shock.
And then confusion.
A coating of anger was next.
And then, as I had dreaded,
A wall went up.
"What the f*ck is going on here?" he asked, his voice monotone.
Angry.
Confused.
Heartbroken.
Lydia was shedding more than one tear by this point, the pace of hers surpassing the pace of mine.
"Those notes," I spoke, and my broke voice echoed through the basement, "The stalker. It was all her" I told him. I knew that that wasn't the full story, but it wasn't the time to recap everything to him right now.
"Julia," Luke's voice didn't sound as playful as it did mere seconds ago, "What are you doing?"
"I--I..-" she couldn't continue.
Not because she was crying to hard or because she was shocked that everything was unraveling this way, but because of the beep that was going off.
We all looked to Calum, watching as he took his phone out of his pocket and turned off the timer.
"What was that?" I asked him, and he glanced at me before looking fully to Lydia.
"The cops are on there way"
Sirens went crazy from distance. In the chaos of our situation, I had completly forgotten that we were at Calum's house. And being at Cal's house, he lived so close to the local police department.
They would be here in a matter of minutes.
"I'm sorry!" Lydia finally cried out, fully sobbing. Luke looked like he ached to touch her, but I could see the inner battle he was having with himself.
He didn't even know who she was.
"I..I--Calum," she looked at him, the gun still rasied so that none of us could come near her and disarm her, "Calum I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never meant to involve you. I.. I-"
"What is she talking about?" Michael asked, looking questioningly at Calum.
It was then that I realized that she wasn't apologizing for having this all go down in his basement, but for something else.
"I tried to get to Michael by using you and I'm sorry"
What?
"Luke," she turned to him, and I saw him visibly tense, "Luke I'm so so sorry I.. I truely had an amazing time whenever I was with you. I'm sorry I tried to frame you. I think that at some point.. I did mean an 'I love you'. I just didn't mean all of them.
"Michael," her attention was to him, and I heard the volumne of the sirens out side start to increase, "Michael I am inlove with you. And, and nothing is ever going to change that. You," she lowered the gun, not wanting to point it at him, "You took something very special from me. And from that moment, I knew that you were the one for me"
The sirens' wail was at its peak and we heard the rough slam of car doors outside.
"You will always be mine," she finally turned to me. Her tears seemed to have stopped, and she wiped under her eyes before, oddly enough, a sadistic smile graced her lips, "Always mine, and never yours" I watched as she all at once raised her gun, pulling the trigger without thinking twice.
A door broke down.
The smell of Michael filled my lungs.
Lydia's sadistic laugh echoed in my ears before another shot rang out.
And then there was nothing.
Nothing but black.