Paul's POV
The twins had given us the spare key to their house, in case of emergencies. I unlocked the door and walked in, hoping to see Joel and not Benji.
Dammit, why do things never turn out the way I want them to? I saw Benji sitting at the kitchen table, his head down.
"Benji. Where's Joel?" I asked through gritted teeth. I was clenching my fists SO hard to keep from hitting him, I didn't want to spend a second longer with him than I had to.
Benji looked up at me, and I could see that he had been crying, even though he'd re-applied his makeup to try and hide it. Shit. It must be the water in Waldorf or something. Pure depressant.
"Uh, Joel... Joel's still asleep. Why are you awake so early?" asked Benji.
I couldn't hold it in anymore. I didn't want to yell and wake up the whole house, but I had to tell him how angry he'd made me before I burst.
"Benji, how could you?! Stop fucking acting as if everything is normal! 'Cos it's not! You fucked her, didn't you, and you knew I wanted her, you bastard, you fucker..." I run out of steam and stand there for a second, breathing deeply. My hands clench into fists even harder.
"I'm sorry, Paul." Benji looks down and shakes his head softly.
Benji's calmness infuriates me, as does the fact that he doesn't seem to grasp how much he's hurt me. "Benji, dude, are you listening to me?! I..."
"You want her, do you?" Benji's head jerks up. "Well, if you want her so much... maybe other people see the good things in her too."
"That's not the point. I told you I'm in love with her, trusting you as a friend! And as a friend, I'd expect you to honour that trust and not go straight out and sleep with her!"
Benji looked at me with his deep brown eyes. "Maybe I wanted her too, I just never told you. Anyway, Paul, it's clear she chose me and not you. Surely it's better for one of us to have her instead of neither?"
I couldn't believe Benji, one of my best friends, was saying this to me. "Are you on drugs?" I demanded. "How could you say such things? Are you alright, Benji?"
Benji smiled a horrible, twisted, sardonic smile. "Drugs..."
Susie's POV
My mother always told me that there were three types of people in the world- the sexy ones, the kind ones, and the screwed-up ones. Everyone's got all three things, she said, but in different proportions. Once you know which category someone is in, you know how to control them.
Great advice, Ma. But it doesn't help much in this situation. See, Benji's the sexy one, but he doesn't love me, I can tell. I was just a one-night screw to him. And Paul's the kind one, who would be so right for me, but I just don't fancy him. Wait... where does that leave me?!
Goddammit, why can't I find a guy who's a mixture of Benji and Paul? Bennaul. The thought makes me laugh, unexpectedly, but as the laugh dies I feel a knot of despair form in my throat.
Well, it's not as if I'd get anywhere with either of them anyway. Benji will never look at me again and I'm sure Paul doesn't want me either. Great. Why am I always the rejected one? I turn off the CD player and walk downstairs in search of some food.
Paul's POV
My heart turns to ice.
"What... what do you mean?" I ask slowly.
"I haven't told anyone but Joel, yet, but... they put me back on the antidepressants, a couple of days ago, and I'm still adjusting... and..." Benji breathes in deeply. "God, what have I been saying, Paul? Why did I do it? You're right. I am a shit friend. I should have said no to her. Shit, what's wrong with me, why am I... No. No. The drugs don't excuse me. I'm sorry, Paul, God, I'm so sorry. I think... I should maybe have told you I wanted her too... No, no, I should never have done anything, I should have left everything alone. Shit. Now you hate me with perfect reason and she does too... Well done Madden why do you always have to fuck everything up!!"
Benji's rambling and he knows it. Suddenly, he puts his hand on his chest; before running to the sink and chucking up. I remember this now from last time. He'll be like this for a couple more days- disorientated, confused, and sick every morning. I feel my anger melt inside me.
"Benji... I'm sorry too, maybe I should have been more understanding..." I start. He cuts me off.
"It'll be OK, though, won't it? Please tell me it'll be OK."
"Of course it'll be OK, Benj, don't worry about it. We'll sort it all out for you, alright?" I don't really have a clue what he's going on about but it's probably best to humour him a little.
"Good. 'Cos I don't want you to hate me and I don't want her to hate me either..."
"It's alright, it was just a bet, she won't hate you and she won anyway so she's happy."
Benji looked up at me, with confused eyes, and immediately I can tell that Susie didn't say anything about the bet. "What bet?" Benji asked, fearfully. "You... Oh my God. I can't believe you made a bet with her about whether I'd sleep with her!"
Benji looked at me with his hurt eyes and walked out the room so quickly that I couldn't stop him. Great. Now two people had run away from me this morning.