She said, “I’ll never be ashamed of being hurt by two people I loved. I was the hurt one and maybe I’m a fool. I thought maybe…” she trailed off, lingering on Devon for a moment. Yearning mixed with sadness flared in her eyes, but her jaw hardened. She turned back to her friend. “I’m hurt by what you did and no matter how you try to spin it, I’m not the bad guy. You were supposed to be my friend and you weren’t. That’s the truth.”
There was silence as she finished. Jennica looked away, her eyes cast down. Mandy might’ve gotten through to her. But when she looked back up, her jaw had hardened, and her mouth was strained. I sighed and stepped forward. “Stop.” Jennica’s top lip curved in a snarl. She was going to start on me instead, but I shook my head. “She won just now. You know it so accept it and walk away. Give her time, stay away from this guy,” I pointed to Devon, “and apologize when you finally accept how low of a friend you are. She’ll take you back because she’s a good friend. She’s a better friend to you than you deserve.”
The snarl left, her anger faded, and a look of defeat came over her. By the time I was done, a tear had formed, and she flicked it away.
The crowd had started to lessen. This wasn’t the chick fight they had been hoping for. It was just an emotional scene where a girl lost two people she still cared about.
It was then that I realized why I was disappointed with Brian downstairs. He was doing what I kept telling him to do and the less he fought, the more he was letting me go. It was the hardest thing to deal with, actually letting go. As Mandy began crying and Jennica couldn’t stop her own, my own tears appeared. They weren’t falling, but I felt them.
Dylan came forward and took Mandy. He told me, “I’ll bring her home later.”
I nodded.
After they left, Jennica started to say, “It’s not—”
“Shut up.” My words were harsh, but my tone was thick with emotion. I shook my head. “Look at what happened just now. You lost a friend.” I nodded at Devon. “He won’t stay with you and you know it. He’s going to try and get her back and where will that leave you?”
The blood drained from her face.
I finished, “Alone.”
“I have friends.”
“Who are friends like you. Do you really want those people as friends?”
Tray came through the crowd at that moment. He scanned over everyone and touched my arm. “Taryn, let’s go.”
“Tray.” Jennica turned to him. Her eyes were big and pleading.
He shook his head. “Don’t, Jen.”
“Tray?” Devon had stood, frowning.
Tray didn’t answer. He took my arm and led me away from them. As we left, this was the final nail in their coffin; their leader didn’t want to associate with them. He took me back through the house and around the pool. A small house was on the other side and we went inside.
I glanced around. It was a small oasis from the crowd outside.
“Come on.” He took my hand and led me to a room on the second floor. A king-sized bed was in the middle with a couch beside it. A large television was in the corner.
I shook my head. “How rich are you?”
I expected a laugh, maybe an offhand comment, but there was none. He jerked his head towards the main house as he pulled me to sit with him on the couch. “What do you think will happen with those three?”
“Nothing.” I hated to admit it, but I was a realist. “Devon will go back to Mandy. Jennica will act like nothing happened and they’ll be friends again.”
“Really? It seemed intense when I got there. I saw Mandy leave. She didn’t look ready to forgive and forget.”
“I want to think things will change, but I don’t believe it. They’ll be fake with each other. They may actually think they’re friends again, but they won’t be. The real friendship is gone. It’ll be replaced with a fake friendship and even when she goes back to Devon; she’ll never really trust him.”
He narrowed his eyes, studying me.
I laughed. “You’re not disagreeing with me.”
He shrugged. “Mandy caught Jennica and Devon kissing in eighth grade. It was the end of the world. They had a big fight like just now, but those two got back together the next week and Jennica and Mandy were best friends within two days. I was just impressed that you called it.”
“So you agree with me.”
“Mandy wants to believe her friendship is real with Jennica, but it isn’t. It never was. There aren’t a lot of real friends out there.”