Welcome to Part 2 of Part 3 of True Love Hurts. This was posted in kind of a rush, so please excuse any mistakes you may find (and please don't go actively hunting for mistakes). It takes a friggin' hour or so to update one of these things for me, so I'm kinda tired right now. Hopefully I'll be up for updating my fanfic and Black Star Cross tomorrow. Please read the Post Author's Note at the bottom of the page when you're done. Thanks and enjoy the show!
The Everafter: Suspicions Remix
Part 2: Gale of Emotions
Unfortunately, I didn’t take enough, as I found myself at school the next day. I didn’t see Tyler anywhere. Who I did see was Ashlee, without Ben, coming up to me. She didn’t look too happy. What the f*** did I care if she was happy or not? She’s the one who took my best friend away from me. She looked around first before speaking to me.
“Listen you. I want you to stay the h*** away from Ben. You got that?”
“What?” Clearly I didn’t.
“Ben doesn’t need to be hanging around you nasty f**s. I keep trying to get him away from you, but you still keep calling him back.”
“You’ve been trying to take him away from us?” I couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. I couldn’t believe she was so heartless. I couldn’t believe that it was actually working.
And then she stormed off. She quickly corrected herself so that she was calmly walking away. I stood there, stunned at this new discovery. I had to tell Ben this,
NOW. He doesn’t deserve someone like her. I didn’t know where he was, but I did know his cell phone number and had a few minutes before class. So I decided to call him. At least he wouldn’t be with Ashlee this time.
“Hello?”
“Ben? It’s me, Gary.”
“Hey man, what’s up? Why’re you calling now?”
“Listen, I just got done talking to Ashlee and...”
“Hey, that’s great! I know you’re with Tyler but isn’t she the greatest?”
“Ben, listen! She told me to stay away from you. She told me to basically get out of your life!”
“Wait...what?”
“Ben, she hates me. She hates all of us; Tyler, Andy and Scott, me, all of us. Just because we’re...you know.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No. Ashlee wouldn’t do that. She’s not like that. She’s a caring person, Gary. I see what this is. You’re jealous. Now that I have a girlfriend, my attention isn’t all on you anymore, isn’t it? That’s why you’re saying these things. I can’t believe you would do something like this, Gary. You know what? Go f*** yourself.”
And then he hung up without so much as a goodbye. He didn’t believe me. His best friend forever and he didn’t believe me. He believed whatever that f***ing b**** shoved down his throat! I suddenly couldn’t stand school anymore and ditched the rest of the day. S**** him and his w****.
The house was empty when I got there. Mom and Dad were at work, and Trista was at the junior high. It wasn’t even noon when I heard the doorbell ring. Stupid salesperson, I thought. First Aaron and his cronies, then Tyler sees someone else, then Ben not believing me, and now this. By the time I had reached the door, I was fuming and planned to take it out on the poor salesman. I was surprised, when I opened the door, to find Alex standing there. I wasn’t surprised when he punched me, hard, in the stomach. I groaned and doubled over. “F***ing filth.”, I heard him say before drawing back for a blow across my head.
Luckily, I was mad enough to get my senses back together quicker and managed to charge into him before he could swing. I slammed him against the wall. I think he was surprised at my outburst. We both went at it again. This wasn’t like me; I’m usually so timid, but I basically just lost everything and felt like I had nothing left to lose, so I could take it all out on Alex. After a few minutes of struggling, we were both bruised, bloody, and battered. Various ornaments, pictures, and mirrors were destroyed in the hallway as an aftermath of our fight. Both our blood was stained on the walls here and there. I had managed to somehow pin down this powerful jock and was throwing repeated blows to his face. I don’t think he was even conscious anymore. I didn’t care whether or not he even lived anymore. I had put all my hate, my fear, my anger, into those punches, and it showed.
I slowly got off Alex and kicked him, just to see if he was really out. D****t! It hurt to move so much! F***ing jock. From the way the scenario looked,
I looked like
I attacked
him. So I went to the bathroom and cleaned his unconscious body and mine. I didn’t know what he would do when he woke up, and I wasn’t driving him anywhere, so I tied him up to a chair to restrain him. I sat down next to him, sighed, thinking about how messed up my life has become. It was a few minutes later that I heard more footsteps. Tyler suddenly showed up at my door and saw me with a tied up, unconscious Alex. What a scene that had to look.
“What the f*** is going on here!?”
I didn’t need to be around him right now.
“Alex attacked me.” I said bluntly. “You can take him wherever. I’m outta here.” And then I started walking past him and out the door.
“Gary, wait!”
“What.”
“Where are you going?” I think he actually sounded sincere. He really
can act.
“Anywhere, just not here.” This time I took off running. He called out to me again but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t...
I found a place to hide in the park. I sat and cried for what seemed like hours. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get out all the pain. There was always some left. I decided that this couldn’t go on and that I had to break up with Tyler.
Break up with Tyler. Gawd, I couldn’t even think of the phrase without bursting into more tears. When I stood up, I saw Ben and Ashlee walking, hand in hand, down the trail, coming at me. I must’ve been crying longer than I thought; school gets out at three. The couple noticed me before I could hide again.
“Gary!” said Ben. I sighed and turned to face them. Ashlee made a face.
“Have you been crying hon?” she said, dripping in fake concern.
“That’s none of your business.” I mumbled.
Ben was still giving me a stern look.
“Gary, I want you to apologize to Ashlee.”
What!? Apologize? To her? Never! He still thinks I made all this up!
“Ben, everything I said about her is true. Listen to me; she doesn’t like me, approve of me, or who I am. She doesn’t like Tyler or Dave or...”
“Enough! I really thought that you’d be different. Sigh. Come on Ashlee, let’s go.”
I watched them walk away. I didn’t even try to stop them. I walked home with only what just happened in my mind. I forgot what I had left at my house, so it was no surprise that I heard people within my home. I opened the door and walked in to see Tyler pacing around and Dave sitting down, watching him. As soon as Tyler saw me, he ran over and hugged the life out of me. He was barely getting any words out but managed to say something about being worried and calling off the search party now or something. Whatever. This had to be done now. I pulled away from Tyler’s grasp.
“Tyler, I’m so sorry I have to do this but, I’m breaking up with you.”
His eyes shot open, his jaws dropped, no sound came out, and Dave had the gall to actually smile at this. Tyler must’ve been confused.
“What?” he said, confusingly.
“I’m sorry but I have no choice.” I said, with tears streaming down my face. “Just know that I’ll always love you.” I glanced at Dave, then back at Tyler. “I just hope that you’re happy now. It’s all I want for you.”
Tyler was now in tears, but I didn’t see them. Before he had a chance to react, I bolted out the door. I didn’t know where to go, but I’ll find it somehow.
“No! Gary wait!”
Even though I was sprinting, Tyler still caught up to me. I fell down hard as he tackled me to the ground. Should have expected that, considering that he’s on the football team. Dave ran out next to us.
“Gary, don’t go, please! Don’t leave! Why are you doing this? You can’t leave!” Tyler said.
I tried to get off of him but he wouldn’t budge.
“Tyler, get off me!”
“No! Not until you tell me why you’re acting like this.”
I didn’t say anything; he didn’t say anything; Dave just stood there quietly. We were like that for a minute or two.
“Please, Gary. I love you.”
Hearing him say that, to me, is what finally made me crack and unleash my anger at him.
“No you don’t! I know that you’ve been cheating on me with Dave! I know that you love him, not me! Ever since the two of you got together, it’s always been the two of you together, everywhere! You two have so much in common; what chance have I got!? You’re always together; laughing, joking, talking, horse-playing, going to each other’s houses to ‘study’, things we used to do when we were together! I know that you want somebody who is as hot and high on the popularity chain as Dave is, not somebody like me. That’s why we don’t spend as much time with each other anymore. I can’t even please you in bed.”
Blushes were seen from all of us. Perhaps I was too direct, but I had to get this off my chest. Tyler stared at me intensely.
“You think I’m cheating on you?” he queried.
Again, I had withdrawn and wouldn’t answer.
“Gary, look at me.” he pleaded. I did as I was told. Why did I do that?
“I love you.” he said. “I could never leave you. I don’t love Dave. He’s a great guy and all but, he just isn’t you. He doesn’t give to me what only you can give to me. I fell hard and fast for you, and I did it for a reason.
You’re the one for me, no matter what the competition is, no matter what you may think. It’s you; it will always be you. Please, I’m begging you. Don’t break us up. I need you.”
“What!” exclaimed Dave. His outburst startled us because frankly, we forgot he was even there.
“Tyler, I...I thought you did love me. I fell for you the moment I first saw you. I tried everything to get you to like me back. I showed you how committed I was to you; I learned so much about you, spent all that time with you; we have so much in common, even Gary thinks so. I though I could be better than Gary, better at being your lover than he is.”
Dave suddenly looked drained of energy. He probably was. We all were. We had just spilt all of our hidden emotions to someone else that we had bottled up for so long, at least in the case of me and Dave. We looked at Tyler, expecting a decision.
“Wow, um. I really appreciate you telling me this. I’m flattered actually.” Which earned him a pained expression from me. “But Dave, I just can’t love you like that. No one can take my feelings away from Gary. I love him too much.”
“Do you love me enough to get off me? I can’t feel my arms.” I said.
“Oh! Sorry.”
Tyler got off and helped me up. He continued to hold my hand after that. I can’t believe he chose me! I’m the luckiest teen on the planet. I guess I did overreact. But my reasons were still justified! Tyler turned to face Dave.
“I’m sorry that I led you on. I know you’ll make someone really happy someday though.”
Dave smiled and gave both of us a hug. We tore apart when we heard a scream. It came from within the house. Oh s***! We forgot that Alex was still in there! We ran back in.
“I thought you took him to the police!” I said.
“I was too busy worrying about you running off!” Tyler replied.
We got to the room and saw that, fortunately, Alex was still tied to the chair. He was, however, quite mad and yelling. He seemed to get angrier when he saw us.
“You did this! Untie me now! Get me out of here!” he yelled.
None of us made any move towards him. None of us even said anything, until Dave stepped up to him and got close to his face. Quite brave really.
“Why should we? You, along with Aaron and Brian, were the ones who beat Cameron, Andy and Scott up and sent them to the hospital. Or were you inconsiderate enough that you left them for dead?” he yelled back.
“So what if we did? They all deserved it. All f****ts or f****t lovers. And what did you guys do? Tied me up to a chair. Did you all rape me while I was out as well? You’re all sick freaks.”
“We wouldn’t rape your dirty a** if it was the last hole on earth. And I tied you up because you attacked me and I didn’t know what to do with you once you woke up.” I said. Tyler looked at me.
“You seriously took Alex out?” he said, astonished.
“I had some extra feelings to boost my energy.” I recalled grimly.
“Great, this is all we need.” said Dave.
We all looked at him questionately. From his pocket, he pulled a little tape recorder out and played back Alex’s admission and my outburst. Tyler and I smiled while Alex looked horror-stricken.
“I had planned on giving you a pre-recorded love sonnet that I made up tomorrow at your locker, but I think this will have a better use.” He looked crest-fallen after that.
“You son of a b****!” screamed Alex. “Untie me right now! You filthy f**s! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!!”
Alex must’ve realized that he’d lost because he quieted down after that. His eyes, full of hate, bore into the floor. We dragged him, reluctantly, to the police station. Tyler and Dave, being the strongest of us three, restrained Alex from trying anything while I drove us there. And believe me, they had a hard time in doing so. At one point I think we all considered knocking him out again just so he’d shut up. Alex tried to make a scene at the station, claiming us as criminals and him the hostage, but we just played the recording and told how it related to the recent beatings at school. The police took our side easily after that.
When we left the station, Tyler said that he and I needed some alone time together. Dave got a pained look on his face, but understood and walked away. I felt bad; he really didn’t have a car; he really did steal that one to protect us. So I offered to drive him home. It took some convincing but he agreed. Afterwards, we went to Tyler’s house. Once we were in his room, he wanted me to spill everything that I was feeling for the past week.
“Oh my gosh, I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Then begin at the beginning.”
“Okay. It’s just that, well, you’ve been spending so much time with Dave that I really thought that you were cheating on me with him. I mean, Andy and Scott both described this ‘look’ that one makes only to the love of his life. They said that they did it to each other, but I denied that anything would happen between you and Dave. Then, when Dave saved us on the road from Aaron and his friends, you go over and embrace him so tightly. That’s when I saw that look in your eyes, and you had them for Dave.”
“Babe, first of all, I would never give out that ‘look’ to anyone but you. But I do have to admit that at that moment, I did feel a spark, a connection of some sort, happen between the two of us. But it was only for that second, and I think it was only because I was so grateful that he saved our lives. I think that connection was what drove him to want to compete for me.”
“Like using the Italian restaurant to get you two alone together?”
“Ha. Yeah, now that you mention it, it does seem like that was what he was planning.”
“But what about not kissing me and then suddenly thrusting your tongue down my throat?”
“What do you mean?”
“On Monday, you didn’t kiss me before you left to go work on that project with Dave, and I know that you always kiss me before we part ways. The next night, you couldn’t keep yourself off of me if I was suffering from gangrene.”
“Oh, dude, I thought you wouldn’t notice that. Last Friday I got a cold sore on my lip and it didn’t go away until Tuesday. That’s why I said that we should spend the weekend with our separate friends last Friday. The cold sore really hurt and I didn’t want you to get it too. And, of course, not kissing you made me kinda horny so that on Tuesday, when it finally disappeared, I kind of went on the deep end. But that was also Dave’s doing. He told me that maybe you were waiting for me to make the first move, bed-wise, and that I should take the initiative. Guess that kind of backfired.”
“Yeah. On the night after, I thought that since I didn’t do anything with you on the previous night, that Dave would see that as a possibility to take you away from me by going all the way with you. So I wanted to beat him to the punch.”
“Gary, no. You don’t have to give it up for that reason. It should be something that you give to someone wholeheartedly without any regrets.”
“Did you have any?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“You mean, you’re a...”
“Yep. Through and through.”
“But I thought that, you know, with the girls...”
“No Gary. I was never like that. You should know better. I have my morals too.”
“Yeah, I know. But what made you sneeze that night?”
“Oh that. Well, you know how Dave has a botany class?”
“No.” I said, mad again at how much Tyler and Dave knew of each other.
“Oh.” he said, catching my drift. “Well, he does, and I had to deliver a note to the teacher in there, and Dave completely sprayed me with those sporadic, white flowers. I thought I got them all of me, but it wasn’t until the next day that I saw that there was still some left in the back of my shirt. Babe, I’m allergic to those things. That’s why I was sneezing.”
“Okay. I guess that does make sense.”
“Anything else?”
“Yeah. What
did you and Dave talk about without me there?”
“Really, whatever came to mind. There really weren’t any off-limit topics. I don’t ever recall him putting any moves on me, but apparently I’m very oblivious to other people’s emotions.” he said, looking sorrowfully at me. I sent back a look that forgave him. He continued on. “We talked about our personal lives; who’s hot, who’s not. Of course I had to choose who’s in second place because you’re always in first. We talked about our dreams, wishes, future plans, we joked around alot; we really did talk about just about everything. But I never once complained about you.”
“Is there something to complain about me?”
“Impossible. You’re perfect in every way, dude.”
“Now I
know you’re lying to me.”
We both giggled at that. It felt good to laugh at the experience.
“So is there anything else you wanna talk about? How about Aaron or Ben?”
I went on and on about how I felt with Aaron, his friends, and about Ben and Ashlee. He was interested in that. I told him about Ashlee’s threats and how Ben didn’t believe me. Tyler said to still try to get through to him, even though he may not consider us friends anymore. Which is how I found myself at Ben’s front doorstep later on that night. I rang the doorbell and his mom answered.
“Oh! Hello there, Gary. Is Ben expecting you? I heard you two got into an argument.”
“We did. I’m here to see if I can work things out.”
“Well then, come in! Ben’s in the family room with Ashlee. Did you know he got a girlfriend?”
“Yes, I did.” I muttered grimly as I walked in to see them look up at me in surprise.
“What the h*** are you doing here!?” Ben yelled. “You better be here to apologize or I will kick your a** out this door!”
“Benjamin!” his mom exclaimed. “That is no way to talk to your friend, no matter what the situation is.”
He glared at her. “This doesn’t concern you.”
He already looked white with rage. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, how I was going to talk to him. I walked closer to him.
“Ben, I’m your friend; your best friend. This doesn’t make sense. Why would I lie to you? What have I got to gain? Ben, you know I’m not like that. You know...”
“Shut up, man! I don’t know what you are anymore!”
“Ben, listen! You know I wouldn’t hurt you. If Ashlee’s feelings were different, then I would be more than happy for you. But the truth is that she isn’t
like that. She’s prejudice and doesn’t want you to be friends with me just because I’m...”
“Shut the f*** up! That isn’t true!”
“Yes it is, Ben!” I said, now screaming with him. “You know it...”
BAM!!! The sound of Ben’s fist hitting my face was deafening. The blow was so hard, it caused me to spin completely around and hit the ground. I touched my mouth with my hand and lifted it to my face; it was stained red in blood. I looked up at Ben. He looked ready to strike again.
“Are you happy now? Did that feel good to you? Do you feel
better because of it?”
Ben stood there, breathing heavily, with a blank face now. It took a minute before his actions and my words registered in him.
“Oh Gawd!” he said, barely above a whisper. “What did I do?”
It was now that Ashlee finally decided to speak.
“You defended me, baby. A real friend wouldn’t go after you like that.” she said, as she put her arms around him. Ben jerked away immediately like her touch was fire to him.
“No, you’re wrong! A real friend would do exactly what Gary has done for the past week. He looked out for me, even though he knew I wouldn’t agree to it. It’s true, isn’t it? You hate him. You hate all my friends. Just because most of them are f**...”
He stopped right there but it was too late. The damage had already been done. I flinched when he said that, even if it was only half the word. I hated that word, and wasn’t too comfortable with it. The way he said it, it was almost in a hateful tone. Ben must’ve caught on too.
“OMG.” he whispered, then got louder. “You were trying to change me too, weren’t you? To change my ideals, opinions, and morals into yours.”
“Ben, honey, that’s not true. You know I love you.”
“But do you approve of whom I’m friends with?”
“Y-yes. You know that.”
“Not once when I was accusing you earlier did you ever try to defend yourself.” I said, getting myself into the argument.
“I, I was shocked at what was happening. Ben, you’re not going to listen to him, are you?”
That was the clincher. I knew the outcome now.
“Yes I am, Ashlee.” Ben said with determination. “Gary knows exactly what he’s talking about and all you’ve been trying to do is appalling to me. I want you out of this door and to never see or talk to you again.”
“But Ben...”
“NOW!!!”
Defeated, Ashlee walked out the door. She never gave up her innocent look, even though I’m sure she’s had plenty of practice with it. At the last second, she gave me a cold stare. I was unfazed; I had my best friend back. As soon as the door closed, Ben enveloped me into a strong bear hug, much like Tyler’s, and started apologizing a billion times in one breath. I told him that I forgave him and that I really didn’t care, as long as I had my friend back, and I really felt that way.
“Gary’s a queer?!” we heard. Ben’s mom was still standing there, trying to absorb all this new info.
“Gary doesn’t like that term, mom. And yes, he is
different. So what? You’ll just have to get used to it or you’ll find yourself one son less of a family.”
She looked puzzled.
“But Ben, are you...?”
“No. But it shouldn’t make a difference anyway.”
She ended up agreeing to “tolerate” me for now. I’m glad Ben spoke up for me. I said my goodbyes and headed home to find Tyler in the kitchen, cooking, or at least trying to, with my dad and Trista. He came over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.
“Your mom’s gone for the night. We’re cooking. Be afraid; be
very afraid. How’d it go at Ben’s, dude?”
I informed him of what happened and he was very happy for me. Dinner eaten, we watched TV until it was time for bed. I was still nervous from the last time we slept together, but Tyler seemed to put me at ease.
We stripped off our clothes sooner than last time. Without the worry of Dave in my mind, I had a chance to really see Tyler this time. He looked remarkable in every aspect. He gave me his trademark smile, indicating that he was thinking the same thing, and walked over to give me a tight bear hug before attacking me with his mouth. We slowly moved towards the bed, never breaking the lip lock. Once on it, Tyler came up to me, face-to-face, and looked directly into my eyes, searching for any restraint. Seeing none, he began to kiss lower...
.........
.........
.........
Oh wow! OMG! I can’t believe we just did that! He truly does love me. And I onto him as well. But based on what I just did, I think he could already tell. We fell asleep sweaty, sticky, and in love.
The next day at school, all sorts of news had bee spreading around. From what I gathered, Alex’ confession had done Aaron, Brian and him in, and all three were now in juvie. I hope they stay in there a
long time. Cameron seemed to be recovering, based on what Mark had told me. Mark is to take him home that day. I also ran into Ashlee in the halls. She wasn’t much of a threat, now that she wasn’t using Ben against me. I gave her a leer as she came up to me.
“What do
you want?”
“You know what? Your mother was right about you. You really are a spoiled f**. No wonder she insisted that I date Ben. I honestly didn’t see a problem with you and Tyler being together, but now, I know that he’s too good for you.”
I had stopped listening after she mentioned my mom. She was behind all this?
“Wait... my mom? She did all this?”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell, but obviously things didn’t go my way.”
She stormed off before I could say another word. She...my mom...I can’t believe she did this. She tried to ruin my life. She almost broke me down to the point of suicide! Was she still upset with me being...that way?
To be continued... PAN: Yes, there was no sex scene. No, there wasn't any originally and I conveniently erased it for some unknown reason. No, I will not write one in. You do it. It'll be hotter. The conclusion will be up in a week. I know that the make-up scene seems too mushy-mushy and a rush to tie loose ends together. That's just how I wrote way back then. You won't find these kinds of scenes in Black Star Cross.
