“Mel took a bunch of pills, and she started seizing,” I said, my heart hurting as I told him. I didn’t feel bad for him, but for Mel? God, I hated what happened to her. She got the short end of the stick time and time again.
That girl…she deserved happiness. She deserved the fucking world.
Dean was silent, his jaw tensing, but I plowed on, never one to know when to quit: “It’s a good thing I came home right then, because what if she started seizing when no one was there? What if she choked to death on her own tongue? She almost died—”
Oh, God. This was hard. I never thought I was the type of girl to burst into tears, but my eyes were definitely watering. No tear fall yet, though. Hopefully I’d be able to keep it in until I no longer sat across from the King of Dicks himself.
“—and she’s still fighting for her life at the hospital,” I muttered. “So tell me, Dean, is this what you wanted? Are you finally happy now?”
He was quiet for a while. For a long while. I could see the gears turning in his head, and I wished I knew what he was thinking, what his thought process was. Did he really think spreading that video of her around campus would make her run back to him? It was laughable. Using a video like that…
“You made her question our friendship, you made her feel alone, isolated, and you made her relive that heartbreak,” I told him when he remained silent. “Everything you’ve done has hurt her, over and over again. You say you want her back, and yet you sleep around. You act obsessed with her, but you couldn’t care less. I mean, look at you. I just told you that she tried to kill herself—and, hell, she might’ve succeeded. She might never wake up. If you really loved her, even just a little, you wouldn’t act like this.”
Dean let out a long breath. Whatever he was feeling, he had to have been holding it back, hiding his true self, not wanting me to see him for who he really was. Didn’t matter much, because no matter what emotions he had inside, he was a fuckup through and through.
“No,” he said. “I’m not happy, but that’s the thing—I’m never happy.”
“So you drag everyone else to the mud with you?” My question was thrown like a knife, a sharp dagger, and I hurled that bitch straight to his heart. “Just because you’re never happy doesn’t mean other people have to be miserable too.”
Dean looked at me then, and I meant he really looked at me. A hard, serious look—an expression I’d never seen on his face before. He looked older then, not the nineteen he was, as if he held some kind of dark past that led him to make such terrible decisions with his life.
But you know what? I didn’t care. There was no reason this guy could possibly have to explain why he acted the way he did. There was no redemption for Dean, only revenge, and even if Mel stayed comatose for weeks, months, years, Levi and I would avenge her. It’s the least we could do, for hurting her.
Dean? Dean had hurt her the most. Dean needed to be taken down a peg. I couldn’t wait until the day I saw him fall—I’d bring popcorn. I’d enjoy the shit out of that movie again and again, hitting replay at least ten times.
Excessive? Oh, yeah, totally.
What could I say? Hashtag no shame.
“If you’re trying to see if I’m happy that Mel hurt herself, I’m not,” Dean hissed, jerking back as he stood up. He wasn’t as tall as Levi, but he had some muscles on that body. Still, it wasn’t enough to intimidate me. I wasn’t the kind of person to ever be intimidated. A good thing, but sometimes a bad thing.
I got up, glaring at him all the while. He wasn’t reaching for his bag, so I wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. Something, obviously. This conversation was winding down, but it lasted longer than I thought it would. I hoped it was enough time for Levi to do what he needed to do. “You deserve so much more than a kidney-punch, Dean,” I whispered, glaring.
“I know,” he said simply, shrugging. Dean said nothing else as he grabbed his bag, slung the strap over his shoulder, and walked away.
I watched him leave the building, not wanting to pull out my phone and text Levi—having him turn his head back to look at me and seeing me on my phone immediately after our encounter might look fishy. So I waited until he left the union, until I saw him walk out those doors, and then I texted Levi that our little chat was done.
Anticipation danced along every nerve in my body, and I prayed this endeavor of ours would yield some fruit.
And by fruit, I totally meant dirt. Or even blackmail. Whatever you wanted to call it.
Chapter Sixteen – Kelsey
The next week passed slowly. So freaking slowly I wanted to dig my fingers through my hair and pull, all the while screaming into the void. I’d gone to visit Mel a few times, but there was no change. I’d even met her parents. They seemed…well, not like my parents. More overbearing, and a bit rude. I didn’t particularly like them, but that was fine, as I was assuming Mel would have to once again drop out of the semester.
Which would mean she would no longer be my roommate, and since half an empty room meant less money going to SCC and its for-profit shit, I’d just get another roommate.
Yeah. That part kind of sucked, and by kind of, I
