The Girl Next Door

\"So are you going?\" Sandra finally asked Veronica. The two were at the park letting Veronica\'s dog play with Sandra\'s little sister. Veronica had finally decided to name the dog Butch.
\"I guess so. Alex really wants me to go and theres no school tomorrow.\"
\"Now that\'s what I\'m talking about!\" Sandra exclaimed \"You all are picking me up right?\"
\"Yes\"
\"Good. By the way, what\'s been going on with you and Jason? I haven\'t seen you two together in a while.\"
Veronica sighed and continued to watch Butch play with the little girl. \"I honestly don\'t know. I think he\'s still mad about what happened at the mall.\"
\"I\'d be mad at you too if you ditched me like that.\"
\"But it wasn\'t my fault.\" Veronica said, on the defense. \"You know how Alex is. There would have been a big fight if I had said said \'No I\'m staying\'\".
\"Well, this party will be good for you. Just don\'t forget to pick me up.\"

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Music wafted out of the open doors as Jason and Marcus made their way up the driveway. Jason felt oddly out of place thinking about all the people that were there. He felt better knowing Marcus was there but he secretly wished, just a little, that it was Veronica next to him.
\"You want a drink, man?\" Marcus was yelling at Jason. They had made their way into the house and were in the midst of bodies bumping and girating to music.
\"Yeah, let\'s go.\" Jason yelled back and they worked their way out of the crowd and into the the equally cramped, but slightly quieter, kitchen.

\"Maybe this wasn\'t a good idea Marc. It\'s kinda loud.\" Jason commented.
\"It\'s a party\" Marcus said lowering his cup from his mouth. \"It\'s supposed to be loud. Anyway, I think there\'s someone here to see you.\" Marcus nodded to something behind Jason. He frowned slightly before turning around and having two big brown eyes meet his.

\"Hi\" Veronica said, almost inaudible.
\"Hi\" Jason replied, completely shocked.
\"I\'ma go holla at some hunnies\" Marcus said to Jason over his shoulder before leaving. Veronica felt herself blush as she and Jason stared at each other. It was like he was staring into her soul. And she liked it.

\"What\'s been up?\" she asked.
\"Not much. Hanging out with Marc every now and then. Have to make sure he doesn\'t leave me though.\" Veronica exhailed heavily, she knew this was coming.
\"You know I didn\'t plan that\" She said, stepping closer and raising her voice just a little.
\"But you could have stood up for me. Or even yourself.\" Jason could feel his face grow hot. He didn\'t know wether he was angry at her or his brother.

\"You know it wasn\'t that easy. He would have argued with me or you two would have ended up fighting. I wanted to minimize confrontation.\"
\"At the cost of our friendship?\" \'Damnit, why don\'t you think before you open your big, stupid mouth?\' Jason asked himself. He knew she didn\'t mean any harm and it really was his brother\'s fault. \"Veronica...that\'s not what I meant...\"
\"Yes it was\" she snapped at him. \"I see why you and you\'re brother fight so much. You two are so much alike. The world revolves around you and if you get hurt, just a little, oh boy! The world better watch out!\" she was yelling now. \"Screw you Jason! If you think that\'s all I wanted to do was jeopordize our friendship, then screw you!\" And with that she turned and stormed out of the, now quiet, kitchen.

She could feel tears well up in her eyes as she pushed her way past the packed living room and out the door. She was surprised to feel herself bombarded with millions of rain drops as she stood on the lawn and looked for Alex\'s car. She spotted his black convertable and ran up to it. As she got closer, she noticed the windows were steamed. She pounded on the fogged up windows until one finally rolled down. What she saw was enough to make her want to vomit. She saw Alex and Sandra looking up at her. Sandra\'s skirt pulled up and her legs wide open, and Alex laying snugly between them.

\"Shit\" Alex spat as he scrambled to get off of his girlfriend\'s \"friend\". Veronica didn\'t want to be around for any type of lies Alex was about to tell her. She turned and ran as fast as she could, away from the house, away from the car, away from everything. She could hear Alex calling her from behind and she quickly cut between some houses and continued running. If he did decided to come after her, she didn\'t want to make it easy for him to find her.