Thea

"Fuck, the lacrosse team is here." I say while turning myself away from them, hoping they didn't see me

Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they expected me to be here. I'm sure they've heard about my relationship with Will.

Stella sits up trying to hide me with her body but she's basically my size, too small to make a difference. I appreciate it all the same anyway.

"Just ignore him, don't even give him any kind of attention. You're way above him."

I try my best to keep my eyes on Stella, not letting them stray away to the group of guys making a ruckus.

"It's hard to ignore him when he was my first boyfriend and the first person that I was ever intimate with. I just hope Will somehow manages to not notice that he's here."

I uncomfortably squirm in my seat.

A waiter approaches us with a tray of champagne and Stella grabs 2 glasses, giving both to me.

"Here, drink these if it'll help ease your nerves. Don't worry T, I'm going to stick by your side for the rest of the night. Just say the word and we can go, even if the guys need to stay for the awards ceremony."

I grab her hand, admiring my best friend. "Thank you."

I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't here. I'm 100% over Zach and I love Will but Zach was one of the causes of my insecurities. There was a time I felt so self-conscious I didn't even want to be out in public for fear of judgement.

A lot of people know the lacrosse team and feeling their curious looks and hearing the chuckles under their breath when they saw me after knowing that Zach was cheating on me was so embarrassing, I never wanted to leave my room.

I will never forget that awful feeling in my stomach knowing that people were staring at me. I'm sure some felt some sort of pity or compassion for me, but learning that my first ever boyfriend who I trusted to give my virginity to was openly cheating on me made me constantly question my own value.

"We're here to have fun, babe. Don't let a loser who's going to be partying until his last breath have this kind of control over you. You're a bad bitch who's smart with amazing grades, helped to code a hospital database and on top of all that, works as the best yoga instructor. Zach is going to remain a college frat boy for the rest of his life while you continue to grow and become a successful boss lady."

Letting out a shuddering breath I look her in the eye and smile, "I love you. Let's have fun!"

Stella and I walk around mingling for the rest of the night while avoiding the lacrosse team like the plague.

Thankfully Will seems to be in his own world with the guys, chatting with his teammates while also talking to a lot of the staff that help coach him.

Will and Quinn never leave Stella and I out of conversations when we're around.

At one point when the 4 of us are at the bar he pulls me in and speaks lowly, "Are you okay, babe? Let me know if you want to go home."

He doesn't outright say it but he's clearly asking if I feel comfortable with Zach being here.

Shaking my head, I say "No, I'm perfectly fine. As long as you're here I'll be okay. Plus, I want to see you win an award."

Will reaches underneath my hair, lightly massaging my nape then brings his head down to kiss me.

His eyes watch me, calm and tender. "Not sure if I'm winning anything tonight, Chan. Even if I am, I doubt my coach would care too much if we had to leave early. I'd just tell him an emergency came up."

I reach my arms around his waist, "No need, I promise I'm all good."

He nods his head, not pushing it any further and tucks me closer to him.

Throughout the night, his touches are reassuring. I feel cherished and no longer feel the tension of my ex and current love of my life being in the same room.

At one point, Quinn guides Stella to a more secluded part of the room and seem to have their own private conversation. She glances my way, worried about leaving me while Will speaks to the Athletic Director but I wave her off wanting her to have her moment with Quinn.

"So Thea, are you in any of the sport teams on campus?" Mr. Jones, the athletic director asks me

"No sir, I'm just your regular student. I've never been too involved in sports growing up."

Will turns to me, an eyebrow arched up, "Thea is being too humble, she may not be on a team but she teaches yoga on campus and stays very active in her spin classes. I bet she would dominate half the people in this room on the bike."

My cheeks warm at Will's praise.

Mr. Jones snickers, "Oh trust me, I know. My wife isn't here tonight but she forced me to one of her spin classes and I thought I was going to pass out. The instructor kept turning up the resistance and I felt like I was battling a mountain. I had to get off the bike midway, she never let me live it down."

Will and I break out into a laugh. "I may go as frequently as I can but the resistance gets me every time. You never get use to it."

The conversation moves more towards Will's future plans and I take the change in conversation as a way to relieve my bladder.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back." They both nod, Will rubs my back before letting me go.

Taking another peek at where Quinn and Stella last were, I notice that they're missing from their spot and inwardly laugh. Welp, wonder what they're doing now.

After doing my business in the bathroom and applying another layer of lipgloss I walk out only to bump into someone.

Slightly stumbling, a hand reaches out to steady me. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there."

When I look up to see who I'm apologizing to, the blood from my face drains.

With a grimey smile on his face, Zach puts his hands into his pockets.

"No problem, Thea. I was actually out here waiting for you."

My heart rate picks up. I've been able to avoid him all night long and he's been trying to seek me?

Nerves make my hands clammy, "Uh, sure. What did you need from me?"

Zach cocks his head down to the dead end of the hallway where the utility closet is and where no one else will see us unless they decide to venture back here.

When he stops and leans against the wall he smirks. What could he possibly want to talk about? We haven't spoken to each other in months. Sure, there have been times when I've seen him around campus but it's not like we actually acknowledge each other.

"Well, Thea. I don't play lacrosse here anymore since I managed to graduate with my Bachelors. However, I am here for my Masters and was invited to this banquet since I was a part of the team and still attend school here. Have you heard about what's going on with the lacrosse team? Chase has been telling me that Mr. Jones has been favoriting the basketball team and is allocating some of the lacrosse funds into the basketball team."

Confusion crosses my face, "Okay...what does that have to do with me?"

He inhales with an angry look on his face. From the glassy sheen showing in his eyes, I can tell he's not completely sober.

"Honestly, feels like you're guilty by association with your boyfriend. When we first got together, you claimed you were just friends and now you're together. You walk around like some angel when you were probably fucking him while we were together." He spits out

My hand scrunches in a fist at my side. I'm no longer wary but pissed that he has the audacity to try to grasp on the fact that I ever cheated on him when I literally walked in on him screwing someone else.

"Are you kidding me? I basically dropped Will when we were together. I told you then that there was nothing between us and you're still trying to bring this shit up? We're not even together anymore because you cheated on me. I don't need to prove anything to you. Frankly, I don't give a fuck what you think about me."

How dare he corner me and try to guilt trip me? He will do anything to seem like the better person.

Just as I'm about to walk away, not caring what his response is, he grabs my arm pulling me back. Yanking myself out of his grip, just as I'm about to curse him out he pulls out his phone with an evil gleam on his face.

"Don't fucking walk away from me. You may act like you're better than me but guess what I have on you?"

He presses the screen on his phone then turns the screen to face me. At first I'm confused on what I'm looking at, the camera is angled at his bed and it looks like his phone may have been propped up on his desk or something.

A few seconds pass and then theres a shadow in the frame before I see myself climb onto his bed. At first my face is angled away but then I adjust myself so that I'm facing the camera directly. My stomach bottoms out and my fingers shake as I see myself giggle and hear him in the video say "Take off your clothes, baby. Show me how you like it."

I have never in my life consented to being recorded in this way and I feel like time freezes as I watch myself remove all my clothes and lay back on his bed while pleasuring myself. You can see the tattoos on my arm very clearly so even if you didn't recognize my face, anyone would be able to spot the placement of the art on my arm.

I try to snatch the phone from his hand to delete the video but he pulls away quickly, locks the phone and places it into his jacket pocket.

My breath heaves in panic, "What the hell, Zach? You recorded me like this? I never agreed to it!" My voice comes out slowly and I can feel the prick of tears behind my eyes.

I knew Zach was a horrible person but to record me doing something so intimate? My walls crumble around me and I think of the impact this video could have on my life if he shared this with anyone or if it got out on social media somewhere.

What if my family saw this video of me? They would never look at me in the same way and tell me that I should've never gotten involved in boys. That I should've focused on school. I'm realizing right at this moment that they would probably be right. If I stayed in and kept school as the center of attention, I would have never met Zach or Will and this would never have happened. I don't blame Will for this but let's be real, I wouldn't have met Zach if I didn't go to Will's basketball game the day I met him.

I wouldn't be standing in this moment wondering how the fuck I get myself out of such a horrifying situation in which a guy has a video of me masturbating. I wouldn't be surprised if he showed his teammates this, after all they're not known to be discreet about anything.

My mind runs to more horrible possibilities. What if this gets out and a future employer sees this? I will never be able to get a job, my career and all the hard work that I put into my education ruined.

Zach watches all of these events run on my face with such pride for having me stuck in this situation that I feel so sick.

"What will it take for you to delete the video?" I ask, my throat hurting from the tears that I'm holding back

Even if I follow his demands, who knows if that video will be completely deleted? It could've already been distributed to his friends. My lip wobbles.

"First off, if I find out that you told anyone, I will post it on my snapchat for everyone to see. I can even add it to the campus story so that everyone can see it." He shrugs like he isn't doing the sickest thing

"Honestly, the fact that you so easily jumped from me to Jameson made me look like a fucking idiot. All I hear around campus is how you upgraded and it was humiliating."

Zach looks so angry that a vein pops in his forehead. He looks 2 seconds away from losing it.

He was the humiliated one? I'm confused on how he's playing victim when I had such bad anxiety and self hate from being cheated on. Even sitting in class made me uneasy.

I choose not to say any of this in case he decides to release the video in retaliation for me talking back.

"So are you saying that you want me to what...breakup with Will? He never did anything wrong."

My heart hurts at the mere thought of breaking it off with him. I love him.

"If I'm not happy, then you don't deserve to be either. My parents are on the verge of kicking me off everything. They don't want to pay for my rent, tuition or anything anymore. They at least seemed happier when we were still together. They thought you were a good influence but ever since you left me they think that I no longer am worthy enough of anything."

"Are you asking for us to get back together?"

"No, I wouldn't want sloppy seconds."

His words continue to feel like a slap in the face. Apart of me is disappointed to see someone who I once thought I loved to be filled with such hatred.

"Okay. I'll make sure it's known that we're no longer together." I choke out unable to look at him anymore.

"Good girl, remember who I am Thea. Remember that even though you've been with him, that I've spent nights watching you in that video. Even if you are used goods now."

I feel him look at me like I'm the dirt on the ground before he storms away.

Immediately, I run to one of the private stalls in the women's room to extract the contents from my stomach.

xxx

Hello readers! How are you feeling about this scene?

It's unfortunate how often things like this happen in the real world. Even if pictures and videos at the time were consensual, there are people out there who will keep these things after a breakup and will share with their friends.

Right now, I feel like a big sister and I want to bring this to your attention. Please be careful and aware of the pictures and videos you share out there. I understand the love and trust you may have for someone at the time, but feelings can change. To those that are reading and have experienced this, I am very sorry that this has happened to you. No one deserves to have their private pictures and videos shared without their knowledge or consent. Please seek help if this is something you struggle with.

As always, have a great weekend everyone and don't be afraid to share your thoughts!