𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘 [MONTGOMERY DE LA CRUZ AU]

SEVEN ૐ CONFUSION AND SUSPICION

MONTGOMERY HAS BEEN LYING on his bed for half an hour now, staring blankly at the ceiling as he started to assess the events these past few days, a swirling motion of a million thoughts that muddle him to a great extent. 

After seeing her at Justin's snapchat, he couldn't stop watching the video of her over and over again until it felt as if he already memorized the familiar look on her face, and how he missed light freckles scattered all over her nose and cheeks, the soft waves of her hair and the ethereal green of her eyes.

Why was she with Justin? When did she come back? How was she throughout the past year and a half of him never hearing from her ever again? And here she is. Where does she study now? Why didn't she give him a call before she left the state? Wait, that would be stupid because he was the one caught redhanded in a bathroom stall with her bestfriend.

But what messed him up real bad was the baby boy in the video.

Montgomery cusses out and sat up, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. His older brother, Dawson, walks in and scoffed at the sight of his younger brother, making a beeline for his desk drawers to openly take his Ps4 game controllers.

"Wow, you look like shit." Dawson notes gleefully.

"Fuck off, will you?" Montgomery glares at him and flips him off, "The fuck do you think you're doing with my stuff?"

"Need your controllers for a while, some of my old friends are coming. Game night." Dawson declares, not even bothered if Monty agrees or not. "How 'bout you? What's gotten my piece-of-shit of a brother looking like a sad ballsack?"

Montgomery contemplates whether to tell Dawson or not. But if he looks at it in an angle, his older brother could actually help him to surpass the mile-length invisible barrier that keeps him from getting through to Olivia. He was one of her friends, the closest of them all — which is one of the reasons how they met because she spent a lot of time in their house during the traditional weekend Game Nights held by his brother. Maybe Dawson could help Montgomery to find a way.

"Listen," He begins, "it's about Olivia."

Dawson perks up at the mention of the name that he hasn't heard of for a long time, most specifically, from his brother. Ever since he found out about her sudden disappearance and transfer to a different state, he went straight to his brother because he knew he wouldn't know how to handle it. Since then, she was mutely put under the list of "things that shouldn't be talked about and mentioned" in order to avoid opening up the issues again.

"What about her?" Dawson prompts urgently, plopping down at the spinning chair his brother had and leaned forward. He never knew about her departure not until it after school when one of their friends — Cali — delivered the news to their group through iMessage.

Montgomery stood up and chugged down the beer placed at his desk. He speaks as soon as finished, "I saw Justin's snap yesterday, they were together at this Starbucks store. I'm not exactly sure where, and also, according to Alex's tweets, he already encountered each other more than once recently."

Dawson assessed and processed what he just said. He stood up abruptly, almost bashing Montgomery's chin with the top of his head. "Do you think.... she's back?"

Montgomery's eyes widened in surprise, the possibility of it running thick. It's summer break and she probably went home from Uni just like Dawson did. Plus, her entire family was here. There was no way her Mother would let her celebrate Christmas without the whole family complete. Harriet is a big fan of family gatherings especially the holidays.

Dawson's phone goes off and he pats Montgomery's back, "Why don't you go and ask your friends if they know something about it? We haven't gotten direct contact with her ever since she left but maybe Cali did. After all, aside from me, they were the closest. Plus, she's a girl. She'll trust her more than me, Dawson de la Cruz, brother of her ex."

Monty huffs and rolls his eyes, taking his car keys. "Whatever. I'm going to Bryce's."

ૐ 

Marcus and a few of the basketball and baseball team where the one people present at Bryce's house. There was no sign of Justin nor Alex. Montgomery huffs in dismay and Bryce hands him a bottle of beer.

Bryce smirks at the sight of his friend in such agitated state, clapping him at the back. "Haven't seen your girlfriend around town yet?"

"So she IS back." Montgomery clarifies. "Nope. Damn that Foley won't even answer any of my messages. Fucking prick,"

Marcus chuckled from the couch, eyes glued to the tv screen. "Have you seen his new snap fifteen minutes ago? Looks like he's scoring lots of points from your girlfriend, i see."

"Ex-girlfriend." Bryce corrected. Monty glares at him and he cackled evilly, "Looks like someone hasn't moved on yet."

Montgomery stiffens and immediately pulls out his phone and Bryce looks over his shoulder to witness.

At Justin's snap, they were at Olivia's front yard. It was a video of him and Olivia playing with the same green-eyed baby boy. Justin plays peek-a-boo and the baby shrieks in laughter. At the next video, the person behind the camera focuses on the baby boy watching a butterfly fly above him and switched the camera to the front cam and revealed Alex.

At the recent video of Justin's snap, posted just now, it was a video of him and Olivia making wacky faces at the camera, then Justin turns the camera to the Olivia and the little boy on her lap.

"Come on, Grayson. Say Dada again," Justin cooes, "Da-da!"

Olivia rolls her eyes at Justin and cradles the boy to her stomach, "He won't say Dada again, Justey, he doesn't favor you anymore." She pokes the baby's cheeks with her finger softly. "Am i right, Gray? You only favor Mommy, okay?"

Montgomery's blood runs cold while Bryce chokes at his beer.

They both share an alarmed look.

"That's not possible—"

"You don't—"

"That can't possibly be mine—"

Montgomery weakly sat down at the nearest stool, an astounded look on his face as a million things ran through his head.

Bryce watches him.

"Dude, you're fucked."