{Chapter Five}
“The greatest advantage of speaking the truth is that you don’t have to remember what you said.” – Anonymous
HEY, U FEELING OK?
My cell phone lite up brightly, making me squint. There were blankets tangled up all around my legs. Where was I?
Oh yeah, my house. Flashes from this morning ran through my mind. Nate tucking me in. Me puking all over Ben. Nate bringing me soup.
Soup?
I frowned deeper. My eyes finally adjusted to the sunlight that was coming from the open windows. I picked up my phone and glanced at the text again. It was from Ben. I didn't exactly know how to respond. It was stupid of me to think that he wouldn't care. Of course he cares. Or else he wouldn't be texting me at... holy crap. Six o'clock?!
I looked at the clock that was hanging across from me. Yep, it wasn't only my phone. It was really six. The time on the text message showed that he sent it over three hours ago.
But I replied back to him anyways.
Yeah I’m fine. Hbu? Sorry about the uh accident…
"Who are you texting?"
I almost dropped my phone from my hands as a deep voice startled me. Nate came into the room with a curious expression on his face. Does he always have to eavesdrop on me?
"Umm, no one. Is it really six?" I asked.
Nate looked at me, then my phone, then back to me. "Uh yeah. Why?"
I shrugged. "Just wondering. I don't know how long I slept."
He chuckled a little. "You call that sleeping? I thought you were in a coma! You could sleep forever."
I shot him a look. "Shut up. Why are you here, anyways?"
I picked the blankets off of me as I waited for Nate's answer. However, all I got back from him was a blank face. "What?" I questioned.
"Nothing," He said quickly. "I didn't leave. I stayed with you the whole time."
I couldn't decide if that was creepy in a weird-stalkerish way, or if it was just a sweet way of apologizing. But it was pretty weird of him to have him watch over me. I replied back politely, “Thanks, I guess. But seriously. You can go home now. I'm already fine and awake."
He shrugged. "I think I might stay."
"Okay," I said, not surely. I got up and stretched my legs out. "I think I'm gonna go...take a shower. I really need one, anyways."
That wasn't I lie. I really did need a shower at that moment. Nate flashed me a smile as said, "I'll make dinner then."
I raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you cook?"
He shrugged. "There's a lot that happened in those two years, Scarlet."
My heart beats ten times faster when he says my name. I nod curtly and head out of the room. As I'm walking, I could've sworn I heard him mutter under his breath something like- "Apparently you changed too."
I rest my forehead against the wall and let out a breath. If someone said a year from now that Nate would come back, kiss me in front of my boyfriend, AND cook me dinner, then I'd say they're crazy.
I thought about all this when I was stripping down. There was something about showers that I just loved.
With the hot, steaming water running down you, it's easy to just relax and put yourself someplace out. This was the place where I could let all my thoughts just run around like little kids. This was a place where I could think about anything, and concentrate a hard and long as I wanted to. You could barley even notice that you're actually cleaning your body when your showering. I mean, who actually thinks about their hygiene when they're in the shower? The shower's mostly a playground for all your thoughts to run free.
They can be about anything; boyfriends, divorces, family trouble, car accidents, friend drama, nervous school jitters.
So by the time I got out, I felt like a whole new person. My mind was cleared from everything and I felt so much fresher the before.
Wrapping the towel around me, I silently made it to my room. As I crept down the hallway, I heard a voice-wait, no. It was actually two voices. I pressed my ear against the wall and heard Nate.
"I really don't know, man."
I frowned. Who was he talking to?
"I swear! She went in the shower, Jesus Christ. Calm your hormones."
The towel roughly squeezed against my skin as I leaned forward some more. Then I realized that Nate wasn't talking on the phone. He was talking to someone right next to him.
The second voice said, "Don't tell me to calm anything. She's my girlfriend! She sure as hell does not deserve you."
From the other side of the wall, the voice sounded strangely familiar. Was it...? No. It couldn't be.
I went into my room and quickly threw on some yoga pants and a YMCA sweatshirt. I was already out of breath when I made it into the kitchen.
Just like I assumed, there was Nate and Ben talking-more like arguing- with each other. I watch silently as the two of them had a glaring contest. Ben's jaw was set and Nate's eyes were piercing a hole through Ben's t-shirt.
At first, neither of them noticed me. That was until something flickered across Ben's eyes. He looked a little bit dumbfounded when his eyes laid on mine.
I crossed my arms and put an annoying look on my face.
Nate noticed Ben staring at me and he turned his body towards me. His mouth opened a little but then closed again.
I rolled my eyes and easily brushed past the two of them. I grabbed an apple and wiped it on my shirt. When I turned back, the two of them were still staring at me.
"What?" I said, clearly annoyed.
I didn't want to be part of their little argument; even though I knew I already was.
"N-nothing. So umm you hungry?" Nate asked. I held my apple up and replied, "Duh."
Then I turned to Ben and said, "Why are you here?"
Ben gave me a weird smile and easily told me, "I could ask the same thing about him."
His gaze was pointing towards Nate, who was just staring at Ben and I. I took a bite out of my apple and gave a shrug. "I didn't invite him over."
Ben's eyes flared with anger. He was gritting his teeth in a jealous way. "He invited himself over?"
I swallowed the apple pieces and shrugged again. "Yeah, I guess."
Ben looked like he was about punch the living crap out of Nate, so I added, "At least he came over and helped me. He helped me through my headache, made me soup, and cooked me dinner. At least a real friend would do that."
Ben flinched. "Friend? So it'd be completely normal to be lip locking with a 'friend'" He even emphasized friend by putting quotes around them with his finger.
"Look dude-" Nate butt in and came in between us.
"Shut up" Ben told him. Then, he grabbed my wrist and led me away from Nate. "Scarlet and I are gonna talk outside."
Nate's eyes flickered to mine. "Are you sure?" He mouths.
I gave him a quick nod, earning a painful jerk from Ben. "Ow!"
Ben ignored me as he shot a look in Nate's way. "Don't bother to come out here. We need to talk. Alone."
Nate still looked unsure but he wove it off. "Whatever."
Ben's hand was still in mine as he led me through my back door. It was surprisingly warm for a night in October. Halloween decorations were already out and ready. The moon shone brightly on top of roofs. I pulled up a chair next to Ben and sighed.
"What do you wanna talk about?" I asked lamely.
Ben looked past me and said, "Anything. Well, we could start off with why in the world did you let Nate kiss you?"
"Oh. And we could end with why in the world were you flirting with Alison and not even once did you ask if I was okay."
He winced about the Alison part. "Hey! I texted you if you were feeling okay."
I rolled my eyes, even though he probably couldn't see it in the night. "You didn't even visit me. What kind of boyfriend does that?"
He smirked. "I'm still your boyfriend?"
I whacked him across the chest. "I never said that."
"You so did."
"Did not."
"Did too."
What was the point of arguing with Ben? "Okay, fine, maybe I did. But that could easily change in one second."
Ben let out a sigh. "Scarlet, I know I've been really horrible to you. And I'm sorry about that. But it doesn't exactly feel good when I see you and your ex crushing lips against each other. I'm sure as hell that you wouldn't like it if I did that my ex."
I didn't even know who his ex was. He probably had a lot. He was popular after all. "It's not like I meant to, Ben!"
"I know. But you didn't pull away." Ben's stare was hard and cold. He got up and starting heading towards the door.
"Wait-don't go! Ben," I whined. "Come on, you said you wanted to talk."
Did I honestly just fall into his trap? Was he seriously just going to leave me out here? He turned back and looked straight into my eyes.
“Sorry, Scarlet. Tell Nate that I still want to punch the crap out of him. Bye."
Then he was gone.
I crumpled into the chair and let out a bunch of tears. This was his way of dumping me: Saying he wanted to talk, making me admit that I didn't pull back during Nate's kiss, and leaving me here with guilt, anger, desire, and loneliness.
I was stupid enough to let Ben go. I was stupid enough to let Nate kiss me. I was stupid enough to let all this happen.
I lay out into the lawn chair, crying. With each tear, my hand automatically wiped it away. When I couldn't cry anymore, I gazed up into the stars.
My dad used to love stars. He was an astronomer a few years ago. He told me all about stars. My favorite one was the Orion Belt. It seemed like no matter what happened, those three stars never detached from each other. They were a threesome by heart. They were always in line, perfectly. Neither of them were brighter then one another.
That's just how they were.
Perfect.
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A/N-
Bleeh:p Not really happy with this chapter. Sorry it's (kinda) short. I gotta go to a wedding in like five minutes. My mom keeps screaming at me.
Haha. Anywayss VOMMENT if you like it(: <3
Thanks for reading!