Betrayed (22 page)

Then, a click sounded. The front door rattled and popped as it opened.

Dana was home early.

I walked out into the living room to acknowledge her, and was surprised to see that she was alone. I was curious about what had happened to Trevor, but it was none of my business anymore. Dana had a sour expression smearing her face.

“I’m almost done,” I said. “We’ll be out of here in a few minutes.”

She looked at me, her eyes still hard. For a moment, I got the impression she was going to snap at me; but then her look softened. A hint of the old Dana surfaced, and I realized just how long it had been since she had looked at me with those soft, comforting, eyes.

“It’s alright,” she said, her voice low. “Take as long as you need.”

She drug her feet through the living room, and I began to worry that something was wrong. Something had happened since we had seen her at the party, but I wasn’t sure what. I shouldn’t have worried, I was still pissed because of what she’d said; but I wasn’t a mean person. When something was wrong with someone I cared for, I couldn’t help but be worried. She stopped at the hallway and turned to face Ethan.

“Actually, would you mind giving us a minute?” she asked. Her voice was still soft and unassuming; as stark difference from just an hour earlier.

Ethan looked at me, and I tilted my head in a nod.

“Yeah, no problem,” he said, turning back to Dana. He looked at me. “I’ll be right outside.”

The door clicked shut behind him. I looked at Dana, neither of us moving an inch. I didn’t know what she had in mind, and I wasn’t about to be the first one to say anything. If she had something to say, she had better well say it.

“Look, Kayla,” she began, after a time. Her eyes focused at something on the ground, unable to meet my look. “I don’t know how to do this.” She took a deep breath, and pursed her lips in consideration. “About the things I said earlier… I’m sorry.”

I could hear the strain in her voice. I could see how much it hurt her to say those two words. Dana had more pride, or maybe arrogance, than anyone I knew. I wasn’t ready to accept her apology - not yet. Instead of making me feel better, it only pissed me off even more.

“You should be,” I said. “I never knew my friend could say those things to me.”

My words hung heavy in the air. Her face twisted in pain, and her eyes trailed away.

“I know,” she said. “My head’s been all messed up lately. It’s no excuse, but… it is what it is. I know I could never expect you to forgive me, but I wanted you to know what I was going through before you walked out of my life forever.”

“
Walked
out of
your
life?” I said, sharply. “
You
kicked me out of your life. You told me you never wanted to see me again. It just happened an hour ago; did you forget already?”

She winced. “It was childish,” she said.

“We’re not children anymore, Dana. You have to accept responsibility for your actions. I can’t just forgive and forget because you think you’re going through a rough patch.”

“I… I know. I know you can’t. You’re my best friend, and we’ve been through so much together. Things just got out of hand.”

My pulse raced. I was so mad at her; outraged that she had the nerve to be so sweet to me so soon after she tore my world apart.

“That’s exactly why I can’t let this slide so easily,” I said. “Dana, you’re my best friend. If
anyone
else had said those things to me, I could have shrugged it off and moved on; but, not you. You’re my best friend, you get held to a higher standard.

A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she still refused to look me in the eye. I could tell she was struggling. I wasn’t well equipped to watch my friends suffer, especially when I had something to do with it. Was I coming down on her too hard? Was
I
now being the insensitive one?

I took a deep breath, and steadied myself. I relaxed my grip on the picture frame, and focused myself on the picture. I looked at my dad’s smiling face and wished he was with me that very instant. He would have known exactly what to do.

The tension in the room waned over the course of a long minute. Silence settled over us, and cooler heads began to prevail. I had said my piece, and could have left with a clear conscience.

“What’s that?” she asked, nodding her head toward the photo.

I looked down at it one more time, and bobbed my head. “My parents came down for Christmas,” I said. “This was my present.”

She paused for another second, her eyes still locked on it, not daring to meet my own.

“May I see it?” she asked, lightly.

My hands twitched and hesitated, but I held it out to her.

She took it from me and looked it over. A smile softened her face.

“It’s a nice picture,” she said. “When was it taken?”

“Summer vacation just before I started high school,” I said.

She looked up at me, our eyes meeting for the first time since she had come home.

“Is this the Florida trip you told me about?” she asked.

I was shocked that she remembered.

“That’s right,” I said. I sucked in a deep breath, and regarded her once again. Maybe I had been too harsh on her earlier; maybe we could work past this. After all, that’s what friends did - right? There was going to be bumps in the road, and there was going to be arguments. But, was that reason enough to throw everything away? If you wanted something meaningful, you had to fight for it.

“Dana,” I started, but my voice trailed off. She focused on me, but remained silent. I composed myself. “You’re important to me,” I said. “I want to get past this. I think we
can
get past this. But it’s going to take some work.”

A smile spread across her face, and relief washed over me.

“I’d like that, too,” she said.

“I’m not saying it’s going to happen right away,” I went on. “But, I think if we work at it, we can fix whatever’s gone wrong with us.”

She nodded. “I feel the same way,” she said.

We both smiled at each other. She threw her arms around me. Relief overcame me, and the stress of the day began to fade. A smiled plastered itself on my face, and I held Dana tight against me. We held each other for a long time; tears were streaming down my face. It was a small step forward, but it was an important one.

We pulled apart and I looked at her. Tears were in her eyes, too, and we awkwardly tried to compose ourselves.

“We’re really going to have to work at it,” she said. “We’ve grown apart over the last couple of months - and it’s going to take a lot to bring us back together.”

I nodded. “We can do it,” I said, eagerly.

She smiled. “We should start off fresh; a clean slate,” she said. Her eyes lingered on mine for a while. There was something peculiar about the way she looked at me; but I didn’t think anything of it.

“I agree,” I said.

“We need to put this whole mess with Ethan and Trevor behind us, and really focus on our friendship,” she said. “Like you said, we’ve been friends for a long time. We can grow stronger through this.”

My eyes narrowed. “I agree, our friendship can grow stronger,” I said.

“Good,” she said. “I’m just afraid that while Ethan is still in the picture, we won’t be able to move on. There will always be some friction between us.”

I shook my head. “While he’s still in the picture?” I asked. My guts began to knot themselves.

“He’s just a guy,” she said. “There’s plenty of others. It’s rare to find a friendship like the one we share.”

“What are you saying, Dana?” I asked. My voice was too calm.

She smiled at me, again. Only, this time it didn’t have the warmth it had earlier. This time, there was an edge to it.

“If there’s any hope for us to make it,” she began. “You need to stop seeing Ethan.”

I wanted to vomit.

“That’s not going to happen,” I said, the rage building inside of me again. “I love him, Dana. Plain and simple.”

Her lip curled up in a sneer. “You don’t love him, you only think you do. Here I am, offering to forgive and forget everything that you’ve done to me - offering to accept you back into my life - but you won’t do it. I’m trying to
help
you, Kayla. You need
help
.”

Her eyes locked on mine. They wavered no more.
This
was the Dana I was used to - the one that cowered to no one. In an instant, I knew what had been going on the whole time. I was a fool for not seeing through it earlier.

“Accept
you
?” I said. “You’ve got some nerve. I haven’t done anything you. I’ve been there for you through all of this. Make no mistake, when I ended things with Ethan before it was because
he
had deceived me -
not
because he had been with you.” I took a deep breath and steadied myself. “I thought you were genuinely concerned about me. Now I see that you’re just jealous.”

Her face was twisted in anger. All pretenses were abandoned. She brought herself to within inches of my face. Every muscle in my body tensed.

“I knew I never should have taken in a little slut like you. You’re beneath me - you and your whole family.”

Tears rushed to my eyes, but I saw red straight through them. I wasn’t about to let her see me cry - not now, not ever again. Dana was no longer the friend I had known. She had turned into something different. Something evil.

“I can’t believe you,” I said, my voice sharp. “You’ve been a lying, manipulative bitch this whole time. You’re pissed that you didn’t get your way, and now you’re throwing a fit like the spoiled little brat that you are.” We stare dat each other for a heated moment. “I pity you,” I said, finally.

Dana screamed. “
You
pity
me
?”

With a howl of rage, she the the picture frame into the wall. It rattled and crashed as it slid to the floor.

I gasped in disbelief. For a second, my legs went numb. I rushed to the picture and picked it up. Spiderweb cracks marred the front glass. Tears flooded down my face. I didn’t care to hide them, anymore.

“You’re so sad,” I said.

The door opened somewhere behind me, and I heard Ethan come in.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

“Get out,” Dana screamed, launching her finger toward the door. “Both of you, get the fuck out, right now.”

I looked down at the picture frame one more time. Ethan wrapped his arms around me, and lifted me to my feet. His hands were strong, but gentle.

“Come on, Kayla,” he said. “I’ve got you. Let’s go.”

“You two deserve each other,” Dana hissed. “You’re both worthless nothings.
Get out.
”

I looked at her one last time. I wanted to say something - I wanted to get the last word in. But, I didn’t say anything at all. In that moment I realized just how sad of a person she really was. I pitied her, and hoped that one day she might get better. She wasn’t going to get what she wanted this time; not from me.

Ethan wrapped his arm around me again and we walked out together. His love was more than I could ever need, and I knew that everything was going to be alright.

We pulled out of the apartment complex and eased out onto the road. My eyes were covered in tears, and my breath came hurriedly. Ethan put one hand on top of mine and squeezed gently while he kept his eyes on the road.

“I can’t believe she’d do that,” I said. “She tried to bait me into forgiving her. It’s like she has no respect for me at all.”

Ethan didn’t say anything - he just squeezed my hand one more time.

“What kind of monster treats their best friend like that?” I said. “If she didn’t want to be friends with me, she could have just said so. It’s like she has a personal vendetta against me. She’s not satisfied to just let me live my life - she wants to ruin it. She’s sick. That’s what she is. Maybe we should try to get her some help or something. Like an intervention or something.”

He squeezed my hand one more time. “It’ll be alright,” he said. His voice was soft and soothing. It was what I had come to expect from his cool exterior. “We’re not going to make any decisions right now. We’re going to go home, curl up in front of the television with a glass of wine, and celebrate the New Year in a couple of hours. That’s what we’re going to do.”

I looked over at him and he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. I squeezed his hand back and then lifted it to my lips. I knew he was right. I was in no frame of mind to be making any sort of real decisions. But, a part of me really wanted to turn around and head back to Dana’s place. I had the sudden urge to let her have a piece of my mind.

“You’re right,” I said. I turned and watched the lights of the city pass by us as we drove. There was a long silence while we made our way through the city.

“You know everything is going to be alright, don’t you?” Ethan asked, after a while. I looked over at him. “I’m serious,” he added. “All of this is going to blow over.”

“It hurts so much,” I said.

“In five years you’ll look back and appreciate it for the character building experience that it really is,” he said. “You’ll be happy knowing that you were the bigger person tonight. That you didn’t give in to the madness of someone who was trying to bring you down. A lot of people can’t say they would have taken the high ground like you did.”

I smiled at him. “Thanks for trying to cheer me up,” I said. And I meant it. But Ethan wasn’t going to be able to change my mood that quickly or easily. It was going to take time - perhaps a long time.

“There was one part of the story with my dad I never told you,” he said.

I frowned. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“A while ago, I told you how he ran out on me and my brother. I told you all about how he had left us to fend for ourselves when I was in my late teens. We didn’t complain about it, instead we tried to make the best of the situation.”

I nodded my head. “You said you had to take a job while you were putting yourself through school. You had to provide for yourself and your brother.”

“That’s right,” he said. “It was only months before I graduated from high school - when Trevor was still in eighth grade. I had been accepted to university in New York, and had already taken a job to begin saving for tuition and living costs for my first year.” He paused and glanced over at me. “But that’s not what I wanted to tell you about. You know the outcome of that already. What I wanted to tell you about happened a few years later. I had finished up my undergraduate degree and accepted an analyst position on Wall Street. My dad came poking around for the first time since he had disappeared almost five years earlier. I was pissed. I was furious. How could he dare to come back after all that time, like he hadn’t done anything wrong?”