No Happily Ever After

‘No.’ I replied smoothly. ‘You tell me everything first, OK? I want to know everything.’
‘Well, Rory and I broke up, but got back together. We’re going to give this thing,’ She poked her vast stomach ‘to my dad and his wife. She can’t have kids, and dad’s agreed to it.’ She shrugged. ‘I’ve missed a lot of school, but you wouldn’t know,’ she added with a sly smile ‘having graduated and all. It’s winter break though, and it’s almost Christmas!’ She grinned, ecstatic. ‘3 days left!’
‘3 days?!’ I shrieked; I hadn’t been very up-to-date with my calendar, and now I had 3 days to do an enormous amount of shopping.
‘3 days.’ She grinned. ‘And my baby’s due 2 days after that.’ She beamed.
‘That’s amazing, Cris.’ I breathed, the soft glow of the bathroom light radiating onto my face. ‘I guess I have a lot to apologize for.’
‘Yep.’ She crossed her arms and glared at me playfully.
‘Cris Addison, I am so sorry for being the worst friend in the world. And right now, I’m glad you’re talking to me, and that you’re the sweetest girl in the world. Because you’ve always been there for me, and I love you.’
‘I love you too.’ She grinned and wrapped an arm around me since the bulk of her stomach made a real hug impossible. I swung my scrawny orang-utan arms around her shoulders and squeezed. It was just like old times.
‘Now your turn.’ Her eyes were still closed.
‘I broke up with Jack.’
‘What?! Why?!’ Her arms dropped from around me and she glowered at me underneath dark bangs that had been mastered with hours of hair drying and styling.
‘He stopped talking to me…’ I wrapped my arms around my chest, hugging myself to keep warm. Cris’s house was lovely and warm – had her mother finally picked up her act and gotten a stable job? – But talking about Jack brought a chill that crept up my chest and pierced my heart.
‘Did you talk to him?’ She asked, her eyes still suspicious.
‘I talked to Zack instead.’
She gasped. ‘Ella! And now you’re trying to choose between Zack and Jack?’
‘Maybe.’
She scowled at me. ‘Ok, first things first. You are so stupid when it comes to love. If he’s not talking to you, why don’t you make the effort and see why, instead of going to Zack and ignoring your boyfriend.’
‘Thanks for telling me after everything’s happened.’
‘You know what I think you should do?’
‘Tell me.’
‘Get back with Jack, and stay away from Zack.’
‘It’ll be hard. Zack knows me better than I know myself.’
‘It’s got to be done. And you know what else you need?’
‘Please elaborate.’ I replied sarcastically.
‘A vacation! We should go to Europe!’
‘We can celebrate New Years there.’ I replied, smiling. My smile fell almost instantly. ‘What about the guys?’
‘Rory and I haven’t seen them in so long, let them come to. And the one who battles for your affection the most is the one who you should probably choose. But, I mean, who do you want to choose?’
‘I don’t know.’ I mumbled. ‘I love Zack, because he makes me laugh and he’s so sweet and funny, but I know that I belong with Jack.’
‘Thing is, you can’t do anything without hurting the other.’
‘I kissed Zack and almost kissed Jack.’
The words hung in the air as I said them, refusing to go. I felt ashamed but Cris merely smiled at me as if I’d said nothing.
‘Do you want to sleep over?’
‘Please.’
Sitting in a pair of borrowed pyjamas, with a mug of coffee and copies of the girliest magazines we could get after half 6 in the evening, we chatted about everything and anything.
The thing was, with Kara and Lisa, they were always elsewhere. You could sit with them and talk, but their minds were always with romance, and all they could talk about was All Time Low. With Cris, it was easy to talk about things before I’d met Jack. I was glad for Cris and how she’d overlooked my crappy friendship.
‘What’s Europe like?’ She kicked off her shoes and I massaged her swollen ankles for her. A small moan of pleasure escaped her lips and she blushed with embarrassment. ‘Sorry, it’s just… It hurts.’
‘I know.’ I shrugged. ‘Europe is… Ok. I went to Hamburg a few times with Dad, but yeah. It’s pretty.’
‘I wonder what it’s like in winter…’
‘Cold. Snowy.’ I answered automatically, brushing pink varnish over her toenail.
‘I wonder.’ She wore a face mask of cucumber and pineapple to give her glowing skin, especially because being pregnant made you zit up like a teenage boy, and after a few minutes, her heavy breathing turned into soft, almost silent, snores.
I settled down on the floor to sleep, but my mind continued drifting. I’d left my phone at hom- Jack’s house and now what was I supposed to do?
My mind paced, until I threw the empty mug across the room in anger and tried to sleep.

‘I would come back with you, but quite frankly, I can’t move.’ Cris apologized, her expression pained. ‘I’m glad you came though. I love you, Ella.’ She squealed, hugging me. I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed back, glad to have my old best friend with me again.
She’d lent me one of her white lacy dresses and a pale yellow cardigan, and I’d brushed mascara over my lashes, but I felt shaky as I walked home in a pair of borrowed sandals. The city was beautiful at 7am, with the sun illuminating the scenery, and the trees rustling their vivid olive leaves with pride.
The door was unlocked when I pushed against, and with a bad feeling, I surveyed the mess.
Broken bottles, the taste of weed lingering on my tongue even though my mouth had been opened for just a few seconds, the furniture almost broken, and the lights burnt out. I didn’t know what to say.
I noticed Zack lying on the floor with an empty bottle clutched in his hand. I stepped over him and almost tripped over the scrawny figure of Jack half on the sofa and half off, his feet lying in what appeared to be some wood and a lighter. Drunkenly, the must’ve tried to start a fire in a closed up fireplace. I scowled. They were acting like children.
Alex and Lisa were probably upstairs, and Kara was curled up on the floor clutching her stomach. Rian was wedged between some plants and met my eyes with a glimmer of guilt.
‘Rian, what happened?’ I walked over and briskly opened some windows.
‘Jack and Zack got in a fight after you left and started trying to beat each other up. Zack got the worst end of the fight.’
‘What?’ I choked out, running over to him and turning him onto his back. A purple and black bruise flowered over his eye, and his lips were swollen. I bit my lip and checked out Jack. He was in an even worse state. His eyes both had bruises, and one touch on his stomach made me realise he’d probably gotten punched a lot. I stood up and helped Rian out.
‘Rian, why were they fighting?’
‘Jack screamed something about you being his girl, and Zack was going on about how he never took care of you. The next thing I knew Zack was on the floor, and suddenly they were fighting. Is Kara okay?!’ He yelped desperately, running over to her.
‘I wasn’t here.’ I replied grimly.
Rian and Kara showered and came down at about 9. By then, sun streaked through the windows and door, and I’d already called Matt and Vinny to really talk to the boys. This was beyond my call of duty.
I cleaned the much abused kitchen, woke up Alex and Lisa, who came down both fully dressed and with bad hangovers, and stumbled around to find painkillers. After distributing water and pills to the 4, they thanked me over and over again.
‘Thanks, Ella.’ Alex wrapped me up in a hug, and I rolled my eyes. ‘Aren’t you hungover too?’
‘Yes, but someone’s got to be the responsible one.’ I smiled and drained a glass before getting the First Aid kit and tended warily to Jack’s bruises. Alex held his head up for me, whilst I applied ice and a cream to try and ease the pain. Eventually, his eyes opened and his lips moved in an effort to speak. I shook my head.
‘Shh. It hurts, I know.’
‘I’m sorry, ‘lla.’ He mumbled, as Alex helped me apply ice and cream to the bruises on his body.
Kara, Rian and Lisa focused on Zack, who didn’t just wake, but demanded to see Jack.
‘Shut up, Zack.’ I snarled. ‘Sit down, before I really make you sorry.’
He sunk wearily into one of the cracked couch’s. ‘Ella, I hurt.’
‘Good for you.’
I cleared the mess away, with the help of Lisa and Kara, whilst Rian cleaned the bathroom and Alex tackled the room he’d shared with Lisa.
By the time Matt, who lived 15 minutes out of the city, came by with Vinny, the house looked almost normal.
‘What happened, Ella?’ He frowned at Jack who lay on his back with eyes closed and ice all over him.
‘A fight. I really need you to talk to them. Please.’
‘A fight? What about?’
I grimaced. ‘If you don’t know, then you’ve really missed a lot.’
‘You?’
I hung my head.
‘They’re acting like brats.’ I muttered. ‘Sort them out?’
‘I’ll do more than sort them out.’ He mumbled, pushing past me. Vinny smiled encouragingly at me.
‘Hey, Vinny.’
‘Hey, Ella. Are you going Christmas shopping?’ He gestured to my coat, hat and shoes lying by the stairs.
‘Yep! Have you done yours?’
‘Sure. We’re coming here for Christmas.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’ I smiled and grabbed my coat and hat, before lacing up my shoes and sighing. ‘I’ll see you. Good luck.’
‘You too.’ He laughed and I left.
The mall was filled with fake Santa’s, fake snow and holly everywhere. I rolled my eyes and searched for something for Jack, eventually settling for a snowglobe. It was the lamest ever, but it depicted a group of children sitting on Santa’s lap. I knew he’d love it. I bought Alex a beanie, knowing he loved them, Rian a new pair of drumsticks, and I bought Zack a set of music sheets so he could develop his music. Having no money, shopping was hard, but I bought Kara some fantastic make up, and Lisa got rolls of film for her camera. I bought Cris a book on learning German, where we were going for New Years, and Rory got a game for his game boy. Matt got an efficient ‘dictionary bookmark’ and I settled on a small dinosaur plush for Vinny. Mary got a shirt, similar to the one I ‘borrowed’ from her, and … Mom? I wanted to buy her a tiny ring, but I had no money left. Oh.
I returned to the house to find Alex and Rian playing video games, and Jack sitting on the couch, nursing his bruised body.
‘Jack! Are you ok?’ I dumped my things behind the door and smiled at Matt. Vinny was eating a cheeseburger, and gave me a thumbs up, obviously pre-occupied with a mouth of meat.
‘I’m fine.’ He shrugged. ‘I hurt all over, Ella.’
‘I know. I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t know what happened. Do you?’
‘Zack was being stupid.’ I mumbled, resting my head on his shoulder. ‘It’s almost Christmas soon.’
‘I know. We went shopping when we were at Lisa’s, but you were with Zack.’
‘So I did it now.’
‘What did you get me?’ He jumped up, and then winced.
‘I’m not telling.’ I teased. ‘2 days left.’
‘I’ll just find out when you’re sleeping.’
I shrugged. I didn’t even know where I was sleeping now. I guessed it’d be ok to move back into Jack’s room. ‘If you do that, I’ll never talk to you again.’
‘That’s mean.’ He pouted and then turned the pout into lips that kissed my cheek. I felt myself blush and then returned the kiss.
After today, Zack suddenly seemed a lot more unappealing. It didn’t matter if Jack had started the fight – Zack knew he was stronger, and he still lashed out. I doubted he’d have ended up with more than a few bruises, but to batter Jack black and blue was out of the question.
‘What’s happening to Zack?’ I asked Matt, whose fingers tapped ferociously onto the controller.
‘He’s being a moody faggot.’
‘Oh. Right.’ I shrugged and Jack shrugged an arm over my shoulder. ‘I cleaned all of this. How proud are you?’
‘Very. Although, you didn’t do a good job.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Rian and Kara made a mess.’ He giggled.
I reached up to whack him arm playfully, but stopped myself just inches from his arm. He relaxed and a relieved smile lit his face. ‘Thanks, Ella.’
‘No problem.’
I didn’t even think about Zack as Alex, Lisa, Matt, Kara, Jack and I launched a debate over everything and anything.