Don't Give Up On Us

"Welcome home, Val!"

Everyone called out when I walked in my house. My smile grew wide as I looked at every person in the room. Jordan helped me inside, his face hiding the little spat we had about John. At the moment we were alright, he understood that I had a special relationship with John and he would just have to deal with it. He's been having an easy time doing so since I haven't seen John in weeks ever since we were told to stay away from each other. I smiled and thanked everyone for coming. I saw Chris and gave him an awkward nod. Yeah he still doesn't like me.

Garrett called Jordan and I over. "Hey guys." He greeted.

I hugged Garrett. "Who did this?"

"Who do you think?" A voice behind me replied.

I turned around and with so much excitement I jumped on my tall best friend who I've missed for weeks, giving him a tight hug. He stumbled a little but gained control of his balance.

"I missed you too, Val." John said with a chuckle.

I got down and couldn't help but blurt out, "Hi! I missed you so much!" I looked at him. "Wait, why are you here?"

"The dumbasses finally figured out that it was an accident, so here I am." He said with a grin as he gestured himself.

I gave him another hug. "I missed you!"

"I think we got it." Jordan mumbled.

"I'm sorry I just missed him," I told Jordan. I faced John. "It felt like an eternity that I haven't seen you, oh come here!" I brought John in for another quick hug.

"Okay, I think that's enough love for one day." John said.

"Please, you know you missed me as much as I missed you."

"Well don't tell them that." He said in my ear.

I laughed. "Fine, later we can show how much we missed each other."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion to my statement.

"Don't think dirty now."

"Too late."

One of John's old friends went up to us and patted John on the back. "So you guys are together? Took you long enough!"

We stepped away from each other.

"We're not together! I have a boyfr-" I looked around to point to Jordan but I couldn't find him anywhere.

"And I have a...thing girl." John told him.

That distracted me. I looked at John. "A thing girl?"

He shrugged. "Melissa and I aren't official, so she's my thing girl."

"Why can't you just say a mess around, or friends with benefits?"

"She said it makes her sound like a whore."

I scoffed. "Right."

"Val, be nice."

"I didn't even say anything."

"Just, be nice."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh god, is she here?"

"What happened to peace?"

"John."

His innocent eyes shined. "Yes?"

"Is she here?"

"Of course not."

"Oh, okay."

"...She's coming later." He quickly said.

I sucked my teeth. "Dammit, John, warn a girl ahead of time."

"Because...?"

"I always need to mentally prepare myself for her little remarks."

He laughed. "Stop being dramatic."

"Have you met Melissa?"

"Where's your boy toy?" John asked, ignoring my smart question.

I craned my neck to look around. "I don't know, he was here a moment ago." I gave up looking. "I hope he's not mad or anything." I said to myself.

"Well you did jump on me and completely ignore him after that." He mumbled.

I shot John a glare for listening. "Well he shouldn't be. I freaking missed you so I showed how much I freaking missed you and I'm going to keep on showing it whether he likes it or freaking not."

"If you were my girlfrie-" He stopped himself when he saw my glare. "What?"

"You didn't make the situation any better by whispering in my ear."

"I know you're not trying to blame shit on me now."

"I'm just saying-"

"And I'm just saying if you think he's mad then go find him but don't come crying to me when he curses you out for being a lousy girlfriend." He turned and headed upstairs to his room, leaving me baffled.

I snapped out of it and chased after him in anger. I opened the door to his room and looked around in the darkness.

"John!" I called out. "Don't you fucking try to insult me and walk away thinking I won't find you!"

"Leave me alone!" A voice called out from inside.

"No!" I walked in the room and saw a figure sitting on the bed. By the shape of it I knew it was John hunched over. "What gave you the nerve to-"

"'Later we can show how much we missed each other!' Who the fuck says that? You need to stop acting this way before you lose Jordan, even though I really don't give a shit. You're a lousy girlfriend and don't try to say you aren't!"

I found his face and slapped it. "Don't you fucking dare call me a lousy girlfriend!"

He touched his cheek. "And why fucking not?!"

"Because I'm not a lousy girlfriend you stupid dick!"

"You're in fucking love with me! You try so damn hard to hide it that it's just getting sad and I'm getting sick of it!"

"Here we go again! For the last time I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH YOU."

"Yes you are!"

I reached to slap his face again but he grabbed my wrists. "Slapping me wont make it any better!"

"Let go you douche!"

"When you tell me the truth!"

"I already did!"

His grip was tighter the more I fought. "Bullshit!"

I groaned in frustration. "This is bullshit! Just because you have the worst history in relationships doesn't mean you can fuck up mine!"

"I think you've already fucked it up yourself, my dear."

His sudden calmness worried me a little as his grip on my wrists remained tight.

"LET GO!"

I kicked him in the nuts and headed for the door when he grabbed me and turned me around. As soon as he had me facing him, he crashed his lips into mine. The feeling of his lips sent a wave of weakness to take over, my legs failing to support me. John roughly picked me up as I gave in and wrapped my arms around his neck for dear life. He slammed the door closed with his left hand while his right hand held me up. He brought me down on the bed, our lips never parting. He took off his shirt and I unbuttoned mine, I could faintly see the smirk on his face as my hands explored his torso. He looked into my eyes before claiming my lips with his. Our breathing became one as his tongue hit my lips for entry. I wrapped my legs around his small waist, our tongues colliding. His hands tugged at my bra.

The door swung open, letting in the light that revealed John on top of me.

"Jo-"

I gasped and pushed John off of me as hard as I could which caused him to fall off of the bed. Garrett stood frozen, confusion and disappointment plastered all over his face.

"Oh god! Garrett please don't tell anyone! Please don't tell anyone!" I kept on saying as I tried to find my shirt.

"I-"

"Garrett-" John began but the door closed leaving John and I alone again in the dark.

I put my hands through my hair and covered my face. I was glad John didn't say anything, I just wanted to sit in silence for a moment.

I was convinced that if I kept my eyes closed, everything would go away and return to normal. But as I reopened them, it all remained the same. A screwed up mess.

"Can you say something?" I heard John say.

I forced myself to look at him, still on the floor. I didn't know if I should feel angry at him or myself. My mind was blank.

"What am I supposed to say?" I finally responded, my voice cold.

I saw him shrug.

I buttoned up my shirt and got out of that room as fast as I could. I quickly went to the bathroom and fixed my hair. I felt a soreness on my shoulder. I looked down at the big scar that remained. Tears streamed down my face out of no where. I just let it out. Tears falling because of the anger, guilt, sorrow, and pain that took over me.

There was a knock on the door. I quickly washed my face, took deep breaths and mentally prepared myself for the worst. The knocking got louder. I dried my face and opened the door seeing one of the many people I really did not want to see.

"Oh." Melissa said bitterly.

"Meh." I walked by her, not wanting to deal with any of her nonsense and headed downstairs.

I looked around and everyone seemed to be normal, nothing was said to anyone and no one knew anything. A heavy weight began to lift from my shoulders but the feeling came back when I saw Jordan leaning against the wall in the living room. I quickly turned to run away to the stairs but John was coming down them. I panicked and ducked, crawling to the kitchen. I sat on the floor and leaned against the counter, breathing a sigh of relief.

"You okay down there?"

I looked up and saw an unfamiliar face. "I'm sorry and you are?"

He put his drink on the counter. "Blaine? You have to remember me,"

I slowly shook my head.

"From Jordan's party? I asked you to dance that one time and you shot me down because you were looking for someone?"

"Oh! Ha ha, hi Blaine."

He smiled. "So why are you on the floor?"

"Oh you know, just, hanging out."

He laughed and raised an eyebrow. "Avoiding someone?"

"No," More like everyone. "Why?"

"Oh no reason, I guess you decided to crawl to your kitchen just for hell of it."

I nodded. "That's exactly what happened, how did you know?"

"I'm psychic."

"Ahh, I see. Well I'm just gonna continue hanging out down here, so you can run along now." I shooed him away and turned my back on him.

He chuckled. "I guess when you're done avoiding that person, come find me so we can have a real conversation." I heard him walk away.

I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to figure out what I was going to do. I heard footsteps.

I rolled my eyes. "Blaine, I-"

"Blaine?"

I turned my head and saw Jordan standing there. I froze.

"Why are you calling Blaine? How do you know him?"

"Uh, I um, have to go." I quickly got up and sped walked out of the kitchen, avoiding Jordan's eyes as I did so.

I looked back to see if Jordan followed me when I bumped into someone. "Sor-" I looked up and immediately dropped my hands from their chest as if it was on fire. Of course it was John.

His eyebrows furrowed. "What are you do-"

"I gotta go!" I interrupted, not looking at him in the eyes either.

He grabbed my arm just as I tried to run away and brought me close. "Stop acting like a crazy person, you're making it worse!"

"What's going on?!" Jordan called out when he jogged over to us.

I kept my head down. "Nothing! Nothing! I just need some fresh air," I explained as I tried pushing John off. He didn't budge. "John, I really don't want you touching me right now." I said sharply.

He let me go and I sprinted to the front door secretly taking a box filled with beer alongside me.

* * *

My vision wasn't the best and my stability was just as bad. I could barely sit up on the sidewalk of my house without falling over. The good thing about this was that all of the anger, guilt, sorrow, and pain was all a distant memory. Something I didn't have to deal with for the rest of the night and I was taking advantage of the time I had left. Everyone was still inside, thankfully unaware of my absence. I took a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill my lungs as I inhaled. I got a little dizzy and almost lost my balance. I laughed it off and took another gulp of beer. The flavor reminded me of John's tongue wrestling with mine, which made me take more gulps to erase the memory.

"Valarie?"

I turned and saw Jordan. There goes another gulp for the guilt.

"Jordie! How are ya doin' babes?" I heard myself slur.

"Valarie are you...?" He analyzed me.

"Drunk? Naaawwww." I leaned on him as he sat next to me, feeling dizzy again.

"How many beers did you drink?"

"Only two," I put up two of my fingers. "But then I wanted more soooooo..."

He chuckled a little. "What am I gonna do with you?"

I looked up at both of him. "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be?" He reached down and kissed my forehead.

I began to cry. "God I'm sorry!" I rested my head on his lap and sobbed. "I'm sooooo sorry, Jordannnn I don't even know why I did it-"

"Val, come on you need sleep." He stood up and extended his hand.

I slapped his hand away. "No! I need to tell you how much I'm sorry!"

"It's not your fault, Val."

"Yes it was! I brought it to myself."

"Well obviously, that's how you get drunk."

I hiccuped. "Nooooo I'm not talking about that!"

"Okay okay just come on." He offered his hand again.

"I cant get up." I told him.

"Why not?"

"Because I'll faaaaalll." I started to cry, taking a sip of the beer.

"No no no. No more of this," He took away the beer from my hand and I pouted. "I'll carry you." He decided and picked me up.

He took me into the house, passed everyone else and went up the stairs.

"This wasn't a good idea." I said feeling queasy.

He set me down on what felt like my bed. He left for a moment and came back with a bucket and a damp towel. "I came prepared."

"Jordannn."

"I'm here."

"You shouldn't be. Please go," I felt the tears escape my eyes. "I really don't deserve you. I'm sorry."

"Valarie, don't say that. I'm the one that doesn't deserve you," He said to me softly as he tucked me in my bed. "Now go to sleep."

I wanted to protest more, to tell him how sorry I was for betraying him but sleepiness took over and I was soon in a deep sleep.