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The rain-spattered window gave us a view of the grey skies, and the heaviness in my heart and body increased. The girls and Dad were right, though; we had to leave the room at some point and maybe it was the right time.
“We should go and see Ana’s mum and dad,” I suddenly announced.
“What?” Emma sat up, and then remembered she was barely wearing a top, and lay back down. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
Dad cleared his throat. “W-what about Zak? Are you ready to speak to him? Because I’ve got to be honest, Mads, he’s called me about a million times and sent just as many messages.” He stepped over Liv and sat on the stool at my dressing table. He held out his hand, silently asking me to take it. When I did, a huge sense of love and safety swept over me. “He really isn’t to blame sweetheart. And I’ll be honest with you, if I’d been in his position, I’d have done and said the same. Remember the things she did and said over the last month or so, things that worried him, and made him angry. His reaction was exactly how I would want a boy who cares about you to react.”
I knew he was right. If Zak hadn’t given a shit about the vodka or the bitchy comments, I’d have probably been disappointed. When he told us to let her go home, he had no idea what would happen, none of us did. Hindsight was definitely a wonderful thing, and if that had been one of his friends, I’d have probably given him the same advice.
Picking up my phone I nodded. “I’ll call him.”
“Halle-flipping-lujah,” Liv cried from the floor. “Can we now get dressed and get some chilli; I’m starving.”
“That’s a relief,” Emma groaned. “I think I have bed sores.”
I whipped my head around. “You both could have gone home at any time. You didn’t have to stay here with me.”
Emma’s mouth dropped open. “As if we’d be anywhere else. We stick together.” Her eyes instantly filled with tears, and I knew what she was thinking.
“We weren’t to know, Em.” Everyone had been right. We weren’t to know. And none of us were to blame. None of us, including Zak.
“Okay, girls,” Dad said, clapping his hands together. “I’ll go and sort out some garlic bread for the chilli.”
Once the door clicked shut, we all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Like we’d finally been released from a prison of our own making.
“You’re really going to call Zak?” Emma asked, picking up her own phone from under her pillow, no doubt to message Liam.
“Yes, I’m really going to call Zak. Once I’ve had a shower, but I’ll message him first.”
I had no idea why, but instead of opening WhatsApp, I flicked to his Instagram account. He never used it, and so I didn’t know what made me look at it, but I was surprised to see he had a story. Dad said he’d been messaging him, Emma had told me, via Liam, that he’d been holed up in his room worrying about me. When I clicked on it and saw the image, I felt like I might puke. I felt like another ton of grief had been landed on me.
“What is it?” Emma asked as I made a painful groan. “Maddy?”
With tears rolling down my cheeks, I clutched at my t-shirt; Zak’s t-shirt which I slept in. “Check his Insta story.”
After a few seconds, when she saw what I’d seen, I heard her say, “Fuck.”
“What is it Liv?” asked. “What’s on Zak’s story?”
What was on Zak’s story was a picture of him, hugging Connie and kissing the side of her head. The caption was me and my bae together again and the song playing over the top was Sia’s Helium. The song that had been one of my favourites… until now.
Chapter Sixty-Five
Will
What had happened in the few minutes between talking to the girls and me going back into the kitchen, I had no idea. Now I was listening to Emma and Liv rant on about Zak and what a dick he was. All that while Maddy stormed around upstairs, also yelling about Zak being a dick.
If what I was hearing was true, then the little prick would be best keeping his distance from me in the future. Although, I had real trouble believing it. He adored Maddy, you only had to see the soppy grin on his face when he looked at her. How worried he’d been about her the last couple of days.
“And this girl is the girlfriend he had in London?” I asked the girls, standing in front of them with my arms firmly folded across my chest.
“Yes and he said they were finished, and when we went to London he told her to leave him alone. She kept flirting with him, but he knocked her back and?—”
“Emma, love.” Sighing, I ran a hand across my face. “Take a breath before your lungs give up the ghost.”
She took a huge breath, and then tagged team Liv with a look. “And in his story they’re hugging, and it mentions that they’re back together and he’s put Maddy’s favourite song over the top.”
