The Cheat

"Well..." She said, "Why can't Thomas help you study? I bet he could help you relax too?" she said with a wink. I rolled my eyes. "He says he is fine waiting until I get into college. He says sex is not the most important thing to him. "He says that, but he's been waiting almost 3 years for you. Eventually he's going to give up," she said.

 I frowned. "If he can't wait another 6 or so months, then he is not who I thought he was," I said, glaring at her. We arrived at school and got to our classrooms. The day went on as usual. A full day of classes, then home for dinner with my mom and dad. study time, shower, then bed. My birthday came and today was the first part of the SAT test. I went to school and I thought I did pretty well.

I wanted to walk home from school since the tests were long and a bit stressful. I needed some time to calm myself. The walk was not far at all really, just through some neighboring streets and cut across a back alleyway behind a shady little club, then down 6 more streets and a set of railroad tracks and, boom, I'd be home in no time. I could usually walk it within 20-30 minutes depending on how fast or slow I walked that day.

 I took my time walking through the lazy part of town before getting to the more shady parts. Getting to the alleyway, I noticed something that froze my blood. It was Thomas's car. What in the hell was he parked in an alleyway for? Walking up to the car slowly, I could see movement. Inside. It was Thomas and a girl. He was missing his shirt and his pants were around his ankles. She was giving him a blow job. My blood started boiling.

I banged on his window. His shock was evident. "Aurora!" he yelled, pushing the blonde off him and yanking his pants up. Scrambling to get out of the car and try to catch me. "This..." I said, stopping and pointing at the girl. I couldn't speak. I was so angry that all I could do was laugh. I took a deep breath in centering myself before meeting his eyes with an icy glare.

 "So this is why you said, "It's not a big deal, It's not important, you could wait," I said air quoting his words back to him. "Because you…Ughh, You Thomas are unbelievable!” I screamed at him, throwing my hands up in the air.  

Taking a deep breath my eyes locked with his, “You have been getting what you needed elsewhere. So what, Thomas, how long have you been cheating on me? How many years?" I said my voice dripping with venom, the tone low and calm. It sent chills even down my own spine.

I didn’t care. I was angry, pushing his shoulder again, this time with more force. He was slung over the hood of his car. "I didn't... She doesn't mean." He stuttered out, trying to stand up reaching for me." Stop. Wait, let me," he continued. I shoved him back. "To think I was this close to sleeping with you tonight on my birthday. Man, did I really dodge a bullet?" I said, shoving his chest again and walking away. He yelled and begged for me to come back. "Aurora! Wait! Let me explain:" He called over and over. I ignored him and continued to walk away, feeling my heart shatter with each step.

I walked away as he yelled for me to wait to come back, but I couldn’t. I walked for some time until I ended up on Lilly’s doorstep. It had started raining, and it was a bit nippy outside, but I didn’t feel it. I climbed the lattice and to the top of the over hang coming to sit outside her window. I tapped first. She didn’t open it. So I beat on her bedroom window. She opened her window and saw me sitting there soaking wet. “Oh my god, Aurora, what happened?” she said, lifting her window the rest of the way, snapping her screen out, then reached for me. I took her hand and climbed through her window.

“What happened?” She asked again as she grabbed two towels from her bathroom and coming back. She wrapped one towel around me, then using the other, she started to dry my hair. I was angry and hurt, but I didn’t feel the need to cry. I wanted to burn the whole damn city down with him and his slut in it! “Thomas” I said, glaring angrily at the mirror to her reflection. “You were right,” I said, sighing trying to let go of my anger. “I found him in his car with a blond slut giving him head” I said my shoulders slumping. Lilly froze her eyes, going wide. “Oh honey I…I am sorry I didn’t want to be right,” she said, her eyes reflecting her anger and sadness for me. “It’s over between us,” I said in a small voice, my eyes moving to the ground. “At least I can focus on school now and not have him berating me to get in my pants” I said trying to make light of this entire screwed up situation.

Lilly stopped drying my hair and came to kneel in front of me. “I know you and I know when you are hurting you are my soul, sister. Your pain is very much my pain. Your anger is very much my anger,” she said, placing her hands on my knees. “For just one night you are going to be a regular 18-year-old young woman,” she said, smiling. “For tonight, we are going to get dressed up and go out! It’s your birthday after all!” “I.. I can't, I have to study,” I said. “No, we are getting you dressed up, and you are going out. You can resume your studies tomorrow, but for tonight you’re going to forget about your piece of shit ex and celebrate your birthday, Lilly-style,” she said with a smile, running to her closet.