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Kate shrugs. “Don’t look at me. In the end, it’s your decision. But you should definitely talk to Ayden again.”
I nod. “I can’t sleep anyway. I think I’ll go see him now.” I glance at the clock again and mutter, “It’s already so late.”
Kate shakes her head and winks at me. “I doubt he’ll mind if it’s you who wakes him.”
I hug Kate and get up. “Okay, I guess I’ll do that.”
“Good luck,” she says with a smile as I walk to the door.
I wave to her as I leave. I hope Ayden and I can get past this. I feel a sense of determination, and I won’t let myself be easily deterred.
When I get to his room, I knock and wait, but nothing happens. I try again, this time louder and more urgently.
“Ayden,” I call. “Are you there?”
I think I hear a sound. I know he doesn’t normally lock his door, so I push it open.
“Sorry to burst in on you so late, but I can’t stop thinking about everything, and I need to talk to you again,” I say.
My voice has barely faded away, and the words still seem to hang diffusely in the air when I catch a glimpse of his bed. I stagger back as if I’ve just received an electric shock. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. This must be some horrible nightmare – that’s all I can think.
I hear Snow growl. He’s standing by the bed, teeth bared. He’s now looking at me with an angry expression if that’s possible for a key spirit.
The young woman pulls the covers up over her naked breasts and stares at me in panic. I still can’t process what I’m seeing. I stare at Ayden lying next to her, still sleeping peacefully. He’s naked at least from the waist up, I can make out that much, and that fact burns through my veins like acid.
“What... what is this?” I hear myself say, afraid of the answer.
Max frantically wraps a sheet around herself and murmurs, “Shit, damn it!” She gets out of the bed, holding the sheet with one hand and raising the other to her lips. “Shh, be quiet, you’ll wake him.”
My eyes widen, and I stare at my friend. She slowly approaches me, reaching out to me. She seems flustered too, but she regains her composure faster than I do.
“Are you insane?! You’re telling me not to wake him?! Are you completely out of your mind? What the hell is this?” My voice cracks.
The only reason she succeeds in steering me back through the door is because I’m too mortified to know what to do with myself. Once we’re outside, she tilts her head to one side and sighs quietly.
“You must have known this would happen sooner or later. I mean, you know Ayden. You’ve heard all the stories. I even tried to be nice to you and warn you by introducing you to one of his exes. So this should come as no surprise.”
“I... I don’t believe this,” I mutter, glancing back at him. “He... you... you’re supposed to be my friend.”
“Oh, you actually believed that?!” she asks, sounding genuinely amazed. “Wow, I figured I was pretty bad at hiding how I really felt. You’re obviously more gullible than I thought. You know, the moment you came to this school, Ayden started acting different. He was so angry when he first saw you. And then he kept worrying about you. Believe me, I’ve known him long enough to see that there was something else going on. Hedoesn’t normally let anyone get under his skin. Except with you it was different. So I figured it couldn’t hurt to hang around you. Sooner or later, he would try to get close to you. And it wouldn’t be a bad thing if I was there when he did. And it worked. Being your friend meant I gradually got closer to Ayden. We partied together in your room; he started talking to me more; he came and got me from that club, and then we went out together.” She shrugs. “And when he needed someone to comfort him, I was there.”
I shake my head and stare at her in disbelief. “No,” I murmur in horror. “No way. I don’t believe it. You were just using me?”
She shrugs again. “I guess that’s one way of putting it.” She looks back at Ayden, who’s still sleeping, and the full force of the pain, the hate, the disappointment and rage surges through me.
“He wouldn’t do that. I can’t believe this is happening.”
Max laughs and shakes her head, clearly enjoying herself. “You’re so naïve. Ayden told me about your fight. I know about Noah and how much that hurt Ayden. We had a few drinks, and I listened to him. I was there for him. And when I kissed him, he hesitated, but in the end, he was the one who took it further.”
I stare at Max, speechless. Her words echo in my head, seep into my bones, flood through my whole body, and rip me apart. The tears stream down my cheeks, and I tremble, wanting to scream out my pain. But I can’t. All I can do is shake my head in disbelief.
“I know it’s hard,” Max continues, “but it was never going to work out between you two. The damage was already done.” She shakes her head condescendingly.
I hear a noise, detect movement behind her, and I look over at Ayden. He’s waking up and probably noticing that something’s different – that there’s no one beside him. He sits up, and I see his breathtakingly beautiful body, then his eyes wander in my direction. And if there was any doubt in my mind that Maxis telling the truth, it’s now dispelled once and for all. His eyes widen; he looks Max up and down, and then back me. There’s a look of shock on his face as he mutters, “Fuck, Teresa.”
I don’t need to hear anymore. I turn and run. Behind me, I hear him calling my name, but I don’t stop. With a pounding heart I run away, surprised to find that there’s anything left in my chest to keep beating. It’s so painful, so incredibly painful. I never expected this. I never thought he could do something like this to me. And yet I’ve been warned so many times. But I didn’t want to listen, didn’t want to believe it.
Max was using me. This whole time. Nothing but lies. The tears burn in my eyes, and I can hardly breathe. I storm out of the school building, stop running, scream, turn in a circle and feel like punching the air. But nothing helps. The emotions tear me apart. All I can think is: I need to get away from here, as fast and as far as possible. And so I run, with no idea where I’m going, and all I hear are my own sobs.
