Under the sunset, over the moon

chapter 6

It's been a week since the party. William didn't contact me for days until yesterday. A single text: Tommorow. 2PM. My place. I don't know what to expect. I'll just try to keep calm and talk it out, although I don't think his temper is going to allow us to. I walk up the stairs to his dorm and take a deep breath before knocking on the dark wooden door twice. He opens the door and looks unfazed while stepping out of the way to allow me to enter. We sit down in his room and I make sure to sit as close to the door as possible, just in case I need to run again. "Where have you been?" he opens the conversation, a stern look on his face. I look at my hands fiddling on my lap as I feel guilt wash over me:"I was with Thomas." I briefly look up at his face to see his reaction then I look back down. "And who might that be?" he asks, anger and a hint of jealousy evident in his tone. "He was my best friend before I moved to Reading when we were 10 years old. We lost contact entirely until I saw him again after all those years at the party," I explain, looking everywhere but at him. I feel scared for his reaction as he speaks at a dangerously low volume given the situation and his temper. "So you ditched me for an old friend you haven't seen for years? Wow," he says. I look up:"Well, that's not entirely how it went. I felt really uncomfortable with you, so i told you I was going to the bathroom, but in fact I went to the Pen Ponds, where I thought I could be alone. But when I arrived there, Thomas was there too," I look down, not able to look him in the eye while I know he can just burst into anger any second now. He stands up in growing anger and raises his voice:"So you lied to me too?" I look up at him, tears forming at the sudden change in volume:"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I..." My voice dies out. "You did though. You just told me, you did want to lie to me to go to that Thomas guy," he spits, pointing accusingly at my chest. I heavily shake my head:"No, you don't understand, I didn't know that..." "It doesn't matter! I can't trust you, Kate. And all you ever do is point your little accusing finger at me and tell me I'm the jerk, while you're fiddling around with someone else, you slut!" he shouts. But I don't cower away this time. I stand up, not accepting him turning around the facts. "That's not true. I've given you so many chances! All those times you've objectified me and all those rude comments, I forgave you every time. You ARE the jerk, don't you understand?!" A slap shuts me up immediately. I hold my cheek as I look at William in disbelief. "Ungrateful bitch!" He shouts in my face. I shake my head:"I don't want you in my life, I've given enough, you took enough from me. It's over!" I run out the room, out the front door and down the stairs to end up on the street. The cold wind stings on my face, hot from crying. I take my phone and call Liv, who picks up after the first ring. "Hey babe, what's up? Are you crying? Where are you? I'll come and pick you up." She ends the call after I mumble I'm at William's. I sit down on the edge of the sidewalk around the corner of the entrance, so he wouldn't immediately notice me if he decides to come after me. Before I know it, Liv's car holds still in front of me. I open the passenger door and slide in, immediately breaking down. On the way home, I tell Liv everything: the kiss, the day after, the party, the argument, the hit. She doesn't say anything until she parked the car in the parking garage close to our building. "Why didn't you tell me anything? I could've supported you! You shouldn't go through something like this on your own, Kate," she tells me. Taking my hand away from my cheek. She inhales sharply at the sight of what I think is a big red mark. "I didn't want to complain and I didn't want you to say 'I told you so'. I just couldn't. I'm sorry," I explain, looking at her apoligetically. "It's okay, girl. He found a way to make you feel guilty of him being a jerk, for which you aren't guilty and that guilt made you isolate yourself from me. If he comes back, I will talk to him. He's just a jerk. And I found out that he has a girlfriend. So he used you. So it's good you ended it, because she would've been mad at you for it. They really match, you know? She's a really bad person too as far as I've heard. Let's go inside and watch a movie and have some ice cream, okay? We'll do a spa day and everything. Max is there too. He's worried sick about you, you know?" Liv steps out of the car and I mirror her action. We go to our dorm in complete silence. my head is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I feel drained. I feel sad and angry. But mainly drained. Wait, Max is worried about me? We barely talk! I might ask him about it later. We reach our dorm and go inside. Everything seems quiet, until Max turns the corner and engulfs me in a hug. I wrap my arms around his waist and let the tears go. His hands stroke my back and my hair gently, making all the stress flow away. I melt into his touch like I've never experienced before. He bends down, one hand behind my back and puts his other hand behind my knees. He picks me up bridal style and makes his way to my room, sitting down on my bed with me on his lap. I've never been close to him before, so this is new, but he's being really sweet right now, even though he doesn't even know what happened. "Did you argue with him?" he whispers. I nod, knowing he feels the movement of my head because it's laying against his chest. His steady heartbeat calms me down. I lift my head and show my red cheek. His jaw clenches as he lifts his hand to gently rest against my jawline. I hiss at the contact. "Does it hurt?" he asks, looking in my eyes for a second before focusing on my cheek again. I nod, barely moving my head. His thumb gently caresses my under-eye, wiping away some lost tears. His hand moves to the side of my head and he gently pushes my head down to rest against his chest again. I close my eyes. My face wears a small smile. "Liv is warming the water in the shower for you. She'll be back in a second to help you. I'll make you a big mug of hot chocolate and have a warm blanket ready for you, okay?" he whispers. I nod and whisper back:"Thank you, Max." "No problem," he answers. A few minutes later, Liv enters the room and puts her hand on my shoulder:"The water is warm and your towels, underwear and pajamas are ready in the bathroom, come on." I sit up and let them help me. I feel guilty for making them help me, but I'm so tired. I'm so thankful for my friends. I take a hot shower, put some cream on my cheek and put on my pajamas before making my way back to my room. Max and Liv are sitting on my bed. Liv was silently talking to Max, probably explaining what happened, but she abruptly stops when I come in. I smile at them and sit down on the edge of my bed to face them both:"You can tell him, Liv, you don't have to spare me the details I already know anyways." Liv puts her hand on mine for a second and smiles at me, a  heartwarming smile. I smile back, nod to say thank you and stand up to take some socks from my closet. Liv explains the rest of the story to Max and finishes when I return with:"And then he slapped her and she ended it all." They make me sit in between them and cuddle me in a cuddle sandwich, making me giggle. "Would you please hand me my phone, Max?" I ask, pointing to my phone on the nightstand next to him. He hands it to me and I thank him, unlocking my phone to delete William's number, but I get distracted by 20 missed calls from Thomas. My eyes go big. "Well, well," I hear Liv say next to me. "He's the only good thing about the whole situation with William. I saw him again at that party last week. It felt like we never lost contact. We talked all night. He made that horrible night one of the best ones I've had in a good while," I explain. "Are you in love with him?" Max asks next to me. My eyes go big:"Oh no! He's my childhood best friend. I haven't seen him in 9 and a half years. We've always been just friends and I can't predict the future, but for me that's all we'll ever be." I smile at Max and look back at my phone screen. "I'll send him a text to apologize for ignoring him and ask him to come over in a few days. I send the text and put my phone away. "So, what movie are we watching?" I try to break the sudden awkward silence. Liv takes 3 mugs of hot chocolate from the ground and 3 bowls of ice cream. We decide to watch a romantic comedy. The whole movie, I notice Max staring at me. I don't watch the whole movie though, because just when I finish my ice cream and my hot chocolate, I fall into a deep sleep, not waking up until the next morning. I open my eyes, smile at how comfortable I'm lying, before I realise I'm lying in Max' arms! I sit up, waiting for the memories of last night to seep through. The argument with William, the movie and Max looking at me the whole time. I smile and lie back down. Max' arms subconsciously wrap around me as if he's awake. I close my eyes and almost immediately fall back into a deep sleep. 

~Later that day, Liv's point of view~

I just had a briefing for my next semester. I'm leaving next week to go to a university in Spain. I haven't told Kate yet, I just can't. Not right now. She's going through her first break-up, I can't tell her I'm leaving. I kind of have to, though. Yesterday, I told Max after he asked me about a letter from a university in Spain in the mail adressed to me. I told him, then I told him about what happened to Kate when she walked in. I will tell her eventually, when it feels right. We've been inseparable for the last 9 years, so it feels weird to leave, but it's a great oppurtunity for me. I hope she'll be okay! She won't be the only girl, though; although all our roommates are boys, I switch places with a girl in Spain; she'll come here and I go to her dorm. I enter my dorm and immediately go to Kate's room, where I find her cuddled up in Max' arms. I'm curious to see where that is going. It looks like Kate is heading for a love triangle. Exciting! Hurtful for the heart, though! I quietly shut the door and put away my stuff. I'll go make the lovebirds breakfast and wake them up.

Ten minutes later I enter Kate's room with 2 trays with breakfast on them. I whisper their names, trying to get them to wake up, which doesn't end up being difficult at all. They both immediately stirr awake and look at each other with slight confusion before looking at me. "I made breakfast, or brunch, given the time," I smile, handing them their trays. 

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I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! See you in the next one!

xxxDieuwke