"What the fuck?" I asked, even more confused. "Why do you look like you want to kill me? Have I missed something?"
"You didn't see us, did you?"
I took a deep breath, determined not to lose my temper and come out looking like an immature asshole. "I didn't see you where? Look, you're obviously beyond pissed, I can see that. But Tasha isn't talking to me - as I'm sure you know - so if you want to tell me what the hell is going on here, I would appreciate it."
Lena continued, as if I hadn't said anything. "You didn't see us, but we saw you, Kaden. Tash and I, we went looking for you after you didn't come back to the gym for over two hours. When we did find you, you were all over Kelsey Richards. Had your tongue about halfway down her throat if I'm remembering correctly, didn't you?"
Oh shit. They saw that? Tasha saw that? "No," I said as my brain scrambled to find the right words. "No, Lena, that isn't - goddammit, that isn't what-"
"So that wasn't you? You didn't have your hand on her ass? You weren't kissing her? That's weird, Kaden, because it certainly looked like you."
Fuck. I could feel anger rising in my chest in response to her tone - at her obvious disinterest in hearing me out. "No!" I said, barely keeping my voice below a shout. "No, that is not what fucking happened, Lena."
"Whatever, Kaden. I've got to go to class now so you have a nice day."
And then she walked away, leaving me red-faced and spluttering in the hallway. I called out to her to wait, to give me a chance, but she didn't even turn around.
I was so angry after that interaction, and my mind so unwilling to accept the underlying total fuck-up, that I just wandered the halls for a few minutes, breathing heavily and then, eventually, punching a random locker so hard the door came off the hinges. It was only then, staring dumbly down at my reddening knuckles, that I could wrap my head around the truth. Tasha had seen what had happened between me and Kelsey. She had no idea that I had been convinced it was her! The first emotion I experienced that wasn't anger was simply hurt. Tasha thought I could do that? That I would do that?
I had to talk to her. That was it, there was nothing else to be done, I had to see her face to face. And how the hell was I going to do that with her avoiding me and refusing to respond to any of my messages? I was going to have to go to her house. Yeah, I should have thought about it a little before blundering off to where she lived, but I was in a panic at that point, desperate to tell her the truth, to assure her that I hadn't intended to cheat on her in any way.
Chapter 15: Kaden
I decided I would drive to Tasha's house and wait for her to come home. No further thought than that came into it. I needed to speak to her and she was ignoring me, so the only possible thing to do was to go to her house. I peeled out of Reinhardt High's parking lot so fast the Suburban left rubber on the road and then drove to Tasha's house. It looked quiet inside, I couldn't see anyone, so I turned off the engine and settled in to wait for her to get home, convinced that all I needed to do was talk to her.
A few minutes later, as I was gazing down the street, waiting for her to appear, there was a series of swift knocks on the driver's side window. I whipped around in my seat to see Ray, Tasha's brother, standing there. His arms were crossed and he did not look happy. He tried to open my door but it was locked.
"Open the door." He demanded loudly.
I was bigger than Ray. If it came to it, I knew I could take him. But that wasn't going to happen, it wasn't going to come to that. Because I was innocent of what it appeared everyone close to Tasha thought I had done and as soon as I explained it to them everything was going to be fine again. At least that was the plan. I unlocked and opened the door and climbed out. Ray did not take a single step backward.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, eyeballing me hard. "I think you should leave."
"Wait," I said, holding up my hand and backing off, trying my best to look unthreatening and conciliatory. "Ray, just wait. Let me explain. I need to talk to Tasha. I need to-"
"I don't think you need to explain anything, my friend," Ray cut me off. There was no warmth in his voice, and up until then, Ray had been really cool with me. He'd never pulled any of that 'protective big brother no-one-is-good-enough-for-my-sister macho bullshit. "Tasha told us what happened. We know everything. There's really not much else to say, is there? I mean, come on man, you got busted and now you have to live with it. Now get the fuck out of here before I stop being so nice."
"No," I said. "Ray, listen. I'm not here to deny anything Tasha saw. I'm just here to explain. if I could just talk to her - explain what actually happened, then-"