◤ chapter six ▸ mutually beneficial ◢

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"SURPRISE?"

AND, OH, IT was such a surprise. An incredible, terrible surprise. An awkward one especially. Betty cackled to herself and Rylie looked between her two friends shocked. Tessa continued to smile even though she felt incredibly awkward for how she acted that night and Flash was shocked to see her, although he was masking it a lot better than Rylie was.

There was Flash; this guy who saved her at a party like she was a damsel in distress (she was, but she wouldn't admit it – Tessa Cormac was not a princess) and he was her prince, her knight in shining armor (he was, although he would never say that – Flash Thompson was not some prince, not some noble man).

There was Tessa; the girl that flirted with him drunkenly later and asked him to fuck her and then got upset when he refused to take the drunk girl up on the offer that she would regret the next morning if he had said yes. The whole thing was fucked, and Tessa would admit that. If she didn't, she would be denying the truth of her whole life.

Because she was fucked up, she was. She was the product of a man who cared more about work than anything else and a woman who never cared to have a family, enough so that she left it. And that was sad, she grieved her mother for the longest time after she disappeared. Although, disappeared isn't the right word; she didn't go missing, she just left. She didn't want to stay, so she didn't.

She abandoned her child and boyfriend – because, oh yeah, her parents never actually got married. Child born out of wedlock, what a surprise! And then her dad stopped caring, not that he cared much before when her mother was still there. Now he just stopped pretending, and young Tessa with stars still twinkling in her eyes and pigtails in her hair was alone. Her only comfort came from the old woman who used to live across the street.

She died.

So Tessa's whole life was fucked. She was fucked. Everything about the situation before her was fucked, and that was probably all her fault. If she hadn't come running to Rylie almost crying because she just saw her best friend – her best friend who she hadn't seen in a month and had abandoned – then she would have never seen Flash and they could have all avoided this mess.

It was always all her fault, that's what Caden used to say.

She couldn't even find a reason to disprove his theory in that moment, it made perfect sense.

"Oh my God," Betty said, finishing with her long laughter, head coming back up and eyes opening to look at all of them, "This just – it's so great. Hey, I told you I'd find her."

She jabbed Flash in the chest with her elbow, everyone missed the way he flinched. Still, he rolled his eyes, "You didn't technically even find her. So no, you were wrong."

Betty glared at her friend. "Fine," she snapped at him, "But still, she's here."

"I'm still confused," Rylie broke into their banter, "Why would Flash want to find Tessa again? I thought nothing happened between them."

"Yeah," Betty nodded in agreement, "But there would have been if she hadn't been drunk and could soberly consent. Flash couldn't say no. Well, I don't blame him."

Betty eyed her up and down and she rubbed her elbow uncomfortably. It wasn't the fact she was eyeing her, but because of her words. Flash went to dispute with her, scoffing, "Nothing would have happened either way."

The Brant girl raised an eyebrow, peering back at her friend, "Are you sure? I mean, look at her! – Sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, I'm just trying to prove a point."

Flash didn't look her way, which was probably for the best, before saying, "Yeah, I've seen her, and nothing would've happened. I didn't go to that stupid party to fuck some random chick or get drunk – you know that."

"That's because you're no fun," Betty told him. Then, she looked at Rylie, "This is why I prefer having you go to parties."

Rylie took her seat again on the couch and to not be left as the only one standing, Tessa followed her example. "Wish I was there for this one. Sounds like a lot of interesting things happened," Rylie told her.

"Well, more could've happened, but..." Betty trailed off suggestively. Everyone could hear the silent cue she posed.

"No," Tessa shook her head, looking at Flash, "Sorry for asking you to, you know, fuck me. My bad. And thanks for saying no...and for helping me with Jared."

"Jared? You knew that guy?" Flash asked her, not accepting or denying her apology. It didn't matter either way, she already said it so it was out in the open.

Tessa nodded. "Yep," she confirmed verbally, "He's sorta friends with my ex."

Rylie wrinkled up her nose in disgust at the mention of Caden. "Ugh, that guy? God, he's terrible. Jared has to be at least half as bad as him."

That made Tessa shrug. Sure, Jared was never the nicest and often liked to see how far Finn would go to prove a point. He never lost a challenge and Jared found that entertaining. But Jared knew a thing about self-preservation, and he was loyal enough to get Finn and Caden out of trouble whenever it found them. So, she used to respect him. Not anymore, though. Now, Jared was just another asshole like Caden.

"Yeah, I guess," Tessa agreed, "He was nice before, but then he called be fair game and said that he was finally gonna get his turn."

"Ew," Betty said.

"Fuck that guy," Rylie exclaimed, "I should go and fuck his shit up."

Tessa's eyes widened. That wouldn't be a good idea at all. Jared was protected by those around him; he knew people, just as Caden did. It was scary enough already breaking up with Caden knowing that he could send someone after her, someone who would take the cash and not ask questions, but Jared had been in the game longer than her ex; he knew more people, people who were more willing to commit acts out of loyalty instead of bribery.

And even though she would love to see his ass kicked for his actions, it would not be a good idea in the long run – not for her friends, and she would not let her friends get hurt because they were sticking up for her. She wouldn't. Even though she didn't know Betty or Flash and barely knew Rylie, she still didn't want any of them to be hurt because of her.

"No," Tessa said quickly and shook her head. They all looked at her with shock and Rylie went to say something but she spoke before anything could come from her mouth, "That's okay. I don't need that. You guys don't need to get any more involved than you already were."

Betty frowned at her, tilting her head in confusion, "Why not? If he needs to get his ass kicked, he should. I can ask Sabrina to ask Toni if she knows anything about this guy – I mean, she knows every regular party-goer around here. It'll be fine."

"But it won't," Tessa refuted, "You don't know Jared, you shouldn't mess with him. And everything's fine now. I haven't seen him since that party and I'm not going to. Everything's fine, so stop worrying about it."

Betty scoffed at her, "So much for girl power."

Tessa felt a pang in her heart. She was used to people not liking her. She was used to people taking one look at her and the people she hung around and realizing that she was a junkie, an alcoholic, and judging her for it. That was fine. She never cared about the whispers very much, didn't mind the nicknames. But this...this was different.

She was trying to protect them and they were hating her for it. Granted, she wasn't explaining anything fully, but she couldn't; she wouldn't. Her dirty laundry, her bad past – that was hers, she wasn't sharing it with anyone. Especially not strangers.

But she didn't say anything to disprove Betty's judgment about her. Betty could think what she wanted, that was fine, she could handle that. She would.

"Just please tell me you'll leave it all alone, okay?" Tessa practically pleaded with them, "You don't even know me, you don't have to do this."

Betty rolled her eyes but muttered in agreement to the promise. Flash gave her a look, as if he understood where she was coming from; why she was pleading with them to stop. To not get them in trouble. She hated that he knew, that there was something in common between them. No one should have this in common with her. And Rylie looked at her sympathetically, knowing enough about Caden to guess about this guy, and nodded.

She sighed a breath of relief; they would be okay.

She was a good person. Good people protected innocents from danger instead of letting them get hurt. She was a good person – she had to be.

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It was later when they all left Rylie's apartment. Her older sister, Marian, who took care of her came home and asked them all if they were staying for dinner but they all said no. Betty didn't hesitate before saying no; Tessa and Flash did.

It was the same with Betty bouncing out of there first, giving her friends hugs goodbye and muttering something to Tessa. She hadn't had a good opinion about the blonde girl since the instance before. But they had laughed together and that was enough. Tessa felt included, even if at times separated, and it was nice to see potential for friends who weren't doing illegal acts.

Tessa walked with Flash and at first there was awkward silence before she blurted out, "I really am sorry about what happened at the party."

Flash shrugged and didn't look at her, "It's fine."

She nodded and there was silence again. He was the one to break it this time with, "So, this Jared guy. Said you knew him from your ex?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, "I, uh, actually broke up with him the day of that party we met at. It just, it wasn't really good. He and Jared aren't good people."

The boy hummed and nodded in understanding and God, she hated how she knew he understood and hated that he did understand. He shouldn't have. No one should.

"Betty saw us together, you know? Got mad that I didn't take my chance when I had it," Flash told her.

She laughed, though it wasn't really funny at all. "She did? Well, I'm glad you passed on your chance, I wasn't in the right state of mind. I mean, I was drunk and a lot had happened that day..."

"You broke up with your boyfriend," Flash said, remembering what she had just mentioned seconds before.

"And some other things," Tessa added on vaguely, "It was just an emotional day and I needed a release, so I went to the party. I'm just thankful you were there to help me."

"It was nothing," Flash said awkwardly, not really sure how to respond.

"So," Tessa started again, looking at his sideways for a second before looking back in front of her, "Betty trying to get you laid or something?"

Flash laughed though there wasn't much of a humorous quality to it, "Yeah. Thinks I need to let loose or something."

Tessa hummed. "I get that," she said, "But what do you think about it?"

"I think I'm fine the way I am," Flash replied, feeling uncomfortable with the topic and the fact that Tessa was so calm when talking about it, "Why?"

"Well," Tessa drawled out the word, looking at him again, "I'm single and like sex. You're single and I'm sure that you've had it before and probably like it. And Betty says you need to loosen up – which is true, from what I've seen – so why not? I'm sober now, you're still hot, so..."

Flash shrugged, trying to keep calm. "I don't know about that..."

Tessa huffed, "Oh come on. We don't have to go and fuck right now, but just like, we can be fuck buddies. Friends – or sorta not friends, strangers – yeah, strangers with benefits. It'll be a stress reliever."

"I really don't think so," Flash protested again.

"Is it because you don't think I'm hot?" Tessa bluntly asked, "Because you can tell me if I'm not your type, I won't be offended. I'll help you find someone who is."

"It's not that," Flash said eventually, "You're hot, it's just – I can't. It can't be at my house."

"That's fine. My place is always empty, so you won't have to worry about anything," Tessa told him, "So?"

Flash looked at her, eyeing her suspiciously. "Are you actually serious about this?"

Tessa nodded, smiling and showing off her teeth. "Yep. It'll be good for the both of us."

"Huh," Flash breathed out, hesitating as he thought before eventually saying, "Sure, fine."

"Great!" Tessa replied in a chipper tone. She looked him up and down again before smiling, pleased with her choice. Flash was hot and probably great and she needed this. So did he. It was a mutually beneficial proposition and they had both consented. "Just give me your phone real quick so I put my number in. Any time you want sex, just hit me up. I'll do the same."

Flash nodded and handed her his phone, unlocked and already in contacts. She wanted to roll her eyes at the carefulness, the secretive nature, but this was his phone – all his secrets – and he didn't want a stranger going through it. She could respect that. Plus, she was going to be sleeping with him and she so didn't need any bad tension between them.

She placed her number in his phone as they finally parted ways. She waved goodbye and he said something in direction and if there was an extra pep in her step that hadn't been there since before Finn went to juvie, no one had to know. No one would anyway, so what did it matter?