The Friend Zone

Chapter Eighteen: I've Got Your Back

 "She says I have to take her back," he replied, "Tess I'm sorry, I don't know what else to do."

"I understand," I said quietly, a tear welling up in my eye as my mind began to spin and go at a million miles an hour.

"I don't want to do this to you," he said, sitting down next to me on his bed and wrapping his arm around me.

"I know," I said, trying to hold back the tears.

"Tessa look at me," he said, "I don't want to hurt you at all, I'm serious. But if I don't do what she says and she turns me in for something I didn't do, it's going to hurt you even more, especially if I get arrested."

"Okay," I said, letting the tears fall down my face.

"I'm going to figure this out, I promise," he sighed.

"When does she want you to answer her?" I asked.

"Tomorrow morning," he replied.

"So that means I can stay with you until then?" I asked.

"Of course," he smiled, kissing my forehead and holding me tight.

###

"Alright, I can't stand this, I need to figure out how to prove that bitch wrong," I announced a few hours later.

"You've got twelve more hours of being with me so I suggest you start thinking," Taylor remarked.

I would've liked to wallow in my own self pity and lay there with him until the morning but I knew that wasn't going to do me any good. I needed to pull my head out of my ass and figure out how exactly to prove Taylor wasn't in the video because as soon as that happened, the whole incident would be behind us and the sooner I could be with him whenever I wanted to be.

"I need to see the video," I said, "You need to figure out a way to get that video to me."

"Okay," he said, uncertainty in his voice.

"Get me the video because Penelope's friend works with videos and stuff, maybe she could make it clearer so we could prove it wasn't you," I said, "Or we could figure out when the video was taken and we prove you weren't actually there."

"That's going to be harder," he said, "Prove it wasn't me by clearing up the video is going to be a hell of a lot easier than an alibi."

"I know," I said, "But worst comes to worst I'll back you up, no matter what okay?"

"I know," he said.

"I'll always have your back," I said, "I promise."

###

After brainstorming for hours, we finally went to bed at midnight. Any other day I would've gone back to my room but I didn't want to waste a single minute of the next few hours that I had before the psycho bitch got in the way of things.

"Tess, Tess," he said quietly, shaking me awake.

"What?" I asked.

"I have to go," he said, "Kayla wants me to meet her at breakfast."

"Okay," I sighed, sitting up, only to find him already dressed and ready to go.

"It's going to work out, I promise," he said as I stood up next to him, "It shouldn't take more than a week."

"A week too long," I sighed, resting my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Looks like she's getting irritated," he sighed as his phone went off, "I'll see you in class later."

"See you," I said quietly as he walked out the door.

###

I stayed in his room for about twenty minutes after he left, I wanted to make sure I got all my shit out and make sure I wasn't going to run into them walking to breakfast. I honestly couldn't believe that Kayla was that crazy that she was that desperate to stay with Taylor, who I didn't even think she was that interested in, to begin with. There had to be some ulterior motive for her, it's not like this was high school and she would be losing popularity points if she wasn't with Taylor, she played on the varsity hockey team, she didn't need any help with that side of things. I doubt she actually wanted to be with him, he was too nice for her but I guess she probably enjoyed walking all over him and having him wrapped around her finger. The one thing the girl had going for her is that she was kind of good looking and I'm guessing was all for sleeping with whoever whenever because I'm 90% sure she and Taylor's relationship all started when he took her home after Caf during welcome week.

I knew Taylor was an absolute dumbass at times and I knew he made some piss poor decisions too, but I knew he was smart enough to stay away from drugs. Sure he had a slight drinking problem but he had enough brain cells to know that no coach wants to recruit a guy with a drug problem. I didn't know where to go with this either, if we reported Kayla to the cops for blackmail, they'd have to prove it wasn't him in the video and then he'd more than likely be suspended from playing while they figured it out and who knows how long it would take the local police to get that done.

Penelope's best friend happened to be some kind of video expert. I knew she'd know what to do, so I went over to Penelope's dorm after leaving Taylor's. I was only going to Penelope because I knew I could trust her, that she would keep her mouth shut if I asked her

"Hey Tess, what's up?" she greeted as she opened the door.

"Hey, I need to ask you something," I said as I walked in and she closed the door.

"Okay, shoot," she replied.

"Taylor's in a predicament," I explained, "Kayla has this video of one of his teammates who looks a lot like him in a hoodie shooting up with some kind of drug, then handing a bag that he got the needle from to the guy who got kicked off the team."

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed.

"So now she's blackmailing him with it, if he doesn't date her again she'll turn him in," I replied, "So I need to know if you think Laura would help us."

"She definitely would," she replied, "I'm so sorry Tess."

"It's fine, it's just, we were just now comfortable with being together and having everyone know and she springs this on us," I said, "Now I want that bitch gone. I figured maybe Laura could help us by clearing it up so you could tell it wasn't him."

"I know she would," Penelope replied, "I'll ask her when I meet her at the library in like ten minutes. Don't worry, I'll keep it on the down low."

"Thank you so much," I said, "Where are you headed?"

"The library," she replied, "When will you see Taylor again?"

"Class in ten," I replied, checking the time on my phone, "I'll see you around."

I quickly walked back to my dorm to grab my backpack, shoving a notebook and pen to take notes then made my way over to the English building for my Freshman Writing class, which I had with Taylor.

I took my typical seat in the middle of the classroom, it was a happy medium for the two of us, Taylor typically wanted to sit in the back but I wanted to be in the front, so we'd compromise and sit in the middle. He got there five minutes into class, and silently sat in the back corner, shattering my heart into a million pieces. But I kept a straight face, I didn't want to hurt him more than I knew this was hurting him already.

After class, he was careful to avoid me, but he managed to sneak in one glance, a sorry look on his face before he turned his head like I wasn't even there.

As I walked back to my dorm, all I could think about was punching Kayla Lewis right square in the face and telling her to go to hell, but I knew I had to hold off for a little while because this was about to come around and bite her in the ass.

###

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