CHAPTER SEVEN !
( trust )

"YOU'RE FUCKING WITH ME." kennedy's mouth drops wide open. nicks face plastered on the phone with a straight expression.

"nope." he states.

kennedy breaks out with laughter, causing nick to follow along.

nick had just explained his story about how some mom had practically got on her knees begging to pick him up. which kennedy, was flabbergasted at the idea. she couldn't imagine someone's mom asking to pick her up. especially with the amount of times nick had shut her down.

it was the next day, and the duo were on facetime once again. they were hanging out the next day, and kennedy would be lying if she said she wasn't estactic.

she hadn't really socialized with anyone recently. almost everyday she had woken up past noon, before becoming friends with nick. but now, she was up ready and early, eager to talk to him.

once the two had calmed their laughter, kennedy let out a sigh. she really hadn't felt this comfortable talking to someone like this in a while. and the fact that they had basically just started their friendship, made it all the more clear to kennedy. nick just seemed to understand her. she could really talk to him. at least that's how she felt. maybe she could talk to him about what's been going on.

"hey nick?" she asks.

"what's up?"

she thinks for a moment. what if he isn't trustworthy?what if he's just gonna go and this all over social media? she finally pushes past those thoughts. what's left to loose?

"can i trust you with something?" she finally manages to get out.

"not to toot my own horn," he rolls his eyes, "but im probably one of the most trustworthy people i know."

kennedy giggles at his remark.

"okay," she smiles. "i've just needed to get this off my chest to someone other than my sister or dylan."

"what's up." he replies.

"okay, so," she begins. "let me figure out how to explain this."

"take your time." he smiles through the phone.

. . . august 7th, 2023

the uber drove off, as kennedy walked up to the front door of the house, where her 'friend' was hosting their birthday party. they weren't really friends though. just in the same industry. the night before, she had gotten into one of the biggest arguments she's had yet between her and xander. the arguments almost always stemmed from some guy online sexualizing her, and xander overeacting, calling her names.

she felt helpless. defenseless. how was she supposed to control what people said about her online?

she planned on staying home the night of the party, telling xander to go without her, which he didn't argue against. but ultimately decided to show up.

she felt like it was the right thing to do. she shouldn't take it out on others for how she felt. so she put what happened the night before behind her, choosing to celebrate their birthday.

when the door opened, the loud music that she could hear from the street was blasting even louder. she smiled at the person who had opened the door for her, and took her hood off of her head, immediately catching the attention of the groups of men with large cameras. bright flashes began to go off, so she hurried inside.

once the door shut behind her, she almost immediately regretted entering the building.

girls with large followings prominently composed of young girls, drunkenly danced around the large open room.

she pushed her way passed them, hoping to find some people who weren't as intoxicated. she ultimately was looking for xander. at least she knew that she knew him. which eventually she found a small group of people sat around a table. she recognized a few of them, not all of them, but the one person that she most definitely did recognize, was jackson. one of xanders friends.

"hi jackson," she smiled at him, "have you seen xander anywhere?"

"kenny! yeah, i literally just saw him head upstairs. i'm not sure what he's doing." he explained, shrugging his shoulders, pointing towards the staircase.

she mouthed thankyou to him, getting a wink in response, and then she quickly headed up the stairs.

at the top, she peeked into each room, calling out his name, but obviously he couldnt hear her because there wasn't any response. maybe he had went back downstairs. but she continued to look around for her boyfriend. curious as to what he could be doing.

at the end of the hall, one door was opened slightly, while the rest were closed. as she walked towards the door, she called out his name once more, still, no response.

she quietly pushed the door open a bit, and just as she thought, directly across from the bedroom door, on the other side of the room, there he was standing in the bathroom.

she couldn't see him exactly, but she could see the reflection of his back in the mirror. his head was slightly turned, revealing his prominent nose. making her sure it was him.

she opened her mouth to say something, but the moment she went too, a girl appeared, jennifer harde appeared. almost as if it were out of thin air. she walked towards him from the side of the bathroom.

kennedy froze the second their lips made contact. she watched as her boyfriend shut the bathroom door, kissing the other girl in front of him.

she couldn't move.

she couldn't speak.

all she could do was turn around, and walk out of the room.

she began walking down the stairs. feeling tears build in her eyes but she immediately blinked them away. she didn't need any of these drunken zombies stumbling around her to make any more of a deal out of what had just happened.

she pushed past the other people around her. she didn't know where she was going, she just needed to go somewhere else.

eventually, she found herself in the kitchen. pouring herself a shot of grey goose vodka. tilting her head back, and taking it down all at once.

she poured herself another.

and then another.

and then placed the glass down.

she looked around her to see if anyone had just witnessed her coping mechanism. thankfully, everyone else was more caught up in their own messes.

almost immediately, she felt sick. which wasn't like her. although she didn't drink often, she wasn't a lightweight.

without even thinking about it, she b-lined for the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, barely making it to the toilet before she released whatever she could from inside of her.

once she finished, she slumped her back against the wall, slowly sliding down. placing her face into her hands. before she knew it, all of the tears she blinked away before had reappeared, and had begun barreling down her cheeks.

she sat there for what felt like hours. ignoring every single knock on the door, begging to get in to use the restroom themselves.

images of what could be going on just above her head flooded through her brain. thinking about everything possible.

she can't remember the last time she cried like this.

she usually cried when the two of them fought. but in this moment, this cry, felt like every single session she's cried, all combined into one.

kennedy was aware they argued, and that last night was one of the worst nights of their entire relationship, but she never would've thought that this is what he would do to her.

once kennedy regained her composure, she pulled herself off of the bathroom floor, and made her way to the door.

she twisted the door knob, and pulled it open with one of her hands, while the other she used to attempt to fix her makeup.

the second she walked out of the door, she felt another body clash into hers, nearly knocking her back onto the floor.

"oh my god," the person exclaimed, placing both of their hands on each of her arms, "i'm so sorry, are you alright?" his voice sincere.

kennedy glanced up at them, not making eye contact, in hopes of him not noticing she was crying. it was a boy, with curly brown hair, and blonde highlights.

"it's alright, i'm fine." she expressed.

even though she was hoping he wouldn't notice, he did.

"are you sure? you look upset." he states.

kennedy looks up at him. immediately noticing the small tattoo under his eye.

an apple?

"sorry, i didn't mean to like, overstep-"

"it's fine. i'm fine." she explained, before pushing past him, heading back to the table of people she recognized.

she pulled the seat out and slouched into it, pulling out her phone to text her dylan. she needed dylan to pick her up. she just couldn't be there anymore.

when dylan let her known she was on her way, someone began to call out her name.

"ken! i didn't know you were coming!" the voice hollered from behind her.

she felt cold hands placed onto her bare shoulders, and then wet lips on her cheek.

"i'm so glad your here baby." they whispered into her ear.

she turned to look at the boy standing behind her. her eyes glued on his. he looked at her, and his face went from "happy" to now confused.

in response, she pushed his hands off of her shoulders.

"what's wrong baby?" he asked her.

"can we go outside." she demands.

"sure," he nods, looking to his friends to let them know he'd be right back.

kennedy stood up, without even looking at him, and makes her way toward the door.

xander scoffs, trailing behind her.

avas note

flashback?!?
i'll let u guess who the boy w the tattoo is... 🤭🤭
(peep the miguel reference)

LONG CHAPTER AYYYYY
2.6k words el oh el.
i wrote this in school too.

btw this is like, the layout of ur confused.

this is the layout of the bedroom and bathroom

and then this is kennedy pov

much love,
ava <3