Anything Goes on a Friday Night (17 page)

I
HAD JUST FINISHED UP
counting down my drawer, concluding my Friday night shift at work, and was walking out into the parking lot when thoughts of the past two weeks I was trying to forget about bombarded my mind.

Finn was avoiding me. I had done it. I officially ruined our friendship. He was fine with Jane and Tryston. He was fine with everyone except me. I hadn’t even tried to talk to him since the day he sped out of the school parking lot because I knew if I did, it’d only make it worse.

When I heard he was kind of seeing another girl, I had no desire to have any more hope for us. I understood why he didn’t want to be friends anymore. I’d told him I was starting to have feelings for him, and now that he had a girlfriend, why would he want to be around me? Knowing Finn, he didn’t want it to hurt my feelings, so he figured it’d be better to just avoid me altogether.

Jane and Tryston had no clue what was going on between us, and they didn’t need to. I didn’t want to weird them out too. They just blew it off as Finn was dating someone, so his time with us was limited.

Once I got to my car, I saw Alyssa and a few of my other friends waiting in the parking lot for me.

How’d they know I worked here?

“Elena Johnson, you have some serious explaining to do!” Alyssa yelled with her hands on her hips.

She pushed off the car she was leaning against and came stomping toward me. My purse hung by my side, and I just stared at her and the others with my mouth open. Once Alyssa reached me, her arms flung around me and held me tight.

“We heard. Channing told us what happened. Why didn’t you tell us? Why did you just stop talking to us all?”

I wrapped my arms around her. “Because I thought it would fix the hurt, but it didn’t. I’m so sorry, Alyssa! I was so confused and lost.”

She squeezed a bit tighter then let her arms fall to her side. She stepped back a little. “Well, we aren’t letting you walk away from us. You’re still our friend, dammit.”

I smiled and laughed a little. “Yes, ma’am.”

Everyone else came out of their cars, and we all formed a group hug.

After many laughs and a lot of convincing, I was talked into going to hang out at the parking lot in Fredericksburg that night. I was promised Channing and Katie wouldn’t be there, and that if they did show up, they’d probably both get a good ass kickin’. I wouldn’t mind seeing that.

I SAT ON DILLON’S
tailgate, smoking a cigarette. I had fruit punch and pure-grain alcohol in a styrofoam cup. I hadn’t planned on drinking, but Alyssa insisted and had made a special run to the bootlegger just for me. She knew it was my favorite.

“The cops came and hung out with all of us last Friday night. We all had booze in our cups and were smoking dope. They had no idea, or maybe they did and just didn’t say anything. It was so funny!” Dillon laughed, and I passed him my cigarette.

Dillon was the fun-loving, teddy-bear-kind-of-guy that everyone loved. He always ended up being the DD. The poor guy always got shafted on the fun, making sure we were taken care of.

“I missed you, Dillon.”

“Of course you did. I can’t believe you just fell off the face of the earth like that. I get what Channing and Katie did to you was shitty, but you can’t just write us all off like that.”

I nodded and took a sip. “I know. I’m really sorry.”

“Alyssa went around Kerrville asking where you were. She went up to every single person at the Sonic until she finally found someone who knew you. They told her you worked at Kroger. So, we all went and waited.”

I laughed, and he handed the cigarette back. I took a long hit. “Alyssa is crazy.”

I looked up at the sky and smiled at the stars. It was a clear night and absolutely gorgeous out. I set my empty cup next to me and finished off the cigarette. I flicked the butt onto the concrete and laid back in the bed of Dillon’s truck. I closed my eyes as I started to feel the buzz from the alcohol. I smiled and touched my cheeks.

“My face is warm,” I giggled.

“Someone is tips—” Dillon’s sing-song voice stopped, and his hand pressed firmly on my chest, right above my breast. I tried to move his hand but couldn’t. “Shhh, stay down. Trust me,” he said in a harsh whisper.

“What’s going on?” I tried to sit up again, but he wouldn’t let me. “Dillon!”

“Channing and Katie just pulled up. They have some damn nerve! And they’re riding together!” I tried to move again but he whispered, “Just stay down.”

I caught him off guard and shoved his hand off. I sat up and jumped off the tailgate. I stumbled once my feet hit the ground.
Dammit
, I hated being such a lightweight when I drank. I also become majorly confident as well. Not a good mixture when I’m royally pissed.

I watched them both get out of Katie’s car. Everyone was silent, their eyes moving from me to Channing and Katie. I stood there, my hands trembling. Alyssa came over and stepped in front of me, shielding me from them.

“I wouldn’t come around here right now,” she said calmly.

“People make mistakes, Alyssa. Everyone deserves a second chance. What’s done is done. Elena can either get over it just like the rest of you can, or you can all pretend to be perfect and hate us forever. Everyone does shit they aren’t proud of. Let’s move on already!” Katie answered.

Okay, so Katie was kind of right. People do make mistakes. People do deserve second chances. But I was not the type of person who gave someone a second chance to fuck me over. Not with something like what they did.

I moved swiftly around Alyssa and jumped on Katie, attacking like a rabid dog. I felt like a lunatic, but I didn’t care. Not in that moment. We both fell to the ground, and I crawled across the concrete until I was straddling her lap. My fists plummeted her face, her ribs, and wherever I could hit her as she moved around. Everything in front of me was a blur, and I realized tears were blocking my vision.

I was about to go in for another punch when forceful hands dragged me away from her. I was still shouting profanity, calling the stupid bitch every name under the sun, when I was shoved into the backseat of Alyssa’s car. Alyssa hugged me while she rubbed my back, trying to help me calm down.

“Just drive somewhere! I don’t care where! We have to get her out of here!” she shouted at the person in the driver’s seat. I didn’t know who it was; I never looked.

“I hate them! You said they wouldn’t be there! Why were they there?” I was a freaking mess and couldn’t slow my breathing down.

“I had no idea! I figured they wouldn’t be dumb enough to show up. I’m so sorry, Ellie. I really am.” Alyssa continued to rub my back. It seemed to help a little.

I took several deep breaths, and once I was semi-calm, I moved out of her hold and sat back against the seat. I laid my head back against the leather and closed my eyes.

“I can’t believe I hit her.”

“Well, you did. Several times. I think you may have broken her nose.”

I laughed and turned to look at Alyssa. “Really?”

She nodded and smirked. “She hit you good a few times too, but you definitely won that fight.”

I laughed, but it slowly faded when I felt the ache in my jaw and left shoulder. I rubbed both areas trying to relieve the pain.

“Can you guys take me back to my car in Kerrville?”

“Are you okay to drive?” The guy asked from the front seat. I squinted my eyes to get a better look at him, but I had never seen him before.

“Yeah. I didn’t drink enough to keep me from driving. I’m good.” That was a lie, but I just wanted to get to my car and to go home. I looked at Alyssa. “Who is he?” I whispered.

“Mark. My boyfriend.”

“Oh. Is he new at school?”

She shook her head and smiled. “He graduated two years ago. Don’t tell my parents; they’ll freak out.”

We both laughed, and then I closed my eyes, so I could calm down before we got to my car.

K
ATIE GOT ME GOOD.
I had a black right eye and a cut on the left side of my bottom lip. But she was worse. I smiled at that. The bitch deserved it.

I sat down in sixth period in my usual spot. Finn had changed spots, so he could be closer to his girlfriend Jenna. I had hoped that by the end of the weekend I would look better, but I didn’t. I looked like a freak show, but I wore it proudly.

I could feel eyes on me, so I looked to my left where Finn was sitting behind Jenna. I smiled at him a little. I wanted to be angry with him, but you didn’t stay mad at Finn. You just didn’t. It was my fault he wasn’t talking to me anyway.

He touched his lip and pointed at mine. I shrugged. He pointed to his eye and then at mine. I shrugged again. He shook his head and leaned back in his seat, resting his feet on the metal bar on the back of Jenna’s chair. She was busily working on something. He took his phone out of his pocket and motioned with his hand toward my purse. I took the hint and pulled my phone out.

Finn: Wtf?

Me: It’s a long story. I’m fine though.

Finn: Promise?

Me: Yeah. But what right do you have to care or ask about it? You’ve been avoiding me for two weeks. #jerkface

Finn: Sorry. After you said what you did at your house, it made things weird, Ellie. I didn’t know how to talk to you. If I was nice, I thought you’d take it the wrong way; if I was mean, I figured you take it the wrong way too. I just didn’t know how to be me around you anymore. I miss you, but now, being with Jenna, I just can’t see it working out.

Me: I’m over it. It was just a thought, Finn. I thought I had feelings for you, but I was thinking too much into it. I was wrong. But I get it, if you can’t be friends with me anymore, I understand. I don’t like it, but it is what it is.

Finn: Just give me time to figure it out, and I promise we’ll talk. I like Jenna a lot and don’t want to mess things up.

Me: I understand.

Finn: Yeah?

I didn’t text back. Instead, I looked at him and waited for him to look over at me. When he did, I nodded and smiled. He smiled back and put his phone in his pocket. Truth was, I did understand. I liked Finn, and the feelings I was having were just me being a silly girl on rebound from a bad relationship. Of course I’d like the first guy who was nice to me. Girls did that kind of shit.

I looked at the book on my desk and opened it to where I’d left off. Maybe there was hope for our friendship after all.