Page 16 of Bought For Us

“Thanks.”

We make our way through the crowd and stop in the living room. “I saw her talking to a group of people not too long ago,” Tyler says over the loud music as he searches for her. “Oh, there she is.”

I follow the direction he’s pointing and my stomach drops.

In the middle of the makeshift dance floor is Kimmy and she’s not alone. Zack stands behind her, a drunken smile on his lips matching her as the two of them move to the beat of the song.

My breaths become quick as I feel light-headed. “Well, I’ll be damned. Took him long enough.” Tyler laughs.

I blink my stinging eyes over to Tyler. “What do you mean?”

He looks at me grinning. “Oh, just that our boy here has had a thing for my sister for a while now. I gave him my blessing to date her a while ago, but he hasn’t made a move. Guess that's changed now. Good for them. They deserve to be happy. They’re good together.”

A ringing starts in my ears and I feel like I can’t breathe. My eyes find them again, the way he holds her tight, the look of pure lust in their eyes. I knew how Kimmy felt, but I was blinded by my feelings for Zack, and I didn’t see how he felt for her.

A wave of nausea hits me as I feel myself starting to panic. I need to get out of here. I can’t watch this anymore.

“I gotta go,” I say, on the verge of crying. Pushing my way through the crowd, I take off running out of the house into the crisp January night air.

Ignoring the ice cold breeze, I take off through the snow to my car.

Once I’m inside with the doors locked, I break. A feeling of sorrow takes over. So many emotions hit me at once, as well as Tyler’s words.

He’s right though. They are good for each other. Zack can give Kimmy the love she deserves. And Kimmy can be someone he can be with, without having to hide or keep secrets.

It shouldn’t hurt this much, I knew there could never be anything between me and Kimmy, or me and Zack. That still doesn’t take away the feeling of having someone shoving their hand into my chest and ripping my heart out.

“Get a hold of yourself,” I tell myself, angrily wiping at my tears as I struggle to get my breathing under control. “They are your best friends. That's it. Be happy for them. That's what you're supposed to do for the ones you care for.”

I blast my music the whole way home, doing my best to sing along to distract myself because the last thing I need is to crash on the icy roads from being blinded by tears.

It feels like a lifetime before I’m pulling up to my house. Putting the car in park, I quickly rush inside.

The lights are on, meaning my dad or Rose must be up still. It’s quiet when I get inside, so I quickly head to my room so I can break apart in private.

I toss myself on my bed and bury my face into the pillow and let go.

I’m not sure how long I cry for before I drift off to sleep. The next thing I know, I’m waking up to screaming.

My head pops up off the pillow, the sounds pulling me from my sleep. I look around, half asleep and see the sun is up. What time is it?

Looking at the clock on my dresser, I see that it's eight in the morning. I’m going to be late for school.

The shouting gets louder and I’m up and out of my bed, stumbling towards the door.

“Zack, stop!” I hear Rose’s frantic voice.

My eyes widen as panic fills me. I make it to the banister in time to see Zack on top of my father. He’s screaming, face red in anger, as he smashes his fist into my father's face over and over again.

“You fucking piece of shit!” Zack screams. “I’m going to kill you! How fucking dare you put your hands on my mom!”

“No,” I whisper in horror. Not at what's happening to my dad, but the fact that my dad hurt Rose. What is wrong with him? Why would he do that, I thought he loved her.

Rose is standing there, screaming at her son, demanding he stop.

“Please, Zack. He’s not worth going to jail for!” Rose sobs.

My feet are planted to the ground. I want to go to Zack, but I can’t bring myself to move, too frozen in shock and disbelief at what's happening.

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