Chapter 16

Marcus

Zach has this expression on his face, as if I'd just told him Jane is really a dude, or something equally disturbing. Then his expression hardens, his eyes blazing as he turns towards me. They flick back to Jane for a moment and a muscle in his jaw flexes.

"Could you give us a moment?" He asks, and I take a step back, feeling slightly guilty. Jeez, we were just talking; I'm allowed to do that, right? "Not you, Marcus." My eyes widen a little, surprised that he wouldn't want to try to work things out with Jane. We really don't need more tension in our lives. There's already enough turmoil spinning around without any added on craziness.

Jane seems to tense as she realizes that Zach is addressing her with his request, but nods and walks away, all without meeting his eyes. I watch her leave warily, wondering how much of a wedge this will create and what she was going to tell me before Zach got in the way. More than a little irritated by his intrusion, I turn towards Zach, the question obviously written across my face.

"Listen," He starts, fidgeting angrily to outlet his clear frustration. "I don't really care what girls you go after, just…. don't mess with Jane okay, anyone else… whatever, just not Jane." This is getting ridiculous. Zach is never this possessive, especially not with a girl. It's a ridiculous request though, according to him, it's been over six months since everything went down between the two of them, and he's moved on, but if that's true, why is he still claiming her like this? It's like some caveman thing: that's a pretty funny image Zach and I holding clubs and wearing hides as togas. Anna would tell me I'm impossible to take seriously, and maybe I am, but honestly, this situation is too ridiculous.

"Zach, you know I don't want to cause any trouble but nothing's going on and Jane doesn't have a problem with me talking her as of right now, so…." I trail off, shrugging my shoulders. The fire flames back into his eyes but he shrugs, knowing he can't fight me on this one. He doesn't have a leg to stand on.

"Fine… whatever" He grumbles and slips away into the crowd without looking back. I know he's not happy about our little standoff, but it doesn't seem like that big of deal to me, I'm not planning on trying anything with Jane, so it shouldn't be this whole fiasco, right?

…

Zach

I spot her tell-tale brown locks from across the room, and hurry to her side, not knowing when I'd get another chance like this. My eyes widen a little as I see the drink in her hand, Jane never drank, more often than not if we were at a party together, not only would she not drink, but she'd always get so nervous when I had a drink or two that I didn't even bother half the time. It just wasn't worth it. Now she's clutching the dingy red solo cup as if she's a jockey in the Kentucky Derby and the cup's the reins. Her grip definitely doesn't relax as she notices my approach, but on the positive side she doesn't run in the opposite direction, so I'm making progress at least. It's small progress but still progress is progress, and I'm well aware I'm grasping at straws, but I've accepted it at this point.

"I'm really getting sick of this," is her, oh so friendly, greeting. The warmth that used to radiate from her constantly is long gone from her tone, instead there's this undercurrent of distaste, as if it physically sickens her to just be in my presence. She used to glow when she saw me, now, she seems to darken, and that weight on my shoulders gets a bit heavier.

"I don't want to fight either," I assure her, and she looks so sad for a moment, but then he expression hardens into a cold mask that I could barely believe she's capable off.

"Do you remember the last time you said that to me?" She asks suddenly, her voice much more revealing than her expression. There's pain laced in every syllable and she releases the death grip on her cup to pull her arms closer into her body, as if she needs to protect herself from me. The distrust hurts, even though I understand it, I don't like it. I process her words slowly, but then the memory shatters on top of me, slicing my skin as it does.

"The night before the party with Madison," I remember, my tone somber and my eyes cast down, I can't look at her as I think about that night. Maybe this wouldn't make me feel so horrible if it were anyone other than Jane that I screwed over. She had always been genuine and sincere with everything she did, but she never saw any of those good traits. She was always so hard on herself, and I knew that would only get worse after she found out about my mistake. Another girl would've bounced back with an "F*** You" thrown over her shoulder on her way out the door, but Jane, somehow, managed to turn it back on herself. With everything else spiraling around her, I knew I shouldn't tell her about it, but then she was looking at me, and she told me... what she told me. I couldn't keep lying to her, not when she was being so honest with me. Now, being honest and open seems to be the last thing on her mind.

"We had been fighting so much, and at the time, I really meant it." I tell her, rubbing my temples just from the memory of the stress of those last few weeks together. We had been at each other's throats, fighting about me leaving at the end of the month, and we both said these awful things to each other.

"Oh yeah, you meant it so much that you hooked up with the first hussy you could find." Her eyes are sharp and cutting as she looks at me, as if she's imagining slicing me into a billion pieces.

"It wasn't like that." I promise. "I hated all that stuff you had said about me the day before and then I got drunk… and Madison was just an escape from everything going on." I'm desperate to make her see it for what it was: an idiotic mistake and not something that should define either of us or our history together.

I'm not one of those guys who can just toy with girls like puppets on a string, and if I was, there's no way I could ever intentionally do that to Jane. It took forever and a day to stop hating everything and everybody for what happened, and I refuse to continue to let Jane go down that road.

"You said some harsh stuff too, Zach, don't try to pretend any different, but I didn't go falling into bed with other guys for comfort…. I could've but I didn't."Her shoulders curl in as she speaks, and I know her well enough to recognize when the anger's starting to fade, and she starting to break down, but I can't let this all remain unsaid.

"No, instead you didn't speak to me for days and hid to avoid taking responsibility." The words are out before I can stop them, and her hand tightens into a fist and I can tell she's this close to punching me.

"You're right, yours was a much more mature reaction: cheat, pretend nothing's wrong, tell a pretty story to get back on to my good side, lie some more, and then pull me into the back of your car to allow me to further make an idiot out of myself." Her eyes narrow and clearly angry as she steps a bit close, the fight back in her gaze. Her words going for the jugular, by reminding me of those moments in the car before my confession. Everything had seemed so perfect, and even though I knew it wasn't fair to be with her like that with a secret hovering between us, I wanted it; I wanted to pretend everything was perfect just as much as she did.

"Jane, you meant so much to me, and I cared so much about you…." I try to explain everything that was going on in my head, but before I can finish, her hand is flying towards my face, smacking me hard enough to leave a mark and a definite sting.

"Don't you dare, don't you dare pretend I meant anything to you, I won't be lied to." She hisses, tears pricking at her eyes, I try to stop her, but she's already disappearing into the crowd.

AN: Originally, I didn't really like this chapter, but now I'm pretty proud of it. I'd be ecstatic to get fifty reviews and if this story gets there, I can promise some excellent fluffiness in the near future. Also, what do you guys think of the Anna/ Trenton scenario, should I keep it or ditch it?