《The Ending They Should've Gotten - Monty and Winston》Part 10
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Two days passed and Winston still hadn't spoken a word to anyone about what he'd discovered. Not even to Estela and Diego. Considering what had happened between them all, Winston didn't exactly feel like he should talk to them.
That being said, when he received a text from Estela asking if he wanted to meet up for coffee, he was surprised. He typed back a quick 'yes' and drove to Monet's.
When Winston arrived, he saw Estela and Diego already sitting at their usual table. Diego had his back turned away from the door, but Estela spotted him immediately. She waved him over and Winston hastily made his way to them.
"Hey." He greeted, unsure of what else to say.
"Hey." Diego said, turning in his seat to look at him. Winston felt himself shrink under his stare.
Diego laughed, "Dude, chill. I'm not mad or anything."
Winston let out a sigh of relief, "Oh. Good, I'm not mad either."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Sit down!" Estela motioned to chair at the end of table.
"Okay." He grinned slightly as he sat down.
Estela looked at Diego expectantly. He returned her look until she finally rolled her eyes and turned to Winston.
"We just wanted to bring you here to say..." Estela's eyes traveled back to Diego. She had the same expectant look.
Diego huffed, "We wanted to say sorry."
Winston almost laughed. What could they have to be sorry about? He was the one who got angry.
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that." Winston told them.
Estela shook her head, "Regardless of who's sorry or not, we wanted to see if you had plans tonight."
"No, I don't. What's going on?" Winston asked, curiously.
"The find your drink party is tonight!" Diego said excitedly.
"The find your drink party? What is that?" Winston thought the name sounded odd.
"It's main purpose is to help the seniors find the drink they like before going off to college." Diego explained. Winston nodded.
"So, can you go?" Diego asked.
"Yeah, I should be able to." Winston said.
"Awesome! We'll be able to do some spying on the paranoid group." Diego pointed out.
They finished their drinks and said their goodbyes. Diego gave Winston the address and told him that the party started at seven. He agreed to meet them there.
A few hours later, Winston looked in the mirror at himself. Once he decided that his outfit looked good enough, he went downstairs.
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"Wow, where are you going looking so handsome?" His mother asked him, as she walked over to him and began to touch his coat.
Winston smiled as he shook his head and tried to push her hands away, "Just to this party some of my friends are throwing."
"Again with the friends? When am I going to get to meet these ominous people?" His mother asked.
"Someday, but right now I'm running late, so I gotta go." He kissed her cheek and walked out to his car.
Winston drove in silence as he passed by the familiar area. He glanced out his window at the woods by the police station, he felt guilty that he hadn't visited Monty for a few days.
When he got to the party, he stepped out of his car and looked up at the giant house in front of him. It reminded Winston of his own home.
"Winston! Hey!" A loud voice called out from the doorway of the house. Winston immediately recognized the voice as Diego's.
"Hey!" Winston called back, waving to him.
Diego ran out of the house to meet him. Winston was met with a bear hug that almost knocked him off his feet. He laughed when Diego let go.
"You ready to go inside?" Diego asked with that same excited look.
"Hell yeah!" Winston answered, which caused Diego to cheer loudly. He threw an arm around Winston's shoulder, when Estela came up to them.
"I swear every drink I've had tonight tastes like shit." She gestured to the mystery liquid in the red cup she was holding.
"That's the beauty of it! You can go find a new drink!" Diego reminded her. It became clear very quickly that Diego was drunk. Winston shook his head as Diego released his hold on him.
"Come on, Estela. Let's go get drinks." Winston said.
Estela dumped the contents of her cup out onto a random plant, "Fine by me."
Winston noticed the stares he got from a few members of the paranoid group. Alex and Jessica were talking together, but stopped when they saw them walk in. Jessica turned to whisper something in Alex's ear, but Alex just shrugged in response to whatever she had asked.
Winston ignored them as he and Estela walked over to the drink table and began mixing random alcohol together. When they had both made drinks they were happy with, they headed out to the backyard.
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Diego and Luke Holliday were standing on top of a table, so that they'd be able to speak to the crowd gathering around them.
"Everybody, listen up!" When only a few people turned to look at them, he shouted, "Yo, turn that fucking music down!"
The music quieted down, "I just wanna say, welcome everybody, to this year's find your drink!" Almost everyone cheered at Diego's words. Everyone but the paranoid group.
"There's one person who was really looking forward to this party, 'cause they wanted our senior year to be bigger and better than anything before, but he cannot be here with us tonight." Diego continued sadly.
"So instead, we're gonna pour one out in his honor. Now, I know some of you didn't like Monty, but I think we all agree that he deserved to live to see this day." When Diego said this, Winston looked down. He wanted to tell them so badly, but he hadn't found the right time yet.
Diego looked out into the crowd, obviously trying to find someone, "Estela, get up here! You gotta be a part of this too."
Estela turned to look at Winston with nervous eyes, "Will you come with me?" She asked him.
Winston nodded, "Yeah, of course."
They walked over to the makeshift stage and Winston helped her get up onto it. He decided it was best if he didn't go up there with them, since no one else knew who he was.
Diego immediately put his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her, but she still looked a little uncomfortable.
"To our friend and brother, Monty de la Cruz." Diego raised his cup and poured out his drink. Most everyone did the same, except the paranoid group.
"Rest in peace, man." Diego said and looked up toward the sky. Winston could've laughed at the irony, since Monty was actually underground, but he didn't. Estela quickly hopped off the table when it was over and made her way to Winston.
"Hey, you did great." Winston told her.
She shook her head, "No, I didn't even say a word."
Winston looked at her with sadness, "You didn't have to. They all know how hard this must be." He wished he could tell her the truth.
Diego got off the table and began to walk over to where Estela and Winston were standing, when he got stopped by Jessica grabbing hold of his arm. She quickly whispered something into his ear, but walked away before he could say anything to her.
Diego face morphed into a shocked expression. He turned to look at Winston, his eyes filled with confusion, which then turned into anger. He all but stomped away and went back into the house.
"What was that about?" Estela asked Winston.
He shook his head, "No idea." But in the back of his mind, he had a feeling he knew what Jessica had told Diego.
"I'm gonna go try and see what's wrong." Winston motioned to inside the house. Estela nodded and decided to go talk to Luke.
When Winston got inside, he looked around, but saw no sign of Diego anywhere. His eyes landed on a staircase, so he walked over and speedily made his way up them. He found Diego, leaning against a bedroom doorframe.
"Hey." Winston said, but got no answer.
"Is something wrong?" He tried again.
When Diego turned around, Winston saw hurt in his eyes, "Is something wrong?! Really? Everything is fucking wrong, don't you get that? My best friend is dead, he was accused of a crime he didn't commit. And do you want to know what Jessica told me downstairs?"
Winston didn't answer him, but Diego told him anyway, "She said that Monty beat the shit out of you at the party that you said you two met at."
"Diego-"
"You said you were friends. Why the fuck would you lie about that, man?" Diego cut him off.
"Because I didn't think you'd understand." Winston said.
"Understand what?" Diego asked in an accusatory tone.
Winston exhaled slowly, "Monty and I, we hooked up at that party. He didn't want anyone to know, that's why he beat me up in front of everyone. The reason I was with him the night Bryce died and the reason he didn't give a real alibi, is because we were together."
When Winston finished talking, he saw tears welling up in Diego's eyes. He went to try and explain things better, "Monty said he wasn't gay..."
"No, it's cool if he was. I just didn't know." Diego wiped the tears from his face and leaned back against the door.
When Winston saw how heartbroken Diego looked, he finally made up his mind.
"I need to show you something." Winston said.
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