I woke up sandwiched between Jimmy and Leana, trying to remember how I managed to get to a bed and how I ended up with them. Then the events of the night before came crashing down on me and I couldn't stop the tears that dripped from my aching eyes. I untangled myself from Jimmy's arms and left the bed. His searching arms came into contact with Leana's small body and pulled her close, bring a fresh new wave of pain down upon my shattered heart.
How could he have done this to me? I'd faithfully worn his rings for eight years of my short(ish) life. I had devoted my entire being to him for twelve. And how does he repay me? By hooking up with some plastic doll in a bar.
I wouldn't let myself believe that alcohol had influenced it. Even though it was pretty obvious that it had, I mean, they were in the middle of a bar. He'd still betrayed my trust like I never thought he would. We had been with each other all day until my stupid body decided to fall into a state of unconsciousness. When I finally meet up with them again I see her first, wrapped around a married man. Peroxide blond and fake all over. Right down to her perfectly square acrylic nails and those stupid acid green contacts. Since when did mother nature start producing that kind of eye color?
The last thing I can remember was shutting down while she dug her claws into his arms. Though it was obvious I was in a hotel. The fact that the little lamps beside the bed were nailed down was enough evidence to support that theory. The name-stamped paper on the writing desk pushed the theory in the right direction.
After my quick teary eyed observation of the light gold and cream bedroom, I left before I woke up either of my lifesavers with my crying. I sat on a light beige sofa out in the lounge area, shaking as the sobs raked through my body.
A screaming noise from the direction of my purse — dumped by a small glass table — had me sobbing even harder than I was before. He was calling me.
I woke Jimmy. He wandered, bleary eyed, from the bedroom and stretched just outside of the doorway. He heard the screaming and looked at me, curled in as small as I could be in a corner of the sofa. He managed to put two and two together and fell down onto the sofa beside me. He pulled me against him and just held me until my eyes ran dry. I would sniff violently every few minutes after sobbing for so long.
The screaming of my cell started again after a full half hour gap of silence bar my sniffing. But I was completely void of any emotion. I looked in the direction it came from without really seeing anything. It all seemed like one big blur up until the screaming stopped.
"I'm gonna call the airport and we'll go home as soon as we can, okay?" Leana asked me. I heard her as if her words were coming through water. It wasn't clear, but I understood enough to nod an answer.
"Why are you taking her home? That's just gonna make this whole thing so much worse. They've lived in the same house as each other since they were nineteen!"
"I am aware of that, James. I am also aware of the fact that we — Dess, Val and I — bought an apartment together for us to stay in if we ever needed it!" Leana's reply was snarky and snapped.
Wow. I must be bad if she was snapping at him. I've never once heard them so close to an argument before.
"Please just keep her safe. I don't care what you need to do for that to happen, just keep her safe," he pleaded quietly, putting an end to the potential argument.
"I promise I will keep her as safe as I can. I know you love her, sweetie, but you gotta remember that I do, too. She's like a sister to me as well. I won't leave her alone for a minute. When you get back she'll be back to normal and we'll sort this whole mess out as soon as she is able to look at him again," she was whispering furiously, trying not to let me hear. But I have great hearing.
Which sucked right now because my cell started screaming again. Leana stormed over to my purse and dug through it till she found the phone. Flipping it open, she demanded to know what he wanted.
"Please just let me speak to her!"
"She doesn't want to talk to you, asshole." She replied stonily.
"Please, I need to speak with her. I fucking love her!"
"Just leave her alone for a while," she said in a softer tone. "You hurt her, Bri. Big time. You know how bad she gets when someone hurts her. She doesn't let anybody in so it makes it so much worse that you, the love of her fucking life, would hurt her as bad as this."
"Just… just tell her… I love her…" I could hear him crying on the other end.
Brian Haner Jr was crying while on the phone. Someone should be recording this.
Leana looked over at me. I was focused intently on my cell hovering by her ear. She sighed. "I'll tell her."
She flipped the phone closed, cutting off the call, and threw it back into my purse now on top of the table.
Jimmy had hooked one of his arms around my shoulders as Leana hissed at Brian. His rough hand was rubbing soothingly up and down my arm. Leana watched us, knowing I had heard every word Brian had said. "I'm gonna go call the airport now," she told us before walking back into the bedroom to use the phone there.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Been screaming in a recording studio all day so the only way I can currently express myself is through words. Ell oh ell.
Sorry about the cliffhanger, but at least you got a super fast update =]
It was written quickly so I'm sorry if there are any mix ups in sentences or anything. It's also quite short compared to the others, but I'll remedy that in the next chapter.
A big thank you to the wonderfulness that is reviewers. You are sheer awesomeness in a box.
-Synical. xo.
