I Will Try My Best

Ch. 26

"Hello?" I groggily said.

"Yo, Cat, it's Fab."

"Why are you calling me? I'm still asleep."

"It's Sunday we have a project to do."

"Oh yeah..."

"I'll text you Julian's address. Let's meet up there in an hour."

"Okay." I hung up and reluctantly got out of bed to take a shower.

I noticed myself trying really hard to look good but still make it seem like I didn't put any effort at all. Why the hell am I getting so nervous? And why the fuck am I trying so hard to look good for him?! It's just Julian. Fuck him. I got my backpack and keys and drove to his house. I knocked on his door.

"COME IN! THE DOOR IS UNLOCKED!" He yelled.

I walked in. "Hello?"

"I'm in the living room!" He called out.

I went towards the living room. I saw him bruised up sitting on the couch with his head leaning back. I instantly got worried. I rushed towards him.

"Holy shit! Are you okay?!" I panicked.

"Why would you care?" He mumbled.

I gently touched his eye and he winced a bit. I went to the kitchen to get him an ice pack. I came back and he was still in the same spot. I stood in front of him and softly grabbed his face and held the ice pack to his eye.

"Does that feel better?" My tone was sweet and gentle.

"A little..."

"What happened?"

"Ran into your brother at the bar last night."

"Oh..."

Neither of us had nothing else to say. I felt so bad. I continued to stand in front of him holding the ice pack against his face. It was silent for a few minutes. Then he wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face into my stomach.

"I've missed you..."

I didn't know what was going on. I felt electricity going up and down my spine when he touched me and said those words. My heart was beating fast. FUCK. This is confusing as hell. I'm still mad at him, I can't forgive him and yet I still feel something for him. This was all too overwhelming for me so I tried to get out of his grip but he just held me tighter.

"Stay."

"Julian... Stop..." I gently pushed him off me.

I immediately regretted doing that because looking into his face broke my heart. Seeing him look so sad killed me and the bruises on his face didn't help either. He was hurt, really hurt and I caused it. NO CAT. Don't think like that. He did this to himself; you didn't cause anything, right...?

He grabbed my hand. "Don't go... Please."

I looked him in the eyes. "I- I said don't." My voice was weak and shaky.

He let go of my hand and stood up. I could tell he was getting frustrated with me.

"Is this because of Steven?! I saw you guys last night at the movies!" He yelled.

I felt like I was being attacked. He had no right to blame him nor did he have the right to yell at me for hanging out with Steven.

I gave him a confused look. "Steven? What? No, he has nothing to do with this."

"Then what is it?!"

"BECAUSE YOU FUCKED MY BEST FRIEND!" I yelled back. Now I'm mad.

He stopped yelling. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY. How many times do I have to say it?! I want you, Cat, I want you so bad. Please... I'll do anything for you. What do I have to do to get you to forgive me?"

At this point I was livid and there were so many other emotions running around my head I didn't know what to say or how to feel. But I knew anger was the emotion that was overtaking the rest of my feelings. And without even thinking I said something I wasn't even sure if I meant it or not.

"I want you to get the fuck out of my life." I grabbed my backpack. "Just tell Nick and Fab that I'll do the project myself. I'll just put your guy's name on it; you don't have to worry about it."

I left his house without looking at him and drove home. Immediately I started to do my homework to get my mind off of what happened. After a few hours my cell phone rang. I quickly grabbed it and was a little disappointed to see it was only Tiffany calling me.

"Hello?"

"So... How was it?!" She sounded really excited.

"How was what?"

"Last night with Steven!"

"Oh, that? It was okay we just watched a movie then he took me home."

She sighed loudly. "That's it? No kissing no nothing?!"

"No, Tiffany like I said he's just my friend and nothing more."

She scoffed. "Ugh, whatever. Want to hear about my night? It was quite eventful."

Wasn't really in the mood but she seemed like she really wanted to talk about it.

"Sure."

"Well Jake took me out to dinner and we went to this really good Italian restaurant. Then he took me to this sketchy apartment building to get a fake ID. I have lived in New York all my life and I never knew you could get a fake ID around here. So that was cool! And he took me to my first bar and GUESS WHAT HAPPENED!"

"What?"

"We saw your friends well your old friends I should say and they were fucked up. I even saw Julian making out with some bitch. Julian tried talking to your brother and your brother went all crazy and popped him in the eye. They were fighting each other for a bit but the fight didn't last too long. I mean seeing your brother just fight someone was so HOT. And I'd tell you what else happened last night but I don't think you'd want to hear the things I did to your brother after that."

"EW. THANK YOU, TIFFANY, THAT'S ENOUGH."

She laughed. "Sorry, I can't help it! Your brother is just so amazing and have I mentioned how hot he is?"

"Yes you have and no need to continue. Well I got to go I have a lot of homework and a project to do."

"Okay, Cat, see you tomorrow. Bye!"

"Bye."

Julian drunkenly making out with some girl last night? What a surprise...

"Cat, Jake! Dinner is ready!" My mom yell.

I went downstairs to go eat and a few minutes later Jake sat down at the table and he had a huge bruise on his cheek.

"Jake, sweetie! What happened to your face!?" My mom panicked.

"Nothing, just got in a stupid fight last night. It's no big deal."

"No big deal?! Look at your face!" She got up and took an ice pack out of the freezer and held it against his cheek.

"Mom, I can do this myself. I'm all right, really." Smiled Jake. "Let's just all sit down and enjoy dinner."

My mom listened but you can still see the worried look on her face.

"So everything's okay? Nothing we need to worry about?" Asked my dad.

"Everything is fine, honest."

We continued to eat in silence.

"Where have your friends been? It's been a while since any of them have been to our house to have dinner with us." My mom spoke up.

Jake and I looked at each other. I didn't know what to say.

"Uhh... I- I... Uh... Don't know. They've been busy with some things lately."

My parents gave us both a suspicious look. They knew something was up but didn't know what.

"Oh... Well that's unfortunate tell them we hope to see them soon."

"Yeah, mom, I will."