Priceless

~~~

It was past 1 and John and Erin were still talking, whilst I’d chosen to go home and get ready for the night. I needed to talk to Mom about staying over “Erin’s”, and I knew she’d be too busy to talk to me later on.

Stephen offered to drive me, but Jess said she’d do it, and I couldn’t disagree with her because we needed to talk, and also I didn’t want to risk Mom seeing Stephen. But it was more on the Jess part, really.

The moment we were on the road, I started talking. “So what happened last night?” I asked.

Jess immediately rolled her eyes. “Kennedy was being a douche, as per usual.”

“Does that translate as Kennedy wanted to talk to me and I didn’t want to so I pushed him away?” I asked, and it came off a little bitchy than I wanted to.

Jess was caught off guard a little. “Bails—”

“Look, Jess,” I said, turning in my seat so I could fully face her, “I’ve been friends with Kenny for a long time, long enough for me to treat him like a brother. I care about him a lot, and don’t get me wrong, I care about you and I love you, but what you’re doing is just downright shitty.” I breathed deeply and Jess’s mouth dropped open. “Did you see Kennedy’s expression a while ago? I’ve never seen him like that, Jess. Even when he told me about Gabi, considering he’d been so smitten with her the first time they met—” I sighed again. “I know that you don’t want to do unsure stuff anymore, that he’s not a risk you’re willing to take, yeah you already told us...but can you please let him talk to you? Say what he wants? Just hear him out.”

Jess was frowning during my entire speech. Thirty seconds of silence followed my outburst, and then she let out a hefty sigh. “I’m scared, okay,” she admitted, sighing once more. “It’s Kennedy. I’ve been in-love with him for like, forever. Letting him in just scares me, because I don’t wanna be in too deep.” Another sigh. “Although I think I already am.”

“You have to talk to him, Jess,” I urged, my tone gentle this time. “You have to face reality.”

“Yeah. Whatever, I’ll call him later, ask if we can talk or something,” she said, sounding defeated. It made me smile.

“Then you’ll call me after and tell me everything?” I offered giddily, and she laughed.

“Then I’ll call you after and tell you everything.”

The conversation went downhill from there, and then finally we got to my house. I thanked Jess and told her I’d see her next week, then I walked inside.

~~~

The play finished at around 9 PM, and I was so excited to spend the night with Stephen. I just had to tell Logan about him, and ask for a ride to his house, then I’d have an amazing day. I didn’t enjoy the play, it really wasn’t my type, and Logan had apologized so many times for dragging me into it, but it was fine, because it wasn’t like he could ask anyone else to come with him.

“Bailey, thanks so much for coming with me, and I’m really sorry I dragged you into it,” he said for about the thirtieth time that night as we walked back to his car, his smile not leaving his face as he said those words. He looked at me. “I really owe you one.”

I rolled my eyes as I answered, “I told you it’s okay. We’re friends. Friends help each other, and while we’re on that matter...what—”

It all happened fast from there. He grabbed my wrist and spun me around so I could face him, and then he pulled me closer and kissed me on the lips. My eyes were wide open and I couldn’t process right away what was happening, and even before I could push him away, to let him down gently and tell him I had a boyfriend, someone grabbed my arm from behind, shoved Logan until he fell down and started punching his face.

My eyes were wide and I stayed still for about two seconds, not sure if this was all happening, then I realized it really was.

“Stephen!” I called upon seeing who the attacker was. I tried to pull him away but he wouldn’t budge, and then I felt someone help me.

“Stephen, stop it,” Josh yelled, grabbing his friend by the waist and hauling him away from Logan. Stephen was thin and it never crossed my mind that he was this strong, strong enough for Josh to have a hard time pulling him and strong enough to beat Logan and not let him even punch back once.

“Stay away from my girl, you motherfucker!” he yelled at Logan, who’d just sat up. I gawked at how bad he looked—his nose and mouth were bleeding.

“Oh my god,” I said as I tried to walk over to him, but Stephen glared at me.

“Don’t you fucking go there!” he yelled at me, his eyes burning with rage. I jumped back and looked at him. I’d never seen him that mad.

“It’s alright, Bailey,” Logan said as he finally stood up. His speech was somewhat slurred.

“But you’re blee—”

“I’ll go help him, Bails,” Josh said to me as he slowly let go of a shaking Stephen. He looked his friend in the eye. “And you,” he said, “calm the fuck down. Talk to her in your house or something, not here in public. You’re an ass.”

“You would’ve done the same thing,” Stephen snapped.

“I would’ve punched the guy once, Stephen,” Josh said. “Not four or five or six times, and I certainly wouldn’t have kicked.” He gave Stephen one last warning look before he walked over to Logan, who was slightly limping. I was still shocked at the whole scene, I couldn’t move. But when I finally did, I looked at Stephen. He ran his hand through his hair, and I could see he was still shaking. He met my gaze, his eyes dead.

“Car.” That was all he said before walking away. I followed him, not knowing what to say. But I wasn’t scared—I wasn’t scared of him. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me or anything, I just really didn’t know what to say, I didn’t want him to be mad at me though it was kinda clear that he already was.

We got in the car, but he slammed his door heavily than I did, and I realized it was the first time he didn’t open the car door for me. Then he just sat there, and rested his head on the steering wheel. He was still shaking, and I didn’t know what to say.

I started counting in my head, not knowing what else to do. I didn’t want to speak first so I figured I’d let Stephen do that. I was nervous, just nervous, not scared.

Finally, he lifted his head up and looked at me, his eyes filled with hurt. “Why did you kiss him, Bailey?”

3 minutes and 45 seconds, that was how long it took for him to speak to me. I shuffled on my seat and turned to him.

“I didn’t kiss him,” I protested. “I was talking and he suddenly kissed me and—”

“You told me you’d tell him about me.”

“I forgot,” I said honestly. “And I was going to, when he kissed me—but then”

“You were going to? So if he didn’t do that, you still wouldn’t have told him?”

“Stephen—”

I was cut off by him slamming his hand on the steering wheel. “Do you like this guy?!” he yelled, “What if I wasn’t here, how long would you have let him kiss you, huh?!” He wasn’t done. “Am I not enough for you, Bailey? Are you actually planning to replace me this way—”

“Replace you?” I repeated, my voice turning an octave higher. I couldn’t believe the words that had come out of his mouth. Did he actually have doubts about my feelings for him? “You know how I feel for you, Stephen! I’m breaking all my rules for you!”

“Wow. Just wow, Bailey,” he snapped. “Don’t break any rules for me, then. If that’s what would make you happy.”

Of course he would take it the wrong way. I didn’t know how to deal with him anymore, frankly he was getting on my nerves. He told me this morning that he trusted me, but well, clearly he was lying. “You know what,” I started, my voice quivering out of annoyance, “that’s cool, just blame me for everything. And don’t ever let me out of your sight, because you know, maybe one day I’ll try to kiss Kennedy or John or Josh or Brian or maybe even your brother. Just stalk me all you want because you clearly don’t trust me.”

“I wasn’t fucking stalking you, I was going to pick you up and maybe if you actually checked your phone you would know that.” He seethed as he ran his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated. “But apparently your friend, who you go way back with, is more important than me.”

I was so mad at that point, more at myself, but also at Stephen. “You told me this morning that you trust me. I believed you but clearly, you were lying—”

“Stop turning the tables, Bailey!” he snapped. “You were the one galloping around with some guy.”

The way he’d worded it left my mouth hanging open. I couldn’t believe we would come to this. From nervous to angry, my emotions now turned to hurt. “You know,” Tears were stinging my eyes but I held them back, “maybe we should take a break from each other for a while.”

He looked at me, stunned. For a while he didn’t say anything, and I just sat there, looking at my hands, biting my lips to keep myself from sobbing. Even when he started talking, I didn’t move. “So that’s what you want to happen, huh.”

“I just...I don’t think this could work with your clear lack of trust in me.”

He slammed the steering wheel once again, and it made me jump back a little. I looked at him, about to tell him to calm down, but then he beat me to it. “YOU CHEATED ON ALEX WITH ME, BAILEY,” he yelled. My eyes opened so wide I thought they would fall off. “He’s well-off and a catch and I’m a dirtbag. You cheated on him with a dirtbag, how am I supposed to be assured that you’re not gonna drop me for this guy whom you’ve known all your life?”

That was it. The tears fell and suddenly, I didn’t want to be around him anymore. I opened the door and got out of the car and started running away.

“Bailey!” I heard him call, and I realized he was running after me. I ran faster, my eyes blurry, and all I could hear were my cries. I ran to the road, desperate to run away from him, and then suddenly, I heard something aside from my sobs. I heard a loud, long beep and a yell and then I looked to my left, saw a car coming towards me and then it was black.