Good Girl

It was like time stopped for a minute. There was a tense silence at Erin’s revelation. Mallory looked like she’d just been slapped across the face. Zacky was still holding onto Tess, his green eyes looking down at the ground. Tess looked down too. Mallory’s eyes went from Tess to Matt, who was standing there with his mouth open, like he didn’t know what to say. He cocked his head to the side slightly, putting his hands up. Mallory knew that look. He was getting ready to make an excuse.

“Is it true?” Mallory whispered, narrowing her eyes at Matt.

"Uh," Matt glanced from Mallory to Tess and back again. "Babe, you know-"

"I asked if it was fucking true!" Mallory yelled at him, her voice echoing through the yard. "It's a yes or no question and I don't want any more excuses."

"Mal, it's not even like that-"

She interrupted him with a scoff. "It's funny how you can lie to me on a regular until you're caught... again. But at least this time I know who it is, right?" Her tone was dry and sarcastic.

"You deserved it."

Mallory turned her head to Tess, who had spoken up. Tess shrugged out of Zacky's grasp, her gray eyes dark and mischievous when she looked at Mallory.

"Excuse me?" Mallory asked, staring at Tess.

"I said you deserved it," Tess repeated, slurring her words slightly. "It's a real fucking shame that you didn't know before. Everyone else did."

"She's drunk," Matt said. "She doesn't know what she's saying."

"I've been drinking, but I'm not as drunk as you think I am," Tess admitted. She looked back at Mallory. "Everyone knew all this time, except for you.’Everyone' includes Erin, too. You thought I was your friend, but clearly she isn't either."

Mallory's face turned stoic. Erin stood off to the side, crossing her arms over her chest. Mallory didn't even want to look at her.

Tess laughed, "It's funny how everyone's quiet now. Some friends we are."

"Mal, maybe we should go home and talk about this in private," Matt suggested, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"Private?" Mallory scoffed. "I guess nothing is private. Everything was kept from me, so let's put it all on the table since we're all in this together."

"You really don't want to do this here," Matt told her low enough for only her to hear.

"I really do," Mallory nodded with a sickly sweet smile. She clasped her hands together, turning to her group of 'friends', which was more like an audience watching everything unfold. "First off, Matt's been cheating on me with Tess, but you all knew that already. Did either of them ever mention that Tess thought she was pregnant at one point? 'Cause she sure as hell came to me about it. That's a real fucking slap in the face now."

Brian coughed, awkwardly breaking the silence among them.

"Oh, and I'm glad you paid off that credit card that I have a feeling she maxed out," Mallory said to Matt. Matt looked at her, as if he was wondering how she knew. "Yeah, I knew about that too. Now just feels like the right time to mention it. I'm glad you were able to buy her everything that I had. You may as well have just given my stuff to her."

"Mallory, are you alright?" Erin asked cautiously.

"Am I alright? Everything is fine and fucking dandy, Erin," Mallory shrugged. Everyone loved to make her seem like the crazy one. Sure, she was strangely calm after getting this new information. Inside, her thoughts were jumbled and she was just trying to put the pieces together. "I almost forgot to tell you guys. Matt passed along an STD to me, which he got from her. Thank fucking God it was treatable and gone in less than a week."

"Mal, we should really go home and talk about this," Matt tried to persuade her. "You're embarrassing yourself."

Mallory looked at him incredulously. "I'm embarrassing myself? As if I wasn't already embarrassed. Normally, I'd be ashamed to say this stuff out loud but why not? It can't get any more embarrassing than it already is."

Matt sighed, "So, what? You want everyone to know everything then?"

"That's exactly what I want," Mallory told him flat out. If she was embarrassed, then she was bringing him and Tess down with her. "The same way I wasn't the only person you were fucking, you’re obviously not the only person she’s been fucking either. And how stupid can you be, Matt? Not using a condom with the girl you’re cheating with?”

If there was popcorn, the group would have been munching on it in anticipation.

“I’m not talking about this until we get home,” Matt said.

“If he doesn’t want to talk, I will,” Tess said.

“I don’t want to hear shit from you,” Mallory growled at Tess, turning on her heels to leave.

“But don’t you want to know why I did it? Why he did it?”

Mallory stopped in her tracks at Tess’s question. Was she actually prepared for this? She didn’t know, but she turned around anyway.

“I might just be irresistible, but you’ve gotta ask him about that,” Tess said arrogantly, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She was just as egotistical as Matt. “I did it to show you that life’s not perfect. Everything doesn’t always go your way. You are not perfect.”

Mallory looked at Tess, blinking. “I never said I was.”

“But you think you are,” Tess pointed out. “You’ve got the perfect house, and the looks, and the job, and you thought you had the perfect man. You have no clue how easy it was to take him from you.”

“So, that’s what this is about?” Mallory asked. “You wanted to prove something? You’re telling me that you basically seduced him to make a point?”

“Oh, I wanted him too,” Tess admitted with no shame. “But him being yours made it all the better.”

Erin shook her head, muttering under her breath.

“You have issues,” Mallory said to Tess and then turned to Matt. “This is who you cheated on me with. I didn’t know it before, but she’s fucking psycho.”

“You’ve had money all your life, Mallory. You’ve never had to struggle a day in your fucking life. You’ve never been hurt, ‘cause everything was always done for you. Now you’ll know what it feels like.”

“Tess, just please shut up,” Matt groaned.

“Why should I shut up?” Tess raised her voice. “You’re the one that told me you didn’t care if we got caught. And I know you told her it was a onetime thing, but we all know that’s not true. I’ll shut up if you play your fucking part, Matt.”

Mallory pursed her lips together, staring at Tess. She subconsciously balled her hands into fists.

“Go on, Matt. Tell her about how you were planning on leaving her anyway.”

“I never said that and you know it,” Matt told Tess through gritted teeth. He looked at Mallory. “I swear to God, I’ve never said that.”

“Why are we still lying?” Tess groaned. “You said that-”

Tess was cut off by Mallory’s fist colliding with her cheek, causing her to yelp. The blow was so hard it knocked Tess to the ground. Tess lay on the ground, holding her hand to her face.

“You bitch,” Mallory snapped. She leaned down and pulled her arm back, ready to hit Tess again. She’d had enough of her for one day.

“Whoa,” Brian grabbed Mallory’s elbow before her first could break Tess’s nose. He grabbed Mallory gently, picking her up and carrying her away.

“Get off of me, Brian,” Mallory yelled at him, kicking and thrashing in his arms. “Stop fucking defending that... that slut!”

Mallory continued to surprise herself. She was not one for physical confrontations or degrading terms. However, she was glad to see that her kick-boxing classes had worked. She felt like she landed a solid punch to get her point across to Tess.

“I’m not letting you go until you calm down,” Brian told her, holding her at the waist.

“Let go of me!” Mallory broke out of his grasp. Her heart was pounding and her blood boiled in her veins. She stomped over to Matt, the palm of her hand itching.

“Mal, I’m sorry-”

Her palm collided with Matt’s face with a loud smack. She’d put all of the strength that she had in one arm into that one hit. His face had actually turned in the opposite direction and her palm stung from the contact. She watched his jaw clench and his Adam’s apple bob when he swallowed.

Mallory took a step away from him. She slipped the silver ring off of her left ring finger, looking down at the square cut diamond. She tossed it at Tess, who was now standing. The ring bounced off of her and fell into the grass.

Her eyes were cold as she looked up at Matt and her voice was brittle. “Maybe that ring was for her. You two seem perfect for each other.”