She wasn’t surprised he knew when they were having the rehearsal, not when he probably knew every aspect of what was going on in her family’s life.
“No.” The word came out so quickly and harsh that she was surprised with herself, but then again she was furious that she was still talking to Lance, and that she allowed herself to continue to do it after everything that happened between them. “Things are done between us. I don’t need or want to be your friend, even if our parents are close. I’ve moved on, started my life, and am not thinking about the relationship we had. You decided on what you wanted to do back then, and so did I.”
She could practically hear him gritting his teeth on the other end. Lance may appear calm and socially perfect when others were watching, but she knew the real him. Get a few drinks in him and it was like watching a grotesque science project. Her quickly morphed into Mr. Hyde. Of course that wasn’t why their relationship had ended so badly, although she should have dumped his ass for that alone. She should have left him the first time he yelled at her while he was drunk, and said some very hurtful things, but back then he was all she knew, and she was such a naive teenager that his apologies had smoothed out things that should have not been fixable. Since starting at OSU she had come to realize a lot of things, mainly that she didn’t need a man in her life to feel whole. She supposed that was the only thing she had to thank Lance for, because if they hadn’t broken up the way they did things would have been very different in her life, that she was sure of.
“I’m not asking for anything more than you’re willing to give. I just want to be your friend again, like we were before everything happened.”
What pissed her off the most was the fact Lance had never once told her he made a mistake. It was bad enough she had caught him screwing her best friend, but even worse when she found out all of their “friends” had known about what was going on. So there she had stood, watching in disgust as the boy she thought she had loved had sex with someone she had thought was her closest friend. Hell, she thought a lot of people cared about her, but it was funny and depressing to realize she had been wrong in all of that. He had apologized, begged her, and promised her that he would never do it again. In the end she had walked away, and she would be eternally thankful she had been strong enough to do that back then. No longer would she be everyone’s verbal punching bag. No longer would she allow a man to walk all over her, and smooth it out with a simple “I’m sorry”. The only thing he had been sorry about was the fact he had gotten caught. That had been the last time she saw any of those so called “friends”.
Mary may have gone back home since then, but she made sure to stay clear of the people she used to associate with. These years had taught her a lot, and that was she could only rely on herself, and that people wore many masks.
“Lance, I really do have to go. I’d say it was nice talking to you, but I’d be lying.” He stuttered out something, but she hung up and threw her phone back in her bag. The only thing she could think about as to why he was calling her was because he was most likely not with Brittany any longer. Her whole body tightened as she thought about her once best friend. Last she heard, from Margo because her sister couldn’t stop from gossiping when she came into town, was that Lance and Brittany were still going strong. They both deceived her and deserved each other.
Just stop thinking about it. You’ve gone this long without them intruding on your life, and don’t let them start now. She stood, no longer in the mood to research at the library, and headed back to her place. Mary wasn’t much of a drinker, but she could really use one right now. But maybe a good workout would do her some good instead?
Ten minutes later and she was closing the door to her room and sitting on the edge of the bed. Her phone started vibrating, but when she saw it was her mom she threw it back in her bag. There was no surprise that she was calling right after Lance had talked to her. In fact, she wouldn’t put it by her ex to try to get her mom to talk her into seeing him. That had been a big problem with him when they were dating, well, one of the problems.
Looking back on her relationship with him she realized there had been a lot of things she had been ignorant of. Her phone rang again, but she didn’t bother looking at it. When her mother was angry enough, or desperate, she was persistent.
After changing into a pair of stretch pants and her workout shirt, Mary grabbed her backpack and shoved a change of clothes in it. She headed out of her room and into the kitchen where she stopped when she saw Darcy sitting at the table looking pretty rough.