The Perfect Balance

Chapter Fourteen

I decide to text Sage to let her know I wasn't kidnapped or anything. I'm almost halfway home when the idea occurs to me so I take my phone out to find over fifteen missed calls. They're a mix from Sage and Diego. One call is also traced back to Diana so I assume Diego reached out to her. I open my conversation with Sage and my fingers hesitate.

Orion: I'm okay. 

I decide that's good enough, press send, and call Diana back. She answers on the first ring.

"Are you okay? Diego called me and said they couldn't find you and I was worried sick-," she starts but I cut her off.

"I'm fine," I announce. "What are you doing now? Can I come over?"

"Yes, yes, of course," she replies and I redirect myself in the direction of her home, adding another fifteen minutes to my walk. "Is Sage going to drop you off?"

"No, I'm walking. I'm almost there," I tell her.

"Where are you?" she asks urgently.

"I'm by the plaza," I inform her.

"Stay there, I'm on the way," she insists before abruptly hanging up. I stay where I am, looking around at the dimly lit location. It's so different at this time of night than it is at seven or so. The only lights are the streetlamps, which are barely illuminating the block. I stand beneath a flickering light and check my phone every few seconds. An influx of texts from Sage and Diego bombard my phone no matter how often I clear my notifications.

Within a matter of minutes, Diana pulls up beside me and I sigh in relief. "Hey..." she greets me cautiously. I crawl into the car and she analyzes my face. "Have you been crying?"

"Yeah," I mutter. I can't hide it and I can't exactly lie to her.

"What happened?" she asks before her eyes fill with rage. "Was it Diego? I swear I'll rip his-."

"Diana..." I cut her off as tears well up in my eyes again. She leans over the center console and tightly embraces me. I can't help but sob hard in her arms. I push away after a minute and shake my head. "This is stupid. I shouldn't even be crying."

"What happened?" Diana asks slower and quieter this time.

"He kissed that stupid girl from his job," I explain with a loud sniffle.

"Elena?" she asks and I nod as I press my palms against my eyes to stop the tears. When I pull my hands away, they're covered with mascara and eyeliner. "How do you know? Did you see it?"

"He got out of work at 10 but still wasn't at the party by 11:30. He wasn't texting me back so I went to look for Sage to see if she knew what was up. I ended up finding him and Elena leaving the bathroom with her lipstick all over his mouth and neck. Then, she drunkenly told me that he's a bad kisser and he tried to call my name but I just went back downstairs," I explain.

"Awe, poor baby," she says as she reaches over and hugs me again. "I'll jab his eyes out of their sockets." She pulls away and puts the car back onto the road. "What's his address?"

"No Diana," I mutter. "I don't even want to see him. Can we just go back to your house?"

"Yeah, sure," she assures me as she drives in the direction of her home. The car ride is mostly silent as I refrain from crying and she swears about Diego and how she's going to dismember him. We get back to her house and she leads the way inside. "We ordered pizza earlier; do you want some?"

"Yes, please," I say as my stomach growls at the mere thought of a slice. "And soda?"

"Of course. You can wait in the basement. I'll bring the food down," she instructs me. "Pick something to watch on Netflix."