Beneath Our Faults

"That's not always a bad thing."

"Says the guy who gets to do whatever he wants. It's annoying when people say that about things they've never had to deal with. You will never understand the true fright of undertaking the difficulties of sneaking out your bedroom window or your parents finding out you went to a party drinking Malibu instead of having an all-girls sleepover.”

"Damn girl, I had no idea you were such a little rebel. It's nice to see you at least used to have fun."

She shoved another bite into her mouth and grimaced. "What's that suppose to mean?" She asked, swallowing. "I have fun."

Yeah right. The girl was the essence of unfun. "Name one fun thing you've done since you've been here."

"Lane's party.”

"You got wasted and heaved out your insides. I highly doubt that could be classified as fun.”

"Fine," she burst out. "I'm not a fun person. Happy?" Looking away from me, she shoved another bite into her mouth.

"Damn, no need to get all pissy," I replied, surprised how fired up she had gotten over my words.

"You don't have fun either. You think jumping from bed to bed and treating girls like trash is fun?" she snapped, her voice low and accusatory. Damn, I hit a sore spot.

"Treat girls like trash? I use them the same way they use me. Just because they have a vagina doesn't mean they do no evil. Now what's your excuse?"

"I don't have one."

"So you've always been pissed off and mad at the world?"

"I am not pissed off and mad at the world," she protested, leveling her gaze on me.

"I beg to differ."

"Do you want me to kick you out of my house?"

"You can, but I just need to do one little thing."

"And what is that?"

I grinned, bending down and leaning into her chair. Slowly, I dragged the tip of my thumb across her hot lips.

"Uh what are you doing," she asked, swatting my hand away from her. Ignoring her, I dodged her hands and swiped my thumb across the middle to wipe up the tiny glob of whipped cream on her lips. I grinned, noticing her breathing quicken and her eyes widen as I lifted my thumb to my mouth and sucked on it. "Mmm," I groaned, dragging it out of my mouth. "Someone who tastes this good shouldn't be angry all the time."

She gasped and I waited for whatever response she was going to give me, hoping it wasn’t a punch to the gut, but I got nothing. Her espresso eyes bored into mine and she leaned forward coming my way. I wasn't sure what the hell was about to happen, but I wasn't going to stop it either.

"Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on!" Sophia screeched; flying into the room, and Daisy flopped back against her chair, shocked. "Come on," Daisy's eye diverted away from me. Sophia waked in between our chairs, grabbing a hand from each of us and pulling it toward the doorway.

Never in my life had I ever been one of those "what-if" people, but that day, for the very first time, I wondered what would have happened if Sophia wouldn't have come barreling into that room.





I TOSSED my bag down roughly on the table in front of me, slouching down in a chair. The day wasn’t even halfway over and it was already sucking major ass. I was positive I failed the History pop quiz we had that morning. Then my best friend, Piper, “accidentally” elbowed me in the face during a basketball game in gym. Yippee-freaking-yay.

"I'm telling you, you should have punched her in her perfect snobby nose," Gabby suggested, collapsing in the chair next to mine. "I totally would have vouched for you."

I huffed loudly, unzipping my bag for the water bottle that was shoved in there somewhere, but paused my search when I felt my phone start to vibrate. Grabbing it from the side pocket, I looked down at the screen to see mom flashing across it. Weird. My mom never tried to call me when I was in school. I ignored the call, sending it to voicemail, when a text popped up on my screen.



DAWSON: Tessa tried to kill herself. She's at Hancock Memorial.



My empty stomach dropped reading the words and my hands fell open, allowing my phone to slide out onto the wooden table. This couldn't be happening. Tessa wouldn't be that stupid. I jumped out of my seat, knocking the chair back, and throwing my bag over my shoulder before taking off out of the cafeteria like a bat out of hell. I could hear Cora and Gabby's voices behind me, calling out, but I ignored them and ran faster. It was my fault. If I had been there for Tessa, if I would have taken her calls, she would have never done it. I could have helped her but I was being too damn selfish.

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