Love Creates First Class Liars

As soon as Kat ran out of Starbucks, I sprinted after her as fast as I could. I'd already lost her once, and couldn't lose her again.

“Kat please let me explain!” I called, but she kept on going. She seemed very determined to put as much distance between her and me as possible. I kept on shouting but my efforts were useless as she refused to stop.

Ten minutes later I was still dashing after her, desperately trying to catch up. Starbucks was far behind us and I didn't recognize our current whereabouts. We were in a small picture-perfect neighborhood of neatly painted houses and white picket fences. I had always imagined Kat and I buying a house like this together one day and raising a family. But Harley had come into the picture and stepped on my dreams like they were nothing but pesky ants in the middle of a sidewalk.

Then Kat suddenly came to a stop a turned around. Sweat dripped down her forehead in the summer heat and she breathing heavily.

“Please, please stop following me,” She begged. “Just go away.”

“I love you, Kat. Harley's been lying to you about everything. Please just let me talk to you. I promise I won't do anything or touch you or anything. Just let me explain. Please.”

“Harley wouldn't lie to me,” She argued stubbornly. “He loves me.”

“Meet me tomorrow, please? Just give me an hour of your time to explain and if you still don't believe me, you can leave and never see me again. I promise. I really need you to see something.”

“I don't know.”

“I took you to that hospital. You didn't go to Warped Tour with Harley, you went with me. And my band, All Time Low. You were our merch girl, our best friend. And we all got drunk one night and you ran outside and hit your head on a rock, really hard. We took you to the hospital and waited with you until our next show when Matt made us leave. But I came straight back. And when I came back, they told me you had left with Harley. I was heart-broken. I loved you. I still love you and I haven't thought about anything but you for the last month. Please, just let me explain.” I could see her thinking over everything I had just said carefully in her mind and she hesitated before answering.

“Okay. Fine. Just text me tomorrow,” She said.

When she said that, it was like a weight I had been carrying for so long was finally lifted off me. I could finally breathe again.

- - -

“WHAT'S THE EMERGENCY?” Zack screamed as he, Jack, Rian and Carson bursted through my door.

“IcalledKattodayonthehousephonebecausethentherewouldbenocalleridandshepickedupandIpretendedtobeHarleyandshebelievedmeandwemetatStarbucksandIsawherandtalkedtoherandthenIfinallytoldherIwasAlexafterandshefreakedoutbutIgothertoagreetomeetmetomorrowsoIcouldexplainthings-”

“ALEX.”

“What?”

“We have no idea what you're saying.” I took a deep breathe and restarted.

“I called Kat today on the house phone because then there would be no caller ID and she picked up! So I freaked out and pretended to be Harley because I figured she wouldn't want to talk to me. And she actually believed me! So we met up at Starbucks and I pretended to be this random dude name Chris and we just started talking and she mentioned how she fell pretty badly recently and then she told me about how she got amnesia and can only remember some things. And I was all like, 'well what can you remember?' And she said that she could kind of remember this group of friends she hung out with and then she like, described us all! And then she told me that she had fell when she went to Warped Tour with Harley and she fell in the mosh pit, which is obviously the big lie Harley told. And he told her that I used to go out with her but I frickin abused her and that's why she has all those scars! So now she thinks I'm like some douche bag and then I was like, 'Harley's lying!' and she's like, 'No he's not!' and I was all like, 'Yeah he is! I'm Alex!” And so she freaks out and starts running and I ran after her for like ten minutes until she stopped and begged me to go away. And then I briefly told her what really happened at Warped and I think she was starting to doubt Harley cause she said that if I text her tomorrow we could meet up and I can explain everything. And oh my god, I saw Kat,” I blurted out.

I was met by shocked expressions; wide eyes and dropped-jaws.

“YOU WENT TO SEE MY KITTY-KAT AND DIDN'T TAKE ME?” Jack screamed.

“That's not the point, Jack!” I shouted.

“What's she like? Is she the same? Is Harley treating her okay?” Carson questioned.

“She's different, like she's even hotter then before. If that's possible. She's like, dramatically changed. I'm pretty sure that's all Harley's doing though so people don't recognize her easily. I didn't until the person at Starbucks asked for her name. She died her hair bleach blond and Harley's making her wear blue colored contacts, which I guess is smart because her eyes were pretty noticeable. And she has this tattoo on her collarbone of birds and instead of having those three piercings like she used to, she has tiny gauges in and the two piercings above it. Oh, and she got her nose pierced.”

“Dude, you know we're coming with you to see her tomorrow, right?” Rian told me.

“Yeah of course, but I need help.”

“With what?”

“I need to find some proof that Harley's lying! Or she will never believe me.”

“That's easy,” Carson replied confidently. “Give me your laptop.” I handed it over to her and she began quickly typing away on Google. Minutes later she handed it back to me. It was open to a news article and I read the title, “High school boy secretly abuses girl for over four months.” I scanned it quickly coming to a conclusion that this would be perfect. She would have to believe me after this. It went into full detail about how Harley had been beating Kat up for months without anyone knowing, in the end almost killing her when Jack and I came in and saved the day.

“This is perfect,” I told her as I printed it out. Finally, things were starting to go my way.

- - -

Jack, Rian, Zack, Carson and I were all in my car on the way to meet Kat at a park near where she lived. We figured this way there wouldn't be too many people around so we could talk openly about what happened. Jack opened the car door and jumped out before I could even park.

“ALEXX!” He whined. “I don't see her! Where's my Kaattt?” After a quick scan of the park, I saw her sitting at a bench looking at something on her phone.

“There she is,” I said as I pointed her out. They all looked at me like I was retarded.

“There's no way that's Kat,” Rian said confidently. I raised my eyebrow as if to say, 'Wanna bet?'

“Hey Kat!” I called. She looked up from her phone and waved us over.

“No fucking way,” Carson whispered. As we got closer and the guys could see her better, they finally believed me that is was indeed, our Kat.

“KAATTTT!” Jack screamed as he sprinted over to her, picked her up and twirled her around.

“Um, hi?” She replied. Zack, Rian and Carson quickly joined in and hugged her. Kat looked very confused at the people she only could remember briefly.

“You don't remember us,” Zack said as he pulled away, more of a statement then a question.

“A little! Not really though,” She replied looking sympathetic.

“You've got to be kidding me,” Jack scoffed. When she looked down at the ground, not knowing what to say, his eyes widen. “You're serious.”

I've never seen my friends look so depressed in their entire lives.