Chapter 8
"Bash wake up"
"Bash!" Francis said for the nth time before Bash finally opened his eyes
"Francis it's not even dawn yet, let me sleep" Bash said as he lazily rubs his eyes, he grabbed a pillow and covers his eyes from the light coming from the bright lamp beside his bed
"Bash! Wake up, help me find Mary" Francis said with urgency in his voice
"what do you mean 'help me find Mary'?" Bash said with confusion
"she left without me and I just thought she just went back here but obviously she isn't here and—"
"Francis, calm down, she probably just went back to her dorm" Bash said finally sitting up
"she doesn't have any money to get a cab, she left her purse in the pub… besides, why would she go there without telling me?" Francis said with a hint of frustration in his voice
"did you guys fight or something?" Bash said still trying to figure things out
"no… I tried calling her but she's not answering her phone" Francis said
"what's the commotion about? Where's Mary, why isn't she with you?" Kenna said as she entered the room, her eyes tired
"Francis said she left the pub without him" Bash answered
"why?" Kenna asked, looking at Francis
"I don't know!"Francis answered, he's tired answering all these questions, he just want to find Mary, see if she's safe
"jeez calm down, Mary's old enough, she can take care of herself" Kenna said walking towards the two
"why would she leave without her purse? She doesn't have any money with her" Francis said
"I'll go to our dorm, she's probably there" Kenna suggested, she went back to the other room to grab her phone
"I'll go with you" Francis said hurriedly as he followed Kenna
"no Francis, there's a reason why she didn't tell you why she left… I don't know what happened between you two but it's probably best to give her space. I'll talk to her, find out what happened" Kenna said as she dialed Mary's number on her phone
"she's not picking up" Kenna said after several seconds
"please call me when you find her" Francis said his voice filled with worry
"ok" Kenna replied as she jogged towards the door and grabbed her coat
"Mary are you here?" Kenna said as she opened the door to their dorm room and turned on the light, she found Mary lying on her bed, her eyes wet with tears
"oh Mary, what happened? Francis has been looking everywhere for you… how did you even get here? Francis said you didn't have any money with you… " Kenna said as she approached her friend, she reached for her face and wiped her tears gently
"Louis brought me here" Mary said, her voice tired and a bit sleepy
"who the heck is Louis?" Kenna said
"just some guy… he offered me a ride home"
"you went with a stranger?!"
"he's not a stranger, I told you, his name is Louis"
"okay… let me rephrase the question; you went with a guy you just met? What the hell Mary? He could have been a serial killer, he could have brought you somewhere far and… dangerous!" Kenna said, her voice raising
"well he didn't and I'm here now, safe… you don't need to freak out" Mary said burying her head on the pillow
"well, Francis is freaking out as we speak and he looked like a mess when he arrived at the house… what happened Mary? Did you guys fight?" Kenna said as she sits closer to Mary
"stay out of it Kenna, you know nothing" Mary said as she pretends to go to sleep
"don't you 'you know nothing' me, I'm not freaking Jon Snow! Francis doesn't have a clue what happened, you just ran off and now I'm gonna find you here crying yourself to sleep, how am I supposed to figure things out between you two?" Kenna said with an utterly frustrated voice
"well maybe you're not supposed to figure things out Kenna, there's nothing to tell… whatever Francis and I had it's done… it's over… now let me sleep, I'm tired as hell and we still have classes tomorrow" Mary said as she covers her head with a blanket, she felt Kenna stood up and walked towards her bed, Kenna's phone rang and she answered it immediately
"Hello Francis… yeah she's here"
"I don't think she's in the mood to talk right now"
"yeah everything's alright, she's safe"
"no Francis, I don't think it's a good idea to come over"
"you don't need to worry, okay? She's fine she just don't want to talk"
"she's sleeping now, you should get some sleep too"
"Okay Francis, bye"
Kenna turned off the light and headed toward the bathroom, the silence of the room finally compelled Mary to sleep.
"Mary let's talk please" Francis said he waited for 3 hours outside Mary's classroom and now her first class finally ended, he's been following her around campus like a lost puppy
"There's nothing to talk about Francis"
"please Mary, talk to me" Francis begged
"I don't know what I did to make you this upset" he added
"I saw you Francis! You and Olivia" Mary said her voice furious while her eyes looked utterly hurt
Francis looked at her with shock, he didn't expect her to have seen them, it was a very brief moment but it completely explained her reaction, she must have been so upset to ran off like that, without even telling him
"Mary I'm sorry but it's not—"
"you're sorry? Well Francis I am too, I regret that I ever met you" Mary said harshly, the students passing them looked baffled
"please don't say that" Francis said, his voice cracking, his tears threatening to fall any minute
"It's not how it looked— I didn't kiss her back"
"and that's supposed to make it okay?!" Mary said, her voice raising, attracting more attention
"no but—look Mary, I'm so sorry it hurt you, but it was just a kiss, it was nothing more than that… I don't have any feelings for her… please—I'll make it up to you, I'll do anything"
"there's nothing you can do Francis, I don't want anything to do with you… it's over" Mary said a tear fell from her eyes as she walked away, desperate to get away from him, she didn't even look back, afraid that if she did she will just fall into his arms and forgive everything that he did, and she can't do that to herself, she won't.
It's been almost a month since Mary and Francis last talked and Mary knew that the last words she said to him might have hurt him but it was what she needed to do, she needed closure otherwise she won't be able to move on. That day was the last time she saw Francis, Kenna said he keeps on asking about her and on the day of her birthday, Francis filled her dorm room with balloons and flower petals, he left a huge bouquet of roses at her door and a massive cake on her table, Kenna said he baked it himself.
She didn't speak to Kenna for three whole days for letting Francis inside their room without her permission, she also made Kenna throw out the balloons and clean the flower petals that were scattered on their floor. As for her birthday celebration, she went with Louis to a party with his frat brothers since she wasn't in good terms with Kenna that day, she has been hanging out with Louis since she and Francis broke up but she can't really say they're dating, she made it pretty clear to Louis that she isn't ready for any relationship yet and he said he was willing to wait however long.
Kenna's still seeing Bash and she's often at their beach house, just like tonight… Mary's alone in her dorm room while she's writing a paper for her Sociology class, it's almost midnight and Kenna's not home yet, as soon as Mary finished her paper, she closed her laptop and went to bed. Hours later, Kenna went home exhausted and utterly tired, Mary was woken up by the bright light, she tiredly rubbed her eyes and sat up to see Kenna more clearly.
"oh hey, sorry I woke you up" Kenna said as she sat on her bed to remove her shoes, Mary noticed how dirty they were which made her curious where Kenna went, she knows she hates getting her shoes dirty and it's not usual for her to come home this late.
"Where did you and Bash go this time?" Mary said, her voice curious and a bit teasing
"remember the pub beside the café we went to last weekend?"
"yeah… I guess?" Mary answered Kenna, her voice still tired from sleep
"well, Bash and I was just passing by when we saw it burning, we helped to get everyone out just in time" Kenna said, her eyes seemed worn out
"oh my god, was anyone hurt?" Mary said her voice now filled with concern
"Francis was there, he was already unconscious when we got him out, we rushed him to the hospital but he still hasn't woken up yet when I left" Kenna said, bracing herself for Mary's reaction
"what? Why didn't you call me?" Mary said her eyes filled with shock and concern
"because few weeks ago you made it clear that you don't want me mentioning his name ever again, and you were acting like he never existed and I was forced to play along… so there" Kenna said her voice clearly exhausted and sleepy
"wait… where are you going?" Kenna blurted out when she saw Mary fixing her hair and taking out clothes from her closet
"I'm going to the hospital"
"we have a curfew, they won't allow you to go out at this hour" Kenna said as she watched Mary tie her hair in a pony tail in a very hurried manner
"I don't care about our curfew Kenna, you just said that Francis is hurt"
"and you said almost a month ago that you don't fucking care about him!"
"I lied, okay? I only said that to convince myself that I don't care anymore, because I thought it would be easier that way" Mary said her voice frustrated, she just wants to go to Francis as soon as possible and Kenna isn't making things any easier
"so you still care for him?"
"of course I still do! I never stopped caring for him" Mary said as she opened the door, she was about to head out when Kenna stopped her
"Mary, wait!" Kenna said quickly putting her shoes on
"I'll go with you"
Mary and Kenna rushed to the hospital and quickly entered the room where Francis is admitted, when they opened the door, they saw Bash and Olivia sitting beside his bed.
"What the hell is she doing here?" Olivia blurted to Mary as soon as she saw her enter the room
"Olivia, now is not the time for that" Bash said calmly, he's been so tired and he hasn't got some sleep since they brought Francis in the hospital
"how dare you bring her here, she's the very reason why Francis is hurt!" Olivia shouted to Kenna, her voice clearly furious
"what do you mean?" Bash said as he stares at Mary who is equally as shocked as she is
"the pub was already burning when Francis got there, he saw Louis in panic and completely freaking out, Louis said Mary is still inside so Francis rushed to the pub quickly even though it was already swallowed by fire and smoke… I tried to stop him but he didn't listen, few minutes after he still wasn't out so I followed him, he was already unconscious when I saw him, that's when Bash came and got him out" Olivia narrated while looking at Mary with despise
"Louis tricked him into believing that Mary was inside" Olivia added
"he would never do that" Mary just said with tears in her eyes
"look at you defending him! Francis was nearly killed tonight and here you are defending Louis… why are you even here? You have no right to be here, you don't even have the right to be near him, after you threw him away just like that" Olivia said her eyes never leaving Mary
Mary walked out and left the room, she can't stand looking at Francis knowing that she's the reason why he got himself hurt in the first place… tears are streaming from her eyes when she heard Kenna going after her
"Mary! Don't listen to whatever that blond bitch said, it wasn't your fault" Kenna said as she struggles to keep up with Mary's fast pace
"but it is! It is my fault Kenna, I—Olivia's right, I don't have a right to be here" Mary said as she tries to keep her sobs quiet
"It was Louis' fault! That fucktard wants you all for himself so he tried to get rid of Francis" Kenna said her voice getting a bit louder, attracting attention from other people in the hospital
"I—I can't stand to see him hurt, he didn't deserve this… after everything I put him through"
"that's why you need to save him from his agony and go back to his room… he still loves you Mary, he didn't go to that burning building to lose you all over again"
"but—"
"enough with the buts! Stop making things so fucking complicated, you love him, he loves you… it's that simple!" Kenna said her voice echoing in the hallway, she's so tired of seeing the two being miserable without each other, she won't let them give up on what they had, not if she knows she can do something about it
"go back to his room Mary, or I swear to God I'll drag you there myself" Kenna added before throwing Mary a threatening glare.
