Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1)

by Amy Vanessa Miller

  “Hey Skylar,” Bree says quietly, giving me a small wave. She looks Tris over uneasily, “What are you doing here?”

  I look at Tris and see that he’s smiling at Evan in that same condescending way that Parker always smiles at Bree. He’s trying to torment him. And then the smile fades and is replaced with a look of annoyance. “Ellie,” he says giving the girl behind Evan a quick nod.

  Ellie. Parker’s friend Ellie? I look her over curiously. I don’t understand how he could possibly know this girl. She’s not our age, she doesn’t look like a Misfit… who is she?

  “What the fuck, Tris?” she says. “Does Parker know you’re here with her?”

  I’m instantly put on the defensive by the way she’s sticking her nose into our business. Who the hell does she think she is anyway? “I’m pretty sure Parker won’t mind me playing some pool with his friend,” I say coolly.

  Ellie laughs and my fists clench tightly at the sound of it. “Then apparently you don’t know Parker,” is her harsh reply. And it feels like a kick in the gut. Even Bree gives her a dirty look for that one.

  “Excuse me?” I say, arching an eyebrow, challenging her to continue.

  She ignores the look and stares Tris down instead. “What are you doing? I know what happened today with Parker, he told me everything. You have no business being here with her.”

  Everything? Why isn’t Parker telling me everything? Why does Ellie get to know that part of him and I don’t? I hate this!

  Tris sneers at her. “Figures he’d call you right afterward. That has nothing to do with what’s going on right now. I’m just getting to know Skylar, that’s all.”

  “Oh, what a load of shit!” She turns to me, “Don’t trust him, Skylar.”

  Really, who does this girl think she is? “I don’t even know who you are,” I reply. “So maybe you should mind your own business.”

  Spencer walks into The Loft just then, his hands crammed into his pockets. He stops in his tracks when he sees our little confrontation. “What’s going on?” He asks, motioning his eyes toward Tris.

  “Skylar and Tris are friends now,” Bree says with distaste.

  Spencer’s lips draw together in a tight and disapproving line. He tilts his head and looks at me questioningly, “Babygirl?”

  Why is he here with Bree? Why is it that she’s the one who cheated and yet I’m the outcast in this scenario? What the hell did I do to deserve that?

  I storm toward the door angrily. Spencer grabs my wrist to stop me as I push passed him. “Fuck off!” I hiss, yanking my arm back. “You’ve made your choice.”

  “Skylar,” he begins, but I’m already out the door and storming down the street before he can say anything more.

  Evan

  As soon as Skylar’s out the door of The Loft, I shoot Tris the dirtiest look I can muster. I don’t particularly care about Skylar, but I know I can’t stand Tris, and if Ellie believes he’s up to no good, then she’s probably right.

  “Got a problem, Daniels?” he snarls, apparently irritated with how we’ve ruined his plans with Skylar. He slams the pool tray onto the table and takes a threatening step toward me.

  “No problem,” I say with a casual shrug. I’m so tired of getting myself into this predicament; I’m not about to get punched in the face over my girlfriend’s ex. Not again.

  “Tris, just leave Skylar alone, man,” Colton says in a loud and abrupt tone that actually impresses me. I didn’t think he could pull something like that off, judging from how he acted when I kicked his ass earlier, but I was obviously wrong. “Your problem is with Parker, not her.”

  Tris narrows his eyes. “No one asked you, Colt,” he says. He points an accusing finger at Ellie. “You better keep what you know to yourself, little bitch, or I swear you’ll be next.”

  My eyes narrow, my jaw clenches, and I squeeze my fists so tightly they turn cold from the lack of circulation going through them. I take a step toward Tris but at the very last second I stop myself. I can’t keep punching assholes in the face; it never seems to end well lately. But I want to beat the living shit out of him so bad that it hurts!

  “Get the fuck out of here before I beat you to death, you piece of shit!” I finally manage to growl instead of punching him. It doesn’t feel any better. I still want to punch him.

  I take another step toward him, but both Bree and Spencer grab my arms by the elbows to hold me back. I had no intention of getting into it with him over Skylar, but threatening Ellie, there’s no fucking way I’m leaving that alone!

  Tris smiles. “Don’t worry, I’m gone. Got places to be anyway.” He winks at Bree and her face grows pale. She lets go of my arm and starts after him with an equal amount of rage to what I had shown only moments before. I reach for her hand, attempting to hold her back, but she tosses it aside and continues toward Tris angrily.

  “You better not hurt her!” she threatens, attempting to hide the tremble in her voice.

  Tris doesn’t acknowledge that she’s said anything to him at all; he simply keeps walking away as if nothing in the world concerns him. It’s unsettling, even to me. I can’t imagine how it makes Bree feel.

  Spencer wraps his arm around Bree and gently leads her back inside.

  We make our way over to a large table and sit down quietly. We don’t say anything to each other right away, instead, we just sit in a circle looking over each of our expressions, hoping someone will say something to break the uncomfortable silence.

  Ellie’s pissed, Colton seems nervous, Spencer’s beyond upset and I see him rubbing Bree’s shoulder, attempting to comfort her. I should be doing that for Bree. She looks like she’s about to cry.

  I feel horrible. What is wrong with me? I should be comforting her and trying to make her feel better about her friend’s safety, but instead I’m consumed by a multitude of emotions. Mostly I’m jealous of Bree’s feelings for Skylar, but this is closely seconded by my concern for Ellie’s safety. Of course, I can’t forget to mention that I’d love to kick Tris in his face!

  I reach over and take Bree’s hand into mine, trying my best to give her some semblance of an actual compassionate boyfriend, but as soon as my hand touches hers, she lifts her eyes up from the table, brushes away a tear from her cheek, and proceeds to plaster on her fakest smile.

  The smile makes me feel horrible because I know it’s an act she’s putting on for my benefit. She doesn’t want to hurt me by letting it show how worried she is about Skylar. She’s trying to brush off her earlier reaction and get things back on track. I appreciate her attempt, but I’m ashamed that I’ve put her in that position to begin with. She shouldn’t have to hide her concern for a friend, but Skylar isn’t just a friend, is she? Those lines are blurred, and everything’s complicated.

  “Shall we get back to our date?” she asks, breaking the uncomfortable silence surrounding us all.

  Everyone at the table stares at her in disbelief.

  Spencer studies Bree’s face and then turns to me with an accusing glare. He knows she’s acting this way because of me. I feel like an ass.

  He shakes his head, disappointedly. “Maybe I should go after her.”

  “No, you shouldn’t. None of us should. Trust me, he’s dangerous,” Ellie says. “Skylar shouldn’t be with him, especially right now. He’s… he’s not stable... and he’s pissed at Parker.”

  “All the more reason for me to go then,” Spencer says urgently, getting up from his seat.

  “You can’t handle him. Only Parker can,” Ellie tells him, grabbing his wrist to stop him from storming off.

  He yanks his hand away from her grasp. “Try me.”

  “Spencer,” I say, breaking into their altercation. “If she says that Parker should be the one to handle him, then maybe he should be.”

  “Someone better text Parker then,” he says, looking at each of us expectantly, when no one jumps at the chance, he points at Ellie and Colton. “You’re both his friends, right? I’ve seen the two of you with hi
m before. Text him.”

  “I can’t,” Colton says. “He always contacts me. I’m not supposed to text him first.”

  “And you can’t make an exception?” Bree asks, appreciating Spencer’s concerned protests and jumping in to join him. Her eyes are pleading with my sister’s boyfriend, begging him to make this exception for her.

  Colton lowers his eyes to the table. “I can’t.”

  “Ellie then?” Bree asks, looking at her with the same pleading eyes.

  “Even if I were to text him, he won’t get the text, Bree, he’s fighting tonight. His phone won’t be anywhere near him.”

  “Can’t you at least try? Please.” Bree asks, her bottom lip trembling so slightly that unless Ellie is looking directly at her lips like I am, she won’t notice.

  Ellie sighs and then reluctantly nods. She reaches into her bag for her phone and pulls it out.

  “No, she can’t,” Colton interjects softly, taking the phone out of Ellie’s hand.

  “Why not?” Spencer looks like he’s about to snap.

  “She can’t get in the middle of this one. You guys seem like nice people, and I can tell you both care about this girl, but Ellie’s my responsibility, and Tris can’t know she got involved in this. He will hurt her.”

  All I’ve been focusing on during this discussion is Bree’s devotion to Skylar and how terrifying it is seeing how much love she still has for that girl. But God dammit, if Colton’s right, Tris will hurt Ellie if she puts herself in the middle of this!

  “What’s his number?” I ask Ellie, yanking my phone out of my pocket. I have to be the one to call him; it’s the only way. I know that Ellie won’t back down just because Colton told her so. She’s too stubborn for that.

  Ellie grabs her phone from Colton’s hand and scrolls through her contacts. “555-0290.”

  I dial the number and put the phone to my ear. My phone is still broken so I can’t text, but even if I could, he probably wouldn't get it till far too late.

  I watch Spencer appear to relax slightly. He takes a seat at the table once again, keeping his eyes trained on me as I make the call.

  The phone rings continuously but doesn’t go to voicemail, which is exactly what I was hoping for. “I’m just going to let it keep ringing till he answers,” I tell everyone.

  A waitress comes over to our table to take our orders. Ellie tells her we need a few more minutes. The waitress smiles warmly, before walking away once again.

  Eighth ring… Ninth ring….

  “If he’s fighting he’s nowhere near his phone,” Ellie says again, and I know that she’s probably right. I look over at Bree and see how much she needs me to get ahold of Parker. She’s waiting for me to get ahold of the person she detests the most, so I can leave in his hands the fate of the person she loves the most. It’s an agonizing truth for my heart to finally accept.

  Tenth ring…

  He doesn’t have his phone on him right now… I should hang up.

  Eleventh ring…

  But Bree needs me to do this for her.

  Twelfth ring…

  And Parker watches out for Ellie.

  I hang the call up abruptly and Bree and Spencer both look at me with panic in their eyes.

  “Why did you hang up?” Bree demands.

  Skylar is Parker’s girl, and as much as I hate to admit it, I owe him one.

  I take Bree’s hand into mine and smile at her comfortingly, leaning in and kissing her forehead. “Trust me, I have an idea,” I say as I scroll through my contacts with my free hand and find the number I’m looking for. I press send with my thumb and then bring the phone to my ear. It rings continuously and for a minute I think that he won’t pick up either, but on the sixth ring he finally answers. “Evan, man, you seriously have got to get that phone fixed. No one calls anyone anymore.” I immediately let out a sigh of relief.

  “Derr,” I interrupt, “are you at the fights right now?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is Parker fighting?”

  “He just finished, why?”

  “Can you get to him?”

  “What’s going on? You’re kind of freaking me out here.”

  “I’ll explain it to you later. Can you get your phone to Parker? I need to talk to him right now. It’s important.”

  “Um… yeah, I probably can. Give me a minute. He’s across the room and it’s really crowded in here.”

  “Ok, go as fast as you can.”

  I hear a lot of movement and muffled voices going in and out of the earpiece as he passes through the crowd. After about thirty seconds, I finally hear him approach Parker. “It’s for you,” I hear Derrick say, and after another moment Parker’s on the line.

  “Who’s this?” he asks, there’s a hint of concern in his voice, but overall it’s more of a loud and demanding grunt.

  “It’s Evan. Listen, Parker, I’m at The Loft and Tris was just here with Skylar.”

  “With Skylar?” he repeats, keeping his voice steady but I can hear the worry creeping in around the edges. Ellie was right.

  “Yeah, he was here with her, and she stormed off when Bree and I got here, and he went after her. Ellie says he’s pissed at you, so we thought you should know that it seems like he’s up to something. Ellie tried to tell Skylar to stay away from him, but she wouldn’t listen, so…”

  The receiver becomes muffled and a moment later Derrick is back on the line. “What the fuck did you say?”

  “Doesn’t matter. Did he leave?”

  “Um, ya! He didn’t even go back to his room to get his jacket or shirt or anything. He just took off.”

  “Ok, good, thanks. I’ll fill you in on everything tomorrow.”

  “You better, man. That was seriously fucked up.”

  “Promise. Gotta go.”

  “Later.”

  Bree’s looking at me expectantly, holding her breath. “He took off as soon as I told him,” I say.

  She exhales loudly, relief taking over her entire presence. “Thank God.”

  I glance over at everyone else, their looks of worry and concern contorting into looks of pity instead. I can tell exactly what they are thinking. She’s still in love with that girl, and I’m the idiot who pretends like she’s not.

  Skylar

  I only live about a ten-minute walk from The Loft, but now that the evening chill has made an appearance, and the sun is setting off in a distance, it feels like a much longer walk than that. Especially since I’m only wearing my blue and white skater skirt and my black high-neck tank that shows my mid drift. I’m not even wearing leggings or fishnets like I normally do, but at least I’m wearing my knee-high boots that lace up in the front so most of my legs aren’t being touched by the crisp air.

  It doesn’t take long for Tris to catch up to me like I knew that he would. I’m glad he did because I’m sad, in need of a friend, and I think that he understands me. I wish it were Spencer, but it’s obvious that he’s made his choice. I know he’s a friend to the both of us and I should cut him some slack, but I don’t like it. He’s always been my security blanket, not Bree’s. She doesn’t need him like I need him.

  But that’s not even the actual problem here. The problem really lies in the fact that I want to forgive Bree. I want to be able to call her and tell her all about my day. I want to be able to tell her all about my boyfriend. I want to have girls night, and phone dates, and everything best friends have with each other. But none of these things are possible now because we destroyed that part of us. You just can’t go from friends to lovers and then back to friends! It doesn’t work that way. We are over, in every sense of the word, and it hurts so much.

  “Skylar,” Tris says when he finally reaches my side. “You ok?”

  “Do I look ok to you?” I snap and then immediately feel bad about it. “Sorry. It’s not you I’m mad at.”

  “Who exactly are you mad at? I mean, aren’t they all your friends?” he asks with smoothness in his voice that somehow eases my inner tu
rmoil.

  “Evan Daniels is definitely not my friend,” I say with a sneer.

  Tris laughs, his beautiful teeth gleaming, his dimples on either side of his smile showing distinctly. “Yeah, he’s not mine either.”

  “He used to be though, right?”

  Tris shrugs. “Forever ago.”

  “Bree and Spencer are my friends, well they used to be. Now I don’t know what they are. I’m the outcast now.”

  “Want to talk about it?” He takes off his coat and drapes it over my shoulders, noticing that I’m hugging my arms tightly around my body.

  I slow my walking and turn to look at him. “Bree’s my ex-girlfriend, did you know that?”

  He nods. “I may have seen something on Facebook about that recently,” he says with a little smirk. He goes on, “How exactly did that happen anyway? One minute you and Parker were inseparable and then the next minute you just fucked off on him and started seeing Bree?”

  I’m taken aback slightly by the accusation in his words. It’s so much more complicated than that but, I suppose, he probably doesn’t know any of the details. I guess I shouldn’t overreact.

  “I didn’t fuck off on him… it’s a long story and it’s complicated.”

  “Sorry,” he says. “I was out of line with that one. All I meant was why the sudden change of heart?”

  “I had my reasons. But Bree and I got together after that and we were together for a long while. Then one day in strolls Evan Daniels into her life and with one kiss he steals her away from me. Now I’ve lost my best friend. And our mutual friend, Spencer, is stuck in the middle trying not to choose sides by choosing a different side every day! It just pisses me off!”

  “So this isn’t about your breakup, really. You’re pissed that you’ve lost your friend because of him,” he says, tilting his head to the side.

  “I didn’t lose Spencer,”

  “I didn’t mean Spencer.”

  “Bree was more than a friend.”

  “Was she?”

  He’s good because even though I’ve never verbalized it, I have no clue if she actually was anything more. I kissed her, I had sex with her, and I loved her but was she more than a friend? Or was she a friend who gave me what I needed when I needed it. Was I being selfish with her unconditional love?