BROKEN AND SCREWED(Broken_Part One)(2)


She latched onto my arm. I fought from cringing from her beer breath as she fanned herself. “Okay, first: Jesse is an ass.”
I relaxed. Finally.
“But, holy cow, that makes him so super hot. Am I weird? I must be wired backwards. I dunno, but I want him even more. I swear. Can you talk to him? Tell him I’m good in bed. No, wait. He has to know I am. I mean, hello.” Then she frowned and her eyes crinkled together. “Wait. What was I talking about?”
“Marissa.”
“What?” She perked up. Her nails dug into my arm.
“Let go of my arm.”
“Oh!” Her eyes went wide again. “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, Alex. Did I hurt you? Please tell me I didn’t. I’m such an idiot. What was I talking about before?”
I peered closer. She didn’t look that drunk.
“Oh, that’s right!” Her whole body jerked up in an excited spasm. She clapped her hand to her cheek. “Please talk to Jesse. I know you say you don’t want to. I know you say you’re not friends with him, but I know you are. I know you both are still close, so do you think you could put in a good word for me?”
“I…” I had no words. Even for Marissa, this was more forward than she’d ever been before. She had to have been drunk because the alternate option was that my best friend was incredibly insensitive to me. Had she not forgotten about the last year? Or why Jesse and I weren’t close anymore?
And then someone threw their beer on her. She was soaked in an instant. Her mouth fell open. Anger filled her face, along with shock, but her eyes were wide as she turned. Angie stood there with a smug smile and an empty cup. She waved it at Marissa before her hand fell to her hip. Both of them faced off against each other. Angie stepped close. She was taller and looked down her nose at Marissa. “Are you kidding me? You did not just ask Alex to put in a good word with Jesse for you? Are you serious? Seriously?!”
“You bitch!” Marissa screeched. She wrung her hands in the air, as if she wasn’t sure what to do with them.
“Guys.” I started to step between them.
I was hauled back by Justin; he bypassed me to grab Angie’s shoulders. He turned her away, but sent a scathing look at Marissa as he did.
Her hands flew in the air. “What?” she snapped at him.
His eyes flickered once. A dark look was in them and her hands fell back down. She took a breath, looked at me, and took another breath.
I looked away. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. Comfort her? She was wrong. It’d been too much for her to ask, but she had a beer thrown on her because of me. I had no idea what I was supposed to do here.
And then I heard from her in a small voice, “I’m sorry, Alex. I wasn’t thinking about you.”
I took a deep breath. My stomach settled again and I shrugged. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not. I was a being a selfish bitch. I forgot…”
My heart pounded. What was she going to say?
“Never mind. Do you want something to drink?”
I let out a deep breath of relief. She hadn’t said it. And, like Angie, she left before I could reply. They both knew me so well.
Justin took Angie back to his truck and they climbed inside. Her arms flew around. Her face kept switching from outrage to fury and Justin kept patting her back. I stood there. I still had no idea what to do. They would reconcile in the morning. It was what they did. They would get heated, both of them were so honest and open. At times, the words weren’t received well, but they always made up in the morning. When I saw Marissa with some of her cheerleading friends, I knew it would be sooner than that. She was biting her lip as she cast concerned looks towards Angie. She sent a few towards me, but her eyes fluttered and she looked away.

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