Right Kind Of Wrong

by Christina Marie

  “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s great fucking parenting right there, Claire. Did she get knocked up during this little orgy?” Dad’s voice grew louder over the speakerphone.

  Mom gasped, “It…wasn’t anything like that, Kip! No she’s not pregnant. I just think things will be too stressful here for a while.”

  Dad chuckled, “Where the fuck were you? Getting it on with your new boy toy?” He said.

  Kevin grabbed the phone, “Listen here, don’t talk to either of them like that. We’ll handle the situation. It’s great fuckin’ parenting when you can’t even offer some kind of advice for your daughter.” He jabbed the screen of the phone and disconnected the call.

  I wiped tears from my cheeks but more fell right behind them.

  Kevin sat down next to mom, “What do you want to do Tabitha?”

  I took a drink of water, “I…I don’t know.”

  He reached across the table and grabbed my hand, “We don’t think you are a bad person. Things happen and there are consequences for every action; I think you’re seeing that now. You can take a couple of days off from school then the weekend will be here. At some point you’re gonna have to talk to Morgan and so is Vance. He’ll have to face Julia, since they’ve all been friends since they were little, I think they’ll be a little more forgiving toward each other.”

  I nodded my head, “Okay,” I looked at mom, “I’m so sorry I’m such a bad daughter.” I told her.

  She rounded the table, “Oh sweetie, you’re not. I’m sorry if calling your dad made you think that. I should have cooled down a little more before I called him. You’re not going to go stay with him.” She said and pulled me into a hug. “But Vidalia will be bringing your homework home, you’re not getting out of that part.” We both chuckled then she released me and I finished eating.

  Back upstairs I grabbed a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt to sleep in, then went and took a shower. With everything that happened, I was both mentally and physically exhausted. Part of me wanted to talk to both Morgan and Vance but I knew that right now wouldn’t be a good idea and I was sure Julia would never speak to me again.

  < < < > > >

  2 Weeks Later

  Somehow Vance and I managed to avoid seeing each other around the house. At the dinner table we didn’t talk to each other and when one of us finished eating we would quickly leave and retreat in our room.

  Going back to school was nerve wracking. Every time I would look at Morgan he would look away and ignore me completely. Just as I expected, Julia wouldn’t speak to me and avoided me at all costs. Some of the other students would whisper gossip as I walked by them, Ally was the ringleader of the “Tabitha is a whore” gossip group.

  I walked out of the bathroom stall and over to the sink to wash my hands when Ally walked in and stood next to me. She pulled a lip-gloss tube out of her backpack, “I’m so glad you screwed things up with Morgan, he finally came to his senses and realized that I’m what’s best for him. At least that’s what he told me the last few times we’ve been together.” She told me. My heart shattered a little more. I didn’t say anything back to her though, instead I just smiled and walked out of the bathroom.

  The girls on the dance team were the only ones that didn’t seem to think I was a total whore. “It happens all the time, I think people forget that we are in high school and make mistakes.” Maddison the team captain said as we walked out to our cars.

  “It was wrong, if I could change what happened I would.” I told her.

  She shrugged her shoulder, “Live and learn, right?” She gave a warm smile. “If it offers any comfort, Morgan really isn’t over you.”

  I looked at her, “Ally said they’ve been together.”

  Maddison laughed, “Uh-no, he can’t stand her. She can’t stand that he still wants nothing to do with her. Everybody knows she’s just looking for attention.”

  “Oh…” I trailed off.

  “Anyway, great practice tonight. I’m glad you didn’t leave and go stay with your dad. You’re a great dancer we’ve learned so much from you.” Maddison pulled me in to a hug. “Things will get better, I promise.”

  When I got home I went to my room to finish up some homework. Just as I closed my algebra book my phone dinged with a new message. I checked the notifications and seen a new message from Morgan, it wasn’t a text though, he had sent one to my social media page. I took a deep breath and opened the message;

  Tabitha-

  I’ve thought long & hard about all of this bullshit. I’ve wanted to call you or try & talk to you at school but part of me is still highly pissed off & hurt. I have so many questions that a text message would take forever to type out. I guess I’ll just start askin’.

  The biggest question I want answered is…Do you regret what happened?

  Next ? is, Did you really love me?

  Do you have feelings for Vance?

  Why didn’t you tell him no???

  I’ve never had my heart ripped out before…it fuckin’ sucks. I probably shouldn’t even be entertaining the idea of giving you a 2nd chance but for some stupid fuckin’ reason I am. Is it because I love you? I have no clue. I still think about you all the time and remember all the good times we shared together. In my mind everybody deserves a 2nd chance. Don’t call me just yet, just reply to this when you can.

  --Morgan--

  I wiped away the tears before typing out a reply.

  Chapter 14

  I have never wanted to hurt somebody as much as I wanted to hurt Vance after Tabitha told me she had sex with him. One of my closest friends and he had fucked my girlfriend. He didn’t even try to fight back that day, no matter how many times I punched Vance it did nothing to stop the anger that was building inside of me.

  The next day at school, Tabitha wasn’t there but Vance was, sporting a black eye and a busted lip. It took all I had not to slam him against the lockers and see just how bad I could hurt him. We avoided each other until practice, then the coach called us both into his office.

  “Sit the fuck down.” He pointed at the two metal folding chairs.

  “No thanks.” I told him. There was no way I was going to be able to sit elbow to elbow with Vance and not blind side him with a few punches.

  “I said sit the fuck down!” Coaches’ voice echoed off the walls. I grabbed the chair and moved it away from Vance before sitting down. Coach shook his head, “Now, I’ve been informed that you two were involved in an altercation yesterday after school…because of a girl.” Neither Vance or I said anything, so coach continued, “You two have been lifelong friends. I can tell you right now that you’ll regret not talking through this shit. Morgan you’ve got college handed to you on a silver platter, you need to keep your head on straight before you fuck up and lose your ride. Don’t throw away a friendship because of a piece of ass. Life’s not fair, people make mistakes, you have to pick and choose which battles are worth fighting and which ones you need to walk away from.” He paused waiting for one of us to say something but neither of us spoke. Coach rolled his eyes, “Obviously you two need some time together, go run lines until I tell you to stop.” Then he dismissed us from his office.

  The rest of the basketball team practiced while we sprinted from line to line to line until we were both dry heaving hoping that coach would let us stop. He blew his whistle and called the team to center court huddle. “The starters roster has changed for Friday, Vance and Morgan will be replaced by Tyler and Corbin. Good practice tonight, go home and get some rest.” He held his hand out in the center and we all piled our hands in and cheered the word ‘TEAMWORK’. “You two can’t leave yet.” Coach told us while looking down at his clipboard.

  “What?” Morgan asked with a sigh.

  Coach looked up at us, “Go sit your asses down over there and talk, if you want to act like a couple of girls then I’ll make you hold fuckin’ hands until you can work your shit out.”

  Vance sat down on the bottom bleacher and I sat about eight f
eet away from him, the gym was silent except for the buzzing of the lights.

  “I didn’t think I could ever fuckin’ hate you.” I told him.

  He nodded his head, “I don’t blame you. I’m not sure what to say, besides that I’m sorry.”

  I chuckled and shook my head, “No you’re not! How much other shit’s happened that I don’t know about?” I asked.

  “We’ve made out a couple of times, didn’t think it’d go any further than that.” Vance said. He wouldn’t look at me, he just stared at the floor.

  I shook my head again, “Un fuckin’ real, and Julia had no idea that you were in to Tabitha?”

  Vance shook his head, “No, trust me I tried to stop myself. I know Tabitha did too. It just happened.”

  “Fuck you! How would you feel if it was me that fucked Julia and all I had to say was, I’m sorry and I tried not to do it? You’d be just as pissed off as I am. Do you have feelings for Tabitha?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

  “I don’t know how to explain it…” he started to say more but I had heard enough. I wasn’t stupid, Vance had strong feelings for Tabitha, I didn’t need to hear him admit to that too. I stood up and walked away. The conversation was going nowhere.

  Every day, every night, I wanted to talk to Tabitha. Ally tried and tried to talk to me, “What the hell do you want?” I asked her and slammed my locker door.

  “I just want you to know that I’m here for you.” She trailed a finger down my arm and bit her bottom lip.

  “Are you being fuckin’ serious?” I asked annoyed

  Ally smiled, “I would NEVER hurt you like she did.”

  I rolled my eyes, “You’re unbelievable…and not in a good way.” I told her before walking away to go to the cafeteria.

  “She wanted to move back to New York, you know?” Vidalia told me when she sat down beside me at the lunch table.

  I looked over at her, “Did she leave? Is that why she’s been gone?” My stomach dropped at the thought of never seeing her again.

  “No, dad and Claire decided it’d be best for her to take the last couple of school days off and give her the weekend to work things out in her head.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief, “Good.” I mumbled.

  “I really think you two need to talk to each other.” Vidalia said.

  I shook my head, “I don’t know what the fuck to say to her Vi…or if I’m ready to talk to her.”

  Vi gave me a sympathetic smile, “Just send her text or something.”

  I nodded my head but didn’t say anything else, I needed a little more time to figure out what I would say to her.

  < < < > > >

  When Tabitha came back to school it took all I had not to drag her out of the building and take her somewhere to talk. Ignoring her was fucking hard, I’d catch her looking at me and have to look away. I knew that Ally and a few of the other girls were treating her like shit and that pissed me off even more.

  I stared at the message before hitting send, most people wouldn’t give somebody a second chance but I’m not everybody and I truly did love Tabitha. I just needed some goddamn answers before I could go face to face with her.

  The little text bubble switched from ‘delivered’ to ‘read’ and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as I waited for her response. Dad walked in to my bedroom and sat down on the edge of my bed. “Have you talked to Tabitha yet?” he asked.

  I shut the lid of my laptop, “Just sent her a message.”

  He nodded his head, “I know you love her, just remember you’re going to be going away to college and she’ll be back here. Are you sure working things out is what you want? I’m not trying to tell you what to do, you know your mom and I both like her.”

  I blew out a breath, “If we can sit down and talk I think it’ll help.”

  We sat there in silence for a few minutes, “Have you worked things out with Vance?” Dad asked

  I shrugged a shoulder, “We talk but not as much as before. I won’t lie and say that I don’t want to throttle him every time I see him. In time we’ll be friends again, probably not as close as before but…” I trailed off.

  Dad stood up from the bed, “I understand, we’re here for you no matter what.” He said before walking out.

  I scrolled through my news feed as I waited for Tabitha to reply to my message. When the little red ‘1’ showed up at the top of my screen I took a deep breath and blew it out before I clicked on the icon.

  Morgan-

  I’ll start off by answering your questions:

  1) YES, I regret doing what I did. I know you want complete honesty so here it is…Vance and I had kissed previously, but I never expected it to go any further than that. I was attracted to him, it’s hard to explain and I know there’s no excuse for doing what I did.

  2) YES, I DO love you! If you hate me, I totally understand. Idk what I would do if the roles were reversed. Probably the same thing I’ve been doing for days—crying. I hate knowing that I hurt you and Julia.

  3) Do I have feelings for Vance? I like Vance as a person and a friend (even though we crossed that line).

  4) Idon’t know why I couldn’t tell him ‘No’ I’ve tried and tried to figure out why neither of us stopped ourselves. If that makes you hate me…I’m sorry. It’s something that won’t happen again because I’m in love with YOU. Please…can we talk in person?

  Love,

  Tabitha

  I read the message a couple of times and didn’t reply.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, can we meet up to talk?” I asked Julia.

  “Umm, I guess. Where do you want to meet?” she asked.

  “You decide.” I replied.

  “How about we go to the diner, they should still be open.”

  “Sounds good, I’ll meet you there in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Okay.” Julia ended the call.

  < < < > > >

  The waitress put a glass of water in front of each of us, “We close in an hour so if you’re gonna order…” she trailed off.

  “I’ll just take an order of chili cheese French fries.” Julia told her.

  “Same for me.” I said with a smile.

  Gretchen scribbled the order down and walked away.

  “She’s so nice.” Julia said with a small smile.

  I snorted, “I think I hear some sarcasm in there.”

  She nodded her head and laughed softly, “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked.

  “Well, have you and Vance talked?”

  Julia shrugged her shoulders, “A little bit, have you talked to—her?”

  “Only through messages on Facebook.” I handed her my phone and let her read what was said. After she was done she handed me my phone back.

  “I should have noticed something was different about him. He was moody and seemed to be horny all the time. I want to hate him but I can’t. Does that make any sense?”

  I nodded my head, “Yep, that’s my problem. Do you want to get back with him though?”

  She shook her head, “No, I’m happy with just being friends. I don’t know if I can be friends with Tabitha though. Just saying her name makes me mad.”

  “So would you think I’m a total idiot if I took her back?” I asked.

  Julia took a drink of water, “In my opinion, I don’t think I would be able to trust either of them again. Can you?”

  I blew out a breath, the waitress put our fries in front of us and walked away, “I’m not sure.”

  Julia chewed on a fry and stared out the window, “What about when you go to college, what are you going to do if you give Tabitha another chance and you meet somebody else?”

  “I don’t know.” I said with a sigh.

  We ate in silence until the last French fry was gone. We walked over to the register and I paid for the meal. When we got outside Julia and I each leaned against our vehicles. “Just be careful, Morgan. I can’t tell you what to do, only w
hat my feelings are. If you really do love her and think you two can get past this, then give her a second chance.” Julia said.

  I nodded my head, “And there’s no chance of you giving Vance a second chance?”

  She smiled a sad smile, “Since I’m being honest, I think that our relationship was more of a habit—kind of routine. I’m fine with being friends and I think he is too.”

  I raised one eyebrow at her, “What are you going to do when he starts dating somebody else?” I asked.

  Julia chuckled and shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know.”

  I stepped away from the side of my pickup and pulled Julia into a hug, “You’re an amazing person, thank you for talking to me.” I kissed the top of her head.

  She hugged me tight around the waist, “That’s what friends are for.”

  We stepped away from each other and got in our vehicles. On the drive home I thought about what Julia had said. I knew that once I got to college I would meet numerous other girls, learning to trust Tabitha again was going to be hard, but not having her in my life at all would be even harder for some reason.

  Rather than go home I decided to go to her house. I pulled up the long driveway and started to get nervous. After taking a few calming breathes, I got out of the pickup and walked up to the door.

  “Hey Morgan!” Her mom said when she opened the door and hugged me.

  I hugged her back, “Is Tabitha home?” I asked.

  “Yep, come on in. I’ll let her know you’re here.” Claire smiled at me before rushing upstairs.

  Tabitha smiled a nervous smile as she approached me. “Hey…”

  I smiled, “Hey…do you, uhh want to take a walk?” I asked.

  “Sure!”

  I opened the door for her and let her go before me. Tabitha and I walked side by side for a while before I finally said anything to her.

  “I read your message but I need to hear it in person.” I said.

  “Okay.” Tabitha nodded her head.

  I stopped walking and turned toward her, we stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, “I really do love you. If I could undo what I’ve done, I would. I can tell you I’m sorry until I’m blue in the face. Vance and I crossed a line and hurt a lot of people, I regret hurting you and Julia.” She wiped tears off her face and I felt my heart soften.