Hanging By a Moment

The next day I found myself invited to another party, this time by my somewhat boyfriend. It was hard to come to terms with my new found popularity; my phone rarely stopped ringing, and between hanging around with the Jonas’ and hanging out with everyone else that had taken an interest in me, I was rarely at home.

Today was no difference, and after dressing myself in a halter neck dress, blue down to the waist and then black from there on, coupling it with a pair of black flats. I accessorised with some blue and black bangles, and a black beaded necklace. I curled my hair, and then went down to say goodbye to my parents, by which time my phone rang and Nathan announced he was waiting in his car outside.

He gave me a quick once over as I climbed into the car and then turned his attention back to the road. I smiled as he said, “Cute,” before pulling away from the curb.

It was Nathan’s best friend Aaron’s party, and I’d been told that it wasn’t really going to be a big party, just a few friends, a couple of drinks and a good time. That wasn’t the case.

When Nathan and I pulled up, the party was in full swing and the house was bustling with people like every other party I’d been too that summer. In fact, this house was either way smaller than the rest of them or had a lot more guests. I decided to go with the latter since it was a pretty huge house.

As always the drinks were covering every available surface in the kitchen, and I grabbed a can of cider as Nathan grabbed a can of lager, then we made out way back through the house. As we pushed through the crowd into the living room, my phone began to ring in the black clutch bag I was holding, and Nathan wandered lazily over to a group of his friends whilst I stepped out of the front door and into the quiet garden to answer the call. It was Nick.

“Hey,” I said I sat down on the porch step.

“Hey,” He replied, “I’m bored do you want to go catch a movie or something?”

I bit my lip, “I’m busy at the moment; Nathan invited me to a party.” The other end of the line fell silent, “Nick are you still there?”

“Is that all you do lately? Party?” He snapped and I jumped slightly at his harsh tone, “Just forget it anyway, I’ll talk to you when you’re sober.”

“Hey!” I snapped, standing up in my anger and squeezing the phone tight, “I am perfectly sober!”

“Whatever, bye.” Then he hung up. I lowered the phone from my ear and stared at it, before cursing and dropping it back into my bag. When I stepped back through the front door and into the passageway, Nathan was waiting with two glasses of clear liquid. He passed one to me and I raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Water,” He stated, pressing his lips forcefully to mine, “Drink it.”

I brought the glass up to my lips and downed the liquid inside, gasping as it burned my throat, “That-” I started and he shrugged.

“Sorry, maybe that was my vodka. Come and have another can, you’re not drinking like you usually do.” He smirked; putting the two glasses on a chest of drawers and then dragging me back through to the kitchen.

Half an hour later when I’d finished another two cans, Nathan took my hand again and led me out of the kitchen and into the passageway. From there he began up the stairs, gripping my hand tightly so I couldn’t pull away. I followed him up the stairs, tripping over the top stair.

“What are we doing up here?” I asked.

“Just looking around.” He shrugged, opening a door, looking in and then withdrawing and closing the door again. Finally he found a room he seemed to like and walked in, pulling me behind him, “Perfect.” He smirked, shutting the door behind us. I backed up against one of the walls and he walked over to me, resting his hand on the wall beside my head and facing me, “This is perfect.”

“Perfect for what?” I gulped, trying to shuffle out of the way of him but he stepped back into my path.

“The two of us are alone in a room with a double bed in it,” He lowered his head and kissed my neck before saying, “You’re a smart girl Emma, you do the math.”

“Nathan I-” I was cut off as he crushed his lips onto mine, and then he pulled me away from the wall and down onto the bed. I fought to push him off, dropping my bag beside me as I did, but his strong build was too heavy for me. His tongue forced its way into my mouth, and his hand slid under my dress, running up my thigh and toying with the edge of my underwear. I felt tears spring to my eyes as I writhed, trying to push him off, and failing every time. His hand hooked in my underwear and pulled them down.

“Why are you fighting?” He asked as he kneeled up to undo his jeans and then pulled them down, along with his boxers. “Just relax and enjoy it.” Then his lips were on my neck again and I screamed but the music downstairs was too loud for anyone to hear me. I fumbled around on the bed to retrieve my bag, and then I opened it and pulled out of my phone. I lifted it up so I could see the screen and quickly dialled Nick’s number. Tears crashed down my face when he didn’t answer, and I searched for Joe. As the phone rang, Nathan’s fingers worked up my thigh again and I cried harder as he slid them into me.

I brought my knee up to meet with his crotch and he huffed in pain, loosening his hold on me enough so I could push him off. Then I jumped up from the bed, pulling up my underwear and grabbing my bag before running from the room. I ran down the stairs, skidding on the last few and falling, but I jumped up straight away and ran outside, leaving the door open behind me. I pulled out my phone again, dialling Nick’s number once more. This time he answered.

He was silent as I cried, but when I stopped talking he sounded panicked as he said, “Emma what’s happened? Where are you?”

I gave him the address and then added, “Please come and pick me up, now!” I begged.

“I’m on my way,” He promised, “Stay where you are.”

I stood at the end of the driveway, glancing over my shoulder for Nathan, for what seemed like hours but was really only five minutes, but then I decided to walk down the street, to get as far away from the house as I could before Nick got here.

Ten minutes later, his car sped round the corner and pulled up beside me. He jumped out of the car and ran around to meet me. Tears flowed again as he pulled me into him, “Emma what happened?” He asked, but I just shook my head, “Tell me, I can help.”

I gulped, “H-he tried to rape me.” I whispered. Nick’s breath caught and then he cursed, before straightening up and pushing me towards the car.

“Get in,” He ordered; I did as he said. He raced around to the driver’s side and climbed in, then drove in the direction of the house, “I’m going to fucking kill him!”

“Nick no!” I cried, “Please just take me home!” I begged.

“Not until I’ve kicked the shit out of him,” He swore, “How could he fucking do this!” Before I could answer, Nick had stopped the car outside of Aaron’s driveway and was climbing out. I followed his lead, but didn’t step closer to the house.

“NICK!” I screamed, “DON’T DO THIS!” He ignored me, either that or he didn’t hear me due to his anger; reluctantly I followed him into the house. I saw his curls bobbing over the crowd as he made his way into the living room and I followed.

“Where the fuck is he?!” I heard him shout, everyone in the room was looking at him and I gulped, fighting back fresh tears.

“Nick!” I cried.

“Emma go wait in the car.” He demanded, turning to look at me as I reached him, “Please.”

“Not without you, come on!” I begged, tugging at his arm. He pulled away and walked through the door close to us into the dining room. His eyes scanned the room, and then he froze; his eyes stopped searching and I stumbled into him as he stopped suddenly. “Nick-” I started, and then I saw what he was looking at. Poppy stood up from her seat, straddling a guy’s waist, and looked straight at Nick.

“Poppy?” He asked, as if trying to convince himself that she had a twin, when deep down he knew what he was seeing was his girlfriend.

“Nick I can explain!” She started and he glared at her, my eyes swivelled frantically from his face to hers.

“Save it!” He spat, “You’re nothing but a fucking whore, try going upstairs if you really want to go for it; Nathan wouldn’t have to use so much effort forcing himself on you.” He fixed a glare on his face, and then he took my hand, linking his fingers with mine, “Come on.” He muttered, and then we pushed through the crowd that had gathered to watch us, and headed back out to the car.

We drove in silence; I kept turning to look at him as he drove. Tears had formed in his eyes, but not so many that they spilled over. When he pulled up outside my house, he got out of the car and walked me to my front door. When we reached the front door I stopped, and then wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, his arms looped around my back. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but when we pulled away I had fresh tears running down my face, and so did Nick.

“Are you okay?” He asked, wiping his own tears away, “I can’t believe he did that. If anything had happened to you, I...” His shoulders drooped, defeated and I forced a small smile to my lips.

“I’m fine.” I promised him. At least, I would be fine, eventually. “I’m sorry about Poppy.” I added and he sighed.

“Me too.” I hugged him again and he turned to leave, but then I grabbed his hand and he turned back, looking confused.

“Stay the night?” I asked and he frowned, but nodded after a moment or two, and followed me into the house when I unlocked the door. All the lights were off downstairs, my family having gone to bed hours ago. We headed straight up stairs; as Nick headed into the bathroom, I changed into a pair of leggings and a red My Chemical Romance top before climbing into bed. When Nick walked into my room, he peeled off his shirt and slipped out of his jeans so he was stood only in his boxers, and then he climbed into the bed beside me. I cuddled into him and he wrapped his arm around me.

“I should have believed you,” He sighed and I shuffled around so I was facing him, “You warned me, and I didn’t believe you.”

“You liked her,” I replied, “You didn’t want to believe it.”

“I was stupid.” He shook his head and I sighed.

“So was I,” I replied, my thoughts reverting back to Nathan.

Nick pulled me close to him, and then kissed my cheek, “It’s just us two again, though.”

I smiled, “Believe me, I can live with that.” I sighed, and then let myself drift off to sleep.