Chapter Seventy-Eight: "Hey, Bitch, What An Honour to Not See You Again."
WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY FUCKING amazing surprise? A coincidence? A call of fate? Did I do something that bad that I need to keep having my past show up in my present; my future?
Why didn't Lacey think to warn me about Taylor coming in? She knows what happened between him and I, yet she let him tag along on this trip. If Taylor doesn't ruin this tournament, the awkwardness definitely will.
"I'm sorry, what?" Maya says, her eyebrows scrunched together in something purely identical to confusion.
"It's my ex," I repeat with a heavy sigh. "I dated him a while back, before I moved to Canada. It's been a few years since I saw him."
Taylor kisses some girl whom I can't see, before he trots off to the hotel entranceâpresumably grabbing something.
"Is this going to be dangerous?" Carly questions. "Because I really don't take well to violence."
"I hope not." I say unsurely, not even believing the words coming out of my mouth. Taylor's presence here could change this whole week and I honestly have no idea how Landon will respond. He may be pissed, he may be fine, but how am I supposed to know? What I do know, is that I don't want him here and I plan to stay as far away from that man as I physically can.
"Shh! Here they come!" Maya hisses, and plasters on a smile to help greet my friends.
"Oh boy," I hear Becca mutter. "This is going to be interesting."
"Brookie!" Lacey exclaims from a few feet away, going from a brisk walk to a near-jog. As soon as she's within arms reach, she outstretches her arms and yanks me into her body, nearly colliding with the group behind me because of how strong her force of grip is.
"Lace," I say with a nervous breath, "it's good to see you!"
"Yeah!" she giggles. "I've been waiting to see you since you left."
"Me too," I smile. Though I'm kinda upset with her right now, I still can't deny that I missed my best friend dearly.
I pull Lacey to the side; far from our groups. They meet all in a giant human cluster, doing their introductions and even exchanging a hug or hand shake.
I don't fail to notice Landon excluding himself from the mob, looking less than enthralled when he sees my rebellious ex-boyfriend.
I call him over; he's safer with me than by himself. "What is he doing here?" he asks with a huff. "I thought you were done with him?"
"I don't know what he's doing here," I answer honestly. "I'm not very happy about it, either. Lacey?" I direct my question to her, waiting for a response as to why such a problem maker is touching the same ground I currently am.
"Look, I'm sorry he's here but I promise that he isn't here to cause you or your relationship trouble. He wanted to be here to cheer us on. He also met another girl, and she plays on the volleyball team as well. He means no harm, Brooklyn."
"Lacey, you know how I feel about him!" I exclaim exasperatedly. I don't think she understands the fact that just because we share the same friend group, doesn't mean he can tag along to all of our group hangouts. He's caused too much trouble with me and I don't want the bad karma following me home. "We left on not-so-good terms and Landon is here."
"It's not my fault," she retorts. "I tried to tell you, but you just kept giggling. Then, you continued to flirt with Landon and hung up on me."
"I was not flirting. He was being an ass."
"I was being cute," the boy himself jumps in, causing an evil scowl to appear on my face in a not-so-cute discretion. "I didn't know that was a crime."
I roll my eyes at my boyfriend and turn back to face Lacey. "Fine, whatever. Either way, Lacey I can't be near him."
"Nobody said you had to Brooklyn. He's just here like everyone else, that's all."
"Then he's not being near us," I hiss. "He can be here for the tournament, but God forbid I allow him to ruin my trip and cause rifts between everyone."
"You do as you wish, Brooklyn. Casey already assured us that he'll keep an eye on Taylor in case he does anything stupid. We have your back."
I sigh in defeat. "Alright."
Lacey gives me a reassuring smile before grabbing me by the hand and back to the group. It makes me feel uneasy having Taylor so close to me, I'm so used to not having any of my other friends around, I have to admit it is a little weird. Not because of the drifting apart or anything of the sort, but it just feels like ages have passed and that so many things have changed.
Or maybe I HAVE changed.
Is that what this is? Me changing, and everything else is the same but the result of my transformation is what makes me feel things are so different as of now?
Oh, boy, I just came out here and I'm already getting a headache thinking about how this is playing out.
I need a tall boy. Or maybe a Radler right about now.
"Brookie, baby, it's so nice to see you!" Casey exclaims and rushes up to me, literally scooping me off my feet and spinning me around until the world around me is nothing but a blurry mess. "How is my favourite little sister?"
"Lest we forget that I am older than you and that you always called me a 'baby with a special bulge' before accidentally flashing you down that water-slide last summer."
"Now, now, I thought we agreed that we'd never speak of that day again?" he moans, probably remembering the day that my bathing suit top came undone and left a very intimate picture glued into Casey's memory compartment.
I roll my eyes at his whining but deep down, I miss him sincerely. I miss all of my friends and although Taylor is here to watch the games, I am eager to not let him and his presence throw me off my A-game. I came here to kick ass, not to have some nostalgia of my ex.
"I won't mention it again if you put me back down." Without hesitation, Casey plops me back down onto the ground, my feet making a slapping noise against the pavement because of my flip-flops.
The short burst of euphoria I had disappears the moment my feet made contact with the rock beneath the padding of my sandals. The burning I feel at the back of my head makes me aware that somebody is either staring at me, glaring at me, or is trying to figure me out.
My guess is that it is the latter.
I briefly make eye contact with Landon, who is trying to study my expressions, looking for clues that I might have a breakdown, a fit of anger, or an anxiety attack.
I give him a soft smile and walk over to him, silently kissing him on the cheek and dragging him to the group. I am wary of Taylor's presence beside Casey, but I fail to make his presence known to me. He probably already feels my negative aura towards him.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Casey smirks at me as he eyes the man holding me strongly against his chest, presumably trying to protect me.
"Landon." I grin widely, proudly showing off my man to my friends. "Landon, you've met a few of these guys over video chat, but I'll give you proper introductions."
In front of me directly is Jason, who is carrying his girlfriend on his back, and beside him is Johnny, looking appalled by some girls walking past with dogs at their hips.
"Gross," I hear him mutter underneath his breath. "Dogs are not meant to be hairless!"
"Hey!" one of the girls overhears. "She has cancer, asshole!"
"Dang." is all Johnny has to reply to. "She shouldn't be walking her dog if they're that sick."
I begin to chuckle at my friends antics and lean in to hug him. "Same old, same old, eh?"
"Oh you know it, baby." he grins. "How you doing?"
"Great, thank you." I beam. "Yourself?"
"Oh, y'know," he grins, "girls, parties, more girls..."
"Okay, okay, I get it!" I laugh. I pull back just enough so we are at arms reach, and face him towards the man beside me.
"Lo and behold!" Johnny smiles. "Well if it isn't the man who ruined my best friends life." he teases. "It's finally nice to meet the one person Brooklyn can't shut up about."
"Hey!" I exclaim, though it's too late because Johnny is pulling Landon aside.
"Come on, mate, lets go talk about the crazy stuff Brookie here has done."
"No!" I yell. "Johnny get back here!"
"Snooze you lose!"
"Eugh!" I sigh. "Well, everyone that's Landon I suppose."
"He's cute." I hear a voice say, and turn around, dreading my actions. "Hi, Bulimic Brooklyn."
Stacy Motherfucking Collins.
"Hey, Bitch." I grin. "What an honour not to see you again!"
"What are you doing here, Stacy." Casey says, not in a questionable manner, suddenly stepping in front of me and blocking her from my view.
"I'm here for the tournament, obviously." she smirks. "Oh, hey, Brooklyn, I just want to say good luck out there. My boyfriend and I will be rooting for you." She sends me a cheeky grin through Casey's frame.
Before I can think of a witty response, a darker figure appears and lo and behold, is Taylor.
"Hey, Stace," I hear him say, making my stomach churn. "Hi, um... sorry, I don't know your name."
"Casey." the man himself growls, looping one of his arms behind himself to hold my waist. I don't understand why Taylor is acting like he doesn't know Casey. He's known him for years and now he's suddenly acting dumb?
Everyone else is silent as they watch the tension grow. I can feel remorseful looks but refuse to acknowledge whom they are from.
"Brooklyn?" Taylor says. "Is that you?"
Before anything can be said, Stacy steps in. "Hey, baby."
Baby? Who is she calling baby? Her boyfriend is here with her? Great. Just great. Now I have another person to make fun of me with her.
Casey grows tense and I can't help but wince. I need to know what's going on, so I step beside Casey, but he refuses to let me go, so I am stuck trapped at his waist.
And for good reason.
There he is. All gorgeous like I remember, but the hate in my stomach grows towards him more than the girl beside him.
Just my luck.
That horrible monster.
Stacy smirks at me devilishly, and a lump catches in my throat when she pulls the man into her chest.
There she goes.
Stacy Collins just kissed Taylor smack on the lips in a heavy make out and I can't do anything but stand there in shock.
How could Taylor do this to me? He isn't even throwing her away.
"You..." I say, speechless. I'm stuttering because I have no idea what to say. What do I say? "I don't..."
"Cat got your tongue?" Stacy kids. "It's okay, Brooklyn. He likes my tongue better anyways."
"What's going on here?" A husky voice says behind me, but I can't bother to think about them before my heart makes the decision to start to break the barrier I've been holding back.
Without even thinking, my arms are already breaking free of Casey's grip and I'm storming up to the two shittiest people on the planet.
Then it happens.
I give the most ruthless hit of my life to Stacy.
Right in the tit.
I can't think straight before I find my body towering over her stumbling figure, launching myself onto the ground and nailing my fist into every piece of her flesh that I can reach.
I've never resorted to this much violence in forever.
"Woah, woah!" I hear exclaims. Almost instantaneously, I am being dragged off of Stacy and yanked back. "What is going on?"
Landon.
I collapse into his arms in exhaustion, however my body is still shaking in rage.
"Control that wench!" Stacy growls.
"Get away from me!" I scream at Taylor, who is in utter shock. Don't look so surprised you piece of trash. You asked for this. "Don't come near me again!"
Before I know it, Lance is getting in Taylor's face the moment he tries to approach me. "You better listen to her. You're not wanted here. If I were you, I'd get away before you end up in the hospital."
"Brooklynâ"
"Don't you dare try to talk to her." Landon hisses. "Shh, it's okay, Blue. You're okay." His voice is softer, and it makes my tense muscles start to relax. "Come on, darling. Let's go get you some fresh ocean air. It smells like Slutty Corners over here and I don't want you to catch some incurable illness."
"My hand hurts," I mumble into him.
"Already got the first aid," I hear Carly say. "I got you, girlfriend."
"So do I." Landon says softly. "Forever and always. I promise."
____________________________________________________________________________
EUGH AM I HORRIBLE OR WHAT? Of course I am. That 'short' hiatus was definitely long and I am soooo sorry! I'm trying to get back into the rhythm here but I am kinda wanting to work on the 'Stalked By A Serial Killer' series and I kinda didn't know how I wanted this chapter to end. Initially, all things were supposed to be civil but hey, what's Brooklyn's story without drama? It's been forever since we've seen Stacy!
Anyways, I HOPE I am back guys! Thanks so much for sticking around and getting me to well over 300k views!!!! It means so much to me!!
I love you all!
~Love
Ellaina