[A/N: This song has nothing to do with the chapter (except for the sex scene maybe hehe). I just think it's a good almost-ending song. :)]
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Trigger warning: sex scene811Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF410ZUKLOT
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So far, senior year had been a Six Flags roller coaster in an alternate universe where sideways meant inside out and the sky was sea level. And the fat cherry-on-top of that shit was a revisit to a past Paige hadn’t really known this whole time.
Just yesterday she found out that Christy’s dad died not too long ago, which prompted Christy to blame it on Paige for a really long-winded cause-and-effect reason. Paige had assumed Christy was pissed only because the former screwed her over in trial, letting the pedophile, who basically united them against him, get Christy in juvie. But apparently, there was more to Christy’s side of the story after juvie, and because of that Paige felt pissed at herself. More to the point, she needed to explain to Christy why she screwed her over in the first place.
Paige couldn’t stop pacing the area in front of the waiting room. Any minute now, Christy would leave psychiatric services, the floor that Selah had just left.
Paige hadn’t expected Selah to be the one to understand and get help for Christy, as they were polar opposites in every way. But then again, Selah was a suicide survivor too, and despite the rumors Christy spread about Selah in middle school, Selah was the one that wanted to bake sugar cookies for Christy in the first place. Selah’s sincere understanding of people’s feelings, Paige realized, was part of why Paige admired her so much as a friend. Selah, who was homeschooled when they first met, hadn’t known about Carter’s rumors, so she was way more civil and nice than everyone at school, and she definitely had a much bigger heart than anyone else Paige had ever known.
The only other friend that truly understood and connected with Paige was Christy.
Though their friendship only lasted a few days, mostly to bring down Brandon, they actually had a lot in common. They both hated the world, and they’d been poor as fuck, which probably led to their similar interest in shoplifting.
And Christy in particular stuck up for Paige no matter what. She could’ve avoided getting arrested by calling the cops on Brandon for molesting Paige, yet she felt the need to come over herself, as if she could somehow defeat Brandon when she clearly failed. But the fact that she was so protective of Paige when they’d barely met was something Paige couldn’t get out of her head.
They could’ve had a much longer, much better friendship, if only Paige hadn’t lied in court.
As Paige rehearsed in her head her explanation of her lie, Christy appeared from the elevators with her mom and Mark. Christy was eating a sugar cookie with the box of cookies held against her chest. When Paige caught her gaze, Paige smiled, but Christy’s expression stayed blank as she chewed.
Taking a deep breath, Paige went up to her as Mark walked beside his sister and gave Paige a questioning look. Paige ignored him and blocked Christy’s way to the hospital entrance. “Hey, I need to talk to you.”
Christy stopped chewing, swallowed, and stared at her straight in the eye. “The fight is over, okay? I’m tired, you’re tired. So what’s the point? Happy now?”
Sort of. “I want it to be over too, but I wanna say a few things first. Just you and me. Please?”
Christy kept staring at her, as if trying to figure out what she wanted when she already said so. Paige folded her arms, thinking about how ludicrously stubborn Christy was.
Finally, Christy said, “Drive me home.”
“Okay,” Paige said, brightening up. This was her chance.
The entire time they left the hospital and walked through the parking lot, it was deadly quiet. Was Christy fuming? Would Paige’s efforts to clarify parts of the past change nothing? When they both sat in Paige’s car, neither of them said anything, and Paige didn’t dare turn on the engine.
Her whole body trembling, Paige breathed in and out. Then she turned to Christy. “So… Mark told me about how your dad died and how you blame it on me, so I know how pissed you must be. If I were you, I’d be pissed at the fucking world. I mean, getting screwed over by heartless bitches in juvie and getting raped by an officer is bad enough. But then you had the abortion and...and your dad was so pissed that he was drunk driving to the juvie...but then he got killed by the police…”
Christy’s brown eyes were trained on the windshield the whole time. She probably didn’t need a miserable part of her life story told to her again, so Paige cut to the chase. “Basically, I get why you would blame me. And I get why you would think the world is against you, ‘cause it does look like it.”
Christy slowly nodded. Paige felt glad that she was still listening.
“So,” Paige continued, “I totally get it. And I’m sorry. For a lot of things. First off, I lied in court because, well, because of my mom. Earlier that night, my mom told me about how much she was in love with him. He was the first guy to make her feel special, and it was true. She dated so many assholes, but when Brandon came along, she was finally happy. And I didn’t wanna ruin that. So I didn’t want to get in trouble with him anymore. But...obviously...I didn’t get to warn you. I was--”
“You didn’t get to?” Christy snapped.
Fuck. “You were in jail! He pressed charges against you and...I just got so fucking scared. And don’t forget he was threatening me to stand by, just so he’d stay with my mom and force me to touch his dick every night.”
Christy didn’t say anything to that.
“But I know I should’ve told you why I lied. Trust me, I felt like shit saying nothing. It physically hurt to watch those cops take you away. It hurt to see you hurt.” Paige winced at the memory.
“You should’ve at least told me why you were lying,” Christy said quietly.
Paige started tearing up. “I know. I was a fucking dumbass. I just thought Brandon was the one for my mom, so I felt like I had to let him send you to juvie. But clearly my mom is the happiest she’s ever been with a totally different guy now.” While Brandon did treat her well, he was nowhere near as good as Nolan. “I just thought you’d get a year in juvie and then community service, but obviously you got a few years and...everything else that happened.
“I know I can’t change the past,” Paige said, sobbing softly at this point. “But if only I just told the truth. I didn’t know I was gonna screw up your life even more. And I’m so fucking sorry. It’s all my fault. I’m sorry.”
She decided to end there and wiped away her tears with her sleeves. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed, and she didn’t want to even sneak a glance at Christy, who deserved more than enough good to balance out the bad thrown at her the past several years, including Brandon’s advances to her and her dad’s abusive behavior. The entire world was unfair to her, and Paige had contributed a major part to her suffering.
The hand on Paige’s shoulder made her look up at the same time she realized, in her blurry vision, that Christy was leaning in for a hug. More tears flooding from her eyes, Paige hugged her. The tighter they hugged, the more love and warmth Paige hoped Christy felt.
“It’s not completely your fault,” Christy said, her voice breaking. The simple knowledge that she started crying too made Paige feel like the most sensitive piece of shit on the planet.
Finally, they pulled away from their embrace. “I just talked about all this with my therapist,” Christy said, wiping her nose with a sleeve, “and I realized it was stupid to blame everything on just you. And it was stupid to act like screwing up your life would make me feel better. It did sometimes,” she confessed as Paige forced out a laugh, “but not really. It was more like the idea of it felt good, but I felt nothing while doing it. My therapist said some deep shit about how the real issue was myself. I have to forgive myself. And then she told me I had to keep doing therapy.” She smiled at the same time Paige chuckled. “I guess that’s how they earn money: they tell you deep shit, then you vent to them every week.” The pair laughed together.
Paige asked, “Are you still gonna go to therapy?”
“Yeah,” Christy answered instantly, which made Paige crack up.
“Well, that is a good thing,” Paige said between giggles.
When their laughter subsided, Christy said, “So, I guess it’s the end of all this bullshit, which I started for no good reason.”
Paige touched her shoulder. “It’s okay, because ‘the real issue was yourself.’” As Christy laughed again, Paige smiled. She kind of knew that, deep down, besides all the bullshit that separated them, they really were made to be friends. They shared the same pain, and even the same dipshits that stepped all over them. And that reminded Paige what she’d been meaning to ask Christy.
“By the way,” she said, watching Christy wipe away tears from laughing so hard, “you knew Carter was an asshole when you met him right?”
Christy looked at her weirdly. “Of course.”
“Then why did you hook up with him?”
Christy sighed. “Well, he hated you as much as I did, and he was a good fuckbuddy, so it worked out, until...you know…”
“Yeah.”
“To be honest, I never liked him.” Christy squinted her eyes. “I did want to punch him in the neck whenever he said the most sexist shit. And homophobic shit.”
“Well, he’s gonna be in that juvie you went to for a super long time, so…”
Smiling, Christy raised her palm, and they high-fived. Bonding over their shared hatred of the worst douchebag in existence was more than what Paige could ask for.
“Anyway, can you drive me home now?” Christy said, smiling. “I’m getting tired from, like, everything.”
Paige agreed as she faced forward and turned on the engine. “Me too. But at least we’re starting over, right?” She paused, looking at Christy.
Christy sighed. “Yeah. We need a complete start-over.” She really did sound tired, so Paige started backing out of the parking spot. “Oh, also,” Christy said, “I know you want Rizzo more than me, so you can have her.”
Paige braked so hard that Christy braced herself with a hand on the dashboard. “Really?” Paige exclaimed.
“Yeah, just don’t get us killed, okay?” But Christy was smiling.
When Paige turned her attention back to driving, her cheeks hurt from a genuine smile plastered on her face. Not even a middle-aged man flinging the finger at her for not using her turn signal could wipe off her smile the entire drive to Christy’s house.
***
“Damn, you’re actually friends with my sister now?” Mark said.
“Yup.” Paige pulled up to her driveway and turned off the engine.
“Is this a dream?”
She leaned over to kiss him on the lips. “What do you think?”
He seemed to think for a moment. “Nah. If it was a dream, we’d still be making out.”
She giggled as she stepped out of the car. She liked to give her kisses as sparingly as possible to fuck with him, figuratively and literally.
They entered the garage, with Mark pinching her ass. Holding back a squeal, Paige decided she’d give in and make out with him in her room. As she pulled him through the kitchen, she caught Mom and Nolan laughing in the family room. A flash on Mom’s left ring finger stopped Paige in her tracks.
Paige gasped and looked at Nolan. “You already proposed?” And she wasn’t there to see it?
Nolan nodded with a shrug.
“Wait a second, you knew?” Mom asked as she stood up. Then she glanced at Nolan. “You told her already?”
Nolan stood up with her, a hand on the back of his neck. “I wanted to see if she and Jerry would be okay with it.”
“Jerry, you too?” Mom glanced at him, whom Paige just realized was sitting in the other couch.
Jerry gave a nervous smile.
“So you both knew--”
“Who the fuck cares?” Paige ran up to them and pulled them into a hug. “You’re finally engaged!” Jerry joined the hug, and for once, they felt like a real, actual family. Paige would no longer come home to find a random new guy every month, or to her mother moping about never finding the right guy. For once, there was a sense of stability in the family.
The next hour or so consisted of discussing wedding plans, with Paige sending a picture of the newly engaged couple to friends and family. Then the group decided to go out for a celebratory dinner, inviting Mark as well.
“So many good things happened today,” Mark said as he watched Paige put on golden drop earrings.
“I fucking know, right?” After she finished her eyebrows, she went to the bedspread where her black dress lay and started taking off her clothes.
“Why are you rushing?” Mark stood behind her with his lips tickling her left bare shoulder and his hands running down her arms. “We’re leaving in an hour.”
Though she dropped the dress and shivered with lust, she glanced at the clock on her nightstand. “Actually, forty-six minutes.”
“Still more than enough time,” he said with a smile in his voice. “And the door’s locked.”
But because she wasn’t always a sex fiend, and because tonight was about her mom and new dad, she said, “Seriously? Right before you’re gonna eat dinner with my family?”
At least he paused before answering. “Yup.” His teeth dug into a spot between her neck and left shoulder, followed by his warm, wet tongue running over the same spot. “You smell amazing.” He slightly turned her so that she was facing the mirror on the dresser. She was naked, save for her underwear, and he stared at all of her with a saucy grin. “I bet you’re even more gorgeous with just those earrings.”
Grinning at him through the mirror, she took off her underwear.
“Yup,” he confirmed. “I am now insanely horny.”
She turned and pushed him onto the bed. Crawling onto him, she whispered in his ear, “I bet you’re even more gorgeous if you shut up during sex.”
“You like it when I talk dirty. Just admit it.”
She hated it when he said true shit like that out loud, so to punish him, she pulled down his shorts and slowly rubbed her center against his dick through his underwear.
“Oh, so you’re gonna torture me ‘cause I was telling the truth?” he said in a strained voice, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.
Loving that he knew her so well, she leaned down and kissed him long and hard.
“Now you tell a truth so I’ll punish you too,” Mark said.
Chuckling, she said, “Okay, fine.” She sat upright as her finger traced down his chest. “I admit you’ve made your Mark on me.” She lifted herself off him and held up her hands.
Grinning, he sat up, reached around, and slapped one of her asscheeks. “Paige, I’m gonna tear you apart.”
As he started eating her ass--his appetizer for dinner--she realized she was never going to get sick of his puns. When he moved his mouth to her center, he cast her to the stars.
In her book, it was the mark on a page she’d never forget.
ns 15.158.61.5da2
