I decide to text Sage to let her know I wasn't kidnapped or anything. I'm almost halfway home when the idea occurs to me so I take my phone out to find over fifteen missed calls. They're a mix from Sage and Diego. One call is also traced back to Diana so I assume Diego reached out to her. I open my conversation with Sage and my fingers hesitate.

Orion: I'm okay. 

I decide that's good enough, press send, and call Diana back. She answers on the first ring.

"Are you okay? Diego called me and said they couldn't find you and I was worried sick-," she starts but I cut her off.

"I'm fine," I announce. "What are you doing now? Can I come over?"

"Yes, yes, of course," she replies and I redirect myself in the direction of her home, adding another fifteen minutes to my walk. "Is Sage going to drop you off?"

"No, I'm walking. I'm almost there," I tell her.

"Where are you?" she asks urgently.

"I'm by the plaza," I inform her.

"Stay there, I'm on the way," she insists before abruptly hanging up. I stay where I am, looking around at the dimly lit location. It's so different at this time of night than it is at seven or so. The only lights are the streetlamps, which are barely illuminating the block. I stand beneath a flickering light and check my phone every few seconds. An influx of texts from Sage and Diego bombard my phone no matter how often I clear my notifications.

Within a matter of minutes, Diana pulls up beside me and I sigh in relief. "Hey..." she greets me cautiously. I crawl into the car and she analyzes my face. "Have you been crying?"

"Yeah," I mutter. I can't hide it and I can't exactly lie to her.

"What happened?" she asks before her eyes fill with rage. "Was it Diego? I swear I'll rip his-."

"Diana..." I cut her off as tears well up in my eyes again. She leans over the center console and tightly embraces me. I can't help but sob hard in her arms. I push away after a minute and shake my head. "This is stupid. I shouldn't even be crying."

"What happened?" Diana asks slower and quieter this time.

"He kissed that stupid girl from his job," I explain with a loud sniffle.

"Elena?" she asks and I nod as I press my palms against my eyes to stop the tears. When I pull my hands away, they're covered with mascara and eyeliner. "How do you know? Did you see it?"

"He got out of work at 10 but still wasn't at the party by 11:30. He wasn't texting me back so I went to look for Sage to see if she knew what was up. I ended up finding him and Elena leaving the bathroom with her lipstick all over his mouth and neck. Then, she drunkenly told me that he's a bad kisser and he tried to call my name but I just went back downstairs," I explain.

"Awe, poor baby," she says as she reaches over and hugs me again. "I'll jab his eyes out of their sockets." She pulls away and puts the car back onto the road. "What's his address?"

"No Diana," I mutter. "I don't even want to see him. Can we just go back to your house?"

"Yeah, sure," she assures me as she drives in the direction of her home. The car ride is mostly silent as I refrain from crying and she swears about Diego and how she's going to dismember him. We get back to her house and she leads the way inside. "We ordered pizza earlier; do you want some?"

"Yes, please," I say as my stomach growls at the mere thought of a slice. "And soda?"

"Of course. You can wait in the basement. I'll bring the food down," she instructs me. "Pick something to watch on Netflix."

I go downstairs to the basement, turn on the light, and snag the remote from it's place on the table. I distract myself by searching for a movie for us to watch. "Hot, hot, hot!" Diana hisses a few minutes later as she emerges with a microwaved plate of pizza and a large bottle of soda with two plastic cups on top. She practically slams the plate down on the table as she shakes her hand rapidly.

"You okay?" I ask, watching as she begins pouring the soda.

"Yes," she answers. "Are you?"

"No..." I mumble. "I left a part out of the story."

She looks at me curiously as she hands me my drink. "Go on," she presses.

"I did something stupid, too," I tell her. I explain the situation with Roman, feeling embarrassment wash over me the more I explain.

She stares at me for a second before sighing. "It's okay. I understand why you did it. I don't agree with it, but I understand," she replies.

"It makes me no better than him," I retort with a shake of my head. "I just...I don't know. I just wanted to do something to feel better and I thought maybe that would be it. It wasn't. It just made things worse because now I feel hurt and guilty."

"Does he know?" she asks and I shake my head. "Are you going to tell him?"

"I don't even want to think about talking to him right now," I tell her. "Can we just watch the movie?"

We sit for thirty minutes before Diana's phone starts going off. She looks at it and glances at me. "It's Diego...should I answer it?"

I shrug and she lets the call end. She checks her messages and sees his texts. "Worried about Orion, please pick up," she reads off. "What if he goes to your parents or something?" He calls again and she looks at me. I sigh and shrug, which results in her pressing the phone to her ear. "Yes, she is. She doesn't want to talk. No. No. I know. I'll let her know."

"Tell him to stop messaging me," I mumble and she purses her lips before relaying my message.

"She asks that you stop messaging her," she replies and Diego says something back. "She'll talk to you when she's ready."

I thank Diana quietly and we return back to the movie. We sit like that for a while and I eventually fall asleep.

+++

Sunday is equally as quiet. I force my way to work after begging Diana to tell Diego not to bother me while I'm there. She does and he complies for the most part. He doesn't bother spending the half hour before his shift with me but he stops by when I'm on break to drop off my regular order. I slip into the back room and Diana accepts it for me, calling me out once he leaves. I'm sorry is scribbled along the outside of the cup and I don't even bother drinking it. I give it to Diana, who slowly sips it throughout our shift.

Once my shift is over, I wait with Diana for Calum, who is running late as usual. Her mom comes to get her and asks if I need a ride, to which I reply that my brother is on the way. I'd say yes if Calum didn't just text me to tell me he's five minutes away. I sit on the curbside and wait for my brother. 

Sue lets out her workers early. I see Elena walking to her car and I feel my stomach knot up. I hear the door to the coffee shop open and close and I glance over and see Diego sitting on the curb a couple feet away. I look at my phone and urge that my brother arrive faster. Why doesn't he just leave? His bike is right there. I don't bother looking over again and instead, look at the entrance to the plaza for Calum's car. When the familiar vehicle pulls in, I stand up and dust myself off. I quickly get into the car and my brother pulls up beside Diego, who is now standing.

"Do you need a ride?" he asks through my opened window. I keep my eyes trained on my phone, which is filled with almost a hundred unread messages from both Sage and Diego.

"No, my bike is right there," Diego replies. "Thank you, though."

"No problem. Drive safe," my brother tells Diego and he nods as we pull off.

"Thanks," I mumble and my brother looks at me.

"You okay?" he inquires and I nod.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply.

"Are you and Diego fighting or something? You didn't even look at him, not to mention you were sitting, like, twenty feet apart," my brother notes and I shake my head.

"No, I just don't really feel too well and I don't want to get anyone sick," I lie.

"Screw my health, right?" he responds as he cracks open the windows, despite the fact that it's chilly outside. I force a laugh as we drive in the direction of our house. When we get home, I continue my lie and tell my parents that I feel sick. My mom touches my head to see if I have a fever and my dad grabs a broom and tells me to 'stay back' while prodding in my direction with it.

"You don't have a fever. Is it PMS?" my mom asks and I shake my head.

"I just feel sick," I tell her and I'm not exactly lying. It's just that I feel sick because of Diego, not because I ate something bad or am catching the flu.

"Go lay down. I'll make you some soup," my mom insists and I walk up the stairs, being guided by my dad's broom weapon.

I'm sitting in my bed, eating my soup, when I hear light thuds coming from outside. My heart sinks to my stomach as I glance at my window, wondering if I'm imagining it. I walk over and open my curtains to see a small pebble hit the center of the glass. I glance out to find Diego standing there with his work clothes on. He motions for me to open the window but I step back and shut the curtains. I even go as far as to turn off the lights. I get into bed and lay there for a minute, not even interested in watching a movie anymore.

Apparently, I fell asleep. Before I know it, I'm being woken up by my mother bright and early Monday morning. "Hey, hon," my mom whispers as she sits on the edge of my bed.

"Hi," I mumble as I squint up at her. She didn't bother turning my large overhead light on and went for the dimmer table lamp instead.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asks and I shake my head.

"No...my stomach still hurts," I tell her and she leans over and kisses my head.

"You can take the day off. Get a lot of rest and drink a lot of fluids. I brought up a few water bottles in case you get thirsty and there are some crackers there, too, in case you get peckish," my mom says as she points at my desk. "Call me if you need anything. I love you."

"I love you, too," I respond as I turn on my side and fall back asleep. She leaves my room, turning off the light as she goes.

When I finally get up, I guzzle two bottles of water and eat some of the crackers my mom put out. For the most part, I sit in bed all day and do some homework and then watch Netflix on my laptop. It's very weak, I know, avoiding school because of a boy, but I can't really help it. My parents don't really bother me aside from the occasional text asking if I'm okay throughout the day. I even call out of work to make my sickness more believable. No one bothers me until a quarter to eight, long before dinner is even being prepared.

"Come in," I say as I look up from my book. The door opens a small amount and I wait for one of my irritating brothers to come in. "Either come in or go away."

My heart drops to my stomach when Diego appears in the doorway of my room, closing the door behind him. "Orion," he says and I immediately roll over in bed and face the wall, completely abandoning my book.

"Go away," I tell him in a whisper.

"Orion, can I please explain?" he asks.

"Go away," I retort.

"Orion, please, just five minutes," he begs and I feel my tears dripping down my face.

"I don't want to see you. I don't want to speak to you. I don't even want to be near you. Go away," I hiss as I keep my eyes closed.

"I'm sorry, Orion. Can you just talk to me?" he asks.

I sit up and grab my book, which is digging into my back. I fling it in his general direction, watching it land at his feet with a loud thud. "Get the hell out of here, Diego!" His blurry figure remains for a second and I blink heavily to readjust my vision. I'm sure tears are very visible running down my face and I don't even care. I just want him gone.

He stares at me for a second before turning and leaving. I notice a pile of papers on the floor beside his foot and I realize they're my assignments for the day. I rip the covers off of my body and retrieve them. At least he's good for something.

When dinner time comes around, my mom calls me downstairs and I leave my room for the first time today other than to use the bathroom. My mom's the only one in the kitchen and she calls me in to sit with her while she finishes up the food. "How are you feeling?" she asks.

"Better," I mumble.

"Relieved you got your homework?" she asks with a smile and I chuckle quietly. "Did you ask Diego to do that?"

"No," I reply in short.

"He knocked on the door and tried to just give it to me but I told him to just bring it upstairs to you," my mom tells me. "He seemed a bit nervous. Is everything alright between you two?"

"Yeah, we're fine," I lie and she looks at me.

"You can tell me, you know. I'm not your father; I'm not the police," she cracks a smile at her stupid joke and I roll my eyes and offer her a small laugh.

"We're fine," I lie and she nods.

"Ah, I get it. I won't understand because I'm a mother," she sighs.

I look at my mom and discreetly roll my eyes. "He's just stupid," I confess.

"Now we're talking," she nods before glancing at me over her shoulder. "What'd he do?"

"He just makes really stupid decisions," I vaguely explain to my mom.

"Are you going to be unclear this entire conversation?" she asks and I stare at my hands. "I just want to know why you were yelling at him to get out."

"You heard that?" I ask as I glance up at her. I know I was yelling but I was trying to do it quietly.

"Yeah," she replies. "I hear everything."

A little unsettled about the last part, I turn my attention back to my hands. "Like I said, he does dumb stuff," I reiterate.

"Everyone does dumb stuff," she replies. "That's human nature. You've just got to give people second chances."

He cheated on me, I want to tell her but I don't, for obvious reasons. One being that my parents know nothing about my feelings for him. The second reason being that he didn't cheat on me, no matter how much it feels like he did. We were never official, even though it felt that way, therefore he can't cheat on something that wasn't really there. He just made me feel stupid. And then I went and made myself feel worse, which I can't really blame on him.

"I don't know," I mumble and she looks at me.

"Well, whatever he did, I'm sure he's really sorry for it. He ran out of here on the verge of tears," she responds and I feel my stomach tighten again. "Help me set the table, please."

I grab the plates from the island and head towards the dining room. As much as I hate him right now, I know I need to talk to him.