Chapter 13
Brylee
“Come on,” Courtney says, tugging on my arm as my world crumbles around me. “Let us take you back to my place. You can sleep there and we can open a bottle of vodka and drink the night away. You won’t even have to remember it.”
I shake my head as I struggle to keep the tears at bay. “No, please just take me home. I want to just lay in bed and forget tonight ever happened.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” I tell her as I reach Courtney’s car and desperately tug on the handle only to find the fucker locked.
“Hey, wait up.” I look back up the road and find Kaylah hurrying after us. She reaches us a second later and throws her arms around me. “Holy shit, those stupid boys. Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I was trying to keep an eye on them from afar but I didn’t realize how much he’d been drinking and then freaking Rocko started a fight with them. God, I love them but sometimes, they’re so stupid.”
I don’t answer as tears spring to my eyes and thinking about it a second longer will surely have me breaking down in her arms. “Please, just take me home.”
“Of course,” Courtney says, finally digging out her keys and unlocking the car. I hear Jesse yelling in the distance but I’m in the car with the door closed before I can even begin to make out what he’s saying.
Courtney and Kaylah both close their doors and she pulls off the curb, leaving my troubles, my heart, and my future behind. The girls talk between themselves as Courtney asks Kaylah more about the fight. I tune them out. I simply don’t have the mental capacity to keep listening to anything concerning Tyson.
I want to cry. I want to scream. I want to run away and never return to Broken Hill again. Why is it so hard to breathe? If only I wasn’t so stubborn in the first place. We could have avoided all of this and been happy, instead, he hates me, just as I knew he would. I broke his heart and clearly, he’s taking it much harder than I am. I’ve destroyed him. What am I going to do?
Courtney pulls up outside my family home and I look up at it with relief. It seems that all the lights are off so my parents are either out or already in bed, meaning I can sneak into my room and get the hell out of here without being forced to answer questions that will only have my parents constantly bugging me about my mental health and well-being.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come back to my place?” Courtney says softly, reaching over and taking my hand in hers.
“I’m sure. I just want to go to bed and try to forget about it.”
“I’m sorry,” she says with her heart on her sleeve. “I shouldn’t have pushed you to come home. You should have just waited to talk to him when you were ready. This is all my fault.”
“No, it’s not. This is entirely on me. If I’d just been honest with myself in the first place, things would have turned out differently.” I grab my things from the center console and push the door open. “I’ll talk to you in the morning, okay?”
“Okay,” Courtney says with a nod as Kaylah waves goodbye while looking like she’s just moments from passing out. “I’ll come and get you tomorrow. We can talk on the way back to the airport.” I nod as I step back and close the door. Courtney gives me one last smile before pressing the gas and disappearing.
I take myself inside and get up to my room. As I walk past the bathroom, I consider taking a long, hot shower but the exhaustion of my day is too much and I decide to get up a little earlier and have one in the morning. All I want is to curl up in bed and let unconsciousness claim me.
I peel myself out of Courtney clothes, feeling like an idiot for dressing up for him. He didn’t even notice that I’d put the effort in, all he cared about was making me feel like a fucking fool, and guess what? It worked.
I put on something comfortable and was sure to grab my box of tissues off my desk. After tossing them onto my bed, I go crashing down in the blankets and do my best to curl up, though all I really want is Tyson here with his arms wrapped around me, taking the pain away.
Just as I knew they would, the second my head hits the pillow, I crumble. The tears come on heavy and strong to the point where I bypass the tissue and head straight for smooshing my face into my pillow. There’s no point trying to dry these tears, it’s an impossible task.