Sandcastles

I heard someone yell my name, but it didn't matter; I was gone. My feet were carrying me as quickly down the hall as they could. I was running as far and as fast away from the scene I had just walked in on, hoping that I might end up miles away by the time I got tired. Every thought my mind tried to create just flooded to the front of my brain at the same time. Nothing made sense. All that seemed to matter at that moment was to run.

My entire life, all I had ever done was run. When my parents got their divorce, I ran away to college and didn't return for an entire year, basically until the dust settled. When my best friend passed away in a car crash, I had run to Chicago and had yet to return to my childhood home. When things went south with David, I ran to the Bahamas, or rather, I ran to Jonny. Now, I was running from him, but this time I didn't have a safe place to run to.

Although, I barely reached the end of the hall before I hit what felt like a brick wall. Lucky for me, the wall had a bit more give, and I felt two arms wrap so tightly around me that I couldn't escape, though I was apparently trying to.

"Woah, woah. Hey. Calm down. What's the matter?"

I didn't expect those words, especially from the person I had run into. Kaner was looking down at me with worried blue eyes. My vision began to cloud, thanks to tears that I hadn't notice started to fall. Not a single word escaped my lips before my head started to shake furiously. Leaning my head against Patrick, I let myself fall apart. Running away was my way of breaking down. Now that I couldn't run, I cried.

It wasn't until Patrick shifted himself so he now stood directly in front of me that I realized we had company. My mind was just as blurry as my vision at this point. But everything seemed to clear once I heard voices.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

Peering around Patrick, I noticed Jonny wearing nothing but his swim trunks standing next to Amber who was merely wrapped in a towel. I had never seen the look on his face before, and it took me a minute to decipher it. He was drunk I had seen that look on so many people, but never on Jonathan Toews. It didn't fit him, and I automatically felt my heart drop into my stomach.

"Bailey..."

I watched as his hand reached for me, but Kaner was quickly to shove it away. As he did, Amber looped her arm with Jonny's, an arrogant smile. My heart seemed to fall out of my body completely.

"Don't even try to talk to her." I felt Kaner tense in front of me, and I let my hand grip onto his shirt. The last thing I wanted to see was for this to turn into a blood bath, even if I was slowly falling apart.

"This has nothing to do with you." Jonny shouted, pulling himself from Amber, which seemed to catch her completely off guard.

"Oh, this has nothing to do with me? You hurt my wife's best friend! What do you expect me to do?! Sit back and watch?"

"Just...let me talk to her."

The sadness that soaked Jonny's words almost made me want to give him a chance, but before I could open my mouth to say a word, Amber beat me to it.

"Why would you want to talk to her?" A disgusted look crossed her face as she looked me up and down. I felt myself swallow hard. I could only imagine how terrible I looked. Puffy, bloodshot eyes, my hair a disheveled mess thanks to laying on it for hours, wearing nothing more than a a towel covering my bathing suit. Even though we were both practically in no clothing, she looked a zillion times better than me.

"Oh fuck off, Amber!" Patrick shouted, his fist clenching slightly at her words. "This is all your fucking fault anyways. If you had just stayed the fuck away, none of this ever would have happened."

"Don't talk to her like that!"

"Oh right. Cause she's yours again, right? You run straight back to the bitch that doesn't even want you. She's a gold digging slut and you know it."

That was the first time I noticed any sign of anger on Amber's face. Walking straight up to Patrick, she slapped him as hard as she could across his face. I felt him bite back a yelp of pain. Before I could stop myself, I pushed myself past Patrick and shoved Amber as hard as my small frame could, watching her fall to the floor. "Don't you dare!"

Before I could do any more damage to Amber, Jonny's hands were on my shoulders, holding me back. The tears had started to fall yet again, but this time out of sheer anger. I didn't like this girl to begin with. Frankly, I hated her. She was everything that I've always disliked in the female population of the world. She was fake from her hair to her toes. She got what she wanted just because she looked like a Barbie doll. She was the reason girls like me didn't get second glances. I had brains, she had looks. It didn't help that she was the type of girl who had probably stolen my ex-boyfriend from me as well. David had a one night stand, and I had a feeling the girl looked something like Amber.

"Bailey, please," Jonny's words knocked me from my daydream. My eyes met his, but where his were full of sadness, mine were drenched in anger.

"Please what?! Forgive you?! You told me this wouldn't happen. You...You told me that it would be us," I choked back my tears, trying my best to keep them in, to keep it all hidden. Everyone already knew that I was hurt though, and in a way, I couldn't hide it. "You ruined everything."

Tearing myself from his grip, I turned to walk away, sobbing to myself. My arms folded tightly over my chest. I wanted to get away. My instinct to run had come back, and this time nothing was going to stop me.

"Bail..."

Nothing other than the sound of a dislocated jaw could stop me.