Thank for the reviews :) I wanted to updated Moving On next but I don't what I'm doing with that chapter yet and this week seems like it's going to be busy for me. So, I don't know if I'll have time to write it and update it and I already had this chapter of Back Around ready to go so I decided to update it again lol. This is for Iknowyoulovemexoxo. I hope you guys enjoy it :)
Everything from leaving Shane and Paul's apartment to getting home was a blur to Stephanie. As soon as she got home she ran up to her bedroom and fell on her bed sobbing. She curled herself into a ball on the bed and cried until she felt like she had nothing left. Just as she thought she was done, the faint scent of Paul's cologne that lingered on the sheets set her off again. She got up from the bed and started yanking the comforter, the sheets and pillow cases off into a pile on the floor. Then she sat down on the bed and drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs and starting sobbing uncontrollably again. She wasn't sure how long she had stayed like that until she started to calm down a little and heard her bedroom door open.
"Did you- " Allie started but as Stephanie looked up at her she went silent. "Steph what's wrong?"
"I- I- went to see Paul" Stephanie sniffed and felt like she was going to break down more if she had to repeat what she had seen. Instead she dropped her head to rest her forehead against her knees as she tried to get in control of her emotions. As she closed her eyes and took deep slow breaths she felt the bed dip and then herself being pulled over to rest against Allie's chest. "He- He- cheated. On. Me."
"Fucking bastard" she heard Melanie hiss. She wasn't even sure when Melanie had come into the room because she had been so wrapped up in trying to calm down. But as soon as Melanie said that she wanted to defend him even though she was hurting because of him. She just stayed silent though, she wasn't going to defend him after what he did even if she wanted to. She felt so stupid for trusting him and crying because he had broken her trust especially when she had been warned by the very person who he had cheated on her with.
"Are you sure?" Allie asked sounding confused. Stephanie raised her head from her chest and sat up straight on the bed and wiped at her eyes. The images of them together in his bed kept playing over and over in her head on a loop.
"Yeah I'm sure" Stephanie scoffed "they were naked and cuddled up together with his arm around her."
"That just…makes no sense. He didn't seem like the kind of a guy to do something like that, especially to you. It seemed like you were the most thing important to him."
"Whose side are you on Allie?" Stephanie asked feeling aggravated even though she knew it wasn't Allie's fault. The person she was upset wasn't here for her to take her frustration and anger out on.
"Yours of course. I'm just trying to understand-"
"What is there to understand? He cheated on her. There is a lot of guys out there like Paul who act like your everything to them but turn around and cheat on you at the same time. They fool you into believing it was a mistake and you forgive them because you really believe they love you. Then they just turn around and keep doing it. Those are the kind of guys you really have to look out for" Melanie replied crossing her arms against her chest. Stephanie couldn't help but wonder if Melanie was right. Before Paul she hadn't been in a serious relationship before. She had boyfriends before but she really hadn't been that invested in them and when those relationships ended, they hadn't hurt anything like how she was hurting now. "Trust me Steph. I've been there."
Stephanie was left speechless and the room fell silent. It was like nobody knew what to say at that point. After a few seconds, Stephanie felt her phone start to vibrate in her pocket. She was nervous to look to see who it was but her heart sped up at the thought it could be Paul. She wondered how long it would take for her to stop responding like that to him. Sighing she fished it out of her pocket and saw that it was Shane calling and even though she had finally calmed down somewhat she just couldn't answer it or it would start all over again.
"Why is Shane calling you?" Allie asked looking at Stephanie's phone.
"Because it was Charlotte that Paul cheated on me with. I passed Shane in the hallway as I was leaving and he asked me what was wrong but I just couldn't answer him. I still can't" Stephanie replied shaking her head and tossing her phone on the bed beside of her.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Allie replied getting up from the bed and clenched her hands into fists. "Her? He seriously cheated on you with her? It's bad enough that he cheated on you but to do it with the one person he knows you hate, that's really fucking low."
"I know" Stephanie sniffed feeling like she was going to start crying all over again.
"Steph?" Stephanie heard Linda call on the other side of her door. She wiped at her eyes the best she could not wanting to make her mom worry about her.
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to run some errands. Do you need anything?"
"No" Stephanie replied because the only thing she needed was her heart to be mended. But that was going to take a while and there was nothing her mother could do about it.
"Okay be back soon" Linda replied and Stephanie heard her start to go downstairs. She was glad Linda hadn't come into the room because she would have known something was wrong. No matter how hard she wiped at her eyes she was sure her eyes were red from crying.
"So, it's over between you two? Right? Please don't tell me you're going to take him back after this" Allie replied looking at her.
"It's over. I'm not going back to him" Stephanie replied shaking her head as another tear slipped down her cheek.
"We're here for you Steph. We'll help you through this" Melanie said coming over and sitting down beside of her on the bed. In that moment, she was grateful to have both Allie and Melanie there with her. Here they were with hang overs and they were taking care of her and it gave her hope. Maybe just maybe she could get through this with these two on her side helping her.
"Thanks guys" Stephanie replied with a small smile and they both sandwiched her in a hug and she couldn't help but laugh. But the moment didn't last long before the sound of the doorbell ringing over and over interrupted their hug.
"I think I know who that is" Allie said rolling her eyes as the doorbell kept ringing and ringing. "I'm going to go deal with him."
Stephanie just nodded her head knowing that it was probably Paul just as Allie predicted and she didn't think she could face him because she feared she'd just believe him like before. She wondered now if the conversation they had before about Charlotte and her lies had actually all been true.
"Tear him a new asshole Allie!" Melanie called after her as Allie left the room. It kind of pissed Stephanie off though that Paul would come here after what he did to her. Did he just want to hurt her further? Or did he actually believe he could give her excuses that she would believe and forgive him?
The more she sat there thinking about it, the angrier she became until she got off the bed and started heading downstairs. She was barely even aware that Melanie had followed her with how focused on her anger she was.
"This isn't any of your business. This is between me and Stephanie" Stephanie heard Paul say just as she rounded the corner and saw him. Allie was standing in front of him blocking his path to be able to get inside and he was standing on the porch glaring at her.
"When you hurt my best friend then it becomes my business. She doesn't want to see you anyway and I'm not going to let you fill her head with a bunch of bullshit lies. You can just go back to your little whore you cheated on her with and be miserable. Because one day you're going to realize how much you fucked up but it won't do any good because it's all said and done now" Allie said as Paul cursed and ran his hand through his hair before he looked over Allie and his eyes connected with hers.
"Steph" Paul called to her and she had to restrain herself from rushing over to him. Allie looked back at her for a second and then turned back to Paul.
"Go fuck yourself" Allie said coldly to him before stepping back inside and slamming the door in his face. But a second later he started banging on the door and calling for her through the door. "What are you doing down here?"
"The more I sat up there in bed and thought about how he come here to try and give me excuses the more pissed off I became."
"You want to talk to him, don't you?" Allie asked as Stephanie nodded her head. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I'm with Allie here. I don't think it's a good idea" Melanie said shaking her head.
"I'll be fine guys. I'm not going to let him trick me into believing him and forgiving him" Stephanie replied heading to the door where Paul was still banging on it.
She didn't give them time to say anything else as she took a deep breath and opened the door. Paul let his hand fall to his side and looked relieved to see her.
"Steph- " he started but Stephanie cut him off by holding up her hand and he stepped back as she walked out on to the porch and shut the door behind her.
"What do you want?" Stephanie asked glaring at him and crossing her arms.
"What you saw this morning isn't what it looked like" Paul replied and she scoffed knowing of course he was going to deny it and make excuses. "It isn't."
"So, I guess I just imagined you and Charlotte naked and cuddled up in your bed?"
"I'm not saying you didn't see what you did. I'm just saying it isn't what it looked like."
"Right" Stephanie replied with a laugh even though she didn't find any of this funny. "Let me guess. You were just so drunk last night that you didn't know what you were doing."
"I was drunk last night. But I wasn't so drunk that I don't remember last night. Shawn and I got a cab back and he crashed on the couch as soon as we got in so I threw a blanket over him. Then I went to my room and crashed too. Charlotte wasn't in there and I did nothing with her. I was out of it all night and the only time I woke up was when Shane starting shouting at me and Charlotte."
"Sure" Stephanie replied looking away from him so she didn't have to look at the pained expression on his face. She wasn't going to feel bad for him not after hurting her this bad.
"I'm telling the truth Steph. Hell, I didn't even see Shane or Charlotte once Shawn and I got back to the apartment. I would say you could even ask Shawn but he was drunker than me and crashed out so he won't remember."
"How convenient for you" Stephanie sneered already getting tired of hearing his bullshit excuses. Even though part of her wanted to believe him, she wouldn't. She wouldn't be like her mother and years from now be sitting at a table with her daughter on her daughter's birthday, hoping things would get better with Paul because he cheated. While he was off on the phone with the whore he cheated with and left her for. Her future was not going to look like that.
"I didn't cheat on you Stephanie" Paul said breaking the silence that had fell between them in the last few seconds.
"I'm tired of hearing the bullshit lies" Stephanie replied turning towards the door to open it.
"You don't really don't trust me, do you?" Paul asked his voice laced with hurt. "I thought after our talk last time you actually trusted me. If you did then you would believe me that I wouldn't cheat on you. I don't know when or how she got in my bed but I didn't do anything with her."
"No I don't trust you. You proved that I can't trust you because what I walked in on this morning looked too intimate for 'nothing happened' and that you hadn't even seen her last night" Stephanie replied looking at him and then turned back again to go inside.
"I wouldn't hurt you like that Stephanie. I wouldn't cheat on you because I love you" Paul replied just as she opened the door and stepped inside. She thought that he couldn't hurt her any worse but she had been wrong. The first time he told her he loved her and it was only because he fucked up and wanted her to forgive him.
"I find that really hard to believe" Stephanie whispered trying not to cry as she turned around to face him. Then she grabbed the door and slammed it in his face just as Allie had earlier.
Stephanie turned around to see her friends looking at her and she fell back against the door and slid down it and brought her knees to her chest and started crying once again. Allie and Melanie rushed over next to her and hugged her as she let the pain take over.
Later that night Stephanie laid on her bed with a new sheet, comforter and pillow cases and stared off in the now dark room. She had been there ever since Allie and Melanie had helped her upstairs with her sobbing uncontrollably and they had even put all the new stuff on her bed. They had stayed with her all day up until maybe ten or twenty minutes ago when they decided to go get something to eat. They tried to talk her into going with them but she refused because she wasn't hungry. She just felt numb and broken.
After a few minutes, Stephanie heard the front door slam from all the way in her room. At first, she thought maybe Allie and Melanie were back but it didn't make sense of why they would slam the door. Feeling curious she got up from her bed and headed towards the stairs and was surprised when she made it halfway down the stairs that Shane was in the living room.
"Shane what are you doing here?" Stephanie asked walking down the rest of the stairs as her brother turned to look at her.
"I just needed out of that apartment. Are you okay?" Shane asked coming up to her once she stepped off the last stair. She had to admit it was sweet of him to be worrying about her even though he was also cheated on too. It almost made up for how he had been such an asshole to her for months. But she wasn't going to let all that go so easy, maybe she wouldn't give him hell about it right now though.
"I'll be okay…eventually. Right?" Stephanie asked and shrugged not really knowing what else to say.
"We both will" Shane replied with a nod of his head before pulling her to him and hugging her. "I'm so sorry for everything."
"You're not getting off the hook that easily."
"I wouldn't expect you to let me" Shane chuckled "but just know that I am sorry."
"Where had you been when I saw you in the hallway this morning?" Stephanie asked as they stopped hugging.
"I was coming home from Zach's. Me and Charlotte had been hanging out at his house last night and Zach and I started drinking. Zach offered us the guest room when I had too much so we ended up crashing there but I guess sometime during the night she left. I woke up to a text from her saying she couldn't get comfortable enough to go to sleep and just wanted to go home to our bed. She said she didn't want to wake me and she was getting a cab home and she would see me when I got home. I wasn't expecting to go home to that though."
"So, what happened when you found them this morning?" Stephanie asked not being able to let what happened go. It was like a scab she kept picking at and it was never going to fully heal if she didn't let it. But she just couldn't stop.
"When I found them I just instantly started screaming at them. They didn't even try to act a little guilty that they had been caught" Shane shook his head lost in thought. It made her feel even more sick to her stomach hearing it and from the way Shane was talking, it sounded like Paul fully knew what he was doing last night. But he just didn't care and then tried lying to her that he hadn't even seen Charlotte. "I gave Paul a lot of shit especially about seeing you come out of the apartment so tore up. Then I told them pack their shit and get out."
"They're both gone now?"
"Paul is. He'll be back to get his stuff out though" Shane sighed and looked away as she narrowed her eyes.
"What about Charlotte?" Stephanie asked crossing her arms as he shuffled his feet and wouldn't look at her. "Shane."
"She started crying and saying she didn't have anywhere to go right now. So, I told her she had a week to find somewhere to go and if she still didn't have anywhere to go then it wasn't my problem."
"She doesn't deserve that. You should have just kicked out right now. Why doesn't she just go where ever Paul is going?" Stephanie asked hating the idea of the two even being together.
"I don't know. I just felt bad that she moved here for me and has no friends or family here."
"You felt bad for her? She cheated on you Shane, she should be the one feeling bad right now."
"I know that Steph. Call me stupid if you want but you just can't shut off how you feel about someone even if they hurt you. I couldn't help but feel bad" Shane replied and she shook her head in disgust. She knew he was right about not being able to just shut your feelings off. But at least she didn't take Paul's bullshit and then decide to help him out either. If Charlotte stayed with Shane until she found somewhere else to go she knows Shane will forgive her. Charlotte will somehow talk her way into staying. What could she do though? Shane wouldn't listen to her, he hadn't listened to her since Charlotte showed up.
"You are stupid" Stephanie replied and walked away feeling angry.
"Gee thanks" Shane replied sarcastically before Stephanie walked back up the stairs to go to her room. She was so pissed. How was it even fair that Charlotte somehow ended up with what she wanted? While Stephanie was depressed and had nothing but a cheating ex-boyfriend at the end of it all.
But even as she thought those things, deep down in the pit of her stomach she had this feeling that something wasn't right. Now that she wasn't so angry and she replayed the conversation between Paul and her, then the one with her and Shane, there were some things that weren't adding up to her. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking?
