Page 104 of From Me to You

“Mind your own business, Mike.” I glared at him.

His eyes widened a bit before he nodded. The rest of them looked at me confused. I had never spoken to Mikey that way, and I usually called him Mikey, so they knew I wasn’t behaving right.

None of them spoke to me after that, while they all chattered around, laughing and having the time of their lives. I wanted so badly to be included and I yearned to squeeze the hand that was holding mine under the table. But I didn’t. I resisted the urge while I buried myself in my own grave that I dug for myself.

Things only got worse from there. Jay constantly kept asking what was wrong, and I constantly kept denying him an answer, but he didn’t push me more than that. He just held me tight each night as we fell asleep, and I let him. Because it was the only time White couldn’t tell me what to do.

One month had flown by—five more to go, I said to myself as I tried to exhale the pain flowing through my body. But it didn’t help. I traced the ‘J’ on my necklace and prayed for it to give me the strength I needed.

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We had a party tonight, which had now become a constant affair for the band as a chance to get into the whole Hollywood scene and mingle with the socialites. Normally, Jay and I avoided parties or gatherings like the plague, but now things were different. It had become a great excuse for me to drink and widen the wedge between us.

I had started drinking all the time now that I was almost a functioning alcoholic—nobody cared about underage drinking when you were a part of the elites in Los Angeles. I drank because it numbed my senses and made Jay mad when I acted like a drunken fool. And no, I wasn’t talking about the cute kind.

I wore only the most revealing sparkly dress for these parties, which was so unlike me. I hated wearing them. I felt so exposed and vulnerable. But it was what she wanted.

“Sweetheart, are you sure you want to wear that?” Jay scratched his head and gestured to my very short, backless black dress.

“Are you telling me what to wear now, Jay?” I raised my eyebrow at him while I took a huge swig of beer. Alcohol still didn’t help ease the pain of hurting him. The last person I ever wanted to hurt. Who knew I would become such a good actress? I had the most evilest coach who made me her pawn as she gave me the vilest instructions.

He sighed. “It’s not like that, Evy. You know there will be a lot of photographers everywhere, and I know you don’t usually wear clothes like this. It makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“Well, it’s not making me uncomfortable, so let it drop.” I rolled my eyes, turning back to my drink.

I recalled White’s text from earlier.

White- Wear the most revealing dress you have and be a bitch to Emmie. I will be attending the party so dance with someone, I want some alone time with Emmie.

Nausea and sadness overtook my body when I read that text. I cursed her to hell. I took screenshots of all the texts she sent me, just in case but for now I had no choice but to do as she told me.

I sometimes wished that Jay would read them and get me away from this mess. But she would only send them when he wasn’t around. And she also threatened me multiple times that the deal was null and void if he ever found out about them.

I felt him getting closer to me, and he hugged me from behind, propping his chin on my shoulder.

My entire body froze from his touch, his smell, and his delicious warmth seeping into me. It was already so hard to put up with this act, but when he was close to me like this, I could barely resist sobbing into his arms and asking for him to run away with me somewhere, forever, while we left all this madness behind. But I had to force the numbness to overtake my body.

“Sweetheart, something is going on with you, and you won’t tell me what it is. You have been acting weird with everyone. Especially with me. I thought we had no secrets. It’s been so long since I touched you. Please tell me what’s going on.” Jay peppered me with kisses all along my neck.

I couldn’t resist the shiver that ran down my spine from the touch of his lips. I knew what he was talking about—we barely had sex, we barely talked, and we barely hung out, but that was exactly what I wanted. She wanted.

I turned back and pulled away from him. It was a very big mistake because now those beautiful blues that I loved so much looked at me with so much hurt and sadness.

I schooled my features as tears burned my eyes. My heart shattered all over the floor.

“I know something is wrong. Why can’t you just tell me what’s wrong?” Jay ran his frustrated fingers through his raven locks, which were tousled all over the place.

I silently screamed to him to help me get out of this tortured war waging inside my head. But I couldn’t. I can’t because his dream was on the line.

“I just hate all of this,” I accused.

“Hate all of what?” He looked confused.

“This house, this place, everything. And I am bored. Bored sitting here and doing nothing. I just want to go out there and have fun. I want to experience a teenage life, Jay, rather than being holed up with you and gang all the time. You guys are driving me nuts!” I screamed at him.

His eyes flashed with hurt. “Evelyn, I thought you preferred hanging out with us. We hate parties and these social gatherings. You used to beg me to get you out of there. Now I don’t understand what changed.”

“Well, I changed, Jay. I changed my mind. Okay! Am I allowed to do that? Or are you going to berate me for that too?”