Slip

SERENA

Holding my pounding head in my sweaty hands, it had only taken me seconds to realise what I'd just said. My face felt like the sun was touching it. I couldn’t believe I'd just said what I'd said. 

"You actually told him that?" My best friend screamed above the hardcore beats playing in the background.

I cringed. Oh yes, I did, I thought to myself. Why oh why did I open my big mouth?

"Do you realise what you've just done?" She continued, her fists starting to clench.

I took a swig of my whisky...just as she swiped the glass out of my hand and shattered as it hit the floor.

"Don’t you dare sit there looking as if butter wouldn’t melt. Why the hell did you tell him?"

My throat was dry, my tongue flavoured with rusty metal. I simply couldn’t answer. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to burst. I sat wishing I had the courage to stand up to this bully of a friend I had.

What Zac saw in her I don’t know. There and again the same thing could be said about me. Why was I still friends with someone like her? Why couldn’t I stand up to her?

I thought Zac would have after what I'd told him. But no. He cowered in the same way that I was doing now. She didn’t deserve him. She didn’t deserve me. But did she really deserve the consequences of what I'd just done?

BEX

I had to get out of the nightclub. Everything started looking watery and everyone seemed like swarming bees around me. I couldn’t believe that Serena had betrayed my trust. I thought she was a good friend...a best friend. But any friendship we ever had is gone.

I wish I had never confided in her about that one night. That one night when I did something I knew I would regret for the rest of my life. 

Since it happened, I turned hard to protect myself, like a shield. I would never let anyone hurt me again the way that man did.

But I was stupid to think I could trust Serena. And now she had wrecked everything between me and Zac. Zac the love of my life. It had taken me a long time to rediscover love, to know it was out there and that it could be real.

Then bang. Just as I was feeling secure and knew life could be good, Serena brought me from my high, back down to a ground of cold concrete, smashing my whole world to pieces.

I knew why she told Zac. She lied when she said she had let it slip to him one night in her drunken stupor. Serena had told him deliberately. I knew as soon as I had started seeing Zac she was infuriated, filled with poisonous jealousy. I began to realise she had wanted him for herself.

Right now I didn’t have time to think about her. We were done as far as I was concerned. I had more important things to deal with and first was Zac.

ZAC

My phone is ringing again. I'm not answering it. I know who it is and why they want me. Well let them stew. I'm so angry. I look over to the slight dent on the bathroom door, then back down to my bruised hand.

Is this what I'm capable of? I realise now anyone can be capable of anything if they put their mind to it.

I lie on my bed in the dark, listening to the sounds of traffic rushing past. I find it soothing. Most people can’t bear the city noise, but I love it. There’s one thing about living in a city...it’s a good place to hide away from the rest of the world.

I went to stay with a friend once who lived in a small town. It was the worst week of my life (although now I realise it wasn’t as bad as the week I was having now). People I didn’t even know were stopping to say hello "Ahhh you’re the friend of so and so..." Followed by too many questions about my personal life. By the end of the week, rumours had developed...that my friend and I were secret lovers and that would cause a terrible scandal because he was already married and wouldn’t our parents be disappointed...

Yes, the city is a great place to hide. But now I feel like I need to escape. I think back to the night when serena had turned up at my front door, eyes swollen and puffy and she was shaking. Simon had just finished with her...telling her she had too many issues for him to contend with.

"What issues are those then?" I'd asked after we had had a couple of whiskeys and she'd calmed down.

She looked at me sideways with those amazingly long eye lashes that always make her look innocent.

"Bex," she'd replied.

I wish I had never asked.

SERENA

Typical of Bex to run out on me. She’s just up and left me alone in this stuffy nightclub. I need fresh air.

I get outside and am shocked to see its stormy. It seemed like only 5 minutes ago it was blue sky and sunshine. But now its pitch black.

I try ringing Zac...he’s the only one I can turn too, but he’s not picking up. He’s probably still angry over what I let slip to him the other night.

I leave a message hoping he will call back. For now, I hail a taxi.

BEX

I stand in the shadows, trying to shelter from the torrential rain and jump every time at the sudden roars of thunder. If I know Serena, she won’t be long to arrive here at Zac's place. I tried to phone but he wasn't picking up. I'm not surprised after what she told him.

I feel the anger boiling up inside me again. I'd told her things in confidence, thinking I could trust her. How wrong was I? And why did she lie to Zac about other things I'd supposedly done? She exaggerated all my secrets to make me the monster.

Through the misty darkness, two headlamps gradually come into view. I slink further back into the dark shadows.

ZAC

I've switched my phone off. Lights out, I'm going to sleep.

SERENA

I buzz Zac’s buzzer, but he’s not answering. I step back to look up at his apartment window, but there’s no lights on. I begin feeling frustrated. I am soaked, drenched and I’m shivering. I've got no money left for another taxi, so I decide to walk home. It's only a few blocks away and the thought of a nice hot bath with a glass of whiskey, make me feel more alive and happy again.

There is no way Zac will take Bex back now after my revelation to him. I smile to myself. Earlier, I had felt guilty about what I'd done to Bex but not anymore. That was a temporary weakness.

I turn on my heel and begin my journey home. It’s strange as I get a whiff of the perfume Bex had been wearing tonight. I turn around but there’s no one there. Just me imagining things I guess.

BEX

I watch her as she turns on her heel. I take off my shoes and follow. 

ZAC

I listen to the messages on my phone. All from Serena, begging me to talk to her like some crazed addict. Then I read Bex's text...a simple 'call me tomorrow, I'm home and I love you.' That makes me smile.

I never believed any of the rubbish Serena had told me about Bex...Bex just wasn’t capable. Serena believed Bex was in hiding and that's why she moved to the city. But I know Bex moved here for opportunities, ones that she'd never get in her small hometown.

I head out to get coffee, croissants and the papers and decide to give Bex a ring when I get back.

COUNTY GAZETTE

Young woman found dead in alleyway. Investigations continue.