3: Jumping to Conclusions

Stella's POV

I'm standing in the kitchen staring into the abyss, eating an apple the following morning. I'm thinking about the events of the previous night and how odd it was to see Ty when I honestly thought I'd never see him again.

Kathy comes walking in swaying and and staggering like a zombie. She lets out a large yawn as she pours herself a glass of orange juice. She glances at me over the haziness of her recent sleep.

She clears her throat. "You alright?" She takes another sip.

I break my stare I didn't notice I was holding and look over at her. "Uh yeah I'm fine. Why?"

"You looked deep in thought. Whatcha thinking about?" She grabs my apple and takes a bite and sets it back in my hand.

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking about... random stuff."

She looks at me like "oh give me a break."

"Alright then, so you didn't tell me you knew Ty." Kathy says folding her arms.

"Oh yeah, well I don't know him very well. I only met him a few hours earlier yesterday."

"Well, well, well, what're the odds..." she says with a smirk.

"How long have you known him? I didn't realize you knew him."

"Met him at school. He's on the universities baseball team. He's friends with a couple of my friends and we met after one of his games."

"Oh wow. That's, cool." That's pretty hot. Wait... what am I thinking. I have someone already. Stupid.

I cleared my throat and took a sip of my water.

I look over at Kathy who has the biggest amused expression on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just, I get it. It's pretty hot." We both laugh.

"Yeah... it is." I chuckle a little more.

"So, you're gonna drop Dave now, right?" She's says with a timid, but hopeful expression.

"Kathy seriously, no." I say with a tired huff.

"Nu-uh, don't you "seriously me." I'm extremely valid in this opinion. Dave is a jerk and not to just you, but everyone around him. He definitely doesn't deserve you, but if you keep making these stupid decisions then maybe you two are made for each other!"

I was shocked. We've never really been in any serious argument before. We're both very down to earth people, so this was very... odd, so to speak. I also was a little hurt. She's never said something like that to me.

"That was uncalled for. I have my opinions and my own choices. You're not my mother so stop forcing your opinions down my throat." I grabbed my phone and keys and stomped out the door.

                       •            •           •

I was heading over to Dave's house because we were supposed to meet up like we usually do on Sundays.

I pulled my keys out of my bag once I reached the front door. Dave was grabbing a beer out of the fridge when I walked in.

"Hey!" I said cheerfully.

Closing the door behind me I started walking towards the kitchen. He looked over at me briefly and sighed. Uh oh. What'd I do this time.

"What's the matter?" I said while setting my bag down.

"How'd you meet Ty?"

"Uh, I met him at the beach.. we ran into each other briefly."

"Oh and I suppose you wanted to run into him at the bar too?"

"What? I.."

"Did you think I wouldn't care? That I wouldn't notice?" His tone was getting angrier and louder. It was scaring me a little.

"No I didn't kn..."

"Do you even care about me? Am I just some random guy to you? Do you think you can play me for a fool?"

"No stop it, of course not, but.."

"Get out of here, bitch. I don't want to talk to you right now."

I was stunned and I was so angry. He had no idea what I was going to say. I just stood there reeling from what he just said.

"Did you hear me? I said get out!"  He yelled and threw a cup he grabbed from the counter right past my head shattering at the wall behind me.

I shrieked and covered my head. I was shaking now and scared out of my mind. I grabbed my bag as quick as I could and ran for the door.

When I got back home Kathy was sitting on the couch with a couple other people I think. I was still in shock to notice anything else. I closed the door behind me which made Kathy look over. She was smiling, but then immediately changed to a concerned look as she saw my demeanor.

"Stella are you OK?" She asks as she gets up from the couch to come over to me.

"I... I'm not..." I start to cry.

"Honey, you're shaking. What happened?" She says as she wraps her arms around me hugging me tightly.

I vaguely feel someone take the bag from my shoulder and set it on the floor beside the door.

Kathy leads me over to the couch and we sit down together. I feel a blanket getting draped around me briefly, but I'm still shocked and crying too much to really notice.

"Dave... Dave... was angry..." I said in between hyperventilating hiccups and sniffles.

Kathy looking very sad and angry at the same time, starts rubbing my arms again in reassurance. "Did he hurt you?"

I shook my head. I heard her sigh in relief. "But he threw something at me and missed. He yelled at me... it was so scary..." I started crying again and shaking more.

She lets go of my arms and gets up off the couch. I'm not sure where she's going, but I'm not really paying attention. I heard her talking to someone though.

"Stop... She needs us. Cool off for a sec would ya? Pull yourself together. Geez, you men..."

I sat there still shaking, but starting to cool off a bit from the whole experience.

                      •            •             •

Ty's POV

I laid the blanket around her shoulders and start pacing back and forth behind the couch as I listened. Anger doesn't begin to describe the emotion that's coursing through me right now.

"Dave... Dave... was angry..." she said in between hiccups.

"Did he hurt you?" Kathy says while rubbing her arms comfortingly.

She shook her head no, "but he threw something at me and missed. He yelled at me... it was so scary..." She started crying more.

My fists balled up as I tried to channel the emotion I was feeling into my fists instead of the wall or even going over to  that dicks house to pummel him.

Why would anyone want to do that to Stella? I don't even know her that well, but as much as I've gathered from talking to her yesterday, she doesn't deserve any of that. I don't even know what the conversation was about, but it could've been handled differently.

You know what, screw this... I need to see this guy and give him a piece of my mind. Girls should never be treated like this.

I feel Kathy's hand grab my arm to pull me around to face her.

"Stop... She needs us. Cool off for a sec would ya? Pull yourself together. Geez, you men..."

I watch as Kathy rolls her eyes and walks back over to Stella. She helps her lay down comfortably and brings the blanket up more closely to her head so she's all the way covered.

"Just relax for a sec and a take deep breaths. Do you want some water?" She nodded her head yes and Kathy went to the kitchen to grab her a glass.

Kathy sat back down with Stella and gave her the glass of water. "Stella I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It wasn't my place."

"It's alright, you weren't wrong. You were just looking out for me." She replied hoarsely.

Stella laid there silently for a bit with Kathy sitting next to her before she fell asleep.

Kathy got up and grabbed her shoes and her phone and started walking over to the door.

"Where are you going?" I ask in confusion.

"We're going to pay Dave a visit."