Chapter 18
eighteen
Charlie landed heavily on the ground, but I barely had time to process that before he was punched in the face.
“Hey!” I yelled. I reached for the guy’s arm as if I would be strong enough to pull him off, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to. “What are you doing?”
They both ignored me as they grappled, Charlie’s arms going up in a defensive position while the boy punched at him.
I didn’t understand how this happened—we hadn’t even been doing anything, and the boy had come out of nowhere.
Was this somebody from their hockey team who was also at the wedding?
But why would he choose now to go after him?
Charlie mumbled something, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“I told you not to do it!” The boy yelled. A cold sweat ran down my back as I realized who that voice belonged to: Matthew. “I told you not to go out with her!”
The punch landed again, and Charlie’s head lolled to the side.
Tears started flowing from my eyes, and I just stood there for a while, paralyzed by shock.
This was all my fault. I knew coming here—even going out with him—was a terrible idea, but I’d done it anyway and now look at what was happening.
A new rush of adrenaline ran through me, and I tried to grab Matthew again. This time, I actually managed to grab his shoulder and pulled as hard as I could.
“Matthew, stop!”
“Get off me!” he yelled. He threw his hand back and, the next thing I knew, his hand connected with my face, causing me to fall to the ground.
Pain blossomed in my face as I tried to get up.
My nose felt broken, and blood was streaming down my chin.
Tears blurred my vision, and all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and disappear.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” That voice wasn’t Matthew—it was Charlie. I lolled my head to the side just in time to watch Charlie get the upper hand and start punching Matthew instead of the other way around.
“This is your fault!” Matthew said. “I warned you!”
Charlie didn’t reply. He was too busy hitting Matthew over and over. I hoped that Charlie would have the sensibility to end the fight now that he had Matthew down, but he showed no signs of slowing down.
“Charlie, stop!” I yelled. My voice was hoarse from crying, and the pain in my face was starting to intensify. But even though I called his name, he didn’t seem to hear me.
“Charlie!” I screamed, this time louder than before. “Charlie, stop! He’s down!”
I could see the anger in Charlie’s eyes, and it made me even more afraid that he would do something he would later regret.
I rolled over onto my side and forced myself up to my feet.
I had definitely learned my lesson about trying to stop them, but that didn’t mean I could just let them continue fighting like this.
They were showing no signs of slowing down, and I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if they kept going.
I ripped my high heels off and dropped them on the ground before taking off toward the venue.
My dress was flying in the wind, and I hated to imagine what I must have looked like to everyone around me, but I didn’t let that slow me down.
I needed to find somebody—anybody. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would explode out of my chest, and I thought I might be sick, but I didn’t stop moving for a single second.
I was so focused on getting back to the main reception area that I didn’t even notice anyone else along the path until someone called my name.
I skidded to a stop and looked around. Thomas was leaning against the wall with a cigarette dangling between his fingers, along with a few friends.
He was grinning, but it slipped off his face as he looked at me.
He immediately dropped his cigarette and ran over to me.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He grabbed my chin and turned my head each way, assessing me. “Were you punched?”
“Never mind that,” I said. My breath was coming out in gasps. I liked to think I was pretty fit but I didn’t sprint like that very often. “I need your help.”
His eyes darkened with concern. “Why? What happened?”
“Matthew.” Gasping breath. “Charlie.” Another gasp. I pointed in the direction I came from. “Fighting.”
Even though I’d given him no context, he seemed to catch on quickly and took off without a second thought.
His friends looked between him and me, then ran after him too.
I took a second to catch my breath before I followed, my lungs burning.
The boys were all way faster than me, so by the time I got back, they were already pulling the boys apart.
I stopped a few feet away and stared at them helplessly. How had this whole night gone so wrong?
I cried as I aggressively wiped at my face that night, desperately trying to wash off my makeup.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, soaking into my fingers as I mechanically worked my hand from side to side across my face, over and over.
My eyes stung and burned as a particularly severe sob wracked my body.
I’d been having such a fun time tonight—why did Matthew have to come and ruin it?
I dropped the makeup wipe on the counter and stared at myself in the mirror.
The light from the hallway spilled in through the open door, illuminating my bloodshot and puffy eyes, and the streaks of mascara that had run down my face were dark in comparison.
I was trying to scrub all traces of the makeup off with a wipe, but it was only making it worse.
I felt like a dirty mess. My previously perfect dress was covered in dirt and ripped in the back from falling earlier.
I was a hot mess.
The room started to spin, and I felt a crushing fatigue take over me. All of this was too much, too overwhelming. I was exhausted from the emotional roller coaster that had been my night. I couldn’t bring myself to care about this anymore. I just wanted to go to sleep.
I walked out of the bathroom and slumped down on my bed, burying my face in my pillow.
I was trying to come up with a plan, but all I could think about was how upset Matthew had seemed, even after we pulled him and Charlie apart.
I had never understood what it meant for someone to be seething with anger until I saw him.
He hadn’t been kidding when he said he would kill Charlie if he ever dated me.
I never wanted to see him that angry again.
Maybe I wouldn’t need to—there was a good chance Matthew would never speak to me again.
It took ages for my tears to finally slow down and even longer for me to find the energy to get up and change out of my dress.
I pulled on an old oversized T-shirt that I was pretty sure had once belonged to Charlie and had been given to me as a cover-up sometime when we went swimming or something years ago.
If Matthew saw me in it and realized what it was, it would probably just make him even more angry, but it was the only thing I wanted to wear right now.
It was probably a bad idea, but I wanted to see Charlie one last time before I went to bed, if only to make sure that Matthew hadn’t torn him limb from limb.
Even though it seemed like a monumentally bad idea considering everything that happened, he was staying the night and was right downstairs.
It would be easy to just go check on him and make sure he was alright.
A bad idea, probably, but I wasn’t known for my good judgment.
Before I could think about it too hard, I walked out of my room and started down the stairs.
My father’s voice echoed through the house as he yelled at the boys for everything they had done tonight.
My heart squeezed painfully as I was once again reminded of how much I had messed up.
None of this would have happened if I’d just told Charlie we couldn’t do this, if I’d refused to kiss him again.
But how was I expected to hold myself back?
I loved him. I loved him in a way that I thought I wasn’t capable of and that I knew I could never feel towards anyone else.
If I couldn’t have Charlie, I would never date again.
None of it would ever compare to him. How could I get Matthew to see that?
My heart pounded in my chest as I tiptoed toward the living room doorway, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Matthew and Charlie were both sitting on the couch, their eyes trained on the floor.
Charlie had removed his suit jacket and, even though I knew it was an inappropriate moment to be thinking it, my stomach fluttered at the sight of him in just his button-up shirt.
It looked like it was going to burst from the size of his muscles in the best way possible.
I didn’t know he could look better than when he was wearing his lifeguard uniform, but clearly, I was wrong.
As if he could feel my eyes on him, Charlie glanced up.
His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed me, and his face broke out in a grin.
I almost sagged in relief. I hadn’t realized how nervous I was that he might not want to be with me after what happened with Matthew.
I smiled back and waved. But that wasn’t the best decision, because Matthew must have noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye.
He looked up and the second he noticed me, his face settled into a deep glare.
The smile slid off my face, and I dropped my hand. Maybe it didn’t matter how Charlie felt… because Matthew’s feelings clearly hadn’t changed.