Bettering The Bruises

Once Mercedes and I dropped Emma off at her party, we were headed to the mall. Though I didn’t have a huge amount of cash, I had some. As we pulled into the parking lot, groups of people went every which way to get where they needed.

“Where would you like to go first?” she asked, as she linked her arm with mine.

“I’m not sure, let’s just see where the fates takes us,” I giggled as she joined along. Even though this week was one of the not-so-good ones, I was prepared to have fun today. Let loose you could say, even though I don’t know how much you can do of that at a public mall.

“Oh! Let’s go here!” she pulled me into a store, that I didn’t even get to see the name of.

As we flipped through clothes, I realized that one of my favorite songs just turned. That song happened to be Marry You by Bruno Mars. We started to sing along loudly to the words as other people stared at us with strange looks on there face. That’s when Mercedes and I both got into it, and we started dancing like wild people.

The song ended and by then, we couldn’t stop laughing. “That was fun,” I admitted.

“Amen,” she agreed. “Alright, let’s go try some of this stuff on.”

Outfit after outfit was thrown at me and Mercedes both, we took turns. Then we would strut around, and go back in the dressing room. This honestly felt good, I liked being able to just be carefree. This is how life usually was, just not this last week.

Next, we went to the food court to have lunch. This was going to be the time we would talk the most. So, I was slightly afraid she would get me to spill what had happened with Jake. She’d probably go all crazy on the boy, and I didn’t want her to get hurt by him or otherwise.

We sat down at a table that seemed clean, and began to eat.

That’s when she started to speak, “So, you really need to let me know what happened with Jake.”

Great, the one thing I didn’t want to talk about, she brings up first. I sighed, “I don’t really want to.”

“Come on Jen,” she huffed. “We are best friends. Why can’t you tell me what the hell happened? It must have been bad, because I’ve tried to convince you to dump the dick head for months now.”

“I think you’d get mad, that’s all,” I trailed off.

“I’m not going to get mad at you, I assure you that,” she smiled warmly.

I took a deep breath, “So I was at football practice on Wednesday, like usual. But, Jake called me down to talk to him right after practice was over. He was more or less trying to show me off to the team, which made Finn and Puck mad.”

“Puck?” she interrupted. “Since when have you known Puck?”

“On Wednesday,” I paused. “Anyway. Jake doesn’t like when people stand up to him. So to get him back, he slapped me straight across my face.”

“Oh hell no. Jenna are you kidding me?!” she yelled.

“Shh!” I whisper-yelled. “Please calm yourself. Anyway, Puck then started beating the shit out of him. That’s when Finn came along and took me away. Then the next day, Finn convinced me to break up with him. And that’s how I am officially broken up with Jacob Lawson.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she questioned.

“Because I knew you’d be furious with Jake. If I told you at school, you’d find him and tell him off. That’s why.” I took a sip of my soda as Mercedes calmed down; somewhat.

“You have a point there.” she hesitated. “Do you know why Puck did that?”

“I don’t know, trying to be a gentlemen?” I suggested.

Mercedes rolled her eyes, “Please. Puck isn’t a gentlemen. He likes to have sex with girls, then leave them hanging there to dry. He probably did that to get into your pants.”

Puck? I knew he was a bully, but a man whore? A complete douche bag? I find that highly hard to believe. Well, he sure is full of surprises.

“He doesn’t seem like the type of guy to do that,” I trailed off.

“Well, my only suggestion is this: Don’t get to close to Noah Puckerman. It’s only going to end in heartbreak,” she replied, as she took another bite of her sandwich.

As I looked up to after taking a bite, I saw Finn sitting alone at a table. He looked like he was close to tears, I wonder what was wrong.

“Hey look,” I pointed to him. “What’s up with him?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not that big of friends with Finn,” she shrugged.

It was bothering me - the look on his face was. He’s helped me through a lot already, he deserved the same from me.

“Do you mind if I go over there to see what’s wrong?” I asked.

“Sure,” she replied. “It’s totally fine.”

I smiled, “Okay, I’ll be back in a minute.”

I walked over to him, and sat across from him. The look on his face was even scarier up close. His eyes were wide and bloodshot. Plus, he kept staring onto the table, with his hands on his head. He looked like a complete mess.

“Finn?” I asked, as he jumped in surprise of my voice.

“Oh, hey Jenna,” he replied.

“What’s wrong?” I questioned.

“Oh, nothing,” he trailed off.

“Finn,” I stated. “You look like a mess. Something is wrong. Please, let me help you.”

He sighed, “Quinn’s pregnant.”