Love and Fandoms (19 page)

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Wyatt slapped
Kareem on the shoulder. "I'm surprised you let him do all the
talking."

"I've been
talking all night, man. A break is nice. See you in a few." He walked over
to talk to Clay, most likely to plan for their big clean up tomorrow.

He put his hand on
the small of Allyssa's back. "Shall we get started?" He wanted to
find out what was going on with Mandy and Luci, but with Allyssa here, that
wouldn't happen. He'd have to work up the courage to text or message Mandy
tomorrow.

Allyssa gave a
start at his touch and looked up from her phone. "Actually, I have something
I need to take care of. I'll see you later, okay?" She kissed his cheek
and hurried off, not offering any sort of explanation. That was weird. He
didn't realize until that moment, but she'd already removed her zombie makeup
and changed into a clean shirt, as if she'd been expecting to leave right away.
None of the other zombies, Mandy included, had done that. So now it was doubly
weird.

Mandy and Luci
came up to him. "Where'd she rush off to?" Luci asked.

"No idea. She
said she had to take care of a text and left."

"Well
then," Luci said. "I'm going to see if Kareem needs any help. You two
go pick some stuff up or something." She gave Wyatt another grin he
couldn't read, and walked off, leaving him alone with Mandy. She gave him the
shyest smile he could ever remember from her, and his stomach twisted in a
knot.

They walked around
the dark side of the clubhouse where no one had been. He tried to build up the
courage to ask what was going on, but it didn't happen. Instead, he glanced
around for any trash or anything, but, as expected, there was nothing. He
turned to look at her and she met his gaze, looked down at her shoes and bit
her bottom lip, and then looked back up at him. Finally, she said, "I'm
breaking up with Alex tomorrow."

He didn't say
anything. Besides, he didn't know what to say.

"That's why I
froze in the maze earlier. It struck me that I should, and I'll be fine."

The Sunday of the
con popped into his mind. She'd been all set to do it then, too, but hadn't. He
didn't really trust his voice, but she probably expected him to say something,
anything. His words seemed to come out fine, at least to his ears. "Are
you hoping he'll go back to his old, normal self?"

"Yeah,
actually, but this isn't like after the comic-con. This time, no matter what he
says, we're through."

She twitched
towards him, and he realized she wanted a hug, maybe even needed one. The way
she touched his face earlier, the way she and Luci had looked at him all night,
she might want even more, want to kiss. He wanted that, too, but it dawned on
him: he also wanted, had, Allyssa. He couldn't kiss Mandy, not again. Even if
Allyssa never found out, he'd know, and he didn't want to be that sort of guy. He'd
done too much with Mandy as it was.

But a hug was
okay, right? Friends hugged, and he and Mandy were friends. Good friends. He
opened his arms, and she exploded into him. It felt as good or better than any
other time, but no matter how much he wanted it to, it couldn't go further. He
couldn't do that to Allyssa. As Mandy pressed harder into him, he kept
repeating that to himself.

"Allyssa
doesn't know how lucky she is to have you, Wyatt."

She kissed his
neck, gave it a quick lick, and then nibbled. He gave a gasp at first, then
hugged her closer and let out a moan. He should stop her, push her away, but
despite his vow to be true, he couldn't do it. She had him. Whatever she
wanted, he would give to her. He whispered her name. "Mandy."

She jumped away
from him. "Wyatt, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't fair
of me." He wanted to reassure her, but he was still trying to catch his
breath. "Anyway, I want to be your friend, but now that I'm single, or
will be tomorrow, I don't know if Allyssa will let me anywhere near you."

"It's not her
decision who I'm friends with," he managed to croak out.

She went back into
his arms, this time placing her head on his chest rather than near his neck.
"I wish it worked like that."

Before he could
say anything, her phone chirped with a text message. She reluctantly pulled
away and took it out. As she read it, her face fell, and she muttered, "Crap."

MANDY

"What's the
matter?" Wyatt asked, concern written as clearly on his face as if it was
there in permanent marker.

"Alex,"
she said. "My friend Simone says he's drunk at a party." Her phone
beeped again, this time a text from Haylee, saying he was acting real friendly
with some girl who just got there.
Damn it, Alex!
Damn it, damn it,
damn it!

"He's
supposed to be grounded, though, right?"

She let out a
sigh. "Yeah. I don't know how he got out. This text says he's with another
girl."

"Does that …
I mean … do you care? You're going to break up with him anyway."

She tried to
smile, but had a feeling it came off as more of a grimace. "I still care
about him, and I don't want him getting drunk and stoned when he should be
grounded to learn a lesson. He's got such a bright future, and his stupidity shouldn't
ruin it. No matter what he thinks, he hasn't made it yet. And as far as him
being with another girl, I haven't broken up with him yet, so he's technically
cheating on me."

Wyatt went pale,
and Mandy's stomach dropped. Oh, crud, that's what she was doing, too, wasn't
it? And forcing it on Wyatt. No wonder Allyssa had begun to hate her. Had she
been so easy to read?
Only a little bit hypercritical, Mand.
She gripped
his forearm. "Listen, Wyatt, I'm so sorry about how I've been
acting."

He shook his head.
"You don't have anything to apologize for."

"But I do. If
you'll let me, I'd like to sit down and discuss it with you. Air everything out
with you and Allyssa both, but right now I want to get to that party. Luci can
drive me." Never before has she wished more that she had her driver's
license and a car. She'd never seen it as necessary before, but now that view looked
beyond short-sighted.

"Then let's
go get her."

"You don't
have to." This was likely going to turn into a confrontation, and he hated
those.

"I want
to."

She looked him in
the eyes, and when he didn't flinch away, she nodded. "Thank you."

They found Luci,
who, of course, had no problem driving. Kareem wanted to go, too, but this was
his gig, so he needed to stay. Before they left, he gave her a big hug and
whispered, "Be safe," into her ear. She blinked back tears, thanked
him, and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

She knew where the
party was, as the house was right down the street from a park she used to play
soccer at. On the way, she caught Luci up on the situation. Of course, Luci
wanted to know if they were going in kicking, and, in true Luci fashion,
sounded disappointed when Mandy said they were going to try to handle it like
adults.

As they got close,
Wyatt received a text from Kareem. Luci had his wallet with his driver's
license in her purse. They had Wyatt text back that Luci would get it to him as
soon as she dropped the two of them off, and Luci promised she'd return as soon
as she could.

When they pulled
up to the party, Luci stopped right in front and offered her good luck. Mandy
took a deep breath, and Wyatt grabbed her hand and gave a squeeze before they
headed up to the house. When they walked inside, people she knew either gave her
an uneasy hello or didn't meet her eye at all. She saw Simone and Haylee on the
other side of the large living room, chatting with a couple of guys she'd never
seen before, probably students from a different school. She headed over to talk
to them, and when she got about halfway across the room, Simone saw her and
nodded towards the stairs. Haylee saw her, too, and gave a sad shrug.

She and Wyatt climbed
the stairs. Great, she was probably going to catch him making out with some
tramp. She hoped she didn't know the girl, hoped she went to another school and
had no idea Alex had a girlfriend. At least it would make their breakup easier
to handle. She still wanted to wait to do it officially tomorrow so he'd be
stone-cold sober and, hopefully, a bit hung over.

As they reached
the top of the stairs, Wyatt rubbed her upper back. That, his touch, helped. The
Pigs stood outside a closed door at the end of the hall, drinking beer. The way
they kept snickering and telling each other to shut up proved Alex was probably
in there making out with whatever girl he'd picked up.

She walked over to
them, nodded towards the door, and said, "Alex is in there?"

All three burst
out laughing, and Tyler Navarro said, "You don't want to go in there.
Trust me." That got them all laughing even harder.

She rolled her
eyes, nudged them out of the way (surprisingly they allowed it without acting
all macho and stupid), and clutched the doorknob. Wyatt's hand remained on her
back, proving he was still there. He was no doubt petrified being so close to
the Pigs, but she was proud of him for not running off.

She pushed the
door open, her body and soul growing more and more numb each passing second,
but she still wasn't prepared for the sight in front of her. A naked Alex lay
on the bed and grinded into an equally naked girl underneath him. Somewhere in
the back of her mind, she felt Wyatt's hand drop from her back and heard him
gasp. The Pigs laughter intensified, and that triggered her to scream,
"Alex, how could you?"

He turned, saw
her, and said, "Babe, I can explain."

She didn't wait
for him to say anything more. She bolted through the hall, down the stairs, and
out of the house, laughter chasing her. For a moment, she wasn't sure where she
was going, but then remembered the park, a block or two away. It would be as
good a place as any to retreat to.

She expected Wyatt
to rush after her, but as she reached the street and glanced back, he wasn't
there. That was both fine and not. She wanted to be alone, but she also
wouldn't mind crying in his arms. Why hadn't he followed her? Had the Pigs
grabbed him? No, knowing Wyatt, he didn't have the confidence to chase her
down, and, like his best friend, didn't want to deal with the drama.

She reached the
park and found a bench close to the street. As soon as she sat down, she lost
it. Sobs heaved through her so hard her chest ached. Alex shouldn't be able to
hurt her like this, not anymore. Not since she decided she was done. But he'd
hit her in the one place that he could get to her. No, not everyone viewed sex
as sacredly as she did, she knew that, just as she knew Alex didn't share her belief.
But he promised he'd be happy to wait for her until Prom night, to lose his own
virginity then. Now he'd broken that promise, and she guessed there was no way
this was his first time. She'd left him alone at too many parties. He'd probably
been having sex with random girls even back when she was still happy with him,
still loved him. That was the part that stung the most.

She let out a deep
breath, glanced down at her hands, and barked out a laugh. They were covered in
her zombie makeup. God, she must look a fright, even worse than when she'd been
in full zombie mode at the haunted dungeon. If the zombie apocalypse happened
right now, she'd fit right in. She wiped her hands on her shirt and pants,
which were already covered in dried fake blood, and grabbed her phone. No one
had texted her, so she needed to text Wyatt to find out where he was and to
have him come to the park. Then she could have Luci pick them up here.

As she clicked on
her contacts, Allyssa's name popped up first on the list. That's when it hit
her: the girl's laugh. Oh no. She'd been so caught up in herself, in Alex's
betrayal, that she hadn't realized. At least she'd been prepared to break up
with Alex. This must have blindsided Wyatt beyond comprehension. Tears wracked
her again. She shouldn't have been wondering why he wasn't here for her, but
why she wasn't there for him. She clicked on Wyatt's name in contacts and moved
her finger towards the call button. She needed to talk to him, not just text,
to make sure he was okay.

Right before she
hit dial, she both heard and saw a truck flying down the street from the
direction of the party. Despite not being able to get a good look at it because
of the dark, she had no doubt it was Alex. He was out chasing her down so he
could try to patch things up.
Yeah, good luck with that, buddy.

He either didn't
know about the park, or thought she'd gone right past it because he didn't
slow. That wouldn't have been a problem except for the car that was already
pulling into the intersection. She opened her mouth to scream at him to stop,
but before she could get any sound out, it was too late. Horns blared as he
smashed into the side of the car, near the back, sending it spinning.
Crap-crap-crap.
She dashed over to the scene to see how bad it all was, calling 9-1-1 on the
way.

WYATT

When he saw the
Pigs at the end of the hall, he knew this was going to be bad news. He should
rush downstairs away from them so there would be no way they could get their
hands on him simply for being there. He would have, too, but Mandy needed him.
He didn't want to believe it, for her sake, but he had a pretty good idea what Alex
was really doing behind that closed door.

Mandy pushed past
the Pigs, opened the door, and let out a gasp. He looked in and couldn't
believe his eyes. At first he was simply sickened by the fact that he was
right, that Alex was having actual sex, cheating on Mandy with more than just
kisses, but when he looked at the girl underneath, it got worse. Much worse.
His heart broke. So that's where Allyssa had run off to in such a hurry.

Somewhere in the
back of his mind, he heard Mandy scream, "Alex, how could you?" while
Alex turned and said something back. The Pigs laughed, Allyssa laughed, Alex
smirked, and Mandy bolted. He wanted to yell something about how awful they all
were, as he wanted to chase after Mandy to make sure she was okay, but in the
end, all he could do was stand there, staring in numb horror at the fucked up
situation.

Alex stood, pulled
his unsoiled condom off, and tossed it to the side of the room. Wyatt almost giggled
manically as he simultaneously thought, "Classy," and "At least
he chose to use a condom while banging my girlfriend."

Once he was
dressed, Alex walked past him, patted his shoulder, and said, "Thanks,
buddy." Wyatt could smell the alcohol on him as he went, almost as if he'd
bathed in it. The Pigs laughed at that and followed, the last one, Holden
Greenfield, shoving him away, knocking him onto his butt. He picked himself up
and looked back into the room. Allyssa had put on her bra and panties —
matching black lace things that he figured proved she'd been planning this —
and was pulling up her jeans. She stared at him with no real emotion.

"Guess you
can have your dream girl now," she said.

"I had
you." He barely heard his voice, but he'd obviously said it loud enough,
as she let out a humorless laugh as she pulled on her shirt and sweater.

"Right. Any
time Mandy was near, you only had eyes for her. I might as well have not
existed. That always made me feel so special."

"That's not
true." But was it? He didn't think so, didn't think he'd been that bad,
but he'd obviously done it enough for her to say it. How could he be so
callous? He really did like her.

She scoffed.
"Tell yourself that. Maybe you even believe it." Now her voice was
getting heated, and he had to fight hard to stand there and not run off.

"I never
would have cheated on you," he said. "Not like this." He and
Mandy had kissed, sure, but he wouldn't have allowed it to go this far.

"No kidding.
You wouldn't have the guts. I would have done this with you. We had every
opportunity, with your mom at work so many of the nights we were together, but
you wouldn't even try. And you know what? I'm glad. Even if Alex and I didn't
finish, it was much more satisfying losing my virginity to a real man."

She picked up her
purse and stared daggers into him, daring him to say something. Even if he
wanted to, nothing came to mind. She pushed past him, not shoving him as hard
as the Pigs, but he still had to grab the doorway to keep from falling.
"Pathetic," she muttered as she went. He watched her walk through the
hall and down the stairs. She didn't look back.

"I'm
sorry," he whispered, and choked back a sob. He waited a minute to give
her ample time to get far enough away to where he wouldn't run into her again
tonight, and then went to find Mandy. He had a feeling she'd gone to that park
at the end of the street. That would be a good place for Luci to pick her up.
Hopefully they'd wait for him, and, if not, Kareem could come get him. If worse
came to worse, Mom would be off work in a little over an hour.

He had a feeling
it would come to Kareem or Mom. Why would Mandy wait? Allyssa was right; he was
pathetic. He let Mandy run off in tears, not following or standing up for her.
He simply let it all happen. Maybe she thought she liked him, but she had to
see his true colors now — yellow-bellied coward.

He exited the
house, not looking at anyone and doubting anyone looked at him, and started
down the driveway. The Pigs stood around Alex, who was unsuccessfully trying to
get his key into his truck's door lock. Duncan Thomas told him to use his
remote opener, and Alex laughed, which got the Pigs laughing. Even that took
him a couple of tries. He wasn't going to attempt to drive, was he? Wyatt's
mind went to his dad, no longer here because he decided to drive while drunk.
He couldn't stand up to Allyssa minutes ago about their now-dead relationship,
but he didn't think about this, simply rushed forward.

"Alex, no!
You can't!" The Pigs let him pass, and he got right in Alex's face.
"If you can't even get the door unlocked, how are you going to keep the
truck on the road? You'll kill yourself, and you know I know all about
that." As he said it, he tried to grab the keys, but he couldn't pry them from
Alex's fingers.