What's Beauty Without Her Beast?

Part 23- Colorful Bruises

"Every bruise is a lesson, and each lesson makes us better." -George RR Martin

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*Konnor's P.O.V.*

Something didn't feel right. I hadn't heard from Natalie in hours. My stomach started to turn and my heart just weighed with the feeling that something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

Maybe it was just me. I had been coming down with the latest cold and I could feel it wearing my body down. I hope that's all this was, and it wasn't anything else.

Should I message her?

Should I go to her house?

Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, perhaps she was just busy with family. Yeah, that could be it.

Who am I kidding? I'm psyching myself out.

"Hey man. I'm bored, let's go eat somewhere." Travis called me. I got up and threw on some decent clothes for the weather tonight. Travis picked me up soon and we went to find a local restaurant to eat at.

"So how's your girl?" I asked. He seemed a little tense but I couldn't figure out why.

"She's, ugh. I dumped her ass."

"Why?"

"She's a bitch and treats me like shit. I couldn't stand it. Then she would get mad for no apparent reason and be all like 'k, goodnight.' So I just said to hell with it."

Ha, sounds a lot like Chloe.

We stopped at a local burger joint and went inside.

I looked around after we had sat down. I still had that feeling of nothing being okay. There was a table behind us and they were being loud. Throughout dinner my frustration grew, and I turned around to see what all the fuss was about.

The first person I met eyes with was Chloe, of course she was here. Then I looked at who was sitting beside her, and I saw a pair of blues I barely recognized, but they were familiar.

Annie?

She was with Chloe?

"Ya know what I- Chlo? What is i- oh," An auburn haired girl with crystal blue eyes turned around and looked at me and Travis. "Awkward."

The next girl to turn around and I looked at her.

Katie, too?

I turned back around to Travis and the waitress brought out our ticket. "We need to go." I said, and we paid and left the restaurant.

"So now what?" Travis asked me when we got in the truck.

"Uhhh can we go to the glasses store or something? I'm blind after seeing all those ugly bitches."

Travis laughed, "yeah, me too."

We decided to just go riding around town for a while. Since it was around the holidays, everything was lit up with Christmas lights and decorations. 20 minutes after we left the restaurant, I got a phone call from the BFH.

"What, Chloe?"

"I miss you," she said. I could hear her pouting over the phone, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever," I said bluntly.

"I do, Konnor! I can't stop thinking about you and what we had! I was hoping maybe if you weren't busy we could maybe-"

"No. I have a girlfriend. You need to leave me alone."

"Who? Natalie?" She laughed. "No you don't. Didn't you hear? She was out with another guy and got in a car accident."