Pallid

Rita has finally gotten a hold of Celeste, unfortunately.

I mean, we should have seen it coming, and we could have, and I guess we kind of did, but when it happens, it kind of takes us all by surprise all the same.

It happens at Little Bethy's party--a place that should really be considered neutral ground, seeing as she's pretty much everybody's friend and didn't really care for the whole Rita-Ulysses-Celeste fight.

Little Bethy is called such because she's literally five feet tall and looks like she's only ten, despite the fact that she's just turned twenty-three.

But, anyway, onto Rita and Celeste.

Originally, Celeste and I weren't going to go to the party, but we went because Celeste was 'tired of being in the studio all day' (because she couldn't go out to be with Ulysses anymore, obviously) and I went because she was going.

Little Bethy's parties are usually really fun, but tonight is the exception.

It starts when Celeste eyes Ulysses from across the room and doesn't account for the fact that Rita is standing right next to him and can see them both. I guess it's because she's not really thinking right and she's drinking and stuff. She blows a kiss at him and Rita isn't having it, and before I know it, she's stormed across the room and grabs Celeste by the hair and drags her to a corner of the room.

It's throw down time.

It's a cat fight like no other.

There's punching and scratching and yelling and clawing and cursing, and the next thing I know, they're rolling around on the floor. I think Rita's losing, because she underestimates Celeste and doesn't understand how brutal she really is, despite the fact that she hardly even eats. Little Bethy is watching them as she sips a cocktail through a thin pink straw, sucking in her cheeks with wide brown eyes. She leans against the wall, indifferent.

Ulysses, of course, doesn't even care, and is already chatting up the next unsuspecting girl while his (ex)girlfriend and mistress fight it out like animals on the floor. I don't think either of them even notice that he doesn't really care about either of them and couldn't really be arsed to, to be honest, and I wonder why they're not fighting him and why they're fighting each other.

I try to pull them apart, but Rita shoves me out of the way.

"Stay out of it, Rhys!" she yells, then turns her attentions back to Celeste, lunging. Celeste doesn't seem like the type to stand for Rita doing this too, so it's not a surprise that she fights back.

Hard.

I mean, it gets pretty ugly.

At the end of it all, Rita is worse off than Celeste, who only has a couple of small scratches on her hand and a tear in her tights. Rita's face is red and her eye is already starting to bruise. Her lip is bleeding, her shirt's torn, her hair's messier than usual, and she just looks awful.

I swear, this is all his fault. I think he gets off on this kind of thing, on just messing up everything and acting like he hasn't done anything at all. It's upsetting.

Celeste, who is by now seething, leaves a crying Rita on the floor, glaring at her.

"I dare you to try that again," Celeste warns, narrowing her eyes at her. "I'm--"

"Let's go," I say, trying to tug her away from Rita before Rita gets up and wrecks her for good.

"I have to do something first," she says, shooting another glare at Rita, who's still trying to pick herself up off the floor. She stalks across the room towards Ulysses, draws her hand back, yells a little, and then punches him square in the jaw.

"The fuck was that for!?" he yells, sullen.

"For being a fucking cunt!" she exclaims, storming away. Some people turn their heads. She looks at me and drags me out the door.

She spends the car ride a steaming, shaking mess, knees to her chest as she weeps quietly, trying to breathe.

"I--"

"Please don't say it," she asks quietly, wiping her face with shaky fingers. "Please."

She locks herself in the bathroom when we get home.