Page 155 of Fragments
“Why are you sitting here?” Lex barks, and I glance up to find him shooting flames of fury at me through his pretty, green eyes. “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable over there?” He nods at the next table over, where Percy Gage and his band of dunces are sitting.
“No…” I murmur, trying to contain my delight that he’s actually looking at me and talking to me, regardless of how much he clearly wants me to choke on my sandwich. “I would always rather be near y—”
“Ugh!” He cuts me off again with a frustrated snarl. “You know, the one good thing that came out of that whole debacle was knowing I wouldn’t have to see your fucking face every day. And now here you are! Popping back up like goddamn herpes.”
I know he’s pissed, but I can’t help rumbling a little chuckle at his joke. “Cute.”
“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” he seethes. “If ruining lives was a sport, you’d take the fucking gold.”
Swallowing hard, I’m shivering from the intentional hurt he’s doling out right now.
Mhm… This is it. This is what I deserve.
“Guys, come on…” Parker sighs. “Can’t we all just get along?”
My head shakes sorrowfully. “I really don’t see how—”
“No, we can’t,” Lex snaps, refusing to let me get out a damn sentence. “Well, I mean,wecan.” He gestures to the three of them. Then he motions between the two of us. “But we can’t.”
The table goes silent for almost a full minute, tension buzzing in the air.
I know I should probably just shut up and eat my food, or move to another table. But I can’t do that. Not with himright here, in front of me. It doesn’t matter that I hurt him… I mean, itdoes, but in the grand scheme, it doesn’t. I’d sit here and let him throw rocks at my head for all eternity if it meant that I get to be in the same room as him.
“This might not be the best time to bring it up, but I wrote you another letter,” I whisper to him, pulling it out of my pocket and placing it on the table.
He stares at me for what feels like an hour, his rage morphing into baffled disbelief. Eventually, he shakes his head and huffs, “You’re completely psychotic.”
“Lexington, you know I still love—”
“I’m gonna throw up,” he mumbles, rubbing his face.
“Sweet Jesus, what did I walk into…?” Byron whispers.
“Ren, for the love of God, stop,” Parker grunts, scolding me with his eyes.
“What?!” I gasp, anxiety filling me fast. “I’m an addict! I have anaddiction. If I relapsed on heroin, would you all be coming at me like this?!”
My head is all cloudy with emotions, my limbs racked with shivers as I pick incessantly at the skin around my nails.
You worthless fuck-up. Everyone hates you. See what you do??
You ruin everything.
“I’m sorry, okay??” I gasp as my breathing becomes labored. My head drops onto the table, and I cover it with my arms. “Stupid worthless whore…”
All I can hear are my parents’ voices,screamingit at me over and over. The doctors, teachers, clients… Callum.
Liar.
Whore.
Disgusting.
Worthless.
You. Are. Worthless.
Before I even know what’s happening, I’m smacking myself in the head over and over. Banging my skull repeatedly on the table,hard.
