Page 11 of Muddy Messy Love

He snatches the ring with a scowl and rips off the wrapper, dropping to one knee at Jen’s feet. He peers up at her with love-struck eyes framed with red.

Love. Red must mean love.

“Jennifer Lawrence, you are lovelier than any Hollywood starlet. Will you be my girl for the next five years, so then I can ask you to marry me?”

Bouncing on her rubbersoles, Jen clasps her cheeks. “Yes! I will.”

Liam beams as he slips the candy ring onto her outstretched hand. Smiling strangers slow to watch, and I grin. Across the lane, however, is a girl who’s not smiling at all. Rather, she glares at me through narrowed eyes, clenching her hands into fists. My gaze drifts over her pale skin and purple-streaked ponytail, her tight black jeans and dark boots, in search of recognition, but none comes. Two other girls stand with her, mimicking her sour look with their arms crossed. I whistle under my breath. “Okay, then.”

Liam follows my line of sight and stiffens. He drops Jen back to her feet and looks at me with a flash of panic. “Let’s go.”

“Do you know them?” I frown. He coaxes us to walk, leaving my question hovering unanswered. I arch a brow at Jen, but she shrugs. “Who are they?” I press.

Liam’s jaw ticks, but his gaze remains fixed ahead. “No one.”

His tone lacks conviction, and dread prickles my stomach. I walk faster to match his pace, but footsteps echo from behind, and pressure hits my shoulder, ripping me from Liam’s side. The force spins me around, and I stumble, coming face to face with the girl and her scorn, her dark eyes throwing daggers as if they might kill.

I straighten my jacket and match her scowl. “What the hell?”

Her friends catch up and resume their prior stance. “Are you Avery Masters?” she asks.

“Yeah, why?”

Liam steps between us. “Zoe, leave her the fuck alone.”

Jen pinches my arm, and I meet her panicked face with a frown. She mouths something, but I can’t make out her words.

The girl runs a hand down the length of her dark ponytail with a smirk. “Don’t worry, Liam, I’m not here to make trouble. Why not introduce me to your little friend?”

Her honeyed tone shivers up my spine, and Liam hesitates a beat before stepping back with a sigh. He runs his hand through his scruffy hair and gestures between us. “Zoe, this is Avery. Avery, Zoe.”

Our eyes lock, Zoe’s a dance of joy-edged spite, and I swallow the lump in my throat. She steps towards me, offering her hand out to shake, and I frown at her black-painted fingers and studded bracelets.

It couldn’t be, could it?

Jen tugs at my jacket. “Aves, we should go.Seriously.”

I ignore Jen’s plea, but it tells me enough, and the penny drops along with my heart. I know who this girl is. She’s a censored part of my reality with a name I never wished to know. My gaze drifts up the creamy white skin of her arm, past her elegant neck, and settles on perfect symmetry painted black. I had hoped she’d be ugly—a heinous witch with a wart on her nose—but she’s not. Rather, she’s painfully beautiful, even while layered in death.

I wipe my hand on my jeans before tentatively holding it out. This could end badly, I know, but the universe can decide my fate. Deep down, I know what I deserve. Part of me even craves it.

Zoe’s nostrils flare as our hands connect. “Nice to meet you,Avery. I believe you’re fucking my man.” Her lips wrinkle like a dried-up plum, and her grip turns murderous. I try to retrieve my hand, but I’m locked in place, and the second I realise, her other fist flies. Pain explodes through my face like I’ve snorted a grenade, and I hit the ground. Hard.

Liam lunges for Zoe while Jen scrambles to my side. “Aves!”

My heart pumps a deafening assault, and the surrounding lights swim, but there’s a peace that comes amid the chaos. For once, the pain on the outside matches what’s in, and that brings clarity—balance. Hope that karma’s paid.

Whiteness smothers my vision, and the carnival racket fades. Jen’s cries grow faint, and then the world disappears.

“Aves, wake up.” Jen’s voice meanders through my semi-lucid state. “Please wake up.”

The soft shaking of my shoulder causes my gut to churn, and pain flares with every heartbeat, hailing me back to the land of the living. I try to open my eyes and groan. One accomplishes thetask, but the other is pinned shut. Bitumen bites the back of my head, so I try to sit up.

Jen dives in to help, cradling my back. “Shit. Are you okay?” She gently swipes the hair from my face, and I nod, immediately regretting the action. The surrounding insanity swoops back into awareness, alerting me to my whereabouts.

God, it’s loud.

“Aves, are you with me?”

---