T A Y L O R S P O V

Have you ever done something you regretted so much, it physically hurt you inside?

That's exactly how I felt when Bella's lips touched mine. As soon as those crimson pillows left me, I knew that that was something I shouldn't have ever done. I love Darko, and although I'm unsure as to how he feels, I should have never thought about another person in that way.

It broke me when Darko walked in. When he ran out, slamming the door into its frame, it felt like a dozen swords nosedived into my chest. Something shattered in me.

I regret ever going with Bella.

Darko feels something for me, I just know it. He wouldn't have run out like that if he didn't. He reacted like how a wife would if she walked in on her man with another woman. He was hurt that I was with Bella. If he didn't feel anything, he would have just said sorry and shut the door, and probably waited outside so he could tease me after.

He feels something. It's the only logical explanation.

Resisting Bella's protest, I ran out of the room, slamming the door behind me. My breath quickened as I looked around frantically for Darko. I needed to find him and explain everything to him. My shoes slammed hard into Lyra's tiles as I searched the house - every step I took, I felt a little more sober. I ran to the backyard, but Darko was gone.

I should have pulled back when Bella kissed me. I should have shoved her away and ran out of that room. I should have never gone to this party in the first place.

I should have been kissing Darko instead.

I stopped searching and slowly slid down a wall. I ran my fingers through my hair, catching my breath.

Where would he be?

~~~

"Darko!" I shouted as I burst through Lyra's front door. I leant over her porch fence, squinting out into her yard. A few people lingered around the place, but none of them was him.

"Damnit. Where are you?" I asked myself. I clutched the porch and took in a few breaths.

That's when I felt my stomach flip. I hunched over Lyra's porch fence and vomited. The disgusting liquid tore at my throat, the bitterness burning my tongue.

I'm never drinking alcohol again.

Wiping away at my lips, I turned around. Trent and his group were walking out of Lyra's house when they spotted me. Trent screamed "YUCK" before making a gagging noise. He sauntered up to me.

"Well, look who it is; the little piano freak has shown up. Should we steal his lunch money, like old times?" Trent said, turning to face his group when he said that last sentence. Duncan sniggered while Michael and David distractedly squinted around the yard. Their eyes were red. Owen just shrugged while tapping away at his phone.

I felt my hands begin to shake again. Yeah, these were the guys that bullied me, and Trent was Bella's ex.

"H-have any of you guys seen Darko?" I asked hesitantly, gritting my teeth at his statements. Trent just smirked before looking at Duncan.

"That's funny," Trent stated before asking, "Darko asked us a similar thing about an hour ago. Where were you and Bella?"

Duncan sniggered before nudging Trent's shoulder, "The better question is, what were they doing? Look at his lips man; they're smeared with her red lipstick."

Eyes widening, I impulsively wiped at them with the back of my hand. The stain just smeared even more. Trent and Duncan both laughed at the sight of me. Great.

"I didn't know you had it in you to kiss my ex," Trent said, "and, judging from your up-chuck just then, you're drunk too. Gunning after Bella and drinking irresponsibly; I guess you really are as pathetic as you look right now."

Duncan whistled low as he nodded behind me, "Speaking of which, here she comes."

Oh no. No, no, no. Not her again. These pricks and Bella surrounding me? I might as well crawl into a ball and die.

I began to walk in the opposite direction, but Trent grabbed my arm.

"Why don't you stay and hear what she has to say, Joker?" He said menacingly. A fear suddenly setting in, I stopped and turned to face Bella.

"Taylor." I heard her say. I stared at her, wriggling my arm out of Trent's grip.

"What do you want?"

Bella shoved her fingers into her bag, before producing my phone. "I figured you'd want this back."

Crap, I forgot about that.

I snatched my phone out of her hand, swivelling around, desperate to leave. I can't stand to see her face right now; I just feel so angry.

"Where are you going?" She said. I ignored her, trying to shove past Trent. If she says one more thing to me, I'm going to go off at her.

"Tay? Don't ignore me!" She shouted coldly. That's it. I don't care if Trent's going to punch me in the face; Bella needs to shut the fuck up.

"Don't ignore you?" I said mockingly, swivelling around to face her, "you fucking manipulated me just so you can get in my pants, and now Darko's god-knows-where! You ruined tonight for me!" I blurted out. Randoms around me turned to face me, most of their faces a strange mix of amusement and confusion. Trent, Duncan, David and Michael stood there, unsure of what to do. Even Owen looked up at me from his phone. Bella stared at me, her face hard as stone.

"Tonight was meant to be a good night! We danced, we had fun," she said, her voice solemn. "Whatever. You don't care about me. You won't even remember any of this tomorrow when your hangover sets in."

She turned to walk away. Just before she was out of earshot, she turned around.

"Everything I did was for us." She shouted. She flipped her hair as she walked out of my sight.

If she isn't the definition of over-dramatic or extra, then I don't know what is. It was definitely the alcohol that made her seem better than what she actually is.

She stormed back into the house, her heels fading into the background music. The randoms outside with me went inside, as well as Trent's group. Trent glanced back at me before he walked through the doorframe, his face telling me he was still shocked. He scoffed before going back in.

I collapsed onto Lyra's porch couch and turned on my phone. Unsurprisingly, I didn't get a single message or call from Darko. In fact, my entire chat with him has disappeared. All of my messages had been cleared.

Real subtle Bella. Real subtle.

I called him. The ringing seemed to go on for forever.

He didn't pick up.

'Hey, it's Darko,' His voicemail said, 'well, you probably knew that already since you called me, haha. Anyway, send me a voicemail, and I'll get back to you when I can!'

God, he sounds happy. I cleared my throat.

"Darko," I said, trying my hardest not to start crying. "please call me, or at least text me where you are. The night has turned to absolute shit. I don't know, I... I just need to explain everything to you. Please, I'm so sorry you had to see that. I regret kissing her."

I let my head fall into my hands. There was nobody outside; either the crisp air was far too cold for the likes of Lyra's guests, or I made things incredibly awkward after yelling at Bella.

Why did Bella deceive me? Why did she keep me away from Darko, when the entire point of me going to this god-forsaken party was to get in with him?

Did she... like me?

A woman plopped herself suddenly next to me, rudely snapping me out of my musings. I was about to go off at her, thinking it was Bella, but when I looked up, my jaw snapped shut. It was Ana, and she was watching me, her eyes soft. She placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I told you that Bella was nothing but trouble."

I scoffed before facing away from her. She sighed, before folding her arms.

"Are you alright? I heard what had happened. I brought you some water." she said, her voice relaxing and quiet on my ears. I let out a long sigh before she passed the drink to me. I let the icy liquid slither down my throat, feeling it soothe my raging stomach.

"I feel like shit, to be completely honest, but thank you."

Ana smirked slightly. "Yeah, that makes two of us. You're welcome."

I furrowed my brows. "You too?"

Ana shrugged, before leaning her head on my shoulder. "I've been to better parties. Besides, it seems this party upset too many people. Bella's just started crying, you're obviously drunk and confused, Darko was just driven home by his brother, and Lyra's beyond hungover already. It isn't a real party to me if the randoms are the only ones enjoying it."

I nodded. So that's where Darko went. Why won't he answer his damn phone?

We sat out there for a few minutes, enjoying the silence of the night. Ana's hair tumbled down my shirt, her blonde locks unrelenting as the wind swept them up into my face.

"What should I do?" I asked Ana. She sat up, before turning to me.

"Well, one thing is that you shouldn't go back inside the party. I'm pretty sure you and Bella killed the mood."

"Oh. Whoops." I said sincerely. Ana giggled before lightly slapping my arm.

"The party was shit anyway," Ana said, "I texted you, but you never picked up your phone."

I sighed. "Yeah, you can blame Bella for that too. I was stupid enough to give her my phone, thinking she had some greater plans for it. It turns out, she had her own agenda and didn't want others getting in the way."

Ana half smiled. "Anyway, back to your question. I don't know how to answer this, to be completely honest. Maybe we should just go home and sleep it off. Hopefully, Darko just gets over walking in on you kissing his mortal enemy."

I lifted a brow. "Mortal enemy? What makes you say that?"

"Lyra and I are closer than you think. She always bitches to me about how pissed off he gets when he sees you and Bella together."

I frowned slightly. I didn't know Darko hated Bella that much.

Why does he dislike her? She's done nothing to him directly. Its all been about toying with me.

I let out a short sigh before I felt a question tugging at the tip of my tongue. "Hey Ana, can I ask you something?"

Ana sat up, facing her whole body towards me. She nodded. "Sure, what is it?"

"Have you ever thought that maybe," I began, unsure how to say this casually, "Darko could be a little... gay?"

Ana lifted a brow, before breaking out into laughter. "Oh, that was good Tay."

I narrowed my eyes. Ana stopped laughing. "Oh, you were serious. Sorry."

Ana sighed. "Tay, I wouldn't know. From the years and years I've known him, he hasn't ever shown any interest to dudes. He might be closeted, but it just wouldn't make any sense if he were. He's been with too many girls to know if he swung the other way."

I nodded, before looking off into Lyra's front yard. Ana lifted a brow, before asking, "why do you ask?"

Oh. Not because I'm so confused as to whether Darko feels the same. Maybe I'm overanalyzing, but I can't help but entertain the idea that he's secretly gay. It just answers so many questions.

"Uh, no reason." I manage to say. Ana sighed.

"Okay."

I half smiled. Thank goodness she doesn't want to dig.

Ana stood up. "I'm gonna go say bye to my friends, and then I'm gonna call an uber. Wait for me here, okay?"

She smiled, before disappearing back into the house. I whipped out my phone. Still no message back from Darko. I called him again, but there was no answer.

'Just give him space,' a voice said in my head. 'the more you message him, the more he's going to stay away.'

I couldn't do anything but hope that he was okay.