Anniversary

Chapter Five

Betty folded her tan cardigan across her torso and tightly wrapped her arms around her body as she crossed the street. A slight breeze had picked up, but she knew she would be inside in a few minutes as her brother lived three houses down from her. Betty remembered how excited they were when the house three doors down had opened up because the previous owners had been transferred out of state and needed to sell as soon as possible. She thought it was such a great idea to live close to her best friend because their kids could grow up next to each other. Betty thought back to the house warming party they had last year. She vividly remembered Jasmine's extent in making decorations and her famous New York cheesecake.

Jasmine's smile was so bright and lightened the mood of any room, no matter what had just happened prior. Betty recalled that she and Damon had just been fighting about where to set the table up when Jasmine rang the doorbell and arrived with Terry in toe. Had Terry been unfaithful to Jasmine that whole time? She had known for a little while that something was off about him but could never put her finger on it, so Betty let the subject drop as she led Jasmine to the dining room to help set everything up. Jasmine agreed with Betty on where the table should go and then made quick work of the setup.

Putting the green and blue streamers in place and helping blow up balloons. Jasmine had inhaled some helium while doing so and did what they referred to as pulling a "Chandler" and started singing a few lines from "I will survive." Everyone burst into laughter and any tension that once lingered quickly dissipated. They went on to have a great night, playing party games, showing each other memes, and eating until they were stuffed. Betty found herself standing in front of the red door that signified Jasmine's home, and Jasmine's smile as she greeted her flashed in her mind.

Betty shook away the beginning of another memory and knocked on the door. However, she didn't expect what greeted her on the other side as the door opened. A tall thin blonde woman with bright blue eyes and full red lips stared at Betty slacked-jawed as though she had just been caught red-handed. Her eyes widened, and it was clear to Betty that this woman recognized her somehow. Betty narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, glaring daggers at the woman before her.

"Terry!" Betty yelled as loud as she could, intentionally ignoring the woman in the doorway. She was afraid if Betty were to speak to the woman, she might launch herself and strangle her. Luckily for both women, Terry showed up at the door moments later.

"Oh, Betty," he lowered his gaze as his face turned crimson. "I see you've met Hope." 

"Hope?" Betty's eyes were cold and hard as they looked slowly up and down Hope's slight frame. She squeezed her hands so tight that the nails broke her flesh open in several places, but she barely noticed the stinging sensation in the heat of the moment. Her jaw was clenched so tight it seemed almost like she couldn't get the words out. "It hasn't even been two days, Terry, and you're shacked up with the other woman in Jasmine's house?" Terry stiffened but raised his gaze to meet Betty's, challenging her to continue.

"You broke the news to her yesterday, of all days, and you believe this is an acceptable thing to do?" 

"Jasmine won't talk to me-" Betty raised her hand, cutting his sentence off and unleashed everything she had bottled up over the last forty-eight hours.

"There is no excuse for what you've done. There never will be a good excuse for this. I am disgusted. I can't believe you think that this-this-this whore is a better life partner than literally the woman who thinks of you first every day! Was your life so terrible that you had to run off with some skank? How could you betray her and everyone this way?"

"I wasn't happy!" Hope crossed her arms and painted a smirk on her face. The argument didn't concern her or that she was tearing a family apart, and it almost seemed as though she took some pleasure from it. 

"Really, Terry? What made you so unhappy? The constant gifts, lavish birthday celebrations, the fact that you never had to cook or clean, the dinners, the constant happy little notes in your lunches? How could you have been so stupid for a man who was supposed to be so smart?"

Betty didn't give him the chance to reply; her shoulders drooped as she lost the energy to fight.  She turned halfway back towards her home and then stopped to stare at Hope. Betty's blood began to boil just looking at her.

"You will never be one of us." Then she turned and walked back to her home, wiping her tear-soaked face.

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Max was in the middle of whispering in Jamie's ear. They were playing a game called paranoia in which one person whispers a question in another's ear; however, the answer to the question has to be said out loud. Then the others in the circle have to sit in silence for three minutes, and if you couldn't stand not knowing the question, you have to drink to hear the answer. In Jasmine's case, of course, she was drinking 7-up, but everyone else was drinking shots of tequila. The game was on its fifth round, and some people were on their third shot already. 

"About five," Jamie responded to the giggling girls in the circle. A slamming door broke up the party mood when they all turned towards the sound and saw Betty walking towards them. She seemed visibly shaken as she walked up to the tequila bottle resting gingerly in the middle of the circle and started taking gulps from it. Max gave Jazz a look that said, "that talk must have been great." The room waited for Betty to settle into the couch seat before Jamie spoke up and asked what had happened.

"I don't feel like talking about it right now. Just know that if I could strangle my brother and get away scot-free and not hurt Jazz, I would one thousand times."

"Betty, it's okay. I won't get upset by what you say. you can tell us if you want to." Jazz met Betty's eyes. There was so much behind them that it made it clear she was fighting a battle that no one else could see. 

"I would never do that to you, Jazz. I can't. Just know that I am planted firmly on your side for the rest of time. I may even disown that sleazeball."

"Don't do that, Betty," Jazz stood up and crossed the room to her best friend. As she sat next to Betty, she gently took the tequila bottle out of her hands, placed it on the floor, and took both of Betty's hands. "Who would walk you down the aisle if you disown Terry?"

"I don't have to have anyone walk me down the aisle. That is optional, you know. But honestly, I could ask your dad or Max. I only chose Terry because he was my blood brother.."

"Well, when you decide what you wanna do, let us know; right now, why don't we throw on miss congeniality two and laugh our heads off?"

Betty smiled weakly at this, knowing that Jazz remembered it was her favorite movie. She loved the comedy, and Sandra Bullock was hilarious in that role. Betty felt her heart fall into her stomach as she thought about the situation briefly in flashes but forced the images of Hope's smirk far from her memory as she forced a genuine smile this time to encourage Jasmine to put on the movie and relax. Just as the movie started, Betty felt a head rush, and she laid her head back, staring at the ceiling, enjoying the sensation like her spirit was floating. Jasmine noticed fifteen minutes into the movie that Betty had fallen asleep and thought about how much she had put her friend through in the last two days.

 It didn't seem fair to put so much of a burden and stress on her shoulders and a wave of nausea came over Jasmine when she thought about it. Just as it always did when she thought of burdening someone else with her problems. Maybe it was time that she went back to her home and faced her husband; but that was a problem, for tomorrow. Jasmine rested her head on Betty's shoulder and curled into her falling asleep as they had every day for a year in sophomore year when Betty's father passed away. She needed to think of a way to repay Betty for her kindness over the last few days.

***************AUTHOR NOTE ******************

I am so sorry for not updating last week or on time this week you guys!! It has been a very stressful two weeks and unfortunately, I didn't have the time I wanted to sit down and write this story. Thank you so much for the Votes and for reading this story!! Please be patient with me and I promise, Next Friday will be on time!!!!!!!!

(Please don't forget to vote for this chapter and comment! =^.^= )

your lovable and weird,

KAT :3