Chapter 113

“Why the fuck is he here?” Jack snaps, glaring at me. I just shrug and look away from everyone.

“Lucy, why weren’t you coming over?” Zac says from behind me. I turn around and almost have a heart attack when I see that whole group stood next to me. I quickly look at Jack who is grinding his teeth together, before looking back at Zac in shock. I did not think he would come over when I’m with Jack.

“Um, I... I didn’t see you” I stutter.

“Oh, well I’m glad you could join us. I didn’t think Jack would want to come knowing that I’m here” Zac chuckles, looking at Jack’s face turn from a scowl to complete shock. I feel like Zac’s just said that to drop me in it.

“You fucking invited him!?” Jack shouts. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“No, Jack it’s not-“

“You fucking used me to come and see him!?” he manages to raise his voice even further, pointing directly at Zac.

“I didn’t use you, Jack. Conor invited us and I thought you could work things out” I lie, only realising how much of a bad friend I am after saying it.

“No I didn’t” Conor frowns in confusion.

“Stop fucking lying to me! Why the fuck would Conor invite me after arguing with me all week?” he stands up from his seat. I automatically stand up with him making Zac, Conor, Leo and Adrian take a step back in sync. I’ve dug myself a fucking deep hole here.

“I-I don’t know” I panic. “Conor told me to invite the group”

“No I didn’t” Conor repeats himself and I can tell even he’s getting angry. Except that isn’t a lie. Zac told me that Conor wanted me to come to the club and to bring the group.

“Zac said you did” I frown, glancing at Zac who has the biggest smirk on his face.

“I just wanted a little get together” Zac raises his hands in defence.

“Zac, come on” Conor sighs making Zac burst out laughing. What an absolute-

“You nasty fucking two-faced bitch” Jack practically screams, slamming his fresh glass of beer on the table. “You know how much Zac and I don’t get on but you still had the fucking nerve to choose him over me”

“I didn’t choose him” I frown, shaking my head. “Why did you lie to me?” I turn to Zac.

“Dunno” he shrugs, unbothered by what he’s gotten me into.

“And to think I actually gave you a chance. Everyone was right about you. You’re just a dickhead” I spit, making his smug grin turn into a scowl. I hate him. I literally do.

“Conor, don’t you have something to say to Lucy?” he turns to Conor, bringing his smirk back again.

“Zac, don’t” Conor sighs again, running his fingers through his hair.

“No, she wants to talk to you, remember?” Zac shrugs, smirking.

“What do you want to say to me?” I ask confidently, ignoring the huge glare that I can feel Jack giving me. Conor turns to Zac as if he’s asking for permission for something. Zac gives him a nod, smiling widely.

“I think we should break up” Conor shrugs, practically unbothered by his words, whereas they shoot through me like a bullet. “It’s just not working” he smirks, looking me dead in the eye.

“What the hell?” I mutter.

“Well you’re constantly pecking my head and stuff. We’re not right” he chuckles. Why is he laughing!? “And it’s not like it was anything serious. I’m only fucking sixteen” he looks at his group who burst into fits of laughter. I glance over at Jack and see him just glaring at Conor in absolute disgust. Tears are brimming my eyes at how easily he’s taking this. I was slightly prepared for a break-up but this is just another level.

“Conor, tell her the other thing” Zac places his hand on Conor’s shoulder, his laugh dying down slightly.

Conor smirks, “You’re not really my type anyway”

A chorus of ‘ooo’s echo around his group as Conor proudly takes a sip of his beer. Zac’s in fits of laughter, holding onto Conor as if he needs support standing up.

I am furious. I can’t even think straight. I’m frozen. I don’t know what to do or how to react.

“You fucking dickhead” Jack says, practically pouncing on Zac and throwing punch after punch at his face. I gasp in shock as I see the two of them roll around on the floor throwing punches at each other, attracting a huge crowd.

“Do something!” I shout at Conor but he just stands there, smirking to himself. “Fucking do something!” I try communicating to the muted boys that hang around with Zac. There’s no way that I can split Zac and Jack up. This is almost as bad as the fight that Conor and Ben got into at my house.

Adrian and Leo finally step in and try dragging Zac away from Jack. I try to grab Jacks arm, succeeding for a second or so before being pushed back into the bar. Zac eventually gets dragged off Jack just as security makes their way over.

“Don’t even fucking bother coming back home” Jack points at Conor. Conor frowns lightly, looking to the floor as if he’s ashamed of himself. I hope he is.

“I’m going to have to ask one of you to leave” the tall security guard exchanged glances between Jack and Zac.

“Don’t worry, I’m going” Jack raises his hands in defeat, storming out of the club. I tag behind him, following him straight out and trying to catch up with him, storming down the street.

I feel sick. I have tears streaming down my face and I’m practically running to catch up with Jack. I’ve just been dumped in the most heartbreaking and humiliating way possible. My best friend most likely wants me dead and the only thing that I’m happy for is the fact that I chose to wear my converse tonight.

I hate Conor, Zac, and most of all, I hate myself. I’m a ‘nasty fucking two-faced bitch’. I know I am. I brought all this onto myself. The fight, the argument with Jack... I made all this happen and I hate myself for it. I’ve done some awful things in the past but this just tops it off. I feel so low.

“Jack, please wait” I call, wiping away a stream of tears.

“What the fuck do you want from me, Lucy!?” he snaps, stopping in his tracks and turning to face me. I halt to a stop and stare at his face in panic. His right cheek is bruised and his left eye is almost black. His nose is bleeding and he has several cuts all over his face.

“I’m so so sorry” I almost gasp, covering my mouth with my hands.

“Nothing you can possibly say is ever going to make me and you friends again. I’m fucking done with your shit now. I’m done with you” he says with his hands. I wipe away another stream of tears.

“What am I supposed to do? You can’t expect me to just go home after all this and live with not being friends with you all of a sudden” I cry.

“All of a sudden? I’m sure you had plenty of time to think what that could’ve lead to when you were scheming against me all week. It shouldn’t be a fucking surprise to you, Lucy!” he shouts in my face.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen” I cry even harder.

“Of course you didn’t! You expected you and Conor to skip off into the rainbow together and as for me. Oh, I’ll just get over it won’t I?” he shrugs. “Because you never think about me in situations like this. It’s always that pathetic excuse of a boyfriend that comes first for you, isn’t it!? Fuck what Jack thinks!”

“It wasn’t like that” I shake my head in disagreement. I guess it’s kind of like that but it sounds so much harsher when he says it. I do care about what Jack thinks. I do care about him but I completely understand why he thinks I don’t. If I was in his shoes, I wouldn’t even be looking at me right now. I’d never talk to me again.

“I’m sure it wasn’t. What excuse do you have this time, Lucy?” he pauses, giving me a few seconds to respond but he takes my silence as a queue to snap at me again, which I don’t blame him for. “You know what? I doubted myself last week but I was right. You and Conor are really fucking done”

“Jack-“

“And I’m not going to be a mug and stay around to comfort you this time seeing as you wouldn’t do the same for me. You’re on your fucking own” he snaps.

“Just listen to me!” I shout over him and he looks slightly taken aback. Before he storms off again and leaves me stranded (not exactly but, you know), he needs to hear what I have to say in all this.

“What?” he snaps again.

“How do you think I feel in all this, Jack? I hate myself and I couldn’t think any smaller of myself right now. I’m the worst ‘best friend’ in the world. I feel worthless. My boyfriend that I’ve been in love with for four months has just fucked me off and I’ve just gotten someone that means the world to me in a fight with the devil himself” I take a quick breather before continuing on my rant. “I get it, I’m the biggest fuck up in the world. I’ve learnt that now but I do have my reasons no matter how pathetic they are and I’d appreciate it if you let me talk to you about it before you just decide that you never want to see me again”

“I don’t see why-“

“Jack, please just let me sort out your face. I can’t leave you like this” I interrupt him as calmly as possible. I hope he realises that I’ve sorted Conor out after many fights, and that he doesn’t have any hospitality skills what-so-ever. I doubt he’d want his Mum seeing him like this so I’m praying that he realises that I’m his best bet.

“Fine” he huffs. We walk in silence back to Jack’s house and when we get there, we walk through the back and sneak into his kitchen. “Keep quiet so my Mum doesn’t come in” he demands and I give him a quick nod.

“Do you have a first aid kit or anything in here?” I mutter. He sighs, shaking his head slightly.

“I don’t know”

I route through his cupboards for a while until I find a giant one in the back of his crisp cupboard. I pull it out and sit it on the island that Jack’s sat next to. I open it up and pull out an antiseptic wipe. I have no idea what half of the things in this box do but from previous experiences, I know that an antiseptic wipe is meant to wipe away blood and stuff to stop you from getting infections or something. I don’t know...

I gently wipe it over his face making him wince in pain.

“Sorry” I softly mutter and he just sighs. “We soon sobered up” I try to joke but he just stares at me with a blank expression on his face.

I decide I’ve done the best I can with his face after cleaning it all and putting some ice on his cheek. I’m not as good as I expected to be honest. I pack up the first aid kit as Jack sends me daggers, and put it back in its cupboard.

“Can we please talk about this?” I sigh, facing Jack.

“There’s not much more to say. You used me” he shrugs.

“Well can I give my reasons?” I frown and he just shrugs again. I grab the opportunity whilst I can and try to get my story straight. “I was going to invite the whole group so I could just go off without any of you caring-“

“That’s a pretty stupid theory, Lucy” he nods.

“Yes, I know. But let’s be serious, whatever I decided wouldn’t have been right” I huff and he just stays quiet. “I didn’t expect it to just be you and I going and I felt so guilty for it all week. But I was willing to do anything to get mine and Conor’s relationship back on track”

“And look where that’s gotten you” he scoffs. A tear rolls down my cheek so I quickly wipe it away.

“Y-you’re my best friend and I never meant to hurt you like this” I stutter.

“No you just didn’t expect me to find out that you were going to fuck off and meet up with Conor and Zac. I can’t believe you used me like that, Lucy” he shakes his head at me.

“What else was I supposed to do!? Zac said that Conor invited me so I’m clearly going to take up the offer” I raise my voice slightly.

“What’s fucked me off the most is that you didn’t even talk to me about it. You say that we’re best friends but you kept this from me. If you’d have spoke to me and told me the truth about the club and shit, I wouldn’t have even let you go to meet him. If you were this desperate, I would’ve gotten you and Conor together so you could sort everything out because I of all people know that if Zac’s involved, it isn’t fucking good” he rants, turning away from me when he’s finished.

“I’ve learnt that now” I nod. “So we’re just not being friends now?”

“No” he scoffs.

“Jack, you didn’t tell me that my boyfriend was cheating on me and I fucking forgave you for that straight away” I almost shout. Yes, I’ve made a huge mistake tonight but why can’t we just sort things out? Without Jack and Conor, I’d literally feel worthless. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.

“Don’t you dare start bringing shit like that up! That’s a completely different situation and you know it” he snaps. I just want to curl up in a ball and cry right now. I hate arguing with Jack. “Well this conversation has ended now so you can go whenever you’re ready” he huffs, jumping out of his seat and beginning to leave the room.

“Jack, stop” I snap, grabbing his arm.

“Get the fuck off me” he raises his voice. “Look, me and you are done now. I don’t want to speak to you or even be with you so just fuck off!”

“Jack, what the hell’s going on?” Angela tiredly opens the kitchen door and stares at him in shock.

“Oh well done. Look what you’ve done now! Yet another fucking mistake of yours” he shouts at me before storming upstairs. Angela stares at me in shock and I literally just burst out crying for the second time tonight. I can’t bare this anymore.

“Lucy, what’s wrong?” she gasps, walking over to me and pulling me into a hug. Unable to form words, I stay wrapped up in her arms and just cry on her shoulder. Even knowing that she cares about me has made me feel a good 2% better about this whole situation.

After she’s finally calmed me down, she sits me down on one of the bar stools and passes me a glass of water.

“Are you going to tell me what’s happened?” she sighs, looking me in the eye. She deserves to know everything seeing as it involves both her sons, and seeing as she’s actually trying to help me here.

“Yeah” I sniffle, taking a large gulp of my ice cold water, curing my slight headache almost instantly. I feel so much calmer than I was before. I couldn’t stop shaking before...

“Okay, what’s going on?” she looks at me sympathetically.

After explaining everything that happened, she just looks at me in disappointment. I expected it to be honest and I don’t think of her any differently for doing it. She treats me like I’m family so of course she’s slightly disappointed in my decisions but as I was explaining what Conor did to me, she looked furious.

“I don’t know what to say, Lucy. This is such a mess” she sighs and I just nod in agreement. “Obviously you’re going to be bothered about what Conor’s done but I don’t want you to think it’s the end of the world. If he’s acting like that then he’s clearly not the same person that you fell in love with and it hurts for me to say that. I understand that he’s changed and so should you”

“Yeah, I do” I shrug. I do understand that Conor’s changed and if he was like this when I met him in September, I would’ve never fallen for him.

“I think you should be more concerned about your relationship with Jack. What you did was unnecessary but I’m not going to scold you for it because I understand why you did it. Jack’s had a few drinks so I know he’s angrier than what he actually is” she frowns.

“I doubt it. He hates me” I huff.

“He doesn’t hate you, Lucy. He hates what you’ve done but I know you two are way too close to just lose your friendship like that” she says, clicking her fingers together, making me smile slightly. “The best thing to do is sleep on it so you can both clear your minds and when you wake up, talk to each other. I’m sure if you explain what you did the way you explained it to me, he’ll forgive you”

“I hope so” I nod and she smiles slightly.

“Are you staying here tonight?”

“I don’t think so. Jack won’t want me to” I shake my head.

“I’ll deal with him. I know he won’t want you to go home like this. He cares about you way too much. He doesn’t shut up about you when he’s with me” she chuckles. I smile widely, getting the feeling that Jack actually does care about me, no matter what I’ve done. “I think it’s best for you to stay here tonight to clear your head”

“Okay” I nod.

“You can stay in the spare room and when you wake up, we’ll sort everything out with you and Jack. Don’t you worry” she assures me.

“Thank you so much” I smile, pulling her into a hug. “For everything”

“No problem. I’m always here for you” she mumbles, rubbing my back.