Reese let out a soft breath. She knew he wasn't fine with it, but it still saddened her when he finally admitted it.
"I'm hurt," he added on, looking up at the moon. He felt a lump grow in his throat. "I'm hurt because Nate promised he wouldn't fuck around with my exes. I didn't expect Val to come back into the picture."
"Mitchel," Reese said, interrupting him as she adjusted herself. "I'm sorry if I'm forcing you to talk about all of this. If you don't want to, you don't have to, you know that?"
"I need to," he sighed. "I've been keeping everything in about Val that it's been so unhealthy for me. I know you and I don't know each other well, which is why this whole thing could be weird, but this could probably help. And I don't want you to worry about me considering we aren't even close or anything. So don't think too much about what I say."
Reese sighed, looking Mitchel in the eyes under the bright moon. "Okay, I won't." With that, Mitchel took that as a signal to proceed and talk. Well, here goes nothing, he thought to himself.
"Over a year ago, Val and I started dating. She and I grew fond of each other and were practically inseparable. We had a love that I thought would last, and I'm sure she did too," Mitchel said, staring at the pavement beneath him. He couldn't look at the girl next to him as she listened. "We had our ups and downs, but who didn't?" The Australian laughed softly, recalling the memory of when they'd fight but make up not too long after.
Reese noticed he stopped talking. She looked over at him and noticed his expression became angry, but also hurt. His eyebrows were furrowed, his lip in a hard, thin line, his breathing slowly quickening. Before Reese knew it, Mitchel had tears streaming down his eyes, but he didn't bother wiping them away. He just let it flow.
"Mitchel," Reese started slowly and quietly, hesitating to put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "It's okay."
"I just don't get it," he replied, his voice raising as it quivered. "I don't understand why someone would be so cruel."
"What did she do?" Reese asked, regretting it soon after. "I mean, don't tell me if you don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry," Mitchel sniffled. "You didn't threaten me. You didn't do anything to me." Reese tilted her head, wondering what Valentina could have done to this poor boy.
Mitchel lied down on the pavement and stared at the sky. Every memory they had came flowing back in, causing his heart to race. He began to zone out as silence was the only thing between him and Reese. The brown eyed girl didn't know how to comfort Mitchel, or what else to say to him. She looked around the neighborhood as she thought to herself.
It took a few moments before she turned her head to look at him. She saw how broken he was because of whatever happened between him and the short, black haired girl.
"I don't know what else to say," she chuckled softly, licking her lips. "I'm so sorry about whatever happened between you two. Maybe one day, you'll be able to fix things?"
"No, absolutely fucking no," Mitchel said loudly, scoffing as he did so. "I don't want her in my life anymore. I don't want anything to do with that bitch. I hate that she's with one of my closest friends, I hate that she's back into the picture. I've been trying to forget her for months, but it hasn't worked one single bit despite me trying. She's done some shit to me but I still can't seem to get her out of my head."
Reese was taken back by his sudden explosion on her and sat in silence. She was speechless. She didn't know what more to say considering she hasn't gone through what he has. She doesn't understand what it's like to be in a relationship, to be in love with someone, to have an attachment to someone else. She didn't understand, making it harder for her to try and help as much as she wanted to.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. Mitchel didn't respond. Instead, he sighed and rose to his feet. He didn't know what he was doing, he couldn't think. But after all the thinking he's done, he just let his feet carry him. "Mitchel, where are you going?" Reese yelled, receiving no response once more. She sighed and decided to go after him. She noticed that they were headed back to where Nate's house was located.
She was a little bit far from him, but she managed to catch up. Mitchel ignored her whenever she'd talk to him, asking what he was doing and such. He looked as if he was heavily caught up in his own mind, like it was full of many thoughts.
By the time they reached the huge house, there seemed to be more cars than there was when they left. As Mitchel kept going, Reese stopped walking and sighed. She had a feeling something was going to happen considering the look on the Australian's face. Each step she took made her heart jump. She was terrified, but she made sure she hid it quite well.
Mitchel barged into the house, scanning the room filled with tons of people making out, talking, and dancing with red solo cups in hand. When he couldn't find his friend, he headed for the kitchen, hoping to find him there. Since everyone was all over the place, he had to push himself through the crowd of mostly sweaty and wobbly bodies due to how drunk or tipsy people were.
Nate wasn't in the kitchen and neither was Valentina. The thought of them doing something crossed his mind, making a shiver run down his spine. He felt his blood begin to boil once he turned and looked at the stairs, knowing they could be up there.
The braided boy quickly made his way up the stairs and tried to remember where Nate's bedroom was. Finally, it clicked. First door to the left. Mitchel approached the wooden door and pressed his ear against it to see if he'd hear anything. It was mostly silence with occasional smooching noises.
That was simply enough for Mitchel to begin banging on the door as he yelled. "Nate, I know you're in there. Open up." The room went completely silent, making Mitchel roll his eyes. Footsteps were heard coming up the stairs, and Reese's head popped up from the staircase. Mitchel looked down at her with his eyebrows furrowed. "Don't come near me."
"Mitchel," she said breathlessly. "If you're going to do something-"
The bedroom door swung open, causing Mitchel and Reese to shift their attention onto Nate. Before everyone knew it, Mitchel quickly swung at Nate's face harshly. Valentina, who was inside the bedroom with her shirt off, screamed and ran to Nate's side as soon as he fell back onto the floor.
"Oh my God!" She screamed, noticing a red mark beginning to form on Nate's face. She looked up at her ex. "Mitchel, what the fuck is wrong with you!?"
"Me?" He asked, pointing at himself before letting out a bitter laugh as he threw his head back. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "More like what the fuck is wrong with you two!? Deciding to date each other?" He yelled, feeling his face heat up more and more. Reese quickly ran to his side and tried pulling him back to calm him down. A few other people who occupied the other bedrooms poked their heads out to see what was happening.
"Mitchel, don't do this," Reese said, her voice shaking. She had to admit that she was scared. She didn't know how to handle the situation especially because she hasn't seen Mitchel this angry ever. Once again, Reese was ignored.
"You're being ridiculous!" Valentina yelled, rising to her feet. She stomped over to Mitchel angrily. "You don't just fucking do harm to someone just because!"
"Yeah?" Mitchel nodded once and raised his eyebrows at her. A sarcastic smile creeped onto his face. "Then what do you call the last few months of our damn relationship? What would you call what you did to my fucking brothers? You'd constantly hurt me and everyone in my life just because you didn't have it your way!"
Nate rose to his feet, grunting as he did so. He walked up behind Valentina and held her back because he knew what she was thinking of doing.
"Mate, you really have to calm down," Nate said, sighing calmly. "There's a whole ass party happening downstairs and you're screaming which is just going to drag attention."
"Don't "mate" me," Mitchel said loudly. Reese stepped in front of the braided boy and held his shoulders.
"Mitchel, stop it," she said. Despite sounding commanding, she was shaky. She was scared and felt her anxiety rising as the tension grew stronger.
"No, stay out of this," he yelled, making Reese jump. "You take no part in any of this. You don't know me, you don't know what happened. You're a stranger, a nothing to me or this situation. Just... Just leave!"
Reese stared up at him, feeling a lump form in her throat. Her eyes became red and glossy as she just stood there, unable to let the words come out of her mouth. Mitchel's words came out of his mouth like poison, managing to stab the brown haired girl right in the chest. Right when she thought they were on track to becoming friends, they just fell out again. She looked down and turned around to face Valentina, who was looking at Mitchel with annoyance as if Reese wasn't there, and Nate, who looked right at her sympathetically. The brunette glanced up at Mitchel one last time. The same angry expression was still there. The silence of the room made Reese uncomfortable, making her dash out of there before she fully broke down.
She quickly ran down the stairs and dashed right out the door. As if on cue, the tears began to stream down her face. She replayed what Mitchel said to her repeatedly as she got to her car, hopping in.
"You're a stranger, a nothing to me," she whispered to herself. The warm tears continued to flow as she sat there, doing nothing at all. She looked over at the house and sighed. It took her a while before she finally started up her car. The brunette suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion rush through her. After today, all she wanted was to go home and sleep all of it off.
Reese looked toward the house again and saw Mitchel run out of the front door, looking around for her car. Once he spotted where she was, he ran in that direction. The brown eyed girl quickly drove off to avoid talking to the braided boy. She wanted nothing to do with him after today.
Mitchel watched as she drove off, lowering his head in defeat once she made a left turn, disappearing from his sight. He huffed to himself and looked around for a moment to realize what just happened.
"I fucked up," he laughed bitterly to himself. "God, I'm so fucking stupid."