"She's never gonna forgive me." Madison turns to me and says as we drive me Taylor's house. We were supposed to meet them at the mall but Madison decided that telling Jade in front of a bunch of people probably wasn't the best idea.
"Yes she will..." I pause and think for a second. "Maybe." I add and get a look from Madison. "What?" I ask defensively. "You know how Jade is." I say with a shrug, turning my eyes back to the road.
"I can't lose her Spence." Madison says softly in a sad voice.
"I know." I say just as softly. No matter how fucked up what Madison did was, I still don't want my best friend to suffer. We pull into Taylor's house and Jade's mom's car is in the driveway. "You ready?" I turn and ask my friend.
"No." She shakes her head and lets out a nervous laugh.
"Let's go." I say and get out the car. We make our way into Taylor's house they are all sitting out back by the pool. "Hello bitches." I greet my friends as I enter the backyard.
"Hey Spence, Hey Mads." Taylor and Gabby say in unison.
"Hey Spencer." Jade says without so much as a glance in Madison's direction.
"Hey Jade." Madison tries, only to receive a cold shoulder. I guess Jade is still mad about Katie texting Madison thing.
"Are we swimming?" I ask, trying to lighten the mood.
"We could." Taylor shrugs.
"I need a suit." I tell her.
"Okay. I got some extra ones in my closet." Taylor says untangling herself from her girlfriend and getting up from the lawn chair they were sitting on. "You coming?" She asks Gabby who nods and follows her into the house. I start following them and notice Jade trying to leave as well, probably not wanting to be alone with Madison.
"Jade can I talk to you?" I hear Madison say and I turn around, catching Madison's eyes. She looks worried but she gives me a subtle head nod letting me know she was okay to handle it alone. I nod back and follow Gabby and Taylor up to the room. I hope this doesn't blow up in Madison's face.
"What's going on with them?" Taylor asks as we start to get undressed to change into our swim suits.
"You'd have to ask Maddy." I tell her with a shrug. Although I do know what's going on, it's really not my business to tell.
"Jay seems really pissed at her." Gabby points out as she puts on a swimsuit top. Taylor tosses me a suit and I do the same.
"Do you see how she totally ignored her when she spoke. Madison must have really fucked up." Taylor adds. I think it's safe to say Madison did really fuck up.
"Are you fucking kidding me!?" We hear Jade yell from the backyard as we finish putting on our suits. We all run downstairs to the backdoor and watch from inside.
"Jade I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen. You know I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you." Madison says trying to grab Jade's arm to keep her from walking away.
"And yet, you did." Jade says snatching her hand away.
"I swear that it will never happen again baby, please." Madison tries to plead with Jade as Taylor, Gabby and I watch from the doorway.
"Fuck you, Madison." Jade says and starts walking away.
"Jade please." Madison says chasing after her. Jade stops and turns around to face Madison.
"You're right about one thing." She says and Madison looks confused. "It won't ever happen again cause I am so done with you."
"Jade." Madison says in a disbelieving voice.
"Leave me the hell alone." Is all Jade says before turning and walking away, pushing past us standing in the door. We were too in shock to move out of the way. I expected anger but this goes way beyond that.
"Jade." Madison says, once again chasing after her.
"You knew didn't you?" Jade stops and asks me.
Wait what?
She thinks I knew about Madison fucking Katie the day we talked in the bathroom?
How insulting. I wouldn't do that to Jade, she's just as much my friend as Madison.
"No." I tell her. In utter disbelief that she would even think that. "I swear I didn't know." I tell her truthfully.
"Sorry." Is all she says before running out the door. Seconds later we hear the tires of her mom's car screeching out of the driveway.
"Spence." Is all Madison says as she reaches me and I know that all she needs right now is a friend. I grab hold of her, saying a quick goodbye to Taylor and Gabby, letting them know I'll call them later. I usher Madison into the car and drive back to my house. I hurriedly get her inside and up to my room.
"I'm sorry Maddy." Is all I can think to say but I'm fairly sure I should have just kept my mouth shut because she started crying. "I don't know what to do here Mads." I tell her honestly. I just settle on being a good friend and holding her.
She cried in my arms for over an hour before she went to the bathroom and cleaned herself up.
"I've lost her forever Spence." Madison says as she comes out of the bathroom and flops down on my bed.
"You don't know that Mads. She was upset, you just need to give her some space right now."
"Space is the last thing I wanna give her Spence. I just wanna make things right, but I don't know how."
"Neither do I, Mads." I tell her as she cuddled up into me.
"I can't live without her." Madison says as she tries to suppress a yawn.
"I know." I nod and run my fingers through her hair.
"She's never gonna forgive me." She says sounding like she could erupt into tears again at any moment.
"Stop thinking about it. You're only making things worse on yourself. Tomorrow at school, just try to talk to her again." I suggest and she nods as she finally lets herself yawn. She snuggled up closer to me and closes her eyes.
"You're a great friend Spence." She tells me in a sleepy voice.
"I know." I say with a small smile and I don't have to look down to know that Madison has fallen asleep. I guess today wore her out. I wasn't sleepy so I went downstairs and made me something to eat and watched T.V.
"Mom said to tell you she's working late." Glen comes into the living room and says to me.
"Okay." I tell him. "Where have you been?" I ask, suddenly realizing I haven't seen him in forever.
"You know..." He pauses and shrugs. "Busy." is all he says putting a grape in his mouth then walking away.
I swear he get's weirder and weirder.
Or creepier...
After watching a few hours of T.V I realize it's getting late and that I should probably go to sleep. I head up to my room and make my way into the bathroom to shower. My phone rings as I'm about to get undressed. I look at my caller ID and see it's Ashley.
I guess now she has time for me.
"Hello." Is all I say when I answer the phone. She doesn't deserve anything better than that, the way I'm feeling right now.
"Hi." She says back, matching my tone. Guess my greeting kind of caught her off guard. I have every right to be upset though. My whole day has been downhill since that conversation with her earlier, if you can even call it that.
"So you have time for me now?" I ask sarcastically. She apologizes then gives me some bullshit excuse and of course Emily was apart of that excuse.
"Nice." Is all I say back. Honestly, I'm over Emily and Katie. Now you see why I got some kind of feeling when I was around them. If Katie can fuck Madison knowing she has a girlfriend, why shouldn't I expect Emily to try and do the same with MY girlfriend.
"What's wrong?" She asks and I can hear the confusion in her voice. I wonder if she knows about Madison and Katie.
"You wanna know what's wrong, it's your little friend Katie!" I snap. I glance out in the room to make sure Madison was still asleep. "I knew there was a reason why I didn't like her. You know her and Madison hooked up right?" I ask, already half way knowing the answer.
"Yeah, Emily told me today." Oh my God! Emily, Emily, Emily.
"Nice...Emily. I gotta go Ashley, I'm tired." I say with absolutely no emotion. Honestly, I'm just ready for today to be over with.
"What's wrong with you?" She asks me in a confused tone. "I didn't make Madison cheat on Jade." She adds, and I know she's right, but Katie is her friend so...
"Mhm." Is all I say. I'm really not in the mood to talk anymore.
"Right...yeah. I'll talk to you later." She says and I say a quick bye and hang up before she could say anything back. I take a shower then hop into my bed. It wasn't long before I was asleep.
–
"So you just hung up on her?" Madison asks.
"Kinda." I say and nod. Madison and I have been up since like the butt crack of dawn discussing... well everything. We talked about ways she could win back Jade then I told her about my conversation with Ashley last night and how I don't trust Emily.
"Maybe you were just a little too harsh on her Spence. She's right, she didn't make me and Katie sleep together. And from what Katie told me, she didn't even know. She didn't tell her because she knew that she would tell you and she didn't want to put you in that predicament.
Oh how thoughtful of her.
Insert sarcasm here.
"Should I call Ashley and apologize?" I ask.
"Yeah." Madison nods. Ugh! I know she's right. I was way too hard on Ashley last night, well yesterday in general. I think this week of not talking to her has made me delirious. I grab my phone off the nightstand and call her. I know she's probably still asleep cause it's only five in the morning here. And she's notorious for being late to school. It rings a few times before she answers. Wait... this isn't Ashley's sleepy voice.
"Hello, who's this?" I ask.
"It's Em-" She didn't have to finish her sentence for me to know it was Emily.
"Unfuckingbelievable." Is all I say before hanging up and powering off my phone. I know Ashley is gonna try and call me back and I don't wanna talk to her right now.
"What is it?" Madison asks confused.
"Emily." I tell her before getting up and going into the bathroom.
"Spencer, what about Emily?" Madison asks, following behind me.
"Emily answered Ashley's phone. That means she stayed the night." I point out and Madison makes and 'Oh' face.
"Maybe not." Madison tries. "She could just be there to pick Ashley up.
"She sounded like she just woke up Madison!" I say Madison's name a little louder than I intended.
"Okay, Okay." She says holding her hands up. "But Spence, maybe you shouldn't just jump to conclusions. Ashley could have a good explanation."
"You're the last person I want giving me relationship advice right now." Comes out of my mouth before I have a chance to stop it. "I didn't mean that Mads, I'm sorry." I counter quickly. "I'm just..."
"You're just upset and lashing out." Madison smiles and shakes her head. "It's fine. We should get ready for school." Madison says just as her phone starts ringing. She goes over and grabs it from the nightstand. "It's Ashley." She says holding it out towards me.
"I don't wanna talk to her." I shake my head. Madison hits the reject button only to have Ashley call right back.
"Spence, she's just gonna keep calling." Madison points out.
"I don't care." I tell her as I put toothpaste on my toothbrush.
"It's my phone, Spencer." Madison points out.
I take my toothbrush from my mouth and say... "Just turn it off."
"What if Jade calls?"
"We're going to school Mads, she has all our classes." I point out.
"Oh yeah." She says softly before turning off her phone and tossing it on the bed.
–
School is surprisingly going by fast.
See what happens when I actually pay attention my classes and do something productive for once.
I hate all this tension around me so I busied myself with my work.
Jade has been avoiding Madison at all cost, which is kinda hard considering we picked all our classes so we can all be together.
I just saw Madison pass Jade a note. Jade just pressed her palm to it and slid it away from her. She continues writing as fast as she can to finish her worksheet. Lucky, for her that the teacher said whoever finishes can leave early. It's like me and Jade has the idea about keeping busy.
I saw Madison who's sitting in front of me physically deflate while looking in Jade's direction.
I discreetly passed Madison my worksheet knowing she didn't even bother starting hers. As soon as Madison grabs the paper from me our attention was on Jade who got up and gave her paper to the teacher. She left without looking at us but not before throwing Madison's letter in the trash.
Madison sighed and copied my worksheet. We left class and went to lunch where Jade was of course, no where to be found.
"What'd you do, Mads?" Taylor asks biting into her burger. Oh yeah, they still don't know all the details. I never called them back last night.
Madison sighs and shakes her head. "You can tell them." She looks at me and says. I guess she didn't really feel like talking about it.
"Well..." I start and Madison gets up from the table.
"I'll see you guys next period." She says and walks away before I have a chance to respond.
"Spence?" Taylor prompts me to continue with the story.
"Oh yeah." I say turning my attention back to my friends. "When we were in South Carolina, Madison kinda slept with one of Ashley's friends." I tell them and they both gasp.
"And you let her?" Gabby asks. What the fuck? I'm not anyone's mother here. Madison's a big girl.
"I didn't know about it until yesterday." I assure them.
"I'm so glad you didn't go on that trip." Gabby loudly whispers in Taylor's ear. I shake my head at her and turn to look out at all the people in the Quad.
"And what's up with you?" Taylor asks. I turn and look at her and I'm sure my eyes are giving me away right now.
"Ashley and I are fighting." I say truthfully.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Taylor asks me genuinely.
"Not so much." I shake my head.
"Well, I'm here Spence. We've been friends a long time too and you know you can come to me for anything." Taylor tells me and I give her a small smile and say a quiet 'thanks.'
The rest of school went really quickly. Jade continued to ignore Madison, Madison made numerous attempts to give Jade notes, each ending up in the trash and I... well... I continued to think about Ashley. Wondering what possible reason she could have for letting another girl spend the night in her bed.
After school Maddy and I went back to my house. We both felt like crap so we decided to feel like crap together.
"Hey mom." I greet my mom as Madison and I walk into the house. She's on the phone so she holds a finger up, signaling me to wait a minute. Madison continues up to my room while I wait for my mom to finish her conversation. Then I hear a name I didn't expect to.
"Okay Ashley, she's right here. Hold on one second." My mom says pulling the phone down from her ear and covering it with her hand. I started shaking my head before she even asked me anything. "Why is Ashley calling my phone to speak with you Spencer?" My mom asks and I shrug.
"Maybe cause mine is turned off." I tell her.
"And why is that?" She asks.
"Cause I don't want to speak with anyone today." I tell her nonchalantly.
"Ashley, Spencer is indisposed at the moment I will have her give you a call back." My mother says politely to my probably ex-girlfriend. Ashley says something else because my mom gives me a look then they say their goodbyes and hang up. "You wanna tell me what's going on?" My mother asks and I shake my head. My crumbling relationship with Ashley isn't really something I would like to discuss with my mom at the moment. Or ever... "Spencer, Ashley says that you two had a fight and that another girl answered her phone this morning and now you're upset with her because you think something may have happened between..."
"Oh my God!" I cut my mom off. This is seriously not a conversation I want to have with my mom.
"Ashley's an as..." I trail off, realizing who I was talking to. My mom gives me a look like she knows what I was about to say. "I don't wanna speak her." I settle on.
"Spencer, she was crying the entire time we were on the phone together. She is really broken up about your fight." My mom says, and I can't help but think she's taking Ashley's side in all this.
"Mom you don't know the whole story." I tell her.
"So enlighten me." She says taking a seat on the couch.
Ugh!
I don't wanna have this conversation but I know she isn't gonna back down until I tell her.
I tell her everything, going back to when we were in South Carolina, and I kinda had to tell her about Madison and Katie for everything to make sense.
"Wow." Is all my mom says when I'm done.
"Yeah." I nod my head. "So you see why I can't talk to her right now."
"I still think that you should speak with her and find out her side of the story." My mom tells me and I roll my eyes. Her and Madison and this letting her tell her side.
"Maybe." I tell my mom, knowing I'm not going to. I'm mad right now and talking to her would really only make things worse and she may really become my ex-girlfriend.
"Okay good." My mother says with a smile standing up. "Will Madison be joining us for dinner?" She asks making her way into the kitchen.
"Yeah, I think." I say following behind her. "Can she spend the night too, this whole Jade thing is really getting to her." I say and my mom just nods and smiles. I give my mother a strained smile then head up to my room.
I'm not wrong in being this angry with Ashley...am I?