I don't have class or work today, so my plan was to sleep in, but the insistent vibrations and chimes of my phone are proving to make that impossible.
Reluctantly, I reach over to my nightstand and bring my phone to my face, squinting at the bright screen and scrolling through the group message.
El: Anyone want to hang out?
Darby: Meeee!
Parker: Sure. What are we doing?
El: Mall? Food? Both?
Kit: I'm down. My class gets out in ten.
Parker: Sounds good to me.
Darby: Me too!
Parker: Darby, where's your boyfriend? Why isn't he replying
El: He's probably still asleep. He's lazy, you know that
Kit: I'll swing by the dorms and get him.
Parker: Meet at the apartment?
El: Yeah, Darby I'll come to yours in five. :)
Darby: K. :)
Just as I finish reading through the conversation, I hear a knock on my door. Knowing that it's Kit, I stumble out of bed and don't bother with grabbing a shirt. When I pull open the door though, my brother is not the person staring back at me.
Instead it's the red headed witch herself.
"Is - uh -where's Parker?" Hannah stutters, her eyes glued to my bare chest.
Gross.
"He's not here." I close the door and shudder at the though of her checking me out. I can hear her voice again on the other side of the door, and then I hear Kit.
Hannah and Kit dated for a few months before he became the definition of anti-social, but after he and Ellie became official, he finally came clean to Hannah about why he ignored her. Hannah accepted his apology and even went as far as to semi apologize to Ellie for all the crap she gave her. Nothing changed for me and Hannah though, we still hate each other.
I put on a shirt before opening the door again. Hannah is walking down the hall and Kit pushes past me, making himself at home on my futon.
"I'm not living with Parker next semester. I can't deal with all the girls looking for him every day."
"I thought he was dating Darby's friend?"
I walk over to my closet, "Bethany? No, they're not dating. Darby says she's convinced that she's changing Parker though, whatever that means. Darby has told her that he still sees other girls though, so she's not in the dark."
"Speaking of." Kit turns his phone towards me just as I hear my own phone buzz from across the room.
I'm too far away to read Kit's screen but there's no need, "Park is bringing Bethany to the mall."
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After two hours of the three girls going into almost every store in the mall while Kit, Parker, and I wait outside holding bags like the dutiful husband, boyfriend, and whatever Parker is that we are; it's finally time to eat.
We're seated in the food court, everyone eating, talking, and laughing when Kit clears his throat.
"Oh, so I guess I have some news." He looks at Ellie before looking at everyone else, and I can tell that this is going to be news to her.
"What is it?" Parker asks from the other end of the table where Bethany is seated beside him. If she scoots her chair any closer, she'll be on his lap.
"My scans came back this morning while I was in class." Everyone's eyes are on Kit, everyone's eyes except for mine and Ellie's -we're looking at each other while we hold our breath.
Every time Kit goes to get checked, it's like we're holding our breath until the results are in. Silently terrified of getting the news that his tumor was back, that we could potentially face the chance of loosing him again, all while pretending that we aren't afraid and that we're doing fine - like everything is normal.
"They're clear." He reaches for Ellie's hand and we break our staring as she turns to him. I hadn't noticed that Darby had taken my hand in hers or that I've been squeezing tightly while I waiting for my brother to finish his news. When I look at her, I see an understanding in her eyes that makes me so damn grateful for her.
"Okay, I'm getting everyone a milkshake to celebrate!" Ellie hops up from her seat and heads toward toward the Shake Shack.
Parker, Kit, and I drift into conversation as Bethany and Darby try to find the perfect Instagram filter to put on a picture Darby took of the two of us earlier today. Ellie has been gone for a few minutes when Parker says, "Okay, who wants to guess how she turns him down?"
I look up towards Ellie and see the back of a tall guy in khakis and a polo shirt with dark hair standing in front of her. Ellie's face doesn't look amused, which is weird because she usually finds it a bit entertaining when guys try cheesy pick up lines on her.
Right now though, her blue eyes are hard and narrowed, her mouth in a tight line.
"Guess what?" Bethany asks, confused by Parker's question.
Darby answers her friend's question without raising her eyes from her phone. "Whenever a guy hits on Ellie, they try to guess how she'll turn him down. It's actually kind of-" Darby stops talking and her phone drops to the table.
Kit and I were already on alert because of Ellie's expression, but Darby mumbling "No, no no no" had us both out of our seats, along with Parker.
Bethany's eyes seem to have finally found Ellie and the mystery guy, "Shit. That's Josh."
Kit is across the food court faster than I thought possible, Parker and I following close behind as Bethany stays with a frozen Darby.
I had hesitated, torn between wanting to stay there to be with Darby and wanting to help Ellie. Darby saw my internal struggle, "Go. Help her."
"Get the hell away from her." I've never heard so much malice and anger in my brother's voice.
Josh turns and as soon as he sees Kit in front of him, a wicked smile spreads across his face. "Well, what a surprise running into you here, Finn."
As soon as Josh turns his attention from Ellie, she moves so that she is now behind Kit.
"Funny running into you too, seeing as you should be in jail." I'm behind Josh, and when he hears my voice he turns, then turns again, doing a double take of me and Kit.
"Jail?" he laughs, "For what? There's no proof that I did anything."
He looks back at Ellie, "Honey, tell me you're not going to waste your time with these guys when you could come have some fun with me."
Kit's fist clenches and there is nothing but pure rage in his expression. Kit isn't a jealous person, he knows that Ellie is beautiful and guys are going to try to get with her - hell, we made a game of it - but Kit knows what Josh did to Darby and he knows what Josh did to me. Kit knows that Josh is dangerous, abusive, and maybe even crazy based off the cold look in his eyes and the sick laugh he keeps laughing. If there's one thing Kit doesn't joke about, it's Ellie's safety.
"Talk to my wife again, and I'll make sure it's the last thing you ever do."
As Kit takes a step closer, Josh takes a step back.
We've drawn the attention of mall security, and Josh seems to have lost his edge when he notices them watching him. I'm guessing that the last thing he needs right now was to get into any more trouble, even if it's just mall security.
"Whatever. When you're done with the wonder twins here, honey, I'm not hard to find. I'd love to-"
Parker is in Josh's face now, cutting off his words. "Get the hell out of here before you have to leave on a stretcher. And I won't use a baseball bat to do it."
When Josh finally backs away and heads towards the exit, that's when he notices Darby. She's standing off to the side, watching the whole scene play out in front of her.
As Josh approaches her, the fear she had in her eyes when I left her at the table is gone and fierce, un-wavering anger is in it's place. I'm about to run over to her, to make good on Parker's threat, but then her eyes flash to to me for a second and she silently tells me to stay put.
"Hey Darby, looking good, baby."
Darby remains silent, but Josh keeps talking. "How's life with no money? You regret cheating on me yet, you ungrateful bitch?"
"The only thing I regret is dating your abusive ass, Josh." Her voice is steady and I'm surprised at how calm she is right now.
"I was only abusive because you deserved it, Darby. You just couldn't stop running your mouth or whoring yourself out to anyone who so much as smiled at you. I gave you everything and you took advantage of me and my money."
"I deserved it? Did I deserve the kicks to the ribs? What about the ones to my stomach? Did I deserve all the bruises and the verbal abuse, Josh? Did I deserve a years worth of emotional, verbal, and physical abuse from you?"
"You know you did, Darby. Stop trying to guilt me into apologizing to you because I won't. Those pictures they showed me at the police station of what I did to you didn't make me feel guilty, and you bitching about it now isn't going to make me sorry either."
I swear I see a smile tug at Darby's lips, but it's gone before I can be sure. With a shake of her head, she walks away from Josh and towards me, not saying another word to him. She walks right into my arms and hugs me tightly, neither one of us saying anything about what had just happened, or anything at all.
Darby doesn't let go of me until Ellie drags her out of my arms and into her own, "I'm so proud of you, Darby."
I'm proud of her too, I know that she still gets nightmares about him and how she's scared to be home alone because she thinks he might come back, but she pushed all that aside to finally confront him.
Closure is a wonderful thing. I would know.
I hadn't noticed that Bethany wasn't with us until she joins us minutes later and shares a smile with Darby, mouthing the words "Got it."