Double update: 78 and 79
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"My problem is that he isn't the kind of guy to dip out, you know? He seemed committed to this job and then quits out of the blue? I'm told not to worry but I can't help it. He's going through a hard time with his son and his ex," Marley ranted, adjusting in bar stool and facing the curly haired guy beside her, who had his chin in his hand, nodding along and seeming interested.
Gabby was the only one against going, but Kelly, Bree, Tristan and Sarah were practically racing out the doors in heels and dresses shorter than Aiden's fuse.
The club they were in was definitely not meant for underage girls but at Eve disappearing with one of the bouncers for five minutes and returning with an excited grin, they were immediately allowed to pass through.
Marley immensely admired Eve's way with words in persuasion. After a constant scowl the smile he gave all of them was like night versus day.
"-and I don't think the leaving is a coincidence-"
The guy beside her rubbed his hand over his face, "I'm going to have to stop you right there. Even you're not worth having to hear this. You wanna dance or not?" He downed at shot at the speed of light, giving her a once-over with an eager expression shadowed and coloured by the lights bouncing across the crowded room.
Marley recoiled at the staggering switch that was just flipped, a sting of hurt following. She balled her fists, "I have a boyfriend."
The guy's hands flew up, "Fucking serious?! I've been listening to you yap for nothing-"
"Hey there. Why don't I cheer you up?" Sarah came out of nowhere, sliding a hand along his shoulders and batting mascara coated lashes.
She looked stunning tonight - her curvy frame accentuated perfectly by a grey body-con dress that was glimmering against her pale skin. Her face was done up with flawless makeup and a beautiful nude eyeshadow; Marley is truly learning new terms every day relating to the 532 billion dollar cosmetic industry.
Sarah winked at Marley and mouthed a thank you as the guy nearly dashed out of his seat, barely giving Sarah a glance as she led him to the crowded dance floor.
The music was loud but not in a devastating way, and the counter of the bar was covered in pennies that added allure to the atmosphere. It seemed like a place that had been here for a long time by the character behind notes and writings left on the walls, and the aged feel to everything. A DJ was working the dance floor with shouts of encouragement to the dancers for a young, college-aged audience.
Marley was still a little hurt by guy number six's blatant dismissal of her. Most of her co-workers she's spoken to about the affect of alcohol on various organs and brain activity as all of the exchange of it interested her in the topic, found some discreet way of walking away until she was alone.
Sarah was obviously grinding on whatever moved, Kelly was taking Snapchats left and right to leave on her story, hoping Ryan will see and 'realize he fucked up', and Tristan has spoken to every Tall, Dark and Handsome who would offer her a free drink.
It was now ten pm. Marley was hoping conversation with anyone would count as 'being a bad bitch ready to prove it', but that wasn't working so far.
Without liquid courage, Marley wasn't sure this would be her scene at all.
It didn't help that she tends to ramble when she's nervous and the crowds around her were making her extremely so. Even Bree - the other girl here who was in a committed relationship and stuck by her for the majority of the night - was now hanging out with Marley's co-workers more effortlessly than she ever had.
Marley turned in her stool and peered around bodies to a couch in one of the corners, watching the way her black-haired friend talked and laughed.
The way she blended into the bustling world, absorbed it, added to its energy while Marley felt drained and isolated. A night with Gabby watching Netflix or a walk with Aiden would be more fun than this in her mind. Was that wrong?
She took out her phone when it buzzed, her frown turning into a smile at the message on her screen. Life crisis temporarily averted.
Aiden Matthews: I may have inhaled something poisonous along the way but we've found the floor!
Marley: As long as nothing has impaled you this time then call it a success.
Aiden Matthews: I only do that when I'm shirtless and you're around to kiss it better ;)
Marley was grinning stupidly, the lonely feeling subsiding as she twiddled her thumbs over her glowing screen, debating a response. He texted back first.
Aiden Matthews: I wish I could see you blushing right now.
Marley subconsciously lifted her right hand to palm her cheek. Hot.
Marley: As much as I can't believe I'm feeling this, me too. Nobody wants to talk to me.
Aiden Matthews: Good. They better not.
Marley rolled her eyes.
Marley: I'm not out here flirting up a storm, caveman. I mean my friends.
She felt her stomach sink again writing the message, just as Aiden tried to call her. She hung up, knowing neither would hear the other in the noise of the club she was sitting in the heart of. She wished she could hear his voice, though.
Her phone buzzed after she hung up.
Aiden Matthews: I wanted to talk to you.
Her chest warmed.
Marley: Too loud. Plus, I think I'm nervous rambling.
Aiden Matthews: What subject are we talking here?
Marley: Did you know that one in twelve adults suffer from alcoholism? Or that eighty-eight thousand deaths annually are caused by excessive alcohol use?
There was a long pause, the three dots signifying he was typing dragging on for at least a minute.
Aiden Matthews: Picturing my gorgeous girlfriend in a tight little dress ranting about the dangers of alcohol with specific numbers and percentages in the middle of a bar full of booze is driving me crazy right now.
Aiden Matthews: The drooling guys who haven't seen anything hotter in their lives better stay away from you or I'll drive there and show them who you belong to.
Marley didn't need to be a social butterfly. Someone always confident, popular, and outrageously beautiful. She didn't even need to be a bad bitch. She didn't need to belong in this bar crowded with people.
She decided she was content belonging with one.
Marley: I just so happen to be a very loyal and introverted girlfriend and you happen to have Leo's dirty underwear to sort out ;). Now I'm going to try and be social. Wish me luck!
Aiden Matthews: So proud of you for going out baby. As far as being social all you ever have to do is smile. Worked on me. Text me when you get back safe, and stay with your friends. Love you. ☘️
Marley: Love you too ☘️
-
Given it was a Sunday night, Marley and her friends left the club at eleven thirty. The rest of the kitchen staff were fine staying out even though they had to work in the morning, which Marley witnessed the consequences of firsthand as she did inventory like usual. There was a disappointing hole that she couldn't shake that Dean was gone. Despite only knowing him a short while, she enjoyed being his friend.
But maybe it's none of her business. She didn't know him all that well after all, did she?
Marley shook off the wayward thoughts to focus on the sheets spread across their lab table. The classroom chatter was a soft hum as parters scattered across the room. To their far left, a few tables over, Ethan and Gabby were chatting animatedly.
For someone not interested in anything beyond friendship, Gabby sure has been spending a lot of her time with Ethan lately. Marley wondered if her best friend changed her mind about him. Gabby has told her that Ethan has Yale aspirations as well.
Marley looked up from her work when she felt Aiden's stare on the side of her head, holding it for mere seconds before looking away.
"I don't want to talk about it."
He sighed, "It's just been...a while since you've had one. A nightmare."
Marley's chest squeezed at the memory of last nights' terror. Aiden had stayed with her in his closet, helped her through it like he always has, but he was right. It had been a while. She decided not to tell him that he was the star of the show, alongside her father. The two of them walked away from her, disappearing into endless woods before she could catch either of them.
Marley took deep breaths and focused back on the sheets in front of her, and the genetic formulas she was solving with a calculator at her side.
Mrs. Weiss was patrolling around the room and helping students with questions. It was clear Leo needed it given he and his female partner had the collective IQ of a small goldfish, but after this mornings' pickup line Marley hadn't blamed their teacher for keeping her distance.
"Are you Harambe's enclosure because I want to drop a baby in you."
Aiden scooted closer, tucking her fallen hair behind her right ear before she could do it herself, "Does this have anything to do with the dead end from Jacobi's journal?"
Marley received a call from Detective Bryan yesterday - a disappointing one like it had been for weeks. No new leads. They have a tag on a photo of his estimated appearance given his age and genetics across the border along the Mexico side, but nothing has come out of it yet. Bryan wouldn't say it point blank, but she read between the lines.
Unless Jacobi wanted to be found, there was no way the police will ever be able to track him down.
"No," she lied. The truth is, Marley can say all day long that she let it go and won't allow it to affect her life. But it has. It's affected everything.
"We don't have to go through with the plan tonight," Aiden suggested gently, referring to the date their group agreed to set the trap for the Instagram account, "If you're not feeling up to it."
Marley locked eyes with him, smiling, "Don't worry big guy. There are no scary horses lurking in the woods."
Aiden narrowed his eyes at her, "I'm not afraid of them."
Marley raised her eyebrows in disbelief, but her smile widened too.
Last Wednesday, they'd gone on a horseback ride along the beach. Aiden was against going until she begged him enough for him to submit. The mental imagery of Aiden riding a horse coming to life was too good to pass up.
Apparently Marley wasn't the only one who saw an opportunity. Leo took pictures, laughing to tears while Aiden repeatedly reminded Marley that she's very lucky that he loves her.
Gabby tagged along as well, the entire evening composed of hilarity because the big and strong Aiden Matthews...
Was terrified of horses.
To the point where if his moved he would jump away, taking Marley with him like the gentle beast was about to pounce on the both of them. Marley eventually convinced him into allowing her to pet her choice of horse, a grey one with white spots and the softest brown eyes.
After ten more minutes, she had taken Aiden's hand and set it over the horses neck to warm him up to it. His shoulders were tense and he looked extremely uncomfortable, but adorably sweet in his riding helmet sitting stiffly on the horses back.
Aiden turned back to his work with pursed lips, "We agreed to drop it. Forever."
Marley hugged his bicep with a smile, "I know. I'm sorry. Thank you for going with me."
"Leo is going to hold that over my head for the rest of our lives. You're lucky-"
"That you love me," Marley finished with a small laugh, letting him go. "And that I am, Matthews. That I am."
-
Marley had managed to get Gabby alone in their room right after school that afternoon. Her best friend knew what was coming, and was actively avoiding Marley's gaze on the side of her head as she re-organized her backpack and school supplies. Her blonde hair was on the top of her head in a tight ponytail, Ray Bans glasses hanging down her nose and green eyes lowered.
Marley leaned her hip against the wood of the bunk, crossing her arms, "Was it, what...a handful of weeks ago when you called Ethan and Leo the most-"
"Platonic relationships of my life," Gabby cut her off in a drone, "I know what you're going to say."
"Your thing with them is giving me whiplash!"
"Trust me when I say it's more confusing to me than it is to you."
Marley took a cross-legged seat on the end of Gabby's bed to get a better look at the expression on her face. Furrowed brows. Pursed lips. Confused.
After giving Gabby a few minutes to organize her thoughts, the blonde finally pushed aside a stack of papers and sat in the empty spot. She kept her eyes down, though, and played with her quilt in her fingers.
"Ethan is...he's...simple. I never have to guess with him. Being around him is so easy, you know? We nearly finish each other's sentences. He understands my humour. He's really nice. He's a...constant."
"And Leo?" Marley whispered.
Gabby sighed loudly, her brows furrowing even more, "If I'm summer, Leo's winter. If I'm black, Leo's white. If I'm rain, Leo's the sun. We're polar opposites. The things he enjoys I don't. The things he finds funny...I don't. I disagree with how he acts, how he talks, and how he behaves around his guy friends. I don't-down to our very morals I don't think we align. I can never figure him out. I think I know him, and then I find out five seconds later that I don't at all."
Gabby looked up from the quilt for the first time, staring into Marley's eyes as her armour melted away into a kind of desperation, "He plays Words with Friends with me all the time, then calls me childish and stupid in front of our friends. He's attentive with his homework, thanks me for helping him study, and then he's refusing to listen, not paying any attention and it makes me want to pull my own hair out! The night of his birthday he was so worried that I was hurt with the whole shooting ordeal, but the next day it's like I don't exist. He...kisses me, and then insults my best friend and her boyfriend right in front of me. He flies my brother to me for Christmas, and then sprays whipped cream in my face in front of our peers. I take one step closer, I think I see a genuine guy behind the mask, and then he's taking a thousand back and throwing everything redeemable he does out the window. I'm just tired, Marley. I'm so damn tired."
Marley pulled Gabby in for a hug, squeezing her torso tightly.
Despite their stark differences, Leo and Gabby have a way of balancing each other. Gabby straightens him out, keeps him focused. Leo pushes her to every limit, makes her question her safety. Makes her doubt everything she thought she knew.
Gabby's the anchor, while Leo brings the waves and the rain and the chaos. They both need each other for different - but equally as important - reasons.
Gabby's life had been smooth, faultless sailing in her comfort zone - until Leo.
He's as bad for her as he is good. He's as much her relief as he is her pain. He builds her because he tears her apart first. Everything he creates with her, he destroys.
And the same way Leo will crave the solace of Gabby's steady intelligence, levelheadedness, and the way only she can put him in his place as she has time and again, Gabby will crave who she becomes as a result of his unpredictability. She will crave the intense emotion that only he can bring out of her.
They will chase and flee.
Catch and release.
Get a taste of their poison, before spitting it out - but always going back for more.
It's possible to meet the right person at the wrong time. And right now, she and Leo don't fit.
Once the both of them - especially Leo - grow into themselves, maybe they will fit. But right now, neither can navigate something so complicated when they don't understand themselves yet.
Some things just...work, the same way that others...don't.
"Maybe you and Leo will always be complicated," Marley settled for saying as she and Gabby broke their hug, "If I've learned anything these last three months, it's that the only place simple solutions exist is in mathematics."
Gabby wrinkled her nose, "I've always hated English for that."
Marley giggled, raising a hand and mocking someone Gabby knew immediately, "The curtains are around a window...a passage to the soul! The blue of the curtains represents-"
"A complex existential crisis and heartbreak!" Gabby finished with a flair, the two of them bursting into laughter. They always had fun mocking their tenth grade English teacher Mrs. Rodney, who took metaphors to the next level.
Marley loves reading and she's always had high marks in English regardless, but some things are not meant to be psychoanalyzed as much as appreciated.
That is where she and Gabby's interests align.
Between their laughter both of their phones chimed multiple times, so they shared a quick look before scanning over their notifications. Instagram.
Marley's heart plummeted.
"You were tagged in it, too?" Gabby questioned worriedly. Marley's fingers were shaky as she pressed on the tagged post notification and watched the screen whiten as it led her to the account that takes pride in upending everything in her life.
But could she really blame it for being honest? For revealing the truth? Everyone is comfortable in lies, but lies aren't real. It's all fake. Everything here feels cardboard when there's always a new unburied secret.
When it finally loaded, it already had thousands of views. Gabby scooted beside her so their screens were closer and their knees were touching.
Marley felt too sick to look at hers any longer, so she flipped it upside down and turned her head away from the world, when Gabby gasped out loud.
"Who is it?" Marley's chest squeezed. She nearly had to spit out the words. Not that she had to guess. If it was about her, there's no doubt it her mind who it involves.
"Aiden...and...Tristan?"
Marley curled her knees up to her chest, her stomach rolling and eyes squeezed shut as the silence in the room crushed her.
Everything came flooding back. All the jealousy. The looks and remarks from her roommate. The way Tristan has always envied the attention Marley got from Aiden - even when they were only friends.
Marley promised herself she wouldn't doubt Aiden again, but it was so hard not to right now. Not to look back on all his secrets and lies, watching them stack to the ceiling. All the things he's kept from her. How easy would it be, for him to add one more deceit to the pile?
"Oh my god," Gabby breathed, "This-its a video. You have to-oh my god."
Video. Marley felt the bile rise in her throat. She wanted nothing more than to turn into her pillow and scream until her throat ran dry. Shaking and trembling, she looked up when the door burst open.
Aiden was pissed.
She'd never seen him so angry as he stomped into the room, keeping the door yanked open and glaring down someone outside of it to slowly shuffle in. A teary-eyed Tristan with streaks of makeup down her cheeks was holding herself with downcast, hazel eyes, radiating shame.
"I said she would find out!" Aiden growled out, pointing in Marley's direction. Entire body tense. "I told you to tell her days ago!"
"I was scared okay!" Tristan was trembling, shrinking away from Aiden's wrath while actively avoiding Marley's side of the room. "I didn't want to lose her."
Aiden crossed his arms, "How else did you think this would turn out," he snapped, "she's fucking upset. She would've been just as upset if you told her after it happened!"
"After what happened?" Gabby questioned with a straightened spine. Marley felt too numb to move or speak. She stared at the scene ahead of her without meeting anyone's eyes.
More bodies burst into the room. Sarah's face was redder than her hair, "How could you?!"
Kelly followed, yanking Sarah back by her arms as she thrashed to get to Tristan, who was shrunk and defeated.
Bree held her boyfriend back from entering the room, but her blue eyes hardened when they landed on Marley. They flickered to Tristan.
"We always knew you were a jealous bitch!" Sarah shouted, flailing wildly in Kelly's restraining hold, "Now that you've added backstabber to your resume too consider yourself dead to me!"
"Show me the video." Marley finally broke, more confused than anything at this point. All eyes turned to her as she snatched Gabby's phone from her hand.
"Marley, wait-" Tristan began weakly, only to be glared at by everyone in the room. She curled in on herself, more tears falling. Guilty tears.
"Hey, spitfire." Aiden began gently, his anger disappearing as he looked at her. Pity. "Why don't we talk first, okay? I'll explain-"
"I want the truth," Marley cut him off, refusing to glance in his direction to keep her eyes on the loading video. Gabby leaned in beside her, curious too. "Which is apparently a difficult ask around here."
The video started. The room went dead silent. In her peripheral, Marley noticed more of her friends flooding into the room, but no one made a sound upon hearing the audio through the speakers.
It was early morning. Whoever recorded the video had been standing just inside the tree line in front of the guys' cabin. Marley scanned over a figure on the front porch. Tristan looked like a mess - her hair tangled, makeup caked and dry, clothes wrinkled.
Her head lifted upon crackling leaves ahead of her. The camera panned over to Aiden in a pair of his black workout shorts, a gleam of sweat on his bare chest and a water bottle in his hands. His black nike running shoes on his feet. Returning from his usual morning run.
Marley felt cold when Tristan's eyes found him, widening at his appearance. Marley's fists balled in her lap when Tristan stood, patting down her hair.
Gabby sucked in a breath, putting the pieces together as Aiden paused at the sight of her. He lifted an arm that had his Apple Watch - a gift from Ian for Christmas - on his wrist, removing his AirPod from his ear. His chest was rising and falling with rapid breaths.
"Is Marley here?" He questioned her as he slid his headphone into his pocket and stretched his legs, rolling out his ankles.
"Actually..." Tristan began shyly, tucking her hair behind her ears, "No."
He froze for a heartbeat before continuing his stretching with a shrug to his shoulders. His flexing muscles would give any girl ammo to keep watching. But this is Tristan. Marley's friend.
She'd never betray her like that.
"You guys have been together for a while," Tristan began, standing to her feet. Aiden stretched his arms over his head while Marley wanted to reach through the screen and tell Tristan to stop staring. And Aiden to stop freaking stretching. "I mean, you're good together. It seems like she really loves you."
Where are you going with this, Tristan?
Marley watched with a skipping heart as Aiden's expression lightened into a grin, "I love her too. She's great. But uh...you waiting for somebody out here? It's too cold without a jacket if you're not moving."
Marley watched something cross Tristan's expression that made her blood simmer.
"I was waiting for you, actually. I was going to come by your room but you weren't there."
Aiden nodded, crossing his arms thoughtfully, "So what's this about?"
Tristan twiddled her fingers, "A proposition."
Marley felt like throwing Gabby's phone across the room at Tristan's words. Shifting of bodies in her room. Gabby tensed from beside her. Marley had turned to stone a long time ago.
This reminded her of her nightmares. She didn't want to see anymore, but she was stuck watching until the dream was over.
"Look..." Aiden began, taking a step back. Marley nearly sighed out loud in relief at the guy finally gaining some common sense on the situation. "Whatever goes on with the girls cabin I honestly don't want to be involved-"
Just when Marley thought he understood where Tristan was going with this.
Tristan shook her head. "This is between you and me, Aiden. No one else. No one has to know."
"No one has to know when I kill you and bury your-"
"Shut up, Sarah!"
Aiden took another step back, "Know what? What are you talking about?"
"Marley please don't watch-"
"Shut the fuck up, Tristan," Bree snapped.
Marley knew by the reactions in the room that whatever was to come next would change everything.
She kept watching.
Tristan took another step. A deep breath, "I know Marley's a virgin still."
Marley felt like she had been sucker punched as the words left the speaker. Her cheeks burned in humiliation, eyes falling to the view count climbing and climbing and climbing.
Aiden was stunned into stillness. His expression morphed into a thousand emotions as he stared at her with confusion being the most dominant of all, "What-"
"That means it's a win-win for the both of us, right? You can still love her and have your needs met with me. Brendan will finally come to his senses and you-"
"Wait, hold on." Aiden interrupted Tristan's rushed words, holding out a hand to keep her from approaching any closer. Marley could hear the cogs turning in his head. "Are you...what the fuck kind of twisted are you?!"
Marley's shoulders fell lax at the anger that quickly boiled over in Aiden's words when he finally realized what was going on.
She watched Tristan recoil, panic seeping in behind her eyes as she watched her plan backfire, "I didn't mean like...I just meant...last night Brendan was-and I-"
"This is why he doesn't want to be with you," Aiden growled out in frustration, "He wants a committed relationship and he doesn't think you'd respect that. Now I get why. Wonder what he'll think when he finds out about this? Get out of my face."
Tristan was now desperate and pleading as she reached for him. Aiden shoved himself away from her, passing her for the guys' cabin with a stiff back.
"Don't tell her, Aiden. Please!" Tristan was crying now, grabbing his forearm. He turned around but broke their contact. They were both inches away from the front steps of the cabin. "I'm sorry, okay? I got mixed signals. I thought you wanted-just don't tell her, okay? We can forget this ever happened."
"Tell who? Marley? That's the first thing I'm doing because she and I don't keep secrets. And as far as mixed signals go," Aiden paused to crouch to her level, hands on his knees. He stared into her eyes with a coldness what would have any person running away in fear.
"I have no clue where you're getting them from because I don't even like you. I tolerate you because you matter to my girlfriend. You've acted like a bitch to Marley multiple times when she has been nothing but nice to you. You never deserved to be her friend. And right now you're asking me to hookup behind her back, while also talking about personal shit that's none of your business. I don't have to know what goes on in girl world to know that makes you a snake. Get the fuck away from me."
Aiden spun with finality. He shoved himself through the door but Tristan's next words made him pause.
"I'll tell her."
Right after that, the video transitioned to a green hissing snake along the grass.
The bold red letters dirty cheater cutting across the black screen like a knife.
@dirtycheater_cwthaw: Well, you know what they say...keep your friends close, and your competition closer.
***
Ouuuuu. Who saw this coming? Did you like Tristan in the first place or not? Next update coming Tuesday ❤️
Also, Happy Easter 🐣