The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

Sidney and Sorcha jumped apart in seconds, whipping their heads around to see Isabelle standing in front of the open door, eyes wide and lower lip quivering. She was on the verge of tears. The nineteen-year-old didn't linger, turning around and darting away in an instant.

Sidney scrambled out of the elevator before the door closed with Sorcha not far behind him. Isabelle was standing in front of her hotel room, fumbling with the key, choked sobs escaping her delicate mouth as she desperately tried to get into her room before her best friend and boyfriend reached her. She managed to get the door open by the time they reached her, but Sidney forced himself inside before she could slam the door in their faces.

"Isabelle -" Sidney began desperately. Sorcha entered the large hotel room after him, quietly shutting the door. He didn't understand how she could be so calm.

"I can't believe you would do this to me! How could you?!" Isabelle shrieked, tears streaming down her face.

Sidney opened his mouth, though he wasn't sure what he would say, what he could say, but then he realized his girlfriend was looking at Sorcha, not him.

"You think this is all my fault?" Sorcha shot back.

"I know Sidney, Sorcha. I know he wouldn't do this to me unless you forced him into it. What'd you do? Drug him? Get him drunk?" Isabelle said accusingly.

"Excuse me?"

"You can get any guy you want, Sorcha! And you've had most of them, so why couldn't you just leave my boyfriend alone?"

Sorcha sighed exasperatedly, ignoring Isabelle's jab at her history of promiscuity, mostly because the nineteen-year-old knew it was true, "You're overreacting, Belle, none of this shit means anything. You know it doesn't mean anything."

"Do you think that makes it better?! If anything, it makes things worse! I love him, Sorcha, and you just had to go and ruin everything. You couldn't stand me being so happy. You've always been jealous of me," she snapped.

"What the fuck do I have to be jealous about?"

"My family, my grades, my money, my bright future, my amazing boyfriend who would never get drunk, wreck his car, and kill himself."

Sorcha's glare faltered. Her chocolate brown eyes seemed to glaze over and she stood in a momentary daze. Sidney had never expected Isabelle to ever say such a thing to Sorcha's face. Sure, he gossiped about her so-called best friend behind her back, but Isabelle had never been a really vicious person. Of course, catching your boyfriend and best friend together changes a lot of things...

And, in the blink of an eye, Sorcha's glare had returned. She looked furious and her seething anger appeared to ooze out of every orifice of her body.

"How amazing can a boyfriend be when he sleeps with your supposed best friend four times?" she spat venomously. The nineteen-year-old said the only thing she knew would surely sting.

The fierce look on Isabelle's face slipped off in and instant, replaced by a mixture of hurt and confusion. She finally turned to Sidney.

"She's... she's lying... right?" Sidney didn't reply immediately. "Sidney?"

Still no response. In fact, he diverted his eyes. Isabelle's face crumpled. Tears began to reform in her eyes and her body began to tremble. She could barely look at either one of them.

"Belle," the twenty-two-year-old began tentatively, taking a step forward, placing a hand on her arm. She leapt back, jerking her arm away as if burned.

"Don't touch me," she said quietly, "Don't come near me, either one of you, ever again."

And with her words hanging in the air, she spun around and locked herself away in her room.

* * *

As I watched Isabelle run off, I felt a pang of guilt in my chest. Things shouldn't have happened this way. Isabelle shouldn't have had to find out this way. Because, while I had no qualms with my actions, this kind of thing shouldn't have been revealed in a heated screaming match.

Or, perhaps the pang was my heart wrenching at the mention of Andy. How dare Isabelle bring him up in such a situation. A situation that had absolutely nothing to do with him. How dare she bring him up at all. She doesn't know a single thing about his death. Not. A. Single. Thing.

I felt the tears begin to claw at the back of my eyes again as I sighed, combing my fingers through my hair and turning to Sidney. His face was flushed and he looked more confused than ever.

"Sidney, I -"

"Why'd you have to do that, Sorcha? Why'd you have you to let her find out this way?" he wondered softly. I bit my lip anxiously.

"Sidney, I -" I began again, taking a step toward Sidney, I latched onto the hem of his dress shirt, fingering it uncertainly. His intoxicating scent washed over me.

"Sorcha, I -I don't kn0w if I can do this," he whispered, pulling away. "Certainly not now... if ever."

And then he walked away, leaving me with a hurt expression, a confused mind, and a crushed soul.